Metro Times 02/28/2024

NEWS & VIEWS

Nice only an upscale version of fast food chains. Too big of a footprint.

—Rosemary Marolla Sheppard, Facebook

Our Food Issue received a number of responses, including Steve Neavling’s story about how the Cass Corridor is now full of dining options 10 years after Selden Standard opened.

As a part of their Food Issue, the Detroit Metro Times took a look at our neighborhood and the many openings over the last 10 years. Thanks for paying us a visit and for all the kind words!

—Selden Standard, Facebook

This was a success because they never lost touch of the community they were moving into. The owners and the staff fit in with the people as did Rocco’s. Mad

Actually the church in that building that was displaced by Selden Standard, Honest ? John’s, which opened in 2002, numerous apartment buildings, the DPS Fine Arts High School, which relocated in 2005, Jumbo’s, which has been a fixture for decades, numerous buildings owned by the late Joel Landy, including the charter school and the Burton International School building, Canine To Five...all these businesses were doing fine in the “desolate” neighborhood years before. So...yeah.

—@hooverdetroit, Instagram

Sound off: letters@metrotimes.com

NEWS & VIEWS

BMF heads from Detroit to Atlanta for season 3

Note: The following contains spoilers for Starz’s television series BMF

Last time we saw the Black Mafia Family, Meech’s love interest Monique (Kash Doll) was murdered by BMF adversary Lamar (Eric Kofi-Abrefa) and Detective Bryant (another BMF foe portrayed by Steve Harris) was neutralized. Meech heads to the peachtree streets of Atlanta to build a new crew, while his brother Terry (Da’Vinchi) has been charged with maintaining the flow of illegal narcotics throughout the mean streets of Detroit. Season 3 picks the bookmark up right there as Meech pursues expanding BMF’s drug-trafficking empire.

“We see Meech leaving his home -

town going to a whole different environment, a whole different set of people that don’t know him,” says Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr., who stars as the main character Big Meech (his dad in real life) during a recent press junket. “Now we see how fearless and smart Meech really is because he’s doing this all by himself.”

Although the shift in the storyline ends the majority of BMF’s settings taking place in Detroit, it does highlight the early beginnings of the kinship that still exists between Motown and Hotlanta.

“They came down here and held it down,” said rapper 42 Dugg in a January interview of BMF’s Atlanta legacy. “A lot of people from the ‘A’ got love for

Detroit because they saw how Meech was playing it. Meech came down here and they embraced him and they’ve been embracing Detroit ever since. He changed the whole culture down here forever.”

Though no scenes actually were filmed in Detroit this time, the Motor City vibe is maintained as we still see folks in Al Wissam jackets talking about eating calamari from the Roostertail and driving over to Mack and Bewick.

“Randy Huggins is the creator, he was the showrunner the first two seasons, a Detroit native,” says executive producer Heather Zuhlke, adding that the goal was “taking the Detroit swagger and putting it in Atlanta, of course.”

Like previous seasons, BMF is full of high-octane gangsta shoutouts, criminal-minded strategizing, and the on-screen bouts of cops and robbers you get with many crime dramas. In between there’s still plenty of tension from Charles Flenory’s (Russell Hornsby) infidelity and we also see more growth between Lucillle (Michole White) and Nicole Flenory’s (Laila Pruitt) mother-daughter relationship.

“Even though our stories parallel a little bit, it’s still hard for Lucille as a mom to appreciate some of the growth and changes that Nicole is going through because I want her to stay young and stay in her place a little bit,” says White.

Season 3 introduces several new

Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr. returns in his starring role playing his father “Big Meech” Flenory in BMF

STARZ

characters played by Real Housewives of Atlanta star Cynthia Bailey and rappers Dominique “Lil Baby” Jones and Saweetie, and former showrunner Huggins’ toddler daughter even makes her acting debut.

But the most familiar face Detroiters will recognize is Darnell Lindsay Jr., son of legendary rapper Darnell Lindsay Sr., aka Blade Icewood.

“I got a text message with a flier on it that BMF was doing casting for extras down there in Atlanta,” Lindsay says.

Lindsay wasn’t totally new to acting. He had a strong following on Vine in his teens and has appeared in films Chedda Boys(2022) and Off the Porch (2023). Though the opportunity wasn’t initially for a speaking role, Lindsay put himself in a better position by taking acting classes for seven months prior to heading to Atlanta.

“At first I was like, ‘I don’t wanna be no extra,’ but then I thought, ‘you never know,’” Lindsay says. “Two or three weeks later I ended up getting an audition for a character named C-Note.”

Blade nailed the audition and will make his appearance later on in season 3. He was also reconnected with Lil Meech, who he’s known since he was a kid.

“Me and him know each other from being teenagers,” says Lindsay. “We did a party together when we were like 17 and we’ve kept in contact on the ’gram and stuff.”

“We have a lot of folks still connected to Detroit,” adds Zuhlke. “I knew who he was. Without giving spoilers he’ll be interacting with Meech on the Atlanta side.”

Lindsay has embraced the fun and challenges that come with being on a show about subject matter that he’s familiar with. He says he’s received encouragement from the cast and sees a bright future for himself in acting.

“It was different for me because I’m like the only person on the show that’s really from Detroit and I’ve been around everything,” says Lindsay. “It actually opened up my eyes to be around people who don’t know me personally or don’t know about Lil Blade, they just liked me as a person.”

Zuhlke promises viewers will see more overall growth and reinvention from the entire cast throughout season 3. She’s also making sure the Detroit energy that the storyline and characters are based on stays present and recognizable.

“We’re carrying Randy’s legacy on,” says Zuhlke. “Episode 301 is named ‘Detroit vs Everybody.’ I know it is a state of mind you carry with you.”

BMF season 3 premieres on Starz at 8 p.m. on Friday.

—Kahn Santori Davison

Tlaib proposes bill to combat youth homelessness with direct cash payments

Each year, more than 3.5 million young adults and approximately 700,000 youth experience various forms of homelessness, with Black and LGBTQ+ individuals facing an even higher risk than others. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of unhoused young adults aged 18 to 24 increased by 17%.

In an effort to establish a new way of addressing the national issue of youth homelessness, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib introduced the Youth Homelessness Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act on Friday.

The legislation proposes a pilot initiative offering $1,400 in direct cash aid for 36 months to emancipated minors and individuals under 30 experiencing homelessness. Housing, health, and other facets of the program will be studied.

“We can’t keep repeating the same policy approaches that haven’t ended the youth homelessness crisis. By providing direct cash assistance, we can address our housing crisis while respecting the autonomy and dignity of the folks receiving assistance,” Tlaib said in a press release. “This bill came directly from young people with lived experience. They helped craft the bill to ensure that it meets the real needs of our unhoused neighbors. In the richest country in the history of the world, it’s time to eradicate homelessness. The Youth Homelessness Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act brings us closer to that goal.”

Recent research indicates that cash assistance for unhoused populations can enhance housing and employment outcomes without leading to increased substance abuse issues. It also reduces reliance on shelters and grants individuals the autonomy to address their own unique challenges. Plus, participants in past cash assistance programs have described the impact as life-changing.

Ann Arbor kicked off its own guaranteed income program about a month ago, but the study of cash assistance has been relatively uncommon in the U.S. thus far. Tlaib hopes to change that and use the proposed program to help demonstrate the benefits of direct cash assistance for young people.

The proposed bill is endorsed by national and local organizations including Detroit Justice Center, Homeless Action Network of Detroit, Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, MiSide Community Impact Network, and the Ruth Ellis Center, among many others. The legislation is also cosponsored by representatives Cori Bush, Sylvia Garcia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Barbara Lee, and Jan Schakowsky.

—Layla McMurtrie

Contamination forces closure of Detroit waterfront park

The city of Detroit closed a waterfront park on the east side that was undergoing renovations after finding contamination in the soil.

Beginning in March, the city will remove more than 250 trees, some of which are more than a 100 years old and are used by bald eagles, from A.B. Ford Park in the Jefferson Chalmers.

The park, which was closed and blocked off last Wednesday, is undergoing $9 million in renovations that will feature walkways, a playground, basketball court, fitness and picnic areas, tennis and pickleball courts, a fishing node, beach, and waterfront plaza.

Even without the contamination, the park was scheduled to close for renovations in late February.

The trees are being removed because officials have to add two feet of fresh soil to the 32-acre park to protect residents from the contamination. The trees, most of which city officials said are in poor condition, won’t survive the extra soil.

The city plans to plant hundreds of new native and flowering trees in their place, according to a city document. The new trees include quaking Aspens, river birch, Princeton elm, Shumard oak, purple beech, sugar maple, bur oak, black gum, eastern redbud, and dogwood.

The plastic and metal contamination was found while officials were conducting environmental testing that was required to demolish the old and abandoned Lenox Center on the site. Metro Times is awaiting more details about the types and levels of plastic and metal found at the site.

To cover the park with two feet of new soil, an average of 20 to 30 heavy trucks will dump the material at the site every weekday from March to September, according to the city’s plans.

As part of the renovations, the city recently built the $7.2 million A.B. Ford Park Community Center, which was funded by Detroit and a donation from the Penske Corp. to the city’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund. The solar-powered building features classrooms, a library area, a community gathering room, and space for indoor sports and parties.

City officials hope to reopen the park in the fall.

City spokesman John Roach tells Metro Times there’s no truth to rumors that an Environmental Protection Agency restoration project will be canceled.

The source of the contamination wasn’t immediately clear. Roach says the soil is non-native and about a century old.

The city plans to soon hold meetings to update residents on the contamination and plans to remediate it.

—Steve Neavling

Chick-fil-A is coming to downtown Detroit

Southern fried chicken chain Chick-fil-A continues its expansion into Michigan with the announcement of a downtown Detroit location.

According to Crain’s Detroit Business, the company plans to open the store in Dan Gilbert’s First National Building, which also houses Shake Shack and Central Kitchen + Bar.

Gilbert’s Bedrock real estate company is aiming for a May or June opening date.

There is one other Chick-fil-A store in the city, located at the Detroit Medical Center, in addition to about 10 other stores that have opened in the greater Detroit area in recent years.

Aside from its sandwiches, the Georgia-based chain is known for its Christian values, which includes closing for business on Sundays and holidays as well as donating money to anti-LGBTQ+ causes in the past, though in recent years the ownership said the company will now work exclusively with organizations that focus on education, homelessness, and hunger.

—Lee DeVito

Flint mayor Neeley warns Democrats of Black voter exodus

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley is sounding the alarm on the Michigan Democratic Party, saying it’s alienating Black Democrats and taking African American voters for granted.

The longtime Democrat, who previously served as chair of Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and is the current chair of Black Mayors of Michigan, says the party “needs to have a courageous conversation” about disenfranchisement.

“It’s really leading into the original sins of this country of exclusion and oppression,” Neeley tells Metro Times “It looks different but it feels the same. This is the sentiment that I know is being spoken about in Michigan.”

Polls show an increasing number of Black voters are pulling away from the Democratic Party. Among Black voters nationwide, the Democratic Party’s advantage over Republicans in party preference has dropped by nearly 20 percentage points over the past three years, a recent Gallup poll found.

In Michigan, 92% of Black Michigan voters cast a ballot for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, according to exit polls. But Biden’s support among Black voters has fallen to just 62% in a January EPIC-MRA poll.

That could spell serious trouble for Biden as it becomes increasingly likely that he will face Donald Trump in the November general election.

