Rodriguez was my neighbor for many years and I didn't know it! Well, I knew him, but just as this guy who was dressed head-to-toe in black every day of the year, was almost always building something up on a scaffold, and frequently talked about running for mayor. Great guy.

Years before the doc and all the (well deserved, maddeningly late) attention, I brought this B.O.C. record that I love to the kitchen I used to work in. My friend Matt, the chef, asked me if I was playing it because of the list (of obscurities that shouldn't be) that had just been published in the local free weekly. I didn't know what he was talking about, so we went and grabbed a copy. I can't remember what all else was on the list besides Secret Treaties, the Cult record I mentioned, and the one I had no idea about whatsoever, Cold Fact. He couldn't believe that I'd never even heard of it, played it for me the very next morning, and that's when I learned that the guy that lived 3 door over had made one of the greatest records of the entire 1970s.

Years before that experience I had this roommate named Ophelia. She was a Detroit lifer, and when I met her she had this ancient cat with long matted hair and a runny pooper problem. Kitty's name was Sixto, after an old family friend. Guess who I later learned that friend was? Yep.

I miss Detroit so much!