Metro Times 05/08/2024

NEWS & VIEWS

Feedback

We got feedback in response to last week’s cover story by contributor Randiah Camille Green about a proposed livestock ordinance for Detroit.

I’ve been here and just think it’s a great way to repurpose city land.

—@saytes69, Instagram

I’ve had multiple neighbors with chickens/roosters in Detroit, and we know we got the cowboys with their horses out near 7 or 8 mile that ride around all the time.

—@ktrembzz, Instagram

This should not be an issue teaching

our youth about animals, growing their own food showing our children that they can do the same that they don’t have to worry about shortage of food they can grow it themselves! I support @detroitfarmandcider and support Detroit residents being able to have livestock.

—@c_loving_me_juice, Instagram

If you can have chickens in downtown Traverse City, where the average home is 500k….Detroit can let this abandoned land have some animals on it.

—@colourmerose, Instagram

The government hates citizens having access to organic clean food.

—@camera_jesus, Instagram

NEWS & VIEWS

Detroit’s only Black-run grocery co-op opens

Detroit People’s Food Co-Op, a Black-run, full-scale grocery store, has arrived on Woodward Avenue in Detroit’s North End.

The store opened its doors for the first time last Wednesday, welcoming hundreds of eager shoppers in just the first hour.

The idea behind the ambitious undertaking, which took years of preparation, was to expand food access to a predominantly Black city that has notoriously lacked quality grocery options. And since the store is a co-op, anyone can own a piece of it by becoming a member.

“This is not something you’re invited to. It’s literally yours,” says Lanay GilbertWilliams, president of the co-op’s board of directors. “There is no rich person in the shadows. People can’t imagine such a heaven where all types of people have come together to do a thing and take ownership of a thing. It belongs to the entire community.”

The store’s shelves and fridges are stocked full of fresh, locally grown produce, herbs, spices, condiments, meat, dairy products, vegan options, bakery items, canned and packaged goods, snacks, beverages, and health and wellness products — virtually anything you’d find in a grocery chain like Kroger or Meijer. There were also prepared foods, a

variety of samples, a deli, and a coffee bar.

The co-op, spearheaded by the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, features fruit and vegetables from four Black-owned farms, and many of the products are made in Michigan.

Levi Johnson Jr., a beaming, local entrepreneur with dreadlocks cascading out of his colorful, brimmed hat, was handing out samples of his barbecue sauce, called Mr. Levi’s MyTFine Soul Sauce, which comes in three flavors — mild, spicy, and “Habanero XS.”

“If my face ain’t on the bottle, no soul is inside,” Johnson tells Metro Times

Johnson sells his products in more than 62 Meijers and 32 other metro Detroit grocers, but this one is special, he says.

“It’s revolutionary,” Johnson says of the co-op. “The time has come, not just for the Blacks, but for the people.”

Until recently, Detroit had been without a Black-owned grocery store for about a decade. Nearly 70% of Detroiters are considered “food insecure,” meaning they lack reliable access to food, according to a 2022 report from the Detroit Food Policy Council.

If all goes as planned, the grocery store is just the beginning of building self-reliance and justice in Detroit, a city that has long battled with racial and economic in-

equality. Co-op members are empowered to vote in board elections, share future profits, and be elected to committees, which could be tasked with fighting for affordable housing or disability rights.

“This is just the first day,” GilbertWilliams says. “We’re all a family. We’re breaking bread together. Food brings everybody together. We have not had a Black-led, community-owned grocery store in Detroit. What is that going to look like? It’s going to be interesting.”

Although members have to be at least 21 years old, the co-op is aiming to get young people involved to experience what Black leadership and cooperation look like.

“The young people are going to take this over from us,” Gilbert -Williams, a mother of six children between the ages of seven and 28, says. “These young people are bold, and they’re fearless. They are loving, and they will not tolerate all this madness and division that has been going on for centuries. Let’s bring them on board now.”

Memberships cost $200 for a lifetime, which can be paid in a lump sum or spread out over 10 monthly installments.

The co-op is located at 8324 Woodward Ave. More information is available at detroitpeoplesfoodcoop.com.

—Steve Neavling

$25

Music fans can score tickets to some of this summer’s hottest concerts for just $25, all-in.

Now in its 10th year, Live Nation’s Concert Week promotion features discounted tickets to more than 170 shows in Michigan, including acts like Missy Elliott, Vampire Weekend, Jennifer Lopez, the Roots, Santana, Janet Jackson, Orville Peck, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and more.

The promotion runs from May 8-14 at livenation.com/concertweek and spans music and comedy.

The general on-sale begins at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 8 and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14 while supplies last. When you select your show, select the ticket type labeled “Concert Week Promotion” and proceed to checkout.

Live music company AEG Presents is also running a similar $25 all-in ticket promotion through May 15. A full list of participating shows and links to purchase tickets is available at bit.ly/3wqPISI.

—Lee DeVito

Detroit People’s Food Co-Op is a full-scale grocery store run by its members.

STEVE NEAVLING

Michigan AG targets Google and X

Michigan prosecutors executed a search warrant to obtain hundreds of files from Google and X (formerly Twitter) as part of an ongoing investigation into the fake electors plot in the state.

The news, first broken by CNN, was confirmed to Metro Times and provides prosecutors with fresh information for their investigation.

The warrants targeted the Google and X accounts of pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who played a major role in the scheme nationwide.

The warrant sought Chesebro’s emails and direct private messages after he denied having an X account in an interview with Michigan prosecutors last year.

The records contradict his claims.

State prosecutors obtained more than 160 sent messages and more than 25 received messages from X between 2014 and 2021, with most of them coming after the 2020 election.

In July 2023, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office charged the 16 fake electors for falsely claiming Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2020 election. The Trump allies met in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party’s Lansing headquarters in December 2020 after Biden won in the state in an attempt to overturn the election, Nessel’s office alleges. The fake electors signed a series of certificates that falsely claimed Trump won in Michigan, and those fraudulent documents were sent to the U.S. Senate and National Archives, according to prosecutors.

Michigan is one of seven states where the Trump campaign launched the fake elector scheme.

Prosecutors in each state are examining how much Trump’s national campaign was involved. Since Chesebro was central to the plot on a national level, the new documents could provide prosecutors with critical new information.

In connection to the scheme in Georgia, Chesebro pleaded guilty in a criminal racketeering indictment in October and agreed to help Georgia prosecutors.

Chesebro, who has not been charged in Michigan, was accused of helping create slates of fake electors in states won by Biden.

The new documents obtained by Michigan prosecutors show that Chesebro tried in vain to lure several notori-

Cops crack down on U-M anti-war protesters

On Friday, Michigan State Police responded to a tense but peaceful protest by University of Michigan students outside the U-M Museum of Art (UMMA) with pepper spray and physical force.

Members of the U-M Board of Regents, who have refused to officially respond to student requests for a meeting to discuss university divestment from Israel since students set up an encampment on the U-M diag nearly two weeks ago, were believed to wait inside the museum building.

Student protesters were joined outside the museum by community supporters, including families with young children.

Multiple students, including Nat Leach, who plans to graduate next year, explained that the UMMA protest was an impromptu one.

Students began to gather outside UMMA after they observed Regents Paul W. Brown, Sarah Hubbard, and Jordan B. Acker walking there. (UMMA is located within one- to two-minutes’ walking distance from the student encampment.)

Protesters circled the museum’s entrances to demand a meeting with the regents.

Nat Leach, a protester and member of the Tahrir Coalition, which is made up of more than 80 U-M-based student organizations, says, “We saw Regent Hubbard through the glass — she waved and smiled and giggled at us.”

(In a video posted to the Instagram page of the U-M chapter of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), Regent Hubbard is clearly visible smiling and waving through the glass wall of UMMA as she films onlookers with her phone.)

As Michigan State Police set up barricades, protesters beat on drums and chanted.

The scene remained peaceful until at least 9 p.m., as more state police arrived via bicycle.

Tensions escalated as the physical distance between police officers and protesters dwindled.

“We were surrounding the glass part of the UMMA,” says Leach, who was at home when the protest started, and learned about it on social media.

At that point, Leach says, police had shifted to using their bikes as an impromptu barricade and were “inching their bikes forward [as protesters] were inching back.”

“Then one state police [officer] picks up his bike, starts slamming it forward [into the crowd],” Leach says.

“I see two people next to me fall to the ground as I’m also being pushed into the people in front of me, where the wheel of the bike feels almost over my head,” Leach adds. “We were trying to just keep each other upright and not get pummeled onto the ground.”

