Cover Stories
In search of metro Detroit’s most extreme Bloody Mary
According to cocktail lore, what we have come to know as the Bloody Mary may have been an accident. Though the Bloody Mary started making the rounds in the 1930s, it is believed that one Fernando Petiot invented the drink on a whim in 1921 while working at the New York Bar in Paris. At…
Brunch around the world at these metro Detroit spots
By now, you’ve possibly blown through metro Detroit’s biscuits and gravy, you’ve toppled all of the region’s short stacks, and you’ve found the perfect poached eggs. You’ve run the omelette roster from top to bottom, and maybe you even hold the record for most Bloody Marys consumed during the Sunday bottomless Bloody special. It’s all…
United We Brunch comes to the Garden Bowl and Magic Stick this Saturday
Is there a meal more beloved than brunch? Maybe you already have a favorite brunch spot where the coffee is hot and the mimosas are strong — but why not expand your horizons a little? Metro Times’ annual United We Brunch event is the perfect place to sample the most important meal of the day.…
Newly reinvented ‘Man of the Woods’ Justin Timberlake is performing at Little Caesars Arena this week
Everyone’s favorite heartthrob from the 2000s has since grown into a rugged family man — and we are totally here for it. Justin Timberlake reemerges every couple of years with a new aesthetic and some infectious earworm — a “SexyBack” here, a “Can’t Stop the Feeling” there. J.T. returns with 2018’s Man of the Woods…
VIDEO: Detroit Lions wide receiver Golden Tate heroically catches beer in Canada
Detroit Lions Golden Tate went into “hero mode” during a recent trip to a ski resort in Canada. The wide receiver posted a video of himself — decked out in an American flag-themed snowsuit — catching a beer tossed from a fellow skiier over the heads of onlookers. Tate, who had 93 receptions for over…
Heidelberg Project begins offering art classes at Detroit public schools
The Heidelberg Project has begun offering art classes at several Detroit public and charter schools, including some that currently offer no arts programming. The Heidelberg Arts Leadership Academy, or HALA, uses art to “empower and inspire students to be change agents,” a media release announcing the program says. It’s currently being piloted with kids in…
More criminal charges expected in Flint fallout — could they be related to KWA deal?
A Detroit Free Press story published last week reports that more criminal charges are expected in the fallout of the Flint water crisis involving greed and alleged financial fraud. The report didn’t name the suspects, or offer much regarding the particulars of the suspected crimes. The source was the lead investigator in the Flint case,…
New Orleans drops plans to expand surveillance program resembling Detroit’s Project Green Light
As Detroit continues to tout its Project Green Light real-time surveillance program, with plans to eventually propose a mandate that would require thousands of businesses to buy into the program, New Orleans appears to have ceded to privacy advocates and dropped plans to impose a similar requirement. Early this year, Detroit drew criticism from business…
Snyder held a ‘Carp Tank’ contest to find ways to fight Asian carp
A Boston, Mass.-based scientist won $200,000 in Gov. Rick Snyder’s “Carp Tank” competition to come up with new ways to thwart the Great Lakes’ likely imminent Asian carp invasion. Carp Tank (like Shark Tank… get it?) was the culmination of Snyder’s Great Lakes Invasive Carp Challenge, which the governor announced in February 2017. There was no reality TV show,…
’90s hunk Val Kilmer will be a featured guest at Motor City Comic Con
Val Kilmer caused many a young lady to swoon when he starred in blockbuster ’90s flicks like Top Gun, Heat, Tombstone, and The Doors. And who can forget his turn as the Batman in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever? OK, maybe it’s not totally fair to call Kilmer a “’90s hunk.” He continued to work in film…
Known abuser and garbage person Chris Brown will perform at DTE Energy Music Theatre
Celebrating nearly 12 years in the music business and almost as many accounts of assaulting women, multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning R&B performer Chris Brown is coming to DTE Energy Theatre on Wednesday, July 25. Best known for … shit … we can’t even name a single Chris Brown song off the top of our heads. What we…
