I LISTENING POST I

Twin Medallions of
Tenderloin Wesley.
A Complete Dinner
For $12.95.
Who Could Beef?

I BEST OF EVERYTHING

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Charley's Pays High Tribute
To Its Boogie-Woogie King

DANNY RASKIN

Local Columnist

Twin medallions of tenderloin, sauteed to
perfection in a sauce of tomatoes, scallions and
artichoke hearts. With our expansive salad bar,
choice of potato, vegetable medley, and fresh
rolls and butter. All for a mouth-watering $12.95.
And you'll enjoy your dinner all the more
because it's served in the warm setting of Seasons
Cafe in the Sheraton Southfield Hotel. 16400
J.L. Hudson Drive, Southfield. For reservations
call 559-6500.

SEASONS

CAFE

iiteMNS(

6407 ORCHARD LAKE RD, WEST BLOOMFIELD
ORCHARD MALL-ORCHARD LAKE RD & MAPLE

851-6400

ORIENTAL
and
CONTINENTAL
CUISINE

FREE ENTREE

WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANOTHER ENTREE
EQUAL OR GREATER VALUE
MONDAY THRU THURSDAY

• Lobster Excluded,
• Dining Room Only
• Not Valid With Any Other coupons
15% Gratuity Added On
JILI I
Total Amount Of Bill Before Discount. • Expires 1-24-91

YOUR HOST: DAVID LU

SUPER BOWL

NOVA LOX SPECIAL
6;2') OVER 30% OFF REG. PRICE

$
CATIONS
AT ALL
LO:
• 7 MILE & MIDDLEBELT
• 10 MILE & COOLIDGE
• 14 & ORCHARD LAKE RD.

(e)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1991

95

lb.

T

he soothing piano had
been replaced with the
thundering explosion
of Bob Seeley's left hand play-
ing a Meade 'Lux' Lewis
boogie-woogie bass line .. .
and when his right hand join-
ed in, it was as if an H-bomb
had gone off," said Rolling
Stones' pianist Chuck Leavell
in Musician magazine (July
1990).
Bob is being honored in a
piano fest at Charley's Crab
in Troy, Crooks and 1-75, this
Sunday, 4-8 p.m. . . . It's for
his 18 years "on the bench"
there plus such recognition as
the Leavell item, his inclu-
sion in a recent history of
boogie-woogie and being
selected to appear at a boogie
and stride piano festival in
Paris, France, March 7-9.
A number of Detroit
pianists will "sit in" at the
piano in honor of Bob . . . He
and Mark Braun will play a
boogie duet on the same
piano.
In the recently-published
history of boogie-woogie
piano, A Left Hand Like God,
author Peter J. Silvester says,
"Of all the contemporary
pianists, Seeley reproduces
the sound and spirit of Meade
"Lux" Lewis with the most
conviction and sometimes
even surpasses the master."
Bob was an admirer and
friend of Meade "Lux" Lewis
and greatly influenced by this
seminal master of boogie and
stride piano.
Chuck Muer hired him to
play at the original Charley's
Crab on Pine Lake, which
burned in February, 1975 .. .
He plays at the new Charley's
Crab Tuesday through Satur-
day evenings, 7-11 p.m.
His appearance in Paris
will be at the Hotel Lutetia,
where nine boogie and stride
pianists from all over Europe
will perform- on two pianos.
Bob has , appeared at a
number of piano festivals in
this country, including the St.
Louis Ragtime Festival .. .
He was one of seven pianists
playing the Rags to Riches
concert at CW. Post College of
Long Island University in
New York . . . at which the

New York Daily World
reviewer said, "The final ar-
tist of the evening, Bob Seeley
from Detroit, was the least
known and yet the most
dramatic. If the previous
pianist had set the piano on
fire, it could be said that

