Cover Stories
How I learned to stop worrying and enjoy pickleball
While the world moved on from the COVID-19 pandemic, I stayed cooped up in my third-floor apartment in Detroit, too anxious to venture outside. I stopped visiting friends, only went to restaurants for carry-out, and worked from home. To keep myself occupied, I began collecting rare indoor plants and read a copious amount of books.…
Hamtramck artist pioneers premium, eco-conscious pickleball paddle
In a small workshop nestled in the basement of a Hamtramck rowhouse, Forrest Hudes wraps a long strip of leather around the handle of what they call “the world’s first hollow-core” wood pickleball paddle. As a wood-working artist, Hudes, who uses the pronouns they/them, has spent the past decade transforming pieces of wood into unique…
Why aspire? Hamilton’s aims to elevate the familiar in Corktown
Hamilton’s at the Godfrey Hotel gives what it promises: “familiar food” and “the dishes you love.” Familiar “doesn’t necessarily mean pedestrian,” asserts the culinary team. Of course, the goal is “unforgettable versions” of such classics as fish and chips, a cheeseburger, Cobb salad, roast chicken, and steak. So you know going in that this hotel…
Free Will Astrology (June 19-25)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I love being logical and reasonable! The scientific method is one of my favorite ways to understand how the world works. I am a big fan of trying to ascertain the objective facts about any situation I am in. However, I also love being intuitive and open to mystical perceptions. I…
Metro Times editor to judge Detroit’s Burger Battle
Your humble narrator has agreed to be one of the guest judges for the upcoming Burger Battle, a food competition set for Sunday, June 30 at Detroit’s Eastern Market. I’ll be joining three other guest judges, including Susan Selasky of The Detroit Free Press. May the best burger win! Dear reader: You can also weigh…
Is Alzheimer’s Genetic?
Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, is a creeping ailment that kicks off with minor memory lapses, which can snowball into the afflicted person losing the ability to chat or interact with their surroundings. This disease messes with the parts of the brain that handle thinking, remembering, and talking. As it marches on, it…
Gmac Cash endorses Hill Harper for U.S. Senate with a song
Gmac Cash, a Detroit rapper renowned for turning topical songs into viral hits, is back with another track. His newest music video is an endorsement of Hill Harper, the actor and activist who is running for U.S. Senate in Michigan. “If you’re tired of working harder, vote Hill Harper,” he raps. “If we’re trying to…
Line 5 shutdown case gets second chance in state court
Environmentalists won a temporary victory Monday in the attempt to shut down the oil and natural gas liquid pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. A three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case back to state court, where the case was originally filed by Attorney General Dana Nessel in June…
Oakland County sheriff slammed for telling reporters not to contact mass shooting victims
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard is getting a quick lesson on the importance of the media and the First Amendment. The Republican lawman took to Facebook and X on Sunday to tell the media to stop contacting victims of Saturday’s mass shooting that left nine people wounded at a splash pad in Rochester Hills. “To…
Saroki’s Crispy Chicken and Pizza opens first drive-thru in Madison Heights
Our readers may already know that some of the best eats in the Detroit area can be found in local gas stations. Saroki’s Crispy Chicken and Pizza is one of them, and it has developed something of a cult following for its fried chicken and New York-style pizzas. The local chain is expanding in metro…
Metro Detroit sizzles in week-long heat wave
No, you’re not in hell. It just feels that way. Metro Detroiters are in for a scorching week as temperatures are expected to hover in the 90s for nearly a week. The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning beginning Monday, when the mercury is supposed to top out in the upper 90s at…
White nationalists double-booted from Detroit venues over the weekend
Detroiters had a message for white supremacists who came to the city over the weekend: Get the fuck out. The America First Political Conference (AFPAC), which is led by white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes, organized several events in Detroit to coincide with another right-wing convention that was held at downtown’s Huntington Place. That event, the People’s…
Where to watch Detroit’s fireworks show
More than 10,000 pyrotechnics effects will dazzle onlookers in Detroit and Windsor during the 66th annual Ford Fireworks next week. The event, produced by the Parade Company, is set for 10 p.m. on Monday, June 24 and is free and open to the public. But where’s the best place to view the show? Unless you…
Lapointe: Impeach Supreme Justices Thomas and Alito?