Biden is also hemorrhaging support from Michigan Muslims and Arab Americansbecause of his refusal to call for a ceasefire as Israel continues to massacre Palestinians. A campaign called “Listen to Michigan” is urging voters who disapprove of the Biden administration’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza to select “uncommitted” on the ballot to pressure Biden to push for a ceasefire.

It’s no wonder that a recent poll showed Biden trailing Trump in Michigan by four percentage points.

In an op-ed in the Michigan Chronicle on Wednesday, Neeley laid out his concerns that the Michigan Democratic Party was taking Black voters and leaders for granted.

“It seems a glass ceiling has resurfaced to block expe-

rienced and well-qualified Black Democratic candidates from reaching elected office at the federal level,” Neeley wrote. “This translates to Black voters feeling taken for granted and ignored by the Democratic party. At this critical juncture in our country’s political trajectory, far too many qualified Black elected officials are being boxed out of elections for higher office and left wondering whether they still have a place in this ‘big tent party.’”

Neeley pointed to wide support among Democrats for newly drawn state legislative districts that diminished the influence of Black voters. A panel of federal judges recently ordered Michigan’s redistricting commission to redraw more than a dozen Detroit district lines because they weakened the political empowerment of Black voters.

Neeley also said the Michigan Democratic Party failed to engage Black elected leaders when U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee announced he won’t seek reelection in 2024 for a seat that covers Flint and Saginaw, two cities with a large African American population. While the open seat is a good opportunity for a Black leader, the party isn’t showing a desire to elect an African American, Neeley said.

The only Black member of Congress from Michigan is a Republican.

“These developments should serve as a wakeup call to all Democrats,” Neeley wrote. “Instead, it increasingly appears as though some in the party are choosing to ignore these glaring warning signs that the Black electorate is being ignored and disrespected.”

Sam Riddle, political director of the Michigan National Action Network, a civil rights organization led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, says Black Democrats are becoming more dissatisfied with the party.

“I have spoken with Mayor Neeley and share the mayor’s concerns,” Riddle said in a statement. “I have been involved in Michigan and national campaigns for more than fifty years. I have never seen more dissatisfaction with Dems other than the Vietnam War Era.”

Riddle added, “President Biden’s unwillingness to force a ceasefire in Gaza and the racist arrogance of

Michigan Democrats is a perfect storm for Dems losing Michigan in November.”

Neeley said the party has to begin addressing concerns among Black voters.

“If we keep doing what we are doing, we risk losing the support of talented elected leaders of color, and soon, the voters who supported them,” Neeley wrote. “The Democratic Party must not squander the trust of loyal Black voters and the candidates they trust to represent them.”

—Steve Neavling

Nessel moves to toss lawsuit by hair salon that said trans people should go to ‘pet groomer’

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is urging a court to toss out a lawsuit filed by a transphobic hair salon that claims it has the right to discriminate against people based on their gender identity.

Nessel, on behalf of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR), filed a motion last week to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Studio 8 Hair Lab after it said that transgender people are not welcome and should get their haircut at “a pet groomer.”

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission, which is operated by MDCR, charged the salon with discrimination in November for advertising that it refused to serve transgender people.

A month later, Studio 8 responded

by filing a First Amendment complaint in Grand Traverse Circuit Court, alleging the MDCR infringed on its religious beliefs and right to free speech.

In her motion, Nessel argues that the circuit court has no jurisdiction over the case, and only the Michigan Court of Claims can hear cases against the state and its departments.

“Under Michigan law, religious freedoms are taken into consideration under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act when assessing discrimination claims,” Nessel said in a statement last week. “Our state’s residents can rest assured that Michigan’s recently enacted protections for the LGBTQ+ community will be enforced to the fullest extent as the constitution permits. The Circuit

Court has no discretion but to dismiss Studio 8’s claims against the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.”

Salon owner Christine Geiger tells Metro Times that she disagrees with Nessel’s interpretation of the law.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has said that courts decide first before agencies,” Geiger says.

Asked by Metro Times how the salon was doing after being thrust into the media spotlight, Geiger responded, “Fine.” Geiger declined further comment.

In October, Geiger filed a lawsuit in Traverse City Circuit Court against Traverse City and three residents who filed a complaint against her salon, alleging they violated her “sincerely

held religious understanding that God created a man and a woman and that any other conception of a man and a woman violates God’s plan.”

In December, Geiger added MDCR to the lawsuit in an attempt to challenge a part of the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act that bars discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

In her motion to dismiss, Nessel said the salon was attempting “to derail administrative proceedings initiated against Studio 8 by MDCR and to retaliate against the individuals who exercised their right to file complaints against the studio under the ElliottLarsen Civil Rights Act.”

—Steve Neavling

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley. COURTESY PHOTO

NEWS & VIEWS

Lapointe

WJR host calls Rashida Tlaib ‘a pig;’ her supporters ‘sick’ and ‘nuts’

By Joe Lapointe

When does free speech become hate speech?

Can someone’s words be both things at the same time?

Consider the air pollution belched forth recently from syndicated broadcaster Mark Levin — a right-wing crank — over the powerful radio station WJR (760-AM) in Detroit.

Levin dislikes Rashida Tlaib, the third-term Democrat in the United States House of Representatives whose 12th Michigan district includes parts of Detroit’s west side and several suburbs.

“You are such a pig … You are a pig, Rashida Tlaib,” Levin said last Friday night over WJR and other outlets. “Absolutely unbelievable.”

Tlaib is the only Palestinian-American in Congress. Many Muslims and Arabs live in her district, although it is multi-racial, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic. Levin presented his contempt for Tlaib’s people as a plea to change immigration rules.

“This is what happens when you don’t vet people coming into the country, like her parents, I guess, or her grandparents,” Levin said, adding, “Rashida Tlaib is an example of a completely broken immigration system. She’s an Islamist. She’s an Islamist who believes in ‘river to the sea.’”

Some consider this phrase a code for the elimination of Israel, Levin said, adding that Tlaib once kept a map on her wall showing the Middle East without Israel. Tlaib vociferously opposes U.S. support for Israel in a war against Hamas in Gaza that began on Oct. 7 with an attack against the Israelis by Hamas from Gaza.

Levin also accused Tlaib of representing and speaking to “Hamas front groups” protesting the war.

“And there she is in the House of Representatives!” Levin screeched. “Embraced by the Democrat party! Embraced by [President Joe] Biden! Embraced by the Jews of the Democrat Party! … Sick! Nuts!”

Levin said he was angered when Tlaib voted “present” on a resolution to condemn Hamas. He said her fellow Democrats refuse to criticize her

because they need her vote on other issues.

“‘It’s expected, it’s Tlaib!’” Levin shouted, mocking Democrats by pretending to speak for them. “‘It’s Rashida. We know Rashida. She’s a good gal.’”

Levin then changed his tone to a snarl of bitter spite.

“She is a mouthpiece for terrorism,” Levin said. “And I’m sick and tired of it.”

As a gesture of protest to Biden for supporting Israel, Tlaib has called for her constituents to vote “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary, which ends on Feb. 27.

But Levin charged Biden with betraying “Israel and the Jewish people” to please Tlaib’s voters in the general election in autumn.

“He needs the votes of her constituents,” Levin said. “He needs the votes from Dearborn-istan.” (That’s one of Levin’s favorite new words: “Dearbornistan.” Get it?)

“He [Biden] needs the Jew-hating, neo-Nazi vote,” Levin said. A few days before, Levin widened the scope of his aim to Dearborn’s Muslim religious leaders who, Levin said, also want a “river-to-the-sea” solution.

“And they say as much in Dearborn,” Levin said, “like in Dearborn, Michigan — which you’re not allowed to mention — and yet the imams there are clear antisemites. Not all of them. Most of them.”

A message to Tlaib’s office for comment was not returned. She is not expected to face serious challenges for re-election either in the primary from Democrats or in the general election from Republicans on Nov. 5.

But Biden’s presidential race against the demagogue Donald Trump could hinge on turnouts and margins in Michigan and, particularly, in places like Dearborn, which are politically engaged more than some communities.

Although WJR now holds a dwindling share of a dwindling media platform, its 50,000 AM watts carry to many states as well as into Canada. No doubt its signal passes through Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, South-

field, Livonia, Westland, Inkster, and the west side of Detroit, where Tlaib’s voters live.

WJR’s “news-talk” format appears to be in flux and can be divided roughly into Right Wing Lite — with local hosts in the daytime — and Right Wing Spite at night, with Levin and other syndicated voices attacking liberals and progressives more viciously after dark.

In the early afternoon, they recently dumped the syndicated Dan Bongino, who had replaced the late Rush Limbaugh. They’ve shuffled their (mostly white male) daytime voices.

And Levin’s attitude gets echoed by day by local hosts like Tom Jordan, who said Tuesday on “All Talk” that “I absolutely believe that Joe Biden is listening to the likes of Rashida Tlaib.” (On “All Talk,” he is rarely “President Biden.”)

“She is denouncing what she calls these war crimes by Israel against Hamas,” Jordan said, “but ignoring the countless war crimes by Hamas.”

This is a cute verbal trick. Tlaib decries aggression against innocent civilians, not against terrorists. The radio man simply merges them. Later, Jordan blended Tlaib supporters with people who deny the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.

“It’s absolutely crazy,” Jordan said, “but there’s people in our — the likes of people who support Rashida Tlaib — they’re denying Oct. 7 actually occurred.”

Last October, Jordan said of Tlaib: “She supports, it seems, Hamas, a terrorist regime … She is denouncing Israel. That is absolutely un-American … She is a terrorist sympathizer.” He then listed other terrorist groups that “she probably sympathizes with.”

Day or night, in the undertone of some WJR commercials, you can hear the fear and paranoia that WJR programming, local and national, tends to stoke.

Like that gritty-voiced feller for “My Patriot” emergency food supply urging you to spend your money to prepare “fer whut’s comin’.” Oh, they also sell “survival gear.” Need some, buddy? ‘Cuz ya know whut’s comin’.

Of course, WJR has no obligation to balance its political tone or racist biases because, since 1987, radio and television stations are no longer subject to what was once called “the Fairness Doctrine.” President Ronald Reagan took care of that. Hey, didn’t he start his career in AM radio?

Perhaps the quaint concept of “the public airwaves” has been demolished by technology that transmits media from satellites that orbit in outer space, above the public air. The abandonment of Fairness triggered the Limbaugh era for AM radio which continues to this day, three years after his death.

It also enabled right-wing television networks like Fox News Channel and its various imitators that have popped up like weeds in a garden.

But AM terrestrial radio stations like WJR are still land-based, just as WJR was in the 1920s, when it launched the career of Father Charles Coughlin, the antisemitic “radio priest” of Royal Oak whose nationally broadcast sermons were interrupted by World War II and the Holocaust.

Come to think of it, Mark Levin and Charles Coughlin share the same air, a century apart, emitting similar odors from different directions. Strange bedfellows.

By day, 760-AM is only “Right Wing Lite.” At night, it becomes “Right Wing Spite.” attacking liberals more viciously after dark. MEDIAPUNCH INC / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

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Music ISSUE THE

Blowout’s back

150 local bands take over Hamtramck in a reboot of an old festival

BY JEFF MILO

It’s been a decade since we’ve had a proper Blowout in Hamtramck. But that drought ends this weekend.

