As an alt-weekly, Metro Times prides itself on providing an alternative view from mainstream media organizations. While news is moving to online platforms, we continue to create a print edition each and every week — and it’s free. Click through this slideshow to see Metro Times‘ year in cover stories.

It seems safe to say that nobody expected Donald Trump to win the 2016 presidential election — not even Trump himself. Yet here we are. The pooch has been screwed. We have our president. There’s only one way out of this. If you thought the campaign season was long, just wait for the next few years. Here’s our step-by-step guide on how to get through them.
Now, Michigan’s autonomous laws are the broadest in the nation. If Detroit hasn’t been the leader in driverless technology, we could now be poised to become it. But is the Motor City ready to give up the steering wheel?
Once again, Metro Times brings you our roundup of the 15 best new bands in the metropolitan area. Rock out to the new sounds of young Detroit.
Chilean-born Camilo Jose Vergara is the country’s premier photographic chronicler of the American inner city. He started out in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, carefully re-photographing urban landscapes from the same position, creating a visual record of poor neighborhoods as buildings fell victim to disinvestment, arson, and demolition. Vergara, who has been visiting Detroit every year since 1991, released a new book, Detroit Is No Dry Bones — a long, fond look at the city Vergara finds, in its intact opulence and even in its decay, rich with beautiful imagery.
The hijacker from Detroit left St. Louis with a fortune — but it all slipped from his grasp somewhere over Indiana. This is the story of the final flight of Martin McNally.
Today, Dita Von Teese is probably the world’s premier burlesque performer, a modern-day beauty icon in the vein of the archetypal Old Hollywood femme fatale. But long before she was Dita Von Teese from Los Angeles, she was shy, blonde Heather Sweet from a farming town in Michigan. Here’s how she made her Midwest makeover.
In August 2015, Susanne Hilberry passed away at age 72 from complications associated with a brain tumor. In February, the Susanne Hilberry Gallery closed its doors, ending a four-decade run presenting both leading artists of the 20th and 21st centuries as well as emerging unknowns. Here’s a look back at a rare woman with agency and self-determination, who built the world around her.
For Muslim women, few aspects of the religion generate as much controversy and intrigue as the hijab, the headscarf worn by many Muslim women in observance of their faith. Yet by the thousands, Muslim women challenge stereotypes surrounding the hijab daily. They are doctors, businesswomen, and stay-at-home moms. They are writers, labor activists, and professionals. They’re as varied and complex as their non-Muslim counterparts. And they live here peacefully, proudly serving their metro Detroit communities.
The process of hydraulic fracturing has set off a bonanza of pipeline-building, as energy giants look for ways to profitably exploit a rapidly changing North American market for hydrocarbons. But as critics see it, this pipeline-building spree is an under-regulated, speculative bonanza in which residents end up having to pay a high price for a system of questionable value when it’s all built. This is behind the fight against the Nexus pipeline.
We have a problem in this country. We tell our young people that they’re never — ever — supposed to drink anything but water or Sunny D until they’re 21, and then we set them loose into a society rich with “drinking holidays” all over the country, from Fargo to Fort Lauderdale, where you’re encouraged to gather with thousands of other inebriated people and “have a good time.” That’s just a recipe for disaster. So here are some of the best pieces of advice we could come up with for that newly minted 21-year-old about to have his first drink in a public setting (wink-wink).
It seems that for all the buzz in recent years about Detroit’s dining scene, the city is suffering from a good server drought. But with the help of restaurants like Rose’s — plus, fine dining establishments like Chartreuse, Selden Standard, and Mabel Gray — the narrative of Detroit’s service industry is changing. Detroit is slowly beginning to amass a rank of hospitality virtuosos.
The word “trouble” doesn’t really capture what is at stake, both environmentally and economically, if the invasive Asian carp succeed in what has so far seemed like their inevitable push to colonize the Great Lakes, the biggest home they could ever hope to find, and one that still sustains a multibillion-dollar commercial and recreational fishery. Here’s how the Great Lakes could get overtaken with Asian carp — and how they could be saved.
Brunch is big business, an increasingly important part of the dining scene, a meal restaurants depend on. As for the economics of it, they prove themselves. The business of brunch is just booming. Here’s a selection of local brunch offerings.
With the 2017 Detroit Tigers season upon us it is time to take in all the majesty that is Detroit Tigers baseball. Detroit Sports Nation editors Alex Muller and Don Drysdale give their thoughts on what the new season will hold for Tigers fans.
Under a package of reform bills passed last year in Lansing, newly legalized dispensaries will be supplied exclusively by marijuana produced at state-licensed commercial grows. But the costs associated with running a large-scale commercial grow are enormous. Such costs and the inability to sell to dispensaries will likely render many of the state’s 40,000-plus caregivers incapable of entering the medical marijuana industry in its new iteration.
