Cover Story
Is Red Wings GM Ken Holland still the man for the job?
Long before he became the successful, respected, and well-liked general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, Ken Holland turned professional as a slightly built goalie during the mid-1970s. The Philadelphia Flyers dominated the era and tainted hockey’s image for decades by fist-fighting their way to two Stanley Cup championships as the “Broad Street Bullies.” Their…
Jeralean Talley, world’s oldest person and metro Detroit resident, passes away
Update: Jeralean Talley, an Inkster resident who was recently declared the oldest person in the world, passed away in her sleep on Wednesday evening at home. In May, Ms. Talley celebrated her 116 birthday and attributed her active lifestyle to her longevity. Originally posted: April 8, 2015 at 9:53 a.m. After the recent passing…
Red Bull will transform Hart Plaza into a skateboarding contest course
Update 2.09 p.m. Friday, May 8: Due to high possibility of storms this weekend, Red Bull Hart Lines will now open at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Originally posted on April 14, 2015: With its many ramps, stairways, and sculptures, we kind of always felt like Detroit’s Hart Plaza would make an excellent level in the Tony Hawk’s…
Kid Rock applied to be an Oakley police reservist
If you read our cover story last month on the odd situation in the Village of Oakley, which maintains a volunteer police force of 110 officers for a community of about 300 people, you might recall that wealthy businessmen, an NFL football player, and attorneys are among those who signed up to play cop. Turns…
Detroit officials, developers announce $50m plan to preserve Brewster Wheeler Rec Center
A team of developers and Detroit city officials announced a $50 million redevelopment of the historic Brewster Wheeler Rec Center located east of Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood. The preliminary proposal calls for a new restaurant , 150 new housing units, and new offices. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was joined Tuesday by City Councilwoman Mary Sheffield…
Registration now open for 2015 Allied Media Conference
Once again, Detroit will host the Allied Media Conference, bringing together a diverse group of thinkers.
If you liked Prince’s pop-up tour, you’ll love Jack White’s super pop-up $3 solo tour
Jack White’s new solo tour will consist of $3 shows, each announced the same day they’re taking place. These will be his last shows “for a long period of time,” so best of luck to all fans who hope to attend.
Bronx Bar closed, to reopen soon
Why the Bronx Bar is closed today: An Investigation.
Stabenow, Peters introduce resolution in opposition of Canadian plan to store nuclear waste near Lake Huron
Michigan’s representation in the U.S. Senate, Democrats Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, introduced a resolution on Tuesday that calls on President Barack Obama’s administration to oppose Canada’s plan to store nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin. A company located in our neighbor to the north has a proposal to build a permanent nuclear waste…
Ben and Jerry’s is giving away free ice cream today
Ice cream mogul Ben and Jerry’s is offering free scoops to patrons from 12 – 8 p.m. today. That’s right: free “scoops,” meaning you can go back for seconds or even thirds, though we reckon long lines will deter most folks from double dipping. Here’s a handy store locator to help you find the nearest…
Check out the Metro Times Blowout Schedule
Check out the schedule for Metro Times’ Blowout 18.
Zine in the mail makes us happy
Sometimes, a zine in the mail is like a bit of sunshine streaming right into your brain.
Latest preview of Yelawolf’s new Shady release features Eminem
On April 21, Yelawolf will release a new album, Love Story. It is the young rapper’s second studio album and it will be released on Eminem’s own Shady label. The album is executive produced by Eminem, who as you will hear, guest stars on the new song, “Best Friend.” Mr. Wolf, who seems to like tattoos, is…
Detroit city council delays rezoning request one week for new Red Wings arena — and that’s OK
Detroit City Council on Monday voted again to delay a proposed rezoning request to facilitate the construction of a new arena for the Detroit Red Wings until next week. Based on the response of parties involved — namely, Olympia Development of Michigan, the real estate arm of Red Wings owner Ilitch Holdings Inc. — this…
Burgers, Beer, & BBQ Festival kicks off Wyandotte Restaurant Week
Who knew: Wyandotte has a restaurant week.
Detroit dining: Quiet layoffs behind the scenes
Maybe it’s just coincidence, but Detroit’s restaurants just shed about a half-dozen staff this weekend.
