Feeling a Draft
The Winners, Korean in A2, Laura Branigan, Orlando Cepeda, Busted Barn
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue includes five performers I saw last week in Ann Arbor and Dexter, the final book in a Swedish hockey trilogy, two Korean restaurants in Ann Arbor across the street from one another, a singer whose song was posthumously tied to hockey in St. Louis, a Cardinal Giant, and a cute little fixer-upper with endless possibilities. I hope you like the picks and pics.
Both the NBA and the NHL drafts were held last week. Detroit’s two teams have not made the playoffs in many years. Their draft picks are not likely to change this next season, but there is always hope for the future.
Detroit Pistons 2024 Draft Picks
Round 1: No. 5 overall: Ron Holland, wing
Round 2: No. 37 overall: Bobi Klintman, wing
Detroit Red Wings 2024 Draft Picks
Round 1: No. 15 overall: Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, RW
Round 2: No. 47 overall: Max Plante, C
Round 3: No. 80 overall: Ondřej Becher, C
Round 4: No. 126 overall: Landon Miller, G
Round 5: No. 144 overall: John Whipple, D
Round 6: No. 176 overall: Charlie Forslund, LW
Round 7: No. 203 overall: Austin Baker, LW
Round 7: No. 208 overall: Fisher Scott, D
On Friday we hosted our 40th house concert, this one with Katie Pederson. She put on a delightful show. You can watch a video of her final song.
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Fave Five 92: Feeling a Draft
Third Tome’s the Charm (The Winners), Bibimbopin Along (The Seoul, Tomukun Korean BBQ), Solitary Self-Controlled Singer (Laura Branigan), San Franciso/St. Louis Slugger (Orlando Cepeda), and a Busted Barn.
Fave Five Lists: Five Performers in Ann Arbor and Dexter
I saw five more performers last week: four in Ann Arbor on Thursday and Sunday and one in a barn in Dexter on Saturday. This is the third and final installment in the five-performer trilogy.
Kate Pillsbury (of The Crane Wives) at Sonic Lunch on June 27, 2024
Madison Cunningham at Sonic Lunch on June 27, 2024
May Erlewine at Rancho Tranquilico in Dexter on June 29, 2024 (video)
4. Rochelle Clark and The Familiars at Ann Arbor Summer Festival
The Dick Siegel Trio at Ann Arbor Summer Festival (video)
Book Best Bet
The Winners by Fredrik Backman
I previously featured Us Against You and A Man Called Ove by the same author. This is the third book in the trilogy about the Beartown Bears hockey team in Sweden. Having loved the first two, I was able to savor the finale over its 670 pages. It is less about the game of hockey and more about the two small forest towns of Beartown and Hed, their people, and their relationships.
There is a lot of foreshadowing — some of it is misdirection (leading to a surprise) and some is not (reducing the suspense). I could do with a bit less of it, but otherwise, Backman masterfully manipulates the reader’s emotions. I was frequently touched by the plot turns and the interactions between the characters. I plan to keep reading Backman’s other novels.
From Amazon: A breathtaking novel from the author of Anxious People and A Man Called Ove, The Winners returns to the close-knit, resilient community of Beartown for a story about first loves, second chances, and last goodbyes.
Over the course of two weeks, everything in Beartown will change.
Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich, two young people who left in search of a life far from the forest town, come home and joyfully reunite with their closest childhood friends. There is a new sense of optimism and purpose in the town, embodied in the impressive new ice rink that has been built down by the lake.
Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The destruction caused by a ferocious late-summer storm reignites the old rivalry between Beartown and the neighboring town of Hed, a rivalry which has always been fought through their ice hockey teams.
Maya’s parents, Peter and Kira, are caught up in an investigation of the hockey club’s murky finances, and Amat—once the star of the Beartown team—has lost his way after an injury and a failed attempt to get drafted into the NHL. Simmering tensions between the two towns turn into acts of intimidation and then violence. All the while, a fourteen-year-old boy grows increasingly alienated from this hockey-obsessed community and is determined to take revenge on the people he holds responsible for his beloved sister’s death. He has a pistol and a plan that will leave Beartown with a loss that is almost more that it can stand.
As it beautifully captures all the complexities of daily life and explores questions of friendship, loyalty, loss, and identity, this emotion-packed novel asks us to reconsider what it means to win, what it means to lose, and what it means to forgive.
Restaurant Recommendations
Korean in A2
I had lunch at two more Asian restaurants in Ann Arbor over the past two weeks. There are many more left to try.
The Seoul 620 E Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
After each Sonic Lunch I try to visit a new restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor. This one featured a daily lunch special, which was generous enough in size that I took home half for Barb to enjoy at dinner.
Popcorn Chicken Bento Box
Tomukun Korean BBQ 505 E Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Across the street are two restaurants at the same address with the same first part of the name. Suite 100 is Tomukun Korean BBQ and Suite 200 is Tomukun Noodle Bar. I tried one of their lunch specials and it was tasty and filling.
