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On the cover:
Photo by Erin Kirkland for The Kresge Foundation
Feedback NEWS & VIEWS
We received comments in response to contributor Kahn Santori Davison’s cover story interview with Detroit rapper Big Sean about his new motivational book.
Getting Big Sean on the cover of @metrotimes.com has been a yearslong bucket list goal — and Kahn finally made it happen. —@leedevito@bsky.social, Bluesky
Love you man! Keep telling the truth!!! —LaShaun Phoenix Kotaran, Facebook
Such a good book! �� Big Sean deserves it all. ���� —@momentswithstephk, Instagram
He has done a lot for the Detroit community. It’s nice seeing him receive his flowers���� —@warmheartshelpinghands, Instagram Sean the goat. Guy got wisdom fr @__cartierj, Instagram
It was a great interview and he’s a very cool dude. I appreciate his transparency. �� —@kahnsantoridavison, Instagram
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NEWS & VIEWS
What to do if you are confronted by ICE
Metro Detroit’s immigrant community is on edge as the newly emboldened Trump administration begins carrying out what it called the largest deportation plan in U.S. history.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has arrested thousands of people nationwide in the past week, and raids are occurring in countless areas across the country.
Although no large raids have been reported yet in metro Detroit, ICE agents have been picking up undocumented immigrants and are increasingly spotted patrolling neighborhoods, community and elected leaders say. Many immigrants are so afraid of getting deported that they aren’t going to work, and their children aren’t going to school, they say.
It is believed to be only a matter of time before raids begin in the Detroit area.
“People are fearful,” Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela SantiagoRomero said at a news conference in Southwest Detroit last week. “Children aren’t going to school. Businesses are having their employees not show up. Their clientele is not coming to our bars and restaurants. This will impact all of us. Not only are we destroying families, we are
destroying communities.”
If you or a loved one are approached by an ICE agent, it helps to know your rights, say elected officials, legal experts, and immigrant rights advocates.
“No matter your immigration status in the United States, you have constitutional rights — very clearly you do,” Ruby Robinson, managing attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said. “Please stay informed.”
If ICE agents knock on your door or approach you at work, demand to see a warrant signed by a judge. If there isn’t one, you do not have to open your door or answer any questions.
In fact, immigration experts say you shouldn’t even talk to ICE agents or volunteer any information unless they have a warrant.
If they do and you don’t speak English well, you can ask for an interpreter.
ICE often signs its own warrants, and those are not legally enforced, Robinson said.
“ICE does this tricky thing where they sign their own warrant,” Robinson says. “It’s not valid. It has to be signed by a judge.”
He adds, “It’s exceedingly rare for ICE to have a warrant. Ninety-nine percent of the time they won’t have a warrant.”
Undocumented immigrants also have the right to ask for an attorney.
Legal experts suggest that families devise an emergency plan, like what to do with children or what medication to take, in case a raid is imminent.
In addition, immigrants who are worried about getting deported should get a passport and register it with a consulate, experts say.
Immigrants have a right to due process, which includes a hearing in front of a judge. It gives immigrants a chance to “demonstrate that there is a significant chance you will be harmed by going to your home country,” Robinson says, which could prevent a deportation.
Immigration advocates also encourage neighbors to stay engaged with their community to help spread the word about constitutional rights and potential raids.
“Communities and individuals can successfully push back against these unprecedented attacks that we’re seeing every day,” Robinson says.
If you are not an undocumented immigrant, you can help your neighbors by getting their groceries or picking up their medications.
If a loved one is picked up by ICE, legal experts say you can obtain information about a detainee on ICE’s location portal, which identifies where
someone is being held. Another online resource is VINELink, which provides information about which jail someone has been taken to.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, also recommends that residents contact their congressperson for more information on the whereabouts of a loved one.
There are added protections for immigrants in Detroit. The city’s racial profiling ordinance prohibits local law enforcement from asking about the immigration status of a resident.
“We’re going to protect our neighbors,” Tlaib said. “They’re not going to come and use racist policies and stereotypes to try to depict our neighbors as criminals, as violent people. They are not. They are some of the hardest working, most beautiful loving community members you’ll ever find.”
Santiago-Romero agreed.
“This country is a nation of immigrants,” Santiago-Romero said. “We know this to be true from our history. And unfortunately right now, immigrants, particular immigrants of color, are being villainized. I’m here to remind folks that undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes. We are an important piece of the fabric of this country, and right now we are being divided.”
—Steve Neavling
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, shares tips for immigrants worried about getting deported.
STEVE NEAVLING
AfroFuture fest to make U.S. debut in Detroit
An African music festival formerly known as “Afrochella” is coming to the U.S., and it’s making its American debut in the Motor City.
Now called AfroFuture, the event bills itself as “a premier cultural platform dedicated to celebrating the beauty, creativity, and innovation of Africa and its diaspora.” It first launched in Ghana in 2017.
“We’re thrilled to bring AfroFuture to Detroit for our U.S. debut,” AfroFuture CEO and co-founder Abdul Karim Abdullah said in a statement. “As a cultural and musical powerhouse, Detroit is the perfect city to launch this transformative experience. By connecting African excellence with Detroit’s rich heritage, we’re bridging the diaspora across borders and oceans through the universal language of music. This is more than just a typical festival — it’s a moment of unity and a celebration of the power of Africa.”
The Detroit edition “seamlessly blends the rhythms of Afrobeats and Amapiano with the iconic sounds of Motown and Techno, creating a one-of-a-kind celebration,” organizers say.
AfroFuture Detroit is set for Aug. 16 and 17 at Bedrock’s Douglass Site, the former location of the BrewsterDouglass Housing Projects that was once home of Motown stars including
members of the Supremes and Smokey Robinson.
The Douglass Site also hosted the Afro Nation music festival in 2023 and 2024, a similar international music festival that also has its origins in Ghana.
The event is sponsored by Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock and Paxahau, the producers of Detroit’s Movement Music Festival and an operations partner for the Detroit Jazz Festival.
It sounds like Afro Nation will not return to Detroit in 2025.
“We were fortunate to partner with Afro Nation, which over the past two summers, provided a platform for Detroiters and visitors from around the globe to be immersed in the sound of Afrobeats,” Kofi Bonner, CEO of Bedrock, said in a statement. “Building on this momentum, Bedrock will introduce AfroFuture to the U.S. for the first time in Detroit, a festival
Whitmer urged to save man facing execution
With just days until his scheduled execution in Alabama, attorneys for a Detroit native are urging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to demand his return, arguing that the state has both the legal right and obligation to bring him back.
In a last-minute plea for clemency sent to Whitmer on Friday, attorney Spencer Hahn laid out the constitutional and legal grounds for returning Demetrius Frazier to Michigan, arguing that he remains in the legal custody of the state, despite being transferred to Alabama under a secretive agreement by then-Gov. Rick Snyder.
“Michigan has priority of custody over Mr. Frazier,” Hahn wrote in the fivepage letter obtained by Metro Times Hahn argues that Whitmer has the authority to order his return to Michigan before he is executed in Alabama on Feb. 6. Alabama officials plan to put Hahn to death using nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial method that critics have called inhumane and painful.
Michigan abolished capital punishment in 1847.
Frazier, now 52, was convicted in
Wayne County in 1992 of murder, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and armed robbery, receiving three life sentences. While serving time in Michigan, he confessed to a 1991 murder in Alabama.
In 1995, he was temporarily extradited to Alabama for trial, convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to death. But in 1996, Frazier was returned to Michigan, where his original life sentences remained in effect.
That changed in 2011, when Snyder quietly approved an executive agreement with Alabama’s governor, allowing Frazier to be permanently transferred to Alabama without public notice or court oversight.
Hahn argues the transfer violated Michigan law, which requires prisoners to serve their sentences in-state. He says Whitmer can correct this mistake by invoking the Extradition Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“You have the absolute authority to demand Mr. Frazier’s return,” Hahn wrote to Whitmer, adding that Alabama would be legally obligated to comply.
Last week, Frazier’s mother Carol
Frazier sent an emotional letter to Whitmer, urging her to intervene before her son is executed.
“I love my son with all of my heart,” Frazier wrote. “I know that the crime he committed was terrible, and I know another mother lost her daughter. I am so sorry for her and their family and friends. I know this doesn’t bring her back.”
