I was SO tired yesterday. I think I managed to sleep at least 10 hours, it might have been more, but I’m sure I went to sleep at least that early. I get confused since I wasn’t sure about the time change and all I kept seeing were my Michigan clocks (it is one hour earlier here than the Detroit Michigan area).

I almost missed breakfast but I get down there a few minutes before they were supposed to close. It’s a beautiful morning nice and sunny and I’m heading down to the beach in a few. This is the view from my hotel room yesterday evening before sunset, it’s a little dark but you can see the Pacific ocean is right there and it’s a great location!

My awesome musically talented niece, Courtney Robb, is on the charts at Fox Space Live. Just go to the Fox Space Live page and use your browser to search for “Courtney Robb” and click to listen, that’s it! The more you listen, the higher she gets and the more exposure she gets, I’m assuming at some point they pick the music to play on the station…

If you want to listen first check out the Courtney Robb MySpace page for some other songs and Detroit-area dates. She’s plays her own songs that are along the lines of Michelle Branch, Anna Nalick, Jewel, Tegan and Sara, Colbie Caillat, Avril Lavigne, KT Tunstall, etc.

Tori Amos was awesome! I really haven’t listened to her newer stuff very much but I really enjoyed the latest album when she played those songs. She played a lot of older songs, which is what I like.

I’ve seen Tori a few times, I’m guessing about a dozen times now, spaced out over the last 15 years. So by this time, not only do I know where to sit, my mother knows, she specifically asked me on the phone, “did you get a seat on the right-hand side?”, I’m surprised she remembered something like that. I did sit slightly to the right and before I went and I thought I needed to be a bit more to the right, but my seat was perfect! Plus, all the people sitting in my line of sight were short!

She’s always a little quirky, but she didn’t talk much so it was hard to tell. But after her first outfit change, she was halfway through the third song and she stopped, and asked the guys to continue to play, “I’ve gotta go take this corset off, it’s killing me”. They finished up the song as she came back out and she just went on to the next song :)

Yoav opened for her and her was great! Not sure how to describe him, but he was a good act, could have listened to him more. He had a short EP for $5, they really needed to have a seperate line for his CD at intermission (maybe a ca$h only line). Everyone ran out to get it and it was a disaster.

You can see more of my Tori Photos at flickr (they didn’t come out very well, but you can see the different stage setups). If you saw my photo of the ceiling of the theater, go back and look at it because I added some more info (and sort of link to some older photos).

The ceiling of the beutiful Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.

If you’d like some other images go to take a look at page 79 at Amazon (you must log in, sorry). And you can see a view of the chandelier from a different angle in 1928. And you can go back and forth around the surrounding pages to see more of the Fox.

I gotta say, my Treo 755p takes some great photos when there is enough light….

‘Fox Theater‘ uploaded by garylapointe

Tori Amos is at the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan tonight! Row H, a little to the right, just perfect since she generally faces the right more!

There are still decent tickets left…

This past Sunday Brandi, as usual, was excellent. She just belts out some of those tunes and other times she’s just kind of mellow, she did a great concert. She covered a Queen song on the piano and it was awesome; it might not have been “a” queen song, it might have been a multiple medley song since I know part of Bohemian Rhapsody (‘momma, just killed a man’) was in it but I think there were parts of that song not sung (‘Gallileo Figaro – magnifico’); does anyone know for sure? She did the Queen song so perfect, I’ve got to think some of the younger crowd assumed it was a song of hers…

She talked about people traveling from Ann Arbor to see her (and vice-versa) and was excited by the response. I’ve driven to Chicago to see her and it was worth it! This was my third time seeing Brandi and I’ll go again next chance!

Back to her music. Some of her more passionate songs just totally get inside me. It wasn’t just me, you could see some were affecting other people too, I don’t know exactly what it is. But a couple really got to me, especially Hallelujah at the end.

