Detroit concert venue Harpos seeking investors for renovations
Eastside Detroit’s infamous Harpos Concert Theatre could be getting a facelift. The venue, which books mostly metal and hip-hop acts, is seeking investors via a listing by the Southfield-based Farbman Group. Farbman broker Brad Margolis told Kurk Pinho of Crain’s Detroit Business that Harpos owner Ruzvelt Stevanovski plans to use proceeds on improvements to the…
Ex-Wayne County court assistant charged with embezzling more than $60,000 from a judge
A former Wayne County Circuit Court judicial assistant is accused of embezzling more than $60,000 from a judge. Steven Allen, 42, of Detroit, was arraigned Monday on four felony counts, including forgery, using a computer to commit a crime, and embezzlement. Allen faces up to 15 years in prison. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel alleges…
Detroit’s QLine says ridership is up, wait times are down
Could things be turning around for Detroit’s beleaguered QLine? According to M-1 Rail, the nonprofit that operates the streetcar system, more than one million people took a ride in 2023 — a 50% increase from 2022 and 25% increase from pre-pandemic levels. M-1 Rail says the increased ridership is due in part to improved wait…
In ‘Origin,’ Ava DuVernay turns Isabel Wilkerson’s exploration of racism, ‘Caste,’ into a gripping feature film
Watching Origin, the mind-stirring new film from writer-director Ava DuVernay, I found myself leaning forward, the way you do when a friend you haven’t seen in a long time relates an intensely personal tale of loss or love or both. University students no doubt do the same when Isabel Wilkerson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and…
André 3000 is bringing his jazz flute to Detroit as part of his ‘New Blue Sun’ tour
Last year, André 3000 emerged from a lengthy hiatus from the hip-hop duo Outkast to drop New Blue Sun, a surprise 87-minute ambient jazz album that wound up outselling several major rap albums. In even more surprising news, the reclusive rapper announced Tuesday that he will promote the album on a short six-city tour that…
Detroit jazzman Charles Boles has died
Detroit has lost one of its longtime jazz greats. Pianist Charles passed away on Friday, January 19. He was 91. A family member confirmed the death to Metro Times. Boles’s jazz career spanned over six decades, combining elements of gospel, blues, and bebop on the piano. Born in Detroit in 1932, he was a regular…
DJ Tammy Lakkis hits the open decks night at Detroit’s Foxglove
Singer, songwriter, and DJ Tammy Lakkis is hitting the Foxglove, a vinyl-only hangout situated in an urban garden and adjacent garage. The space hosts an open deck night on the second and fourth Thursday of each month where anyone can show up with their favorite LPs and give them a spin in a more intimate…
Faster Horses fest announces 2024 headliners Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, and Hardy
Michigan’s Faster Horses festival has announced its 2024 lineup, and its headliners are some of the biggest names in contemporary country music. Those would be rapper-turned-country artist Jelly Roll, “Hillbilly Hippy” Lainey Wilson, and Hardy, who blends country and alternative rock sounds. All three artists are coming off a huge year which saw them top…
Absence of Proof creates sober spaces in Detroit beyond Dry January
By the time Tori Guido finished her first “Dry January” in 2023, she realized she didn’t even enjoy drinking anymore. Her mental and physical health had vastly improved, especially since working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic had led to drink more in the past few years. “It was like, ‘Oh, I’m at home working.…
‘It only makes sense’: Houses of worship adding solar arrays
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. On a Sunday morning in Charlevoix, people gather in the small, one-room building of the Greensky Hill Indian United Methodist Church. They sing hymns in English and…
Stay warm! More snow is on its way to metro Detroit
After an unseasonably warm season, metro Detroit finally got a real winter over the past week and a half, with temperatures nearing zero and a few inches of snow still on the ground. We’ve had enough of the cold already now, but Mother Earth isn’t done yet. The National Weather Service has issued another Winter…
Lapointe: For a true evangelical, weaponized religion is a big sin
Nobody really knows who first said “when fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis often gets credit, wrongly. So does Upton Sinclair, also inaccurately. Perhaps, in Detroit, we should cite the senior political radical John Sinclair. Maybe he never said it, but he could have.…
Hamtramck Blowout is back, but Metro Times is no longer producing it
Got a Detroit music tip? Send it to music@metrotimes.com. We were surprised to learn last week that the Hamtramck Blowout — the local music festival organized by Metro Times from 1998-2015 — is returning this year. The Detroit News reports that the organizers behind the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival plan to revive the Blowout, set…
HGTV’s Cristy Lee opens up about rare medical diagnosis ahead of return to television
When Cristy Lee returns to HGTV as a host on the new show Battle on the Mountain, which premieres Monday, it’ll mark her first time appearing on television since her 2023 diagnosis of two rare auto-immune diseases that turned her world upside-down. About a year ago, Lee was traveling in Arizona for work when she…
Kwame Kilpatrick’s wife buys enormous house in Novi despite former mayor’s unpaid restitution
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s wife bought an $807,000 house in an upscale residential enclave in Novi last month, even as her convicted felon husband still owes a hefty amount of money in back taxes and restitution stemming from his corruption conviction in 2013. LaTicia Kilpatrick, who married the disgraced former mayor in July 2021…
Nature remnants become eco offerings in ‘Beyond Topography’ show
A show about landscapes could easily be boring, but Beyond Topography at the Janice Charach Gallery bends and reshapes our perception. A mass of latex and fabric that seems to drip from above suspended mid-air alongside driftwood and dried plants draws me into the space. But a collection of animal skulls, feathers, and bones laid…
Quick-serve Asian restaurant Red Lotus opens in Hollywood Casino at Greektown
Downtown Detroit’s Hollywood Casino at Greektown has just welcomed Red Lotus to its Monroe Market, the food-court-style center on the second floor of the entertainment and gaming destination. The new option for casino-goers, which opened to the public on Thursday, is a quick-serve Asian eatery offering noodle and rice dishes such as Thai shrimp curry,…
Say what you will about the old Detroit Lions. This is a new pride.