Frazier said her son is remorseful, has repented, and knows he’ll never be free.
“Please do not let Alabama put him to death,” Frazier pleaded. “I have been told that if you demand that Alabama return him, there is a very good chance they would have to. Alabama suffocates their prisoners now. A lot of people have spoke out to say this is wrong.”
Hahn says governors have the power to recall prisoners transferred out of state, especially when they still have active sentences in their home state.
He pointed to a similar case involving Clarence Ray Jr., a Michigan prisoner sentenced to life in prison without parole. When California sought his extradition for execution, Michigan refused, citing its anti-death penalty stance.
experience dedicated to fostering and engaging the community with Afrocentric art, music and fashion. Additional information will be shared soon.”
While a lineup hasn’t been announced yet, we expect a mix of African performers as well as artists from the U.S. and Detroit. We’ll be keeping our eyes on Detroit.AfroFuture.com and Instagram at @AfroFuture for more information.
—Lee DeVito
Hahn argues Frazier’s situation is no different and that Whitmer should act before it’s too late.
“There is no principled distinction between the circumstances of Messrs. Frazier and Ray: both were convicted of Michigan murders first, received life sentences, and were temporarily transferred to death penalty states, under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, for trial before being returned to finish serving their first Michigan sentences,” Hahn writes.
Despite growing pressure, Whitmer has not commented on the case. Her office has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Metro Times, dating back to Jan. 23.
With less than a week before the scheduled execution, opponents of the death penalty say time is running out for Whitmer to act.
Carol Frazier hopes she does.
“Please bring my son back to Michigan,” she wrote to Whitmer. “Please don’t let Alabama kill my son if you can stop it.”
—Steve Neavling
The AfroFuture festival is coming to Detroit.
COURTESY PHOTO
Detroit Artists Market closes due to flooding
The Detroit Artists Market is temporarily closed after a burst pipe caused flooding and water damage, the gallery said last week.
“This flood has been devastating for our team and the countless artists who rely on DAM as a space to show and sell their work,” DAM executive director Miah J. Davis said in a statement. “While the damage to our space is extensive, I am deeply grateful that artwork loss was minimal. We’ve faced challenges before, and with the resilience of our community, we’ll overcome this one, too. We are committed to finding a way to continue serving the artists and community we’ve supported for the last 93 years, and we’re calling on those who believe in our mission to help us rebuild.”
DAM posted a video clip of the flooding on YouTube.
The gallery says that fortunately, the water did not damage artwork in its gift shop, storage, or on display as part of its latest exhibition Dope Women in Media
It is urgently seeking to raise $35,000 to help cover costs via mightycause.com as well as seeking help finding a building to serve as a temporary home for its planned 2025 exhibitions.
“DAM has been a cornerstone of the city’s creative community for 93 years,” the gallery said in a statement. “This is not just our space — it’s yours. This flood has tested our resilience, but it has also reminded us of the strength of our community. Together, we will overcome these challenges and emerge stronger.”
—Lee DeVito
Gary Peters to retire
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters announced that he’s not running for a third term, leaving a crucial seat up for grabs in 2026.
The 66-year-old Michigan Democrat, who has served in the Senate since 2015, said in a statement that it’s time to “pass the torch to the next generation of public servants.”
“I have always believed that American democracy can only remain healthy and vibrant when every citizen takes an active role in strengthening their community,” Peters said.
Peters, who also served in the U.S. House from 2009 to 2015, has spent decades in public office, beginning as a Rochester Hills city councilman in 1991. He also served two terms as a Michigan state senator from 1995 to 2002.
Peters was also a Navy Reserve veteran who volunteered for active duty after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“My service in the Congress has been the honor of my life,” Peters said. “It has been a humbling responsibility given to me by the voters of the state I love. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve, and I believe my work has left our country a better place.”
After his retirement announcement, Slotkin called Peters “a true public servant who has devoted his life to making Michigan and our country better.”
“In the Senate, Gary enjoys a reputation as a no-nonsense, bipartisan legislator,” Slotkin said. “As a veteran himself, he fought tirelessly for those we served. One of his legacies on the Armed Services Committee and as Chairman and Ranking Member on the Homeland Security Committee is protecting our northern border and cementing the critical role of the Northern Border Mission Center at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell also called Peters “a longtime friend and committed public servant.”
“Our state is better thanks to his service, and I wish him the best in what he decides to do next,” Dingell said.
Peters said he doesn’t plan to be inactive after retiring from his seat.
“I am leaving Congress, but I am not retiring,” Peters said. “I look forward to writing many more chapters when my term ends. I do not know what those chapters will be, but I expect one of them will be me finding endless twisting back roads where I can experience the joy of total freedom riding my Harley Davidson motorcycle on a warm sunny day.”
—Steve Neavling
Faster Horses 2025 canceled
Michigan country music festival Faster Horses will not return in 2025, organizers say.
“We have made the decision to pause Faster Horses Festival in 2025,” a message posted to social media reads.
“We are taking the year to make plans for a bigger and better Faster Horses for our fans who deserve the absolute best,” the message continues. “We love our friends at Michigan International Speedway, the community, and all of those all those behind the scenes. While we hope to bring you something in the future, for now we encourage you to keep the community strong and support live music in Michigan!”
The three-day festival had been hosted in Brooklyn, Michigan, since 2013. It drew tens of thousands of fans, with many camping on the grounds.
Last year’s event was held July 19-21 with headliners Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, and Hardy.
The festival came under scrutiny following multiple reports of deaths and sexual assaults, prompting investigations from MLive and Rolling Stone. Many music festivals have faced financial hardship in recent years, citing inflation and decreased consumer demand.
—Lee DeVito
Gary Peters has served in the U.S. Senate since 2015.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
NEWS & VIEWS
Lapointe
Happy 100th anniversary to The Great Gatsby
By Joe Lapointe
Although most of The Great Gatsby takes place in the wealthy Long Island suburbs of New York City, our own Motor City plays a bit part. This April marks one full century since its publication in 1925. In that much of Gatsby still rings true today, let’s begin the 2025 retrospectives.
The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, is a mysterious millionaire, a host of grand parties at his mansion and, quite possibly, a bootlegger of alcohol during Prohibition. The novel’s narrator, Nick Carraway, tells of over-hearing Gatsby on the telephone. The ellipsis dots and italics are by the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“I can’t talk now, old sport . . . I said a small town . . . He must know what a small town is . . . Well, he’s no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town.”
At the time, Detroit had the fourthlargest population in the United States, nearly one million people, and its proximity to Canada attracted bootleggers during a decade called both “The Roaring Twenties” and “The Jazz Age.”
Later in this short and brilliant novel about the illusions of the American Dream, a telephone operator (there used to be such people) tells narrator Nick the line to Gatsby’s mansion is being kept open for a long-distance call from Detroit. Such were the pleasant little finds last week in reading Gatsby for the 10th time (or maybe the 15th).
The book has aged well. At 100, Gatsby still feels contemporary, as if it could have been written today about shallow people and money lust. But it would need a few revisions of criminal enterprises and negative ethnic stereotypes. For instance: a modern Jay Gatsby would not be an alcohol bootlegger.
He’d deal cocaine or some other drug or maybe run a Ponzi scheme. And Gatsby’s shady business “gonnegtion” would not be the hideous Meyer Wolfsheim, a caricature of a Jewish money manipulator, a stereotype all too common in American literature before World War II.
Instead, the Wolfsheim of 2025 would likely be Hispanic or Middle Eastern, the accent and stereotypes adjusted accordingly. But Wolfsheim is merely part of the second tier in Fitzgerald’s vivid cast. The stars carry the simple plot.
For the female (Daisy Buchanan), it is based on the old trope of “torn between two lovers.” Another archetype is personified in Gatsby, a middle-class, New Money striver. He is a delusional, lovesick man trying to rekindle a lost romance even though his old flame is now married to a wealthy man of Old Money — Tom Buchanan — and they have a child.
Mix in adultery, alcohol, and arrogance and you’ve got all the ingredients for the car crash and the shootings which leave three characters dead at the end of the tale. All of this swirls around Buchanan, a man who would fit easily into a 21st. Century novel.
He is a racist and a sexist who bullies people with his big bucks, bulk, and bluster. Buchanan forecasts “replacement theory” long before the alt-right coined the term. He touts a book called The Rise of the Colored Race
“If we don’t look out, the white race will be — will be utterly submerged . . . It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” Later, he muses: “Next, they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.”