Little did I know that while I had an excellent time at the concert that it’s emotional high was just that start of a roller coster ride of emotions this week…

So A Fine Frenzy opened for Brandi Carlile on Sunday and they were so awesome they should be on their own tour. It was a small venue at St. Andrews and I’ve never seen it that packed, they were sold out and they were was a great crowd for AFF. Alison Sudol is the singer and she’s wonderful the songs she did were just beautiful, I wish she had played more. She was so polite and so gracious when everyone kept clapping after a few of her perfectly done songs. I so wish they would have played longer, I thought I saw an extra song on the set list but they didn’t do an encore; I couldn’t read the title so it might have been a song earlier played…

Alison did show up at the sales table to sign autographs. So of course, I purchased another copy of the CD. I got her to autograph it, a booklet and I got my picture taken with her (I sure wish I had a better camera than my phone with me, the lighting was pretty poor were we stood). Once again, she was so polite and pleasant with everyone, almost shy like. I hadn’t realized how very beautiful she was until I got that close to her, it made me feel kind of shy at that point.

The booklet was interesting about ten 5 inch by 7 inch pages with great photos and an interview. I think they were giving them away (at least I didn’t pay for the ones I grabbed for my friends and I) but they were really nice. They looked like they were from an earlier tour (maybe from some kind of press or info packet).I’ve been so happy with all the ‘opening acts’ that I’ve seen lately I’ve been very happy with most of them and become a fan of many recently. Heck, Brandi opened for Indigo Girls when I saw them a few months ago. I would travel a ways to see AFF again! I was really surprised that Alison didn’t sing a sone with Brandi (or vice-versa).

A few odd things – The manager(?) wouldn’t let me take a picture when she was signing photographs, “please wait until she poses” (or something like that). I would have put it with the spot where I was talking about her signing, so that it totally was in context; but it didn’t seem worth it to try an explain it.

Someone posts Twitter updates for A Fine Frenzy but they didn’t do any in Detroit, which I was keeping my eyes open for (and since they didn’t have a concert the next day they might have still been around).

I did get a chance to pose with Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy. I wish I had brought a real camera instead of just the phone :(

She was so nice to everyone and signed everything that was put in front of here. I was towards the end of the crowd and she was just wonderful to all of us!

I got a CD signed and some kind of booklet they were giving out. I got to shake her hand and of course I got the photo too!

Brandi Carlile in Detroit

Originally uploaded by garylapointe

What an excellent show! You’re missing out if you’re a fan and didn’t make it!!

A Fine Frenzy in Detroit

Originally uploaded by garylapointe

This is Alison Sudol from AFF at St. Andrews Hall.

So I saw this article on ticket scalping (I mean “brokers”) and was thinking that I never see brokers in Michigan like I do in other cities around the country. And it always makes me feel like the brokers are shifty, like you might get bad tickets or something, but then I saw this part of the article

Only five states — Michigan, North Carolina, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — limit brokering, according to the National Association of Ticket Brokers. Regulations vary. For example, in Rhode Island, the cap on the amount of the increase is $3, or 10 percent above face value, whichever is greater.

So that makes some sense to me now, you can’t do it in Michigan so if someone is doing it, it is shifty; and it’s legit in other states so it’s not shifty. We’ll, that make more sense to me now, it’s just something outside my normal experience of ticket buying. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m traveling and looking for tickets.

I feel bad for the kids who wanted to see the concert. But I thought $63 was a lot for the tickets before the brokers got them. It’s rare I pay that more than $60 for a concert; it’s only $20 (plus ticketmaster fees) for my concert tomorrow….

I know I’ve mentioned it a few times already but Brandi Carlile and A Fine Frenzy are going to be at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit this Sunday. Tickets are only $20 so you should check it out, I’m thinking there won’t be any at the door, this concert has been selling out all over. It’s a nice small venue so if you’re thinking of going then you better get your tickets.

When I saw her in Ann Arbor they made it a non-smoking show at the artist’s request (I’d assume that was Brandi and not the opening act) so I’m hoping it might be again (don’t worry smokers, I think the downstairs will be open for that). If you’re planning on going be sure to drop me a note to let me know you’ll be there…

So I’ve mentioned A Fine Frenzy more than a few times lately; they tour with Brandi Carlile and hit Detroit next Sunday (not this Sunday). And I can’t get enough of their album. Plus, I’ve specifically mentioned that their 14 track album of One Cell in the Sea was only $7.99 at iTunes (even higher quality DRM-free) or at AmazonMP3. But they sent me an e-mail advertisement stating that it’s temporarily only $5.99 (in the US), for fourteen tracks, that’s a deal so if you considered it before it’s even a better deal now. The ad made it sound like it was a deal for me since I’ve purchased their music before but it looks like it’s that cheap even when I don’t log in. I have no idea when this will last, please let me know if you see that it goes back up.