There are still a lot of tickets available for Tigers Opening Day
This is what we get for trading Kate Upton Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros. We’ve cursed the baseball gods and they’re cursing us right back. As the Detroit News reports, the Detroit Tigers are set to have a stinking bummer of a season. After trading Verlander — among other A-list players — last season,…
Collective Soul, Soul Asylum, and 3 Doors Down are headed, appropriately, to Freedom Hill
All aboard The Rock & Roll Express… tour. Sigh. Soul Asylum broke our hearts in ’92 with “Runaway Train,” a song about homeless youth. Collective Soul made it big in ’95 for a song about suicide. And 3 Doors Down shamelessly played President Trump’s inauguration and are still riding out the success of having written a song…
Tunde Wey’s Hamtramck pop-up will explore race and privilege through the lens of food
Earlier this month, Nigerian-born chef and writer Tunde Wey developed a fairly brilliant idea for highlighting the wealth gap between black and white people in New Orleans. He launched a Nigerian pop-up lunch counter and social experiment that — simply put — charged black people $12 for a plate of food and asked white people…
Diana Ross is 74 today — celebrate with these seven songs
Motown legend Diana Ross celebrates her 74th birthday today. Ross was born on March 26, 1944 in Detroit and was raised in the Brewster-Douglass housing district — at one time the largest residential housing project owned by the city of Detroit. Ross developed a reputation as a young talent when she began singing in the…
More than 17,000 Detroit homes face water shutoffs, official says ‘the problem is poverty’
It’s water shutoff season in Detroit, and the government’s annual elimination of a resource essential to human life appears poised to affect up to about 17,500 households in America’s poorest big city. The number provided by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department represents residential customers who are more than 60 days behind on their water bills.…
Frankenmuth rock band Greta Van Fleet releases more tickets for sold-out Detroit shows
Here’s some good news for fans of the Frankenmuth-based and Led Zeppelin-inspired outfit Greta Van Fleet. The back-to-back-to-back three-show blitz scheduled for May 22, 23, and 25 at The Fillmore is no longer sold-out. Today the band announced tickets have been made available for 13 select sold-out headlining shows including dates in Baltimore, Md., Sayreville,…
Camilo José Vergara’s eulogy for a gas station is a tale of two Detroits
Writing for Public Books last week, Camilo José Vergara offered a special perspective on Detroit. He’s been taking pictures of Detroit for almost 40 years. In the 1990s, he even proposed that a dozen blocks of downtown Detroit become a permanent museum of ruined skyscrapers. Across the world, the idea stimulated people’s imagination; in Detroit,…
MSU students will likely pay more in tuition costs because of the Larry Nassar scandal
Michigan State University is footing a major tab in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, which may have major implications for the university. According to estimates from legal experts, costs may exceed $500 million, an amount more than twice that of what was incurred at Penn State for Jerry Sandusky’s child…
Prog rockers Yes announce 50th anniversary tour with stops in Detroit and Grand Rapids
When you’ve endured as much as prog-rock pioneers Yes, a golden anniversary is worth celebrating — and that’s exactly what they intend to do. “An Evening with Yes” will honor the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees 50th anniversary and will celebrate 21 studio records and countless live recordings that have solidified them as…
Detroit’s Deadbeat Beat premieres new single ‘Bar Talk’
Maria Nuccilli, Alex Glendening, and Zak Frieling are Deadbeat Beat — Detroit’s feel-good, Baby Spice obsessed lo-fi trio. They dropped Metro Times’ favorite track of 2017 and decided to share their latest track “Bar Talk” with us. A sonic hair of the dog, “Bar Talk” finds the threesome reprising their knack for speckled sunshine and…
Opinion: Future of Michigan’s air quality and a community’s health hinges on a vote