A former football star at Yale, Buchanan takes offense when his mistress (Myrtle Wilson) keeps repeating the name of Buchanan’s wife at an impromptu party in their Manhattan love nest. From the book:
“I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai —”
Making a short, deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with an open hand.
Had Gatsby offered just a clear plot and obvious characters, few would probably read it today or even remember it. But it also provides prose that is melodic, poetic, and lyrical. Fitzgerald writes words the way Eric Clapton bleeds notes from the strings of an
acoustic guitar.
And that makes Gatsby one of those books especially pleasing to the ear on recorded audio readings. Many versions are free on the internet. The copyright has expired, but Fitzgerald’s words endure. Hear how narrator Nick describes Gatsby’s party guests.
I have forgotten their names — Jaqueline, I think, or else Consuela, or Gloria or Judy or June, and their last names were either the melodious names of flowers and months or the sterner ones of the great American capitalists whose cousins, if pressed, they would confess themselves to be.
(Students take note: The previous was a 49-word sentence that ends in iambic pentameter).
Fitzgerald’s tuned ear heard the music of words and voices. Through narrator Nick, he makes much of how Daisy speaks.
“It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again,” Nick tells us. Later, Gatsby tells Nick: “Her voice is
full of money.” And the wealth of the Buchanans inspires one of Fitzgerald’s best-remembered sentences.
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
When first published, Gatsby was less than a big success. The New York World ran a headline that said “Fitzgerald’s latest: A dud.” The New York Times was more generous, writing: “This is a book of potent overtones, a curious book, a mystical, glamorous story of today.”
Fitzgerald himself had no doubts about its quality. “I think my novel is about the best American novel ever written,” he wrote to his editor. He wasn’t far off the mark. Most book buffs would put it in their American Top 10. At 47,094 words, you can read Gatsby in one evening, two at the most.
And you should.
From the “Roaring Twenties,” this great American novel endures. PUBLIC DOMAIN, WIKIMEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS
Marion Hayden is the 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist. ERIN KIRKLAND FOR THE KRESGE FOUNDATION
Bassist Marion Hayden named 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist Bridging generations of jazz
By Veronica Johnson
Renowned jazz bassist, educator, bandleader, and composer Marion Hayden nearly fainted in December while eating sushi at Noble Fish in Clawson. She had just finished a busy morning and was exhausted. Lunch at her favorite sushi spot was her perfect way to unwind, but Katie McGowan, the deputy director at Kresge Arts in Detroit, interrupted Hayden’s me time with the news she had been selected as the 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist — an award that comes with a $100,000 prize.
“Katie goes, ‘Do you have time to chat, and are you sitting down?’” Hayden recalls. “Once I found out the news, I think I said ‘what’ about 10 times, and then I got dizzy and leaned up against a shelf, so I did have to sit down.”
Hayden says she didn’t think anything of the call at first because she’s been asked to do performances with Kresge before, and as a 2016 Kresge Fellow, had done work associated with Kresge Arts Detroit.
“It was very fabulous news to get and very humbling to think they thought of me,” she says. “It was a lot to take in and it felt so wonderful to think that they noticed my work over the period of time that I’ve been working here in Detroit.”
The Kresge Eminent Artist Award honors artists with a distinguished record of high-quality work, professional achievement in the arts, and a lifetime of contributions to their art forms and the cultural community of metro
Detroit. Later this year Hayden will be the subject of a short film and will be honored by Kresge during a special ceremony.
Hayden is the youngest Kresge Eminent Artist at age 68 and the second recipient to have also received a Kresge Artist Fellowship. She is also the third jazz musician to have received the honor; preceding her was trumpeter Marcus Belgrave (2009) and saxophonist Wendell Harrison (2018), who both mentored her.
Trombonist, bandleader, and educator Vincent Chandler, a panelist for the Kresge Eminent Artist selection, says this is great timing for Hayden to have received this award.
“One of the things we talked about as panelists was the timing of someone receiving such an incredible award,” says Chandler in a Kresge statement. “While she’s already done a lifetime of work as a phenomenal musician, educator and mentor, there’s so much more that she’ll be able to do as a result of this award.’’
This honor is fitting given Hayden’s industriousness and work ethic. For three decades, she has been one of the most in-demand jazz musicians in Michigan. She lists off what appears to be an overwhelming amount of upcoming performances, which she plays off as an average month for her.
On Feb. 1, she will perform a live musical score she was commissioned to compose for a Detroit Institute of Arts screening of The Symbol of the Unconquered, a 1920
Oscar Micheaux silent film. On Feb. 13, also at the DIA, she will pay tribute to drummer Roy Brooks, performing music from his groundbreaking ensemble Artistic Truth. Near the end of the month, she starts a residency at the University of Iowa with their jazz studies department.
Spreading the gospel of Detroit jazz
In addition to her performances, Hayden teaches at the University of Michigan. There she’s the Geri Allen Collegiate Lecturer in the Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation (a position named after another lauded Detroit jazz musician, now deceased, of Hayden’s generation); at Oakland University she’s an applied instructor of jazz bass.
Hayden admits that early in her career, she didn’t envision teaching. She believed being a side woman would consume the bulk of her professional life. That mindset changed, however, when her mentors Kenn Cox, Roy Brooks, and Marcus Belgrave passed away. She felt a sense of duty continuing their legacies, performing their music, and refining the mentoring systems they built.
“When that happened, it occurred to me that the ball was in my court,” she says. “I felt like those musicians had really poured a lot of music into me and at that point it
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was my duty to keep that legacy alive. The spirit of their music in particular and the spirit in which they engaged in the community as creators of music.”
She adds, “The reason why we have such a rich landscape of young musicians here is because everybody didn’t run out of here to New York. And I understand people going there but we were very fortunate here in Detroit that we had such a deep wellspring of people deeply rooted in the music and they were able to instill those kinds of values about music in us.”
‘It’s truly a blessing’
During the formative leg of her career, Hayden made a name for herself as a go-to accompanist for jazz masters Donald Walden, Cox, Harrison, and Brooks. In their bands her unique brand of walking the upright bass was honed note by note. It wasn’t long after she had achieved household name status that nationally known bandleaders hired her.
She blessed bands led by Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kirk Lightsey, Steve Turre, Jon Faddis, Kamau Kenyatta, and Terri Lyne Carrington. An encyclopedia-sized book would be needed to list all the bands and ensembles in which she has performed.
On the home front, she co-founded Straight Ahead, a Detroit-based ensemble that made headlines in the late 1980s as the first all-female jazz group to be signed to Atlantic Records, and one of a few all-female jazz groups to record for a major label since the big band era. The Grammy-nominated band continues to lead performances all over Michigan and
beyond and is a fan favorite at Detroitarea venues such as Cliff Bells and The Dirty Dog Jazz Café.
As a bandleader, Hayden released Visions in 2009 and her ensemble Legacy gained a cult-like following. Through Legacy, which performs primarily original works, she’s received national and local grants supporting its focus on narrative and often historically driven suites of music.
As a composer, she’s written more than 60 works, including Ocean: The Life and Times of Phillis Wheatley, a suite based on the life of the eponymous poet who, during the colonial era, became the first African American to publish a book.
Her endeavors have expanded beyond music to include work for community arts organizations, serving as a grants panelist for the Detroit Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Art-Ops, and the Highland Park Arts and Culture Commission.
Just a few of the accolades she has received throughout her career are the 2024 Detroit ACE award from the city’s Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship; a 2023 New Music USA composition grant; and a 2022 Ron Brooks Award from the Southeast Michigan Jazz Association.
She doesn’t take any recognition for granted. Through her compositions, performances, and lectures, Hayden continues to be a vessel for generations of creative people.
“I know people my age and younger who didn’t make it through the pandemic so I’m just truly grateful to be here,” she says. “It never occurred to me that I would receive anything of this magnitude at this point in my life and it’s truly a blessing.”
WHAT’S GOING ON
Select events happening in metro Detroit this week. Be sure to check venue websites before all events for the latest information. Add your event to our online calendar: metrotimes.com/ AddEvent.
MUSIC
Wednesday, Feb. 5
Live/Concert
Fishgutzzz & The Lost & Found Orchestra, Maray 9 p.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.
