Christmas fanatic Ingrid Michaelson to perform holiday hits at Royal Oak Music Theatre
Singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson friggin’ loves Christmas. For 11 years, the “The Way I Am” singer has thrown her annual Holiday Hop concert in New York City. While the event’s venue undergoes renovation, she upped the ante this year and took her Christmas obsession to new heights with her holiday record Songs for the Season. The…
Detroit’s own Rock ‘n’ Roll veteran Stirling to throw birthday bash at Northern Lights Lounge
Prince. Madonna. Meatloaf. Among these single-named music legends is Stirling — Detroit’s veteran promoter, record shop owner, club and band manager, and collector of some of the wildest, most rock ’n’ roll stories you’ll ever hear. There’s the time he drove Lou Reed to a methadone clinic, or that other time he befriended Robert Plant,…
Charles McGee, Pablo Picasso among artists featured at Collected Detroit’s grand opening
You can never have too much art, especially in Detroit. As the newest gallery on the block, Collected Detroit is making a grand entrance with its inaugural exhibition, Detroit in the World: Selections From a Detroit Art Connoisseur’s Collection. A sampling from a Detroit art collector, the exhibit features work from Detroit artists including Judy…
Redford Theatre to show double feature of ‘Home Alone’ and ‘A Christmas Story’
There are two-holiday camps: Those who think Home Alone is the quintessential Christmas movie and those who say the title goes to A Christmas Story. (And then there are those who argue Die Hard is a Christmas movie. It is.) Well, attention, all you filthy, bb gun-wielding animals — the Redford Theatre is serving up…
‘Tis the season — Corktown Aglow returns for full day of holiday cheer
What do you get when you cross one of Detroit’s most popular destination neighborhoods with enough holiday cheer to make Santa himself grab the reins? Well, you get the third annual Corktown Aglow. During this single-day neighborhood celebration, you can peruse the holiday markets and storefronts, visit the reindeer petting zoo, hang with the Grinch,…
Michigan House GOP votes to strip power from incoming Dem attorney general
The GOP-controlled Michigan state House approved a bill on Wednesday that would strip power from incoming Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel. House Bill 6553 grants the Republican-led legislature authority to jump into any court case in which residents are challenging the GOP’s unpopular laws. Nessel has said she won’t use state resources to fight for laws…
Cas Bar owner ‘Mama Jo’ ran a million-dollar crime ring, police say
When Metro Times last spoke with Beverly “Mama Jo” Sassin, the longtime owner of Detroit’s Cas Bar, we were charmed by the tough-as-nails matriarch, writing that the scene at her bar was “like family — at least a family that might lovingly rib you.” However, officials say that Sassin, 70, ran more than just a…
John Legend’s ‘Legendary Christmas’ will sleigh holiday heartstrings at the Fox Theatre
We have some really good news and some deeply disturbing news. Good news: R&B crooner cutie and piano man John Legend made a Christmas record. The bad news? Christmas is less than 20 days away, and we have not done our Christmas shopping yet. Anyway, let’s focus on the positive because that’s what Legend and…
Michigan House Republicans vote to gut $12 per hour minimum wage, paid sick time
The Republican-controlled Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday evening voted to gut Michigan’s recently approved $12 per hour minimum wage and paid sick time laws. That comes after the GOP-controlled Senate last week approved to the changes, and the bills will now head back to the Senate and Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk for final approval.…
Detroit’s Music Hall celebrate 90th anniversary with museum archive exhibition
Detroit’s Music Hall is celebrating a major milestone this year with the celebration of its 90th anniversary. To commemorate the special occasion, Music Hall is cutting the ribbon on its museum archive exhibit, which features nine decades worth of posters, props, and music memorabilia from the venue’s storied history. Originally coined Wilson Theatre when it…
My Brightest Diamond returns to Detroit with ‘A Million and One’
The future is bright for chamber rock songstress Shara Nova, who after four years, has finally unleashed what she calls a “love letter album to Detroit.” Last month, the classically trained vocalist and self-taught multi-instrumentalist released A Million and One, her latest project as My Brightest Diamond. The record finds Nova navigating self-love amid loss,…
Spiritualized announce metro Detroit tour date for 2019
If you’re a Spiritualized fan, you have to take your pleasures when you can. Frontman Jason Pierce is known to take years between records — his latest, And Nothing Hurt, dropped in September, the psych-soul project’s first since 2012’s Sweet Heart Sweet Light. Somewhat alarmingly, he told The New York Times, “Every time I make a…