Michigan right now has an opportunity to either create jobs and cleaner air, or burden a community with pollutants. When I was asked to join the Clean Air Council convened by the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition earlier this year, I was motivated by years living in Southwest Detroit, windowsills constantly covered in dark dust, the…
Chili Mustard Onions pushes back its grand opening
It’s almost April 1 which means visions of vegan coney dogs and beet balls are dancing through our heads. Related That’s because Chili Mustard Onions — Detroit’s first vegan coney island — is taking shape at 3411 Brush St. in Brush Park and was planning an April 1 open date. But chef/co-owner Pete LaCombe tells…
Former Warren strip club is becoming a Dairy Queen Grill and Chill
Jon Jon’s, a former strip club, was Warren’s last adult entertainment establishment before a lengthy legal battle with the city led to its closing almost a decade ago. Now, after sitting vacant for years (and becoming more and more dilapidated all the while) the topless bar is becoming something much more family friendly — a Dairy Queen…
Detroit March for Our Lives demonstration attracts thousands to downtown protest
Sunny skies and protest signs filled the air in downtown Detroit as thousands of protesters took to the streets in a march to end gun violence as part of the metro Detroit March for Our Lives demonstration. Lead by local students, the protest brought out people from all walks of life to express their desire…
Ex-Playmate from Michigan details affair with Trump on CNN
Former Playboy playmate and Sawyer, MI resident Karen McDougal, detailed her 1o-month long affair with Donald Trump to CNN’s Anderson Cooper earlier this week. The affair began in 2006 — just a year after his marriage to Melania and within months of the birth of their son Barron. McDougal, who is suing to void an agreement she…
Antiques Roadshow is coming to metro Detroit this summer
Dust off your fine china and ancient heirlooms folks, because your grandma’s favorite TV show is coming to town this summer. Rochester’s historic Tudor-style Meadow Brook Hall was chosen as one of five stops for PBS’s Antiques Roadshow’s 2018 summer tour. Appraisers and antique collectors galore will be crowding the mansion’s grounds on Thursday, June…
Here’s everything you need to know about Oberon Day 2018
Bell’s Oberon is one of those things Detroiters are irrationally obsessed with. Perhaps that’s because the slightly hoppy, slightly citrusy brew is only available for a limited run each year, or maybe it’s because that run coincides so perfectly with the start of spring, Opening Day, and warmer weather. Either way, the blessed day —…
National Conference to Defeat Austerity will fight the power in Detroit this Saturday
Activists from bankrupt Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the U.S. will convene in Detroit this Saturday as part of an event to map a strategy for “defeating the war being waged by the banks, corporations, and government against the workers and oppressed.” The National Conference to Defeat Austerity will cover topics that include school closings, mass…
West Bloomfield man starts GoFundMe campaign to raise $250M for a Mexican border wall
Mike Lambert, a self-confessed right-wing conservative and vegan, says he started a campaign to raise $250 million for a Mexican border wall because he wants his granddaughter can have the country he remembers. Lambert is asking people to donate to his campaign because, well, Congress can’t seem to get shit done regarding the proposed structure.…
Detroit will pay $250,000 in dog shooting settlement
Detroit City Council approved a $250,000 civil rights lawsuit settlement last month, following a 2016 marijuana raid that resulted in Kenneth Savage and Ashley Franklin’s three dogs being shot to death. “As far as I know this is the largest settlement of this kind that the city of Detroit has made,” plaintiff attorney Chris Olson told Reason. “I think…
The Morrie owner plans more restaurants across southeast Michigan
Royal Oak’s The Morrie — a live music venue and restaurant that bills itself as serving “eclectic neighborhood roadhouse cuisine” — is considering a major expansion. Crain’s reports owner Aaron Belen is planning up to five new locations, including one in Birmingham that he expects to open before the year’s end. That will go in…
Purveyor of baby-making R&B Leon Bridges will play The Fox Theatre