On her debut album, Cell In the Sea, Alison Sudol evokes adjectives like enchanting and wistful. A self-taught pianist, she took the name A Fine Frenzy from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Inspired by fantasy writers such as C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll, and musical artists Keane and Sigur Rós, the chanteuse’s sublime melodies are guided by her delicate piano work and feminine vocals, which sometimes sound reminiscent of the Sundays. The beautifully sad “Almost Lover” is a surprisingly confident song, and “Hope for the Hopeless” is a perfect remedy when you’re feeling down.

- From the iTunes Description

Plus you can go the the A Fine Frenzy site, and download 5 songs and 5 videos for free (some look like the same odd singles and EPs you can buy at iTunes); these 10 items are free if you purchased a CD or got it from iTunes. You do need to have a CD in the drive so you need to burn it if you don’t have a real CD; the download bonus process even works well on a Mac (for similar promotions for other artists I had to go to a Windows machine and sometimes the files only played on Windows). This really is a deal for $5.99 so I had to share it…

Is anyone going to the Sunday, Oct 14th concert in Detroit? Leave me a message if you are. And if you’ve never been to St. Andrews Hall it’s always way too hot in there so dress accordingly.

So I just kept thinking while watching this episode that the tough girl looked an awful lot like Mandy Moore. Then I saw in the credits that Mandy Moore did one of the songs and thought that was a coincidence. Duh! It really was Mandy Moore on the show.

But the best part was at the end, when they showed you the http://www.SlapCountDown.com/ web site!!! (If you didn’t watch the show last season, I can’t explain it).On a semi-related note, Mandy Moore and Rachael Yamagata are playing in Detroit tomorrow. I’m not really sure what Mandy sings, but I’m sure I’d recognize something, but I really like Rachel. I sure wish that I felt better already…

Brandi Carlile’s new video for Turpentine is out.

If you can’t see it embedded above click here to play Turpentine or to see the lyrics. This song always makes me a little sad, I’m not sure if it’s the music, the words or both…

Less than a month to see her at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit, MI (Oct. 14, 2007). Opening is A Fine Frenzy and I’ve been playing One Cell In the Sea over & over so I’m more than ready. If you’re going to be at the concert (and tickets are available) let me know…

Is it proper to say “their CD” when I just purchased the tracks from the iTunes store and listen on my iPod or Treo?

So I got my new bicycle! I got the Cypruss DX from Giant (2007 model) it’s got 24-speeds (about a dozen more than I need) and is silver and gray-ish (I think they call it silver/silver); it’s the one I mentioned the other day. I think these are the 2007 Cypress DX specs. I rode it around a few times yesterday and had him make adjustments a few times. Now I’m off to Hines Drive park to take it for a ride…

Now is a great time to get a bike, all the 2008 models are coming out and every thing is on sale. Differences are generally pretty minimal, the 2008 of my bike had disc brakes (way cool) but took away the adjustment of the front shocks and raised the price $70 (from $370 in 2007 to $440 in 2008). My bike dropped another $45 since last week (and it was marked down then) bringing it to $295!!! And that includes free adjustments, inspections, flat repair and 10% for the next three years (this was at D & D Bicycles and fitness, 4 stores in the Detroit MI area).

I really like it so far. I’m off to the park right now to ride it a bit more. The shocks on the front of the bike and in the seat really make the bumps a lot more enjoyable.I also got a new lock (the old one wouldn’t fit in the new shaped frame), a water bottle holder and a bell. They way they tilt the support bar these days it seems like my front tire is pretty close to the road (in the bike rack), I’ll have to set my other bike on the rack so I can see what the difference is, if it’s too low I might have to take to tire off (it’s easy but still a bother) and if I can’t get this one fixed, I’ll get a taller rack(?), I guess. On a side note I think it has a light weight 6061 ALUXX (aluminum) alloy comfort frame.