Michigan’s Electric Forest Festival announces 2019 lineup
Western Michigan’s Electric Forest Festival has announced the lineup for its upcoming 2019 edition, set for June 27-30. The festival’s 9th incarnation at Double JJ Ranch will bring in EDM headliners Odesza, Kygo, Bassnectar, and Zed’s Dead, along with three performances from Electric Forest’s longtime residents, the String Cheese Incident. The music festival’s diverse lineup…
You can design your own vinyl toys at Cranbrook this weekend
Last week, Wild Vinyl: Designer Art Toys opened at Cranbrook Art Museum, showcasing more than 400 designer toys. The exhibition, which opened on Saturday, takes a look at the vinyl collectables craze that started in Asia in the late ’90s and went on to take hold of designers the world over throughout the 2000s, becoming…
Rashida Tlaib will lead West Bank delegation, stand up to Israel
There aren’t many lobbies that push around American lawmakers quite like that working on behalf of Israel. And even though there’s waning public American support for the U.S.’s strongest Middle East ally as its brutal occupation of the Palestinian territories drags on for decades, few American politicians are willing to stand up to its intense…
Millennials in Detroit are more likely to live with their parents
Among millennial stereotypes, living with their parents is right up there with avocado toast. Across the country, one-third of millennials are cutting costs by living with their parents, and Detroiters are among the most likely to do so. Living with parents recently surpassed living with a spouse to become the most common housing arrangement in…
Michigan may vote on paid sick time in 2020 after GOP tries to gut new law
Michigan voters may consider mandated paid sick time in 2020 now that a group of citizens is pushing back against a Republican attempt to gut a citizen-initiated paid sick time law. Last week, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a possibly unconstitutional amendment to cut the number of paid sick days in the citizen-initiated law from nine…
Anderson .Paak is coming to Detroit in February
While Saturday Night Live might be hacking its usual mid-season death rattle, this past weekend’s musical guest Anderson .Paak (and his very special guest Kendrick Lamar,) made up for that whole Kayne-dressed-like-a-fucking-water-bottle fiasco among other comedic atrocities (i.e. Pete Davidson’s personal life.) Anyway, Anderson .Paak announced the first leg of his Andy’s Beach Club World…
Specialty cheese and chocolate shop opens this week in the Cass Corridor
On Saturday, Ferndale’s Mongers’ Provisions is hosting a grand opening party for its new Cass Corridor store. The chocolate and cheese shop launched its first small location in Ferndale in 2017, stocking a range of goods made by the nation’s best cheese, salami, and chocolate producers. Earlier this year, it announced a new Detroit store…
Detroit named sixth least safe U.S. city, according to report
Every once in a while a report comes through that reminds Detroit’s much-ballyhooed comeback still has a long way to go. One recent study has named Detroit among the least safe cities in the country. The study by personal finance website WalletHub named the Motor City the 6th least safe city in the U.S., surpassed…
Vault of Midnight hosts Spider-Man series launch and signing with Detroit author Saladin Ahmed
Marvel is spinning a new web for superhero favorite, Spider-Man — and Detroit author Saladin Ahmed is at the helm. Detroit’s Vault of Midnight will host the release of Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1, an all-new series starring Morales as your everyday teenager turned vigilante crime fighter. The debut series from Ahmed is illustrated by Ant-Man…
New ownership to take over downtown Detroit’s Anchor Bar this week
New owners on Tuesday will take over Downtown Detroit’s Anchor Bar. In July, bar owner Vaughn Derderian announced the building’s sale to Zaid Elia, who owns both Parc in Campus Martius and 220 Merrill in Birmingham. The deal was expected to close for an undisclosed seven-figure price in late September, though an employee confirmed to…
Real life or fantasy? Adam Lambert and Queen announce Detroit date for ‘Rhapsody’ tour
It’s 2018 and 11 of Billboard’s Hot Rock chart songs are by Queen, many of which are nearly 50 years old — proving both that rock ‘n’ roll in 2018 sucks and that Queen are the champions forever. We are not mad about it. Following the success of this year’s Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody —…
Thanks to ghost hunters, the Michigan Firehouse Museum to host its first-ever Para-Con
When Al G. Dyer Jr. took over as director of Ypsilanti’s Michigan Firehouse Museum in July, he was warned that he’d likely be contacted by ghost hunters interested in the building’s alleged paranormal activity. In the past the museum had received plenty of such requests, but had typically turned them down. Sure enough, Dyer says…
Kid Rock calls Joy Behar a bitch on ‘Fox & Friends’, praises Trump, and swigs whiskey — all before 8 a.m.