Leach says they tried to move backwards “to maintain my situational awareness.”

When they regained their footing, they saw the same police officer reach out and grab a protester from the crowd — arbitrarily, Leach says — slam them against the glass wall of the building, and start to handcuff them.

“Definitely no Miranda rights,” Leach says.

Then Leach saw another officer “shaking his can of pepper spray like he’s about to spray. And I’m like, ‘He has pepper spray, back up,’ to the people next

ous, controversial Trump allies to Washington, D.C. to witness the fake elector scheme unfold on Jan. 6, 2021, the day that rioters burst into the U.S. Capitol.

The records also show that Chesebro encouraged conservative pundits and right-wing figures to promote his strategies for subverting the Electoral College process.

“It would help to publicize that if (then-Vice President Mike) Pence claims the power to resolve disputes about the electoral votes on Jan. 6, he’d simply be doing what (Thomas) Jefferson did,” Chesebro told Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft in a message on December 27, 2020.

Metro Times could not immediately reach Chesebro for comment.

—Steve

Neavling

to me.”

By the time Leach turned back around, the officer had begun spraying.

“Luckily, at that point, I had put my mask back on,” says Leach, who was standing far enough away that only a small amount of pepper spray landed on their skin. Others weren’t as lucky.

“This one girl basically just came running to me and collapsed, sobbing, screaming, crying. It became a frantic mad dash to get water,” Leach says. Like others on the scene, Leach used water to rinse pepper spray from protesters’ eyes.

Meanwhile, Leach says, “we know that the regents are inside, opting to do this instead of just speak with us.”

As police increased their use of physical force, protesters began to disperse, chanting, “Stay close / stay tight / we’re gonna be alright,” and “Who keeps us safe? / We keep us safe.”

According to Leach, many students “went from being pepper sprayed last night by their university to going to commencement [on Saturday].”

Students interrupted U-M’s commencement ceremony with additional protests, chanting, “Israel bombs / U of M pays / How many kids did you kill today?” during U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro’s speech and marching down the aisle of the stadium holding banners and Palestinian flags.

Leach insists that despite escalating tensions at university campuses across the country, University of Michigan protesters didn’t expect police officers here to use brute force.

“We hoped—” Leach starts before beginning their sentence again: “We want[ed] to remain optimistic that our own campus wouldn’t brutalize us.”

—Natalia Holtzman

Police used physical force during a standoff at the UMMA.

DOUG COOMBE

New waterfront cultural arts destination coming to Little Village

Multiple boat storage and service facilities lining the Detroit River are transforming into Stanton Yards, a forthcoming waterfront arts destination spearheaded by Library Street Collective co-founders JJ and Anthony Curis.

The development is part of the ambitious partners’ new arts corridor Little Village in Detroit’s East Village neighborhood. Once completed, Stanton Yards will be directly across Jefferson Avenue from the other anchor sites in Little Village, including the Shepherd, LANTERN, and Louis Buhl & Co.

“Stanton Yards is an extension of the community-based principles we’ve applied to other cultural developments in Little Village,” the Curises shared in a press release. “The adaptive reuse will breathe new life into a series of maritime buildings while transforming the storage-based marina into a public asset on the waterfront.”

The location got its name from the

waterway’s original title, the Stanton Canal, a nod to the site’s industrial history.

The Curises hope that the 13-acre area will emerge as a cultural centerpiece for the community, with over 80,000 square feet of commercial and creative space, 85 boat slips, and programmed waterfront parks. Library Street Collective, in collaboration with neighborhood stakeholders, will also spearhead Stanton Yards’ programming, which will include exhibitions, public activations, and performances.

Leading the architectural and design aspects of the redevelopment are OSD (Office of Strategy and Design), and New York-based architecture firm SO – IL. Efforts involve the adaptive reuse of four pre-war industrial buildings, including a former theatre, marina showrooms, service shops, and a navy shipyard from World War II. The transformation will combine historic architecture with modern upgrades and accessibility to create a campus for arts organizations, creative retail, artist studios, independent hospitality ventures, and more. Under the leadership of Simon David, OSD is crafting the master plan and landscape for the expansive marina site, which will also include a new waterfront restaurant and office building.

Stanton Yards promises to be a

publicly accessible site featuring arts, food, ecology, boating, and waterfront activities, with the goal to “reintroduce” Detroiters and visitors to a city with diverse cultural destinations.

“It’s an honor to be working once again with our visionary clients An-

Lawmakers want to shut up obnoxious cars

Vroom, vroom! The thundering, ear-splitting sound of an illegally modified car can be unnerving and obnoxious, unless you’re into that kind of thing.

Soon, state lawmakers are going to debate the merits of a bill that would crackdown on noisy, illegally modified car mufflers and exhausts. Under the bill introduced Thursday by Rep. Natalie Price, D-Berkley, police would have the authority to stop vehicles for excessive noise and impose stiffer fines and penalties.

Not only can drivers be penalized, but those who modify an exhaust system to make it louder can also face fines.

The bill enables law enforcement to impound or tow vehicles driven by repeat offenders.

The bill offers “grace” for first-time offenders, vehicles that need to be repaired, and drivers who can demonstrate compliance with the Motor Vehicle Act.

The driving force behind the bill is the nearly incessant rumbling of cars with modified exhausts on Woodward

Avenue, which has been a cruising destination for auto enthusiasts for decades.

“Day and night, Woodward is often used as a racetrack by drivers who have modified their vehicle’s exhaust systems with boosters that amplify their noise and often sound like gunshots,” Price said in a statement. “The effect is deafening noise and a seriously eroded quality of life for residents and businesses in the surrounding neighborhoods. We need to clamp down on this purposefully disruptive behavior with a targeted approach.”

Noise from exhaust systems raises quality-of-life issues and may have negative impacts on people’s health. The sound pollution can increase stress and trouble sleeping, which can exacerbate cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders, type 2 diabetes, and memory, attention, and concentration issues. Noise pollution is particularly problematic for vulnerable populations, such as children, seniors, veterans suffering from PTSD, and those undergoing athome healing. Pets also are stressed out by loud noises.

“My neighbor came over earlier tonight and was truly concerned it was gunshots not cars backfiring,” resident Alyssa Marsack said. “My dog has been scared several times just today and ran inside as she tried to enjoy her backyard. My neighbor with a young child has been kept up until 2 a.m. due to the noise on a weekday. I have had to close my windows and use the AC when I don’t want to just to keep the noise level down so I can sleep.”

The current penalty for driving a car with a modified exhaust is $100. Under the proposed bill, first-time offenders face a $500 fine, and repeat offenders could be fined up to $1,000. A third offense could lead to a misdemeanor criminal charge.

“Existing law limits what we can do about it, and unfortunately, the current $100-per-offense civil infractions do not seem to deter this behavior,”

Birmingham Police Chief Scott Grewer said. “With higher penalties for those intentionally seeking to disturb the peace, this bill will hopefully disincentivize vehicle modification and offer us more tools to deal with those who

thony and JJ Curis, who are invested in breathing new life into this neighborhood,” David says. “As Detroit undergoes a waterfront renaissance, Stanton Yards is poised to become a thriving new community destination for the city.”

—Layla McMurtrie

continue doing so.”

Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said living along Woodward has become “a nightmare” for some residents.

“While cruising on Woodward is a treasured tradition, the ear-splitting noise from new aftermarket exhausts on cars and bikes which run as loud as possible every day from the first warm day of the year until the first frost and late into each evening has made living along this historic corridor a nightmare for many residents,” McMorrow said. “Noise pollution at this volume is proven to have highly negative impacts on health — noise which disrupts sleep, wakes babies, shakes houses and even sounds like gunfire. Due to gaps in our current laws and because Woodward Avenue is a state highway, our local law enforcement departments have been unable to enact and enforce reasonable noise ordinances in the best interest of their residents.”

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation, where it will be debated at a future date.

—Steve Neavling

View of Stanton Yards.

IMAGE BY BLOOMIMAGES

NEWS & VIEWS

Lapointe

Has the RenCen’s future come and gone?

By Joe Lapointe

My favorite Renaissance Center moment came in the mid-1980s when Detroit Mayor Coleman Young spoke there at a long-forgotten public event.

The RenCen was a proud achievement for the Motor City’s chief executive in that era and it had just undergone one of its periodic interior renovations.

“It’s beautiful,” the mayor said, “but I still can’t find my way around this damn place.” Young smiled and chuckled as he said it — as he often did when kidding on the square.

