Cover Story
Tunde Olaniran channels sci-fi, Celine Dion’s Instagram, and black excellence on ‘Stranger’
On the cover art for Stranger, the sophomore album from Flint-based performer Tunde Olaniran, the artist is shown emerging from fiery red clouds with a look of enlightenment, despite the ghostly, disembodied white hands that reach at him. The cover’s watercolor painting looks like it could be the cover of a fantasy novel, which is…
The Brian Setzer Orchestra celebrates 15 years of ‘Christmas Rocks!’
It’s been, like, two weeks since Halloween, so you know what that means: it’s time for Christmas music. For a rockabilly twist on the holiday classics, Brian Setzer is the guy. The former Stray Cats frontman brings his 19-piece orchestra to the Motor City to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its “Christmas Rocks! Tour.” Expect…
Michigan GOP senators get far more money and two more aides than Democrats
Michigan’s Republican senators receive nearly twice as much money as Democrats to operate their offices, and Republicans get funding for up to five aides while Dems only get enough for three. State senators receive about the same salaries — the funding in question is strictly for the operation of each senator’s office. Several sources said…
Detroit featured as a notable travel destination in Fodor’s ‘2019 Go List’
Detroit is getting noticed as a destination for travelers. For many of us who love to travel, it’s easy to fall victim to the paralysis of analysis of choosing a travel destination. That’s why Fodor’s has released its 2019 Go List — a list of 52 destinations that “helps focus our wanderlust.” In its 2019 guide,…
Rochester Hills man who shot at lost black teen sentenced to 4-10 years prison
Jeffrey Zeigler, the white former Detroit firefighter who fired a shotgun at a lost black teenager, was sentenced to 4 to 10 years of prison on Tuesday morning. In April, a black 14-year-old Rochester Hills student knocked on the door of Zeigler’s Rochester Hills home after missing his school bus. Zeigler responded with a shotgun…
Danny Brown doc ‘Live at the Majestic’ offers a glimpse behind the grin
After the whole Apple Music debacle, Danny Brown’s Live at the Majestic has been released for download or streaming via his personal website. The footage is from 2016 and 2014 and it serves as a reincarnation of the old Danny. You remember — wild hair and fucked-up teeth XXX Danny. It’s been about a year…
Detroit City FC is about to release its own brand of moonshine
Hamtramck once famously boasted the most liquor licenses per capita in the country, so perhaps it’s a nod to a storied and boozy past that Hamtramck-based Detroit City FC will launch their own moonshine on Thursday. In partnership with Eastern Market-based Detroit City Distillery, the soccer team will debut their trademark City Gold moonshine at…
Ex-Lions hall of fame player sues Happy’s Pizza for racial discrimination
Happy’s Pizza is under fire from former-Lion hall of fame player Lem Barney for alleged racial discrimination. On Monday, the former cornerback for the Detroit Lions filed a suit in the U.S. Circuit Court against the regional pizza chain after a manager refused Barney and his wife service at franchise location in Commerce Twp. The incident…
Cliff Bell’s owners are buying the Cadieux Cafe
Cliff Bell’s co-owner Paul Howard and musician John Rutherford are purchasing the Cadieux Café, an East Side Belgian bar and restaurant best known for its feather bowling alleys. A Monday afternoon press release from the bar noted that ownership will be transferred from the Devos family — which has owned the bar since 1962 — to Howard and…
Study confirms what we already know – Detroit is one of the worst cities for singles
You may have a tougher time finding a new bae to keep you warm this cuffing season as our fears have finally been realized – Detroit is a pretty terrible place to be single. Though this is a sentiment that many of us have felt for years, at least now we can bemoan that our…
Diamond’s Steak & Seafood opens in Royal Oak’s former Cantina Diablos
Royal Oak’s former Cantina Diablos has a new look, with Diamond’s Steak & Seafood officially set to open its doors for a grand opening on Wednesday. The 7,000 square-foot, 173-seat restaurant is Diamond’s second location, following a location in Howell. Diamond’s replaces Cantina Diablos on the first floor, while the former Red Fox Rooftop on…
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson will rip apart your favorite movies at Detroit’s Fox Theatre