“We all missed it,” says John Szymanski, one of several organizers who helped pull together a formidable festival in a hurry: The 2024 Hamtramck Blowout kicks off Thursday night, bringing together 150 bands that will pack into 17 unique venues across the city over the charmingly chaotic course of three late, loud nights. “The bands missed it, the bars missed it,” says Szymanski, who owns the Outer Limits Lounge and will also perform on Saturday night with SSM, adding that when the idea of resurrecting the Blowout recently sprang up, “everyone was eager to get involved!” The festival was formally announced last month.

Getting involved, so to speak, also means a little bit more this year, as this iteration of the Blowout will serve as a fundraiser for the forthcoming 44th annual Hamtramck Labor Day Festival.

The history of the Hamtramck Blowout is a long and twisty one, starting in 1998 as a fundraiser for the Detroit Music Awards organized by Metro Times Though MT eventually split from the Detroit Music Awards, the “Metro Times Blowout” expanded in size and duration over the years, eventually ballooning beyond the borders of Hamtramck into Midtown and even up to Ferndale before it reached an ostensible denouement in 2015. (Metro Times is not involved in this version of the festival.)

Szymanski says he worked closely with Konrad Maziarz, the organizer of the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival, along with other enthusiastic volunteers, local sponsors, and music scene movers and shakers to help put this weekend’s lineup together, promising that it’s intended as a full-on reboot, rather than just a one-off experiment.

“We definitely hope that this is the first of what will now be an annual thing, for sure,” Szymanski says. “We’ve been getting a lot of good feedback so far.

THURSDAY

Phased Out

Fowling Warehouse (9:30 p.m.)

This quartet conjures taut, hooky, and dazzling post-punk with glorious guitars, frenetic rhythms, invigorating crescendos, and some downright show-stopping lead vocals. Comprised of four experienced punk rock players from previous

But, ya know, it’s been ten years, so… Is the new generation up for it? I definitely think it is!”

There will be live music at six Hamtramck venues Thursday night, including the Fо̄wling Warehouse, where you can grab a wristband in person and find a printed schedule and map. The festival expands on Friday and Saturday, with 10 more venues, each with unique lineups of local bands performing at staggered set times throughout the night. Attendees could choose to hunker down at one spot for an entire night or ping-pong all across the city and see upwards of 10 bands or more in a single evening.

All-access wristbands are $20, allowing you to walk in and out of every venue for the entire weekend, with proceeds, as mentioned, supporting the 2024 Hamtramck Labor Day Festival. While the lineup could always be subject to a couple of last-minute changes, you can find the full (printable) schedule as well as a list and map of participating venues online at hamtramckblowout.com.

Meanwhile, here’s just a handful of can’t-miss bands performing this weekend, many of which are part of that aforementioned “new generation.”

projects that were equally sleek, sharp, and scintillating, led by the powerful voice (and guitar) of Dina Bankole.

Checker

Polish Sea League (11:30 p.m.)

Encounter the dynamic and daring future of Detroit garage rock when Checker takes the stage to close out the night at Polish Sea League. The magnetic duo of Cinquex (on guitar and

vocals) and McKenna Fain (on drums and vocals) have been on a meteoric rise over the last two years, with their kinetic sets of bristling riffs, propulsive rhythms, and a stage presence that throws it back to the swagger and bombast of classic rock ’n’ roll.

FRIDAY

Idiot Kids

Port Bar (9 p.m.)

Take equal parts pop-punk, emo, goth, and traditional rock ’n’ roll, mix with propulsive tempos and invigorating guitars, splash in high-energy performances and ballad-ready vocal capabilities that feel like they could easily fit inside of an echoey arena. Add all of that up, and you’ve got something close to the invigorations of Idiot Kids.

Cult of Spaceskull

Small’s (12:15 a.m.)

Early voting has this band being “Most Likely To Appear on All of Your Friends’ Instagram Feeds” due to their outrageous and outlandish energy and sword-wielding aesthetic. Imagine a punk-metal time-traveling witch who’s obsessed with blood and noise fronting a group of feral, skull-faced, crimsonrobe-clad acolytes who will stop at nothing to honor her chaotic bidding.

Prude Boys

Bumbo’s (12:15 a.m.)

A power trio of Hamtramck favorites, led by the enthralling vibrato-curled lead vocals of Caroline Thornbury, blending riffy indie-rock and melodic punk with indelibly groovy rhythms that you could either dance to or swoon to — your choice!

SATURDAY

Emily Rose

Cafe 1923 (4:50 p.m.)

Emily Rose is an eloquent singer-songwriter with a dulcet-toned voice and a way with words that can be simultaneously heavy-hearted and heartwarming. Come for the tear-jerking indie-folk ballads sung from the POV of various noble animals and other varyingly weary

narrators, but stay for the charming between-song banter with a solid potential of intentionally bad puns.

Mango Star

Outer Limits Lounge (10 p.m.)

Distortion-splashed guitars and spaceyfuturistic keyboards never sounded so good together — particularly when you thread in some sweetly sung earworm melodies. This Detroit-based indie shoegaze band started out as a trio to record their debut album (Wasted Daydream) but then expanded to a quintet, with a mix of rock and electro instrumentation and harmonies, featuring Lauren Diem, Rachel Kayuk, Deleano Acevedo, Don Blum, and Alathea Reese.

Deadbeat Beat

Ghost Light (11:45 p.m.)

These millennials might be nearing the status of “scene vets” by now, but that’s because most of them started playing shows around here when they were fresh out of high school. Roll up for an utterly charming composite of surf rock and psych-pop, with sweet harmonies soaring atop some seriously cathartic distortion and reverb while always leaving some space for an extended gnarly solo or two.

Detroit Party Marching Band

Baker Streetcar Bar (12:45 a.m.)

It’s joyous, it’s raucous, it’s celebratory, it’s chaotic: Anything can and will happen during an eruptive performance by the Detroit Party Marching Band, as they revel in the element of surprise as they smash together a lil’ bit of Sousa with a lotta street band punk energy.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Middle Out (punk) on Thursday at Fо̄wling Warehouse, The Brown Thrasher (Blues) on Friday at Cafe 1923, Quality Cinema Band (indie-rock) on Friday at Outer Limits Lounge, Macho (punk) on Friday at the Polish Sea League, Jackamo (folk) on Saturday at Polka Dot.

See hamtramckblowout.com for more information, including a map of the venues and where to purchase all-access wristbands.

Prude Boys, opposite page, are one of the 150 bands playing Hamtramck Blowout.

DOUG COOMBE

The Music Issue From the desk of The Notorious Ph.D

Dr. Todd Boyd pens book honoring the enduring legacy of hip-hop culture

BY BIBA ADAMS

Last year, the world paused to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop music and culture. From its humble beginnings, the genre has evolved from a rose that grew from concrete to a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to expand in its impact and influence.

Few understand the scope of hiphop’s reach like Dr. Todd Boyd.

Known as The Notorious Ph.D, Dr. Boyd is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

He is also a Detroit native and one of the most recognizable faces in any documentary about hip-hop music and culture — aided in part by his affinity for unique eyewear. “Hey, I’m from Detroit where people rock Buffs — so I have to keep it fresh,” he says.

With his new coffee table book, Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip-Hop Made the World, Dr. Boyd celebrates the evolution of the culture with a book made especially for grown and sexy hip-hop heads. With a price point of about $60, Rapper’s Deluxe is as much a status symbol as it is a stroll down memory lane. It is also a book of short interviews and rare photographs that capture the culture.

“You know, in one sense, I feel like I’ve been writing this book since I was nine years old,” Boyd explains. That would have been the year 1973 — the year attributed to the founding of hiphop. As a youngster in Detroit, Boyd was influenced and inspired by the music that surrounded him. “Being a kid in Detroit in the early ’70s — a lot of what I wrote in the first chapter and, honestly, throughout the book, everything I write about, are things I lived, as well as observed,” he says.

The book is presented in a chronological format with a lengthy essay by Boyd to start it off. Rapper’s Deluxe also explores how other forms of Black culture like film and sports had and still have a significant impact on hip-hop culture — even 50 years later.

“I feel like this book has never been done before. You couldn’t have written this book, 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, you needed all that time to bring all these things together. And it’s not

just music — it’s film, it’s sports, it’s fashion, it’s art, it’s politics, it’s comprehensive. And it’s all the culture.”

In the chapter “First Day of School,” Boyd compares growing up in the ’70s and the feeling of the first day of school to a “holiday,” where one had to be fresh dressed in a style that was true to the aspirational nature of Black Americans at the time. He notes how his experience mirrored that of Cindy Campbell who had the brilliant idea to throw a

Back to School party on August 11, 1973 where her brother, Clive Campbell, also known as Kool Herc, would be the DJ. It is this party that is attributed to the start of hip-hop culture.

Boyd also notes that just days after the party, the Pam Grier-led film Coffy took the No. 1 spot at the box office. “The symmetry of the Back to School Jam, the birth of hip-hop, and Grier winning the domestic box office during this moment in August 1973 would, in hindsight, prove to be more than a coincidence,” he says, adding, “The cosmic connections forged by simultaneous, although uneven, cultural development would become abundantly clear in the years and decades to come.”

The book leads the reader by a golden thread to many political, social, and cultural happenings that led to or were influenced by hip-hop music and culture. The tone is one of a man in his 60s who gives more than a fan accounting, but a first-hand witness testimony.

“The process,” Boyd tells me, “was trying to bring all that out in such a way so that I could tell the story and other people would be able to appreciate it the same way that I experienced it.”

He adds, “A lot of the things that inspired me growing up or influenced me, I managed to turn into a way to make a living.”

A quick glance at Boyd’s biography or film credits prove that fact. He has appeared in nearly a dozen documentary films that speak to culture and is the author or co-author of a half-dozen books on African American culture. As for Rapper’s Deluxe, Boyd says, “It took me probably two years to work on the project from start to finish. From the writing part of it, to the curation of the photographs as well. I want people to experience it — both in terms of what’s written, and its visual nature.”

Few understand the scope of hip-hop’s reach like Dr. Todd Boyd. COURTESY PHOTO

The Music Issue

The fall of Mac Saturn

The Detroit rock band seemed destined for stardom — then the FBI arrested its keyboard player for child sexual abuse. Can it make a comeback?

BY LEE DEVITO

It was supposed to be a moment that many local acts can only dream of. On the last Friday of January, Mac Saturn, a stylish, ’70s-inspired fast-rising rock ’n’ roll band, was set to play a triumphant hometown show at the historic Fillmore theater before heading out on a 35-date tour in support of its latest record, Hard to Sell.

But around 2:30 p.m. the day of the gig, The Detroit News published a jaw-dropping scoop: the band’s keyboard player, Evan Mercer, 30, was arrested by FBI agents on charges related to child sexual abuse images.

What followed was, according to many fans, a complete clusterfuck.

At 6:23 p.m., seven minutes before doors, the band posted a terse statement on social media distancing itself from the incident. “We are shocked to learn about the horrifying allegations involving Evan Mercer, a recent addi-

tion to the band,” Mac Saturn said. “We learned about these troubling accusations earlier today and he is no longer a member of the band. Our focus continues to be on our new record, the current tour, and our amazing fans.”

In response to the news, Nashvillebased opener The Thing With Feathers

dropped out of the show. At the last minute, Mac Saturn phoned up local act Christian Ohly as a replacement, without telling him the whole story. (“Had I known the situation beforehand, I would not have accepted the gig,” Ohly said in a statement after the show.)

