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The 2021 Best of Detroit awards
After 19 miserable months of you-know-what — geez, has it really been this long? — we’re happy to publish this year’s Best of Detroit winners. Not only is it a break from what we normally do here, but it’s the one issue of the year where you, Metro Times readers, get to have your say.…
Don’t freak — the Aces will bring their upbeat shopping montage pop to St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard the joyful indie pop stylings of the Aces, the Utah foursome composed of sisters Alisa and Cristal Ramirez as well as longtime friends Katie Henderson and McKenna Petty. The group’s sophomore record, 2021’s Under My Influence, is the reality show/mall shopping montage soundtrack of our pent-up pandemic dreams.…
Humorist David Sedaris will read from his diaries at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theater
No personal opinion, observation, or neurotic musing is off-limits for prolific humorist, nonfiction legend, and unironic lover of culottes, David Sedaris, who since taking to NPR in 1992 to read his now-famous essay “SantaLand Diaries” (during which he details his stint as a department store elf during Christmas) has made life a whole lot easier…
The 16th annual Detroit Urban Craft Fair returns with more than 100 vendors and Michigan makers
Life’s a stitch, then you D.I.Y. Thankfully, the annual indie shopping event aka the Detroit Urban Craft Fair has returned to take the bull-scrap out of the often soulless nightmare that is holiday shopping (because with every trip to Sharper Image to buy a step-dad a neck massager, an angel actually loses its wings). After…
Drive-thru ‘Magic of Lights’ returns with illuminated holiday cheer at DTE Energy Music Theatre
Lights are, like, kind of a big deal. So much so that people write songs about, well, lights. There’s Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” and the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” “There’s a Light that Never Goes Out” by the Smiths, and, of course, Ellie Goulding’s 2010 banger “Lights.” Embracing the power of lights, once again, is DTE…
The ever-charitable 12 Days of GRiZMAS returns with roller disco, yoga, dodgeball and live music
There’s the holidays and then there’s the holidaze, which is how Detroit blazes, er, celebrates the most wonderful, blaze-tastic time of the year. ‘Tis the season for the 12 Days of GRiZMAS, an annual festival hosted by Michigan’s own kush-smoking DJ and philanthropist GRiZ, who just this year, also launched his own line of cannabis…
Omicron: Emerging answers to the three big questions
Just as much of the country was settling into that tryptophan-induced Thanksgiving slumber, news emerged out of South Africa of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. The World Health Organization has dubbed it omicron. To add to the panic, news of the variant tanked the global market at Friday’s opening bell. The U.S. announced a…
Michigan Nurses Association files unfair labor practice charge against Sparrow Hospital
The Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) filed an unfair labor practice charge against Sparrow Hospital with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week, alleging that the Lansing-based health care facility has repeatedly violated federal labor law and employed union busting tactics as the hospital and its caregivers’ union negotiate a new contract. According to the…
Too many puppies, not enough volunteer puppy raisers, Michigan’s Leader Dogs for the Blind says
“Good boy! What a good boy! You want a treat? Look at that snoot! Ugh, you’re so cute we could puke and die oh my god, we love you so much!” Sorry, we were just practicing our puppy talk, because the Rochester Hills-based organization, Leader Dogs for the Blind, has a really unique problem: too…
As the world burns, Michigan will be the place to be in 2050, expert says
Is it getting hot in here or is it just climate change? In 2050, the answer to that question could likely be very clear — that is, if we don’t lower carbon emissions by at least half by 2030. Otherwise, we’re facing a dramatic warming increase (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit, as many experts estimate) by mid-century,…
Kellogg talks to resume Tuesday as union strike nears 8 weeks
Negotiations between union workers and cereal giant Kellogg are set to restart this week, as workers at the company’s four cereal plants in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Tennessee near two months of striking for better wages, better hours and the end of a two-tier pay scale. Prior to the day before Thanksgiving, talks had come…
You can now order weed on Uber Eats in Ontario
Across the Detroit River, Uber has entered the cannabis space. The ride-share company now allows Ontario users of its Uber Eats app to place orders for cannabis products. The change went into effect last week, according to Reuters, which first reported the news. The new development is the result of a partnership with cannabis company…
Michigan hits record high number of COVID-19 hospitalizations
