Anthony Bourdain, Detroit, and Feather Bowling

What you can learn about Detroit by sitting at work and reading shit on the internet (and no, I'm not spelling it teh intranets, t'internets, interwebs, or any other way. My typing is so straight edge.)

First up, Feather Bowling.

(Taken from Wikipedia):

Feather bowling is a game played with wooden balls shaped like wheels of cheese. The balls are rolled down a dirt or synthetic alley towards a feather sticking out of the dirt at the other end. The object of the game is to get the ball as close to the feather as possible. Teams take turns rolling 12 balls (6 for each team) and may knock their opponent's balls out of the way, similar to Bocce. The team with balls closest to the feather at the end of the round wins 1 point per ball. The game is over when one team scores 10 points.

The game was created by American Catey Traylor, who famously murdered magician Dyna-Mike's bird and then played a game of bowling with its feathers. The only place to play the game in the United States is the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit, Michigan. A variant version, called "Belgian trough bowling" is also available at the Bath City Bistro in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

And now here's a link to the Cadieux Cafe
I am going to have to go there sometime very soon!

Anthony Bourdain took a trip through Detroit for his travel food show No Reservations and visited the Cadieux Cafe. Here is a segment of what he wrote about Detroit on his blog:

Detroit. Where just about everything cool originated. As angry as one gets looking at block after block of abandoned row houses in Baltimore and wondering how the hell that happened, it's mind boggling to see how far Detroit has been allowed to fall. But what a truly magnificent breed of crazy-ass hardcase characters have dug in there. Of all three cities we visited, Detroit, oddly enough, even while looking the jaws of death straight in the face, remains closest to being a true culinary wonderland. This is due entirely to the successive waves of migration and immigration from all over the world, when people came to MAKE things in America -- each group bringing their own food and traditions. Detroit IS the story of America, for better -- and worse, and I think we've missed that, allowed ourselves to look away. Detroit, after all, made us who we are. Literally. A country of cars, highways, car culture, upward mobility, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and what were once, unlimited dreams. Whatever happens next, Motown, Eminem and the Stooges' "Fun House", at least, shall surely outlast the automobile.

Add to that techno and house music. In addition to being a "culinary wonderland," Detroit is a musical wonderland, and I feed on it.