On April 25, Flint’s residents will mark a grim anniversary. That’s when, in an ill-fated attempt to save a few million dollars, state officials decided to draw the city’s drinking water from the highly corrosive Flint River while the new Karegnondi pipeline connecting Genesee County to Lake Huron was being built. The world now knows what happened after that. But a closer look at public records shows how racism and political power grabbing combined to produce tragic consequences.
Nothing in the Motor City comes easy. It’s winter, seemingly, for half the year. People here are skeptical of hype, and rightfully so. Detroiters can be a tough crowd, and you have to be Detroit-tough to survive and thrive here. It’s no minor feat to be Detroit-approved. Once again, we wanted to find out who is leading the pack. So we’ve quizzed readers in our annual Best of Detroit poll.
On her second full-length, Telephone, Jessica Hernandez says she finally took control of her work fully and got to make the album that she’s always wanted to make — a bilingual double album in English and Spanish.
The night 18-year-old Bernard Howard was hauled into Detroit police headquarters he was unequivocal: He knew nothing. So he was released. Three days later, when officers brought him downtown again, they’d changed their tune. He was being held overnight for murder. That was July 1994. At the time, Howard was a young man with a family to take care of and a prospective job at a General Motors plant in the works. But instead of working on a car production line he has been imprisoned ever since, fighting a murder conviction that he maintains was manufactured by Detroit police and an enterprising jailhouse informant.
In May, Detroit’s new QLine streetcar debuted amid much fanfare. But for many, the $180 million streetcar does little to address the region’s public transportation woes.
Movement, Detroit’s annual electronic music festival, returns. Here’s a look at 11 can’t-miss acts from the lineup.
Each year, Detroit Grand Prix’s organizers take over nearly half of the 982-acre Belle Isle island park for about three months each spring and summer, turning it into a heavy construction zone and, eventually, a 2.3-mile raceway. This year, construction for the June 2 through June 4 event started in early April, and breakdown will last several weeks beyond that. The intrusion is dismaying and frustrating to many regular parkgoers who visit the island for its natural beauty.
It’s the Metro Times Summer Guide — featuring 15 low-key beaches within driving distance of Detroit, how to beat the heat in these 20 Michigan beach town bars, 10 places to swim for (almost free) in metro Detroit, 20 Instagram-worthy Michigan campsites, your guide to Michigan’s summer festivals, Detroit’s hottest outdoor summer concerts, and a search for Detroit’s best frozen custard.
Something is definitely changing in high school athletics, and girls breaking into sports where only boys had competed is one of the factors attracting fresh interest. Michigan’s female wrestlers have blazed a trail, and now they deserve a state championship.
To get a better handle on the pros and cons of plant-based dining in Detroit, we talked to over 20 vegans in southeast Michigan. We looked for eateries, cafes, pop-ups, or food trucks at which vegans enjoy the same sort of hard decisions that meat eaters encounter. It’s by no means a definitive list, but here are 72 of the spots that our sources say are among the metro Detroit and Ann Arbor’s most vegan-friendly.
Former American Idol runner-up Jena Irene Asciutto reinvented herself with a new record, Cold Fame, and the stoner anthem “So I Get High.” To learn more about her life after Idol, writer Jerilyn Jordan had a smoking session with the young rising pop star.
Supporting the arts is a crucial component of Seraphine Collective, but as feminists the group say they’re also able to shed light on social justice in the community, particularly as it relates to the music scene. One way in which this has recently manifested itself is through a series of community dialogues around ending rape culture.
Ann Arbor’s Laith Al-Saadi talks about his experience trying to convert his appearance on televised talent show The Voice to attract new fans of his original blues-based music.
2017 marked the 50-year anniversary of the summer of civil unrest in Detroit. Call it a “rebellion,” “riot,” and even “ri-bellion” — the “rebellion” in the title of this feature is not a reference to the incident. It’s rather an allusion to the subversive spirit of those who were generous enough with their time for a radical’s oral history of 1967.
D-Cyphered is photographer Jenny Risher’s photo exhibition on Detroit hip-hop. It features more than 80 portraits of Detroit’s most notable hip-hop figures, including Eminem, Big Sean, Danny Brown, Dej Loaf, and Tee Grizzley, among many others. It’s the first time the Detroit Institute of Arts has featured an exhibit strictly focused on Detroit music. MT contributor Kahn Santori Davison, who wrote and edited the exhibition’s texts, talks with Risher about how she created her project.
Detroit mayor’s race seemed as if city residents had just two choices: incumbent Mayor Mike Duggan and challenger State Senator Coleman Young Jr. However, Detroiters actually had a dozen additional people to consider when they cast their votes in the mayoral primary.