Before Mac Saturn took to the stage, the band’s frontman Carson Macc made a brief statement.

“We want to thank you for coming here tonight,” Macc said to applause. “The news of today has been shocking and absolutely horrifying to all of us. We came here tonight to see you guys face to face and play this music that we have worked so hard on for you. Let’s try and have a good time tonight. Can we have a good time tonight?”

But after playing a couple more gigs in Cleveland and Toronto, the band scrapped the rest of the tour. “In our darkest hour, we remain dedicated to creating music and spaces for people to celebrate life as safely and respectfully as possible,” the band said in a statement. “In light of this, we have made the difficult decision to end our tour effective immediately.”

On its website, the band posted a link to the Joyful Heart Foundation, a charity for survivors of sexual assault.

All tour dates were removed from the band’s website, with the exception of a lone appearance at Louisville’s Bourbon & Beyond Festival scheduled for September.

The band’s page also appears to have been removed from the website of Red

Mac Saturn at a meet and greet event days before the arrest of ex-member Evan Mercer, right.

DOUG COOMBE

Light Management, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Mac Saturn even had Mercer photoshopped off of the cover of Hard to Sell (along with another former band member, ex-bassist Jive Moses).

The news, and Mac Saturn’s response to it, also set off a flurry of anonymous social media posts accusing members of the band of other bad behavior, upsetting many fans and raising the questions:

What did Mac Saturn know, and when did they know it? And can the band ever recover?

In late September, Mercer’s ex-girlfriend logged onto her laptop and made a disturbing discovery. According to the charging documents, she found images that appeared to show Mercer masturbating with children on the video chat platform Omegle; apparently, Mercer’s phone was synced to her laptop via iCloud. The woman, referred to Witness 1 in the documents, saved the files on a USB drive and took them to the Ferndale Police Department.

The files included a 29-second video showing what appeared to be Mercer masturbating with a girl estimated to be between the ages of 7 and 9. Another image showed a man masturbating in a room that the ex identified as part of a Dexter cottage that Mercer’s family uses. According to the charging document, the man, believed to be Mercer, appears to be chatting with a boy, who Omegle’s chat log suggests to be 15, and encourages him to sodomize himself with a marker.

The next day, Mercer was interviewed by FPD detectives, who confessed that his ex sent him the screenshots and said he began to use Omegle because he was depressed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A search warrant was obtained for his iPhone, which revealed around 15 images of child sexual abuse material, including “prepubescent minors and minors engaged in sexual activity.” Mercer was charged with enticement of a minor, producing/ attempting to produce child pornography, and possession of and/or access with intent to view child pornography, or attempt to possess or access with intent to view child pornography.

While the federal statutes refer to “child pornography,” sexual assault advocates say the phrase trivializes nonconsensual abuse and prefer the term “child sexual abuse material,” which Metro Times will use going forward.

A federal magistrate judge refused to release Mercer on bond, citing the “extreme danger” he poses to the community. He is held in Sanilac County

The Music Issue

jail as he awaits his trial and faces 30 years in prison.

Formed in 2014, Mac Saturn exploded in popularity in recent years, its good fortune perhaps precipitated by moving the charismatic Macc from drums to frontman, as well as a shift toward a more funky, retro sound. The band got a boost from fellow Michigan retro rockers Greta Van Fleet, whose drummer Daniel Wagner shared its single 2022 “Diamonds” on his Instagram and was also photographed wearing a Mac Saturn shirt. The band also found success on TikTok, as well as on the jam band festival circuit.

Its fans tend to skew young and female.

“There’s a lot of crossover with Harry Styles’s fan base — they have that certain kind of glam rock-y style,” says one former fan who requested anonymity. (Just about everyone Metro Times spoke with for this article requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the band and its fans.)

Another part of Mac Saturn’s appeal was how accessible the band made itself. “They always put on a good show no matter how many people are standing in front of them,” the former fan says. “And pretty much after every single show, they would go put in time standing at their merch booth, doing a quick meet and greet with fans.”

Fans say that Macc can be particularly enchanting.

“He is the type to like women of all ages,” one fan says. “He was very touchy-feely. When he would talk to you would be very huggy and close while he’s talking — very conspiratorial, very charming, all that kind of stuff.”

The fan adds, “I would say it’s down to how he dresses, how he acts, he’s very into vintage clothing and all that stuff. It’s like he appeals to you know, other people, especially young women, who are very into that look.”

According to social media allegations compiled by an anonymous Instagram page called We Keep Us Safe Detroit, Macc’s pursuit of women extended beyond his band’s fanbase. A number of women with no prior connection or even awareness of the band claimed that Macc approached them via Instagram direct messages, some when they were 18 and he was in his 20s.

“also was targeted by Carson when I was freshly 18 years old,” one message posted to We Keep Us Safe Detroit reads, adding, “It was one of the most traumatizing relationships I’d ever been [a part] of and it pains me to hear that so many young women experienced the same thing.”

A number of sources close to the band also accuse Carson of lying about his age. A 2022 Oakland Press article reported his age as 24, but sources say he was closer to 28 at the time.

“I don’t understand how Carson has been 24 all these years,” one message on We Keep Us Safe Detroit reads.

Metro Times was able to reach a number of women behind the posts, but they declined to speak on the record, even anonymously.

In recent years, members of the band all lived together in a house in Detroit’s Boston-Edison neighborhood, where sources say parties were filled with young women from Instagram. (One source says ex-bassist Jive Moses left the band because he did not agree with its “culture.” Moses did not respond to a request for comment.)

One source close to the band says Macc would also meet up with fans while on tour. “I know that there were young women that he would talk to on Instagram and they would come to a show to meet him when he was in their city,” the source says. “And I will say that being around after shows, either he had disappeared with the women, or you would see him sitting there with, like, a very young, very thin young woman decked out in vintage clothes sitting there on his lap or something.”

The source adds, “It’s my opinion that the band perhaps did not take those rumors [about Evan] seriously, because there was already talk about Carson like that out there.”

Mac Saturn got another big boost when it was tapped to join British rock band the Struts on its 2023 U.S. tour. But according to a source close to the band, during the tour the band allegedly had its escort privileges revoked, meaning they were barred from bringing anyone backstage.

During the fall leg of the tour, friends of Mercer contacted the band’s tour manager Austin Hurrell as well as guitarist Mike Moody to tell them that they learned of the investigation into the child sex abuse images, according to messages posted by We Keep Us Safe Detroit and corroborated by several people with knowledge of the situation.

This, coupled with the tone of the band’s statements claiming to have been completely blindsided by the allegations, has left many fans skeptical.

“What bothers me is the fact that they weren’t saying anything,” one former fan says. “They came up with two garbage statements that, you know, really don’t mean anything.”

“I was a super fan,” says another, who says she drove more than five hours to go to the Detroit show. “I spent so

much time and money supporting these guys. Probably seen them 15+ times across the country. Been really shocking and horrifying the way it has been handled.”

She adds, “Honestly, I was done the second I found out. I don’t want my name associated with anyone like that or anyone who covered up something like that. It’s hard to believe they didn’t know.”

The social media storm is similar to the allegations that took down California rock ’n’ roll label Burger Records and the once-hot Chicago indie band the Orwells in recent years, both of which were accused of statutory rape and other sexual misconduct. Burger Records briefly attempted to rebrand under a woman president but soon dissolved. After disbanding in 2018, the Orwells self-released an album in 2019 (its artwork was blank; “We had an album cover we wanted to use, but after getting dropped by our label we can no longer afford to use it,” the band said in a statement), followed by another release in 2023 accompanied by a statement fully denying the allegations and announcing a defamation lawsuit. (Its latest record was largely ignored by the music industry.)

Mac Saturn did not provide answers to a list of questions sent to its publicist, including whether the band was aware of the investigation into Mercer before his arrest (and if so, why nothing was done about it), if the band had its escort privileges removed during the Struts tour (and why), if the band still works with Red Light Management, why it canceled the rest of its tour (and not the September festival date), and even a simple confirmation of Macc’s age.

It did make its lawyer Nick Ferrara available, who read a brief statement to Metro Times over the phone.

“I’m going to read you something, and that will be it. This will be very clear,” he said. “We don’t know where you’re getting information from, but your factual assertions and predicates are incorrect. As already announced Evan Mercer is no longer part of the band. The band had no knowledge of the activities that formed the basis of various claims against him. And we are not going to comment further at this time. There you go.”

When asked if the band still exists, Ferrara paused.

“Uhhhhhhh,” he said. “At the moment, yes.”

He added, “We are hoping to move forward. But again, I hate to say this, articles like yours don’t really help, rehashing this crap.”

The Music Issue

A family affair

On the mend after a car crash, jazz player Kasan Belgrave carries his father’s legacy

BY VERONICA JOHNSON

In July 2021, saxophonist Kasan Belgrave was in a near-fatal car accident, T-boned at a highway intersection en route to a gig in Ohio. When paramedics arrived on the scene, Belgrave was unconscious, having sustained a brain injury and neck fracture, which required surgery. The crash happened when so many things in his life were going so well. He was close to completing his graduate studies at Michigan State University, high-profile gigs were pending, and he was scheduled to perform at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

The accident derailed many of Belgrave’s plans. His doctor instructed him not to perform until fully healed. Through it all, Belgrave maintained unwavering perseverance. While recuperating, he discovered some semblance of solace, focusing on composing new music.

Still hungry to participate in the Detroit Jazz Festival, guitarist Chuck Newsome commissioned Belgrave to write an arrangement for the Detroit Jazz Festival All-Star Band featuring Keyon Herald a month after the accident.

“Knowing that I got into a horrible car accident, I was grateful to be alive and that all my limbs were working, and I didn’t have any cognitive loss in my thinking. It changed my outlook on life,” says Belgrave.

“You just start rethinking a lot of your decisions in life, wanting to be more careful with everything you do. I treat life now like I treat music, just being as gentle as possible with everything and making sure I know my details and not miss anything.”

Belgrave, 25, is one of the rising talents on Detroit’s jazz scene. On stage, he has a calm and polished presence. If you have witnessed him in various groups, you’d be correct to acknowledge he’s been a Godsend to many bands that have employed him. His improvisational know-how while soloing puts you in the mindset of great alto saxophonists like Sonny Red and Oliver Nelson. Belgrave currently leads a residency at Detroit jazz club Cliff Bell’s, which he started in January,

replacing bassist and the club’s artistic director, Noah Jackson.

Recent additions to Belgrave’s growing resume are stints with Detroit’s Gathering Orchestra, the Paradise Jazz Big Band, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and renowned drummer and producer Karriem Riggins.

As the son of the late trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, the young Belgrave has big shoes to fill. Belgrave was just a kid when his father was already a legendary figure globally. He remembers running around his dad’s rehearsals and seeing him chastise students during practice.

“Honestly, I got it a little easier than his students when he was younger because I was born when he was older. So that hard mentorship, he didn’t force it down my throat, but he was still hard on me, which is part of why I love music today because I had somebody like him who had the same passion and said, ‘Hey, if this is what you want, then you have to love it,’” says Belgrave.

