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Detroit’s Toni Elling lives on through the Black burlesque performers who became her chosen family
GiGi Holliday’s purple dress flutters around her shins as she approaches the podium at Detroit’s Second Baptist Church. She fights back tears as she sings Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” wearing a leopard-print hat and shawl. “Mama Toni Elling, our love language together was music… and we both loved Frank Sinatra,” the burlesque dancer says, her…
Detroit Soul serves up Southern favorites with a lot of heart
Restaurant websites are home to some of the most clichéd, repetitive, content-free platitudes you will find on the internet. Everyone has a “passion” for “telling their story” through food, often with an homage to a mom or a grandmother. Ingredients are not chosen but “curated” and if the food is “sophisticated,” it’s also “approachable.” There…
Seal says singing is like his other love, tennis: ‘Has one led me to understand the other better? Yes.’
Legendary British singer Seal, whose 1994 song “Kiss From A Rose” off the Batman Forever soundtrack has endured as one of the most unique hits over the last several decades, is on tour to celebrate the 30th anniversaries of his first two albums, Seal I and Seal II. Metro Times was lucky enough to chat…
Afro Nation festival coming to Detroit for the first time this summer
One of the biggest afrobeats festivals in the world is making its way to Detroit this August. Previously held in Ghana, Portugal, and Puerto Rico, Afro Nation will touch down in Detroit Aug. 19-20. The live music festival celebrates genres from across the African diaspora including afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, hip-hop, R&B, amapiano, and other Afro-Caribbean…
Cookies has opened a new dispensary in Oxford
Cannabis brand Cookies has opened its latest store in Oakland County. The new store is located at 450 South Glaspie St., Oxford. The company was founded by Bay Area rapper Berner, who is also its CEO. “We’re very excited by the following and the demand that’s growing for our brand in one of the biggest…
How Detroit saxophonist Dave McMurray became a Deadhead
Here’s an encouraging thought for us all: no matter where you are in life or career, you can find inspiration in the most unexpected places. That certainly seems to be the case for Detroit’s celebrated saxman Dave McMurray, original member of the unforgettable genre-bending band Was (Not Was), whose muscular Motor City stylings have energized…
Here’s the full schedule for Detroit’s Movement Music Festival 2023
Detroit’s annual techno-centric Movement Music festival returns Memorial Day weekend. The three-day music festival, which runs Saturday, May 27 through Monday, May 29 in its longstanding home in Hart Plaza, released its daily schedules. Here’s the full lineup of everyone performing. (Schedules are subject to change, see movementfestival.com for the latest or download the official…
Detroit’s Northern Lights Lounge to reopen during Movement Festival weekend
It’s been three long years since we’ve seen the northern lights in Detroit. Of course, we don’t mean the aurora borealis — we’re talking about our favorite New Center hangout Northern Lights Lounge, which has been closed since March of 2020. The bar and music venue is reopening its doors (and patio) on Friday, May…
Metro Times story about QLine’s upside-down braille wins Society of Professional Journalists award
Congratulations to Metro Times staff writer Randiah Camille Green, who represented the alt-weekly at the Society of Professional Journalists, Detroit Chapter awards ceremony on Monday evening. Her Dec. 15, 2022 article “Upside-down braille signs on the Detroit QLine cause complaints” was awarded first place Print, Class A: Community/Local News Reporting. The origin of Green’s story…
Protomartyr to host album listening party at Detroit Tigers game
Got a Detroit music tip? Send it it music@metrotimes.com. Duality/Detroit returns: Freak Press is the label run by keyboard-piano maestro Ian Finkelstein (or Ian Fink, for short), serving up techno-jazz experimentations and some of the finest modern jazz improvisations to come out of the city. The imprint has slowly released Finkelstein’s more dancey tracks on…
Unlawfully fired Starbucks barista back to work at Ann Arbor store following court order
