12 Days of GRiZMAS, Detroit Urban Craft Fair, David Sedaris, and more things to do in metro Detroit this week

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Lizz Wilkinson

GRiZ performs at GRiZMAS 2019.

Select events happening in metro Detroit this week. Submit your events to metrotimes.com/calendar.

12 Days of GRiZMAS

Wed 12/1-Sun 12/12: There's the holidays and then there's the holidaze, which is how Detroit blazes, er, celebrates the most wonderful, blaze-tastic time of the year. 'Tis the season for the 12 Days of GRiZMAS, an annual festival hosted by Michigan's own kush-smoking DJ and philanthropist GRiZ, who just this year, also launched his own line of cannabis products as well as a limited coffee blend (stocking stuffers, anyone?) and is, once again, giving back in a big way. Now in its 8th year, the 12 Days of GRiZMAS is 12 consecutive days of trippy community-oriented activities, many of which will benefit the event's annual charity partner, Seven Mile, an organization offering after-school and summer camp programming engaging local youth in music and creative arts. (GRiZMAS says it's raised more than $100,000 for Seven Mile since its inception.) The event kicks off with an opening night workshop at GRiZMAS HQ (1301 Broadway St., Detroit) where folks can pop in and donate to the ongoing coat and toy drive, shop exclusive GRiZ merch, and bid on the charity auction, among other holiday activities and offerings. The rest of GRiZMAS looks something like this: Crafts and cocktails night at Spot Lite Detroit; GRiZMAS charity dodgeball tournament at the Durfee Innovation Society; a 24-hour global charity livestream/mystery party; yoga at a surprise location; team trivia livestream; a community day, which connects interested volunteers with local non-profit organizations; local mic night at DIME; a jazz jam livestream with GRiZ and friends at the Magic Stick; and rainbow roller disco at Bonaventure Family Skating rink in Farmington Hills. As with previous years, GRiZMAS concludes with a pair of performances by the man himself, this year, however, we get a bonus performance, which means there are three opportunities to blaze your own trail through the holiday season, with a little help from our saxophone-wielding friend. —Jerilyn Jordan

Magic of Lights

Wed 12/1-Sat 1/1: Lights are, like, kind of a big deal. So much so that people write songs about, well, lights. There's Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" and the Weeknd's "Blinding Lights," "There's a Light that Never Goes Out" by the Smiths, and, of course, Ellie Goulding's 2010 banger "Lights." Embracing the power of lights, once again, is DTE Energy Music Theatre, which is hosting its second annual vehicular holiday extravaganza, Magic of Lights. Last year, the event attracted 250,000 light-seekers who basked in the glow of the event's winding light display featuring holiday-themed scenes using LED technology, as well as digital animations which now include a Prehistoric Christmas and Mega Tree displays. There are some return favorites, like the drive-thru Blizzard Tunnel, 12 Days of Christmas Winter Wonderland, and The Night Before Christmas. While this is a family-friendly event, take it from us, hotbox yourself into the holiday spirit and soak in the sights while simultaneously trying to take a stab at just how much the Magic of Lights electric bill is. —Jerilyn Jordan

Detroit Urban Craft Fair

Fri 12/3-Sun 12/5: Life's a stitch, then you D.I.Y. Thankfully, the annual indie shopping event aka the Detroit Urban Craft Fair has returned to take the bull-scrap out of the often soulless nightmare that is holiday shopping (because with every trip to Sharper Image to buy a step-dad a neck massager, an angel actually loses its wings). After a virtual version of the shopping bazaar last year, DUCF will celebrate its 16th year as Michigan's longest-running indie craft fair that has, in the past, welcomed upwards of 10,000 visitors throughout the crafty AF weekend, all of whom are invited to peruse the more than 100 juried vendors specializing in everything from jewelry, clothing, accessories, home decor, bath products, children's items, and other contemporary handmade goods. Opening night will offer some make-and-take crafts as well as a live craft installation and there will also be various giveaways throughout the weekend-long event. For anyone who may be unable to make it to the in-person event (or if all this chatter about the new COVID variant that sounds like the name of a new Marvel villain, Omicron, has you spooked) DUCF will offer a detailed list of its vendors with all the linkage to their online stores and social media pages so you can still support midwest makers from the safety of your couch/bed/bathtub. —Jerilyn Jordan

The Aces

Sat, 12/4: It's been a minute since we've heard the joyful indie pop stylings of the Aces, the Utah foursome composed of sisters Alisa and Cristal Ramirez as well as longtime friends Katie Henderson and McKenna Petty, whose sophomore record, 2021's Under My Influence is the reality show/mall shopping montage soundtrack of our pent up pandemic dreams. A follow-up to the band's 2018 debut When My Heart Felt Volcanic, which was basically an upbeat sun-steeped ode to heartbreak (and gave us JR JR vibes or a Disney Channel version of Haim which, like, is, if you know us, a compliment), Under My Influence turns the dial up on sultry, synthy, and totally dancy Selling Sunset meets Tove Lo energy. Perhaps the most relatable song on the record is "My Phone Is Trying to Kill Me," during which the Ramirez sisters refer to their phones as being akin to "a monster" in their pockets. "Fucked up, drinking, smoking / Trying to live in the moment / I check that screen just one more time / My phone is trying to kill me / On read I feel hopless," they harmonize. Now excuse us while we put our phones on "do not disturb" and, you know, turn our attention to another screen or two. —Jerilyn Jordan

David Sedaris

Tue, 12/7: No personal opinion, observation, or neurotic musing is off-limits for prolific humorist, nonfiction legend, and unironic lover of culottes, David Sedaris, who since taking to NPR in 1992 to read his now-famous essay "SantaLand Diaries" (during which he details his stint as a department store elf during Christmas) has made life a whole lot easier to laugh at. In recent years, Sedaris has come under scrutiny due in part to writer Alex Heard, who fact-checked some of Sedaris' work in 2007 only to discover some of his published essays involved exaggerated accounts with fictitious characters. But, like everything, Sedaris puts his spin on his already quirky world view and, as a result, invites us into a world in which we are reminded that we are the authors of our own stories. Hey, it's not like he went all James Frey or Stephen Glass and, anyway, no one seems to care much as to how fanciful his memories of personal accounts might be, a testament to his whimsical approach to the art of writing. Anyway, fast-forward to Sedaris' 13th collection of essays, this year's Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020), which is exactly (and nothing like) what it sounds like: a charcuterie board of self-examination. Sedaris found himself in hot water after a "joke" didn't land. During a CBS segment last year, Sedaris complained about poor customer service during the pandemic and introduced the idea of "citizen's dismissal," which is basically a citizen's arrest but instead of detaining someone, you get to fire them. In this economy? Woof. Maybe just ... stick to culottes. —Jerilyn Jordan

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