Magic Bag Presents: Jessica Lea Mayfield 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $22. Matt Larusso Trio and guests 8-11 p.m.; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover. ‘
Babyface Ray, Babyfxce E, Samuel Shabazz, DaeMoney 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $35-$99.50.
Bob Marley Birthday Bash
Tribute with One Love, DJ Sci-fi Deluxx 9 p.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.
The Cotton Club Music Series ft. Sky Covington & Friends at Little Mary’s River Inn 7-11 p.m.; Little Mary’s River Inn, 7741 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $20.
Eric Roberson 8 p.m.; Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $39$52.
Hillbilly Knife Fight, Permanently Pissed, Pedro Meadows 7-10 p.m.; Reware Vintage, 2965 12 Mile Rd., Suite 200, Berkley; $15 suggested.
Just 4 Kicks 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.
Smells Like Nirvana (Nirvana tribute), Dead Original 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.
Nightnotes with Amanda Blaikie 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Hagopian World of Rugs, 850 S. Woodward Ave., Birmingham; $30.
Shane Smith and the Saints, Cole Chaney 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $26-$76.
Sunny Bleau, Maggie McCabe, Kiersi Joli, Lexie Blue, Mick Kolasa 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $15-$100.
Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton tribute), Ultimate Eric Church Experience (Eric Church tribute) 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18-$28.
The Beaches, Alex Porat 8 p.m.; Caesars Palace Windsor - Augustus Ballroom, 377 E. Riverside Dr., Windsor; $28-$78.
DJ/Dance
Electric Feels: Indie Dance Party (18+) Feb. 7, 8 p.m.; Saint
22 February 5-11, 2025 | metrotimes.com
Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $15-$20.
CLIFFS, The Nuts 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $15.
Eric Bellinger, Ashya Clark 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $130.
Mega Weedge (Ween tribute), DJ J. Walker, DJ John C. Dodge 9 p.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover. Nessa Barrett, Ari Abdul 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $35-$65.
That Arena Rock Show (tribute to ’70s and ’80s rock) 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18-$28.
Toro Y Moi, Panda Bear, Nourished by Time 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $32.50-$65.
ValidTines Day 8: Bruiser Wolf, Mary McLovin, Mr. Cliffnote, Valid 9 p.m.; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; $10. DJ/Dance
Hippo Campus, Mei Semones 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $35-$65.
Sean Blackman’s In Transit 7-10 p.m.; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover.
Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats, Jonathan Hultén 7 p.m.; Cathedral Theatre at the Masonic Temple, 500 Temple St., Detroit; $29-$66.
DJ/Dance
B.Y.O.R Bring Your Own Records Night 9 p.m.-midnight; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; no cover. Open Mic
Open Mic : Art in a Fly Space 7-10 p.m.; Detroit Shipping Company, 474 Peterboro St., Detroit; no cover. Tuesday Karaoke in the Lounge 8 p.m.-midnight; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.
THEATER
Performance
Detroit Opera House Shen Yun; Friday, Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 8, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 9, 1 p.m.
Fisher Theatre - Detroit Come from Away (Touring); Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
The Music Hall Ruby - The Musical; $35-$65; Friday, Feb. 7; 8 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 9, 3 p.m.
COMEDY
Improv
Go Comedy! Improv Theater
Pandemonia: The Allstar Showdown; $20; 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Stand-up
Birmingham 8 Stealing Jokes with live comedy show and Q&A with Mike Young; $40; Tuesday, 7-11 p.m.
Eastern Palace Club Jason Jamerson; $5; Thursday, Feb. 6, 8:30-10 p.m.
Continuing This Week Standup
Blind Pig Blind Pig Comedy FREE Mondays, 8 p.m.
The Independent Comedy Club at Planet Ant Tonight vs Everybody: Open Mic Comedy; $5 suggested donation; Thursdays, 9-10:30 p.m.
ART
Photography
Pathways to the Self Pathways to the Self: Joel Geffen, Pollyanne McKillop, Pamela Sayre, and Tim Haber. Reception on Friday, February 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m.; PARC Art Gallery, 650 Church St., Plymouth.
The Gallery at Brewery Park Heroes and Influences: Portraits by Jason Nuttall. Reception on Saturday, Feb. 8, 4-5 p.m.
Continuing This Week
Cranbrook Art Museum Constellations & Affinities: Selections from the Cranbrook Collection; museum admission.
Design Studio 6-Detroit McGee: Urban Synthesis 2. An art exhibition celebrating the life and art of the late renowned artist, Charles McGee. The exhibit features his art and the art of 40 local Detroit artists that were influenced by his legacy. Saturday, Feb. 8, 1-5 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 9, 1-5 p.m.
The Shepherd Warp and Weft: Technologies within Textiles. On view though May 3.
The Baker House Gallery at VI-
Critics’ Picks
Mi-Sci T. rex exhibit extended
In case you missed it, the Michigan Science Center has extended its exhibition about the king of the dinosaurs, the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex. Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family will stick around through the end of May. The traveling show opened in Detroit in October and was initially set to run through mid-January.
“We thought we would have to pack up this incredibly popular traveling exhibit this month and send it on to its next museum, but fortunately, through the generous support of Ford Philanthropy, we get to keep it through May and offer it to kids, families and anyone who is a fan of these fascinating creatures,” said Dr. Christian Greer, President & CEO of the Michigan Science Center. “We’ve had a lot of exciting exhibits over the years, but I don’t know if any of them have engaged imaginations quite the way this one has. If you haven’t had a chance yet to come down [and] visit us, don’t
TRINE Blooms by Jen Muse. Through Feb. 28.
MISC. Singles
Cranbrook House & Gardens
Winter houseplant sale: Explore the Conservatory Greenhouse — Cranbrook’s tropical treasure — as you shop for houseplants that are sure to brighten up your home, office, and day!
No cover, Friday, Feb. 7, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 8, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
wait another moment. Winter in Michigan is a great time to explore some indoor fun for the whole family.”
The exhibition features life-size displays, skeleton casts, and fossils. That includes one of the most complete T. rex skeletons in the world, standing 15 feet tall and dubbed “Scotty.” It was discovered in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The exhibition also includes four fossils on loan from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Also this month, the Mi-Sci announced its planetarium theater was getting a $2.6 million upgrade including new inclined seats, and updated sound system, and 8K digital projection. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
—Lee DeVito
Michigan Science Center is located at 5020 John R St., Detroit; mi-sci.org.
Shield’s Restaurant Bar Pizzeria of Troy Not Online Dating Presents: Be My Valentine Speed Dating & Singles Mixer (ages 24-34). In person, interactive, and hosted by a funny MC! $40; Wednesday, Feb. 5, 7-10 p.m.
Drink
Trivia Wednesdays Wrecked And
Rocked Off The Rails Trivia hosted by Roger Paz; no cover; Wednesdays, 8 p.m.; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit.
SPORTS
Little Caesars Arena Detroit Pistons vs. Cleveland Cavaliers; $20$1,659.85; Wednesday, Feb. 5, 7 p.m. Little Caesars Arena Detroit Pistons vs. Charlotte Hornets; $26$2,949.85; Friday Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.; Detroit Pistons vs. Charlotte Hornets; $26-$2,949.85 Sunday, Feb. 9, 1 p.m.
There’s still time to see the king of the dinosaurs in Detroit.
COURTESY PHOTO
FOOD
Bites
Dutch Girl Donuts inspires a craft beer
Dutch Girl Donuts has been a Detroit favorite for decades.
But would you drink a beer that tastes like one of its chocolateglazed doughnuts?
Griffin Claw Brewing Company is betting you will.
The brewery is teaming up with Dutch Girl Donuts and Off the Wagon, a wine, beer, and spirits maker in Clawson, to create a rich, decadent stout, paired with a bold
infusion of coffee.
The limited-edition brew, named Dutch Wagon, is a “delightful blend of freshly brewed coffee, creamy cocoa, and that unmistakable donut shop flavor in every sip,” according to a news release.
The beer is sold in four packs of 16-ounce cans at Off the Wagon, located at 1500 N. Crooks Rd., and is available while supplies last.
After closing for several months,
Dutch Girl Donuts on Woodward Avenue reopened under new ownership, and Metro Times foodie Tom Perkins reports that its doughnuts taste “like the OG Dutch Girl that I remember.”
