Cover Stories
Detroit’s Eartha Kitten is challenging burlesque norms
If you type “burlesque dancer” into Google, you’ll see several faces are shown in the results: Dita Von Teese, Dixie Evans, Gypsy Rose Lee, Angie Pontani, and Tempest Storm. One thing you’ll notice is that most of the burlesque artists shown in the top results are white women, and there’s only one Black woman shown…
How Orion Story, Michigan’s first ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ contestant, turned loss into a win
Orion Story was broke and broken when she flew to Los Angeles to be on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Beyond having no money, the Grand Rapids drag queen was going through withdrawal and dealing with her mother’s suicide. To put it simply, she was straight-up unprepared. “We were in quarantine in our hotel rooms for a…
What happened when Detroit coffee shop workers tried to unionize
The workers at the Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood were sick and tired. After a COVID-19 outbreak infected more than half of the 20 or so baristas at the store in early 2021, the Great Lakes Coffee workers went on strike one year ago this week, seeking better conditions and union…
First look: Rusted Crow is opening a new Belleville location
Welcome to Chowhound, a new bi-weekly column and your prandial information portal to what’s trending in Detroit food culture. Consider this your new feed for restaurant announcements, au courant culinary conversation, and assorted tasty news nibbles from our local dining front. And, hey, if you’ve something to share on those subjects, reach out to me,…
HighStreetPharma Reviews: Modafinil Vendor Analysis
The Internet is flooded with HighStreetPharma reviews if you check online when looking for reliable modafinil advice. Thousands of people around the globe take modafinil to help them excel in their studies or profession. However, so many still face difficulty finding a reliable modafinil vendor due to the whopping number of dubious and inferior quality…
Fairlane Town Center to host Black Art Library pop-up
The Detroit-based Black Art Libary is coming to Fairlane Town Center for Black History Month. Black Art Library will host a pop-up exhibit on Fairlane’s upper level near Macy’s on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from Feb. 17-26. The pop-up library includes nearly 300 books ranging from exhibition catalogs and Black artist biographies to children’s books.…
Why did you leave Detroit? Metro Times wants to speak with you.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Detroit lost nearly 75,000 residents over the previous decade, continuing a 70-year trend. A city that once boasted a population of nearly 2 million in 1950 now has just 639,111, according to the official tally. While elected officials like Mayor Mike Duggan and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib have challenged…
After dark years, Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful embrace light and love on ‘Narrows’
It’s morning on an uncommonly beautiful winter’s day when we reach out to Misty Lyn Bergeron for an interview — a remarkably bright, cloudless day with vibrant blue skies. Which is exactly why Misty Lyn asks to postpone the conversation until after dusk, because, she says, she just wants to “utilize this sunlight.” And of…
‘Fuck your thoughts and prayers’: lawmakers respond after MSU mass shooting
Here we go again. About 14 months after the mass shooting at Oxford High School, a gunman unleashed terror at Michigan State University, killing three students and injuring five more. It was at least the 67th mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year. The cycle of gun violence in America is as predictable…
Detroit artist Sterling Toles to perform experimental set for Paramita Sound
Got a Detroit music tip? Send it to music@metrotimes.com. Imaginative performances at Paramita: A new weekly series called Natural Peals is happening at the intimate Paramita Sound record shop and wine bar in downtown Detroit. Per the flyer, the series features “artists who wish to experiment and explore sounds in an unconventional small room setting.”…
MSU shooting suspect dead after killing 3, injuring 5
Michigan State University went on lockdown on Monday after a string of shootings at the East Lansing campus. An unnamed suspect that police described as “a Black male, shorter in stature, red shoes, jean jacket, wearing a baseball cap that is navy with a lighter brim” was later found dead of apparent self-inflicted wounds. SUSPECT…
House of Dank Sponsors Royal Oak Winter Blast for Second Consecutive Year
House of Dank will be sponsoring this year’s Royal Oak Winter Blast for a second year in a row. The festival, which takes place from February 17th to February 19th in downtown Royal Oak, promises to be a celebration of winter with music, food, and winter activities. This event is free to the public with…
‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ centers the work of making a fantasy
Following its more modestly scaled predecessors but nonetheless ensconced in a like striptease-centered world, Magic Mike’s Last Dance offers a chance for Steven Soderbergh to not only wrap the trilogy he and Channing Tatum began releasing back in 2012, but an opportunity, too, to remark upon its stakes. Moving upward through class spheres and due…
Detroit Youth Choir announces annual concert at Orchestra Hall
The Detroit Youth Choir is gearing up for the America’s Got Talent All-Stars finals next week. Win or lose, the sensational choir will always be a source of pride back home in Detroit. As such, the group has announced its first major annual hometown concert at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall. The concert will feature a special…
Black Detroiters fall behind in access to quality jobs, report finds
Metro Detroit’s fastest-growing, well-paying jobs are disproportionately going to white workers, depriving Black residents of opportunities to make decent wages and join the middle class, according to a report released Monday by Detroit Future City. The report, “Growth Occupations: Opportunities for more equitable participation in Detroit’s Growing Economy,” blames systemic racism, discrimination in hiring, and…
Cookies begins selling recreational cannabis at its Detroit dispensary
