Getting Rocked in GR
Beeswing, Great Restaurants in Grand Rapids, Richard Thompson, Riley Greene, Rocky Road Test Return
Welcome to my 152nd weekly newsletter. This issue includes a group of Richard Thompson songs, a guide to RT’s early career, good repasts in GR, Fairport Convention’s guitar royalty, Greene (Riley), and a goofed-up road test. I hope you grasp the rationale for the bold letters in this paragraph, and like the picks and pics.
Last Thursday we drove to Grand Rapids with our friends Kyle and Jeri Johnson. We enjoyed dinner on Reeds Lake, a rocking concert at Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater by The Crane Wives, and a beautiful walk along the lake the next day. Barb and I had seen The Crane Wives, who are from Grand Rapids, at the Iron Fish Distillery in Thompsonville in 2019, and they sounded much different at that time.
On Thursday they performed a sold-out show to mostly young fans who stood and sang along to every song. They have 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and “The Moon Will Sing” has over 85 million streams. They have come a long way from their early days 16 years ago as a folk band.
I previously featured one of our favorite musical duos, Brewer & Shipley, after Michael Brewer passed away on December 17, 2024. I was sad to learn that his partner Tom Shipley died on August 24, 2025. Now they are both one toke over the line.
Tom Shipley, Whose Ode to Weed Reached the Top 10, Dies at 84 by Alex Williams of The New York Times
I also found out that Maynard Engebretson died May 13, 2025.
In my brief autobiography, I wrote:
Maynard hired me for that summer job and led me in the development of software for speech and hearing research at the Central Institute for the Deaf. He was my first great manager.
I shared that with him last year, and he replied:
Nice to hear from you and see what you’re up to.. Thanks for the mention. Those were good times.
I recently contacted his daughter, Marcia Sorensen, who lives nearby in Northville, to express my condolences, and she replied:
I got to spend a lot of time with my dad these past few years and he was always upbeat and positive. He lived a great life!
I had planned to interview Maynard for my new podcast. That won’t happen now, but my fond memories of working for him will live on.
Speaking of the Fave Five Podcast, I was amused to receive two messages about it. It appears to be climbing the rankings in a key market and an important category. ☺️
If you enjoy Fave Five, please share it with your friends who also like books, food, music, sports, or humor. To do so, just click the button below.
Fave Five 152: Getting Rocked in GR
Fairport Folkie (Beeswing), Great Restaurants in Grand Rapids (Café de Miro, Rose’s, Mi Pueblito), Rockin’ RT (Richard Thompson), RBI Riley (Riley Greene), and a Rocky Road Test Return.
Fave Five List: Favorite Richard Thompson Songs
In line with this week’s featured book and musician, here are my ten favorite songs by a phenomenal singer/songwriter and guitarist.
Wall of Death
I Feel So Good
I Misunderstood
When I Get To The Border
Valerie
Turning Of The Tide
Tear Stained Letter
Keep Your Distance
Beeswing
Don’t Renege on Our Love
Book Best Bet
Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967-1975 by Richard Thompson with Scott Timberg
After listening to a podcast with Bruce Headlam (and an earlier one with Bob Lefsetz), I ordered Richard’s memoir. It is filled with interesting details about the start of the career of one of my favorite musicians. There are a lot of other famous names dropped throughout—the stories about Jim Hendrix are especially fascinating.
From Amazon: An intimate look at the early years of one of the world’s most significant and influential guitarists and songwriters. The paperback edition includes an interview with Elvis Costello.
A Rolling Stone Best Music Book of 2021
“Thompson is a master showman . . . [Beeswing is] everything you’d hope a Richard Thompson autobiography would be . . . It’s both major and minor, dirge and ditty, light on its feet but packing a punch.”
—The Wall Street Journal“An absorbing, witty, often deliciously biting read, as all rock memoirs should be.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
In this moving, immersive, and long-awaited memoir, beloved international music legend Richard Thompson recreates the spirit of his early years, where he found, and then lost, and then found his way again. Considered one of the top twenty guitarists of all time, Thompson also belongs in the songwriting pantheon alongside Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Randy Newman. Here the British folk musician takes us back to the late 1960s, a period of great change and creativity for both him and the world at large.
During the pivotal years of 1967 to 1975, just as he was discovering his passion for music, he formed the band Fairport Convention with some schoolmates and helped establish the genre of British folk rock. It was a thrilling period of massive tours, where Thompson was on the road in both the UK and the US, crossing paths with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix, as well as a time of heady and explosive creativity for Thompson, who wrote some of his most famous songs during this time. But as Thompson reveals, those eight years were also marked by upheaval and tragedy. Honest, moving, and compelling, Beeswing vividly captures the life of a remarkable man and musician during a period of artistic intensity, in a world on the cusp of change.