Another day, another diarrhea of the mouth moment for Kid Rock. This time spewing into the perfect receptacle for the Michigan rap-rockers hypocritical rhetoric: Fox News network’s chaotic morning program, Fox & Friends. Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy interviewed Rock at his Nashville bar Friday morning touching on hot-button issues like politics, and mainly…
Project Censored: ‘Open-source’ intelligence secrets sold to highest bidders
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. In March 2017, WikiLeaks released Vault 7, a trove of 8,761 leaked confidential CIA files about its global hacking…
Michigan’s Electric Forest Festival downsizes to one weekend in 2019
Michigan’s long-running Electric Forest Festival is going to be a little more intimate this year. For its past two iterations, the festival offered expanded programming across two weekends at Rothbury’s Double JJ Ranch. However, on Thursday, Electric Forest officially announced on Facebook its dates for 2019, which will take place across just one weekend from…
Republicans working to eliminate half of Michigan’s protected wetlands
A new bill introduced by Senate Republicans would eliminate protected status for about 500,000 acres of Michigan wetlands, thus making them available for developers. If approved, SB 1211 would change the rules so the Michigan Department of Natural Resources cannot protect tracts of land under 10 acres. It currently can protect tracts of land that…
Project Censored: Global decline in rule of law as basic human rights diminish
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. According to theWorld Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2017–2018, released in January 2018, a striking worldwide decline in…
Michigan Republicans now trying to gut recently approved voting rights expansion
(Ed. note: An earlier version of this story stated that the changes need a supermajority vote to pass. They only need a majority vote. The story has been updated.) Michigan voters across both parties on Nov. 6 approved by a wide margin a citizen-led ballot initiative to make it easier to vote in Michigan. The…
Juan Atkins to perform Motor City Wine for Deep Space Radio fundraiser
Detroit’s own Godfather of Techno will be performing an intimate DJ set in Corktown on Saturday, Dec. 1. Juan Atkins will take the decks at Motor City Wine to help raise money in support of his Deep Space Radio brand. Though the online radio station was launched in 2014 by Atkins, the Deep Space concept…
Michigan GOP wants to undo parts of voter-approved marijuana decriminalization
A new bill introduced by Michigan Senate Republicans on Thursday in lame duck would make it illegal to grow marijuana at home. The move comes after voters on Nov. 6 approved a ballot initiative by a 56-44 margin to decriminalize marijuana. The new law, which goes into effect on Dec. 6, allows residents to grow…
Outgoing Michigan GOP is attempting to strip power from incoming Dems
Michigan voters in November elected by solid margins a Democratic governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, all of whom take office in January. In a normal democracy, that would mean a smooth transition from one party to the other. But this is America in 2018, so it’s no surprise that Republicans are now trying…
Project Censored: Washington Post bans employees from using social media to criticize sponsors
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. On May 1, 2017, the Washington Post introduced a policy prohibiting its employees from criticizing its advertisers and business…
Project Censored: FBI racially profiling ‘black identity extremists’
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. At the same time that white supremacists were preparing for the “Unite the Right” demonstration in Charlottesville, which resulted…
Project Censored: Indigenous communities around world helping to win legal rights of nature
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. In March 2017, the government of New Zealand ended a 140-year dispute with an indigenous Maori tribe by enacting…
Loco Dice shares his favorite things about Detroit before TV Lounge performance
For Loco Dice, returning to Detroit is always a family affair. The German DJ and producer has had a longstanding relationship with the city — both personally and musically — for the past decade, having played several events for local event producers Paxahau. In 2018, Loco Dice earned the special recognition of being a headliner…
Project Censored: Congress passes intrusive data sharing law under cover of spending bill
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. On March 21, House Republicans released a 2,232-page omnibus spending bill. It passed both houses and was signed into…
Vegan chef Amber Poupore takes over GreenSpace Cafe’s kitchen
Chef Amber Poupore’s Shelby Township vegan restaurant the Clean Plate only shut down a few months ago and Poupore still owns Royal Oak raw eatery Cacao Tree, but she’s already onto her next project — running the kitchen at GreenSpace Cafe and fully redeveloping its menu. When the new menu launches on Tuesday, diners will…