To put his father’s history into context, the senior Belgrave — who passed away in 2015 — served as a music educator and mentor to many jazz musicians when they were unknown, like Riggins, bassist Robert Hurst, pianist Geri Allen, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and violinist Regina Carter. Belgrave was the first Kresge Eminent Artist fellow, the first director of the Civic Jazz Orchestra when the DSO educational program began in 2000, and an instructor at both high schools and colleges.

When his father died, Belgrave was just a high schooler, and he didn’t understand how important his father was.

“I had a ton of people coming up to me saying, ‘I remember your dad. I miss your dad.’ And they would just tell me all these stories,” Belgrave says. “So, I saw everybody worldwide, Kenny Garrett, Bob Hurst, Ron Carter, and all these big-name people, saying that my dad is one of the greatest musicians and teachers ever. Sometimes, it still doesn’t register to me.”

Belgrave grew up on the west side of Detroit and was educated through Christian schools, including Southfield Christian High School, where he was a band member. He was a part of the DSO Civic Jazz Orchestra under the direction of drummer Sean Dobbins and bassist Rodney Whitaker. He earned a degree in jazz studies from the University of Michigan and held a graduate assistantship at MSU.

The core of Belgrave’s musical breeding came from studying with Detroit’s jazz elites, such as the late bassist Don Mayberry and saxophonist Wendell Harrison, who mentored Belgrave in the jazz program at Youthville Detroit. Harrison, who’s known Belgrave all his life, was a major influence on the musician and taught him about improvisation and bebop.

“He’s very talented, but I give a lot of credit to his mom for his development. She made him practice every day. He’s a quick study and following the Belgrave legacy; he can’t lose,” says Harrison.

Now that the near-fatal accident is behind Belgrave and his chops are back 100%, he’s hell-bent on carrying the torch for himself and keeping his father’s light burning. He’s planning to release his debut recording this spring, and like his father, he wants to have a global impact. Belgrave also wants to have a presence outside of jazz. He’s been performing with techno music musicians like DJ Kyle Hall and has been featured on a few records as well.

The pressure Belgrave faces carrying on his father’s legacy is enormous, but he isn’t frightened by it. Like sons with renowned fathers such as pianist Gerald Clayton and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, Belgrave understands his greatest test is making his own way musically.

“I know that with my skills, it is possible to fill those shoes even though there are some really big shoes,” he says. “My love for music won’t just let me stop. I have to keep this going. That’s part of my duty, too. So, the pressure doesn’t really get to me anymore. That just comes with time.”

Kasan Belgrave currently leads a residency at Cliff Bell’s. HENRI JONES

WHAT’S GOING ON

Select events happening in metro Detroit this week. Be sure to check venue website before events for latest information. Add your event to our online calendar: metrotimes.com/AddEvent.

MUSIC

Wednesday, Feb. 28

Mammoth WVH, Nita Strauss 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $30.50.

Woodbridge Pub & The Preservation of Jazz Presents Just Jazz & Blues Every Wednesday Night 7-11 pm; Aretha’s Jazz Cafe, 350 Madison St., Detroit; no cover.

Thursday, Feb. 29

Chase Matthew, Austin Snell, Colin Stough 6:30 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $30.

Chelsea Cutler, Yoke Lore 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $31.50-$63.

Hollywood Casino @ Greektown Presents An Evening With Richard Marx 8 p.m.; The Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $50-$75.

Jess Williamson, Esther Rose 8 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.

Jhariah, PIAO, Get Tuff 8 p.m.; Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit; $18.

Knife Wound, Gagger, Slice, Hardcount, Contained 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $12.

Maysa Live in Concert 8 pm; Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $45-$57.

Thievery Corporation 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $37.50.

Friday, March 1

Afroman 6:30 p.m.; Diamondback Music Hall, 49345 S. Interstate 94 Service Dr., Belleville; $30-$70.

Foster Lancaster 7 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $15.

Hot Music for a Cold Night feat. Hot Club of Detroit and the Belos Quartet 7 p.m.; Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church, 17150 Maumee Ave., Grosse Pointe; $20 in advance; $30 at the door.

Hung Up, Danny VanZandt, Boomcat 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch,

22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $10.

Sub-Radio, Moontower 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20-$120.

Maddy Ringo, Heat Above 8 p.m.; Corktown Tavern, 1716 Michigan Ave., Detroit; $15.

Major Dudes 7 p.m.-midnight; Road Rangers, 23925 Goddard, Taylor; $10.

Sam Barber, Nolan Taylor 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $24.50.

The Life and Music of George Michael 6 p.m.; Fisher Theatre - Detroit, 3011 West Grand & Fisher, Detroit; $62-$200.

The Trews, Wide Mouth Mason 8 p.m.; Caesars Palace Windsor - Augustus Ballroom, 377 E. Riverside Dr., Windsor; $28-$63.

Tower Of Power 8 p.m.; FIM Capitol Theatre, 140 E. 2nd St., Flint; $40-$185.

Zach Myers (Shinedown), Allen Mack Myers Moore 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $20.

DJ/Dance

Midnight City 90s Indie Dance Party w/ DJ Josh and DJ Zumby 9 p.m.-1 a.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.

Ranger Trucco, Invite Only, Drop Catch 9 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $15-$20.

Saturday, March 2

Beach Weather, Pineapple Sunrise Tour, Phoneboy, Rec Hall 6:30 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.

Cabaret 313 Presents Brandon Victor Dixon: Live! 6-10 p.m.; Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit; $60.

Fool House - The Ultimate 90’s Dance Party 8 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $20$200.

The Plastic Doll House Show (An All Female Affair) with Runae Moon, HB The Grizzly, RareGem Arie, Na Da, Lrad, Biddy Bre, and more 7 p.m.; Regal Beagle, 817 E. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti; $10.

Ricky Montgomery, Noah Floersch 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $25.

The Salem Wrecks, Widetrack, Metal Mustang 8 p.m.; Corktown Tavern, 1716 Michigan Ave., Detroit; $10.

Sandspit, Copperhead, Reckless Manner 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $10. State of Mine, the Violent, Discrepancies, Strengthbeyondyou 6 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18-$28.

Zac Hart: Nashville Hits the Roof! 8 p.m.; Tin Roof, 47 E. Adams Ave., Detroit; no cover.

DJ/Dance

The Decarlo Family, DJ Marcie Bolen 9 pm-12:30 am; Detroit Contemporary, 487 W. Alexandrine St., Detroit; no cover.

Nils Hoffmann, Thay Rodrigues, NJP, COD3R 9 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $15-$20.

Sunday, March 3

Hamaki 8 p.m.; The Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $59-$229.

Boyz II Men 8 p.m.; Caesars Palace Windsor - Augustus Ballroom, 377 E. Riverside Dr., Windsor; $33-$93.

Silversun Pickups, Hello Mary

7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $39.50.

The Love Hard Tour: Keyshia Cole, Trey Songz, Jaheim, K. Michelle 7 p.m.; Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $74.50-$144.50.

Monday, March 4

Two Door Cinema Club, Joywave 6 p.m.; Garden Bowl, 4120 Woodward, Detroit; $35.

DJ/Dance

Adult Skate Night 8:30-11 p.m.; Lexus Velodrome, 601 Mack Ave., Detroit; $5.

Tuesday, March 5

Willie Bynum & Pure Soul: Alpino Roots Cellar Music Series 6:30-8 p.m.; Alpino, 1426 Bagley St, Detroit; $10.

Bryce Vine, Hoodie Allen, Yoshi T 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $33-$57.50.

Katy Kirby, Allegra Krieger, Fred Thomas 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $17.

Twin Temple, Vowws 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $22.50-$72.50.

DJ/Dance

B.Y.O.R Bring Your Own Records Night 9 p.m.-midnight; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; no cover.

MISC. MUSIC

Spin, Inc. Detroit Electronic Music Conference 10 am-5 pm; Morris Lawrence Building, 4800 E. Huron River Drive, Ann Arbor; no cover.

THEATER

Detroit Public Theatre Blues for an Alabama Sky. $47. Thursday, 8 p.m., Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m., 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3, 2 p.m.

Detroit Repertory Theatre August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come And Gone Fridays, 8 p.m. and Sundays, 2 p.m.

Fisher Theatre - Detroit To Kill a Mockingbird. Tuesday, March 5, 7:30 p.m. Fox Theatre PAW Patrol Live! $20$140. Saturday, March 2, 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m., 2 p.m.

Planet Ant Theatre The Best of the Planet Ant Training Center Sketch Comedy Show. $20 advance, $25 at the door. Fridays, Saturdays, 7-8 p.m.

Riverside Arts Center An Evening of One-Act Plays by Michigan Playwrights. $15 general admission, $10 students. Friday, 8-10 p.m.; Saturday, 8-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-4 p.m.

Musical

A Little More Alive Wednesday, 2 p.m., 8 p.m.; Thursday, 8 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 6 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m., 6:30 p.m.; Meadow Brook Theatre, 207 Wilson Hall, Rochester; $43.

COMEDY

Improv

Go Comedy! Improv Theater Go Comedy! All-Star Showdown. $20. Fridays, Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., 9:30 pm.

Stand-up

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle Masood Boomgaard. $25.Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle The Sklar Brothers. $35.Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 7:15 p.m., 9:45 p.m.; Saturday, 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m.

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle Raanan Hershberg. $25. Sunday, 7-8:30 p.m.

The Blind Pig. Tree Town Comedy Festival: Demetrius Fields. $20. Thursday, 8 p.m.

The Blind Pig. Tree Town Comedy Festival: Emma Willmann. $25. Friday, 8 p.m.

The Blind Pig. Tree Town Comedy

Festival: Irene Tu. $25. Saturday, 8 p.m.

The Blind Pig. Tree Town Comedy Festival: Dirty Pig Comedy Show. $5. Saturday, 10:30 p.m.

FILM

Longway Planetarium First Friday

Through the Looking Glass: A Discussion of the Art of Microscopy. $8, 6-7 p.m. Motor City Cinema Society Detroit 9000. (1973) Monday, 6:30 p.m. $5.

ARTS

Artist talk

Artist Talk: Brandon Altman on Stripped solo exhibition s. Saturday 2-4 p.m.; Playground Detroit, 2845 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; no cover.

Art exhibition

Eastern Market 20th Annual Art, Beats + Lyrics Urban Art Showcase. Friday, March 1, 7 p.m.-midnight.

Continuing this week

Color & Ink Studio UNIFIED a Keto Green Solo Show. Dontations welcome.

PARC Art Gallery The Art and Soul Exhibit & Sale. Featuring the work of Al Bonacorsi, Allen Brooks, Cheryl Chidester, Winnie Chrzanowski, Susan Clinthorne, Jan Dale, Ellen Doyle, Lulu Fall, Kelsey Fox, Brian Fritz, James Guy, Tim Haber, Laura Johnson, Krisjan Krafchak, Mary Lane, Michelle M Beaupre, Christine Minderovic, Stephanie Onwenu, Wendy Scarbrough, and Joan Witte. Through March 4.

Stamelos Gallery Center, UMDearborn Andy T’s Urban Vision 20012024. Through April 21.

WELLNESS

Self-care

Angela Cares: Heart-Centered Mindfulness In honor of American Heart Month, Angela Hospice presents Heart-Centered Mindfulness. No cover. See angelahospice.org for more information.

MISC.

Benefit

Bayview Yacht Club Detroit Polar Plunge Friday, 3 p.m.