Seeley turned the piano into
a conflagration with hard-
driving blues and boogie
pieces."
CONGRATS ... to Izzy
Malin . . . on his birthday
tomorrow . . . and to Izzy and
wife Fran . . . on their 53rd
anniversary this Wednesday.
a
SOUNDS LIKE
vaudeville or song and dance
team, but Steve Lim and Bar-
bara Lam, as Lim and Lam,
are brother and sister who
have opened the 91-seat
Shanghai Cafe at the former
Irving's Deli site in LaMirage
Mall, Northwestern north of
12 Mile.
Lim and Lam are phonetic
variations of the same last
name . . . a large family ..
Steve was brought here to live
with relatives 33 years ago
when only 7 years old . . . Bar-
bara arrived in the United
States at age 10 in 1966 with
the rest of her Lam family .. .
Both were born in Hong
Kong.
They are fourth generation
Michigan area restaurateurs
. . . beginning with their
great-grandfather, Yamack
Lam, who pioneered Chinese
food in the Detroit area as
chef for Victor Lim's on
Adams . . . Grandfather Noon
Lam opened Ming Palace in
Northland . . . and their
parents, King and Soo Lam,
own the Golden Crown in Bir-
mingham where Steve and
Barbara worked.
One would never know
Shanghai Cafe had once been
a delicatessen . . . Even -
previous owner Rose Gutt-
man was shocked at the
renovation . . . The kitchen
with its long line of woks and
gleaming stainless steel is
everything but the gefilte
fish, etc., back room that
always seemed too small.
Ron Rea's decorations in
front complete the trans-
formation with simple but
elegant decor . . . A stylized
papier-mache dragon which
hangs over a seating area
was commissioned to be
done in early December of
1990 . . . The artist is
actually a librarian for
the Chicago Public Library
original version to the
Chinatown branch where it
hangs today. .
Lim and Lam may not be a
vaudeville or song and dance
team, but the restaurant
game in itself can truly be
considered somewhat of an
adjunct to show business.
BEST BET Of The
Weekend . . . "Michigan The

Bountiful" . . . this Sunday,
3-6 p.m. at Southfield Civic
Center . . . with top chefs and
dining spots making up a
lavish array of culinary stars
. . . $40 per person supports
4
the Michigan Chefs de
Cuisine scholarship program.
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DON'T THROW away
your old clothes . . . they may
be back in style . . . And think
twice about giving good
clothes away because they
don't fit anymore.
Now comes a Korean gent
with an Italian name who has -I
the "old school" knack of
custom tailoring for both men
and women still a part of him.
He's Chin Bok Pak at Gino's
Tailoring in Southfield Com-
mons, Southfield north of 12

Bob Seeley has
been at the
Charley's Crab
keyboard for 25
years.

Mile . . . yes, he's Gino . . . and
it's quite simple how the
name came about . . . After
two years as head tailor at
Doug Hoffman in Birm-
ingham, Chin spent seven
more years as head tailor at
-Jack's Place in Northland,
where everyone called him
Chino . . . When he decided to
go out on his own in
November, Chin figured that
people could say Gino better
than they could Chino, and so
the change.
Chin,
Chino,
Gino,
whatever, his work by hand is
an art he's been at 25 years.
LOOKS LIKE Variety —
The Children's Charity is on
a success roll with it's pre-
screenings . . . Last year
Bruce Willis' In Country was
to have been premiered but
instead, screened before
Variety's "Lights, Camera,
Auction" was, as it turned out
so luckily, Look Who's Talk-
ing, which became a
"sleeper" box office smash
hit . . . This year, not too
many realized when told of
Kevin Costner's Dances With
Wolves that it would also be a
whopper . . . and is already
winning awards . . . plus pro-
bably taking home some
Oscars . . . Milt London, who
gets these films for Variety,
must be a psychic.

INTERNATIONAL

Culture Festival by Ritz
Carlton Dearborn is a six-
week celebration of world-
noted fine food and wine plus
automobiles, music, fashion
and conversation.

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