This is the second collaboration between Griffin Claw Brewing Company and Off the Wagon, following the debut of their fruited kettle sour, Shaggin’ Wagon.
—Steve Neavling
Minnie’s Detroit opens in Woodbridge
For as long as Yvonne Byrd can remember she’s loved Detroit’s music and nightlife scene. In 2008 Byrd took that love and opened Vondie’s On The River (her nickname), a bar known for live entertainment and garlic-flavored chicken wings. It quickly became one of the cornerstones for Detroit nightlife and music in the mid-2000s. Artists like Stretch Money, Marv Won, and Monica Blaire graced its stage and it routinely brought in DJs during the Movement Festival weekend before closing in 2012 when its lease wasn’t renewed.
“It was a learning process but we loved it,” Byrd says. “We loved the hospitality aspect of it, my son was really good at it… I’ve always enjoyed partying in the city of Detroit.”
Byrd went on to open the Epitome
Lounge at 205 W. Congress St., but closed after the building was sold in 2015. She then opened Minnie’s Rhythm Cafe (named after her mother) on 546 Larned St., but that fizzled after she says she was duped by her business partner.
“I wasn’t ready to give up on this,” Byrd says. “And at that time Downtown was coming back after COVID, and every other block was popping up. Every block you got a new restaurant or bar. I looked around and my son came to the rescue. He said, ‘Hey ma, let’s see if we can buy a building.’”
In 2023 Byrd was able to purchase a 7,000-square-foot building on 5221 Trumbull St. in Woodbridge, which opened as Minnie’s Detroit last month with a grand re-opening party featuring dining and live entertainment from
Public House calls it quits
After more than 12 years in business, Ferndale’s Public House restaurant says it’s closing for good.
“This was a very difficult decision, and a heartbreaking decision,” Brian Kramer, CEO of parent company Hometown Restaurant Group, said in a statement. “The restaurant business is very difficult right now. In my 30-plus years in the restaurant business, I’ve never experienced a tougher economy than what we are experiencing today. Add to this the high food costs, high labor costs, intense competition, the need for constant quality control, tight profit margins and endless hours of work — we just agreed the time was right to close the restaurant, take a step back, focus on our other restaurant operations and give someone else a chance to reconcept the location.”
The restaurant and cocktail bar opened at 241 W. Nine Mile Rd. in 2013 under the same owners of the nearby Imperial taco spot. After closing in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it reopened in 2021 under new owners Hometown Restaurant Group with renovations including the addition of a vegan menu and kitchen.
Hometown Restaurant Group continues to run Ferndale restaurants Tigerlily, Pop’s for Italian, and One-Eyed Betty’s. Local chain Sidecar Slider Bar plans to move into the Public House space, the press release states.
“We have started the process to get city and state approvals, but the gameplan on February 15, 2025 is that we will hand the keys over to Sidecar Slider bar,” Kramer said. “Sidecar is locally-owned and operated, and will be a great addition to our Ferndale community.”
Public House’s final day of service is Feb. 9.
—Lee DeVito
Natasha Miller and Mic Phelps. Byrd says she plans on offering regular live entertainment, poetry, reasonably priced dining, and a boutique hotel in the rear.
“We built a beautiful deck up top, so when springtime comes we’ll have outdoor-indoor activities,” says her son Curtis Johnson II, who assists in all business operations. Johnson lived in Las Vegas for two years and says he was inspired by his time in that city to bring in DJs from all over the world to Minnie’s.
Byrd also sees ownership as a way to add on to her family’s historic legacy. Her grandfather Rev. Edward Solomon founded New Providence Baptist Church, which has grown into one of Detroit’s more notable places of worship.
“It’s interesting because we come from the whole religious background, but we sang, we danced, we had a good time growing up,” Byrd says though a laugh. “We were a happy family.”
Byrd admits that entrepreneurship isn’t for the timid. She says she’s independently financed all of her ventures, received very little help from fellow business owners, and also fought breast cancer three different times over the last 14 years. Ultimately she sees Minnie’s as a way she can bring back the energy and nostalgia from Detroit’s Paradise Valley culture she grew up in.
“We’re just getting a feel for the area,” she says. “I love hospitality, I love to have a good time. Just come down, we got good food, good cocktails.”
—Kahn Santori Davison
Griffin Claw Brewing Company teamed up with Dutch Girl Donuts and Off the Wagon.
COURTESY PHOTO
CULTURE
Film
We need to talk about Emilia Pérez
I’m not a big fan of the Oscars. Don’t get me wrong, I love the pageantry and I love the few weeks of the year where it almost seems like everyone cares about movies almost as much as I do. But ultimately, whatever wins or loses rarely does so based on the actual quality of the film, but instead is more of a metric on how persuasive that film’s Oscar campaign was and how much bandwidth it squeezed out of its marketing budget. Every once in a while, the Academy gets it right (Parasite), but most of the time it’s woefully out of touch and downright wrong (Green Book).
I haven’t seen every nominated movie yet, but I have a pretty good head start and will definitely have them all watched by the time the Oscars air on March 2, so hopefully when we get closer I can do an in-depth dive into each category and pick the winners and losers. But, for now, let’s take a look at some of the interesting choices and ridiculous snubs for the 97th Annual Academy Awards.
There are a few pretty shocking snubs this year that I’m still wrapping my head around. Leaving Sing Sing, Challengers, A Real Pain, and His Three Daughters
By Jared Rasic, Last Word Features
out of the race for Best Picture seems like a huge mistake. If you had told me six months ago that Challengers wouldn’t get nominated for a single award (especially the propulsive and hypnotizing score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), I would have put money on you being mistaken. To be sure, the nominated scores for The Brutalistand Conclave are pretty fantastic, but Reznor and Ross taught a masterclass on how you can literally build a movie around the score. It’s groundbreaking.
And speaking of music... we need to talk about Emilia Pérez. First, let me say that as a cis het white guy, I feel wildly unqualified to talk about this movie, but since cis het white guys basically have a cottage industry in talking about shit they have no business speaking on, I’ll just be brief. This film (which now shares the same number of Oscar nominations as Mary Poppins, Fellowship of the Ring, and Gone with The Wind with a whopping 13) has some catchy songs and some fun choreography and director Jacques Audiard knows what he’s doing behind a camera. But the story… the actual story… is ridiculously bad.
I’d like to write an entire piece on Emilia Pérez at some point, but for now
all I’ll say is the film takes the insanely stupid premise so seriously that it’s impossible to treat the film like camp, which is what it deserves. Imagine John Waters directing the film and using his transgressive and fearless lens to create truly bold satire with the story and then we would have something more than what feels like a poorly conceived attempt at cultural and gender tourism.
I think the race for Best Picture boils down to Emilia Pérez vs. the actually breathtaking The Brutalist, which for me is one of the finest American films of this quarter century. Adrien Brody should also handily take Best Actor (although I wouldn’t be upset if Colman Domingo got it for Sing Sing or Ralph Fiennes won for Conclave).
A lot of how people win Oscars is also based on the momentum they have from other awards shows. This gives Kieran Culkin a big lead in the race for supporting actor for his electrifying work in A Real Pain and Demi Moore is the front runner for Best Actress with her transformative work in The Substance. I think the only chance Moore loses is if Emilia Pérez keeps gaining that momentum, and then Karla Sofía Gascón will win for her genuinely
remarkable titular performance. Felicity Jones is astonishing in The Brutalist, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Zoe Saldaña took it for Emilia Pérez, which could very well sweep the Academy Awards simply for the optics.
See the trend here? Oscar voters sometimes lean really hard into the appearance of progressive filmmaking, but some can’t usually spot that from the cloud of age and privilege. They mistakenly think that Emilia Pérez is the historic and inclusive choice this year, completely missing the fact that the true groundbreaking work about gender (from an actual trans filmmaker) is the deeply empathetic I Saw the TV Glowwith its whopping total of zero nominations.
The other big snub that I can’t quite wrap my head around is not nominating director Denis Villeneuve for his work on Dune: Part Two. It’s truly jawdropping work on a scale I’m not sure I’ve seen before and while I don’t think he would have won (Brady Corbet has it for The Brutalist), it would have made more sense to nominate Villeneuve over James Mangold’s workmanlike direction of A Complete Unknown
The week before the Oscars my plan is to break down every category of nominees into what should win vs. what will win and give some context into each of the films. I’m pretty terrible at predicting these things, but the Academy is sometimes pretty terrible at picking the winners, so I guess I don’t feel that bad about it. We’ll all just have to do our best.