Critics’ picks

Autorama

CARS: Just as the character Batman has been rebooted and reimagined over the years, so has his trusty Batmobile, which might be the ultimate expression of hot rod culture. That was certainly the case in 2022’s The Batman, whose scrappy superhero drove a retro-inspired, soupedup muscle car. Among the more than 800 hot rods and custom cars that will be showcased in this year’s Autorama are five generations of the Batmobile, including the rides from the playful 1966 TV series starring Adam West, Tim Burton’s Batman Returns starring Michael Keaton in 1992, 1995’s Batman Forever with Val Kilmer, 2005’s Batman Begins starring Christian Bale, and 2017’s Justice League with Ben Affleck. This year’s show will also feature vehicles owned by the real-life daredevil Evel Kneivel, including his famous X2 Skyrocket, the Snake River Rocket Concept Trike, and the Formula Dragster, as well as GM’s 50 millionth car, a gold-plated 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Coupe. There will also be celebrity guests including Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider and Noel G from the Fast & Furious series, as well as the Miss Autorama pin-up contest. And, as usual, the exhibitors will be competing for the Ridler Award — no, that Riddler! —Lee DeVito

From Friday, March 1- Sunday, March 3; Huntington Place, 1 Washington Blvd., Detroit; see autorama.com for full schedule. Tickets are $27 ($10 for children 6-12).

Polar Plunge

CHARITY: More than 400 brave souls will either plunge into the icy waters of the Detroit River or run a 5K through the cold, all to help raise money for programs that provide sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. This will be the Special Olympics Michigan Polar Plunge’s second year in Detroit, hosted by the Bayview Yacht Club on the Detroit River. There are 25 plunges across Michigan in

2024, with the goal of collectively raising $1.5 million; last year’s Detroit Polar Plunge raised $83,000, surpassing its goal of $65,000. The Detroit Polar Plunge starts with the “Cold Splash Bash” at 3 p.m., which includes check-in, donation turn-in, and a pre-plunge party, with plunging to happen from 5-6:30 p.m. A slider bar will also be available before and after the plunge for plungers who raise more than $100. Meanwhile, the Frozen 5k Charity Walk will start near the Polar Plunge and participants can either walk as a group or run at their own pace. Registration for both is open at plungemi.org. —Layla McMurtrie

Starts at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 1 at Bayview Yacht Club; 100 Clairpointe St., Detroit; plungemi.org.

Blade Runner

FILM: Based on Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and set in a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner eerily predicted aspects of our grim present. Sure, we may not live among synthetic humans in the real world (yet), but online, social media is plagued by bots that act like humans (and humans that act like bots), and those annoying captchas asking us to click on all the photos of motorcycles are basically our version of the Voight-Kampff test. Anyway, this gritty Harrison Ford-starring neo-noir flick initially perplexed audiences, but has since settled into sci-fi classic status. Detroit’s Redford Theatre is screening the director’s cut of the movie in partnership with the Art Deco Society, which features plenty of goodies for Blade Runner heads including a raffle for memorabilia, illustrated prints available for purchase, and a pre-show DJ. The film is rated R and has a run-time of one hour and 50 minutes.

—Lee DeVito

Starts at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 1; The Redford Theatre, 17360 Lahser Rd., Detroit; redfordtheatre.com. Tickets are $14.50.

The Autorama hot rod show rolls into Detroit’s Huntington Place this weekend.

JOE MAROON

ALL YOUR TEAMS PLAYING ON OUR BIG SCREENS!

Fri 3/01

DOM SHBEATS/GREYHOUND/ SEAN MONAGHAN/WOOF/LUCY V (electronic/psych pop/hip-hop)

Doors@9p/$5cover

Sat 3/02

DJ MARCIE BOLEN (pop/punk rock)

Doors@9p/$5cover

Sun 3/03 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MERLIN PICKENS!

Mon 3/04

FREE POOL ALL DAY

Tues 3/05

B. Y. O. R. BRING YOUR OWN RECORDS (WEEKLY)

Open Decks@8PM NO COVER IG: @byor_tuesdays_old_miami

Coming Up:

3/08 STRICTLY FINE/Tree No Leaves

3/09 BANGERZ & JAMZ (monthly)

3/15 Mammon/Something Is Waiting(chi)/Gator Pit

3/16 3rd Annual Barfly Awards! VOTE NOW@the bar!

3/22 Craig Brown Band / Matthew Teardrop/Hill Killer

3/23 SeaHag/Permanently Pissed/ EKG

3/24 Nain Rouge After Party w/ BANGERZ & JAMZ

3/30 Matt Smiley’s Birthday Bash

4/05 DJ Skeez & Friends

4/05 TIGERS OPENING DAY!

4/06 The End of Ends/ Hiding Salem/Second Hand Drugs/ Belling The Tiger

Book Your Parties at The Old Miami

Email us: theoldmiamibarevents@gmail.com

FOOD

A Korean hangout in Clawson

By Jane Slaughter

Noori Pocha/ Noori Chicken

One South Main St., Clawson 248-850-7512

nooripocha.com

Entrees $11.99-$34.99, eight chicken wings $14.99

It’s a sign the patrons really, really like the restaurant when management feels moved to post a sign limiting their stay to two-and-a-half hours. In an interview, Noori Pocha co-owner Andy Kwon explained that he and sister Nali wanted to recreate a true Korean experience, from the music to the details of the design. “Small spaces between tables, uncomfortable chairs, loud music, people talking loudly to the point where nothing can be heard is a typical Korean drinking atmosphere,” Kwon said. “People bumping into each other yelling to play games while drinking do not discomfort Koreans. They find it natural to drink in this atmosphere. It may not be for everyone, but once people break out of the ice, everyone starts to have a party.”

One weeknight I wondered if every Korean or Korean-American young person in the metro area had decided to eat and drink at Noori Pocha, crowded

shoulder to shoulder on stools, eight to a round table. Another night I came at opening time, 5 p.m., and the atmosphere was chiller — especially since I snagged a seat in the streetside alcove, calm and slightly removed.

Open since August, Noori Pocha is a small space, dominated by a big TV screen showing Korean street scenes. Next door is Kwon’s original take-out place, Noori Chicken, opened during the pandemic, which also has a couple of tables to eat in. There’s a disco ball and some pulsing lights, but it’s not as frenetic as that might make it sound. It’s just the packed people in a small area that makes it loud, not unruliness.

Although the Kwons want to make it feel like Korea, they provide chopsticks with printed instructions on how to use them.

Your meal starts with a free appetizer, tteokbokki, which I would skip. The rubbery cylindrical rice cakes are tasteless (“does not have much taste on its own,” admits one recipe writer) and the spicy sauce is just a vinegary combination of unpleasant and hot.

It gets much better after that. The dishes are quite varied, ranging from mild and sweetish to more fiery; servers offer three spice levels. For iconic staple comfort food, you might want to order some sticky, spicy kimchi fried rice,

bright red, which comes with the most beautiful fried egg I’ve seen: tall with a crusty bottom. The sourness of the kimchi is offset by the warm vibes of the fat.

“Spicy chicken with cheese” is just what it sounds like, redolent of the fermented condiment gojuchang, and the cheese being strands of mozzarella. It comes with four white rice balls studded with seaweed. So does “spicy pork,” again with gochujang prominent, the pork well-crisped.

Bulgogi is quite different: a beef dish that’s nearly sweet because of the heaps of onions. It’s sprinkled with green onions and still-crisp shredded carrots. This was the dish I most looked forward to reheating — portions are large and meant to be shared.

Another non-intense dish is shrimp pajeon, which is a big, thick pancake, crisp on top, with plenty of scallions and shrimp inside — really quite bland and yet inviting. It comes with a sweetand-sour sauce filled with chives.

One night we were given a bunch of romaine, to make our own wraps.

I was disappointed not to find bibimbap on the menu but there’s a simple explanation. “It doesn’t go with drinking,” Kwon said.

Don’t leave Noori without trying the wings. This part of the store, the

original, came about when the Kwons tried the chicken at a Virginia restaurant and thought it tasted just like what people were scarfing in Korea. Now the downtown Clawson location is one of a seven-store franchise, with four in Michigan. The wings come in orders of 8, 16, or 24, bone-in or deboned, and they have a perfect crust and a tender, moist interior. You get your choice of seven sauces. I was happy with soy-garlic and with “magic sprinkles,” the latter once a fad in Korea under the name “snow chicken.” It’s a cheese powder which is somehow sweet and it works surprisingly well with the fried fattiness of the bird. Other toppings are varying levels of chili sauce.

Noori Pocha offers four Korean beers and six more from Japan, Thailand, and China (and Bud Light, for the impoverished). The liquor of choice is the Korean national drink, soju, which can be made from rice, wheat, or barley. I ordered a 375 ml bottle of grapefruit soju and found it soft and smooth, very easy to drink. It’s only 13% alcohol.

Or better yet, mix soju and beer, as they do in the motherland. You can get a three-liter tower of Sapporo and Chum-Churum, a soju that touts being made with alkaline water, in a dispenser. That’s where the two-and-a-half hours comes in.

Noori Pocha’s sibling owners wanted to create an authentic Korean restaurant.

COURTESY PHOTO

FOOD

Chowhound

This subject always gets me going

By Robert Stempkowski

Chowhound is a weekly column about what’s trending in Detroit food culture. Tips: eat@metrotimes.com.

As of April 1 in California, minimum wage for the state’s fast-food workforce increases to $20 an hour. On the East Coast, meanwhile, Empire State legislators are pushing to raise compensation for tipped employees at work in New York City from its current $10-plus rate to $16. While living wage and pay equity hard-chargers applaud this legislation, the restaurant industry finds itself with two more big reasons to wring its hands in worry. As these two major markets go, so may others cross-country, at least where there’s groundswell complaining over sub-standard, working-class compensation not keeping pace with current inflation.

That sounds like pretty much everywhere at present, doesn’t it?

Sure, it only makes sense that this long mulled-over move away from gratuity-reliant income gained the tipping point momentum it needed on both coasts. Servers, bartenders, and such in sunny California and the Big Apple contend with some costs of living that can be exponentially higher than what the vast majority of us ever have to fork over for housing, fuel, and life lived on far less costly real estate. But now, filling an entire country of apartments many hundreds of miles from the Atlantic or Pacific that charge what feels like beach rental rates, economically shell-shocked food and beverage professionals across America are digging in with demands for a greater share of the take from employers who just aren’t raking in the clams like they used to.

With a hard, bi-coastal lean applied by an enormous national food service workforce and its supporters, the toppling of an age-old, tip-centric compensation tradition could follow nationwide. Given all the other economic dominoes currently set on edge across a teetering restaurant industry, one wonders how much of a chain reaction might be set in motion by these

two initiatives.

On the consumer side, Californians can and New Yorkers must expect to see significant menu price increases on the heels of these passed and proposed pay hikes. In a February 2023 Business Insider report, Citi analyst Jon Tower felt certain with his projections of acrossthe-board restaurant inflation ranging anywhere from 5% to low doubledigits in these circumstances. Though California’s new wage law targets only fast-food operations specifically, other dining segments are likely to feel pressure to raise wages as well in order to compete for hard-to-find labor, and not only in food service but the retail sector, too, which generally draws from the same job-seeker demographics.

