Cover Story
Made-in-Detroit Starz crime drama ‘BMF’ is all about family
Historically, America romanticizes the gangster’s paradise a lot harder for everybody except for 1980s African-American dope boys. Everyone from Al Capone to John Gotti gets the superstar Hollywood treatment, while Maserati Rick and Rayful Edmond are just footnotes. Even in Detroit, ask any suburbanite about Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone and then Milton “Butch” Jones, and…
Solventless rosin vape cartridges offer ‘clean’ weed
You’ve probably heard of “clean” eating, or choosing fresh, unprocessed, chemical-free food. But what about “clean” weed? That’s the idea behind a wave of new products hitting the cannabis space in recent months. Rochester Hills-based Glorious Cannabis recently launched a line of solventless “rosin” cartridges made without any added chemicals, as opposed to “resin,” the…
U-M study: EVs will save most drivers money — but they need to be more affordable to buy
Retiring U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan faced some backlash last year after she bragged about not worrying about gas prices thanks to her electric car, with critics painting her as out of touch given the high price tag for electric vehicles, or EVs. But most Americans would see savings in the percentage of their…
Why Social Connections Can Be the Best Medicine
Do you fancy yourself a lone wolf, or are you a social butterfly? We all need rest and solo time to recharge our batteries, but spending time with others is equally important. In fact, there is plenty of evidence suggesting that humans thrive on community. The whole “it takes a village” mantra isn’t just about…
Icewear Vezzo will perform at inaugural cannabis awards ceremony in Detroit
The Weed Bar Award Show may be the first cannabis event of its kind in Detroit. Rather than focusing on the bud itself, the inaugural celebration aims to show “cultural appreciation” for brands and retailers positively impacting the weed industry. Presented by STIIIZY, the Weed Bar Award Show will feature categories like “best brands,” “best…
Detroit to get its first Huron-Clinton Metropark with water garden along riverfront
Huron-Clinton Metroparks is opening its first location in the city of Detroit with a 2.5-acre water garden along the Detroit River. The Huron-Clinton Metroparks Water Garden will be one of four attractions at the 22-acre Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park, which is scheduled to open along the west riverfront in 2024. The water garden…
Detroit puts pressure on Winans to finally finish 20-year Perfecting Church construction
The Perfecting Church on Woodward Avenue near Seven Mile Road is on its way to becoming Detroit’s version of Spain’s unfinished 140-year-old Sagrada Família. First announced in 2003 by Pastor Marvin Winans of the famous family of gospel singers the Winans, construction of the $60 million project has stalled for years, and now faces renewed…
Activists dig in for potential standoff over woman’s eviction in Detroit
Detroit activists say they’re prepared to do whatever it takes to prevent what they’re calling a “retaliatory eviction” of a Black woman with a terminal illness. Taura Brown is being kicked out of her 317-square-foot home that is part of a community of unique tiny houses in the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood on the city’s west side.…
Jazz is Dead highlights Tribe Records in latest installment
Got a Detroit music tip? Send it to music@metrotimes.com. Long live jazz: The Jazz Is Dead series highlights Tribe Records on its latest installment. Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) and Adrian Younge started the series to bring jazz legends to the forefront and highlight their deep contributions to the genre and popular music.…
Chick-fil-A is opening another metro Detroit restaurant
Here’s some good news for local fans of problematic fave Chick-fil-A: the fried-chicken fast food restaurant chain is opening another location in metro Detroit. The company’s latest store will open on Thursday at 11700 Middlebelt Rd., Livonia. Chick-fil-A says the restaurant will create 130 full- and part-time jobs in the community. It’s owned and operated…
Canine to Five to open second Detroit location
Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood will become home to the newest Canine to Five location come April. Canine to Five Eastside, the doggy daycare and boarding center’s newest spot, will be located at 13208 E. Jefferson Ave. in the Riverbend Plaza. The 8,000-square-foot space will include five dog play areas. It’s Canine to Five’s fourth overall…
A ‘sweet’ immersive experience is headed to metro Detroit
New Year, new immersive experience. For the last two years, Detroiters have had their fair share of artistic “immersive” installations, and this March they will get a much sweeter experience. Choco Town will put visitors into a real life Candy Land-esque experience at Oakland Mall starting on March 16. Candy fans will not only have…
‘The Menu’ serves up a delicious dish of class consciousness
Leave your preoccupation with the Food Network at the door. Food is the least interesting thing about The Menu. The dark comedy and horror film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and hit HBO Max this month. Written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy and produced by Will Ferell, Adam McKay, and Betsy…
