Cover Stories
How Laith Al-Saadi’s 15 minutes is propelling his career
The major label A&R person asks the artist, “Don’t you want as many people as possible to hear your music?” “No,” the artist responds. “I just want to reach the ones that will like it.” That’s the conundrum faced by any musician trying to carve their niche. Sure there may not be “bad publicity” but…
A smattering of the smoked meats and more available at Pig & Whiskey
Bad Brad’s BBQ This barbecue restaurant serves mouthwatering bbq sandwiches, ribs, chicken, and burger platters that include guacamole, green salsa, horseradish sauce, cilantro, and mild smokey jalapeño sauce. Soups, salads, appetizers along with tasty and unique sides are available. Their lunch menus are the same, but the dinner menus vary at each location. Multiple locations;…
Eclectic Honeybabe steps out
In the age of the internet, infinite playlists, and musical abundance, an increasing number of bands are embodying head-scratching combinations of styles and sounds that span genres, geography, and history. Honeybabe is a perfect example of this phenomenon going very right. The five-man band combine sun-showered punk with fuzzy, psychedelic rock, sugary vocals, and textured,…
Libby DeCamp, the thoughtful rambler
Libby DeCamp’s calling as a folk singer has been a long time coming. Though she’s only 22, the Romeo native has spent much of her life with her head in books, soaking up American history and literature, internalizing and analyzing its charms and contradictions. Those long adolescent days were also when she began playing a…
Earth Engine revs up
Bombastic, ambitious, theatrical, intricate — these are a few words to describe Earth Engine, the seven-headed beast of a band that’s been clawing its way to existence over the last two years, playing its genre-melding rock in and around the Detroit area, recording in basements, scraping together the money to make their presence known. The…
Bon Bon Bon’s new chocolate factory opens Wednesday
Bon Bon Bon will debut to the public its new 6,000-square-foot chocolate factory in downtown Hamtramck on Wednesday. The opening comes after several months of working behind papered windows and putting the finishing touches on the building, including another insane Jimbo Easter mural. Owner Alexandra Clark tells MT that the extra real estate — about ten times…
Eastern Market’s Roma Cafe closes, will reopen under new name
The Roma Cafe has abruptly closed down, but its head chef will reopen a new restaurant in the space in September. Crain’s reports that a sign left on the door by owner Janet Sossi Belcoure reads “after 127 years of continuous service at this location, Roma Cafe is out-of-business and permanently CLOSED. Grazie molto to…
Kid Rock announces tour, new songs, still unfortunately running for Senate
We found out earlier this week that the Donald Trump effect has made its way to Kid Rock, aka Bob Ritchie, who thinks he has what it takes to beat Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow for her seat in next year’s elections. Obviously, the internet went wild with boo’s and hiss’s from the people of Michigan,…
You can stream the White Stripes’ first-ever show that happened 20 years ago today in Detroit
20 years ago today, on Bastille Day, Jack and Meg White played at an open-mic night at the Gold Dollar in Detroit. Little did Jack and Meg know, but that show was the catalyst for them to change rock music forever. In celebration of the show, Third Man Records has released The First Show: Live…
Big Sean teamed up with Coldplay for a new song and we’re into it
Coldplay just released their new EP, Kaleidoscope, and to our surprise, they have a song with Big Sean. The new song is titled, “Miracles (Someone Special)” and it’s quite an unexpected collab, but nevertheless, we’re loving it. Complete with Sean’s signature inspirational outro verse, we’ve decided it’s the perfect jam to kick back and relax…
‘White Boy Rick’ granted parole after years and years in prison
Michigan’s longest serving nonviolent juvenile offender “White Boy” Rick Wershe Jr. was granted parole today after the Michigan Parole Board voted in favor of Wershe’s plea for freedom. Wershe was just 17 when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a drug conviction. Wershe is now 47 and could be out of…
Tomorrow: A White Panther Party reunion at the Wright Museum
The wayback machine is running full-tilt this month, with exhibits on the summer of 1967 at the Detroit Historical Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum, and the Lorenzo Cultural Center, as well as various other tours, remembrances, and talks. One of the more unusual events takes place tomorrow afternoon, and may surprise people who think…
Jerry Seinfeld headed to Fox Theatre for legendary night of stand-up
Stand-up comedian and all around legend Jerry Seinfeld is headed to the Fox Theatre on Saturday, November 11 for one night of his crazy antics and jokes. The comedian has been laying low in the last few years, just working on his show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and denying hugs from Kesha on the red…