At present, a football season of profound change for the way better stands poised to further prove the S.O.L. days of the Detroit Lions are dead and gone. Last year, despite all the good run vibrations and reasons this organization gave us to cheer again, that 9-8 team concluded its annual campaign within regular season…
Experience the Musical genius of Alexander Golberg Jero at IMAGINARIUM
Get ready to transcend boundaries and embark on a musical journey like no other. Join us on Saturday, January 27th at 9:15 PM at the iconic Farmington Civic Theater for an unforgettable night of pure audio magic. At Imaginarium, we believe that music has the power to transport us to new dimensions. Our cutting-edge technology…
Upcoming ‘BLACK’ exhibition at the Carr Center displays the diversity of Black artists in Detroit
In honor of Black History Month, Detroit’s Carr Center is hosting a handful of programs dedicated to highlighting Black artists in the city. Gallery Director Tia Nichols tapped Detroit artist Daniel Geanes to help her curate the upcoming group exhibition BLACK, which is an acronym for “A Built Language Across Culture and Knowledge.” “Being a…
Ann Arbor Folk Fest returns as two-day event for first time since 2020
When legendary singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris hits the stage at the 47th annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival this month, it’ll be her fifth appearance at the long-running festival. Harris, 76, headlined the festival in 1999, 2004, 2012, as well as in 2008 in an in-the-round configuration with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, and Buddy Miller, and was…
Influencer Mr.ChimeTime rips into Detroit restaurants. Is the criticism warranted?
At a criticism workshop for local journalists, a colleague of mine made a surprising admission about a well-known and oft-praised Black-owned restaurant in Detroit. “Everyone raves about them but honestly I was not impressed at all,” she said with hesitation and what sounded like remorse for daring to utter the words. The food wasn’t well…
Over half the country is rooting for the Detroit Lions to win, according to data
Everyone loves to root for the underdog, and after 32 years of not winning a playoff game, the Detroit Lions finally did it last Sunday. Plus, with a 13-5 record, the Lions’ 2023-24 season is going way, way better than it has been in recent memory. And now, over half of the country is rooting…
Kitab Cafe’s married co-owners have created a warm and welcoming space in Hamtramck
Kitab Cafe is what you want in a coffee place if you’re looking not just for caffeine but for a welcoming environment, literally for everyone, from rough-hewn old white guys to teens in hijab. Counter workers might be showing some shoulder (it’s warm inside) or be in hijab themselves. Traffic is steady, with lots of…
‘All of Us Strangers’ is a ghost story with a bad ending
In its entwining of a love story and a ghost story, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers is scarcely without precedent, with forebears including The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Truly, Madly, Deeply, and, of course, Ghost. Those films, however, involved romances between the living and the dead, with all of the inevitable complications. All of…
Environmentalists oppose legislation to classify factory farm ‘biogas’ as clean energy
In a major “greenwashing” offensive, many factory farms — the highly profitable hubs of industrial agriculture that produce almost all the meat and dairy products sold by fast-food franchises and supermarkets — have recently begun using mechanical anaerobic “digesters” to turn some of the animal waste they generate into “biogas.” And provisions in recently introduced…
University of Michigan faces escalating scrutiny over another animal research scandal
The University of Michigan is under increased scrutiny as a research fraud scandal continues to unfold, with yet another scientific journal retracting an article due to “unreliable” and duplicated data. The research, which was partially federally funded, involved highly invasive experiments that induced seizures in mice. Their brains were later sliced into pieces. The National…
The Vintage Electronics Expo returns to the Southfield Pavilion on Saturday
Retro gear is having a bit of a moment. The Vintage Electronics Expo claims to be the largest vintage gear expo in the U.S. and last year moved its annual gathering to the larger Southfield Pavilion, where it’s set to return this Saturday. Organizers say that they have seen an influx of younger attendees in…
