FROM THE LOST SUMMER TO LOST WEEKDAYS - PT. 2: Gambling on Windsor
I have never before been to Canada's southernmost city, Windsor Ontario. I have some friends from there but still all I really knew was that it was across the river from Detroit Michigan (though, paradoxically, actually southeast of the American city) and that Windsor had zero murders over the last year compared to Detroit's 350 or so.
We came into Windsor along the 401, following directions to the CBC building on Riverside Drive. Looming before you as you drive is the Ambassador Bridge and we kept thinking "Have we gone too far? Will we wind up on the bridge? Will we still have a chance to turn and stay in Canada?". And there it is – a turn-off at the last moment and spread before you like a Robocop postcard is the Detroit skyline. You couldn't be any closer to a city and not be in it. Appropriate, then, that Bob Steele's afternoon show is called "The Bridge" and our first order of business in town was an in-studio interview there, which you can hear online here.
From there, it was on to Caesars Casino Windsor where – strange as it may seem – we were invited to present as part of an educational conference hosted by the Greater Essex County District School Board. They had booked out most of the conference space in the south tower and students attending were escorted past the gaming floors to the conference rooms and displays. The set up was fantastic and we started by doing an hour or so of portraits before the proceedings began. The presentation (as I mentioned in my previous post) completely energized me and went over exceedingly well. It was capped with performances on Voyageur by students Jesse Ropat and Sierra Shaw (both pictured) and then we proceeded to do further portraits with just about everyone in attendance. The line-up lasted a couple of hours and we began our load out around 11:00pm – a long day that was about to get even longer, as you'll hear in my next post.
Special thanks to Clara Howitt, Theresa Williams, Jackie Connelly, Cathy Pitre, Sarah Boonstra, Dwayne Teskey, Steve McLaughlin, the University of Windsor Bookstore, the Herman High School Band and our amazing volunteers at the portrait station.
Posted at 1:55 PM