Suicide prevention is the focus of 7th annual conference in metro Detroit
The state’s largest conference on suicide prevention will return to Plymouth from Jan. 26 to Jan. 28. The 7th annual Kevin’s Song Conference on Suicide: Building Roads to a Better Tomorrow is accepting registration until Jan. 25. The three-day event will be held at Saint John’s Resort and feature leading experts in the field of…
Audit of unemployment agency found fraud during pandemic, UIA says report is missing context
The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) said Friday that the Office of Auditor General (OAG) missed some important context after finding fraud, technology issues, financial waivers and other issues by the UIA during the pandemic. UIA Director Julia Dale said in a Friday statement that the OAG’s audit is “rehashing” old findings and “is not…
Oxford’s HomeGrown Brewing Co. launches live music series
Oxford’s HomeGrown Brewing Co. has launched an intimate concert series that will offer the opportunity to see local and national acts up close and personal. Dubbed “HomeGrown Sounds,” the series will feature “listening room”-style performances for a small seated audience near the glow of a fireplace. That’s according to Kevin Alan Lamb, a former Ferndale…
Olivia Guterson’s repetitive patterns are a meditative practice
This feature highlights a different local artist each week. Got someone in mind you think deserves the spotlight? Hit us up at arts@metrotimes.com. Artist of the week: Olivia Guterson Olivia Guterson once described her artwork, which features geometric shapes forming flowers and plants, as a meditative practice. The repeating patterns loop, swirl, and zigzag seemingly…
Detroit redevelopment projects get boost with $5.8M in brownfield grants
The city of Detroit received $5.8 million in brownfield funding to clean up contaminated sites to make way for new developments. The projects include transforming the former American Motor Company (AMC) headquarters into a manufacturing facility and building two mixed-use buildings for housing and supportive services, an affordable housing complex, and a new American Indian…
Detroit’s Cloud Cannabis is now offering adult-use sales
Adult-use cannabis sales are finally legal in Detroit, which means we no longer have to drive to the suburbs to get our weed. Approved dispensaries that previously required medical cards are rolling out recreational sales, including Cloud Cannabis. The brand announced it will be selling adult-use cannabis at its Detroit location at 16001 Mack Ave.…
‘A dark day for our country’: How the Jan. 6 insurrection has changed Michigan politics
It has now been two years since baseless claims of election fraud incited an armed, far-right extremist mob to storm the U.S. Capitol, breaking into congressional chambers and ransacking offices in the name of keeping former President Donald Trump in office. The events of Jan. 6, 2021, came as a violent result of pro-Trump election…
Michigan farmers mix trees, crops, livestock to fight climate change
Michigan farmers and others are growing crops, trees, and livestock on the same land to help battle climate change. The technique, known as silvopasture, helps collect the carbon responsible for global warming. Agriculture agents say silvopasture is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. Monica…
Harbaugh for Senate? The U-M coach could be just what the Michigan GOP needs
When Texas Christian University upset Michigan in the national college football semi-final on New Year’s Eve in the Fiesta Bowl, the TV camera showed Wolverines fans reacting with disbelief to Coach Jim Harbaugh’s timeout strategy as the seconds ticked away late in the fourth quarter. One man jumped to his feet and shouted “Jim, what…
Soul singer Melvin Davis is seeking help paying medical bills as he fights leukemia
Melvin Davis has given us funky drumming, soulful vocals, and heartfelt songwriting for at least six decades. Now, a GoFundMe has been launched asking the public to help Detroit’s “Ambassador of Soul” with his medical bills. We wouldn’t begrudge you if you don’t know Davis by name, as he’s sadly received minimal credit and fame…
Basecamp Fitness chain heading to metro Detroit in 2023, its first Michigan location
California-based fitness franchise Basecamp Fitness is expanding east, with plans to open its first Michigan location in metro Detroit later this year. Founded 10 years ago by Nick Swinmurn, the founder of online shoe retailer Zappos, Basecamp Fitness (slogan: “Every diem, full carpe”) is known for using a type of workout called high-intensity interval training,…
Stabenow’s retirement from the U.S. Senate opens a battleground seat in 2024
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the first woman to be elected to the chamber from Michigan in 2000, announced Thursday she will not run for reelection, opening a battleground seat in 2024. The four-term senator is the No. 3 Democratic leader and chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee. Stabenow, who is 74, had previously said she planned…
Opinion: Does ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ really exist for people with disabilities?