Minimalist streetwear boutique Urban Angelo opens in Brush Park
Detroit is welcoming another store to its burgeoning streetwear scene. Urban Angelo, a brick and mortar location at 90 Erskine Street within The Scott at Brush Park apartment complex, opened its doors on Sunday. The new retail location is the streetwear extension of its sister-store, the clothing boutique Bird Bee, said owner and local entrepreneur…
Pssst: The Hall of Whiskey afterparty is at Willis Show Bar
On Friday, Metro Times will host its second annual Hall of Whiskey tasting event in Detroit’s Fisher Building. From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., you can sample scotch, bourbons, and whiskeys paired with bites from Royal Oak’s Bistro 82, all while enjoying jazz from Planet D Nonet in the stunning lobby of the Fisher. But the party doesn’t…
Hugh Jackman will take a stab at one-man-show in Detroit next summer
Get you an X-Man who can do both. It was announced today that longtime Marvel mutant and Broadway star Hugh Jackman would revive his one-man-show for his first-ever world tour. “The Man. The Music. The Show.” will visit 22 North American cities including a stop in Detroit on June 24 at Little Caesars Arena. The…
South Lyon councilman forced to sit in back of room after allegedly harassing female colleague
South Lyon councilman Carl Richards has once again found himself in hot water and is now no longer allowed to sit at the same table as a female council member following harassment allegations. During a meeting on Monday, councilwoman Mary Parisien requested an investigation into Richards behavior and shared the details of the incident that…
Project Censored: World’s richest one percent continue to become wealthier
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. In November 2017, Credit Suisse released its 8th Annual Global Wealth Report which The Guardian reported on under the…
Detroit’s MoGo outpaces growth expectations, according to annual report
Despite electric scooters getting all the hype recently, Detroit’s public bike-share program is proving to be an affordable and accessible transit option. Since rolling into town in May of 2017, public bike-share system MoGo has shattered first-year expectations, according to their first annual report released today. A nonprofit affiliate of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, MoGo…
Project Censored: Regenerative agriculture as ‘next stage’ of civilization
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. The world’s agricultural and degraded soils have the capacity to recover 50 to 66 percent of the historic carbon…
The day the music died: Detroit’s Hard Rock Cafe calls it quits
It’s no secret that Detroit’s dining scene has really heated up in recent years, especially downtown, with a seemingly constant stream of announcements for restaurants opening. But it looks like a longtime fixture of the downtown scene is set close next year. The giant guitar-shaped sign of the Hard Rock Cafe will likely soon get…
Project Censored: Russiagate’s two-headed monster of propaganda and censorship
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. Is Russiagate a censored story? In my view, not exactly. This entry seems to reflect a well-intentioned effort to…
Detroit’s 2019 Winter Blast is now free, extended to four weekends
Downtown Detroit’s Winter Blast has grown. The annual festival, now dubbed Quicken Loans Winter Blast, is entering its 14th year, and will now be spread over four weekends — up from its previous incarnation as a three-day event. Additionally, organizers announced on Wednesday that the event will now be free to attend. (The last event cost…
Metro Detroit native Alex Winston returns with ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’-inspired video
It’s been a quiet three years since we last heard from musician and metro Detroit native Alex Winston. Now based in Los Angeles and working independently, Winston’s foray back into the spotlight has come in the form of a break-up pop song and an incredibly clever tribute to Drop Dead Gorgeous — the 1999 cult-indie…
Project Censored: How big wireless convinced us cell phones and Wi-Fi are safe
Each year, Project Censored compiles its annual list of censored stories in an effort to fight against fake news. This story is an excerpt from the organization’s latest book, Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion. Are cell phones and other wireless devices really as safe as we’ve been lead to believe? Don’t bet on…
Showtime Clothing owner tests waters with Noel Night pop-up
It will be three years in January since Dan Tatarian’s longstanding clothing store, Showtime Clothing, closed its Midtown location. After nearly 30 years in business, Tatarian cited the changes in the city’s culture, development, and the long construction of the QLine for a dip in his sales and disinterest in “New Detroit.” “The thing is,…