Our People Issue featured some of the people who we think are doing important work in the city, region, and state. Some you might have already heard of. Others might not be household names, but equally as important. In the end, we tried to show a wide cross section of the fabric of Detroit.
Day after day, more retail conglomerates announce store closings — 3,000 shuttered this year alone, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Despite these losses, Detroit’s indie retail scene appears to be thriving — especially in districts like Midtown, Eastern Market, and Downtown. Other areas like New Center — home of the Fisher Building — and the Avenue of Fashion are on the cusp of revival.
In our annual College Guide: A look at U-M’s Detroit history, the abrupt closure of Marygrove’s undergrad program, how to get involved on campus even if you commute, a roundup of our favorite on-campus cafés, and more.
In our annual guide to Detroit’s festival season includes looks at the Detroit Jazz Festival; Panic in Hamtramck; Arts, Beats & Eats; and more.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of Detroit public schools students charged Gov. Snyder, the members of the Michigan Board of Education, and various other state officials with failing to provide an opportunity to learn. How Detroit students made a federal case out of the city’s broken schools.
Of all the Detroit indie bands to rise to international prominence, Protomartyr might be among the most unlikely. The band eschews the theatricality and stylishness of the bands of the early 2000s garage rock boom, instead dressing in street clothes. The music is cold and foreboding, and Joe Casey is an unassuming frontman, known for his stoic delivery.
In our Fall Arts Guide: Inside Detroit’s merciless graffiti crackdown, a Month of Art and Design, fall fashion from emerging Detroit designers, and more.
Earlier this year, Kid Rock claimed he was running for U.S. Senate. To better understand his politics, we attempted to go to all six of his shows at Little Caesars Arena.
In 2016 and again in 2017, Michigan’s wealthiest developer and resident, Dan Gilbert, told lawmakers that he can’t make the numbers work for two upcoming projects without a huge new pot of public money. And with that, lawmakers and Gilbert’s lobbyists went to work, creating an opaque set of laws colloquially called the “Gilbert Bills” because their chief inspiration and design are to provide taxpayer assistance for Gilbert’s projects. How Dan Gilbert just scored up to $1 billion in taxpayer money — and few noticed.
HGTV’s home improvement shows have become a pop culture phenomenon. But Detroiter Nicole Curtis’ Rehab Addict is different — while HGTV’s shows are, as a rule, mind-numbingly repetitive, Rehab Addict is formulaic only in its unpredictability.
There’s perhaps no pro sports team in recent memory that spoiled its fans with its success quite like the Detroit Red Wings. Yet in recent years, the once-proud team has struggled. A look at the rise, fall, and stalled rebuild of Ken Holland’s Red Wings.
In our Halloween Issue: How pumpkin spice flavor took over America, haunted attractions, haunted music venues, and more.
MT staff writer Alysa Zavala-Offman went a year without shaving. Here’s what she learned about herself, her body, and her relationship.
In an era where a debate over race and police-related killings rages across the country — and 50 years after racist policing sparked the rebellion that would redefine Detroit forever — a Michigan State Police officer’s killing of an unarmed teenager has provoked a new storm of outrage over how America’s blackest large city is policed.
Detroit rapper Danny Brown damn near broke the internet when he got his teeth fixed this year. His gapped and broken-toothed smile (earned from several childhood mishaps) had been his unofficial trademark. We met up with Brown before his annual Bruiser Thanksgiving blowout.
In our Holiday Gift Guide: How to shop local, gift ideas for the un-material girl (or boy) in your life, Detroit books, and more.
In February of 2017, the notorious metal venue Harpos was bought by Ruzvelt Stevanovski, the former owner of metal club Blondies, who promises to breathe new life into the club for future generations. In the meantime, past employees and patrons look back at the iconic venue. These are their stories.
In a time where equal access to the internet nationally appears under threat, approximately 40 percent of Detroit households remain completely offline, even as slick new providers like the Dan Gilbert-founded Rocket Fiber emerge to keep pace with the city’s frenetic development. And for the hundreds of thousands of residents left unconnected, the consequences are stark.
Given Michigan’s sizable Muslim population, we thought it was important to compile the highlights of a year that government statisticians and advocacy groups say is on track to be the worst yet for hate crimes and bias incidents against Muslims. What follows are synopses of some of the key incidents with Michigan connections, as well as overviews of the problem from national observers.
Happy New Year! Here’s 50 ways to ring in 2018 in Detroit.
As we look back at the Dumpster fire of a year that was 2017, it’s important to set our sights closer to home and honor Michigan’s best — the best of the worst, that is. That’s right, folks: It’s once again time for Metro Times’ annual Dubious Achievement Awards.

Have something to share?

SEND US A NEWS TIP

Since 1980, Metro Times has been Detroit’s premier alternative source for news, arts, culture, music, film, food, fashion and more from a liberal point of view.