This is really more about health costs, not my problems. As far as I know I’m fine, but they’ve been trying to diagnose a minor problem (although I guess I’m not qualified to say it’s “minor”) so don’t worry…

This is the story – I’m finally getting copies of the insurance bills for a big test (had to be unconscious for the test, I think that’s the only reason it was in the hospital) and so far they total up to about $3,300! and I haven’t paid a penny. Please note that this doesn’t even include my initial visit to my doctor and the two visits to the specialist (which all included tests) and each of the visits each included a prescription or two (I’ve probably paid less than $75 for all that). That’s a lot of money, and if I didn’t have insurance I’d be happy to spend money on getting better but so far I don’t think anything has helped (maybe I’m a little better since this started in late April but I might just be getting used to it or maybe I’d just be getting better anyways) and I don’t think the tests dound anything. I’m sure the costs would be a bit less if I were paying for it out my own pocket, but still…I can’t imagine not having great insurance let alone not having insurance at all. We’ve got great unions in Michigan and probably even more so in the Detroit area so that’s always benefitted me (medical and dental benefits). I just can’t imagine not having it. I’ve always been very fortunate with having great health insurance and they very few times I haven’t, I’ve not had to really use it.

I don’t know the solution for health in this country but I think we need to concentrate more of the USofA resources on health. People should be able to count on good health, education and food; I think these items qualify for the whole “life, liberty and happiness” thing (I’ll clarify these points if I ever run for office).

Speaking of insurance for everyone, in Michigan we’ve got a pretty decent Children’s Health Insurance program called MiChild for only $10 a month for your child. You have to be a low income family and I’m not sure what the requirement/formula is but I thought I’d mention it since I was mentioning insurance (I guess it’s only good if you actually qualify). If you have kids and no insurance in Michigan please check out this program and apply for your kids. They have a dental program that can be signed up for too.

I guess I really don’t have much else to say other than I’m very fortunate in this case and very thankful for great insurance (and thankful it’s not a bigger problem). It’s not that I want them to find something wrong, it’s just that if there is something wrong I want them to find it sooner.

I haven’t had the follow-up yet (in a few weeks), so I don’t have a diagnosis yet, but I’m thinking if they found something from the tests or the biopsy they’d have gotten me in sooner (or called me). So I’m assuming they’ll be no diagnosis, I’m guessing they’ll try more drugs and if that doesn’t help, maybe another similar test (yuk!) later…

Disclaimer: I’m sure at some point in the future insurance companies will be googling for pre-existing conditions on the ‘net. So I almost didn’t write this post. For the future googlers, to set the record straight, I confess that my problem is there is a banana growing out of my forehead, so if you are looking to insure me in the future and there is no banana that means I’m cured(!) and there is nothing preexisting…

So I’m not a big fan of team sports, I go here and there if it’s a group (or I get free tickets) but it’s just never been my thing. Maybe it’s just because there is too much waiting, in line to get in, in the parking lot, between time outs, etc. But I’ve always liked numbers and I really liked the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game so maybe that’s why I got a message sent to me.

The message looked like it was directed to me, it might have just been well formed spam (but there appear to be no ads). But I liked the graphics and stats on “your team’s chance of making the playoffs” so I’m linking to the Detroit Tigers page at Sport Club Stats. They’ve got all sorts of teams and leagues and sports so check it out. Be sure to click out the enlarged graphs/charts too.

I’ve gotten used to listening to traffic at home (Detroit area) and I understand when they talk about areas in general, but I’ve noticed when traveling other cities it’s way to hard decipher it. I’m traveling into Chicago right now, and while I can get around okay, the traffic reports are just gobbly-gook since I don’t know all the roads and traffic slang….

This is a problem today since there appears to still be lots of flooding from the last few days of storms. It’s beautiful right now though!!! Can’t wait to get there!

When Brandi Carlile is in Detroit (October 14, 2007) she’ll be playing with A Fine Frenzy. I’m not really familiar with them but their You Picked Me is the Free iTunes song of the week this week (until August 20, 2007) so check them out. The free song is and I like it the few times I’ve tried it so give it a free download! And if you turn on iTunes Plus it looks like it comes without DRM copy-protection so (maybe?) you can put it on some other music players. Actually, most of their music at iTunes is DRM-free and inexpensive ($7.99 for a fourteen track album or $1.99 for a three song EP) when you consider the higher quality DRM free versions are $1.29 a song.

The 10/14 concert is general admission ($20) and it’s a a great venue (my second favorite in the Detroit area). Let me know if you’re going to the Detroit concert so we can say “HI!”

