Cover Stories
Detroit bankruptcy timeline of events
January 2011 • Venture capitalist Rick Snyder, the self-described “one tough nerd” who campaigned on the theme of being a moderate, is sworn in as governor. Holding his right hand up, with palm out, and with his left hand on a family Bible, Snyder swore to “support” both the U.S. Constitution and the state constitution. The…
Examining the body of evidence in Detroit’s bankruptcy trial
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr stood behind a lectern in a ballroom on the University of Michigan’s campus, telling an attentive crowd how the civic-minded values absorbed here at his alma mater helped lead to a job that, when first offered, he wanted no part of. His initial response wasn’t just no, but an emphatic…
Thoughts from the 43rd Ann Arbor Hash Bash
“I like smoking weed,” said the guy wearing a bright, multicolored jacket with Batman’s nemesis “The Joker” on it. “Is that a bad thing?” Not at the 43rd Ann Arbor Hash Bash, where marijuana was inhaled freely by the crowd estimated to be 8,000 strong under the sunny skies of a spring day. Guitarist Laith…
Expired parking meter fines in Detroit would jump to $45 under emergency manager proposal
(Source: Wikimedia Commons) Parking scofflaws beware: All fines for parking violations will increase under a proposal from Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, effectively squashing the practice of settling for an expired meter ticket instead of a parking lot. (We consider ourselves well-versed in the field.) The move follows a suggestion Orr made in his 440-page…
Ypsilanti police searching for ‘mystery pooper’
“Stop shitting all over me!” Well, this is tasteless. Ypsilanti police are actively pursuing a suspect aptly described as the “mystery pooper,” a man who has been defecting on slides in the city’s Prospect Park for nearly six months. From MLive: Officials have discovered feces on the slides so frequently that police installed a hidden…
City Slang: Jack White to play the Fox Theatre and the Masonic Temple in July
Just announced – Jack White will headline at the Fox Theatre on July 28, and then at the Masonic Temple on July 30, as part of his tour for the LAZARETTO album, out June 10. Tickets go on sale Friday April 11 at 10 a.m. Here’s the press release: “Jack White has announced his first…
[VIDEO] Grand Rapids College Students Pull Best April Fools’ Prank Ever
An Aquinas College professor known for his strict cell phone policy– students must answer the call on speakerphone if their phones ring during class– had the tables turned on him last week when his students pulled an epic April Fools’ joke. If you haven’t yet seen this video, we won’t spoil it for you. Just…
Bret Michaels, George Clinton and Josh Gracin to headline Stars & Stripes
This year’s Stars & Stripes Festival will be headlined by Bret Michaels, country singer Josh Gracin, and George Clinton. The event takes place June 26-29 at Freedom Hill. They say, “Due to the overwhelming popularity of the event, Funfest Productions is adding a fourth day and the event will now kickoff on Thursday, June 26th…
Want to host a reproduction of a DIA painting?