The perfect astrophysicist doesn’t exist— Celebrated intellectual and wry clap-back king Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson wants to tell you why science and cinema don’t always see eye to eye. Whether it’s how the 1998 disaster blockbuster Armageddon gave a false depiction of an astroid’s velocity, or policing the historical inaccuracies in movies like Chappaquiddick, Tyson…
Prince of parody Weird Al is heading to metro Detroit with a full orchestra
If you’ve ever swapped the word “virgin” for “surgeon” while singing Madonna’s 1984 hit or if you can’t help but think of a horse and buggy every time Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” comes on, then the accordion-wielding, Ramen noodle-haired prince of parody, Weird Al Yankovic, has done his job. To follow up this year’s stripped down,…
8 Degrees Plato to close Ferndale location
Ferndale’s craft beer store 8 Degrees Plato Beer Company will close at the end of the year. Owner Tim Costello made the announcement in a Facebook post on Saturday, writing that he and his wife Brigid made the decision “after many sleepless nights and anxious days.” The store will assume normal business hours until Dec. 31.…
‘White tablecloth’ steak and seafood restaurant will replace 1917 American Bistro
Upscale steak-and-seafood restaurant Good Times on the Avenue will replace the former 1917 American Bistro on the Avenue Of Fashion in Northwest Detroit. Good Times’ owners Derrick and Ladonna Reynolds say they’re developing a “fine dining, white tablecloth” restaurant that caters to nearby Sherwood Forest and the University District, and offers dishes like lobster, shrimp,…
Rashida Tlaib says she’ll support efforts to impeach Trump
On Tuesday, Rashida Tlaib’s name was entered into the history books as she became the first woman to be elected to U.S. Congress along with Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar. After celebrating her uncontested victory, Tlaib appeared on independent news network Democracy Now! to discuss the victory and the meaning it has for her as a Palestinian-American,…
Michigan’s Sufjan Stevens releases new holiday song ‘Lonely Man of Winter’
Sufjan Stevens has long been considered a homegrown national treasure. The indie-folk songwriter paid homage to the Great Lakes state on his 2003 album, Michigan, sharing somber stories and singing praise on tracks like “For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti” and “Say Yes! to M!ch!gan.” Since then, many years have passed,…
Gretchen Whitmer is a Lizzo fan
Michigan’s governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer is a fan of hip-hop artist Lizzo — one of many observations made in a profile published today in The New York Times. The kicker has the 47-year-old future governor singing along on her tour bus to the Detroit-born, Minneapolis-based millennial rapper’s “Good As Hell,” which NYT describes as her favorite…
Giant bummer: Southwest Detroit Dominican restaurant El Caribeño closes
It seems El Caribeño served its final plates of sofrito-soaked pollo guisado and garlicky, buttery mofongo. The Southwest Detroit Dominican restaurant’s doors were recently locked during business hours, its phone number is disconnected, and a quick internet search suggests it’s done for good. We reached out for comment but have yet to hear back. A…
This is not a drill — Backstreet Boys are back and they’re coming to Detroit
It’s all happening — Backstreet is actually fucking back, alright? Backstreet Boys have a new album (DNA, out in 2019) followed by a massive world tour, so we can finally avenge our trash ass parents for not camping outside of Harmony House in 1999 for tickets to both back-to-back BSB shows at the Palace of Auburn…
Michigan’s most progressive Dems cleaned up on Tuesday
The rise of and energy around progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stacey Abrams, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar is frightening to Republicans and some centrist Dems. And the natural first line of defense for conservatives and some Democrats is to claim that progressive ideas can’t win in the Midwest, as Democrat Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth did…
Tunde Olaniran postpones record release show at Cristo Rey High School
Indie music artist and Metro Times cover story subject Tunde Olaniran was supposed to celebrate a record release show for his sophomore album, Stranger, this weekend. However, the artist took to social media today to announce the show has been postponed until a later date. The show was to be held at Cristo Rey High…