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Monday that a total of 1,301,593 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 23,732 have died from the virus — an additional 25,329 cases and 137 deaths since Wednesday. The new numbers combine Thursday’s, Friday’s, Saturday’s, Sunday’s and Monday’s recorded cases and deaths, with an…
Former Detroit boxer Ray Gray seeks new trial after 48 years in prison for murder he says he didn’t commit
Ray Gray, a four-time Golden Gloves boxing champion and artist from Detroit who spent more than 48 years behind bars for a murder he says he did not commit, was finally released from prison in May. But Gray’s fight for freedom isn’t over yet. Now, Gray, 69, wants a new trial, according to a press…
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell’s Dearborn office vandalized
The Dearborn office of U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell was broken into and vandalized, according to a statement sent from her office Monday. “Today, Congresswoman Dingell’s Dearborn office was broken into and vandalized,” Dingell’s spokesperson Mackenzie Smith said in a statement. “The Dearborn Police Department responded immediately after notification, and the United States Capitol Police are…
Ohio-based luxury streetwear store opens new location in downtown Detroit
Xhibition, a Cleveland-based luxury streetwear store, has expanded out of Ohio and into downtown Detroit. The 4,000-square-foot store is located in the Farwell Building in the Capitol Park neighborhood. Founded in 2014, Xhibition aims to blend high-end luxury with experimental streetwear. The store carries both men’s and women’s apparel and footwear, and offers brands such…
Michigan company now sells cannabis plant clones to the public, a state first
Send in the clones. Pure Options says it became the first company in Michigan approved to sell clones of cannabis plants directly to the public. After launching a limited-time deal for its customers, the company made the clones available to the general public on Monday, Nov. 29. The company says its small-batch inventory of 200…
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park unveils new welcome center featuring ‘Crown Fountain’ artist
Good things come in small packages but in the case of a soon-to-be-unveiled work by one of the most important living artists, good things come in 19-foot tall portraits spanning the walls of a new welcome center at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids. “Utopia” is the largest indoor work from acclaimed…
Future of Laser Technology in Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality has been in development for decades. From a computer and gyroscope in a backpack in the 2000s to Snapchat filters of today, AR has advanced quite a bit. Recent advances in different technologies promise a future where AR can be a part of everyday life. What is AR? The term Augmented Reality refers…
Exhibition by queer artists opens at Ann Arbor’s new art and technology space, CultureVerse
Not to get super dark or anything but if the past 20 months (yes, it really has been that long) could be boiled down to a single idea, it would likely be liminality, or the disorienting state of transition between life stages and how those transitions disrupt our idea of space and time. It is…
Director Mike Mills draws inspiration from Detroit in ‘C’mon C’mon’
“I’m such a not-confident writer, I need to talk myself into it a lot,” says writer-director Mike Mills in an interview in a small recording studio at the Detroit Foundation Hotel. “And that’s why I have all these other texts (incorporated into the film). I feel like it’s company, you know? His new film, C’mon…
As winter nears, groups raise awareness for heating help, weatherization
As cold weather moves in, state agencies are working to make sure Michiganders know how to apply for the Michigan Energy Assistance Program (MEAP) if they think they might struggle with their heating bills this winter. MEAP helps low-income residents pay their energy bills on time, apply for affordable payment plans and utilize energy services…
Music venue planned for former Chinese restaurant with ties to Detroit hip-hop
The abandoned, graffiti-covered Stanley’s Mannia Café Chinese restaurant in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction neighborhood has seen better days, but even in its state of disrepair it remains one of the city’s architectural gems. The stunning building, with its tall spire and sweeping flourishes, was designed by Nathan Johnson, a Black, Detroit-based visionary architect who worked in…
Electric Forest festival plots 2022 return
Electric Forest music festival is making plans to return. Next year’s fest is scheduled for June 23-26, 2022 in Rothbury, Michigan, according to a message posted on its website Thursday. The electronic music and jam band music festival was to celebrate its 10-year anniversary in 2020, but the festival has been delayed due to the…
‘A Very Golden Girls Christmas’ will bring geriatric gender-bending fun to Ferndale’s Ringwald Theatre
It’s been nearly 30 years since The Golden Girls went off the air, yet, Miami’s most beloved GILFs (sorry, not sorry) Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia have amassed even more fans since the series finale in 1992. If celebrating the holiday with the sitcom’s two Christmas episodes (including the one where the girls are held…