Now that General Motors has announced plans to abandon its RenCen headquarters for the new Hudson’s building — while the office vacancy rate grows downtown — metro Detroiters are openly contemplating the future of a signature local landmark, asking:

• Can the RenCen, with its river and skyline views, be repurposed as residential space now that remote office work is here to stay and downtown living is in vogue?

• Should the whole RenCen be imploded (carefully!) and replaced with new construction and a better road configuration that links the Riverfront

with the rest of downtown?

• Or maybe we should just let it age in place, like pretty, shiny tombstones for a town that has seen better days.

Since it opened nearly a half-century ago, this cluster of cylindrical buildings on the Detroit Riverfront has been a mixed blessing, a perplexing edifice.

Striking to the eye and distinctive on the exterior from a distance, the interiors of the towers of the RenCen remain baffling. The pedestrian “flow” is not linear, the way humans tend to move from point to point.

Instead, the circular design forces you to walk in confusing curves. Some guests from the late 1970s may still be trying to find their way out.

Although the RenCen’s design is at least a venial offense, its mortal sin is not its interior or exterior layout but its location. And the problem is not the River, which abuts Canada and flows on downtown’s south edge.

Rather, the problem is Jefferson Avenue, which acts as a multi-lane moat that discourages pedestrian movement between the main blocks of downtown north of Jefferson and the RenCen area, south of Jefferson, on the same side as Hart Plaza and the Riverwalk.

Ideally, whether the RenCen stays or goes or changes in any way, a better road pattern would be to close — to automobiles and trucks — the half-mile of Jefferson between the RenCen and Huntington Place, which used to be called Cobo Hall.

That way, a vital part of Jefferson could be repurposed as parkland and pathways connecting both sections of downtown.

Unfortunately, this would create traffic tangles at the tunnel to Windsor and with two major freeways because the southbound Lodge empties out into Eastbound West Jefferson and the southbound Chrysler empties into Westbound East Jefferson.

Clearly, you see, Detroit is designed not for pedestrians or bicyclists or users of mass transit but rather for owners and operators of the automobile, which you must take with you at all times.

OK, but what about a large, pedestrian bridge over Jefferson that links both sides of the avenue, the way a little one does now between the RenCen and Millender Center? Or maybe we should just gaze at our mistakes and discuss our pipedreams for another 50 years.

Trump stumps by bashing Detroit

It wouldn’t be a Donald Trump rally in the Great Lakes State without plenty of lies and smears, including a few at Detroit.

“You see Detroit,” Trump told a redhatted rally last Wednesday at an airport near Saginaw. “For 35 years, I’ve heard about this great comeback in Detroit. And we’re still waiting. We’re still waiting. It’s taken a long time.”

So, while we wait, why not lie about Detroit rigging the 2020 presidential election, which the Republican former president lost to the Democrat, President Joe Biden?

“I’m sure you’ve heard of a little place called Detroit, right?” Trump said. “Where they had more ballots than they had voters?”

He was implying, falsely and knowingly, that a city that is Black-majority and Democratic must have cheated. And what would a Trump speech be without a sprinkling of gratuitous profanity?

“We’re not letting that bullshit happen again!” Trump said of alleged fraud. Regarding Biden, Trump said, “Every single thing he touches turns to shit.”

Since it opened nearly a half-century ago, this cluster of cylindrical buildings has been a mixed blessing.

MEGHAN HESS, FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

As for the many felony charges Trump faces from four indictments, he said: “Every one of these fake cases is bullshit. Every single one of them. Terrible!”

Trump stood in front of multiple American flags, wearing his campaign uniform of red necktie, white dress shirt, and solid blue suit. On his head, he wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat to shade his eyes and keep his hair from blowing in the wind.

In his most uncomfortable moments at the airport rally, Trump tried to doubletalk his way around the abortion issue.

After packing the Supreme Court with religious fundamentalists during his White House years, Trump originally bragged that he’d kept a campaign promise to “evangelicals” when the Court nullified Roe v. Wade by reversing the constitutional right to abortion.

Now that the ban has proven to be a political loser in Michigan and in other states, Trump still accuses abortion providers of “execution after birth” of babies.

He tried to boast to his right-wing followers that they now have a strong negotiating position for compromise on abortion limits at some time during the nine-month term of pregnancy.

And Trump insisted — again, falsely — that Republicans and Democrats both got what they wanted because the individual states — not the federal government — now determine abortion rights or lack thereof.

At this argument, his audience grew ominously quiet, obviously hoping for stronger words. After repeating a few points, Trump teased a light ripple of applause by naming the six reactionary members of the Supreme Court.

Then he changed the subject. But Trump’s best Pure Michigan moment came earlier in the week, when he was hyping his rally in local media. Roop Raj of Fox 2 Detroit let Trump rant about “illegal immigrant” criminals coming to the United States from Venezuela.

“Venezuela was very crime-ridden,” Trump said, on screen, in a remote interview. “They announced the other day a 72% reduction in crime in the last year. You know why? They moved all their criminals from Venezuela right into the good old U.S.A. And Biden let them do it. It’s a disgrace.”

Such statistics are one of Trump’s tropes, sometimes citing “67%” as the reduction in Venezuelan crime. Unlike most interviewers, Raj challenged the large, loud, orange-faced, yellow-haired demagogue.

“But sir,” Raj said to Trump, “where are those numbers coming from?”

This knocked the cocky smirk from Trump’s fat face. He looked stumped.

“Uh, I guess I get them from the pa-

pers in this case,” Trump stammered. “I think it’s a federal statement. Or, well, they’re coming, actually, from Venezuela. They’re coming from Venezuela.”

It was clear Trump had no statistical source for his brazen lie. Later, Raj spoke of Trump to his fellow anchors on the set.

“When you challenge him too much,” Raj said, “he’ll tell you you’re being disrespectful or it’s fake.”

Now

you see them, now you don’t

The blackout of Bally Sports Detroit by Comcast’s Xfinity cable means that many local viewers can’t see Tigers’ telecasts, but this is not just a local event or trend. Other cities and teams are hurt by the current crisis.

Overall, it’s part of a nationwide disruption for sports fans who must soon learn to use more complicated TV systems and pay more money for them as the industry makes a big turn amid major churn.

Why is this? As cord-cutters reduce revenue streams of cable companies, these systems and other delivery platforms are balking at higher fees for already-expensive specialty sports channels viewed by only a segment of their customers.

In the meantime, local games previously shown exclusively on local outfits like Bally are now leaking off, one by one, to national cable providers. Some of those games are seen only on “streaming apps.” Yes, the same games that used to “stream” on their cable systems without extra fees.

Assuming sports promoters don’t go all the way to pay-per-view (and that might come eventually), fans will be forced to shift to apps you will have to buy either for short periods of time or as season tickets.

Cable companies might elevate channels like Bally to a “luxury-platinumsports-deluxe” package on a premium pay tier that would cost you — Shazam! — extra money. That might be better than a streaming app.

Have you ever watched sports this way? Sometimes, it’s fine. But, at other times, the picture freezes or disappears. The local Bally “app” is difficult to operate and drives away its frustrated customers.

And have you ever tried to channelsurf during a “streaming” sports event? It is hard to do and get back quickly to the main game you’re watching.

In the 1980s, sports on TV exploded due to satellites and cable systems. The amount of programming surged to fill up once-empty hours and network coffers. Now, with the business model ticking louder and louder, another explosion is on the way.

EMPLOYMENT

Project Engineer - Closure Systems, Brose North America, Auburn Hills, MI. Engineer, dvlp, & release mechatronic front/rear side door & swing gate door closure syss (incl. intelligent latches (e-latches), Bowden cables, minimodules, functional chains, & crash brackets) for psgr, cargo, & comml vehicles, using CATIA V5, Teamcenter, & SAP Production Planning & Control & Qlty Mgmt tools. Act as single point of contact & exercise full design, engrg, & technical responsibility for closure sys dvlpmt projects between OEM customer w/ commn & coordination of OEM customer & internal vehicle & product reqmts w/ Brose Customer Team, Design & Central Functions. Improve closure syss security & comfort incl. low effort when opening, silent closing, improved anti-theft device features & technology dvlpmt for crash safety & protection. Use Eventive & Excel tools to perform automot cmpt & subsys statistical tolerance stack-up anlys of dimensions & static forces incl. kinematics, & highlighting critical parts, tolerances, & dimensions, & evaluating contribution to general functions. Bachelor, Mechanical Engrg, Mechatronics Engrg, Industrial Engrg or Design, or related. 24 mos’ exp as Engineer or related, engrg side door closure syss (incl. Bowden cables, functional chains, & crash brackets) for psgr vehicles, using CATIA & Teamcenter tools, or related. E-mail resume to Jobs@brose.com (Ref#39348-205).

