Cover Story
Nestlé’s push to pump more water out of Michigan meets resistance
John McLane guides his dirt-caked crew cab pickup along the dirt and asphalt roads of Osceola Township. A former surveyor who worked for the oil and natural gas industry for 30 years, he knows these back roads well enough to show where they intersect with the marshes, lakes, and streams that lead into the Chippewa…
American Coney Island hires off-duty cops following shooting
American Coney Island owner Grace Keros has hired off-duty uniformed cops to work shifts at her restaurant after a late-night brawl earlier this month that resulted in one of her employees getting shot. “I’m paying for it but I’m happy to do it,” Keros told The Detroit News on Wednesday. “We’re a family business and this…
Four highlights of live, local theater in the new year
If you haven’t been a spectator of live theater in a while, what you find might surprise you. In a day and age when overblown CGI graphics appear in lieu of character-driven drama, and when absolutely instantaneous videos on YouTube have shortened our attention spans, tucking the cellphone away and seeing in-person performances right before…
The Dirty Show is celebrating 18 years with a dirty, dirty show
Happy 18th Birthday, Dirty Show! You’re finally legal and you know what that means? Cigs! Porn! Lottery tickets! Tattoos! Adult jail! And for the Dirty Show, renowned Czech artist David Černy will be making his first visit to Detroit as a special guest artist to celebrate the beloved alt-art event. Just a simple Google search of…
Tonight: Last-minute solo Matthew Smith show at new Ferndale spot Otus Supply
Tonight is Tuesday, Dec. 26. Whether you don’t have the day off and you have to sit at work and pretend to be working, or you slept past noon and woke up feeling weird, you are probably aware that there is not much going on this evening, in terms of live entertainment. No one’s going…
The reason why crime in Midtown is down
When I was living in Midtown ten years ago, it was a known secret: in case of emergency, don’t bother with 911. Instead, call 577-2222 — the number for Wayne State Police Department. Even though I and most of my friends didn’t attend WSU, we knew we’d have better luck calling Wayne State University’s security than…
Year in Review: 12 of our favorite dishes of 2016
In the year 2016, Detroit’s dining scene continued its ascent toward culinary greatness. Our new restaurants and chefs were included as some of the best in the country, and for good reason. The narrative about our food and drink culture is no longer being tied to the city’s comeback – it’s making inroads on its…
Finally: Detroit cops can now have beards
In an obvious slow news day move, the Detroit Free Press is reporting today that Detroit cops can now wear beards. (Which isn’t exactly news: according to the report, the rule went into effect in July). Yet here we are, taking the Free Press’s bait. Previously, Detroit police facial hair options were limited to neatly trimmed…
Holy shit: Patti Smith just announced for March at Royal Oak Music Theatre
You guys, 2017 is already better than 2016 with this epic announcement from the Royal Oak Music Theatre today. The godmother of punk rock, Patti Smith, is playing with her band here in metro Detroit on Saturday, March 11 and we are so excited. Smith will be performing the entirety of her 1975 debut album…
The first two Black Merda LPs can be yours… for a few dollars
Carolina Soul are among the most respected sellers on eBay, so it’s worth paying attention to their auctions (um, if you are a record nerd, of course). As part of a current auction which ends on Christmas Day — in addition to Parliament’s rarely seen Osmium LP, the first Black Merda LP and its follow-up, Long…
Denzel Washington’s film version of ‘Fences’ to show at Cinema Detroit
Denzel Washington’s Fences will be showing at Cinema Detroit starting Sunday, Dec. 25. For those unfamiliar with the play, playwright August Wilson racked up Pulitzer, Tony and Drama Desk awards for his plays on the 20th century black experience. It’s a cycle of 10 plays, each set in a different decade, mostly located in Pittsburgh. Fences,…
FIRST TASTE: Winner winner, chicken dinner with Brendon Edwards at Gold Cash Gold
When chef Brendon Edwards took over the kitchen at Gold Cash Gold this fall, we were excited to see what he would do with the menu. His distinct culinary style – which draws from Asian, European, and Latin American techniques – was sure to shake up the Corktown spot’s Southern-influenced menu. Indeed, when we joined a handful of…
The Griot, a vinyl-centric bar in Midtown, officially opens today
Only in Detroit (or maybe Japan) could a vinyl-oriented jazz bar actually be a wholly awesome thing, and not some hipster nonsense. The Griot Music Lounge officially opens today at 4 p.m. Looks like their liquor license came though. It’s located at 66 E. Forest, Detroit — around the corner from the N’Namdi, just a…
Big Sean reveals he has a new album in store for 2017
After dropping an epic new song last week with Chance the Rapper and Jeremih called “Living Single,” the hometown rapper announced via Twitter that he has a new album coming out February 3. The new album, called I Decide, is the follow up to Big Sean’s last solo effort Dark Sky Paradise that came out…