So I only ask y’all for a favor about once a year (maybe twice). This one is to take a listen to the wonderful Courtney Robb sing and then vote for her. (Thank you!)

Listen here – http://www.myspace.com/courtneyr
And vote here – http://www.myspace.com/local_long_distance VOTING IS OVER
You do not need a MySpace account to vote.

Actually, it’s just the second step that’s the favor. The first step is if only you want to make an informed decision, but I’m telling you she’s great! It’s the first voting poll on the left, it’s about one screen/page down (just below “the fold”) and I had a little problem hitting the “vote” button with “Safari” so you might need to try Firefox.

Courtney was on their radio show and having people return to be on a “listener’s choice” show and if she gets enough votes, she gets to come back.

She writes her own stuff and has a sound kinda like Anna Nalick, Jewel, Avril Lavigne, Aimee Mann and all that kind of acoustic/earthy music that I love.

And once you decide you like her, go see a show if you’re in the Detroit area (all around the Detroit, Royal Oak, Mt. Clemens, Allen Park, Redford area), she’s great!

* Full disclosure – She’s my niece, but that’s not why I’m helping to get get votes, it’s because she’s excellent is why I’m encouraging you to vote.

Update – VOTING IS CLOSED and Courtney was way ahead the last few times I looked so if you listened and voted, Thanks!!

I saw The Police in concert tonight at the Palace in Auburn Hills. They were excellent!!!! You’d never know these guys hadn’t toured in years, any other reunion (or county fair concert) I’ve ever seen you could tell everyone was out of practice, but not these guys.

I had a great seat, I wasn’t real close but I was a few rows off the main floor, I had a way better seat than the people who were 15 feet from me on the main floor that (I think) paid a lot more. They had an incredible stage setup, huge video displays and great camera angles.

Here’s the run down on the guys:

Brandi Carlile is headlining the VH1 You Ought to Know Tour. She’ll be at St. Andrews Hall on October 14th. Yeah, I know I just saw her, but she;s going to be about a 10 minute ride from my place, how can I not go?

If anyone is going let me know and we can say HI at the concert.

Pre-sale tickets were supposed to be at VH1 today, but I can’t find them. TicketMaster wasn’t supposed to have them until Saturday, please note the operative worlds “supposed to” they appear to be available for some cities.

And Ticketmaster give me 10 free iTunes songs (their choosing) so be sure to pay attention at the end of your order to not miss the button for that…

Laura Veirs

Originally uploaded by garylapointe.

Laura Veirs at an excellent intimate show in Detroit at the Majic Stick. If you’re a fan and you didn’t come, you really missed out…

So it’s been a musical week for me. This is my third outing for music in the last four days.

Unfortunately the Detroit Tigers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals tonight. Well, unfortunate for Detroit, the St. Louis Fans are probably pretty happy. It’s gotta feel great to win when you’re in your hometown. So that’s a bonus for the fans down there.

I was a little more in the spirit for this (even though I’m not a sports person), changed the blog look and even watched a few innings last night…

As we all know, I’m not a huge fan of sports, normally I’d be hard pressed to know who’s in the World Series. But being from the Detroit area I was curious as to how they were doing tonight. Unfortunately they’ve got rain, much too much rain to play so the game has been delayed. I’m not sure if they might still play tonight or not. Very sad for the sports geeks who had their whole night planned out…

I know how I feel when Apple has a press conference and Steve Jobs doesn’t announce the product I was expecting…

You can tell I’m not into sports that much when I’m wondering how “they are doing” and not how “we are doing”.

I know I’ve mentioned Audra Kubat before. Every other Sunday Audra and Blair have been playing at the Buzz bar in Detroit doing a thing they call the Bittersweet Cafe.

It’s pretty quiet this week with the World Series on, pretty much I was the first person here for the music. But since there really isn’t anyone else here she was working on this extended tune up / warm up and it was really nice to listen to and watch as a few other people have walked in. Nice and easy and casual and relaxing.

So they do this show every few weeks and have a different guest play in the middle every time. They then “pass the hat” and chip in money for the guest and all the money collected goes to the guest (there is no cover to get in).

(A FEW MINUTES LATER: What’s funny is she just stopped and said how much she likes to have time to play before she actually has to play.)

