Best Of Detroit 2014

It’s the Metro Times Best of Detroit issue once again, that time of the year when you, our readers, are given the opportunity to offer your opinions of all that’s great about metro Detroit. We really grilled you this year, with quite a lot of questions, and you responded in droves. When we’d finished tallying the results and set about the daunting task of writing it all up, we were more certain than ever that our readers are among the most well-informed, on-the-beam and damned funny people in the land. Rather than always plumping for the obvious options, you proved that you have an eye for the underground and surreal. Instead of siding with the latest flavor of the month, you recognized the mainstays, those that have struck it out over tough times and are still here to serve us. With that in mind, this year’s Best of Detroit mascot is Russell Taylor, aka Satori Circus, who has just celebrated 25 years as a performance artist. The saucy clown, now in his 50s, started his off-kilter cabaret act back in the late ’80s when there wasn’t much interest in that sort of thing around town, when clowns were considered an outdated form of kids entertainment in a pre-Cirque du Soleil world. Given the rise in Detroit’s burgeoning burlesque and fringe performance scene, Satori Circus has stuck it out and become a star of sorts, and thus the perfect metaphor for this issue. Stylish, entertaining and somewhat silly, even this clown knows that being the best in Detroit is serious business. Good to have you with us, Satori. And now, on with the show!

—MT Staff