Department of Justice says it will continue to enforce federal law after Prop 1 passage
Proposal 1 to legalize marijuana for recreational adult use was passed in Michigan by a healthy margin on Tuesday, but the chief federal law enforcement in the state are reminding residents and visitors that “marijuana continues to be an illegal drug under federal law.” “Because we have taken oaths to protect and defend the Constitution…
Ford is now in the e-scooter business
If ride-share scooting is your thing, Detroit’s got plenty of options now. The Motor City now offers scooters from three different e-scooter companies. Today, Ford Motor Co. announced it acquired San Francisco-based Spin, immediately deploying 400 scooters throughout the city. The scooters join those from Bird and Lime, which deployed their scooters in the city…
Gretchen Whitmer plans move into governor’s residence in Lansing
Governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer is already making changes less than 48 hours after defeating Bill Schuette. Whitmer and her family will move into the governor’s residence in Lansing in January; spokesperson Zack Pohl told the Freep Thursday. The home has sat vacant since outgoing governor Rick Snyder was elected in 2011. Snyder elected to remain in…
Como’s in Ferndale will feature a whiskey tasting room for its reopening
Few signs can light up the stretch of Woodward Ave. in Ferndale quite like Como’s Restaurant. The restaurant, which Oakland County forced to shutter last year citing food safety violations, is set to reopen in spring of 2019 under new management. The 8,000 square-foot restaurant space at the intersection of Nine Mile Road and Woodward Ave.,…
Michigan grocer Plum Market will open new location in downtown Detroit
Plum Market will soon be coming to downtown Detroit. The Michigan-based grocer, which specializes in natural and organic foods, will be bringing a scaled-down “street style” Plum Market to the Ally Financial building at One Detroit Center. Contrary to its full-sized markets and mini-marts, the downtown Detroit Plum Market will feature fast-casual meals for daytime,…
‘Nobody is Above the Law’ Trump protests planned Thursday
Nationwide protests, including several in metro Detroit, are planned Thursday following President Donald Trump’s decision to install a loyalist to oversee the Russia investigation. The protests will be held at 5 p.m. in Detroit, Ferndale, Troy, Ann Arbor, Southgate, and Westland. On Wednesday, Trump forced Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, replacing him with AG Chief of Staff…
Ted Nugent called Michigan a shithole after election — maybe now we can be free of him
A month after damning the use of marijuana on a public access roundtable, it should come as no surprise that native Michigander and right-wing motor mouth Ted Nugent is having a tough week. Nugent, whose personal Facebook page is a notorious treasure trove of trash, couldn’t help but put on his pouty pants after the…
Rangers seek information on three truckloads of trash dumped at Sleeping Bear
“Pure Michigan” feels less pure after someone desecrated Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with three truckloads of trash. Park rangers at Sleeping Bear are seeking information to find the culprit of the dumping. In late October, rangers cleaned up the three truckloads of trash near Boekeloo Road in Benzie County at the park, which has…
Once again, Michigan Dems get more state Senate and House votes, but GOP keeps power
Once again, Democrats in Michigan’s State House and Senate races received more votes than Republicans, but the GOP will control both chambers of the Legislature by a sizable margin. The 2018 midterms mark the third-straight election in which the state’s Democratic House candidates have received more votes or nearly the same number of votes as…
You can finally stream that Danny Brown documentary squashed by Apple
Danny Brown is having a pretty good week. Following the details of his fifth annual hometown blowout, Bruiser Thanksgiving to benefit a Detroit youth arts program InsideOut, Brown now finally has his hands on the rights to that shelved Apple Music documentary that was promised last year. Now available for download and streaming via Brown’s official website,…
Michigan’s midterm elections see largest voter turnout in decades