Image courtesy of Inside | Out’s Facebook. How would you like to host one of the DIA’s paintings for a week? The Detroit Institute of Arts’ Inside | Out program brings reproductions of some of the museum’s paintings to various outdoor locations throughout Detroit and the suburbs — a nice reminder that there’s a whole building…
Film Review: The Raid 2
The Raid 2 | B Sometimes enough is enough. While no one can deny that writer-director-editor Gareth Evans pushes the envelope of what is possible in an action scene, there is such a thing as overkill. By the time you emerge from The Raid 2’s mind-boggling, show-stopping and utterly exhausting succession of brawls, gun battles,…
Film Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldier | A- Back in November you could start to feel the comic book movie fatigue settling in with the release of Thor: The Dark World. Oh, the movie was entertaining enough, albeit in a dumb, low-stakes sort of way, but after the relentlessly glum Dark Knight finale, the equally dour…
Detroit City FC to play pre-season game in Berkley
Soccer team Detroit City FC will play a pre-season game at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 19 against Saginaw Valley State University at Berkley’s Hurley Field. Admission is $5, unless you’re a season ticket holder in which case it’s free. They say, “Le Rouge will take the field for the first time in 2014 in…
Game of Thrones Power Rankings (Season 3 Recap)
Game of Thrones Power Rankings (Season 3 Recap Edition) Winter is coming! Like, tonight! Game of Thrones is back (!!!), but before we dive into a fourth season of death, decapitation, torture, castration, incest, crossbow practice, and sexposition, let’s take a quick look back at how our key players and themes fared last…
City Slang: Gardenia Bluegrass & Roots Fest returning to Royal Oak
The Gardenia Bluegrass & Roots Festival will take place at the Royal Oak Farmer’s Market on Friday, April 11. Doors are at 7:30 p.m. (6:30 VIP), and cover is $25-$50. The bill features Keller & the Keel, the Ragbirds, Catfish Mafia, and the Crave Wives. They say, “Grand Circus Media, Liquid Events Detroit, and The…
City Slang: Not Without a Fight signs deal with Brain Fuse
Detroit pop-punk band Not Without a Fight has signed a record deal with Virginia-based label Brain Fuse Records. The label also has the likes of the Stillwater, Boom Kinetic!, Another Close Call, and Dreamwalk on its roster. You can find out more here. They say, “The Detroit 5-piece formed in 2012, comprised of members of…
I-96 will be closed for months; here’s some other ways to get around construction
(Courtesty of MDOT) In case you weren’t aware, I-96 in Livonia between Newburgh and Telegraph roads will soon be closed for up to nine months. As the Freep notes today, that has numerous businesses along the freeway worried. It also will be a pain for motorists — that is, until they find another way around construction. If…
Duendesday at the Loving Touch
As ever, Jeff Howitt and Duende! put together a killer bill for April’s Duendesday. Unfortunately, according to the ever-charming Howitt this may have been the last event for a while. The good news is that at least three of the bands of the bands that played on Wednesday night are playing the Blowout – Duende!,…
Seth Rogen: Detroit Mayor Should Smoke Crack
If you missed Tuesday night’s episode of Conan, you also may have missed the latest celebrity suggestion for “saving” Detroit, which, this time, comes to us via Seth Rogen. We’ll go ahead and let you watch this video for yourself and decide if Mayor Mike should give this tactic the old college try.
Would a vineyard on Belle Isle work?
By Ayana Bryant-Weekes The giant slide, conservatory, aquarium, museum, casino, and brand new Indy Car racetrack – attractions that make Belle Isle a classic Detroiter’s get-away. In the land of Lions, Tigers and Coney Dogs, two local businessmen are planning to add a vineyard and winery to that Belle Isle Park experience. The initial idea…
In arena deal, Detroit worshipping Mike Ilitch
What baffles me most about Detroit is not the blight. Not the corruption, not the stupidity of some of its politicians, or anything the emergency manager is doing. No. What’s most stunning to me is the way Detroit has rolled over, again and again, to let Mike Ilitch and his family use the city as…
Hamtramck Banksy an April Fools’ Prank to Remember
Not to put too fine a point on it, but of course we knew all along that the “Banksy” that was spotted on Commor near Sobieski in Hamtramck was an April Fool’s Day gag. It was the handiwork of Hamtramck’s Hillary Cherry. Those who know her from her regular appearances at Hamtramck City Council meetings…
Electric Six
Electric Six frontman Dick Valentine fondly recalls the inherent enthusiasm and unpredictability at past Blowouts. The singer-songwriter and sharp satirist performed the first two years fronting the Wildbunch, which reformed as Electric Six in 2001 and released its breakout single “Danger! High Voltage.” E6 is completed by bassist Keith Thompson, drummer Mike Alonso, keyboardist Christopher…
Releases by Annihilator, The Oak Ridge Boys, Enrique Iglesias
Annihilator Feast (Limited Edition) UDR Feast is the new album from veteran Canadian thrash metallers Annihilator, and the limited edition comes complete with a live DVD recorded at Wacken, and a bonus CD (Re-Kill) of re-recorded old songs. It’s quite a package, not least because the new album by itself is an excellent, fresh-sounding metal…
Film Review: The Unknown Known
Villains tend to see themselves as the hero of their own narrative, and so it is with former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a man who endlessly evades, denies and equivocates, but never wavers in his own immense self-belief. Filmmaker Errol Morris’ exhaustive and exasperating interrogation attempts to probe the mysterious workings of his subject’s vast…
City Slang: DMA acoustic showcase at Zumba
The Detroit Music Awards Foundation will host an acoustic showcase on Tuesday, April 8 from 5 to 11 p.m. at Zumba Mexican Grille in Royal Oak. There will be performances from Carolyn Striho & Scott Dailey, Corktown Popes, Frankie D’Angelo, Gia Warner, Ryan Dillaha, and Tom Butwin. Pay a $5 donation at the door, and…
Film Review: Noah
Noah | B The Lord — and major movie studios — both work in mysterious ways. How else can we explain why quixotic art-house visionary Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler) was endowed with the power of an estimated $125 million budget and granted the freedom to make an idiosyncratic Biblical epic that retains all…
When should a transgender person disclose?