Are you ovulating? Are you considering proposing to your significant other? Need an excuse to do the dirty? If you’re not hip to the smooth stylings of R&B darling Leon Bridges, clear your schedule and rearrange your five-year plan, because he’s coming to Detroit. The Fort Worth, TX native will kick off his “Good Thing” tour…
Freshii opens a new store in downtown Royal Oak
Fast casual health food chain Freshii has opened its fourth Michigan location in downtown Royal Oak. The company bills itself as a healthy alternative to fast and casual fare with items like salads, burritos, quinoa bowls, smoothies, soups, falafel, and breakfast dishes. Freshii’s corporate mantra is “Eat. Energize.” And its aim is to make healthy…
Preservation group questions WSU’s plans to move Mackenzie House
We heard from Preservation Detroit that the group is taking a serious look at a plan to transform the Hilberry Theatre, which would sweep Mackenzie House out of the neighborhood. It’s of special interest not just because the house belonged to the founder of the university. It’s also the headquarters for Preservation Detroit, and its…
Detroit retools demolition plans, citing possible link between demos and lead poisoning
The city of Detroit is rescheduling plans to demolish homes in certain zip codes based on a health department analysis that found a heightened risk of lead poisoning among kids who lived near homes demolished in the summer months. The change is part of a broader lead poisoning prevention effort that will target the five zip codes the…
Michigan State Fairgrounds deal leaves Detroit picking up developer’s tab
As the region buzzes with excitement over the prospect that the long idling Michigan State Fairgrounds site will soon be returned to productive use, some Detroit residents are charging that the deal leaves city taxpayers footing the bill for a developer that failed to fulfill its promises. Under the terms of the agreement announced Wednesday,…
Lyft offers free rides to Detroit March for our Lives protest
Fifty protests around the U.S. are planned for Saturday, March 24 as part of a national network called March for our Lives. The demonstrations are a direct response to the Parkland, Fla. shooting during which 17 people were killed inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Related While students are calling for stricter gun control, the Trump…
Grand Rapids bookstore demands Betsy DeVos’ resignation via window display
A bookstore in Grand Rapids, the hometown of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, had a few words for controversial political figure. Books and Mortar, located in a bustling retail district in the city, decorated their storefront with a message for the Secretary of Education. In short: resign. https://www.facebook.com/booksandmortar/posts/983140618505012:0 The open letter was up on a store…
Damon Grimes family attorneys accuse Michigan State Police of cover-up
Fieger Law Firm attorneys representing the family of Damon Grimes are accusing the state of covering up details about a Michigan State Police chase and crash that left the Detroit teenager dead last year. Related In a new MLive report, the attorneys say a state attorney filed an emergency motion in February requesting U.S. Judge Gershwin…
Detroit rapper Sam Austins drops ‘Fenty’ music video, still no love from Rihanna
It’s been a month since alt-rap wunderkind (and Metro Times artist to watch) Sam Austins dropped “Fenty” — an unexpected celebration of Rihanna and her inclusive, fly AF cosmetics line of the same name. A lot has happened for the 21-year-old Motown heir (he’s the son of Harold “Spike” Bonhart of The Four Tops.) Namely, a billboard…
Emo greats Panic! at the Disco to play Little Caesar Arena this summer
If it ain’t baroque, don’t fix it. When it comes to theatrical emo, no one does it better than Las Vegas’ Panic! At The Disco. It’s hard to believe it’s been 12 years since we were piling on layers of eyeliner and screaming along to “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” (and totally getting the lyrics…
American-style bistro Empire Kitchen & Cocktails will open in Brush Park in May
The owners of 31 Five Guys franchises are opening a new American-style bistro in Detroit’s Brush Park. The Detroit News reports the 3,150-square-foot restaurant is taking shape on the ground floor of The Scott at Brush Park apartment building, and will include a 30-foot bar and large garage doors that will open during warmer weather.…
Michigan man fills pothole with Lucky Charms, eats it
