Cover Story
Tainted bloom: A toxic algae bloom caused a three-day ban on water usage for a half-million residents in Toledo and SE Michigan
America has a water problem. In California, there’s not enough of it, with the state’s severe drought continuing unabated. In Detroit, the city’s water department botched an aggressive campaign to shut off service to delinquent residents, drawing international condemnation and a mad scramble by city officials to save face. In West Virginia, earlier this year,…
Something Cold DJ Justin Carver shares his favorite tracks
Justin Carver started his DJ night Something Cold in June of 2009 out of equal parts “frustration with the lack of diversity and interesting Detroit nightlife, an ever-growing record collection, and desire to bring a group of like-minded friends and music lovers to together to celebrate the niche market of analog electronics, minimal-synth, coldwave and industrial…
Check out this footage of the Detroit level in ‘The Crew,’ a new realistic racing video game
The Crew is an upcoming next-gen racing video game that features realistic levels based on U.S. cities — so of course, the Motor City has to make an appearance. You can view footage of closed beta testing of the Detroit level below. There are a few obvious differences between the virtual Detroit and the real…
Here’s what Kevyn Orr’s daily schedule looks like over one week
As the director of the Largest Municipal Bankruptcy in the Nation’s History™, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is a busy guy. So, we had a thought: What’s the daily grind for someone in his position? The White House already posts President Barack Obama’s daily schedule — why not do the same Detroit? Luckily, if you’re interested…
More than 75 percent of Michiganders were born in Michigan
#133099848 / gettyimages.com The New York Times discovered something most of us in the Mitten were probably unaware of: 77 percent of Michigan’s residents were born in the state, a figure rivaled only by Louisiana, whose populace consists of 79 percent Creole State natives. The reason for Michigan’s numbers, NYT writes, can be tied to…
Detroit Rubber Season 2 Stars Today
Fans of Royal Oak’s sneaker shop Burn Rubber and the show it spawned, Detroit Rubber, will get another helping of the online reality series starting today. Episode one of season two premiered on WatchLoud today complete with Rick Williams, Ro Spit, AZ, Devin, and John Jay. Last season saw special guests like Eminem and Big…
Rocker Darren Robbins faces jail time for harmless graffiti
A southwestern Michigan man faces up to a year in jail and up to $2,000 in fines for painting “I love you Jolene” on a vacant building in Cass County — in temporary, washable chalk — WBEZ’s Jim DeRogatis reports. Darren Robbins 48, painted the message for his friend, who he knew would pass by the…
Dungeons & Dragons 5 is coming — to Ann Arbor
It’s a quirk of the early 21st century that everything that’s doesn’t involve a microchip is suddenly being called “analog.” It’s as though 99.999 percent of human heritage is now relegated to being the exception in our shiny new digital world.
Michigan Renaissance Festival opens tomorrow!
The Michigan Renaissance Festival is slated to open tomorrow for the first weekend of the season. Set in Holly, Mich., the fest takes patrons back to the 16th century for jousting, comedy shows, games, archery, people-powered rides, drinking, shopping, and more. The festival will open its 36th year with the Royal Pet and Ale Fest…
Detroit seeks to demolish Kahn-designed Park Avenue Building
Detroit appears to be keeping its promise to go after owners of blighted commercial buildings: City officials have set their sight on the Albert Kahn-designed historic Park Avenue Building, The Detroit News reports. The 12-story building at West Adams and Park avenues has been empty for about 15 years. The city described the building in…
Metro Detroit drivers are having a pretty rough week
Metro Detroit drivers have had a pretty rough week. On Monday, commuters were walloped by an unreal rainstorm that turned our some of our roads into waterways, and others into mini-mudslides. This morning, a portion of 1-94 at Warren buckled causing enormous backups. TGIF.
