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Scene In Detroit: Zombie and Whiskey Sundays

By Amelia Kanan, CBS Detroit Blogger

Sunday nights are my favorite night of the week. I like to relax, make lists for my week and kick back to watch some tube. Since I'm in a limbo living situation with my parents, my "tube" is controlled by two older co-inhabitants who have a very different viewing style than myself. This forces me to get creative with my avenues and venues for watching "my programs," as my late great grand-mama would say.

Hence, Nancy Whiskey.

The 106-year-old Corktown pub is warm and inviting. The Sunday night bartender Dan is easy to talk to and sweet on the eyes. It was his idea to take advantage of the huge projector screen and solid audio system, typically used for sports, to watch one of his favorite shows, AMC's "The Walking Dead." Lo and behold, as we all know "if you build it, they will come". Nancy Whiskey has become a living room away from home for people who want to watch the cult series. The crowd that gathers is diverse but ready to bond over each other's commentary.

I have to be honest, I hadn't watched "The Walking Dead" since its premiere in 2010 (not because I didn't like it but because I have Television Commitment Issues, aka TCI, but this made no difference.) In fact, I made lots of new friends who felt a responsibility to take me under their wings and brief me with backstories. Not to mention, the zombie kills and surprises are so much more hyped with the crowd reactions of laughs, screams, audible cringing and "get 'er done's!" (all of which are respectfully placed within the scripted pauses and reactions).

Once the current season of "The Walking Dead" ends, Dan hopes to keep the Sunday night tradition going and open it up to movies or another series.

If you're a zombie lover, television enthusiast, a-loner-who-doesn't-want-to-be-a-loner or looking for a low-key but social Sunday night activity, definitely head to Nancy Whiskey for your fix. Oh, and if it's your first time, be sure to let the bartender know so he can give you a complimentary shot of whiskey to shoot with him after he tells you a short history of the historic pub.

Amelia Kanan is freelance writer/photographer and a returning native of Detroit. A graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, she wrote for an Emmy nominated sketch comedy show and pursued her passion for documentary filmmaking in Los Angeles. An incomplete list of her loves: books, human rights, improv, the smell of new shoes, talking to strangers, libraries, France, yoga, furniture, music, sociology and pushing the limits.

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