Michigan marijuana legalization effort running ahead of schedule, organizers say
The latest effort to let Michigan voters decide whether marijuana should be legalized is running ahead of schedule, according to organizers, with more than 100,000 signatures gathered so far to put the issue on the November ballot. A similar effort was derailed last year when proponents failed to obtain the appropriate amount of signatures in…
Detroiter wins on Food Network’s ‘Chopped’
Bayview Yacht Club pastry chef Crystal Smith is a champion on the Food Network show “Chopped”. The Detroit News reports that the 34-year-old chef and single mom of three is now $10,000 richer, and will use the money to help her new company, You Had Me At Cake 313. In “Chopped”, chefs must prepare a…
Flint Eastwood’s song “Queen” is being used for ESPN’s coverage of Wimbledon
What does Detroit’s Flint Eastwood and Venus Williams have in common? NO, Flint Eastwood doesn’t have secret tennis skills that she’s been hiding — they just both happen to be mother fuckin’ queens on their respective games. Flint Eastwood’s single “Queen” from her latest release Broke Royalty was used as background music highlighting the Wimbledon…
Detroit Water Ice Factory has the best soft-serve ice cream in Michigan, ‘Buzzfeed’ says
While some call it “soft-serve” and others call it frozen custard,” there’s no denying that it’s god damn delicious. It’s so delicious that the lovely people at Buzzfeed posted a list of the best soft-serve in every state. Can you guess who got the top prize in Michigan? It’s none other than the Detroit Water…
This couple celebrated their wedding with a trip to Lafayette Coney Island and we love it
Honestly, this should be the new norm for any couple getting married in Detroit now. Reddit user “helderm2” posted a selfie and himself and his bride stuffing their faces with a Lafayette Coney after their wedding that was held at the Grosse Pointe yacht Club. He explains in the comment section on Reddit that he…
It’s time to discuss the future of food in Detroit
What does the future of food in Detroit look like? That’s a question that opens up discussions on all sorts of sometimes uncomfortable topics on race, power, control, gentrification, ownership, diversity, media coverage, and other topics that often get lost beneath some of the surface hype and business-food stories about the “7.2”. It’s also a…
Kid Rock apparently announces U.S. Senate campaign
Rock-rapper Robert Ritchie — better known as Kid Rock — claims to have launched a bid for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, which has been held by Democrat Debbie Stabenow since 2000. The website kidrockforsenate.com went live today, and Ritchie took to Twitter to affirm the site’s authenticity and promise a “major announcement” soon. As of Wednesday evening, the site…
Sarap pop up returns this month with a 5-course Filipino meal
Sarap’s Dorothy Hernandez and Jake Williams are two of Detroit’s only chefs offering a chance for Michiganders to taste Filipino cuisine locally, and it’s always a treat. The pair return this month with a collaboration with Seattle chef Garrett Doherty from the popular restaurant, Kraken Congee. Via release, Hernandez says that the restaurant is “known for…
Don’t bring an umbrella to Metallica tonight at Comerica Park
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been raining quite a bit today in the Motor City. That’s why the lovely people at Comerica Park want the people who are attending the Metallica concert tonight at the park to be ready for sunshine or rain. They also want you to know that in case inclement weather…
Detroit chef plans three new restaurants for the next year
Detroit chef Maxcel Hardy is busy these days trying to accomplish the seemingly impossible – opening three restaurants within the coming year. That includes River Bistro, a Caribbean-style comfort food restaurant targeting an Aug. 1 opening on Grand River near Fenkell; COOP, a fast casual Caribbean-Asian chicken restaurant planned for the Detroit Shipping Co. shipping…
New program helps Detroiters buy back their tax-foreclosed homes
Dozens of Detroit families who lost their homes to tax foreclosure now have free and clear deeds to their properties thanks to a new “occupied buy-back” program being offered by the city of Detroit and the Detroit Land Bank Authority. Participants in the program were owners or renters whose homes had wound up in the Land Bank’s…
Maggots, unrefrigerated bodies, and blood-stained pillows lead to Flint funeral home closure
It’s like a scene out of a horror movie. State investigators found maggots on a garage floor and door, unrefrigerated bodies in an un-air-conditioned area, and blood- and fluid-stained casket pillows laying in a hallway at the Swanson Funeral Home in Flint, which led to their decision to suspend the funeral home’s mortuary science establishment license as…
‘Detroit Free Press’ changed its online font and we don’t know how to feel about it