When she entered the United States House of Representatives, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Detroit famously vowed to remove then-President Donald Trump. “We’re going to impeach the mother-fucker,” Tlaib promised in 2019. Indeed, Democrats in the House did so twice, but failed both times to win enough Republican Senate votes to convict Trump and ban him…
Actor Hill Harper brings empathy, advocacy, and progressive values to U.S. Senate race
You’ve probably seen Hill Harper on television. Known for his roles in The Good Doctor, Limitless, and CSI:NY, Harper is a talented, versatile actor who brings depth and nuance to his characters. He has earned a loyal fan base because of his ability to authentically convey complex character traits. That experience, he says, has taught…
Rising Detroit R&B singer Niko Noir aims to give listeners ‘the space to feel’
Niko Noir’s music journey is one of passion, soul, and forging her own path. The 25-year-old Detroiter has been singing for as long as she can remember, but it wasn’t until high school that she fully immersed herself in her talent, first releasing music at the start of college. After her freshman year at Bethune-Cookman…
Detroit graffiti artist BVIS has been caught
BVIS is busted. The graffiti artist known in recent months for allegedly spray-painting characters from the TV show Beavis and Butt-Head around Detroit and its suburbs was caught red-handed, so to speak. According to Fox 2, the artist has been identified as Bryan Herrin of Hazel Park, who faces felony charges including six counts of…
Detroit’s Third Street Bar reopens with live music and new owners
The humble Third Street Bar is now owned by the Detroit Optimist Society, a hospitality group better known for its high-end cocktail bars like Sugar House, Wright & Co., and Bad Luck Bar. But co-owner Dave Kwiatkowski says they plan to keep it more or less the same low-frills shot-and-a-beer kind of a spot that…
Artist Hadassah GreenSky keeps Anishinaabe traditions alive in Detroit
Hadassah GreenSky’s blue dress shimmers like she is wearing the river. Thin pieces of metal rolled into cones swim around the dress making a cling-clang song as she jumps, light on her feet, to a chorus of drums. Her hair is fashioned into two braids with blue extensions and accentuated with red and white feathers.…
Free movies will screen at Detroit’s New Center Park every other Friday this summer
New Center Park is bringing back its Friday Night Film Series this summer. Detroiters can once again enjoy a mix of old and new movies every other Friday for free in the open-air outdoor green space, owned and operated by Midtown Detroit Inc. The “Movies in the Park” series, sponsored by The Kresge Foundation, will…
Detroit is U.S. metro with biggest inflation problem, study finds
It’s not just you — inflation is a big problem these days, and Detroiters especially are feeling the economic pinch. That’s according to a new study by personal finance website WalletHub, which analyzed how inflation is impacting different metropolitan areas. The study ranked the “Detroit-Warren-Dearborn” area as facing the biggest problem with inflation. Metro Detroit…
Protesters to rally against far-right convention in downtown Detroit this weekend
Protesters are planning to converge on Huntington Place in downtown Detroit this weekend to rally against a three-day convention featuring white Christian nationalists, Donald Trump, and other far-right figures who promote conspiracy theories and racist ideologies. Turning Point Action (TPA), an arm of the far-right organization TPUSA and brainchild of right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk, is…
Our critic ranked it among metro Detroit’s best restaurants. Where is everybody?
For a chef who says “I hate thinking, I like moving,” Hisham Diab is doing a lot of pondering lately. He’s trying to figure out why his outstanding “coastal Italian” restaurant, Tiliani, isn’t packing in the guests. When Tiliani, which Diab calls the only high-end halal restaurant in Dearborn, opened last July, it was bringing…
In ‘Stories of Us,’ Detroit artists challenge values of the Declaration of Independence
The United States will mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. But how much do the document’s values truly resonate in today’s America? Have they ever? A new art exhibition, featuring 10 large-scale talking drum sculptures by 11 Detroit artists, examines these questions. Presented by Bedrock’s Decked Out Detroit, non-profit The…
R&B-centric Riverfront Music Festival returning to Detroit’s Hart Plaza
The Riverfront Music Festival is coming back. After launching last year, the R&B-centric event is set to return to Hart Plaza this summer on Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21. The lineup announced so far includes Queen Naija, Yung Miami, Jaquees, and Uncle Luke on Saturday, with Monica, K Michelle, Keke Wyatt, and Kelly…
Flint mayor walks back water crisis accusation against Mott Foundation
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley is walking back his previous allegations that a powerful foundation in the city handpicked Gov. Rick Snyder’s first two emergency managers, who played a key role in Flint’s deadly water crisis. Journalist and author Jordan Chariton broke news in Metro Times on Monday that Neeley claimed in a recorded interview that…
Corpse flower at Frederik Meijer Gardens expected to bloom, reeking of rotting flesh
A large, rare flower in the collection at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids is expected to soon bloom — and create a foul smell that will both disgust and delight visitors. The botanical park’s Amorphophallus titanum or titan arum is more commonly known as the or “corpse flower” due to…
Free Will Astrology (June 12-18)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The term “maze” has various meanings. Most commonly, it signifies a puzzling cluster of choices that lead nowhere and bode frustration. But there are more positive meanings of the word. In ancient myths, a maze was where heroes underwent ritual tests. There they might summon ingenuity to win access to a…