Restaurant Recommendations
Great Restaurants in Grand Rapids
Our overnight trip to Furniture City (aka Beer City USA) included three good meals.
Café de Miro 435 Ionia Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 4950
Upon arriving we headed for Grand Rapids Downtown Market, which offers many good dining options. After circling the available options several times, I chose this Kurdish and Middle Eastern spot, an unexpected but satisfying source for a cheesesteak.
Perfect Cheesesteak: Rustic Ciabatta freshly baked by Field & Fire Bakery. Layered with Parmesan Cream, Shaved Ribeye Steak, Caramelized Onions, Caramelized Peppers, Havarti, served with a side of Dill Pickle
Rose’s 550 Lakeside Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
This is a favorite spot for lakeside dining and inexpensive happy hours. I first discovered it in 1998 when my friend Steve Emmenecker and I were driving around killing time after arriving in Grand Rapids. We were there for a Franklin Wolves basketball tournament in which our seventh-grade sons, Roger and Matt, were playing.
This time, Barb and I shared a pizza with Roma tomatoes and caramelized onions. Its $8 happy hour price was a good deal, unlike the $14 drink Barb enjoyed.
Mi Pueblito 1499 Wealthy St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
After the concert on Thursday, we returned to our hotel to unwind with a game of euchre. I ordered via DoorDash and we enjoyed a sumptuous late-night snack delivered right to the lobby.
3 Tacos Dinner: Carne Asada and Al Pastor
Marvelous Musician
I first head "Matty Groves" by Fairport Convention on the radio in 1970 and liked it. In the 1980s I read about the band in Dirty Linen magazine. In 1989 Rolling Stone ranked Shoot Out the Lights by Richard and Linda Thompson as #9 on the magazine's list of The 100 Best Albums of the Eighties. I bought it and then bought many other duo and solo albums. I saw Richard at The Ark in Ann Arbor on July 7, 2008 and with his son Teddy on March 3, 2014. I saw Linda at The Ark on October 21, 2002. I saw Richard on the Cayamo music cruise in 2011, 2012, 2013 (with Teddy), 2015, and 2017. Richard is my top folk/rock guitarist. His singing voice and guitar artistry have held up very well over his 60 years of performing.
From Wikipedia: Richard Thompson OBE (born April 3, 1949 in Ladbroke Crescent, Notting Hill, West London, England) is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Thompson first gained prominence in the late 1960s as the lead guitarist and songwriter for the folk rock group Fairport Convention, which he had co-founded in 1967. After departing the group in 1971, Thompson released his debut solo album Henry the Human Fly in 1972. The next year, he formed a duo with his then-wife Linda Thompson, which produced six albums, including the critically acclaimed I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974) and Shoot Out the Lights (1982). After the dissolution of the duo, Thompson revived his solo career with the release of Hand of Kindness in 1983. Three of his albums – Rumor and Sigh (1991), You? Me? Us? (1996), and Dream Attic (2010) – have been nominated for Grammy Awards, while Still (2015) was his first UK Top Ten album. He continues to write and record new material and frequently performs live at venues throughout the world.
Music critic Neil McCormick described Thompson as "a versatile virtuoso guitarist and a sharp observational singer-songwriter whose work burns with intelligence and dark emotion". His songwriting has earned him an Ivor Novello Award and, in 2006, a lifetime achievement award from BBC Radio. His 1991 song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" was included in Time magazine's "All Time 100 Songs" list of the best English-language musical compositions released between 1923 and 2011. Thompson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honors for services to music. Many varied musicians have recorded Thompson's compositions.
Wall of Death (with Christine Collister)
I Misunderstood
I Feel So Good
Dimming of the Day (with Linda Thompson)
Matty Groves (with Fairport Convention)
My Playlist
Sports Star
Riley gave Detroit a 3-1 lead with a two-run single in the fifth inning in today’s much-needed 6-2 win over the New York Mets. Riley now has 32 homers and 103 RBI, and he is clearly the best hitter and one of the best outfielders on the team.
From Wikipedia: Riley Alan Greene (born September 28, 2000 in Orlando, Florida) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted fifth overall by the Tigers in the 2019 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2022 and was an All-Star in 2024 and 2025.
On May 2, 2025, Greene became the first player in MLB history to hit 2 home runs in the 9th inning of a game. On August 26, 2025, Greene hit a grand slam homer at Sutter Health Park (the temporary Sacramento, CA home of the Athletics) that traveled an estimated 471 feet over the large "batter's eye" wall in center field. It was the longest home run by a Tiger in the Statcast era (since 2015).
Riley Greene is grand! The Tigers slugger demolishes a 471-ft. grand slam on August 26, 2025.
Picture Pun
Did I pass?