Saving Michigan’s groundwater — from Nestlé, bottlers, and toxic waste
This week’s story about Nestlé’s water takings in Michigan got plenty of wide-eyed reactions. The idea that Nestlé Waters North America — part of the international food giant Nestlé — can withdraw billions of gallons of water from Michigan aquifers and pay the state a few thousand dollars in application fees for the privilege, shocked…
Embattled JPMorgan Chase CEO uses Detroit as backdrop in Bloomberg puff-piece
What does an embattled CEO of a multinational bank do when he needs his image refurbished? Why, sit down for a nice fireside chat with Bloomberg Businessweek, of course — using Detroit “the comeback city” as a backdrop. On Thursday morning, the weekly business magazine posted a sprawling, puffy Q&A with Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase Bank…
LEGO enthusiast and his daughter built a replica of A Christmas Story house
A New York dad and his 8-year-old daughter spent a considerable amount of time building what would become a true-to-life replica of the house made famous by A Christmas Story and now they’re searching for supporters to help make the project an official LEGO creative building kit. According to an article in the Genesee Sun,…
Emergency manager fight offers a very merry Christmas — to three special law firms
We all know that Santa likes to reward the nice, not the naughty. But one person’s naughtiness can help build a fortune for somebody else. That said, three law firms that must have been extra good this year: Flood Law, Warner Norcross & Judd, and Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker. Here’s the tale of how…
Chain restaurants are flooding downtown Detroit, and there’s no sign of slowing
Depending on who you ask, it’s either an abomination in our city’s dining scene or the combo we didn’t even know we needed: downtown is expected welcome the world’s first IHOP/Applebee’s combination restaurant next year. Behind the behemoth in casual chain dining is Livonia-based TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants, which says the development is in line with its “strategic…
Why this Algerian solo piano recording from 1965 makes the best Christmas music
The other year, I made the case for Moondog as Christmas music. Odds are, you not only took my advice, but you and your people took it so to heart that now your grandmother is running around the house and screaming “Be a hobo and go with me/ From Hoboken to the seaaaaaa!” at the…
You’ll never guess what Michigan googled more than any other state this year
It’s safe to say. 2016 has been a weird year. Now, as a means to get a better peek into America’s collective psyche, Estately has gathered data on each state’s googling habits and created a smart little infographic. Before we get started on the results, it is important to note that they do not reflect…
Trinosophes showcases Jim Crawford’s difficult conceptual art of discard
As the saying goes: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” In the case of artist Jim Crawford, a Detroit artist who was an influential figure the Cass Corridor movement in the 1960s and 1970s, there is a lifelong artistic process of transforming discarded materials into sculptural works. Early in 1970s, as when Crawford created…
What’s for Lunch: The chilaquiles at O.W.L. are legit
Typically, when a metro Detroiter is craving real-deal Mexican comida, they head over to a few familiar haunts: southwest Detroit, Down River, and Pontiac all are known for their many taquerias, family-friendly restaurants, and addicting food trucks. Well, we’re starting to see that restaurateurs are recognizing that venturing out of those familiar barrios makes for…
VIDEO: This little kid was the real MVP at a recent Red Wings game
The Red Wings won – but this little kid won the hearts of every person at Joe Louis Arena. WATCH: Hilarious response from the fans. pic.twitter.com/FlpTFbfbCp — Brad Galli (@BradGalli) December 18, 2016 It’s always awesome when you go to a sporting event and you see your face up on the big screen, but it’s…
The Albert is getting its very own whitewashed hipster clothing boutique
Metro Times’ relationship with The Albert, a Capitol Park building consisting of rehabbed lofts and retail spaces, has been a contentious one. We were kinda pissed when they released this callous advertisement that essentially spat upon the building’s previous tenants, seniors and disabled people who were kicked out in to help make the building’s facelift…
Detroit is getting the IHOP/Applebee’s combo it didn’t even know it needed
In breaking late capitalism news, today it was announced that Detroit will get the world’s first-ever combination IHOP and Applebee’s in 2017, to be located in the Millender Center on Jefferson Avenue (across from the Renaissance Center). The 12,000-square-foot, 300-seat restaurant is replacing Sweet Lorraine’s cafe. It would technically be both the city’s second IHOP and Applebee’s (the…
Sylvia Rector was an inspiration to women in Detroit’s food scene
The Detroit dining scene has lost a prolific writer, whose passion for food was only beat by her love for people. Sylvia Rector, who spent the past 17 years critiquing restaurants, keeping up with food trends, and sharing the stories of countless chefs for the Free Press, died in her Beverly Hills home Tuesday following a…
