Shitstorm 2014
MT copy editor Dave Mesrey, having just washed ashore from the debacle that was August 11, looks back on the perils of public transportation in the midst of Shitstorm 2014 as we wait in joyful hope for the coming Snowmageddon.
Metal theft a possible factor in major Detroit flooding
Reports today suggested copper thieves played a role in this week’s rampant flooding of Detroit-area highways, but the state says that’s only one of a “long list” of potential culprits. That state is investigating what caused the widespread problems, and it may be weeks until the contributing factors are identified. The torrential downpour dumped 4…
Canadian cannabis advocate Marc Emery arrives in Windsor after more than four years in U.S. prisons
Marc Emery, a Canadian cannabis advocate (aka “The Prince of Pot”) has returned to his home country after serving more than four years in U.S. prisons for selling marijuana seeds, CBC reports. Emery arrived in Detroit today from Louisiana to cross the border into Windsor. Emery, who began selling seeds in 1994, was arrested in…
Last night’s Detroit deluge was one of the worst in history
Monday is deadline day at the MT office, so it was only after we finally unglued our eyes from our computer screens that we were rudely awakened to the severity of yesterday’s storm. Total rainfall according to Detroit Metropolitan Airport was officially 4.57”, but some communities reported between 4” and 6″ of rain. The only date on…
Stream Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas’ ‘Secret Evil’ now
Head on over to the Wall Street Journal to stream Secret Evil, the long-awaited album from local favorites Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas, in advance of its Aug. 19 release date. The album was originally recorded for Capitol Records’ jazzy subsidiary Blue Note Records, but was dropped when the label shifted hands to Universal. It’s now sees the…
Detroiter Jason Hall and the Slow Roll featured in new Apple iPad commercial
Detroit activist Jason Hall and his massive Slow Roll bike ride are the stars of a new Apple iPad commercial that went live today. In the spot, Hall describes how he uses the device to map Slow Roll routes, order T shirts, design flyers, and more. The spot, which features Apple’s typically precious art direction,…
Imperial’s looking for new sugar skull artists
For the past two years, come the end of October, Ferndale’s So-Cal taco joint has been been holding an authentic affair that incorporates food, drinks, music, art, and lots and lots of skulls. The Dia de los Muertos celebration is a three-day event that features a special auction of art. Paper måché skulls are decorated…
Why is Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel dancing?
With a generous hat-tip to MichiganLiberal.com, we present to you Mark Hackel, Macomb County executive and man of many billboards: Really, if anyone has any idea what’s going on here, please, inquire within. Like MichiganLiberal, we have no idea, either.
Michael Symon to open new B Spot at Partridge Creek Mall
Michael Symon’s wildly popular burger chain B Spot will add another Michigan location to its portfolio, this time at Partridge Creek Mall. The Clinton Township location will be the third Michigan outlet, the first located at the Village of Rochester Hills, and the second is slated to open this fall in downtown Royal Oak. The Partridge…
Thunder Over Michigan air show comes to Willow Run, we fly a plane for some reason
When we got an invitation to ride along in a Jack Link’s Extra 300L stunt plane as a preview for the Thunder Over Michigan Airshow coming to Ypsilanti this weekend, of course we said yes. It’s not every day we get invited to fly in an airplane. We weren’t really sure what we were in…
Washington Post’s pot reporting stuck in the past
The good people at the Washington Post have published an interesting blog post. The piece argues that, in many states, marijuana is a relative deal compared to beer. It’s a neat little piece, with a chart showing the relative costs and ratios in various states. It’s not a really deep analysis of an issue, just…
Some kid from L.A. wants to be mayor of Detroit and build skate ramps over potholes
We lost our collective shit when we received the above message in our inbox. Was this idiot serious? Didn’t he know that we just elected Duggan? Did he miss the debate about carpetbagging? Hi my name is Donovan Strain and although I live in Los Angeles I am running for Mayor Of Detroit. I have…