Stone Bowl Bibimbop: Sizzling stone bowl with beef, rice, carrots, spinach, zucchini, Korean radish, mushrooms, bean sprouts, fiddle head, and an easy fried egg. Served with sweet and spicy gochujang sauce and miso soup on the side.
Marvelous Musician
Laura was born on this date in 1952. She died at the age of 52. I liked her hits "Gloria," "Solitaire," and "Self Control."
From Wikipedia: Laura Ann Branigan (born July 3, 1952 in Brewster, New York; died August 26, 2004 in East Quogue, New York) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 single "Gloria", stayed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist, peaking at No. 2.
Branigan and her music saw renewed popularity and public interest in 2019 in the US after "Gloria" was adopted by the NHL's St. Louis Blues as their unofficial victory song while they completed a historic mid-season turnaround to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, leading to the song entering ice hockey lore as an "unlikely championship anthem". Branigan's legacy manager and representative Kathy Golik embraced the trend and traveled to St. Louis to publicly represent Branigan among the Blues fanbase during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, later stating her belief that Branigan and "Gloria" "will forever be intertwined" with the Blues and the city of St. Louis.
Branigan died in her sleep at her lodge in East Quogue, New York, on August 26, 2004, aged 52. The cause was attributed to a previously undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm. It was reported that she had been experiencing persistent headaches for several weeks before her death but had sought no medical attention for them.
Gloria
Solitaire
Self Control
My Playlist
Sports Star
Orlando died on Friday. He helped the Cardinals win two pennants, which St. Louis fans will always love him for. I remember him as Cha Cha Cepeda, an outstanding slugger.
Orlando Cepeda, Baseball Star Known as the Baby Bull, Dies at 86 by Richard Goldstein of The New York Times
Orlando Cepeda, the second Puerto Rican-born player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and one of the leading sluggers of his time, from the late 1950s to the early ’70s, died on Friday. He was 86.
Playing for 17 seasons in the major leagues, mostly at first base but also in the outfield and, at the end of his career, as a designated hitter, Cepeda hit 379 home runs, had 2,351 hits, drove in 1,365 runs and finished his career with a batting average of .297.
He was a unanimous selection as the National League’s rookie of the year with the Giants in 1958, their first season in San Francisco. He was also a unanimous choice as the league’s most valuable player in 1967, the year he helped lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series championship. He hit at least .300 in nine seasons and played in nine All-Star Games.
Cepeda’s father, Pedro, known as the Bull for his strength, was a professional baseball player, primarily a shortstop, who was often called the Babe Ruth of Puerto Rico. Orlando Cepeda, a muscular 6-foot-2, 210-pound right-handed power hitter, became known as the Baby Bull.
From Wikipedia: Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes (born September 17, 1937 in Ponce, Puerto Rico; died June 28, 2024 in Concord, California), nicknamed "the Baby Bull," "Peruchin," and "Cha Cha" (for his taste for jazz and Latin music), was a Puerto Rican first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for six teams from 1958 to 1974, primarily the San Francisco Giants. An 11-time All-Star, Cepeda was one of the most consistent power hitters in the National League (NL) through the 1960s and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
Breaking in with the Giants in their first season after relocating to San Francisco, he was named the NL Rookie of the Year by unanimous vote in 1958 after batting. Every year from 1958 through 1963, he was among the league leaders in batting, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and total bases. In 1959, he became the first Puerto Rican player to start an All-Star Game, and in 1961 he was runner-up in voting for the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) after leading the league with 46 home runs and 142 RBIs, which remains the club record for right-handed hitters. In the ensuing years, the Giants struggled to fit both Cepeda and teammate Willie McCovey, also a first basemen, into their lineup, unsuccessfully trying to shift each of them to left field at different points.
After longstanding knee injuries forced Cepeda to miss most of the 1965 season, limiting him to pinch hitting duties, he was traded in May 1966 to the St. Louis Cardinals, coming back to finish the year with a .301 average. In 1967, Cepeda helping the team to the NL pennant, winning the MVP Award by unanimous vote. Another trade brought him to the Atlanta Braves, and he helped that team win the inaugural NL West division title in 1969. With his play increasingly limited by knee problems, he was traded to the American League shortly before its adoption of the designated hitter, and won the first Outstanding Designated Hitter Award with the Boston Red Sox in 1973 before his career came to an end the following year.
Cepeda struggled in his personal life after the end of his career. After a 1975 arrest for transporting marijuana from Colombia to Puerto Rico, he served ten months in prison and saw his reputation ruined on his home island. Following changes in his personal life, however, he repaired his image after being contracted by the Giants in 1987 to work as a scout and goodwill ambassador, beginning decades of humanitarian work.
Relive what made "Baby Bull" such a special player and a Giants legend
Interview with Orlando Cepeda at the 2014 St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame Enshrinement Dinner
Picture Pun
Just needs a little TLC.