EMPLOYMENT

Project Manager - Door Modules and Window Regulators, Brose North America, Auburn Hills, MI. Plan, lead, & set project financial & technical milestones & deliverables for N.A. product dvlpmt & series production for Brose proprietary door modules (incl. guide rails, sliders, motors, cable drum housings, & carrier plates) & window regulators (incl. motors, guide rails, & sliders) covering 2018 to 2027 & beyond Brose projects & to meet Brose packaging & Product Dvlpmt Process standards. Build project teams & guide cross functional team w/ Project Engr, Industrial Engr, Qlty Planner, Logistics Planners to meet each project’s deliverables. Perform target cost mgmt, product cost optimization, & financial anlyses to manage & deliver projects from automotive compt concept dvlpmt & industrialization to commercialization & continuous improvement throughout the product lifecycle. Use CATIA V5 tool to dvlp products & review activities of Project Engr, & SAP Financial Accounting, Controlling, Production Planning & Control, Qlty Mgmt, & Logistics modules to plan & control financial & technical aspects of projects. Bachelor, Accounting, Accounting Sciences, Business Administration, Finance, or related. 36 mos’ exp as Project Leader, Project Team Leader, Project Manager, or related, planning & setting project financial & technical milestones & deliverables for product dvlpmt & series production for door module or door sys, or related. E-mail resume to Jobs@brose.com (Ref#863).

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5/17 Cinecide/A Rueful Noise/ Blasty’s Backroad

5/18 The Hourlies/Cherry Drop/ Pink Spit

5/24 Movement Kickoff: TECHNO CHRISTMAS

5/25 DISKULL/Knifehouse/ Werkout Plan/Aramis

5/26 THE DETROIT PARTY w/ TONY NOVA

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5/31 Seatbelts/Stomp Rockets/ Hydrogen Jukebox

6/01 Billy Brant & The Sugarees/ Chris Degnore & The Gary Janes

6/07 ‘PartyUP 3’ Prince’s Birthday Dance Party

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‘ I’m not going to be a quiet poet laureate’ A conversation with jessica Care moore

BY LAYLA M c MURTRIE

The spirit of Detroit shines bright through jessica Care moore. As a poet, recording artist, publisher, filmmaker, activist, educator, and mother, she radiates the hardworking essence of the city. With pride, she founded publishing house Moore Black Press, nonprofit Moore Art House, groundbreaking rock ’n’ roll movement Black WOMEN Rock!, and punk duo We Are Scorpio. The list goes on and on.

In exciting news for the city, moore has just been appointed as Detroit’s poet laureate, a title announced by Mayor Mike Duggan at a press conference last week.

She steps into the position as the third ever poet laureate in the city’s history, following Dudley Randall, who started the tradition in 1981, and Naomi Long Madgett, who served from 2001 until her passing in 2020.

In moore’s new role, she will spearhead unique events and programs throughout the city, deliver an annual address at the Detroit Public Library, and write poetry that resonates with Detroiters.

The Ford Foundation is sponsoring moore’s position as poet laureate, as well as a city historian who started in 2021, and a composer laureate that will be announced later this summer.

Metro Times spoke with moore over Zoom to learn about the new role.

The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What does being given the title of Detroit’s poet laureate mean to you?

As a dreamy, young poet, you dream of, “Maybe I’ll be a poet laureate one day.” Because of the type of poet that I am, and because I speak a lot of times to the core of the people’s conscience, you never think that you could be a poet laureate. Not in this country. You think they want people who are easy readers who don’t push back against extreme conservatism, like what’s happening with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion right now.

That’s a big deal for me. I’m not just a poet. I’m also an educator. I’m also a scholar. I’m also a child of [the] Black Arts Movement. I also fought, when I was a student at Wayne State and Michigan State, for racial justice. That’s the core of who I am. You never think when you’re that person that you’ll get recognized, but if I’m going to be a poet laureate, this is the poet laureate I want to be, the poet laureate of Detroit.

This is the work that I’ve been do -

ing, representing my city for such a long time, even when I was in Brooklyn and living in Atlanta. I think I was in Atlanta, actually, when I got my ‘D’ tat on my arm, because I was missing home.

It’s a different kind of importance because of how much I actually absolutely love the city. I’ve written about this city not because I wanted to become a poet laureate, I’ve just written about the city because what an incredible city to write about. I’m always reimagining, thinking about Detroit in the future, not just in the right now. It’s an extreme honor to represent Detroit. I’m really proud.

Naomi Long Madgett, she was a mentor, known her since I was probably like 19, very young. I was doing Broadside Press workshops with her and she had Lotus Press, and I remember her telling me, “If you ever publish books, you start a press. Make sure your book has a perfect bind and your book looks like the other books in the bookstore. You have to have a good editor.” I’ll never forget it. Then in 1997, I started Moore Black Press and I published my first book. I became an institution builder in the same vein of Lotus Press and Naomi Long Madgett.

To not have a [new] poet laureate for 20 years, and then now me, is really beautiful. I was crying. It’s a blessing. I’m excited.

For those who don’t know what

a poet laureate is, what will you be doing in the role?

I think the poet laureate depends on the poet laureate. I think it is what you make it. I think everyone takes on the position differently. What it will be for me? I know that I want to be a voice for young people in this city who are great poets inside these schools and in our communities. I want to build a poetry curriculum that’s embedded inside of Detroit Public Schools, in Detroit and Michigan schools in general, not just DPS, but all of them. We have to broaden the scope and we have to introduce poetry into the classroom. We can’t make it an ancient art form that doesn’t belong to you right now. I’d like to bring poetry into the right now. I want to do national campaigns to support literacy.

The Moore Art House is my nonprofit. I only have one little grant so far, I’m just getting started this summer, but I’m excited with this new position that I’ll be able to use the position to push the programming I want to do [such as] intergenerational storytelling in neighborhoods, with open mics with our elders and with our young people. I want to do an international poetry festival — I want to bring the poet laureates to Detroit, and show off our city too. There’s a lot of poets who haven’t read here who are internationally and nationally known and I’m connected to all those poets. So

jessica Care moore is Detroit’s new poet laureate.

DANTE RIONDA

I hope to be a connector in that way, a conduit to other writers who are really interested in our city.

I’m excited and I’m grateful to the Ford Foundation for adding some grant money to it so it’s not just me working for free. People think poets like to work for free and we don’t. Poets need to work and it is work.

For me, poetry is not just pretty words on paper, it’s actually the way you see the world. There’s a lot going on in the world right now to the point sometimes you can’t even write because you’re just frozen by what’s happening. Sonia Sanchez always said she’s “writing poems to find humanity” because that’s what separates us from a dog or a tree or a garbage can. We’re always trying to peel back language so that we can find some humanity, and we really need a lot more humanity on the planet right now.

Why do you feel that mentorship and empowering the young people in the city is so important?

Because I wouldn’t be here without it. Because I had it. Because when I moved to New York City, the Last Poets, who are like the godfathers of rap music, took me in. They’re like father figures to me and took me on the road with them and mentored me, and so did women [poets], very well known storytellers from Howard University. I rolled with them. They saw my talent and they took me on the road and I opened for them. Sonia Sanchez has been a rock for me as a friend and she’ll be 90 years old this year. I learned from institution builders.

So, I know that it’s important that I show up. I want to be inside schools and present and I want people to see that poetry is in the city in a different way during my two year tenure. We’ll see. I’m going to just push, push, push and see what happens.

When did you first start doing poetry and how did you get started in Detroit’s poetry scene?

I’ve been writing poetry for a long time. I was writing poetry in high school, but as far as getting on an open mic — I had gone to Michigan State, come home — I was on the hip-hop scene, I was not on the poetry scene. I came up when, rest in peace, Proof was alive and Baatin and I was running around with J Dilla. I used to work at the Hip Hop Shop and would go to a place called the Rhythm Kitchen and 1515 Broadway. I was reading poems at hip-hop spots; there weren’t big poetry spaces back then.