Q: My boyfriend of three months, “Marcus,” told me last week that he is a trans man. He has performed oral sex on me and fingered me, but he never let me reciprocate and told me he didn’t want to have penis-in-vagina sex yet because to him that was a large commitment. We go to college…
Kaleido
It’s the first day of spring, the sun is out and the snow is starting to melt (thank God). We find ourselves in Eastpointe, in a bar called the Fairway, because that’s the home-base of local hard pop-rock band Kaleido. The bar is much like any other neighborhood drinking hole — you probably know it…
Tribute to avant-garde drummer Roy Brooks planned
Roy Brooks’ composition “Toys” was performed along with a bunch of wind-up toys marching around onstage beating drums and crashing little cymbals. He once performed his “Basketball” piece at Chene Park with a portable hoop and backboard near the stage, where Pershing High School basketball players shot hoops while he played. He invented the breathophone,…
Readers sound off on Opening Day lawbreakers
We had a number of strident responses to Michael Jackman’s piece on Opening Day lawbreakers. Jeff S posted: So, basically your point seems to be calling out white suburbanites for doing the same things that I’ve personally seen many Detroit residents do on a regular basis? Urinating in public? Like the guy I saw in…
City Council approves Joe Louis Arena demolition
The News Hits crew had no plans to wend its way through the hellish Opening Day crowd Monday, but Detroit City Council had called a special meeting to settle the score on Joe Louis Arena, the last issue needing to be resolved to allow the so-called $650 million catalyst development project including the new Detroit…
U-M pulls the plug on Work • Detroit
We have to admit we were disappointed to hear that the current show at the University of Michigan’s Work • Detroit Gallery would be its last. Indeed, while the university will continue to house offices for its other schools in its Detroit Center on Woodward and Martin Luther King Jr., the decision was quietly made…
Restaurant Review: Cardamom
1739 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor 734-662-2877 cardamoma2.com Handicap accessible Appetizers & sides: $2-$7 Entrées: $10-$22 Desserts : $3.50-$6 Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday & Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-10:30 p.m. Friday & Saturday; closed Monday. At a recent dinner at newish Ann Arbor restaurant Cardamom, I overheard a nearby group discussing…
Why dumb local leaders want to hit M.L. Elrick
M.L. Elrick has a Pulitzer to his name for his coverage, with the Free Press’ Jim Schaefer, of Kwame Kilpatrick’s illegal exploits. When it comes to local TV news reporters, there usually isn’t much to celebrate beyond the timeless hairdos and gimmicky headlines, but Elrick isn’t exactly a normal TV news reporter. He’s, you know,…
Musing along Woodward Avenue
Mulenga Harangua and I stepped out of Nandi’s Knowledge Café into the weak afternoon sunlight in Highland Park. “That was good,” Mulenga said, pulling a toothpick out of his pocket. “It sure was. About twice a year I need some fried fish, and this is the place to get it. I don’t eat it often,…
How to be a cheap wine snob
I know a good wine when I taste it, but I’ll drink mediocre wine if it’s in front of me, next to some lusty, fatty, protein-rich meal. Food is where I spend my money and do my fussing. And while decent wine is preferable, I don’t allocate much brain space to keeping track of wine…
Metro Detroit cheap wine picks
Box Score! Viña Borgia Spanish Garnacha Erin Galvin at Cloverleaf Fine Wine warns that it’s not a blended varietal, but tells us that a Spanish Garnacha that comes in boxes and bottles has been “insanely popular for three years.” It’s called Viña Borgia, and the box provides three liters, about four bottles’ worth. Galvin says,…