Once Around Belle Isle Festival comes to Detroit this weekend
#135538736 / gettyimages.com The first-ever paddle race and festival is coming to Belle Isle this weekend and you, dear metro Detroiter, are invited to attend or — better yet — participate. Once Around Belle Isle, or OABI as it is affectionately called, is a 7-mile race around the island in which folks with moderate to…
Michigan state park’s the place to catch this month’s Perseid meteor shower
Enjoy stargazing? If so, Michigan’s state parks are the place to be to catch this month’s Perseid meteor shower. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will host a number of events from this Saturday to Aug. 16, according to The Associated Press. On top of the Perseid show, the so-called “Meteors & S’mores” events will…
The world’s longest yard sale begins
Chances are that if you’re into this sort of thing, you already know all about it, but the world’s longest yard sale is about to begin. It begins in Michigan, about five miles north of Addison, in Lenawee County, and extends to the south as far as Gasden, Ala. Its called “The 127 Sale,” and…
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to hear Michigan same sex marriage case today
Almost five months after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman struck down Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today will hear arguments in the case — which has been roped in with with similar cases across three other states. Bernard’s order was stayed after the appellate court granted a request for…
Cherry Republic, our favorite Michigan mail order
Cherry Republic www.cherryrepublic.com The Cherry Republic motto, “Life, Liberty, Beaches & Pie,” sums up their philosophy — and their products too. You can get almost all the life sustenance you need from them, and it’s all made with Michigan cherries. We’re talking coffee, hard cider, wine, chocolate, sausage, caramels, mustard, horseradish, jams and jellies, bread,…
The late MC Breed comes back to life
Russell Colvin Jr., aka Kawtion, is doing what all music execs do before a big release: He’s replying to emails, sending out faxes, scheduling interviews, and promoting, promoting, promoting. The project he’s working on is a new maxi single from the late MC Breed. It’s the Flint native’s first posthumous release since his death in…
Meet the creative minds behind the Red Bull House of Art’s Cycle 8
We've already spilled lots of ink about the Red Bull House of Art — the Eastern Market gallery curated by local art luminary Matt Eaton that first opened its doors two years ago. Every three months a new group of artists is chosen to gain 24-hour access to the House of Art’s studios to create…
Superieur Brand’s Michigan-themed T’s reach into the past
Can you imagine the surprise in our editorial office when we received a box of T-shirts that seemed to come straight out of the 1970s, emblazoned with names firmly lodged in the past, including … Pine Knob? The shirts, despite being brand-new, had a faded, vintage look to them that would cause any native Detroiter…
A look at some premier Michigan pickle producers
Perkins Pickles Location: Detroit Founded: 2011 Perkins Pickles president Tom Perkins has always loved the tangy taste of a good pickle. As a kid, he says he didn’t carry around a packet of Skittles, he had a jar of pickles. For Christmas, he’d get 5-gallon tubs of pickles as gifts. That love of pickles continued…
Reading the mitten’s palm
For centuries, fortune-tellers from all over the world have used palm reading to discern someone’s character and future. We all know Michigan’s Lower Peninsula forms the familiar shape of a hand, and if you squint hard enough, the Upper Peninsula does too (Squint. Harder. Keep squinting.) Can Michigan be read, then, just like a palm?…
Detroit keeps on treading amidst water crisis
This could be Mayor Mike Duggan’s first really big crisis. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has been a hot potato since it began its policy of shutting off service en masse for Detroiters who were behind in their payments this past spring. Now it’s been tossed in Duggan’s lap. Last week, emergency manager Kevyn…
Back in burlesque: After a few years’ hiatus, the striptease revue takes over the stage at Cliff Bell’s