Then, when I was in college at Wayne State in ’93, there was a place called the Pour Me Cafe on Grand River. It’s now a club called TV Lounge, but it used to be a poetry spot. I went from reading at

“ When I moved to New York City, the Last Poets, who are like the godfathers of rap music, took me in. They’re like father figures to me and took me on the road with them and mentored me, and so did women [poets], very well known storytellers from Howard University. I rolled with them.”

the open mic to hosting and becoming a very popular poet before I moved to New York City, and I actually opened for the Last Poets when I was there.

So, that was pretty much my startup of seeing the poetry community, but I spent more time on the hip-hop scene to be honest. I was an activist at Wayne State, so I was using poetry to get people to do things. It wasn’t about being this crafted great poet, it was about making change in my community. I started more in that space and I was a journalist and an activist.

I moved to New York City in ’95 and that’s because I was a poet. I had an opportunity to be a full time news writer at that time with Channel 50. I was going into television journalism, I thought, and the weekend associate producer position was mine. I was in mind for it, still a student at Wayne State, and I didn’t really want it. I didn’t interview like I wanted it, and they knew that. I was like, ‘Oh, actually I think I want to move to New York City.’ And my life changed very fast, five months in I won Showtime at the Apollo five weeks in a row.

People know this story, this is a story connected to my life and I haven’t done anything except become a poet, but the institution building in my imagination has kept me here for almost 30 years now. I can’t believe I’m a grown up. It’s ridiculous. I started quite young.

How would you say that growing up in Detroit, as well as your adulthood in Detroit, has shaped your poetry?

It made me fearless in a different kind of way. I moved to Brooklyn and I realized how country I was. The New York poets sounded so different from me. Being from Detroit and coming from a Black city kept me grounded and I’m grounded in a different kind of way because I grew up around culture. I grew up with a Black mayor. I’m a Coleman A. Young baby. All I knew — a loud talking, amazing, rabble-rouser, Dobbs hat-wearing [mayor] — he was gangster for me and that’s all I knew.

My daddy was a big influence in my life. I grew up on a block full of Black fathers, that made a huge difference in my life, not just my own dad, but everybody had a daddy. I didn’t think that

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was a big deal. Noisy block in Detroit, house full of kids — we lived outside. I had such a good time growing up in Detroit. Being from Detroit is a thing. It’s so funny because everyone’s been texting me, my phone has not stopped for like two days. Dave Chappelle texted me and he said, “That sounds kind of cool being Poet Laureate of Detroit.” I was like, “I know, that’s some gangster shit, right? That’s not normal.”

Shout out to Nandi Comer, I’ve known her since she was a little girl literally. I was so happy when she got appointed. We were laughing because she became the Michigan Poet Laureate for the state when I was the new voice of Pure Michigan. She goes, “Look at this man, isn’t it beautiful, a Black woman Pure Michigan voice and I’m the state poet laureate.” I was like, “Let’s go!” So now that I’m the Detroit poet laureate, which I wanted, we’re going to do some work together, we’re going to build. We’re going to take advantage of this moment. I’ve literally known Nandi since she was a little girl. I’m really proud of her. She’s a great poet.

You’ve talked about the importance of this year being your father’s centennial. Why is that so powerful to you and how did he impact you as a poet?

He’s my hero. He was a poet and he was a Cadillac-driving construction worker, cement-pouring, beautiful human being, great dancer. I am him in girl form. I am Tom’s daughter. He has been a light and an ancestor, if you believe in that kind of thing. He’s been with me through this whole journey. I lost him. I cry now like it happened yesterday because he was my heart. It broke my heart and that’s why I left Detroit, because I didn’t want to be here anymore because he wasn’t. I was like, “I’m leaving. I’m out of here.” My son, who is named after him, King Thomas, brought me back to Detroit. I knew the centennial year, I knew my daddy was gonna make things happen for me. My film is premiering, my world premiere is at the American Black Film Festival in Miami, then Detroit poet laureate. I sent in my nomination letter on my father’s birthday on purpose. I waited until March 12 to do it, because I was like, I’m gonna do this on my daddy’s birthday

so I can have his energy with this nomination letter that I’m sending.’ He’s an important part of my upbringing. Music is also a big part of your life, with Black WOMEN Rock!, We Are Scorpio, etc. How does your poetry and music connect? Will music be a part of your programming as a poet laureate?

Oh yeah, it has to be, poetry and music is everything. Now [poets] have a Grammy category, so We Are Scorpio will be nominated this year I hope. That record should be coming out sometime in June. We’re still waiting for the date for the vinyl to come out. It’s a punk rock record. If people know Patti Smith, I’m very Patti Smith with it on this record. She’s been a model for me as a poet and a rocker. My 20th anniversary of Black WOMEN Rock! is this year, and that’s not a poetry show. I’ve been recording since the ’90s. Music is very cathartic for me and it’s a way for me to get to audiences in a different way. I want to bring that music back out that I put out in 2015 through Talib’s label.

I’m excited about this We Are Scorpio piece. I mean lyrically, I figured out, I think for me, how to put poetry in tight verses with these great heavy rock ’n’ roll hooks. I’m excited, and we’re tentatively slated for the Fillmore. We’re still working out the details, but I want a marquee on Woodward. I don’t want to be in an auditorium. It’s a rock ’n’ roll concert for the 20th anniversary. I want to do it big, so a lot is coming. You often combine your poetry with activism. How are you going to use that energy to empower Detroiters? Poets are not supposed to just be here for rainbows and sunshine. There’s joy and celebratory lines in my work, but you have to be honest. Detroiters are real people, authentic people. I’ve said a line in my poem, “Detroiters don’t do fake, we do work.” We’re not surface people. We’re “up south” people. We’re from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi. We come from hard work. We come from, some of us, plantation work.

My grandmother was born in the late 1800s and she died young. Think about the late 1800s in rural Alabama. That’s not easy living. So that is in my bloodline, that work and that hardship, is in my bloodline, so it’s in my work. When I write, I think about those people that had to do things that I didn’t have to do, but they saw me, I believe, saw me in the future. My people were West African and Indigenous, so Cherokee Indian and West African folks having babies, and that’s what we look like, that’s who we are, that’s the oral history. So, I take all those ancestors and bring them all with me to my

“I am in the rock ’n’ roll space, Black women who play rock ’n’ roll all over the world. I recorded with Common and Talib and Jeezy and Nas, that’s a different space than some poets. I’m not confined to just reading inside of bookstores. And so the reach becomes different.”

work and a lot of Detroiters have that same story.

How does it feel to be coming after Detroit’s last poet laureate, Naomi Long Madgett? How do you feel that you will represent the city uniquely compared to her?

Naomi Long Madgett was a legend and why it’s really special to me is because I knew her and because I have memories and because she inspired me to start Moore Black Press because of Lotus Press. I think she’d be pleased. She was supportive of my work and loved my poetry too and so we got to read together on more than one occasion. She was always very warm and sweet and she was an institution builder and so it feels right in that way.

But also, what the mayor said during the press conference was, “This program is about a newer energy.” Because she was an elder, she passed at 97, and she was still badass, let me just say, she was in her 90s and she walked up to the podium. So, that gives me inspiration that my work is just beginning. As grown up as I think I am, sometimes, I think about people like that and my other teacher, Sonia Sanchez, who’s turning 90 and say, “OK, maybe I’m just getting started.”

I think the difference would be that I’m younger, and that I have a lot of energy and and I care a lot, my heart is really in this city in a similar kind of way. I can go inside schools in a different kind of way. I think I have the energy and the wherewithal to actually care enough to show up in a different kind of way and I think that’s the only difference.

I don’t find myself much different than Naomi Long Madgett, very similar energy, just a different generation. I think that because I’m an interdisciplinary artist, because I am in the rock ’n’ roll space, connected to rock ’n’ roll, Black women who play rock ’n’ roll all over the world, because I am connected to hip-hop, it’s different. I recorded with Common and Talib and Jeezy and Nas, that’s a different space than some poets. I’m not confined to just reading inside of bookstores. And so the reach becomes different.

Doing the corporate work that I’ve

done with Steven McGee for Pure Michigan, that campaign is a different kind of work. That corporate storytelling that I’ve been doing is interesting, like getting to the heart of things that corporations aren’t able to really do. Even their best marketing department can’t out-write me.

I’m happy to say that I’m connected to an artist community that’s full of good people and I just hope to do more — big stuff, big things like the opera house, big stages, collaborative projects with musicians that puts poetry in a bigger space. I’m going to take haiku and put it all over the city, is what I’m gonna do.

You talked a lot about what you want to do in this role, but is there anything else you want to add about what Detroiters can expect from you?

