Brendan Clarey

2 weeks ago | enjoyer.com | Brendan Clarey

In recent years, the famous Elgin Marbles have garnered controversy: What right does the British Museum have over the statues that originally graced the Parthenon? Michigan has had a similar controversy brewing for well over a century. Our most popular hunk of Upper Peninsula ore was removed from the shores of the Ontonagon River by an enterprising Detroiter, only to be confiscated by the feds and taken to Washington, D.C., in 1843.

2 weeks ago | enjoyer.com | Brendan Clarey

“A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H—I got a gal in Kalamazoo!”The opening line of Glenn Miller’s iconic 1942 hit, “(I’ve Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo,” was perhaps the West Michigan city’s first major cultural reference, but it was certainly not the last. Kalamazoo has been mentioned in pop culture dozens of times before and after the wartime jazz chart was a top hit. Back in the 19th century, novelist James Fenimore Cooper set his novel “The Oak Openings” in Kalamazoo.

3 weeks ago | enjoyer.com | Brendan Clarey

Lapeer — Everything the government touches gets ruined. That’s the prevailing sentiment from those who once frequented the pyromaniac’s dream gun range called The Lapeer Pit. Here, automatic gunfire and bowling-ball cannons once rained down destruction on junk-metal targets. But for nearby neighbors of the once-unruly gun range, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources takeover of the pit in 2020 has made their lives better.

4 weeks ago | enjoyer.com | Brendan Clarey

Gregory — I’ll admit it: I am addicted to sparking water. Thankfully, water is everywhere in Michigan, waiting for the fizz. I am not alone in obsession, but I may have taken it too far. The meteoric proliferation of sparkling water brands prove I am not alone. There are at least a couple dozen of us buying cart-fulls of flavored or plain Bubly, LaCroix, and Polar Seltzer.

1 month ago | enjoyer.com | Brendan Clarey

It’s no secret that Michigan men love their muscle cars. It’s why the legendary Dream Cruise on Woodward swamps traffic for an entire weekend every summer. The folks who keep muscle cars running today are true mechanical artisans. I recently took a drive in a 1970s Camaro vehicle, pieced together by a family friend named Roger. He told me about how the frame was retrofitted from one car, the engine from another and the coveted Camaro body from yet another.