Zoe Saldaña is nominated Best Supporting Actress. NETFLIX
The Straight Dope Struggling to sleep? The cannabis market has plenty of options
By Steve Neavling
I found myself tossing and turning the other night, thinking about deadlines, bills, and the state of our country.
Frustrated, I reached for a heavy indica and took a few puffs.
Almost immediately, the storm in my head quieted down, and my muscles eased up.
About 20 minutes later, I was out cold.
Cannabis has long been known for its relaxing properties. But for those struggling to sleep, it can make a real difference. Whether you’re dealing with chronic insomnia, stress-induced restlessness, or occasional bouts of sleeplessness, the right type of cannabis can help you doze off.
But what are the right types of cannabis? As I’d find out while researching this, there are more effective ways to use cannabis for sleep than smoking weed.
And luckily for us, Michigan’s dispensaries are full of products to help you sleep. They range from gummies and tinctures to vapes and transdermal patches.
I visited some dispensaries to learn more.
But first, here’s what we know about cannabis: It interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system, which plays an important role in regulating sleep, mood, and stress.
Several cannabis compounds are associated with relaxation, stress-relief, and sleep. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in marijuana, can have sedative effects, especially in indica-dominant strains and ones with sleep-inducing terpenes like myrcene. Cannabidiol (CBD) can help with stress and anxiety, which are common causes of insomnia, while Cannabinol (CBN) is primarily known for its sedative effects.
A lesser-known compound, called Cannabigerol (CBG), is believed to
reduce anxiety and stress and relieve muscle tension.
When taken together, these compounds are the most effective because they interact with each other to enhance relaxation and drowsiness.
It’s further proof that cannabis is a dynamic plant with a wide range of benefits that go far beyond getting high.
Sleep has become one of the primary reasons people use cannabis these days, and it represents a significant and expanding share of the market.
And it’s no wonder. Trouble sleeping is a serious concern in the U.S. Approximately 50 to 70 million Americans have sleep disorders, and about one-third of adults do not get enough uninterrupted sleep, according to SleepHealth.org.
A 2022 survey of more than 27,000 medical marijuana users in the U.S. and Canada found that nearly half used cannabis to address sleep issues. Another study published in Exploration of Medicine found that people felt more refreshed, focused, and functional in the morning when they used cannabis to induce sleep, as opposed to relying on a conventional sleep aid.
With so many cannabis products on the shelves, let’s look at what’s available for sleep.
Nature’s Remedy
At Nature’s Remedy, a dispensary known for its focus on health and quality (925 E. Drayton St., Ferndale; naturesremedycannabis.com), the shelves and display cases are stocked with dozens of products for sleep — gummies, chocolates, tinctures, transdermal patches, a smokable CBN isolate, and more.
“Sleep is probably one of the biggest markets when it comes to cannabis right now,” manager Vincent Chimenti tells me.
Many of the products contain some combination of CBN, THC, CBD, and CBG.
Another popular choice is products with Rick Simpson Oil (RSO), which promotes deep relaxation and sedation due to its high THC concentration and full-spectrum cannabinoid profile.
For those who don’t want to get high, plenty of the products don’t contain THC.
“We have a lot of options for everyone,” Chimenti says.
The Hive
The Hive is well-known for its highquality flower grown in-house (21630 John R Rd., Hazel Park; thehivemichigan.com), but it’s also a great spot for those using cannabis for health reasons.
Carly Gilewski, the dispensary’s director of operations, is well-versed in using cannabis for everything from pro -
moting sleep and a healthy gut to relieving pain, stress, and inflammation. She has become a passionate supporter of cannabis as a sleep aid because of her own experience.
With a history of sleeping troubles, her doctor previously prescribed her medicine to help her sleep, but she wanted something more natural and less dangerous.
“I didn’t feel comfortable taking prescription pulls, and I was worried I would feel the symptoms, like drowsiness, throughout the day,” Gilewski tells me. “I don’t want to destroy my liver to help me fall asleep. Cannabis is a great alternative for that. It has worked better than everything I’ve ever tried.”
Gilewski recommends CBN products that are paired with CBD, THC, or both. The Hive carries indica-enhanced gummies that include THC, CBD, and CBN, as well as other sleep enhancements.
The combination “is good for relaxation and sleep,” she says.
Curious how the combo worked, I bought a pack of 10 solventless hash rosin gummies from the Hive for about $20. The Good Tide gummies by Wyld come in a recyclable paper tube, and each passionate fruit gummy contains 10 mg of THC, 5 mg of CBD, and 5 mg of CBN.
On a recent night when I couldn’t sleep, I ate one of the gummies. About an hour later, I began to feel more relaxed. Within 90 minutes, my body felt light. My eyelids were heavy, and my worries faded away.
It had been a long time since I went to bed feeling that calm. Within 10 minutes of lying down, I was out cold.
I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed.
Lume Cannabis Co.
Lume Cannabis Co., a cultivator and chain of 38 dispensaries in Michigan
(lume.com), produces a packet of gummies for sleep. Called Dream, the indica gummies contain 10 mg of CBN and 5 mg of THC.
The Dream gummies are the company’s most popular edible, says Kevin Kuethe, Lume’s chief cultivation officer.
“We hear testimonies all of the time,” Kuethe says. “They really work well.”
Lume also makes Dream vapes with a high-potency THC distillate and a proprietary blend of CBN. Kuethe says cannabis has proven to be a safe, effective sleep aid.
“One of the things that was really important to us at Lume is improving quality of life, and most people would agree that sleep is one of the most important ways to be healthy,” Kuethe says. “This product that is helping us is not synthetic. It came from nature. It’s a natural substance.”
Smoking flower
For those who want to smoke cannabis the old-fashioned way, another sleep option is smoking a heavy indica with myrcene or linalool terpenes. Both promote deep relaxation. Terpenes work alongside cannabinoids to enhance or modify the effects of THC, CBD, and other compounds.
But this isn’t for everyone. Many people say they have trouble sleeping after smoking flower or taking dabs, even if the strain is known for its sedative effects.
My favorite myrcene-rich strains to induce sleep are Donny Burger by GhostBudsters Farm, Face Meltz by Michigrown, Sherb Cream Pie by the Hive, Donkey Butter by Fractal Cannabis, Los Muertos by Hytek, and Jar Jar Stinks #21 by Michigan Loud Flower.
If you want us to sample your cannabis products, send us an email at steve@metrotimes.com.
Dispensaries are stocked with products to help you doze off. STEVE NEAVLING
CULTURE
Savage Love Quickies
By Dan Savage
Q
:
It turns me on when my husband fucks other men. It pisses him off when I do. His proposed “fix” is he gets to fuck other men (because I like it) but I don’t get to fuck other men (because he hates it). This hardly seems fair.
A: If things being unfair turned you on — if the idea of being in a one-sided open relationship made your cock hard — you might be able to make this work. But unfairness doesn’t turn you on, so you can’t make this work. I don’t mean you can’t make your marriage work; I mean your husband’s proposed “fix” won’t work because you aren’t a cuck. So, your options are a mutual agreement to close your relationship (no one gets to fuck other men) or agreeing to a one-sided DADT relationship (he doesn’t hide fucking other men from you, you hide fucking other men from him). Your husband getting the fuck over himself is also an option.
: Q How do I get my libido back after my house burned down in the L.A. fires?
A: “You don’t get your libido back at least not yet,” said Claire Perelman, a Certified Sex Therapist who lives and works in California. “You sit in the grief, you let it wash over you. When you’re ready, you turn towards pleasure and comfort, however you find it — naked cuddling, drawing yourself a bath, sensual touch. You can even invite grief into your bedroom: a threesome with you, your partner, and despair. Acknowledging the pain is the first step in moving through it.”
Follow Claire Perelman on Instagram and Threads @sexclarified.
: Q Tips or tricks for orgasms on SSRIs?