I’m not going to be a quiet poet laureate. I’d love to know what people want out of me. I’ve been at this work for such a long time. I’m a community person. I’d like to see a shift in curriculum. Education is a big deal. I’d like a black box theater at every Detroit public school, because poetry and theater go hand in hand. I want to see this imbalance of resources inside schools stop. There’s people doing great things inside Detroit Public Schools.

I’m only one person, so I must say this: I can’t do this by myself. The things I want to do, I’m looking for coconspirators. I’m looking for comrades. I’m looking for help from other poets and writers and theater people, people who love the arts, who love visual art, interdisciplinary artists, musicians, so we really make an impact. I’m excited that there’s going to be a composer laureate — that’s gangster, go Detroit. Whoever this composer laureate is, I want to work with them. I want to work with our historian. We should all be finding ways to sit down and say, “How can we make something great happen in the city together?”

Then, I plan to be a conduit in the world. I want to represent Detroit in other places, which I have always done. I’m excited to represent Detroit in a big way, not just coming as jessica Care moore, but coming as the Detroit poet laureate. I’m really proud of that.

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, May 8

Crune, Drôw, Turbomenace 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.

He Is Legend, Codeseven, The Seafloor Cinema 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $25.

Little Miss Nasty, Whitney Peyton 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $20-$200.

Shakey Graves 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $33-$65.

Teezo Touchdown 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $23.

Thursday, May 9

Bryan Martin 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18.

Jennifer Westwood and the Handsome Devils 7-10:30 p.m.; Valentine Distilling Co.-Cocktail Lounge, 161 Vester Avenue, Ferndale; $10+.

Jon B. 8 p.m.; Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $41-$53.

Kamasi Washington 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $43.

Stephen Carey 8 p.m.; Tin Roof, 47 E. Adams Ave., Detroit; no cover.

Stiff Little Fingers, Ricky Warwick 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $29.50 advance, $35 day of show.

Vision Video, Aurelio Voltaire, Tears for the Dying, Then Comes Silence and Amaranth 6:30 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $25.

Young Medicine, Danny Blu, Parti, Fit For Treason 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.

Friday, May 10

Alan Doyle 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $25-$59.99.

Bit Brigade, Galactic Empire, Super Guitar Bros 6:30 p.m.; Sanctuary

Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $22. Fender Staxx, Xero Hour, Sick Serenity, Kiljin, Plethora 6 p.m.; Harpo’s, 14238 Harper Avenue, Detroit; $20.

JUMP (Van Halen tribute), TASTY 80s 8 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $22$1,000.

Mannequin Pussy, Soul Glo 7 p.m.; The Shelter, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $22.50.

Mariah The Scientist 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $38-$83.

Yolanda Adams, Hezekiah Walker, John P. Kee, Tye Tribbett, Jay Lamont 8 p.m.; Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $54-$125.

Pilfers, J. Navarro and the Traitors, The Kilograms, The Boy Detective 7 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $15.

Royal Sweets, Ladyship Warship, DJ SciFi-Deluxx 9 p.m.midnight; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.

Three Dog Night 7:30 p.m.; Fisher Theatre - Detroit, 3011 West Grand & Fisher, Detroit; $59-$294.

TOOLOLOGY (TOOL tribute), Failing Stars (Smashing Pumpkins tribute) 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18.

Saturday, May 11

Bad Religion, Social Distortion, The Lovebombs 6 p.m.; Detroit Masonic Temple Library, 500 Temple St, Detroit; $34-$69.

Boundaries, Orthodox, Kaonashi, No Cure 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $20.

Derek St. Holmes, Horse Cave Trio 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $20-$180.

Echoes Of Pompeii (Pink Floyd tribute) 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18.

Elton Rohn (Elton John tribute) 8 p.m.; Andiamo Celebrity Showroom, 7096 E. 14 Mile Rd., Warren; $35-$69.

Emo Night Brooklyn (18+) 8 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $13-$18.

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway 7 p.m.; Majestic Theatre, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $35-$65.

Our Last Night 7:30 p.m.; Cathedral

Theatre at the Masonic Temple, 500 Temple St., Detroit; $29.50-$99.

Resurrection Story, Belling the Tiger, DJ Zak Frieling 9 p.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.

YYNOT (Rush tribute) 8 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $22-$1,000.

Sunday, May 12

Hatsune Miku — Miku Expo 8 p.m.; Fisher Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit; $71-$306.50.

Patti LaBelle, El DeBarge 6 p.m.; Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $59-$189.

Trauma Ray, Kraus, Prize Horse, Outside, Sulk 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.

Young Rising Sons, 44Blonde, Lemondrop, Nathan Gonzales 6:30 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $18.

Monday, May 13

Cabal, Born A New, Float Omen, Walking Down Main, Gator Pit 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.

Saxon, Uriah Heep 6 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $40.50.

Wild Child, Oh He Dead 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $25.

DJ/Dance

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

Tuesday, May 14

Better Than Ezra, Airpark 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $34.

Gouge Away 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $16. NF 8 p.m.; Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $39.50-$129.50.

Ringo Deathstarr, The Acharis 7 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $15.

Sean Paul, Farina 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $47.99-$127.99.

Trey Anastasio and Classic Tab 7:30 pm; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $59.50-$79.50.

DJ/Dance

B.Y.O.R Bring Your Own Records

Night 9 p.m.-midnight; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; no cover.

THEATER

Performance

Detroit Film Theatre (DFT) Yellow Brick Ballads: Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit; $10-25; Friday, 7 p.m.; and Saturday, 2 p.m.

Detroit Public Theatre Clyde’s; $47; see website for full schedule; through June 2.

Fisher Theatre The Simon & Garfunkel Story; Saturday; 7:30 p.m.

Rosedale Community Players An Inspector Calls; $18; Friday, 8-10 p.m.; and Saturday, 2-4 & 8-10 p.m.

The Back Office Studio Lee’s Grand Tiki:; $15 general, $12 student; Friday, 8-10 p.m.; Saturday, 8-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-4 p.m.

Meadow Brook Theatre Route 66; $43; Wednesday, May 8, 2 & 8 p.m.; Thursday, May 9, 8 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 2 & 6:30 p.m.

Musicals

Ridgedale Playhouse It Shoulda Been You; $18-$20; Friday, 8-10 p.m.; Saturday, 8-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-4 p.m.

COMEDY

Improv

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

Planet Ant Theatre Hip-Prov: Improv with a Dash of Hip-Hop; $10; second Wednesday of every month, 7 p.m.

Open mic

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle Open Mike Night; $5; Wednesday, May 8, 7:30-9 p.m.

Stand-up

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle

Dave Dyer; $20; Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle

Maz Jobrani; $35; Friday, May 10, 7:15 p.m. & 9:45 p.m.; Saturday, May 11, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.

Misc.

Planet Ant Theatre Found Footage Festival: Vol. 10; $17; Sunday, 7-9:30 p.m.

The Independent Comedy Club Tales form the 313: EYE FOR AN EYE featuring Rob Kemeny, Visionary Speaks,

Hailey Zureich, Dani Luv, Vivian Burgett, Julianna Loera-Wiggins, Scott Sviland; $10 advance, $15 day of show; Friday, 9-10:30 p.m.

DANCE

Dance performance

University of Michigan - Flint Festival of Dance; $8-$15; Saturday, 2-4 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-4 p.m.

The Whiting Dance To The Movies featuring Flint Symphony Orchestra; $29-$84; Saturday, 8-9:30 p.m.

FILM

Screening

Senate Theater Marqueetown benefit; $10; Sunday, 3-5 p.m.

FASHION

Fashion Show

Gallery 46 The Forgotten Fashion Show; $50-$100; Saturday, 6-9 p.m.

The Riverside Detroit The Annual Lavish Fashion Showcase; 25; Saturday, 7-10:30 p.m.

ARTS

Art Exhibition

College for Creative Studies CCS Student Exhibition; no cover; Friday, 6-10 p.m.

College for Creative Studies, A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education Re/View: A CCS Alumni Exhibition; no cover; Friday, 5-10 p.m.

Continuing this week

Irwin House Gallery Bryan Gower’s FAUXSTALGIA and Viniecia Farmer’s RESILIENT HE(ARTS); no cover; through Saturday, May 18.

Janice Charach Gallery 5th Annual Michigan Regional Glass Exhibition; no cover; Through June 26, 1-5 pm.

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) MOCAD Annual Teen Art Exhibition: SELFish; no cover; Saturdays, Sundays.

LITERARY

Books

Literati Tracie McMillan: The White Bonus; Wednesday, May 8, 6:30 p.m.