Cookies is now selling adult-use cannabis at its Detroit dispensary. The 3,500-square-foot store at 6030 Eight Mile Road will celebrate the launch of recreational cannabis and the dispensary’s three-year anniversary with a live DJ, food trucks, vendors, deals, and special giveaways from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The first 150 customers to make…
Military shoots down UFO over Michigan
These are words we never imagined we’d be reporting at Detroit Metro Times: According to officials, a U.S. F-16 jet shot down an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday. The object is the fourth “high-altitude object” decommissioned by Air Force jets in North America in recent days, following incidents in airspace over Alaska,…
The grandson of Detroit art royalty, James Charles Morris is forging his own path
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: James Charles Morris Art has always been a part of James Charles Morris’s life. It’s in his blood. That’s a given when you have distinguished Detroit gallerist Dell…
Detroit Land Bank reaches $1.5M settlement over demolition claims
The Detroit Land Bank Authority (DLBA) will pay the federal government $1.5 million over claims that it failed to substantiate $13 million in payments to contractors. The DLBA Board voted Friday to pay the money as part of a settlement agreement to close a federal investigation that began in 2019. The federal government’s Troubled Asset…
Millionaire Perry Johnson, kicked off the gubernatorial ballot last year, now plans to run for president
Perry Johnson, the self-described “quality guru” who was kicked off the 2022 Michigan gubernatorial ballot for turning in fraudulent signatures, is preparing to shell out millions of more dollars on his latest long-shot quest. The 75-year-old Republican millionaire with no political experience is running for president of the United States. Johnson plans to spend $192,000…
Michigan’s 2023 Cannabash fest details announced, with Sada Baby and Ludacris to perform
Cannabash — a cannabis and music festival that debuted in Muskegon last year — is slated to return in 2023, with new details announced Friday. The festival is set to return on Saturday, July 8 at Muskegon’s Softball World grounds with headline entertainment by Detroit rapper Sada Baby and Atlanta’s Ludacris. Related Other announced acts…
Two short films about Detroit painters are headed to PBS
When Detroit filmmaker Juanita Anderson got the call to make a film about an artist on their way toward mastery, she knew exactly who her subject would be — Sydney G. James. We’re already huge Sydney James stans but it’s not an exaggeration to say that she’s straight fire. James is the voice of a…
New Dodge Lounge blasted for ‘pay to play’ live music policy
When it was acquired by new owners last year, Hamtramck’s New Dodge Lounge promised that the long-standing bar and music venue, which had a reputation for not paying artists and a crappy soundsystem, would be turning over a new leaf. But so far, things appear to be off to a bit of a rocky start.…
Detroit’s Project Green Light failed to reduce violent crime, DOJ finds
Detroit’s highly touted Project Green Light, a crime-fighting initiative that relies on a widespread surveillance network of high-definition cameras throughout the city, was ineffective at reducing violent crime, the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice concluded. The findings contradict repeated claims by the Detroit Police Department and Mayor Mike Duggan that the controversial…
Herbology Cannabis opens first Detroit dispensary
Herbology Cannabis is opening its first Detroit dispensary this week. The new location at 471 Schaefer Hwy. is the company’s third dispensary. It is open for adult-use cannabis sales on Saturday, Feb. 11. “We are thrilled to expand our reach and bring the Herbology experience to Detroit,” said TJ Jawad, the company’s CEO, in a…
Kash Doll officially returns to music with new ‘Back on Dexter’ mixtape
Kash Doll is back. The Detroit hip-hop queen is making her official return to music with her newest release, Back on Dexter: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape. The project is a collaboration with Grammy Award winning DJ and producer DJ Drama and is the latest in his acclaimed Gangsta Grillz series. It’s also Kash Doll’s first…
A ‘Swan Lake’ for our dystopian times
Swan Lake is more than just Black Swan — it’s one of the most legendary productions of all time. First staged in 1895 with music by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, this libretto-turned-ballet was initially considered a failure but has gone on to become one of the most beloved productions in the world. And now,…
Ex-Wife’s Famous Chicken is a surprisingly loving metro Detroit restaurant chain
I hesitated when I saw the name of this place — it sounded ripe for misogyny and bad jokes. But au contraire: whoever is writing copy for the Ex-Wife actually seems pretty fond of owner Allie T. Mallad’s former flame (if such a person exists in fact and not just in legend). Signs in the…
State Senate passes bill to end government-mandated mass flunking of 3rd graders
The Michigan Senate passed a bill Wednesday that will prohibit schools from automatically holding back third graders who don’t meet certain reading benchmarks. The state’s “Read by Grade Three” law currently prevents third-graders from advancing to the next grade if they don’t score high enough on a standardized test. Senate Bill 12, sponsored by Sen.…
App helps property owners in Detroit discover if they’ve been overtaxed
Anti-foreclosure activists have launched a free app to help Detroiters determine if the city overassessed their property values. The Coalition for Property Tax Justice (CPTJ) created the Search and Compare app as the city sends out property assessments. The app is accompanied by a video that explains property tax assessment notices. The idea is to…
Free Will Astrology (Feb. 8-14)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): During my quest for advice that might be helpful to your love life, I plucked these words of wisdom from author Sam Kean: “Books about relationship talk about how to ‘get’ the love you need, how to ‘keep’ love, and so on. But the right question to ask is, ‘How do…
Detroit singer Dominique Mary Davis stays rooted in her element
Dominique Mary Davis is halfway through her set at Willis Show Bar in Detroit’s Midtown on a recent cold winter night. She smiles, she sings, and she laughs. She then begins to talk to the crowd about a former love interest. “You know how you date somebody you know you shouldn’t be dating, but do…