Kelly Miller Circus won’t come to town
The City of Taylor recently denied Kelly Miller Circus the permit that’s required to bring its exotic animals to town. Of course, PETA had something to do with it. They sent a letter to city council, urging them to acknowledge the abuse inflicted on animals like elephants and tigers in this particular traveling show. Kelly…
Cycling event aims to help the homeless
The Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) has been serving Detroit since 1955. Their purpose is to help people in need and strengthen and empower neighborhoods and families. Over the years their programs have grown to draw national attention and this Sunday one of those events is taking place in Detroit. Handlebars for the Homeless is a…
Warren mayor: flooding caused city $1.2 billion damage
Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said today that this week’s massive flooding caused $1.2 billion damage to over 18,000 homes, The Detroit News reports. It is more widespread than anyone thought,” Fouts told the News. “Every neighborhood has been hit.” The state said this week it’s investigating what cause the widespread problems, citing copper thieves as…
Vote for the Knight Arts People’s Choice award
While the Knight Foundation deliberates on which finalist should win a grant as part of their Knight Arts Challenge, five finalists are eligible for a separate People’s Choice award. While the Arts Challenge requires the groups to meet the Knight Foundation halfway by raising their own money, the People’s Choice will award $20,000 to whichever…
How I survived the Detroit flood of 2014
I knew right around 2 p.m. that my basement was going to flood. Living in Hamtramck, you get used to it coming every August: A heavy rain that floods you out. If the downpour lasts just a half-hour, you’re OK, but if it persists for an hour, you’re going to get backflow in the basement.…
Michigan Senate votes to render wolf hunt ballot proposals moot
Of the two anti-wolf hunt ballot proposals approved for the November general election, a total of zero would be relevant under a petition-initiated bill passed by the Michigan Senate today, according to The Detroit News. In a 23-10 vote, the News reports, the Senate approved the bill, which was initiated by a citizen-led petition, and sends…
Ken Schramm’s newest mead, Black Agnes, is packed with flavor and a fiesty alcoholic kick
As local mead fans are fond of joking, mead expert Ken Schramm wrote the book on mead. Literally. Ten years ago, his book The Compleat Meadmaker was timed perfectly to school a new generation of people attuned to the growing craft beverage movement. A home brewer since the 1980s, Schramm finally got into the production…
Chuck Ream, the gospel of cannabis, driving while high, and legalizing it in Michigan
Chuck Ream takes his cannabis religiously. In fact he’s evangelistic about it. “When you get out past your own ego, the teaching plants carry the message of right and wrong just like the Bible,” says Ream. “That teaching from the magical plants could be the impetus to save our civilization, to move beyond absolute materialism.…
Burger Quest: Our ongoing mission to find the best burger in Detroit
According to some long-forgotten wag, the three most important things for a business are location, location, and location. If so, the exception that proves the rule is Marcus Burger, a small diner and hamburger joint across the street from Federal Pipe & Supply Company on a sleepy stretch of East McNichols Road. Of course, we…
Still Standing: The Detroit Public Library
Frank B. Woodford chronicled the forbearers of today’s Detroit Public Library in Parnassus on Main Street. With painstaking detail, Woodford tracked back to the late 1800s and the early years of the 20th century when the library system was just forming, experiencing growing pains, and its eventual need for a bigger, better, and more beautiful…
Royal Oak’s Ale Mary really is a community center for beer fans of the world
Overheard in Ale Mary’s, while sitting at the bar one afternoon: “Oh, man, this place is all beer.” The phrase, uttered as a complaint, is simply nonsensical; as a compliment, it’s the most appropriate description of the place. They’re not just all beer; they’re consummately beer. There’s beer in everything — the food, the decor,…
Smith Shop creates up-cycled wares and family heirlooms
Here at MT, we like to talk about people who are doing things. Whether it’s folks who are opening up a new restaurant, shop, or working to restore something historic, we like to celebrate the doers in Detroit. But what about the makers? From jeans to stained glass, from screenprinting to jewelry-making, the city is a…
How Rock City Eatery’s Nikita Sanches rescued Hamtramck’s Campau Tower