Michigan was energized to go to the polls yesterday – more than they’ve been in five decades, according to yesterday’s voting numbers. According to preliminary numbers gathered by the Associated Press, more than 4 million voters cast their ballot on Tuesday, earning Michigan the largest turnout for the state’s midterm elections since 1962. The voting…
Community delivers blow to Duggan-Gilbert axis in Detroit Charter Commission race
Detroit Charter Commission candidates with ties to Mike Duggan and Dan Gilbert who were partly funded with Republican money failed to claim a majority on the nine-seat commission on Tuesday night. As Metro Times previously reported, the right-leaning Detroit Regional Chamber engaged in a disinformation campaign ahead of the election as part of an effort…
Jimmy Kimmel told people that Kid Rock won a Senate seat and they were not chillin’ the most
Late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel sure is a funny dude. But when he took to the streets during his election special Tuesday night to deliver some Michigan polling results, we’ll admit that we were very triggered. As part of Jimmy Kimmel Live’s recurring skit Lie Witness News, he delivered, appropriately, the Kid Rock The Vote…
For Detroit producer Helluva, making beats is a tale of redemption
For 75 years United Sound Systems recording studio has occupied 5840 Second Avenue in Detroit. Musicians from bluesman John Lee Hooker, funk rebel George Clinton, and many of Berry Gordy’s Motown Records roster have recorded hits within these walls. Although the equipment has been updated, the aura of the many musical legends can still be…
Will Sessions, Amp Fiddler, and Dames Brown keep funk alive
Detroit’s powerhouse funk group Will Sessions has teamed up with Amp Fiddler (Parliament-Funkadelic, Was (Not Was), Mahogani Music) and soulful vocal trio Dames Brown for a decade-defying record that tells the story of young love in Detroit. The One is a product of spontaneous collaboration between two generations of musicians deeply rooted in funk, and…
Review: In ‘The Happy Prince,’ Rupert Everett is born to be Wilde
With a notorious novel and a string of brilliant theatrical successes to his credit, Oscar Wilde spent the first half of the 1890s as one of the most celebrated men in London. In the second half he became its most disgraced, brought down by a reckless and flamboyant affair with a young man, Lord Alfred…
Michigan’s medical marijuana licensing mess isn’t over yet
It’s still not over for the business owners and patients caught up in the medical marijuana licensing mess. The next step will be on Friday in Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borello’s courtroom. That’s when the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and the Michigan Medical Marihuana Licensing Board are scheduled to show cause…
Savage Love: What ain’t broke
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about myself and my sexuality and my romantic self. I can log on and easily find someone to fuck. I’m a bear-built top guy. There are ladies in my life who choose to share their beds with me. I can find subs to tie up and…
Horoscopes: Nov. 7-13
ARIES: March 21 – April 20 After a long period of tension, and questions that have made you wonder if it’s safe to take risks, you’ve gotten the signal to go ahead with whatever needs to come next. The fact that it took this long to get up the guts to make a move tells…
Review: Former Hooters is reborn as crowd-pleasing Gran Castor
Up until now, it’s been the custom of the Union Joints team to create new restaurants by repurposing interesting old spaces: a fire station, a gas station, an 1840s Baptist church. Refurbishing a Hooters is a departure — but hey, what restaurant needs to be replaced (abolished, smashed) more than the original breastaurant? For Gran…
How a subprime auto lender consumed Detroit with debt and turned its courthouse into a collections agency
When Don Foss started his career as a car salesman, he recognized early on that most of his prospective customers had shaky credit, leaving them with few options for financing to buy a vehicle. So in 1972, he started subprime auto lending company Credit Acceptance Corporation to fill that void. He knew lending money to…
If the Michigan legislature won’t, we must do it ourselves
We’ve gotten through an election season that’s given us a good indicator of which direction were going in the near future. One thing I’m seeing in politics, at least until politicians become more responsive to the will of the people, is that we will have to use the citizens initiative in order to get things…