The War Memorial Silent Book Club at The War Memorial (bring your own book and enjoy socializing with other book lovers… or not!); no cover; Tuesday, 6-8 p.m.

MISC.

Animal show

Washtenaw Community College Cat Fanciers Association Cat Show; $8 adults, $5 students, $20 family, no cover under age 6; Saturday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Festival

Rose Hill Center Annual Rose Hill Center Flower Sale and Fair; no cover; Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Games

Cranbrook Art Museum National Mini-Golf Day at Cranbrook on the Green; $15 adults, $10 ArtMembers and Detroit residents, $8 children under 12.

ISSUES & LEARNING

Lectures & classes

Cranbrook Institute of Science

Dr. Cathy Olkin: NASA’s Lucy Mission to Explore the Trojan Asteroids; $5-$15; Wednesday, May 8, 5-8 p.m.

Continuing this week (exhibits)

Cranbrook Institute of Science Galileo: Scientist, Astronomer, Visionary. Through June 2.

Detroit Historical Museum In the Neighborhood Everyday Life on Hastings Street; Mondays-Sundays, 10 a.m.

SPORTS

Baseball

Comerica Park Detroit Tigers vs. Miami Marlins; Friday, 6:40 p.m.; Saturday, 6:10 p.m.; and Sunday, 1:40 p.m.; Monday, 6:40 p.m.; and Tuesday, 6:40 p.m.

Boxing

Huntington Place 2024 National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions; $25, Monday-Saturday.

DATING

Singles Mixer Party Half-off drinks

7-8 p.m., soundscapes by DJ Esso; singles mixer for Armenians, Lebanese, Greeks, other ethnic Christians, ages 27-45ish. Saturday, 7-10 p.m.; Syndicate Ferndale, 140 Vester Ave., Ferndale; $15.

May 8-14, 2024 | metrotimes.com

Critic’s pick

Found Footage Festival

FILM: You’ve seen America’s Funniest Home Videos. The Found Footage Festival is kind of like that, but weirder. Its creators bill it as “the world’s largest collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly stupid videos.”

The show is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a tour, which stops by Hamtramck’s Planet Ant on Sunday.

The festival is the brainchild of New York-based Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, who grew up together in Wisconsin before finding work in comedy (Prueher at The Colbert Report and The Late Show with David Letterman, Pickett at The Onion).

The two friends had long collected random video tapes before deciding to make a festival out of them. “It was spring 2004 when we decided to take these VHS tapes that we’ve been showing to friends in crummy apartments out of a living room and put it in the back of a bar,” Prueher tells Metro Times. “People showed up, and they still are for some reason.”

Prueher says his collection started in earnest in the early ’90s, when he was working at a McDonald’s store and was forced to watch a training video for janitorial duties. “It was just so remarkable,” he says of the tape. “They tried to add their own mythology to it… The crew trainer told the [trainee] that if he cleaned extra well, he can hope to one day ‘See McC.’ And it was never quite explained whether ‘McC’ was a concept, a person, or a state of being.”

Prueher says the new show features selections from exercise videos (including a Christian workout called Believercise) and a mysterious New Age tape called Elimination: The First Step

While the latter may sound cultish and possibly apocalyptic, Prueher says it’s even stranger than that.

“It’s nothing drastic, but essentially it’s a New Age guru who has a program

you can take to have better bowel movements,” he explains. “He somehow convinced a seminar full of people in a hotel somewhere to take this class on how to ‘eliminate better.’ ... We did a supercut of him talking about shitting, essentially.”

Prueher says after watching hours of raw tapes, he and Pickett edit the footage down. “I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody to have to watch these the way we do in their raw form,” he says. “We’re gluttons for punishment.”

He adds, “You can get creative with the editing. ... We put them into digestible chunks, little three-minute segments for people to enjoy, and have a running commentary of jokes and observations.”

They have even hired a private detective to track down some of the people from the videos for follow-ups.

Much of the videos in the festival are sourced from VHS tapes.

“Because that’s sort of what the golden age of home video was,” Prueher says. “It was such a unique thing where people didn’t know what they were doing, and so cheap to do that all these mom-and-pop operations come in and make these hyper-specific tapes that they thought nobody outside of their community would ever see.”

Prueher says he plans to scour Detroit-area thrift stores for new tapes while he’s in town, but adds that Found Footage Fest attendees are welcome to bring their strange video finds to Planet Ant.

“We always accept donations,” he says. “We’re only in the Detroit area once a year. ... So let us know what you find.” —Lee DeVito

Starts at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 12; Planet Ant, 2320 Caniff St., Hamtramck; foundfootagefest.com. Tickets are $17.

Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher

COURTESY PHOTO

FOOD

A great Mediterranean catch

By Tom Perkins

and holds everything together.

Cibo Modern Mediterranean

600 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit 313-338-3529

cibodetroit.com

$15-$130

Few dishes in Detroit hit like Cibo’s nduja and octopus with squid ink gnocchi, and the plate’s depth, inventiveness, and contrast encapsulates what makes the new-ish downtown restaurant one of the better high-end options in a city that somewhat lacks in the genre.

The dish’s inspiration, chef James Sumpter says, is Spanish octopus tapas, traditionally prepared with plenty of paprika, garlic, and potatoes. Nduja, a spicy and spreadable Italian salami pate, comes packed with garlic, paprika, and Calabiran peppers. The gnocchi, which Cibo makes with less flour so it’s more like a potato pillow, plays its role, and its squid ink adds an umami bump. The octopus is cooked sous vide, then pan-cooked in olive oil, then grilled, rendering the notoriously tough mollusk tender. The lean squid is the perfect canvas for the nduja, which adds a fattiness

Most of what we tried reached that level at Cibo, where Sumpter runs six kitchens in the Cambria Hotel, right at the edge of downtown’s west side, near Corktown.

The restaurant describes itself as “Mediterranean,” which can mean any number of things, and in the Detroit area frequently suggests Lebanese fare.

Sumpter says the owners are Sicilian and Chaldean, so they wanted Italian and Middle Eastern influences on the menu. Ultimately, there’s a focus on Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern, but also some North African flavors.

The glistening space looks straight out of a coastal Mediterranean town, with plenty of sun in the day, and it offers a strong wine list and excellent bar program. Cibo’s menu has evolved a bit since its November opening as the kitchen figures out what works and sous chefs make their contributions to recipes, Sumpter says, and they’re also now shifting with the season.

Another representative plate is the kofta in which Cibo marries Greek and Middle Eastern elements. Sumpter says he embellished a lamb recipe from famed Israeli chef Michael Solomonov’s

Zahav cookbook, and it’s served aside a punchy, slightly sweet tomato jam. That’s contrasted by a cucumber salad made with peeled cukes sliced super thin to pull out the water, then mixed with labneh and fresh dill. Sumpter describes it as “simple,” and on one level it is, but the interplay among the textures, saltiness, herbiness, smokiness, acidic and sweet jam, and other elements are notso-simple, and give the dish its depth.

Also fantastic is the mussels in a shakshuka sauce with merguez, essentially a Moroccan plate. The fragrant sauce holds merguez, an awesome earthy North African sausage, and the mix is cooked with butter and wine. My one minor nitpick is that more wine could’ve been added to deepen it a bit. Regardless, don’t skip this one.

Sumpter, who has worked in kitchens around Michigan, moved to Detroit looking for a new challenge when he became an empty nester last year. He got acquainted with the potential demand for Middle Eastern cuisine here when a halal food influencer stopped in and shot some video that got 800,000 views. He notes most meat on the menu is halal, with the exception of a steak, and the crew decided it would be a good idea

to lean into some of the Middle Eastern elements. Out of that the halal half chicken was born from a plate that was more European in an earlier iteration. It is, in effect, a chef-ed up version of a chicken shawarma or a chicken and rice plate like those at New York City’s halal carts.

The chicken is a boneless half bird and its marinade recipe is also spun off of a Zahav cookbook plate. Sumpter takes an herby green onion marinade and enlivens it further with ginger, more garlic, lemon juice, spices, and herbs in an effort to produce almost a Middle Eastern chimichurri. The bird is cooked sous vide with the marinade, before the juices are removed from the bag, then reapplied as a glaze while the chicken roasts in the oven.

It arrives with a golden toum, effectively garlic sauce prepared with lemon cured cloves and turmeric. That’s accompanied by a bulgerless tabouleh, and a slightly sweet and mellow combination of pickles made with Champagne and white balsamic vinegars. Take each bite with rice or lavash.