About seven years ago, chances were that you could find a swinging burlesque show taking the stage at Cliff Bell’s on a Sunday night. Back then, Grace Detroit’s Torch With a Twist revue would offer a night’s worth of entertainment in the swanky, old-fashioned club, which provided a picture-perfect setting for that sort of entertainment,…
Take a peek inside Archer Record Pressing, Detroit’s only record pressing plant
Driving down East Davison Avenue in Detroit, it’s very easy to miss the Archer Records plant. There’s no big sign, no real indication of the historic value of the place. Just the name of the company crudely painted on the front of the building. Entering the plant through the gated side door reveals that the…
The Detroit Mix Tape 2014
Eminem — “Without Me” From 2002’s The Eminem Show, this tune is a perfect example of Mathers’ biting wit, tongue firmly in cheek (even if it happens to be somebody else’s cheek). “We need a little controversy, ’cause it feels so empty without me,” he sings. He’s right too. John Lee Hooker — “Motor City…
Readers weigh in on the Beer Issue, the woman who wants to ban MT from Grosse Pointe, and more
Read MT for the Articles Metro Times is an alternative newspaper that doesn’t appeal to certain demographics. The value of MT is in the articles it does that the mainstream media doesn’t, or when it expands on what the mainstream media does but doesn’t. The ads represent a segment of the activity that does not…
Detroit’s Sweet Potato Sensations bakes up delicious desserts
In a storefront on Lahser in the Old Redford neighborhood of Detroit, just across the street from the Redford Theatre, is a little bakery that’s been cooking up something sweet, sumptuous, and distinctive for 26 years. Sweet Potato Sensations was born of Cassandra Thomas’ need to fulfill her husband Jeff’s love of the starchy root…
Higher Ground: Why granting children refugee status isn’t enough
There is much talk these days, on a local and national level, of what to do with the 40,000-plus children at the U.S.-Mexican border. Like it or not, some of those kids are being placed with their family members or social service organizations right here in southeast Michigan. The United Nations calls them refugees, and…
Michigan made, Michigan proud
This special Made in Michigan guide is brought to you by Detroit Metro Times, where we routinely focus not just on homegrown products from the Detroit area, but those coming out of the entire Great Lakes State. Naturally, we’re proud of our state, but this special publication gives us an opportunity to discuss all of…
Alternatives for Girls: Nonprofit’s director tells us why AFG is more than a women’s shelter
Last week, MT spoke with AFG CEO Amy Good about her organization's good work. Here's what she had to say. Metro Times: For an organization with as good a name as Alternatives for Girls has, I’m vague on the details of what your group does, other than help “at risk” girls. How does it all…
A chat with Sister Pie’s Lisa Ludwinski about delicious treats, a new retail spot, and being a Detroit-based food entrepreneur
These days you’ll find Lisa Ludwinski of Sister Pie inside an industrial kitchen in Hannan House on Woodward Avenue in Midtown; that’s where we meet her for our interview on her up-and-coming company. She’s smocked in an oversized white cook’s shirt and apron. Her hair’s in a bun, covered with a hairnet, and she’s sporting…
Heritage Guitars and the old Gibson Guitar Factory survive and prosper in Kalamazoo
Along with Fender, Gibson is probably the most recognizable name in guitar manufacturing today. Everyone from Jimmy Page to Jack White has picked up a Les Paul, a Firebird, or one of the many other guitars that the company continues to make. But did you know that the company started in Kalamazoo in 1902? It…
Dan Savage chats about married ladies, and more
Q: I am a 38-year-old married woman. My husband of 18 years is 22 years my senior. I credit my husband for giving me a good life and helping me pursue goals. But my husband is a type A professional, and that has played out in the bedroom. He has always been disinterested in my…
Detroit Bold Coffee is quickly gaining steam
Fans of Ferndale might remember the now defunct, yet much beloved A.J.’s Café. The former coffee shop on West Nine Mile still holds the Guinness World Record for the longest multi-person concert in history. But A.J. O’Neil, the owner of A.J.’s, didn’t want to renew his lease in 2012. Instead, he wanted to focus on…