The mind of a young man is a mysterious place. Nobody can really be sure how it works, or what strange forces shape it. Nevertheless, when we stumbled upon a photo on Twitter depicting a young man appearing to eat Lucky Charms out of Michigan pothole, we knew we had to at least try to…
Marvin Gaye estate wins in ‘Blurred Lines’ plagiarism verdict
Remember “Blurred Lines”? Just when we had nearly forgotten about Robin Thicke’s once-ubiquitous 2013 hit, the controversial record made its way back into headlines on Wednesday at the end of a lengthy copyright lawsuit that ruled in favor of Marvin Gaye’s estate. The essence of the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Gaye’s heirs in 2014 against…
Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff cancels speaking tour, including Royal Oak stop
The life of controversial author Michael Wolff does not appear to be going so well at the moment. Though his now-famed tell-all, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, helped him quickly gain esteem, he now appears to be floundering. According to The Washington Post, that’s due to a few key events, which include…
After 34 years, Gayle’s Chocolates in Royal Oak is closing
Longtime Royal Oak chocolatier Gayle’s Chocolates will shut down its Royal Oak brick-and-mortar store in May. Owner Gayle Harte will close the store at 417 S. Washington St. when she moves, but she’ll keep selling chocolates online at gayleschocolates.com. “I’ve been in Royal Oak for a long, long time. This is home. But, it’s time…
Jack White’s ‘Ice Station Zebra’ is White at his most rap-rock
Jack White has previewed another track from his forthcoming third solo album, Boarding House Reach. On Wednesday, he shared a song called “Ice Station Zebra” on Beats 1 radio — which might be the most rap-rock-sounding track in his oeuvre, with its hip-hop beat and rapid-fire vocal delivery. As White explained on the show, the song was the…
Where to find Nain Rouge-inspired dishes and drinks during Sunday’s Marche
It’s tough to banish a red dwarf from Detroit on an empty stomach, fortunately the Marche Du Nain Rouge processes past some of the city’s top restaurants. Brunch is always popular during the event, and HopCat, Bolero, Cass Cafe, the Majestic, Jolly Pumpkin, Union Street, and Traffic Jam each will offer their regular Sunday menu. Motor…
Planned Detroit G-Star store to bring more luxury goods to America’s poorest big city
For our latest installment of “things that exemplify Detroit’s grossly unequal resurgence” — we bring you a $340 pair of jeans. These jeans, from G-Star RAW, will soon be available at what appears to be the Dutch denim brand’s first planned Detroit location. A job opening for manager says the store is to open downtown,…
Sponge reunites original lineup for Detroit Music Awards
OK, so it’s not the Grammys, but the Detroit Music Awards are just around the corner. The annual award show is now in its 27th iteration and they have some tricks up their sleeves. This year Sponge — known for ’90s Billboard rock chart-topping hits like “Plowing,” and “Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain)” — will reunited for…
Ben Carson throws his wife under the bus over $31k dining set controversy
Things have gone from bad worse in the drama over Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson’s $31,000 dining room set. Related On Tuesday, Carson attended a House committee hearing that was supposed to concern budget cuts to his agency. However, the secretary found himself instead fielding questions about the infamous dining set, which has turned…
Motown hit ‘My Girl’ inducted into the National Recording Registry
What do The Sound of Music soundtrack, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, and The Temptations’ “My Girl” have in common? According to The Library of Congress, they are all of cultural and historic importance. Each year the Library of Congress selects 25 works to induct into the National Registry as a means of preservation. The criteria…
Detroit to buy Michigan State Fairgrounds for $7 million
The city of Detroit says it will buy the bulk of the old Michigan State Fairgrounds site from the state, clearing a key hurdle to redevelop one of the city’s largest land parcels. Under a proposed agreement with the Michigan Land Bank Authority, the city would purchase 142 acres of the property along Woodward for…
Students organize to elect a corgi as U-M student government president