It’s been a tremendous year for culinary upstart Nikita Sanches. Twelve months ago, he was slinging his Rock City Pies at Rust Belt Market in Ferndale, all while putting the finishing touches on his highly anticipated Rock City Eatery in Hamtramck. Now, a year later, the pies are just a part of the menu at…
Puppy play, and other dispatches from sex columnist Dan Savage
Q: I’m a 25-year-old gay male into puppy play. About a year ago, I joined a pack with one Sir and several puppies. I became very close to one of my “pup bros” and became his alpha — meaning between the two of us, I’m more Dom but still sub to our Sir. Fast-forward nine…
How one Hamtramck woman preserves home canning know-how
One of the most unexpected trends of the early 21st century is the rise of home canning as a culinary hobby. It makes sense, of course, given the rising popularity of heirloom vegetables and the local food movement, that the hip modern kitchen would sport mason jars instead of microwaves. Reflecting broader concerns about industrial food…
Check out this cute elephant pipe found at Hamtramck’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Liquor Store
Sure, a lot of liquor stores sell colorful glass pipes (for tobacco smoking only, obviously!), but few sell pipes as cute as this little elephant we found among the curios at Hamtramck’s Conant-Caniff Market (aka “The Rock ‘n’ Roll Liquor Store”). We fell in love as soon as we spotted him, and the $20 price…
Film review: Calvary
Calvary / B+ Faith is a sloppy thing. It demands so much and seems to offer so little. Case in point: Father James Lavelle in writer-director John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary. His movie opens in a confessional, where an unseen parishioner gratuitously describes the horrific sexual abuse he experienced as a boy at the hands of…
220 Merrill reopens under Denise Ilitch, it’s a classy joint
For the past few weeks, we here at MT have been chronicling some of Detroit’s finest dive bars. From Tommy’s to Temple Bar, from Comet to the Anchor — we’ve hit our fair share of casual drinking establishments. So this week, we thought we’d class it up a bit. Enter 220 Merrill. Formerly something of…
All Dolled Up: We spotted this stylish cowgirl at a Willie Nelson concert
This stylish cowgirl was spotted at the recent Willie Nelson concert at Freedom Hill. Stacy is an art graduate from the College of Creative Studies who lives on the old grounds of Theatre Bizarre in Detroit. She is the owner and manager of Tooth & Nail Jewelry Oddities Boutique, which can be found at the…
A peek inside Hamtramck’s Conant-Caniff Market, aka ‘The Rock ‘n’ Roll Liquor Store’
Metro Detroiters in the know occasionally skip their corner party store to make the trek out to Conant-Caniff Market instead. They even have their own colloquial names for it: “The Rock ’n’ Roll Liquor Store” is a favorite, or more recently, “The Loud ’n’ Tall.” That’s thanks to the store’s reputation for blaring classic rock…
Jim Diamond’s Ghetto Recorders says goodbye to downtown Detroit
Tucked behind the Fillmore is a building that’s all but invisible, despite prime location in Detroit’s pedestrian-heavy “Foxtown” district. The unassuming building doesn’t even have a doorknob — tenant Jim Diamond opens the door with a bottle opener he keeps on his key chain. For the past 18 years, this has been home to Diamond…
Jackman’s Top 5 redneck drinking songs
So you want to get drunk to country music, but the sum of your experience with it is that “Red Solo Cup” song and a karaoke version of “You Never Even Called Me By My Name”? No problem. Here are some cuts you can throw a drunk to in style, with no sadness, no regrets,…
America has a water problem: Water testing at home
People concerned about the quality of their water have a number of tests at their disposal. Lifehacker reports that, although such tests offer an idea of the nutrients in your water, “you should never base the cleanliness of your water on test strips alone. Talk to a professional that understands the chemistry of the water…
Duggan introduces revamped efforts to address Detroit water shut-offs
Duggan’s Water Plan Last week, News Hits lodged itself inside the “mayor’s briefing room” on the 11th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center to hear Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan unveil his revamped approach to the city’s water shut-off initiative. Since March, the city has engaged in an aggressive campaign to shut off water…
Flint residents raise concerns over discolored water
In June, an analysis from MLive/Flint Journal found Flint’s water and sewer rates total about $140 per month, more than any municipality across Genesee County. But the city has faced concerns in recent weeks from residents about discolored drinking water in Flint’s system, prompting officials to flush out the system. The city said in a…
Porter Robinson puts out a new album, new sound