Circus Freak Stomp Boxes are visually enticing and sonically impressive
When a bunch of musicians looked down at their feet and realized the pedals they were pushing were pretty dull-looking, a desire to create something both visually enticing and sonically impressive blossomed into the company that is Circus Freak Stomp Boxes. With four pedals ($179.95 a pop) available and more on the way, these are…
Bad interest rate swaps contribute to Detroit water crisis and financial crisis
Last week I sent the following email to Bill Nowling, spokesman for Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr: “Back in 2013 I asked you if emergency manager Orr and his team were considering investigating the COPs [Certificates of Participation] interest rate swaps that would become an issue in the bankruptcy proceedings. My recollection is that, at…
Dakota Inn celebrates 81 years this week
Generally, it seems, writing about the Dakota Inn Rathskeller is relegated to late September and early October. Whenever Oktoberfest is about to kick off, the media grows abuzz with the quasi-authentic nature of this German restaurant. But with August upon us, we here at Metro Times find ourselves once again thinking about the Dakota Inn…
Politics and Prejudices: Why Mark Schauer is creeping up in the polls on Rick Snyder
Mark Schauer is now officially the Democratic nominee for governor, after this week’s primary election. Not that there was any suspense; he was the only candidate on the ballot. He’s been doggedly running for more than a year, crisscrossing the state, already having visited, he told me, 70 of Michigan’s 83 counties. Looked at one…
Pick of the week: H2BT Radio
H2BT bills itself as a live cast entertainment and retail group, but basically it’s a radio show run and hosted by Chris Goldstein and Tyler Baldwin. The two focus on music by Detroit-based artists, but they also profile touring bands that are making a stop in Michigan. In addition, the show documents live performances and…
Border refugees flock to Southwest Detroit
Whatever it took, Ms. Cruz told herself, to get her son Roger to the States and a chance at life. So she and her 17-month-old son, who because of cerebral palsy cannot eat on his own, nor speak or stand up, got on a bus from her home in the city of Negrito, in the…
Melissa DiVietri on promoting yourself in the digital age
Melissa DiVietri is a social media consultant, offering her services helping ad agencies and small businesses reach their audiences through the myriad online channels that seem to be multiplying explonentially. “I’ll talk to some companies and it’s like, you haven’t posted anything since April!” DiVietri, 25, says that’s an eternity in 2014. Knowing which social…
Angus and Julia Stone’s new album takes a folksy turn
Angus & Julia Stone Republic Records From the first few seconds of “A Heartbreak,” the first track off Angus and Julia Stone’s self-titled album, it’s pretty clear we’re not in the same old territory. After two albums, the brother-sister duo took some time off from the band to work on solo projects, and it’s obvious…
Old AAA Detroit building subject of lawsuit; owner raises allegations against Duggan, DEGC
[Update, Aug. 6, 2014, 9:00 a.m.: In a ruling from the bench on Tuesday, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo ordered the owner of the former AAA building at 139 Bagley Ave. to demolish it by Aug. 15.] Over the last month, a contentious battle over a small 5,800-square-foot building in downtown Detroit has…
Motown soul stew: Isabelle Gaddie’s east-side eatery Full Belly serves up Southern-style supper from scratch
If ever a restaurant deserved to make a go of it, it’s Full Belly. Owner Isabelle Gaddie, a former jazz, blues, Motown, R&B, and gospel singer, opened the cafe on Halloween 2011, between Ryan and Mound on the east side, just north of the Mound Correctional Facility. As Lady Novella, she’d fronted a nine-piece band,…
Horoscopes (August 6 – 12)
ARIES (Mar. 21-Apr. 20): The short fuse is all over the place. It has come hand in hand with the writing on the wall. And what’s clearer to you now than it has ever been before is the codependent energy that creeps into all of your relationships. You’ve never had a problem holding your own.…
Retail: Thrift on the Avenue