A: Throw absolutely everything you’ve got at it — genital stim, nipple stim, anal stim, brain stim (aka dirty talk) inert toys, vibrating toys — and enjoy the ride/getting ridden whether you have an orgasm or not. If you feel yourself getting close, push a little. If you don’t feel like you’re gonna get there, appreciate the pleasure you created and experienced instead of succumbing to frustration over the orgasm you
didn’t have this time but might next time. (Also, talk to your doc about adjusting your medications.)
: Q What’s the craziest sex you’ve ever had?
A: Bent over in an East German guard tower on November 12, 1989, looking down through the orangetinted mirrored glass windows at the delirious crowd of Berliners tearing the Wall apart with their bare hands.
: Q How can I have sex when my 18-year-old stepdaughter is home? It makes my boyfriend uneasy!
A: Instead of going without when your stepdaughter is around why not go and get in your car or go lock yourself in the bathroom of a sleazy bar or go climb into an abandoned East German guard tower and have sex there? Then instead of resenting your boyfriend’s daughter for preventing you from having sex, you’ll be grateful to this kid — secretly grateful — for all the exciting, crazy, adventurous sex you’re having all over town with her dad.
: Q What’s the best way to let a new partner know I’m inexperienced in the bedroom?
A: You can show ‘em or you can tell ‘em. And since there’s nothing more deflating than the look on someone’s face as they slowly realize you don’t know what you’re doing, telling is by far the better choice. Remember: low expectations are easily exceeded.
: Q My boyfriend expressed interest in butt stuff while drunk but denied it when sober. Should I drop it?
A: Make sure there’s always beer in the fridge and trust that your boyfriend will bring up butt stuff when he’s ready/drunk.
: Q Do you need to disclose that you slept with someone that used to have HPV?
A: No.
: Q Do guys come fast on purpose if they’re not attracted to the person they’re having sex with?
A: I get at least one letter a day from a woman — and it’s always a woman — who’s worried that her boyfriend isn’t attracted to her because he couldn’t get hard or he took a boner pill or he takes too long to come. Maybe instead of adding something to the long list of things women who fuck dudes feel insecure about, we should encourage women to assume that guys who wanna fuck them are attracted to them.
: Q Wife and I have been poly for
about four months now. She doesn’t want to meet my new partner. Help!
A: Help for Wife: You’re under no obligation to meet your husband’s new partner — and that goes double if you’re poly under duress. (I’m making assumptions here, I realize, and if this doesn’t apply in your case, please disregard.) You don’t have to make nice with your husband’s new partner to alleviate the guilt he feels about the “open or over” ultimatum he issued. When you’re ready to meet your husband’s new partner, you can. If you’re never ready to meet her, you don’t have to.
Help for Husband: If your new partner is giving you grief because she hasn’t met your wife yet, your new partner — consciously or subconsciously — is trying to sabotage your marriage.
Help for New Partner: If you’re demanding to meet with your new partner’s wife before she’s ready, you need to drop it. If your new partner is trying to force this meeting on his wife, you need to drop him.
: Q I’m a cishet 40-year-old single woman who dates using apps. I am overweight, and I have full-body photos on my dating app profiles that show this. However, so many people only look at the first photo, which is of my face. I had a guy come over for a hookup the other day, and two minutes into sex, he stopped because he wasn’t into it, implying my weight was an issue. This bruised my ego, and I’m hoping to prevent it from happening again. How do I smoothly ascertain whether someone knows I’m overweight on a dating app before agreeing to meet up?
A: “Just wanted to make sure you looked at all my pictures and not just my face pic before we meet up.”
: Q Should doxyPEP be taken after condomless oral sex?
A: Do we need to qualify oral sex with “condomless” since no one has ever used a condom during oral sex — except me but only that one time? Anyway, doxyPEP is a medication taken after sex that offers significant protection against chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and other bacterial STIs, all of which can be spread through oral sex. So, doxyPEP is recommended — for gay and bi men after oral. And given how things are going in this country (the CDC’s information page on doxyPEP is “being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders”), gay and bi men might wanna stock up on doxyPEP while we can.
: Q Do you think that medical professionals posting memes/photos of “foreign objects in the rectum” is kink shaming?
A: If losing a lightbulb in your ass and winding up in the ER is your
kink, the medical professionals who have to fish out that light bulb have every right to kink shame your ass.
: Q I’m a semi-hot, well-preserved straight woman aged 70, married, and I went out and found an exquisite lover. I’ve been lonely in my marriage longer than I can remember. My lover is in a similar situation. I feel like I live between two worlds. I’ve always admired and learned from your caring common sense, and I’d like to know if you might recommend therapy to help me figure out how to live from here on.
A: “Like this letter writer, I came alive in the throes of an affair,” said Rebecca Woolf, the author and essayist. “So, while I think therapy might benefit her, it sounds like this affair has been more therapeutic than anything else could possibly be. So, to the letter writer I would say this: your pleasure, your vitality, your life force matters — as does its relationship to your loneliness, so if you choose to work with a therapist to help you navigate this moment, please make sure you find someone who will validate your exploration as well as your departure from the loneliness you have felt in your marriage. Sending you love, validation, and solidarity.”
Follow Rebecca Woolf on Instagram and Threads @RebeccaWooolf and subscribe to The Braid, Woolf’s newsletter, at rebeccawoolf.substack. com.
: Q Vanilla straight 25-year-old cis woman here whose boyfriend of almost six months just confessed that he’s into being peed on. I think that’s disgusting and I’m not doing it for him and I don’t want anyone else peeing on him either. He’s agreed to give this up for me. Will that work?
A: Your boyfriend did not confess — kinks are not sins and consensual kink is not a crime — he disclosed his kinks before things got too serious, which was the right thing to do. If you’re repulsed by his kink and require monogamy, choosing to be with you means your boyfriend won’t get to act on his kink. But if being with you means being made to feel terrible about himself — if you’re going to heap disgust and shame on him — your boyfriend is eventually gonna choose being single (and not being made to feel terrible about himself all the time) over being with you.
P.S. We don’t choose our kinks, our kinks choose us — and after a pitcher of beer, piss is just hot water.
: Q Do cis men — gay or not — ever use a Hitachi-style “wand” vibrator on the prostate or is it too intense?
A: I’ve seen them do it with my very own eyes.
: Q If my boyfriend’s husband isn’t
my type, should I feel OK declining a threesome request?
A: If your boyfriend and his husband were “we only play together” types, you would’ve had a threesome with them already. If fucking boyfriend’s husband wasn’t a requirement at the start, I don’t think you’re obligated to start fucking your boyfriend’s husband now.
: Q What’s the best way to prepare for rimming or being rimmed?
A: Emotionally? Let go of anal hangups. Physically? “Let’s go and take a shower.”
: Q Having two girlfriends really excites me. How do people without this option even cope?
A: Seeing as most people don’t want two girlfriends — some people don’t even want one — the cope comes easy.
: Q You use the expression “rolling around” a lot on your podcast. Could you define it? It seems vague.
A: It’s intentionally vague. Just like “sex” can mean anything from PIV, PIB, PIT to oral, mutual masturbation, and fantasy play, and just like “hooking up” can mean anything from making out on the dance floor to PIV/PIB/PIT with a regular partner, “rolling around” can mean anything from a fully clothed makeout session on a flat surface that’s conducive to rolling around — bed, grass, trampoline (rolling around on a granite counter top could chip a vertebrae) — to the kind of aggressive/playful PIV/PIB/PIT where the person on top keeps changing.
: Q My wife and I are about to have our first threesome. It’s going to be me and her and this guy we found on Feeld who seems perfect. We’re taking all obvious precautions — everyone has tested, we’ve agreed that anyone can call a timeout, and we know per your advice — that threesomes can briefly become twosomes and we’re OK with that. Anything else I should brace myself for? Are we ready?
A: Brace yourself for watching your wife kiss another man the way she kissed you when you first met. If that sounds traumatizing, you might not be ready for a threesome. If that sounds hot — if that sounds like it might inspire you and your wife to kiss each other the way you did when you first met — then you’re not just ready for your first threesome, you’re overdue.
: Q Hoping to fulfill a fantasy here: Do gay male couples ever hookup with MF cis bi couples?
A: Just as we shouldn’t assume all opposite-sex couples are straight — because bisexuals exist and bisexuals are often in opposite-sex relationships — we shouldn’t assume (and
you should be the last to assume!) that all same-sex cis male couples are gay. There are bi guys out there with gay male partners and bi guys out there and couples comprised of two bisexual guys and you’re far likelier to get a “yes” from one of those couples than you are from a gay couple.