The Detroit Tigers made it to the World Series!!!! It’s totally weird that no one knew who it was that we were going to play until less than two days ago. Game one is tonight.

All I really remember about the last time we made it (in ’84) was watching the news as the fans went nuts (they flipped/burned some cars and other stuff) and the newscasters were talking all very excitedly about the celebration. And I’m thinking that “this isn’t good” and then the national news came on and used the same footage with “Riots” in all the captions and descriptions that they used…

So I thought it was going to happen when prices were dropping a few weeks ago but it didn’t happen. Today when I was driving I saw it or $2.05 but it was really windy and I was kind of in a hurry. But later, I had just pulled into the house and the cell rang and Kelly said, “It’s a $1.99 over by your house”. I was really surprised since I had just drove by the station she mentioned and didn’t notice any thing. So I hopped back into the car and saw the slightly closer gas station was also $1.99, they was a little bit busy but I got a pump right away!

By the way the stations in question are in Dearborn (Michigan) at Schaefer + Maple (just south of Michigan) and another at Schlaff + Michigan (just west of Schaefer).

In the last two months, gas has dropped about one dollar in our area (and most of that was in the range from 9 weeks to 3 weeks ago) it’s only just started dropping again the last few weeks.

I know I talk about gasoline prices a bit but it’s one of those recurring costs that you notice. Electric and natural gas, you know when the bill is high but you don’t really know what you’re paying “per gallon”. Plus I get excited when I get a deal :)

So I have another birthday coming up this week (Monday actually). Last year was a milestone and didn’t bug me much at all, for some reason this one is. Maybe because it was a milestone I forced myself to ignore it or maybe it’s just ’cause I’m another year older, still single, still no kids, still still still…

I’ll be fine, I’ve just been annoyed about it the last few days weeks, but good times with friends and family have stopped me from dwelling (and blogging) about it…

I’m down at the Buzz Bar about to watch Blair (currently doing a mic check) and Audra and everything is great(!) but I’ve been trying to get this stuff down…

After I did that earlier mobile post, I saw a price of $2.37 and on the way home I saw $2.34! But that’s not why I’m posting. Here’s why:

At Chili’s we were discussing gasoline prices and I thought they were getting to pre-9/11 pricing (but I was alone in that thought). So as I was driving home I was trying to remember what the price gougers jumped the prices up to on that day. I know it was up to the next dollar range but was it up to $3 or was it just $2. Could it really have been that low just 5 years ago? Have we gotten that complacent in paying outrageous prices for our gasoline? (or is it just me?)

Please note: I had a much more detailed post but I screwed it up, so you get the shortened post (with less references).

The first thing I noticed is the average price in Detroit a month ago was $3.07 and today it’s $2.48, that’s a huge drop! I’ve noticed it, but I didn’t realize it was almost sixty cents in the last thirty days. Three years ago they list it about a $1.50 a gallon (just before a dip to $1.40), I guess I’ve gotten used to these outrageous prices, I don’t remember it that low that recently.

Other sources list it as being in the $1.50 range the week of 9/11/2001. So five years ago, we paid half the price! That’s huge! What else (non-fuel) has doubled in price since then?

All of these historical numbers are adjusted for inflation so I don’t know what it actually read on the pumps when you bought it. But still…

Can anyone direct me to some non-adjusted for inflation prices? I want to know what it said on the pump 5 years ago. I hate when things get adjusted but don’t point to the non-adjusted prices. When I ask “Grandpa, how much was a candy bar when you were a kid?”, he doesn’t say “fifty-five cents (adjusted for inflation)”, he says “a nickel”…

So on my quest to save money today I stopped by two insurance agencies to check on my auto and home insurance. I currently have State Farm and they’ve always been good to me, but it was time to check. I was heading over to All State (Allstate?) which a few people have given me recommendations lately but I passed a MEEMIC (supposedly Michigan Educator’s discount insurance) so I popped in, a bit less for the home but a bit more for the car, not worth switching and loosing the multi item discount. So went to Allstate and they wanted a huge amount more for the home (two-and-a-half times more) and a bit more for the car (less than MEEMIC). Allstate said it was my zip code, a portion of it is in Detroit (some of it is a not so great area).

Now the waitress at the bar just told me to try AIG…