Check out this footage of downtown Detroit in 1967
If you feel like taking a stroll down memory lane today, check out this footage of downtown Detroit in 1967, courtesy of YouTuber polaarbear’s channel and the product of Robert E. Lorey. In what ways has downtown Detroit changed? In what ways has it stayed the same? Drop your thoughts in the comment section below.
Swanky new movie theater to open April 30 in Farmington Hills
New theater will open in Farmington at the end of the month.
You can now stream Death’s new album
Death will release their first new material.
Rocket Fiber to charge downtown Detroit residential customers $70 per month for Internet service
Rocket Fiber, the super-high-speed Internet service funded by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, will charge customers $70 per month, nearly matching competitors like Comcast. A website for the service launched today. Rocket Fiber says it’s “ultra-fast” gigabit Internet service will function 100 times faster than the average residential connection. Pricing for HDTV service from Rocket…
Bacon Bash comes to Royal Oak Farmers Market
Bacon Bash returns to Royal Oak this weekend, promising locals an entire evening of shoveling life-shortening provisions down our gullets. Over 2,000 pounds and five varieties of bacon will be donated by Dearborn Brand for the event, and some 40 local restaurants will be on hand to whip up bacon-infused concoctions for sampling (think sausage wrapped bacon…
Ben Blackwell uncovers the earliest known review of the band Death
Ben Blackwell (from the Dirtbombs, Cass Records and Third Man) has found the earliest known write-up of Detroit’s proto-punk icons Death!
Study sheds light on Detroit’s rape kit backlog
For Detroiters staggered by the 2009 discovery of over 11,000 untested rape kits in a Detroit Police Department (DPD) storage warehouse, a study by sexual assault researchers at Michigan State University finally provides some answers. Funded by the National Institute of Justice, the report paints a bleak portrait of a police department in which victim-blaming…
John’s Carpet House getting harassed by the city … again
Last year, we reported how John’s Carpet House, the free, outdoor blues party that overtakes a string of lots on the north side of Frederick between St. Aubin and Dubois each week in good weather, was being harassed by the city. As we covered in an interview with organizer Albert “Big Pete” Barrow last year, city…
Glass Action and Mended will open a retail location next month
Local crafters Carey Gustafson of Glass Action and Melissa Kolb of Mended have teamed up to open a new retail location in downtown Ferndale. You may remember when we chatted with Gustafson, who until recently worked out of a makeshift shop in her basement, about her growing stained glass business. Gustafson makes night lights, ornaments, jewelry,…
Detroit City Council to consider $20M Wurlitzer Building rehab next week
A proposed $20 million rehab of the long-vacant Wurlitzer Building will be taken up for consideration by Detroit City Council next week. The proposal by Brooklyn-based HM Ventures Group LLC calls for an extensive rehabilition of the historic building into a 100-room hotel, a street-level cafe and bar, a second-floor restaurant, and a rooftop lounge,…
Voting now open for Miss Ink Detroit 2015, plus INK.² art show submission deadline extended
If helping to judge a tattoo beauty contest is your bag, read more.
Show Review: Earl Sweatshirt at St. Andrews April 1, 2015
The packed house last week was amped up for a rapper who is more known for being a laid-back rhyme slinger than some mosh pit messiah.
FoolMoon and FestiFools parades hit Ann Arbor this weekend
Kickoff Ann Arbor’s festival season this weekend.
Show review: Prince at the Fox Theatre, April 9, 2015
It’s one a.m. and I just got home from the Prince show at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. It was every bit as amazing as you think it would be. Easily the craziest show I’ve seen in my life.
Former MLB pitcher Bert Blyleven doesn’t like downtown Detroit
Bert Blyleven, guy with interesting name and former Major League Baseball pitcher, upset Detroiters on Thursday when he sent a rambling tweet about his feelings on downtown Detroit. Blyleven, who currently works as the Minnesota Twins’ color commentator, offered his remarks during during a rain delay at this afternoon’s ballgame between the Twins and Detroit…
What is up with the weird video about Detroit?
According to this weird video we just stumbled across, Detroit is recruiting New York hipsters to come ” basically almost live for free” as one interviewee reports. The makers of the video are AJ+, which is part of the Al Jeezera Media Network. The “global news community for the connected generation” posted the video on…
Slipping and sliding into troubled waters
The main point is that, as the kids say, the optics are bad here.