There was one single word I remember after viewing a segment on a local news channel encouraging Mayor Mike Duggan to invoke his emergency powers: “Vulnerable.” During its final meeting of 2022, the Detroit City council voted down a $49 million paratransit resolution. The failure to pass this legislation left the approximately 1,000 citizens with…
You can finally buy legal weed in Detroit
At long last, licensed dispensaries are allowed to sell adult-use cannabis in Detroit. The city’s first dispensaries to sell cannabis for recreational use opened for business on Wednesday to anyone age 21 or older, no medical marijuana card necessary. “The Motor City is rec!” DaCut, a Gratiot Avenue dispensary, posted on its Instagram page. “@houseofdank.fortst…
Rev. Jesse Jackson to host free MLK Day rally in Detroit
Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse L. Jackson will host a free event in Detroit on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The event, a rally dubbed “Let Freedom Ring,” will be held at 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 16 at the Fox Theatre. The event is free and open to the public. “Detroit has always had…
Eastern Market Brewing Co. drops alcohol-free beer
Whether you’re going booze-free for dry January or just don’t drink, Eastern Market Brewing Co. has something for you. The brewery dropped two non-alcoholic gose-style sours in grapefruit and tangerine which come in 12-ounce cans. As a fellow person who doesn’t drink, the alcohol-free beers are welcome news. Its campaign for the NA beers is…
Attorney for Oxford victims blasts governmental immunity for protecting negligent employees
Michigan has an accountability problem. City, county, and state officials are largely shielded from lawsuits, making it difficult to hold public employees accountable when they do something wrong. Federal employees enjoy similar protections, but to a lesser extent than Michigan. No one knows this more than Ven Johnson, a Michigan attorney who has represented residents…
House of Dank and Mitten Extracts announce $7,000 donation to a local food bank
House of Dank and Mitten Extracts announces a donation of $7,000 to a local Metro Detroit food bank that helps to relieve hunger and prevent food waste. The donation came after the close of their Going Ham for the Holidays campaign, from November 21st to December 18th, where a portion of proceeds from every Mitten…
More young children are eating cannabis edibles by mistake, study finds
A growing number of children in the U.S. have accidentally consumed cannabis-infused edibles in recent years, according to a new study. The report, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, analyzed data from the National Poison Data System. It found a staggering 1,375% increase in reported cases of children under the age of 6 accidentally eating…
Your Guide to the Best Dry January Ever
New Year’s resolutions can be a lot of pressure. While the beginning of a new year feels hopeful and optimistic, be sure that you are setting achievable goals. And that, above all, you are kind to yourself regardless of the outcome. After a busy holiday season, many people decide to participate in “Dry January,” which…
In the DIA’s ‘Van Gogh in America,’ there’s more than meets the eye
The Van Gogh in America exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts will soon come to an end, and with it a rare opportunity to witness, in 74 original works, the versatility and depth of one of the greatest painters in history. I took students from Saginaw Valley State University by bus. You would think…
Detroit’s Avalon to close its Midtown cafe and move into Jolly Pumpkin
Nothing lasts forever, especially good things that we wish would. Case in point, our favorite bakery, Avalon International Breads, is closing its flagship cafe at 422 W. Willis St. as of Jan 8. The Midtown staple has been there since the late ’90s, pumping out Avalon’s famed sea salt chocolate chunk cookies, soft bread, and…
Group: Keystone spill a cautionary tale for Michigan pipeline
An environmental watchdog group said the recent Keystone Pipeline oil spill should serve as a warning to Michiganders if a proposed expansion of the Enbridge Line 5 project is approved. In early December, Keystone broke open and dumped 14,000 barrels of heavy tar-sands oil into a creek on the Kansas-Nebraska border, causing major environmental damage.…
Free Will Astrology (Jan. 4-10)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “My life was the best omelet you could make with a chainsaw,” observed flamboyant author Thomas McGuane. That’s a witty way to encapsulate his tumultuous destiny. There have been a few moments in 2022 when you might have been tempted to invoke a similar metaphor about your own evolving story. But…
Detroit’s underground dance venue The Salon calls it quits, and other local music news
Got a Detroit music tip? Send it to music@metrotimes.com. Farewell to the Salon: For those in the know, some of the best parties in Detroit over the last five years have been thrown by Freakish Pleasures at a little known spot in Southwest Detroit dubbed The Salon. Freakish Pleasures has long established themselves as one…
R.I.P. Detroit artist and activist John Sims
Pure genius is not easy. It enters the room with a bang and does not leave quietly. It is every color of the spectrum, electricity and sparkle, yet blunt, like a mallet, boisterous with prickly shards, smoothing, like butter on a burn, charming and loud. It sweeps you into its orbit, sculpting and sharpening your…
For some Detroiters, Kwanzaa is a yearlong practice
Elaborate African masks decorate the walls and ceilings around rows of bookshelves in a dimly lit store that smells of incense. As a woman dressed in a brightly colored African print lights a candle on her kinara, she tells us, “there’s a lot of positive energy in here.” It’s the fifth day of Kwanzaa, which…