: Q Where does a thirtysomething gay guy go to find an available daddy? I go to the Eagle in Fort Lauderdale often but there’s a big difference between dancing with a daddy for a few hours and really getting to know him.
A: If someone you’ve been dancing with for hours is interested and available, you hookup. If you enjoyed the initial hookup and you’re interested in hooking up again, you make yourself available to hook up again. If he enjoyed the initial hookup and is interested in hooking up again, he’ll make himself available to hookup again.
: Q Australian reader here who has always admired your ability to bring new words and phrases into the lexicon. Saw this in social media this week and wanted to share: An anagram of “Donald Trump” is “Lord Dampnut.”
A: It would be easier to enjoy “Lord Dampnut” if Donald Trump wasn’t persecuting trans people, rounding up undocumented immigrants, starting trade wars, and preparing to invade Denmark. (Here’s hoping Lord Dampnut doesn’t see this and slap tariffs on Australia too.)
: Q I was in bed with a woman. She asked me — a straight man — what my kinks were. I answered. I asked her the same question. She said: “I want to watch a guy fuck fruit.”
That’s odd. I posted a note to my guy friends group chat and said, “This woman wants me to fuck a cantaloupe or something. Weird, right?” Instead of support from my guy friends, I got recipes and suggestions. Not one of them said, “We know you wouldn’t do something like that.” Why do my friends think I’d do that?
A: Because your friends — none of whom you’ve fucked — somehow got the impression that you’re a more generous and indulgent fuck than you actually are.
P.S. Are you sure this woman didn’t say she wanted to watch you “fuck a fruit”? Sometimes the singular indefinite article makes a world of difference.
P.P.S. Maybe you could ask John Kilo for some private coaching?
Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns, and more at Savage.Love.
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CULTURE Free Will Astrology
By Rob Brezsny
ARIES: March 21 – April 19
The world’s largest mirror isn’t an actual mirror. It’s Bolivia›s Salar de Uyuni salt flat, a vast area that’s almost perfectly flat. After a rain, a thin layer of calm water transforms the surface into a perfect reflector that can be used to calibrate observation satellites. In these conditions, it may be almost impossible to tell where the earth begins and the sky ends. I foresee metaphorically similar developments for you during the coming weeks. Boundaries between different aspects of your world — professional and personal, spiritual and practical — might blur in interesting ways. A temporary dissolution of the usual limits may offer you surprising insights and unexpected opportunities for realignment. Be alert for helpful clues about how to adjust the way you see things.
TAURUS: April 20 – May 20
From day to day, glaciers appear static. But they are actually slow-moving rivers of ice that have tremendous
creative power. They can make or reshape valleys, moving tons of dirt and rock. They pulverize, grind, and topple trees, hills, and even mountains. New lakes may emerge in the course of their activity. I invite you to imagine yourself as a glacier in the coming months, Taurus. Exult in your steady transformative power. Notice and keep track of your slow but sure progress. Trust that your persistence will ultimately accomplish wonders and marvels.
GEMINI:
May 21 – June 20
information you will need to make a smart gamble or daring change.
VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22
you find. They won’t be as spectacular as the terracotta army, but I bet they will be fun and life changing.
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21
Author Zora Neale Hurston said, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” I will adjust that counsel for your use, Sagittarius. According to my astrological analysis, the first half of 2025 will ask questions, and the second half will answer them. For best results, I invite you to gather and polish your best questions in the next five months, carefully defining and refining them. When July begins, tell life you are ready to receive replies to your carefully wrought inquiries.
CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19
It’s a Super Duper Bowl most of the country doesn’t care about. Yeah we’ll put the game on. We just won’t be very, swift about it. OPEN 3PM TO 2AM EVERYDAY
In recent weeks, have you stirred up any dynamic fantasies about exotic sanctuaries or faraway places or mercurial wild cards? Have you delivered enticing messages to inspiring beauties or brave freedom-fighters or vibrant networkers? Have you been monitoring the activities of longshots or future helpers or unification adepts who might be useful to you sooner than you imagine? Finally, Gemini, have you noticed I’m suggesting that everything important will arise in threes — except when they come in twos, in which case you should hunt for the missing third? P.S.: When the wild things call to you, respond promptly.
CANCER: June 21 – July 22
Archaeologists found two 43,000-year-old flutes in Germany. Constructed of mammoth ivory and bird bone, they still produce clear notes with perfect pitch. They were located in a cave that contains ancient examples of figurative art. Some genius way back then regarded art and music as a pleasurable pairing! I propose we make these instruments your power symbols for the coming weeks, Cancerian. May they inspire you to resuscitate the value of your past accomplishments. May you call on the help of melodies and memories that still resonate — and that can inspire your future adventures! Your words of power are regeneration, revival, and reanimation.
LEO: July 23 – August 22
It›s your unbirthday season, Leo — the holiday that’s halfway between your last birthday and your next. During this interlude, you could benefit from clarifying what you don’t want, don’t believe, and don’t like. You may generate good fortune for yourself by going on a quest to discover rich potentials and stirring possibilities that are as-yet hidden or unexpressed. I hope you will be bold enough to scan the frontiers for sources of beauty and truth that you have been missing. During your unbirthday season, you will be wise to gather the rest of the
Austrian playwright Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004, and Romanian-German author Herta Müller earned it in 2009. But garnering the world’s most prestigious award for writers did not provide a big boost to their book sales. In some markets, their famous works are now out of print. In 2025, I hope you Virgos do in your own spheres what they only half-accomplished in theirs. I would love for you to gather more appreciation and attention while simultaneously raising your income. According to my reading of the astrological omens, this is a reasonable expectation.
LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22
By day, Libra-born Forrest Bess (1911–1977) worked as a commercial fisherman in Texas. By night, he created visionary paintings inspired by symbols that appeared to him in states between sleeping and waking. Other influences in his art came from alchemy, the psychological philosophy of Carl Jung, and Indigenous Australian rituals. His life was living proof that mystical exploration and mundane work could coexist. I’m hoping he might serve you as an inspirational role model. You are in a phase when you have the power to blend and synergize seemingly opposing aspects of your world. You would be wise to meditate on how to find common ground between practical necessity and spiritual aspiration. Are there ways you can unite the desires of your head and heart? Of your need for safety and your longing for adventure? Of your craving for beauty and your fondness for usefulness?
SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21:
The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, arranged for himself to be buried after death with an army of 8,000 soldiers made from terracotta, which is a clay ceramic. Joining the gang below the earth’s surface were 770 horses and 130 chariots. For over 2,000 years, this assemblage was lost and forgotten. But in 1974, farmers digging a new well found it accidentally. In this spirit, I am predicting that sometime in the next five months, you will make interesting discoveries while looking for something other than what
Hemoglobin is an iron-bearing protein that’s crucial to most life. It enables the transportation of oxygen in the blood. But one species, the icefish of the Antarctic seas, lacks hemoglobin. They evolved other ways to obtain and circulate enough oxygen in the frozen depths, including larger hearts and blood vessels. The system they’ve developed works well. So they are examples of how to adjust to an apparent problem in ways that lead to fine evolutionary innovations. I suspect you’re now in the midst of your own personal version of a comparable adaptation. Keep up the good work!
AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18
Born under the sign of Aquarius, Clyde Tombaugh discovered the heavenly body known as Pluto in 1930. This was years before he earned advanced degrees in astronomy. His early education was primarily self-directed. The telescopes he used to learn the sky were built from tractor parts and old car components from his father’s farm. During the coming months, I surmise there will be elements of your life resembling Tombaugh’s story. Your intuition and instincts will bring you insights that may seem unearned or premature. (They’re not!) You will garner breakthroughs that seem to be arriving from the future.
PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20
One of the world’s deepest caves is Veryovkina in the nation of Georgia. At its lowest, it’s 7,257 feet down. There are creatures living there that are found nowhere else on earth. I propose we make it your symbolic power spot for now. In my astrological opinion, you will be wise to dive further into the unknown depths than you have in quite some time. Fascinating mysteries and useful secrets await you. Your motto: “Go deeper and deeper and deeper.”
Homework: Here are all your long-term, big-picture horoscopes for 2025: tinyurl. com/YourDestiny2025