“If we have to address that as part of our overall inflation basket,” Beverly Hills-based Cheesecake Factory CFO Matt Clark speculated during a November 2023 address to shareholders, “we’ll certainly have to consider that with respect to pricing decisions.” Given California alone, with its reputation as a progressive Petri dish, this seismic wage raise may well ripple east across like-minded constituencies of a middle American proletariat. Should a similar wave get rolling west out of Gotham, take a deep breath, because restaurantgoing at even remotely similar price points to what we’re willing to swallow now will wash by us just like that.

Then again, on the working man’s

end, I see another side to this same old, overworked, underpaid story. Hear me out.

As a one-time waiter and bartender, I see a gaping hole in this living wage boat some think should float today’s food industry workforce. I beg to differ, at least a bit. Thirty years ago, those who plied my trade could regularly expect to earn $20 an hour, minimum, with tips. And that’s a low-end range reflective of what service staff in any fairly busy, average-priced, full-service eatery (breakfast joint, lunch café, family restaurant) could expect to pull in routinely. Higher-end earnings$30-$40 an hour and up were what finer and fine dining room staff and bartenders raked-in. Since tip commissions have increased along with bottom-line costs of going out over the years, one assumes, despite maybe more than commensurate cost-ofliving increases over time, food and beverage professionals might still make good livings at what they can learn to do well, given time to learn, committed effort, and some experience. Go ahead now: call me old school or out of touch for having such a say, but here goes: When I was 20 and just getting started, I waited tables in a coffee shop where I earned $2.13 an hour and maybe $500 more a month in tips. My half of the rent in those days (1983) — utilities included — was $200. After finding somewhere better to live and work

about a year later, I started netting $75$100 a shift at a barbecue place (prepost-work partying expenses). Though I made my monthly bills in less than a week, all I squandered left me late on rent regularly. Five years in and just married, bartending money followed. By 30, I was earning $40-50k. By 35, I was pushing six figures in a place where I had to know my food and wine well enough to cater to a well-heeled crowd who could afford me that living, along with things like diapers and almost daily dime bags of good weed, clothing, and homes always rented for lack of savings due to expensive drinking and drugging habits that I long excused as occupational hazards. By my bleary-eyed accounting, my restaurant income was insufficient despite the 30% of it I chose to spend on wine, women, and song, as they say. And despite the money spent on all the blow and everything else I blew it on, I do recall bitching about my employers paying me less than minimum wage on paper which, while patently preposterous, was where my head was at when the cash tips went as easy as they came.

Living wages for tipped employees paid by already strapped restaurant owners is a bad idea. Leave the tipping system alone. And if you want to do front-of-house workforces some general good, frequent restaurants that pay-out charged tips only on payday. And never tip in cash. For what it’s worth…

Hear me out: Leave the tipping system alone. SHUTTERSTOCK

CULTURE

Film

Bigger, louder, and bolder

By Andrew Wyatt

Dune: Part Two

Rated: PG-13

Run-time: 167 minutes

When it finally touched down in theaters three years ago, the most notable characteristic of Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune film was probably the fact that it existed at all. A properly monumental adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel had been something of a cinematic white whale (or worm, if you will), defeating filmmakers as illustrious as David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky. After several decades’ worth of failed and abandoned attempts, Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049) and his collaborators pulled off an impressive achievement, bringing the cherished literary sciencefiction tale to life in grandiose and relatively faithful fashion, all without sacrificing that essential blockbuster currency, spectacle.

Dune: Part One proved to be a thrilling and visionary work of epic sci-fi, although it had to shed some of the thematic sophistication of the book to attain such lofty heights. The feature

hinted at the source material’s weighty social, religious, and ecological themes, but it was generally more focused on introducing the audience to the indelible, neo-feudal universe that Herbert created. The most notable thing about Dune: Part Two, then, is that it brings these themes to the forefront in a way that the first chapter could never quite manage, while also still delivering plenty of visceral action and awestruck world-building.

Picking up almost exactly where the previous feature (somewhat abruptly) left off, Part Two finds exiled-andpresumed-dead noble scion Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) warily accepting the hospitality of the Fremen, the native people of the desert planet Arrakis. Both mother and son quickly find their place in this new world. Paul learns the ways of the Freemen guerilla warriors who sabotage the spice-extraction efforts of Arrakis’s colonizers, the brutal House Harkonnen. Meanwhile, Jessica — a member of the enigmatic witch cabal the Bene Gesserit — assumes an esteemed spiritual role, exploiting the messi-

anic myths of the Fremen and paving the way for her son’s ascendency. This doesn’t sit well with Paul, who is more focused on assimilating with his new allies and winning the affection of the hard-edged fighter Chani (Zendaya).

This summary barely scratches the arid surface of Dune: Part Two, which, like its predecessor, is fairly dense with intergalactic politicking and mystic gobbledygook. Villeneuve and co-writer Jon Spaihts approach this material with unflagging gravity, however. Their characters whisper urgently and roar defiantly, treating every moment with life-or-death, cosmic-scale weight. (Javier Bardem’s true-believer Fremen leader Stilgar is the only one who cracks the occasional droll joke.) Fortunately, Villeneuve excels at maintaining this kind of sobriety for two (or three) hours at a time, wooing the viewer with the potency of jaw-dropping sights and bone-rattling sounds. The absurdity of all the arcane sci-fi nonsense dissolves in the reactive heat of Dune’s epic bulk and overwhelming sensations. By the time the film visits a gladiatorial arena roaring under the monochromatic light of a black sun — complete with ink-

blot fireworks — the viewer won’t even notice how silly the characters sound when they say phrases like “Kwisatz Haderach.”

Chalamet rises to the occasion in this second chapter, holding on to Paul’s deep ambivalence while allowing his idealism, arrogance, and (eventually) holy zeal to fully emerge. In comparison, Zendaya’s role doesn’t demand as much of her, but Villeneuve’s revisions to the story at least give Chani more to do, lending her relationship with Paul a stronger and more mature sense of tragedy. Amid a gamut of new faces — Florence Pugh, Léa Seydoux, and Christopher Walken among them — Austin Butler is the showstopper as the bloodthirsty Harkonnen princeling Feyd-Rautha. It’s no small thing to upstage Sting’s unhinged, weirdly hypersexual take on the character from Lynch’s 1984 film version, but Butler gets there, albeit via a very different route. (Imagine Dracula as an edgelord albino salamander with a knife fetish and you’re halfway there.)

However, where Dune: Part Two truly impresses has less to do with its performances than the film’s facility for balancing blockbuster extravagance and stickier, more cerebral matters. Part One was concerned first and foremost with efficiently introducing an encyclopedia’s worth of people, places, and concepts. Consequently, the deeper aspects of Herbert’s story were mostly confined to the film’s characterization of Paul. This new feature, in contrast, tackles the novel’s thorniest themes head-on, illustrating the power of Chosen One tropes, the threat of runaway zealotry, and the temptation to believe your own bull plop. Indeed, Dune: Part Two might be the most clear-eyed film about saviors and schisms since Monty Python’s Life of Brian. (Seriously.)

Paul is beset by disturbing visions of a coming holy war that he is desperate to avert, but the future may already be beyond his power to control. Scheming and malignant forces surround him — political, economic, and religious — and the foes that want to eliminate him outright somehow seem less dangerous than those who want to wield him as a weapon. Most insidiously, the Bene Gesserit have been manipulating inter-galactic politics for centuries, seeding worlds with superstitions and nudging noble genealogies for their own inscrutable ends. Dune: Part Two insists that to use faith and prophecy in these kinds of cynical power games is to play with fire. As more than one character learns to their horror, a controlled burn can become a raging inferno in the blink of an eye.

The epic Dune: Part Two tackles the perils of playing with faith, politics, and power.

WARNER BROS.

CULTURE

Savage Love

Quickies

By Dan Savage

: Q Best advice on dating without resorting to apps?

A: Go places, do shit, meet people, fuck ‘em.

: Q I’m about to visit a gay nudist resort for the first time (although I’ve been to heterosexual nudist resorts in the past). I’ve been bi all my life and am now in my 70s. What should I expect?

Dick if you’re lucky, crabs if you’re not.

: Q I’m a heterosexual woman and I don’t like to kiss a guy after he’s gone down on me. Is there something wrong with me? Do most women not mind?

A: There are places on own bodies we can’t reach with our tongues. For some of us, making out with someone who just went down on us — someone who just ate our pussy or our ass or sucked our dick — presents us with an opportunity to taste those parts of bodies we would never get to taste otherwise. But opportunity ≠ obligation. If you don’t want to taste your own pussy or your own ass or your own cock, you don’t have to. Sending someone off to wash their face in the middle of sex would indeed be weird, but wiping someone’s face with the T-shirt you were wearing before you started fucking around can be kinda hot.

: Q Once you get tolyamory into everyday use, would you please craft a single gender-neutral word that could replace “sir” and “ma’am”? I’m nonbinary and every customer service interaction makes me bristle because the employee — who is just being polite — always misgenders me. Can we have one word for all people instead of trying to discern gender in every interaction?

A: My commie friends think comrade would work: “Your call is very important to us, comrade! Please remain on the line, comrade! Someone will be with you shortly, com-

rade!” But I think “homo” is a stronger choice. Not “homo” short for homosexual, but “homo” short for homo sapiens: “Welcome to Chili’s, homo. I’ll be your server, homo. What would you like, homo?”)

: Q I just come out as gay. I’ve always wanted an exclusive relationship, but I don’t think most gay guys are into that. I have accepted that pretty much any future boyfriend will either cheat on me or I will have to agree to an open relationship at some point because that’s what all gay couples do. I’m just looking for advice.

A: There are gay men out there who want exclusive relationships and you should seek those men out. But in my experience — ahem — it’s almost always the person who insists on monogamy who cheats first. Not always, but almost always. So, in addition to wondering how you’ll react if and/or when your future boyfriend cheats or wants to open the relationship, spend some time thinking through how you’ll handle things if and/or when you wanna open the relationship.

: Q My partner and I used to be hot and heavy, but now we’re in a sexless phase, and I’d like to get back to how we used to be. Any tips?

A: This isn’t a problem you can solve unless your partner wants to solve it. So, talk to your partner, tell them you miss the great sex you used to have together, and ask them if they wanna work on reconnecting. Now, there’s a chance your partner won’t wanna solve this problem — they might not regard being sexless as a problem — but they’ll tell you they wanna work on it because that’s what you wanna hear. Now, sometimes a person tells their partner what they wanna hear because they don’t wanna hurt their feelings or because

they’re not ready to have a conversation about the kind of reasonable accommodations that make sexless relationships work, e.g., permission to discreetly get sexual needs met elsewhere.

: Q On the one hand, my partner says he loves me, and that should make me feel secure. On the other hand, he’s resistant to phone calls. He has a zillion reasons why he doesn’t like talking on the phone, but they don’t add up. How do I get him to like doing phone calls? And phone sex?

A: I have the same problem with my boyfriend — only it’s texting he hates, not phone calls. If anyone out there has managed to convert a texter into a caller or vice-versa, drop your advice on in the comments, please.

: Q Best places to find straight feminist sex stories to get me revved up?

A: Have you checked out Dipsea? They advertise on the Lovecast — full disclosure — but they have tons of great feminist erotica and other hot content. And while there’s no shortage of porn and erotica out there for men, gay and otherwise, there’s nothing like Dipsea for us and I’m actually kind of jealous.

: Q What do you do when your boyfriend’s dick often smells/tastes like urine and that is not a turn-on for you?