As Detroit’s RoboCop statue slowly comes together, another local craftsman has a different vision for public art
When it came out in 1987, Paul Verhoeven’s film RoboCop offered a refreshing alternative vision to more mainstream violent cop movies such as Lethal Weapon, which debuted the same year. A wicked sci-fi satire, RoboCop skewered the cynicism of corporations willing to profit off the privatization of policing in cities that they had abandoned. The…
The world’s largest Kwanzaa kinara shines in Detroit, and more of our biggest stories of 2022
Unsurprisingly, our most-read stories this week are a mix of articles about the holidays but also a sort of “greatest hits” of 2022 as we’ve been resharing some of our biggest stories of the year on social media. Here’s what our readers were most interested in: 10. “Detroit Cobras frontwoman Rachel Nagy has died, according…
Michigan dishes out $85M in tax money to fund QLine streetcars as costs increase
The underperforming QLine streetcar in downtown Detroit is going to continue being a tax boondoggle for at least the next 17 years. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation on Thursday that will give $85 million of taxpayer money to subsidize the QLine through 2039. That amounts to $5 million a year — or more than half…
Five art happenings in Detroit we’re stoked to see in 2023
This feature usually highlights a different artist each week, but this time we’re winding down 2022 and thinking of all the exciting projects Detroit artists have brewing for 2023. These are five things we’re stoked to see come to life in Detroit’s arts scene next year. (Got an artist in mind you think deserves the…
Why members of Detroit rap group Clear Soul Forces started their own moving company
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down live music for more than a year, stifling the marketplace and creating unprecedented economic challenges for artists. But one local rap group found a way to continue to support itself, help its community, and empower other music artists with a necessary service — a moving company. Handy Relocations was founded…
Michigan rejects DTE proposal to start prepayment program because of risk to lower-income customers
In what she called a “big win” for customers, Attorney General Dana Nessel successfully fought against a $12.6 million proposal by DTE Electric Company to allow customers to prepay their electric bills. The Michigan Public Service Commission ultimately shot down the proposal after Nessel’s office intervened and said the voluntary plan would diminish consumer protections.…
Detroit’s famous Hair Wars to be featured in ‘BMF’ second season
The Starz hit crime drama BMF is returning to the television network on Friday, Jan. 6. The series based on Detroit’s notorious Black Mafia Family follows brothers Demetrius and Terry Flenory as they navigate the ’80s drug game in Southwest Detroit. Unlike other Detroit-based shows, BMF is not only well-written, but it brings Motor City…
‘Slim Saucy’s’ pop-up sells Detroit-style pizza by the slice in Ann Arbor
You’ve tried Mom’s Spaghetti. Now, there’s Slim Saucy’s. That’s the name of a Detroit-style pizza pop-up coming to Ann Arbor’s Homes Campus space starting this week. The name and menu items feature nods to the music of Eminem, including the “Sing for the Roni” pepperoni pizza, sold by the slice. According to The Detroit News,…
Top leaders in plot to kidnap Whitmer sentenced to prison
A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the co-leader of a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to 19.6 years in prison and five years of supervised release. Barry Croft, 47, had faced up to life in prison. After an 11-day jury trial, Croft and his co-defendant Adam Fox were convicted of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy…
Whitmer’s crackdown on violent crime gets 254 guns off the streets
More than 250 illegal guns have been taken off the streets in Michigan as part of Operation Safe Neighborhoods, an initiative aimed at cracking down on violent crime. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched the operation in September. The goal is to confiscate illegal guns from parolees and probationers who are not legally permitted to possess a…
Power utility ponders fate of 13 historic Michigan dams
[image-1] A number of small dams along Michigan lakes and rivers, some operating for more than a century, are still generating hydropower energy — just not enough. Their owner, Consumers Energy, said they have become inefficient, and company officials are weighing what to do with the historic structures. They report the aging dams only generate…
‘The Whale’ collapses under its own weight
Darren Aronofsky has long been obsessed with the frailty — and defilement — of the human body. From a heroin-addicted amputee in Requiem for a Dream (2000) to an aging, steroid-addled hardbody in The Wrestler (2008), from a bulimic ballerina in Black Swan (2010) to a pregnant trophy wife in Mother! (2017), the filmmaker’s most…
We asked Detroit fortune tellers to read tarot cards and make New Year’s predictions for 2023
We pulled cards from the Rider-Waite tarot deck to prepare ourselves collectively for the year of 2023 – the challenges that may be present and some highlights that may bring us hope, in an era defined by a pandemic. What will this new year bring us? Detroit’s brujas conducting this reading are Hanniyah Cross, Sonia…
Free Will Astrology (Dec. 28-Jan. 3)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor,” writes Aries author Anne Lamott. “It will keep you cramped and insane.” I think that’s a key theme for you to embrace in 2023. Let’s express the idea more positively, too. In Navajo culture, rug weavers intentionally create small imperfections in their work, like…