Stevie Wonder is having a great week
In case you missed it, Stevie Wonder received a huge honor this week by having a street in Detroit named after him — making us all a little bit jealous. Wonder, who of course came up through Motown Records, is getting his name permanently placed at the corner of Milwaukee and Woodward. “Stevie Wonder Avenue”…
Schuette’s indictments: The morning after
Yesterday, plenty of people on the felt vindicated by Bill Schuette announcing indictments against former Flint Emergency Managers Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose, calling it an indictment of the state’s EM Law. Looking over the various press releases from our local left-leaning organizations, we find a fairly broad gamut of official reactions. One group declared…
Charges against emergency managers underscore shortsightedness that created Flint water crisis
Although it wasn’t mentioned directly by name when state Attorney General Bill Schuette announced the filing of felony charges against four officials connected to the Flint water crisis, Michigan’s controversial emergency manager law was, for many, the target of the harshest indictment handed down Tuesday. The law’s focus on fiscal austerity rather than human needs…
Savage Love: The intern
Q: I’m having an issue with my boyfriend, and I don’t know if I am the crazy, paranoid, controlling party here. We have been together for more than a year and a half. We had troubles early on because he has a low sex drive. It made me very insecure, and I think that’s why,…
Why you should shop local at the Detroit Artists Market
Buying art as a gift can be a risky gambit. With the holidays a few days away, the pressure is on to buy something for everyone in your life, and it’s easy to get your holiday blinders on and start buying atrocities no one really wants. But there’s also an opportunity to be bold and…
Higher Ground: Why the Detroit Grass Station will probably close
The Detroit Grass Station (DGS), inside a former gas station on East Grand Boulevard, is probably among those destined to close their doors. Open only about 18 months, the DGS is about 900 feet from a park and according to city rules, all such businesses have to be at least 1,000 feet away from parks,…
Horoscopes (Dec 21-27)
ARIES (March 21- April 20): Even though recent experiences have shown you that everything goes better when you go it alone, there’s more support for you than you realize. Knowing how to tell the difference between who’s good for you and who isn’t is something you need to get better at. What looks chaotic has…
His Name Is Alive might have made Detroit’s best rock record of 2016
In a year when the validity of certain scientific principles is somehow actually publicly in question, a powerful, haunting work intimately connected to the might of science has emerged as Detroit’s best album: His Name Is Alive’s Patterns of Light (London London), released in November. The city’s favorite ethereal experimentalists found their specific inspiration in…
Apollo Brown and Skyzoo’s ‘Easy Truth’ is the year’s best collaborative effort
Somewhere in an alternate universe, Detroit beat-maker Apollo Brown and East Coast emcee Skyzoo’s The Easy Truth (Mello Music Group) is being celebrated as the best hip-hop album of 2016. Oh, I know what you’re thinking: “What the what?” or perhaps, “Who the who?” But this is neither satire nor smoke and mirrors. The Easy…
Lost in the haze with Double Winter
You might recall the second weekend of December in 2016? That’s when Michigan saw its first snowstorm of the year. As the snowflakes piled high and cars dovetailed to and fro, Detroit’s Double Winter, a band whose name is obviously an homage to this kind of thing, was feelin’ themselves at Key Club Recording in…
EMU’s white leaders are punishing black students for protesting racism
In late September, messages to Eastern University Michigan’s black students appeared in spray paint on a campus wall: “Leave niggers” and “KKK” the graffiti read. Since then, a person or persons left six more hate-filled messages on campus walls, and, in November, someone called a dormitory housing assistant to ask, “What’s it like living with…
Politics & Prejudices: Fascism, with yellow hair
Fascism, at least the original variety invented by Benito Mussolini, was the merger of state and corporate power. The state was to be supreme, of course, a state with a strongly militaristic character. Interestingly, both of Europe’s premier fascist states starred a swaggering leader who was mistaken for a clown by some of his opponents.…
Review: Humble Dearborn shawarma stop Al Saha impresses
The world of food has always been one filled with immigrants; the restaurant scene especially has been, is now, and will continue to be a place where immigrants find widespread opportunities for success. There’s something culturally universal about the power of food. Immigrants and their descendants create these restaurants because they’re seeking something from their…
Side Dish: Larissa Popa is more than the Meatstress
This year, Larissa Popa broke out on the restaurant scene with her work in the world of butchering. She’s used her skills with a hacksaw to educate other chefs on the art of breaking down whole hogs, introduced Detroiters to the cuisine of her Romanian roots through her rustic pop-up series with chef (and Metro…