A barista who was unlawfully fired from her job at a Starbucks store in Ann Arbor last year returned to work Monday after a judge ordered the coffee chain to reinstate her. Hannah Whitbeck is the first Michigan Starbucks worker to be reinstated after being unlawfully terminated for union organizing, according to Starbucks Workers United,…
Dates set for Palmer Park Art Fair’s 10th anniversary
Artists from Michigan and beyond are gearing up to sell their creations at the Palmer Park Art Fair. This year’s event at Detroit’s Palmer Park is set for June Saturday, June 3 and Sunday, June 4. Beyond just the opportunity to buy art, the fair also features interactive activities, food trucks, and an author’s tent…
Country star Jelly Roll coming to metro Detroit to promote his cannabis brand
Rapper-turned-country singer Jelly Roll will make a stop at the Greenhouse of Walled Lake dispensary to promote his new cannabis brand and offer fans a free listening party for his anticipated upcoming album, Whitsitt Chapel. “I love it when we can give back to our customers, who are very excited about Jelly Roll’s visit,” owner…
Wayne County carjacker accidentally let loose by Ohio jail
You can’t trust Ohio with anything. A Wayne County carjacker who was serving four to 10 years in a Michigan prison was accidentally released from a county jail in Ohio on March 23, and he’s still on the lam. Christopher Bibbs Jr. was transferred to the Warren County Jail to make a court appearance in…
Your guide to Movement Festival 2023 after parties and pre-parties
Movement Festival is about to descend on Detroit’s Hart Plaza Memorial Day weekend, May 27-29, but we all know the real partying goes down after hours. If you want the magic of Techno Christmas to keep going, check out these Movement after parties and pre-parties around Detroit. We’ve included official and unofficial ones, so get…
Column: We must address the Black maternal health crisis
The decision to become a mother is one of the most significant and life-changing decisions one can make. As a mother of two and the leader of one of Michigan’s largest reproductive health organizations, I strongly believe that everyone deserves the right to decide when, whether and how to grow their family. And if they…
Lapointe: Replace Justice Thomas with Barack Obama? It’s not out of the question.
The ethics of Justice Clarence Thomas are now seen to be easy and sleazy. In the unlikely event he is forced to resign in disgrace from the Supreme Court of the United States, Thomas could no doubt find work as a college professor right here in Michigan. And his potential court replacement might provoke hope…
Man charged for smashing windows of Detroit bar Café D’Mongo’s pays for damage
In a shocking security video, a young white man is shown hurling a patio chair through the windows of Detroit bar Café D’Mongo’s in the early morning of Sunday, May 7. On Friday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that Jaden Alex Geck, 21, of Ira, Michigan, has been charged for the crime. In a statement,…
State slaps Stellantis with 8th violation for stench from Jeep plant in Detroit
State environmental regulators on Thursday issued an eighth air quality violation notice for the nauseating stench wafting from Stellantis’s two-year-old Jeep assembly plant on Detroit’s east side. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) said an air-quality inspector detected “persistent and objectionable” paint odors that constitute an “unreasonable interference with the comfortable…
Detroit’s Masonic Temple unveils renovations
The Fountain Ballroom in Detroit’s sprawling Masonic Temple venue is a mix of old and new. Its two central pillars have recently been retrofitted with eye-popping color-changing LED lights, and the plan is for water to soon once again flow through the actual forgotten fountain that is its namesake. That’s according to Jessie Miller, special…
Paul Schrader brings cinema another agonized hero in ‘Master Gardener’ — and shows he’s still in command
Although one of the world’s most accomplished filmmakers, with a remarkably deep and surprisingly diverse body of work stretching back 50 years, Grand Rapids-born Paul Schrader has seldom received the adulation lavished on such contemporaries (and past collaborators) as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, or even the more critically divisive Brian De Palma. Certainly, he’s respected…
Cannabis company in Michigan begins to hire up to 350 laid-off Burger King workers
About 200 laid-off Burger King workers will soon begin earning more money making products for Stiiizy, a popular cannabis brand in Michigan. The marijuana company already hired four dozen workers who lost their jobs when a Burger King franchise owner closed 26 restaurants, mostly in metro Detroit, in late March. In an announcement first reported…