Meet Scott Sanford
“I divide my time between the bands Pewter Cub and Duende, both of which are actively performing and recording. Sometimes I join some friends onstage for a song or two such as VSTRS, Carjack or the semi-annual Halloween band Quiet Detroit. Each band has its own way of doing things and their own sound, so It’s…
Film Review: Nymphomaniac: Volume 1
Nymphomaniac: Volume 1 | C+ ‘He needs a female to provide his work soul. And he envies them and hates them for it. So he has to destroy them during the filming.’ —Björk talking about Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier Let’s get this out of the way: I could have done without seeing Shia LaBeouf’s genitalia…
Abandoned Hospital could have Future as Pile of Rubble
As the heated discussion of the Detroit City Council’s approval for a new hockey arena continues to smolder, the fate of a historical structure on the other side of town remains uncertain. Though it has not been vacant long, the Herman Kiefer Health Complex may not have a chance at redevelopment, simply because the city…
Another side of ‘The Albert’
Katy Levy was taken aback after watching a promo video for the new upscale lofts being constructed inside an Albert Kahn-designed building in Capitol Park at 1214 Griswold now called “The Albert.” The video, a promotional tool clearly seeking to attract young, affluent people, made the rounds across local news sites last month. The problem…
Detroit Among Most Underrated Food Cities in America
Thrillist has posted a list of the seven most underrated food cities in America, naming Detroit as one of them. The post read, in part: Being in Detroit puts you in ridiculously close proximity to some of the most authentic, best-tasting food you’d normally need a passport to enjoy. With the proper research/guidance, it’s totally…
Jack White announces new album ‘Lazaretto’
With Jack White, it’s never a question as to if he will release new music soon, but rather how, releasing a steady stream of albums as part of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather, Loretta Lynn, Wanda Jackson — or more recently, under his own name. Today, Third Man Records announced Jack White…
Banksy tags Hamtramck
Banksy, the notorious international street artist, has again tagged a Detroit-area location, The Hamtramck Star reports. The painting appeared on the corner of Sobieski and Commor in Hamtramck. Like all of Banksy’s paintings, the message is cryptic — art experts believe it could possibly be a reference to the 555 Gallery removing a purported Banksy…
Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is engaged
Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford reportedly popped the question to longtime girlfriend Kelly Hall on Monday. Hall’s brother spilled the engagement beans on social media shortly afterward with a shout-out to his little sis and new brother-in-law: Congratulations to my little sister @kellybhall and Matthew @staff_9 on their engagement! Welcome to http://t.co/XgFca2vAk8 — Chad Hall…
City Slang: Music review roundup
Send CDs, vinyl, cassettes, demos and 8-tracks to Brett Callwood, Metro Times, 1200 Woodward Heights, Ferndale MI 48220. Email MP3s and streaming links to bcallwood@metrotimes.com. The Flutter & Wow’s Urban Prairie album has been a long time coming. The husband and wife paring of Tasha and Brian were featured in the MT back in November…
Greetings from Bankruptcy Court: Retiree Tales Vol. 1
The court docket for Detroit’s historic bankruptcy case is filled with a never-ending stream of legalese and detailed plans that intend to reshape the fundamental structure of the city. For city retirees, the impact of those plans may be immense: Under Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s currently proposed bankruptcy-exit plan, police and fire employees could…