Detroit non-profit Spin University brings Afrika Bambaataa to Bert’s Warehouse May 23
Spin brings Afrika Bambaataa to Bert’s Warehouse May 23. See you there!
Feds charge two Detroit narcotics officers for stealing drugs; more indictments coming, according to source
Two members of the Detroit Police Department’s now-disbanded narcotics unit were accused on Wednesday in a federal indictment of stealing drugs, extortion, and carrying out fake arrests. The officers — Lt. David “Hater” Hansberry and Officer Bryan “Bullet” Watson — have been suspended by the department since October. A third man, Kevlin Brown, has also…
Chef brothers Max and Eli Sussman launch new cookbook at Signal-Return this weekend
Noted New York chefs Max and Eli Sussman return home for a book release party this weekend.
Here’s how much beer costs at Comerica Park compared to every other MLB stadium
A new study by Business Insider reveals beer prices at every Major League Baseball stadium in the U.S., and Detroit’s prices, it turns out, are pretty darn good. A 12-ounce draft beer at Comerica Park will only set game-goers back $5.00 — that’s $0.98 less than the national average. The Tigers are tied for sixth…
‘Save Detroit’ PSA mocks Detroit’s comeback media narrative
“We’re a city of industry, the Motor City.” “A destination of new opportunity and rapid growth.” “Housing is cheap.” Et cetera, et cetera. Detroit’s about-face from the Murder Capital of the U.S. to a comeback city is seemingly firmly entrenched in the imagination of the media, apparently driving New Yorkers and Portlandians to up and relocate. Local…
In praise of the excellent early ’00s Detroit band Slumber Party
Raise your hand if you seriously still miss Slumber Party, a band whose plucked out of time, wonderful sound just did not connect with the millions of listeners it should have when they were around from 1998 – 2008 (or whenever they broke up). The group started out mining a sound that was pretty close…
Detroit introduces smartphone app for residents to report issues
Detroit officials Wednesday unveiled a new smartphone app that will now allow residents to report potholes, broken water mains, and busted traffic signals directly to the city. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said the app is akin to “having City Hall on your phone.” “From wherever they are, this simple tool will allow residents to report…
More on Mudgie’s expansion plans
The skinny on Mudgie’s expansion plans.
1,000 foot water slide to take over Detroit streets this summer
Slide the City, a traveling water entertainment company from Utah, is bringing its enormous, two-lane water slide to southeast Michigan this summer, with plans to hit several major cities, including Detroit and Ann Arbor. For a fee, riders can whiz through 1,000 feet of city streets on inner tubes or other flotation devices, which seems…
Watch: Here’s an 80-minute lecture from Danny Brown
For your viewing pleasure.
Wayne County executive to host community meetings
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans will host four community meetings in the coming weeks to discuss the county’s fiscal challenges. In each meeting, residents will have the opportunity to pepper Evans with questions, a statement from the county said. Since taking office earlier this year, Evans has implemented a series of cost cutting measures to…
Rosa Parks a finalist in grassroots campaign for $20 bill makeover
A grassroots campaign called Women on 20s has put the idea for a $20 bill makeover to a vote, and narrowed it down to four candidates, including the civil rights icon and former Detroiter, Rosa Parks. Other finalists include abolitionist Harriet Tubman, former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Cherokee nation chief Wilma Mankiller. Why the $20? The year…
Ask a Juggalo: How do Juggalos outside metro Detroit get Faygo?