Part of what makes the Detroit Free Press so iconic is the old English font that adorns the masthead in the print and online publication. For some, the giant “F” is easily as recognizable as the old English “D” that represents the Detroit Tigers. That’s why we were shocked when we saw Crain’s journalist Chad…
Republican-led House bill rejects Trump’s Great Lakes cuts
The Republican-led U.S. House Appropriations Committee released a draft bill Tuesday that would push back against President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts to the Great Lakes. The bill would fully fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative with $300 million for 2018. Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed eliminating the clean-up program. The legislation would also push…
New FX series stars actress from Detroit
When you see the title for the new FX scripted series Snowfall you may think that it’s about a bunch of liberals falling off a cliff or something. While that would delight to the MAGA crowd, Snowfall is about a different kind of snowflake — cocaine in LA during the ’80s! The show debuted last…
Treat yo self with these local beauty products
Signature shea body butter Sonia Organics $17 “What we put on our skin is important — we don’t want toxins going into our bodies,” says Sonia Flunder-McNair. That’s why she started formulating her own body butter just a few short years ago. Living in Toledo, she says her community started an urban garden to offset…
Billy Bragg’s obsession with skiffle, Britain’s take on American roots music
U.K. musician Billy Bragg is widely known for his long career in music and activism, which includes a blend of grassroots forms, such as punk rock, folk music, protest music, and heritage traditions. In addition to a recent tour with Joe Henry in support of their collaborative album, Shine a Light, Bragg has written a…
Benefits and the bridge
Matty Moroun’s 90th birthday was last month, and for some reason, my invitation to his party must have gotten lost in the mail. That’s not all that much of a tragedy, however. It’s hard to know what to get a man who is worth $1.54 billion, and whose only known desire is to keep his…
Savage Love: Scrubs
Q: I’m a gay medical student with a medical fetish, and I can’t even open up to my therapist about this. I think the fetish started when I was young; I was once in the hospital and given a suppository for a fever. Then one time I was given a Fleet enema. I don’t think…
1967 resonates 50 years later with plenty of planned observances
Aurora Harris spent most of the summer of 1967 in the Philippines, where her mother was from. There, as President Ferdinand Marcos threatened to impose martial law, she saw soldiers patrolling the streets. Her father was concerned that should martial law be declared, his family would be trapped in the island nation. So he brought…
Study finds Detroit’s foreclosure crisis fueled by illegal tax assessments
If the walls of the home at 1538 Junction Street could talk, they would tell the story of five generations of working-class Detroiters. The modest, two-story barn-style house in Southwest Detroit was purchased in 1907 by a pair of Irish immigrants and passed down through their descendants — willed first to their daughter, who would…
Sterling’s Old Style BBQ beats the streets in northwest Detroit
The glorious pig fat nearly melts in your mouth as the layers of rib tip meat — moist, tender, and pink from the smoke, or charred to a bark — fall apart. The tips spend six hours above the wood coals in the smokers puffing behind Sterling’s Old Style BBQ in northwest Detroit, and are…
Review: Lebanese grill Dearborn Meat Market keeps a short and to-the-point menu
Dearborn Meat Market is one of those Dearborn restaurants that seems to be gaining steam in recent months. The skewers that the tiny Lebanese restaurant grills above flames in its dining room come up in conversation with frequency. It helps that it’s gotten a little hype from local food Instagram personalities, and its Yelp rating…
Horoscopes (July 12-18)
Life happens, even to those who read the stars and planets. If Cal had seen it coming, perhaps she would not have gone to the pool on the 4th, whereby a simple trip resulted in a broken hip. But we do know enough about astrology to understand that something similar would have happened, eventually. For…
The avant-garde jazz of Griot Galaxy
When the lineup was announced for the 25th Concert of Colors — Detroit’s free annual diversity-themed music festival — Griot Galaxy immediately jumped out. No Detroit jazz ensemble is more legendary for “what could have been” than the one that came to call itself the Sci-Fi Band. The late saxophonist, composer, and poet Faruq Z.…
Culture Lab Detroit announces 2017 theme: ‘post-truth’
If it wasn’t apparent already, we have officially entered a post-truth era. From the “alternative facts” brazenly spun from the White House daily to the public’s eroding trust in the media, the concept of a fractured reality had a moment in 2016 — so much so that the Oxford English Dictionary even chose “post-truth” (an…