Zoe McGuire illuminates the unseen world in ‘Earthshine’ at Library Street Collective
The sun is humanity’s original ancestor according to Zoe McGuire. “We can really trace our origins back to these basic elements coming from the sun,” the painter says. “So it’s really like a mother figure in a way, but also this kind of indifferent power. There’s this quality of it being omnipresent in everything we…
Detroit Audubon says it’s changing its name, citing namesake’s racist past
In recent years, a reevaluation of United States history has led to all manner of changes, from the removal of monuments to the renaming of places and things. The Detroit Audubon is among the latest to join, saying its board of directors voted Monday to change the name of the local chapter of the national…
Psychedelic-assisted therapy training is now available in Ann Arbor
Entheogenic substances like psilocybin mushrooms have seen a surge in popularity as their therapeutic benefits become more widely recognized. In Oregon, the first state to legalize “magic mushrooms,” licensed psilocybin service centers have begun opening with guided trips costing up to $3,500 per person. This could soon be a reality in Michigan as well. In…
Detroit to spend $95M on repaving roads, new streetscapes, replacing sidewalks
The city of Detroit unveiled a $95 million plan on Thursday to repave 81 miles of roads, create new streetscapes, and replace 70,000 damaged sidewalk segments. The work, which will take place during this year’s road construction season, will also create much-needed jobs for Detroiters. A majority of the workers hired by contractors must be…
Woodbridge cafe Bikes and Coffee is closing up shop
A Detroit bike shop and cafe is closing its doors this month after five years in business. The aptly named Bikes and Coffee will serve its last latte at 1521 Putnam St. on Sunday, May 14. The shop in Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood announced the closure on social media, citing rising rent and other cost factors.…
Former Republicans seek to create new centrist party and utilize fusion voting in Michigan
Calling the alliance of disaffected Republicans and moderate Democrats “short-term triage,” a former leader of Michigan Republicans says he and other pro-democracy conservatives plan to form a new party and then challenge the state’s ban on what’s known as fusion voting. Jeff Timmer, the one-time executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, told the Advance…
A restaurant dedicated to Hani sandwiches opened in Royal Oak
In the 1980s, a cook named Hani at National Coney Island’s Seven Mile and Mack store whipped up an off-menu item that turned out to be a huge hit: a pita sandwich made with breaded chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and a special mayo sauce. The result was the Hani sandwich, which has surged in popularity…
Detroit woman evicted from tiny home gets a second chance at life
When Taura Brown was evicted from her Detroit home in April, she feared she’d lose more than her house. She had stage-five kidney disease, and without a transplant, her days were numbered. There are strict requirements to get a transplant, and one of them is stable housing. The owner of the home, Rev. Faith Fowler,…
D Motown Deli shows how corned beef unites Detroit
Who might you run into while grabbing a Reuben or pastrami sandwich from D Motown Deli on Detroit’s east side? Owner Al Preni rattles off the list of regulars at his restaurant, which is about a half mile up Gratiot Avenue from downtown Detroit. On any given day, he says he sees folks from the…
MOCAD window busted during attempted theft
Update: This article was updated with information from MOCAD confirming nothing was stolen from the museum. A break-in early Tuesday morning left the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit with a busted window. At around 3:10 a.m. an unknown assailant broke into the museum after shattering a window near MOCAD’s entrance on Garfield Street, according to…
Free Will Astrology (May 10-16)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): All of us are always telling ourselves stories — in essence, making movies in our minds. We are the producer, the director, the special effects team, the voice-over narrator, and all the actors in these inner dramas. Are their themes repetitious and negative or creative and life-affirming? The coming weeks will…