Bring boxes of pads and tampons to Detroit’s Old Soul Vintage charity pop-up at Ferndale’s Loving Touch
Earlier this month, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bill 5267, which repealed Michigan’s 6% sales tax on menstrual products like pads, tampons, and menstrual cups. Michigan is only one of 21 states without a “pink tax,” which is pretty wild when you consider the fact that the U.S.’s menstruating population spends an estimated total of…
Detroit’s Chloe Moriondo will bring the ‘Blood Bunny’ for headlining homecoming performance at El Club
Rising Gen Z DIY bedroom pop star Chloe Moriondo eats boys. Or so the Detroit native claims on their pop punk-steeped sophomore record, Blood Bunny, released earlier this year. “’Cause I eat boys/ Yeah, I get them gory/ You can’t control me, ‘cause I wrote this story,” the 19-year-old sings on “I Eat Boys.” Moriondo,…
Award-winning Broadway musical ‘Hadestown’ will bring a taste of hell to Detroit’s Fisher Theatre
We imagine the road to Hell is paved in, well, probably a number of things, including but not limited to Jeffrey Epstein, McDonald’s McRib sandwich, Kid Rock’s discography, Dancing with The Stars, memes, Trump’s tax returns, and bad musical theater. (Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, we’re looking at you!) But then there’s “Road To Hell,” the…
America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will trot through downtown Detroit for 95th celebration
Listen, we’re the first to take any opportunity to list off all the reasons why Thanksgiving sucks. There’s the mass turkey slaughter, the obligatory family facetime, and the fact that the beloved holiday is built on blood, colonization, and the attempted erasure of Native Americans, you know, the people that were here before Chr*stopher C*olumbus…
Facebook restricts Macomb County group for spreading false COVID-19 information
Facebook imposed restrictions and fact-check monitoring on a private Macomb County group that has been spreading false information and baseless conspiracy theories about COVID-19. The Moms for Liberty Macomb County chapter, which has ties to shadowy right-wing groups, has been spreading dangerous disinformation at a time when Michigan is leading the country in new COVID-19…
Highland Park man charged in murder of veteran Detroit disk jockey John O’Leary
A Highland Park man was charged Wednesday in the murder of beloved Detroit disc jockey John O’Leary. Sean William Lamoureux, 38, is accused of fatally stabbing O’Leary at the home the two men shared on the 150 block of Candler Street. Police found O’Leary’s body covered in black sheets under the back porch Sunday afternoon.…
Anti-vax Wayne County Republican is in ICU with COVID-19
A Trump-adoring Wayne County Republican who spread misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccine has been hospitalized in intensive care after contracting the virus. Related William Hartmann, former vice-chairman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, has been on a ventilator since about Nov. 6, according to his sister Elizabeth Hartmann. Two sources confirmed to Metro…
Whitmer requests federal funds to fix the damn I-375, citing its racist legacy
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer famously campaigned to “fix the damn roads,” and now she’s calling on the federal government to help right the wrongs of one of Detroit’s most infamous highways. Whitmer sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday requesting Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds to modernize Detroit’s I-375 and I-75/I-375…
Detroit jeweler Rebel Nell opens store at Twelve Oaks Mall
Rebel Nell, a company that makes jewelry from Detroit graffiti, is expanding to the suburbs. The company is set to open a new storefront at Novi’s Twelve Oaks Mall on Wednesday. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was planned for 4:15 p.m. The new location is retail-only. The company makes its jewelry in Detroit at its Holden Street…
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Best of Detroit 2021: Arts and Entertainment
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Go to hell, America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a ‘Golden Girls’ parody, and more things to do in metro Detroit this week
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Best of Detroit 2021: Bars and Clubs
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Best of Detroit 2021: Shops and Services
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Best of Detroit 2021: Food
The best in dining in metro Detroit, as chosen by Metro Times readers.
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Detroit’s Supergeil restaurant is super cool in Corktown
If someone tells you they’re cool…you’re skeptical. Remember Amy Poehler in Mean Girls: “I’m not like a regular mom, I’m a cool mom”? Cringe. According to Supergeil’s website, “Supergeil is super cool.” If they do say so themselves. Turns out Supergeil is a viral German video starring an aging electro-pop musician who manages to be…