We’ve talked before about our love for the little strip on Cass near Wayne State University with its great little eateries and quirky little shops. They line the avenue, creating a walkable shopping district that beckons folks as far as the ‘burbs to hit the streets for something that can’t be found at Crate &…
The 85-year-old Guardian Building stands tall and strong
Imagine it: The roaring ’20s in the city of Detroit. Hundreds of identical Model T’s lining Detroit’s streets. The city experiencing a construction boom. The Purple Gang ruling the underworld. Detroit is flourishing thunderously. This was the scene when plans were laid to construct what is now known as the Guardian Building for a bank…
Companies are using Detroit as a brand to sell their products — here’s how to do it right
To people the world over, the word “Detroit” elicits all kinds of ideas — of grit, authenticity, street cred, the Arsenal of Democracy, the manufacturing capital of Old America. In recent years, companies have latched onto Detroit as a brand to help sell their products. In 2014, there may very well be no better phrase…
Five songs we’re listening to right now
It’s summertime, and there’s nothing better than the right soundtrack for a beautiful day. Here are some of our favorite tunes that, despite their titles, aren’t actually about summer. “Ice Cream Man” — Tom Waits This song first appeared on Waits’ 1973 debut, Closing Time, featuring an upbeat swing feel to accompany Waits’ salacious lyrics.…
Weird toys made and available in Michigan
When we think of things made in Michigan, wistful images of sausages, potato chips, soaps, and candles often pop into our mind. But the fact is, many other odd and wonderful companies call this state home. Since we love anything weird or abnormal, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to profile a few brands that…
Burger Quest visits the Emory in Ferndale
We showed up at about 6 p.m. on a Tuesday at Ferndale’s Emory to try the restaurant’s “famous” burger and were not disappointed by it. But there were other small issues. First, we must lodge a minor complaint about parking in the nearby city lot. Why do they designate your parking spot with a four-digit…
All dolled up: Nahee Hong
Nahee Hong is as cute as she is stylish. The talented hairdresser works at Bianchi’s in Royal Oak, specializing in amazing updos and crazy colors. When this orange-haired beauty isn’t making her clients look amazing, she loves making Halloween costumes, caring for her many pets, and searching the metro area for the very best curry.…
Glass dreams: An Ann Arbor couple have run a glass-blowing enterprise for over two decades
The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into Michelle Plucinsky’s workspace is that it is hot. That’s because she runs a glass-blowing facility, which uses ovens set at roughly 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. On a nice summer day, it’s not so bad; if it’s a scorcher outside with temperatures nearing 100 degrees, you can definitely…
Detail: Cellar Door Soap and Skin
If you’re boutique shoppers like us, you’ve probably seen Cellar Door soaps in local shops like Goods Bakery, Nora, and City Bird. Their goods also make weekly appearances at farmers markets in Northville, Dearborn, Canton, and Plymouth. Cellar Door’s website, though, is its epicenter, where their large and varying stock is held and where you…
Honey’s harvest: How mead became a Michigan sensation
In the inner-ring suburb of Ferndale, one of the city’s fastest-growing business segments is mead, the artisanal beverage made from honey. Within the last decade, two new businesses have opened that specialize in the product, and they both get high marks from aficionados of the drink. In business for almost a decade, B. Nektar Meadery…
Craig Fahle continues his service to metro Detroit
Every weekday morning, from 9-11 a.m. on WDET 101.9 FM, Craig Fahle asks the tough questions that can only come from someone who has spent a good deal of life actually listening to the people of Detroit. He has the experience to bring context and history to the issues of the day — and he…
Germack Pistachio Company celebrates 90 years of doing business in Detroit
It’s just past closing time inside Germack Pistachio Company’s retail store on Russell Street in Eastern Market, and co-owner Frank Germack III is reflecting on the company’s storied history. Germack, founded in 1924 by his grandfather, has transformed from a pistachio-driven enterprise to a multifaceted endeavor; the company most recently entered the coffee market in…