Q: How do Juggalos outside metro Detroit get Faygo? Do West Coast Juggalos have to just use Shasta? A: OK, we have touched on this, but we’ll go over it a little bit. As far as Faygo, their distribution has finally left the confines of the state of Michigan, so they are in other states,…
Drink Up
Bud Light MIXXTAIL Have you ever thought to yourself, “I’d like a beer. No, I’d like a cocktail. No, I’d like a beer that tastes like a cocktail!” If so, Anheuser-Busch has come up with the bottled beverage for you. Bud Light MIXXTAIL hit shelves in February, revolutionizing the drinking game. The cocktail-flavored beers come…
Vicente’s prides itself on its authentic food, atmosphere
When you think of the cuisines of Detroit, you probably think Greek, Mexican, or Coney Island. You probably don’t think Cuban. And while Detroit doesn’t have an entire district dedicated to the fare, it does have one really good Cuban restaurant. Vicente’s Cuban Cuisine can be found on Library Street in the heart of downtown…
Krakus, Detroit’s lesser-known Polish restaurant, is the real thing
Ask people about the Polish restaurants in Hamtramck, and you’ll hear about Polish Village Café and Polonia, but you’ll seldom hear about Krakus. That’s because it’s about five blocks north of the Hamtramck city line, in Detroit. And it’s terrific. It’s a shame that, on Saturday afternoons, people gut out a half-hour wait at PVC,…
Grande Ballroom documentary finds Wayne Kramer back on stage and bringing guitars to the Saginaw Regional Correctional Facility
You don’t have to dig too deeply into the archives of Metro Times to find coverage of Tony D’Annunzio and his 2012 documentary Louder than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story, on Detroit’s legendary late ’60s music hall. The film documents the music and culture surrounding the onetime dance hall (in the 1920s), mattress warehouse (in…
How Small House Farm makes small-batch oil the old-fashioned way
Over the last few years, as the local artisanal food movement has gained steam, we’ve seen it all: craft beers, small-batch vodkas, artisanal sweet potato pie, from-scratch marshmallows, foraged teas, specialty currant farms. Just when we thought we’d seen everything, we found a Michigander who makes his own oils. His name is Ben Cohen, and…
Jim McCarty’s resurrected ’70s band Cactus plays the Magic Bag
When no higher an authority than Creem magazine crowned Cactus the “American Led Zeppelin” back in the 1970s, they were not messing around. This was one high-powered, loud and proud blues-rock machine. Cactus was formed in 1969 by bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice from Vanilla Fudge, with guitarist Jim McCarty from the Detroit…
Nine things you need to know about dining in metro Detroit this week
Granite’s second city — Granite City Food & Brewery, the national chain brewpub, is opening its second location in Michigan. It has already operated the Troy outpost for three years, and now unveils a location in Northville that’s brand-spanking-new. The 10,000-square-foot restaurant will have seating for 300, and an outdoor patio will accommodate another 80.…
Art X Detroit biennial returns, bigger than ever
Neatly summarizing what exactly Art X Detroit is all about is no easy task. Part visual art exhibition, part music festival, part lecture series, and part various combinations of all of the above, the biennial event defies easy characterization, showcasing the work of local artists awarded arts fellowships from the Kresge Foundation over the past…
How Celebrity Car Wash’s Julian Hill is Detroit’s cultural ambassador
Julian Hill, 44, is the owner of Detroit’s Celebrity Car Wash & Detail. He bought the building around 2000, and has built it up into a successful business. The motorist who regularly drives on Woodward Avenue, however, will likely know Hill’s establishment not for its services but for its marquee. For about a decade, that…
Feedback: Weekly reader responses
The recent column “Is sugar the new tobacco?” by Ari LeVaux makes multiple inaccurate assertions linking all-natural sugar to serious health outcomes like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and fatty liver disease, among others. But Mr. LeVaux did get one thing right. The Sugar Association firmly believes that any advice that leads the American public to believe…
Shop Bob’s Classic Kicks for colorful summer shoes
It’s been a dreary start to spring. The weather has taken its time warming up. The days have been cloudy, rainy, or snowy — or all three. But with each passing week, there comes new hope that we will see summer some day soon. And what does summer mean? New sneakers. Gone are the days…
Higher Ground: Notes from the Hash Bash
Tommy Chong, half of the vintage comedy duo Cheech and Chong, made a series of appearances over the weekend for a big weekend anchored by the 44th Ann Arbor Hash Bash. On Friday there was a breakfast at an Ann Arbor-area hotel, along with about 50 invited guests. I managed to get in with someone…
Horoscopes (April 8 – 14)
ARIES (March 21-April 20): If you only knew. It’s too bad you can’t see around the corner, because it’s all good, as long as you know that every blessed thing is subject to change. This includes your mind. Your mind is as subject to change as anything else. At the moment, this seems to be…
Politics and Prejudices: The truth about our roads
Here’s the bottom line on the proposal to raise the sales tax to fix the roads: If you vote yes May 5, there will be some major improvements in our horribly disgraceful roads. Not only that, the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor will be fully restored. There will be some more money…