Oakland University’s response to gun violence is to fight bullets with hockey pucks
So far, politicians have failed to reach a conclusive solution to the nation’s ballooning rates of gun violence. In such a leadership vacuum, workplaces, schools, and venues across the country are being trained for active shooter scenarios, with some lawmakers proposing arming teachers and other school staff. That includes Michigan’s Oakland University, which has proposed a…
Kick-off Chanukah with eighth annual Menorah in the D at Campus Martius
The Jewish Festival of Lights is going big in Detroit for the eighth annual Menorah in the D. Each year on the first day of Chanukah, a 26-foot one-of-a-kind steel and glass Menorah appears in Campus Martius surrounded by a family-friendly celebration that includes everything from dancing dreidels to marshmallow roasting. The free event hosted…
Michigan GOP starts gutting $12 per hour minimum wage, paid sick time laws
In a gift to the state’s corporations and rich, Michigan Republicans on Wednesday started the process of gutting new, separate laws that would raise Michigan’s minimum wage to $12 per hour and mandate paid sick time for the state’s workers. The GOP-led Senate this afternoon approved significant changes to the citizen-initiated laws in a party-line vote. The House…
Detroit vocalist Illa J steps out of the shadow of J Dilla
Detroit’s John Yancey, better known as Illa J, has been on the rise for quite some time now. In the past decade, the 32-year-old vocalist has released multiple albums, worked with different record labels, and is seemingly always on the road. His ascent as a vocalist is similar to other artists who have been paying…
How Donald Trump gave DJ Kage his big break
Ken Baxter’s home studio space looks too chaotic to be productive. He’s sitting in front of an Apple computer with about 9 million apps and tabs open. A turntable deck with a laptop in the middle is sitting to the right spinning, lit up, waiting for the needle to drop. A painting courtesy of Sheefy…
Weaning ourselves from clickbait news
The American news diet is filled with the real and the absurd, challenging the ability of everyday Americans’ to filter out “Fake News.” The regular feces throwing monkey show that is the Trump administration is responsible for this. Headlines frequently draw concern over whether the president’s mental health can handle reality and whether the president’s…
There’s still a lot to unravel with legal marijuana in Michigan
The apparatus of marijuana prohibition was built more than 80 years ago. It has become a giant construct embedded in law and attitudes, and it’s going to take a while for your frightened neighbors, the police, the prison system, and reluctant politicians to get over recreational legalization. In some states police dogs have been retired…
Project Censored’s top 10 censored stories of 2018
Fake news is not a new thing. With the return of its annual list of censored stories in Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion, Project Censored’s vivid cover art recalls H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The situation today may feel as desolate as the cover art suggests. “But Censored 2019 is a book…
Why should I, a feminist, be OK with drag?
I’m a 30-year-old, Asian-American, hetero-flexible cis woman. I’m also newly diagnosed with bipolar II. I’m on medication — the doctor is trying to figure that out — but no talk therapy for right now, as my last therapist wasn’t great and I haven’t managed to find a new one. My question for you is regarding…
Horoscopes (Nov. 28-Dec. 4)
ARIES: March 21 – April 20 You’ve managed to get around more than your share of trials. At the moment you appear to be holding your own. Depending on the extent to which your current affairs have been hatched from a place of integrity, this stretch of time will give birth to things that are…
The Trump doctrine: ‘The world is a very dangerous place!’
“The world is a very dangerous place!” The exclamation point got me. There were six more in that outrageous 631-word White House statement — and several other outrages in the week since, including trying to bury a damning climate change report on Black Friday and teargassing asylum-seekers at the border — but it was this…
Mulenga and the ‘Poletown Dirge’
I was headed into the supermarket where a Santa was ringing the bell and collecting cash in the store vestibule. I was checking some emails on my device and tried to circumvent him to pass by. Santa stepped directly in front of me to block my path. “I’ll catch you on the way out…” I…
Review: MaMang serves up some very fine Vietnamese fusion in Flint
If you haven’t visited Flint lately, you’ve been missing out. The city in 2018 appears to be emerging from under the dark cloud of the water crisis, though there’s still plenty of unfinished business on that front. Regardless, one of the positive stories is all that’s going on around food. Several chefs have described Flint…