A: Here’s what you do: You tell your boyfriend his dick stinks and that he’s gonna need to do a better job keeping it clean if he wants you to keep putting it in your mouth. If Paris is worth a mass, as the King of France once said, a blowjob is worth a bath.

: Q Is hiring a surrogate to have a baby unethical? I have two kids and can’t physically carry again.

A: The Pope thinks surrogacy is unethical — so whatever you decide to do, don’t hire that elderly celibate to carry your next baby for you.

: Q Why don’t we have better words to describe the complexity of our relationships?

A: I did my part with monogamish and tolyamorous… and the anime avatar kids on Tumblr came up demisexual and pansexual and skoliosexual

and androphilic and gynephilic and polyamory and polyfidelity and heteronormativity and homonormativity and repronormativity and on and on. There are so many words to describe our relationships these days including our relationships with ourselves — that I can barely keep up. But before you assumed some relationship type or dynamic doesn’t already have a name, spend a little time scrolling through Ace Dad’s Instagram feed — because, man, they have a word for everything

: Q Is there a word for the man who you are the mistress of?

A: Okay, I spent an hour scrolling through Ace Dad’s Instagram feed and I didn’t find the word you’re looking for. For all I know the word is out there somewhere — a word for a married male affair partner — but I wasn’t able to find it. If someone else wants to take a look and/or make a suggestion, the comment thread is open.

: Q New to BDSM play. How best to recover from the physical aftereffects?

A: When kinksters talk about “aftercare,” they’re usually referring to emotional aftercare — some cuddles, some reassurance. But if you’re into physically challenging BDSM (impact play, TT, CBT, punishing bondage), the body need aftercare too: some ibuprofen, a hot bath, a nice massage.

: Q How do I convince my husband to allow my BF to sleep with us in our bedroom?

A: Your husband is fine with you having a boyfriend but wants your bedroom to remain — at least for now — sacred to you as couple. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request on his part. A boyfriend is a big ask, our bedroom is just for us is small one.

: Q Anal sex with a condom and then oral sex with the condom off right after — is that safe?

It’s safer than a salad bar.

: Q Did you buy the mug?

A: I did.

: Q My sister’s world was torn apart this week when her husband of fifteen years was arrested for having an affair

with a 17-year-old student of his. They are now separating and who knows if my brother-in-law is going to jail. I want to provide support, but I am out of ideas. I have suggested therapy, STI testing, and finding a support group. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A: Therapy, STI testing, and support groups are all good and necessary suggestions — but not every suggestion has to be practical. If your sister is getting help, got tested, and has some people to talk to who’ve gone through what she’s going through, what she probably needs now are some distractions. So, suggest some shows to binge (Couple to Throuple, True Detective ), some things to read (The Palace by Gareth Russell, The Other Significant Others by Rhaina Cohen), and some places to go (cool new restaurants, secluded cabins) that will take your sister’s mind off her troubles.

: Q 18. There’s a man at my gym who wears a cock cage. I can just see it through his shorts. I am also caged. Can I tell him I noticed his cage and let him know I’m also locked or would that be too weird?

A: “Might be weird,” said a friend who sometimes wears a cock cage to the gym. “Basically, ‘being locked’ and ‘wanting people to know you’re locked’ are sometimes correlated but not always. So, while it may be fun to have a new caged buddy, there is a risk saying something will come off as, ‘Hey, stranger! I’m looking at your dick while you work out!’ Which may be unwelcome, as not everyone wants that kind of attention at the gym.”

But if you see him in a bar some night and the vibe is dirty and flirty, well, you have the perfect opening line: “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.”

: Q I have a semi partner, or a quasipartner. I don’t really know what to call him, as he resists labels as well as conversations about defining our relationship. We’ve been seeing each other for a year. Is it too much to ask that we can talk about what we are to each other? He says he loves me, and I believe him. I love him, too. But I need some clarity.

A: Clarity is not too much to ask so ask away.

: Q Is it passive-aggressive to save the phone number of your FWB’s BF as “Dave Rick’s Boyfriend”?

A: Seeing as “Dave” and “Rick” are both such common names, saving a few context clues along with those names is a good idea. The more detailed and explicit those saved context clues are, the less likely you are to send a dick pick to a relative with the same first name.

: Q How about hosting Savage Love Live at a time an elementary school teacher — and Magnum Sub — could actually attend?

We will try to schedule a special late-night Savage Love Live soon!

: Q How do you get a straight man to pull his weight around the house?

A: By leaving him alone in it — not for the day or a weekend, but forever.

: Q I think there’s potential with this woman I just met but she is not letting me miss her —meaning, she’s always texting, calling, and sending voice messages. We have only been on one date. I want to see here again but I am slow to warm to new people. I have used my words and she said she hears me but it hasn’t stopped. How many times do I explain my boundaries before I give up because this is not a price of admission that I can pay. Am I being unreasonable?

A: You are not being unreasonable and you’re right to find this woman’s behavior off putting. It’s not just the texts, calls, and voice mails pouring in after one date, it’s the fact that you asked her to stop and she didn’t. So, she’s demonstrating poor impulse control (not something we look for in a romantic partner) along with zero inability to self-regulate (ditto). Tell her to knock it off one more time and if she doesn’t… no second date.

: Q The way you talk about sounding on your podcast makes me think you’ve been sounded at some point. Care to share?

A: A lady never tells.

Got problems? Yes, you do. Send your question to mailbox@savage.love!

Podcasts, columns, and more at Savage.Love.

CULTURE Free Will Astrology

By Rob Brezsny

ARIES: March 21 – April 19

In my astrological estimation, the coming weeks will be an ideal time for you to declare amnesty, negotiate truces, and shed long-simmering resentments. Other recommended activities: Find ways to joke about embarrassing memories, break a bad habit just because it’s fun to do so, and throw away outdated stuff you no longer need. Just do the best you can as you carry out these challenging assignments; you don’t have to be perfect. For inspiration, read these wise words from poet David Whyte: “When you forgive others, they may not notice, but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is a gift to ourselves.”

TAURUS: April 20 – May 20

Many of you Tauruses have a robust capacity for doing diligent, effective work. Many of you also have a robust capacity for pursuing sensual

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delights and cultivating healing beauty. When your mental health is functioning at peak levels, these two drives to enjoy life are complementary; they don’t get in each other’s way. If you ever fall out of your healthy rhythm, these two drives may conflict. My wish for you in the coming months is that they will be in synergistic harmony, humming along with grace. That’s also my prediction: I foresee you will do just that.

GEMINI: May 21 – June 20

Many people choose wealthy entertainers and celebrity athletes for their heroes. It doesn’t bother me if they do. Why should it? But the superstars who provoke my adoration are more likely to be artists and activists. Author Rebecca Solnit is one. Potawatomi biologist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer. The four musicians in the Ukrainian band DahkaBrakha. Poet Rita Dove and novelist Haruki Murakami. My capacity to be inspired by these maestros seems inexhaustible. What about you, Gemini? Who are the heroes who move you and shake you in all the best ways? Now is a time to be extra proactive in learning from your heroes — and rounding up new heroes to be influenced by.

CANCER: June 21 – July 22

Your homework assignment is to work on coordinating two issues that are key to your life’s purpose. The first of these issues is your fervent longing to make your distinctive mark on this crazy, chaotic world. The second issue is your need to cultivate sweet privacy and protective self-care. These themes may sometimes seem to be opposed. But with even just a little ingenious effort, you can get them to weave together beautifully. Now is a good time to cultivate this healing magic.

LEO: July 23 – August 22

If you don’t recognize the face in the mirror right now, that’s a good thing. If you feel unfamiliar feelings rising up in you or find yourself entertaining unusual longings, those are also good things. The voice of reason may say you should be worried about such phenomena. But as the voice of mischievous sagacity, I urge you to be curious and receptive. You are being invited to explore fertile possibilities that have previously been unavailable or off-limits. Fate is offering you the chance to discover more about your future potentials. At least for now, power

can come from being unpredictable and investigating taboos.

VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22

I invite you to study the fine art of sacred intimacy in the coming weeks. Life’s rhythms will redound in your favor as you enjoy playing tenderly and freely with the special people you care for. To aid you in your efforts, here are three questions to ponder. 1. What aspects of togetherness might flourish if you approach them with less solemnity and more fun? 2. Could you give more of yourself to your relationships in ways that are purely enjoyable, not done mostly out of duty? 3. Would you be willing to explore the possibility that the two of you could educate and ripen each other’s dark sides?

LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

Creativity teacher Roger von Oech tells how bandleader Count Basie asked a club owner to fix his piano. It was always out of tune. A few weeks later, the owner called Basie to say everything was good. But when Basie arrived to play, the piano still had sour notes. “I thought you said you fixed it!” Basie complained. The owner said, “I did. I painted it.” The moral of the story for the rest of us, concludes von Oech, is that we’ve got to solve the right problems. I want you Libras to do that in the coming weeks. Make sure you identify what really needs changing, not some distracting minor glitch.

SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21:

Most of us have received an inadequate or downright poor education about love and intimate togetherness. Given how much misinformation and trivializing propaganda we have absorbed, it’s amazing any of us have figured out how to create healthy, vigorous relationships. That’s the bad news, Scorpio. The good news is that you are cruising through a sustained phase of your astrological cycle when you’re far more likely than usual to acquire vibrant teachings about this essential part of your life. I urge you to draw up a plan for how to take maximum advantage of the cosmic opportunity. For inspiration, here’s poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.” (Translation by Stephen Mitchell.)

SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

The myths and legends of many cultures postulate the existence of spirits who are mischievous but not malevolent. They play harmless pranks. Their main purpose may be to remind

us that another world, a less material realm, overlaps with ours. And sometimes, the intention of these ethereal tricksters seems to be downright benevolent. They nudge us out of our staid rhythms, mystifying us with freaky phenomena that suggest reality is not as solid and predictable as we might imagine. I suspect you may soon have encounters with some of these characters: friendly poltergeists, fairies, ghosts, sprites, or elves. My sense is that they will bring you odd but genuine blessings.

CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

Some studies suggest that less than half of us have best friends. Men are even less likely to have beloved buddies than the other genders do. If you are one of these people, the coming weeks and months will be an excellent time to remedy the deficiency. Your ability to attract and bond with interesting allies will be higher than usual. If you do have best friends, I suggest you intensify your appreciation for and devotion to them. You need and deserve companions who respect you deeply, know you intimately, and listen well. But you’ve got to remember that relationships like these require deep thought, hard work, and honest expressions of feelings!

AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

Among all the zodiac signs, you Aquarians are among the best at enjoying a bird’s-eye perspective on the world. Soaring high above the mad chatter and clatter is your birthright and specialty. I love that about you, which is why I hardly ever shout up in your direction, “Get your ass back down to earth!” However, I now suspect you are overdue to spend some quality time here on the ground level. At least temporarily, I advise you to trade the bird’s-eye view for a worm’s-eye view. Don’t fret. It’s only for a short time. You’ll be aloft again soon.

PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20

In old Hawaii, the people loved their deities but also demanded productive results. If a god stopped providing worshipers with what they wanted, they might dismiss him and adopt a replacement. I love that! And I invite you to experiment with a similar approach in the coming weeks. Are your divine helpers doing a good job? Are they supplying you with steady streams of inspiration, love, and fulfillment? If not, fire them and scout around for substitutes. If they are performing well, pour out your soul in gratitude.

Homework: What do you want to do but have not been doing it — for no good reason?

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