Porter Robinson Worlds Astralwerks Is it cool to like Porter Robinson? We asked a friend and got a blatant “No, he sucks.” And while we’ve been smoked before for mentioning an artist’s physical appearance, it can’t be left unsaid: The contrived dopey doe eyes and ever un-smiling face don’t win him any points. Regardless, we’re…
Start Gallery’s Triple Feature celebrates cartoons, kaiju, and more
Three artists have work up in Triple Feature, a new show at the Start Gallery. While none of them have ever met each other, the work together makes up a vibrant, colorful, and not-too-serious show thematically linked by each artist’s influence of childhood pop culture. The impetus for the show was Philip “Fresh” Simpson, 31,…
An armchair tour of Ireland high and low
The Quiet Man 1952 No film by the great Irish-American director John Ford shows his affection for the Emerald Isle like this one. John Wayne plays an Irish-born American prizefighter with a dark secret returning to his quaint home village. Despite some broad caricatures that wouldn’t fly today, the movie is saved by the bewitching…
An interview with Peter Markus, author of ‘The Fish and the Not Fish’
Local scribe Peter Markus has developed a name for his poetic prose, reducing storytelling to its primitive core for a result that is both childish and dreamlike. His latest book, The Fish and the Not Fish, came out last month, and tells stories from a strange, post-industrial town where a boy decides he is a…
Horoscopes (August 13 – 20)
ARIES (Mar. 21-Apr. 20): You’d be a lot better off without all the nonsense that tells you things aren’t going to work. There’s no difference between that attitude and the one that says, “It has to be a certain way or I don’t wanna play.” “My way or the highway” solutions are anathema to whatever…
When things, people and oil sticks collide
As Rodney Denne opens the door to his downtown Pontiac studio, blares of Charlie Parker’s K.C. Blues stampede out like a herd of buffalo. He darts to the radio, dodging paint cans and ladders along the way, and dials down the volume. “I love jazz music,” he says. “I love the idea of creating something…
Politics and Prejudices: What the August 2014 Michigan primary meant
There was some good news in last week’s statewide primary elections: Turnout was a little better than expected. True, that still meant four-fifths of the state’s registered voters couldn’t be bothered to show up. But for those who did, money, for once, wasn’t everything. Two GOP millionaires, Brian Ellis and Paul Mitchell, spent vast chunks…
Fender Bender Detroit, a safe space for female, queer and transgender bicyclists, is working to take ‘macho’ out of the local scene
Glistening bikes stand supported throughout the room, wooden shelves holding tools occupy the better part of one wall. Portraits and diagrams of bicycles dot the space. There’s a white board with a set of brightly marked goals by the room’s one window. The carpet is lived-in. There’s a calendar of gleeful Detroiters at a dance…
Reader responses to Mark Schauer, and tips on navigating Ferndale’s confusing parking system.
Schauer Snubs Snyder In response to Jack Lessenberry’s Politics & Prejudices (“Why Mark Schauer is creeping up in the polls on Rick Snyder,” Aug. 6), user “John S.” posted: The proper question is not “Can Schauer win?” but “Should Schauer win?” His main platform seems to be “I’m not Snyder.” Is that sufficient? To win,…
Reports from Sindbads, Zumiez Best Foot Forward, and more
It wasn’t a happenin’ time inside the WDIV green room on Election Day last week when DDAYS spent a solid 20 minutes alone with outgoing Wayne County Executive Robert “Bob” Ficano and one of his staffers. Really, it wasn’t. By some twisted fate even DDAYS has a hard time understanding, we managed to land a…
A Conversation with Noel Heroux of Brooklyn Band Hooray for Earth
It’s always interesting to watch how a band allows itself to evolve. Oftentimes, it blows up, claiming the members as casualties with the usual reason being “creative differences.” However, on occasion, musicians will allow natural progression to take the lead rather than resisting growth. Brooklyn’s Hooray for Earth is an example of the latter, and…
Film review: Life Itself
Life Itself | B What a strange place to be, writing a review of a film about the man who taught me what it means to be a film critic. Before stumbling across Sneak Previews on Channel 13 in New York as a teen, I had no idea there was even such a thing as…
Flosstradamus heads to Detroit for Mad Decent Block Party
Detroit — it’s the birthplace of techno. It’s the home of Movement and a burgeoning scene of like-minded festivals that celebrate the city’s deep and abiding love for electronic music. Every night, venues across the region host both up-and-coming and prolific DJs, and Detroiters gobble it up. To some, it might seem sacrilegious to mention…