Will a corgi be elected the next president of the University of Michigan’s student government? One group of students has launched an online Facebook group in support of electing a campus therapy dog, who is affectionately known as Reggie Bee, to campus student government. https://www.facebook.com/ReggieCSG/posts/564618547248570 With his carefree spirit and training in conflict deescalation, it’s…
Metro Detroit author nominated for prestigious crime fiction prize
Detroit-area writer Stephen Mack Jones has plenty to be happy about this year. Not that he hasn’t had his share of successes already: His plays have been staged in Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Boston. But his crime novel, August Snow, published a little more than a year ago, seems to have taken on a…
Southbound I-75 closes in Detroit after big ol’ semi-truck hits overpass
As if the interchange of I-75 at I-94 wasn’t hellish enough, some jackass in a semi-truck underestimated the clearance level, smacking into the Warren Avenue overpass late Tuesday afternoon. So, if you’re planning on using I-75 or I-94 near downtown, get ready to change your plans immediately. Southbound I-75 is closed while they repair the…
Everything is falling apart in Michigan
Today’s legislators, and all those in power in recent decades, better hope nobody in the future invents a time machine. The temptation to come back and kill them, slowly and painfully, might be irresistible. That’s because our entire nation is falling apart. It’s largely their fault, and ours for not demanding better of them. And…
Horoscopes (March 21-27)
ARIES: March 21 – April 20 The rate of change is accelerating. If you think it’s all going to stay the same, guess again. If you’re in touch with things, the next few weeks are bound to open your eyes wide enough to see that whatever this looks like, it’s a good thing. 86 your…
Savage Love: Ace and the hole
I’m a 26-year-old cis queer woman. My best friend has identified publicly as asexual for the past two years. She constantly talks about how since she doesn’t “need” sex, this means she is asexual. She does have sex, however, and she enjoys it, which I know isn’t disqualifying. But she also actively seeks out sex…
Dan Savage will bring his sex advice column to life at Royal Oak Music Theatre
A lot has changed since Dan Savage started penning his popular weekly Savage Love column — a potent mix of sex and relationship advice and sex positivity and LGBTQ activism — in Seattle’s alt-weekly The Stranger 27 years ago. Same-sex marriage is now federally recognized. Savage Love terms like “GGG,” “DTMFA,” and “santorum” have entered…
Nancy Rodwan transforms Detroit luminaries’ junk into art
For her latest exhibition, Purged, artist Nancy Rodwan says she was inspired when she stumbled on a friend posting about the “30-Day Declutter Challenge” on social media. Followers of the challenge are supposed to get rid of one item on the first day, two items on the second day, three on the third day, and…
Taking Hash Bash to the next level
Could 2018 be the Hash Bash to end all Hash Bashes? Well, it could be the end of Hash Bash as we have come to know it, because 2018’s could be the last one while marijuana is still illegal in Michigan. A pending ballot initiative now with the state legislature would put the question of…
Review: There’s more than ax-throwing at Ferndale’s Corner restaurant
(Find more photos of food and The Corner here.) Geoff Kretchmer, co-owner of Detroit Axe and the Corner, told my colleague Tom Perkins that his new place, open since December, is getting a ton of attention because of the ax-throwing. But, Kretchmer said, they put a lot of effort and thought into the food and…
Why Run the Jewels is Lorde’s unlikely opening act
When it comes to building hot beats, the hip-hop producer and rapper known as El-Producto (El-P for short) says he never considers what listeners might respond to. Rather, he’s guided by whatever makes him and his musical partner, Killer Mike, giddy to lay down spontaneous raps. “The first phase of making beats is finding something…
Detroit newcomers K. Oss Contemporary Art replaces Inner State Gallery
Although Kristina and Vadim Oss have only been in Detroit for a year, they’ve already managed to make an imprint on the city after taking over the former Inner State Gallery space. The previous owners, 1xRUN, announced late last year that they were relocating their art print business and gallery to a new location near…