Altogether, Cibo is one of the best higher-end dining experiences in recent memory in Detroit.

Cibo carves out a space among Detroit’s best high-end restaurants.

TOM PERKINS

CULTURE

Nourishing the senses

Someday merges culinary and visual arts in Detroit’s North End

By Layla McMurtrie

Walking into Someday, a new art gallery and bakehouse in Detroit’s North End, you’ll be embraced like a close friend.

The space merges culinary and visual arts, all seamlessly blended with an essence of “inner child energy.” In March, Someday opened at 2857 E. Grand Blvd., connected to the comic book store Vault of Midnight. MilkyWay, a model and DJ, and Trotter, a photographer and visual artist, launched Someday with a shared vision of introducing local communities to unique creative programming that nourishes all the senses.

The founders began their journeys together at Detroit’s Cass Tech High School and have since worked together and separately in fine art, editorial, and commercial spaces.

After living in New York City for a short period and Los Angeles for around seven years, collaborating with clients such as Nike, Telfar, Rolling Stone, and Google, the couple returned home to Detroit in 2022 with ambitions of strengthening the city’s creative community and cultivating a safe space for “young melanated folk.”

During the same year, Someday received a Motor City Match grant of $40,000, which supported the realization of its brick-and-mortar.

“We honestly hit the ground running,” Trotter says. “We came back to Detroit with the mission, so I want to say within the first few months of us being here, we were looking at different areas, different neighborhoods for Someday to land.”

Initially, they looked at spots on the west side near Rosedale Park, close to where Trotter grew up, but ultimately settled on the current space closer to the east side where MilkyWay was raised. The pair’s childhood, time in high school, and surely their time since all helped to shape the current endeavor.

“I can just pay homage to our past journeys,” Trotter says. “We spent a lot of time in different spaces, not necessarily working or hands-on, but just always observing, and always appreciating the moment and that has helped us quite a bit.”

Someday’s inaugural exhibit is titled Capitalist Society, featuring three Detroit artists, four artists from other U.S. cities, and one artist from Haifa, Palestine. The show demonstrates “the experience of trying to survive in a for-profit regime” through “harrowing and uncomfortable anecdotes.”

The owners believe this show effectively represents Someday’s mission to create an accessible art experience. Plus, the theme of capitalism, even in the art community itself, is not an uncommon one.

“I feel like it’s a conversation that is relatable, but it’s also kind of heavy hitting to what Detroit is experiencing as well,” MilkyWay says. “I feel like a lot of people can relate to just that thumb of oppression in different ways.”

Trotter adds, “We’ve had struggles in our own careers, matriculating in a number of spaces, and so we’re walking forward in trying to create our own… The state of the world, it has a price tag, and that price tag is omitting a lot of individuals.”

Aside from creating impactful art you can see and hear, MilkyWay and Trotter have always had a love for cooking and baking, as well as cultivating community. And, they realized the importance of good food in spaces where creative work is flourishing.

“If you’re making magic you should be putting magic in your belly,” Trotter says. “We had a lot of crazy experiences going on adventures and following our dreams and eventually we came up with this idea, this concept of merging visual and culinary arts to craft a unique form of hospitality.”

The idea for Someday truly ignited in 2020 when the couple was commissioned by Rolling Stone to create a commemorative “moment” following George Floyd’s death.

“We brought the community out to Leimert Park in Los Angeles, which is a really historic Black community there and we talked about police brutality, and we talked about the experience of America and then we also served them homemade

doughnuts, and that kind of burst the experience on collaborating culinary and art,” MilkyWay shares.

Following that, the owners made a root-inspired dinner for a friend in New York’s art exhibit, titled “raíces,” which means “roots” in Spanish, again cohesively connecting the culinary and visual arts.

Now, at Someday, to tie in all aspects of the space, bakery items connect with the visual art on the walls, and the food will continue to change as the art does.

Someday’s signature sweet treat is called the “twerk,” rebranding the popular dance as a sweet-brioche bun filled with stewed fruit and topped with glaze and pie crumbles. Other menu offerings include a spinach and mushroom quiche, “313” cookies, and more.

“When we started dating, her family was hosting dinner and movies, and in my household, it was a huge theme, at least growing up, that we always heard our house can cook the best and make the best pies,” Trotter says. “I feel like that is a common trend with individuals who come from backgrounds like ours, but there is a barrier in the concept of actually matriculating it and developing that. We feel really blessed… It all stems from childhood.”

“We are in touch with our inner child,” MilkyWay adds.

You can see and feel such in the space, which exudes a childlike energy, especially in its design aspects. The bakery counter features toy-like shapes, the table in the center of the room is whimsically carved, and the big rug on the floor is colorful and uniquely textured.

Someday is inviting… and it’s intentional.

“As we make space for ourselves, Some-

day is very much about making space for others and propelling experience,” Trotter says.

Looking forward, the owners plan to host more events in the space, expand Someday’s team, and ultimately transition into a full restaurant. Additionally, they plan to lean more into being a creative studio.

“We want to get more into creating campaigns and editorials in Detroit,” MilkyWay says. “We haven’t had that experience yet because we’ve been separated [from Detroit], so we really want to rub shoulders with the creative community here and make storytelling moments of both fashion and jewelry. Those are my dreams. Also journalism and documentation.”

The name “Someday,” for both owners, represents endless possibilities for the future, an affirming idea they want to emphasize to anyone who walks through the door.

“I believe everyone has a ‘Someday’ and if you are passionate enough with your life, you will find that you have many ‘Somedays,’” Trotter says.

“I love ‘Someday’ because it lets my dreams evolve,” MilkyWay adds. “It’s just something that you can constantly look forward to, constantly be grateful for, even the present, the past, and the future. It also includes everybody, she really loves community, she’s a Pisces, Aquarius moon, she really wants people in here and I just want to go forward with that, go forward with that energy, being out with the folks, hugging the folks, embracing the community and the culture of Detroit.”

More information is available at wearesomeday.org

Someday is located at 2857 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit. COURTESY PHOTO

Film A tease just short of euphoria

By Craig D. Lindsey

Challengers

Rated: R

Run-time: 131 minutes

I haven’t seen a movie that edges its audience with more cruel glee than Challengers, Luca Guadagnino’s latest horny-in-theory story of complicated romance.

Anyone expecting a moist-andsweaty Jules et Jim set in the competitive world of professional tennis, which is what I thought when I kept seeing the trailer, will be slightly disappointed (and even a bit impressed) by how much this movie teases you. Whether it’s in the bedroom or on the court, the Call Me by Your Name director goes to extreme lengths to make sure the characters — and the audience — don’t reach a climax until the time is just right.

The entire film takes place on a buzzing tennis court as waning tennis champion Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and struggling has-been Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), two pals-turnedrivals, play an intense game. Also there is Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a one-time tennis prodigy who was once Zweig’s main squeeze and is now Donaldson’s

devoted wife-coach.

As Zweig and Donaldson battle it out on the court, Guadagnino tells how this twisted love triangle came to be through good ol’ non-linear storytelling. Flashbacks literally pile on top of flashbacks as we visit these three in their younger years, back when the boys were shaggy-haired BFFs who immediately became smitten with Duncan and her beautiful ferocity. We also slide into their more adult years, when Donaldson has to keep the winning going for both himself and his wife, who gets sidelined by a careercrushing injury and still can’t seem to get over her bummy-ass ex whenever they’re in the same vicinity.

Right from the opening seconds, Guadagnino creates an athletic melodrama that crackles with lustful intensity. He even gets Oscar-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to supply a throbbing techno score that surfaces whenever these characters get hot and bothered — physically, mentally, emotionally — on screen.

Guadagnino is ever the stealthy queer filmmaker; anyone hoping for Zendaya to get butt-bald-nekkid will also be disappointed by the bare, loose

male genitals that are often on display. With screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes (who’s also written Guadagnino’s upcoming film, aptly titled Queer), Guadagnino subtly drops hints that these buds are more into each other than the gal in the middle. The scene where they have an in-your-face convo while eating phallic-looking churros is a dead giveaway. Faist credibly pulls off the feat of going from young, callow third wheel to middle-aged, frustrated third wheel, while O’Connor, that Jeremy Sisto-looking Brit, plays the asshole role with oily unrepentance.

As for the star of the show, I’ve never seen a young actress so eager to play a grown-ass, take-charge woman like Zendaya, who also serves as a producer. Just as she recently showed in the mega-blockbuster Dune sequel, Zendaya always acts like she dares people to dismiss her as demure and waifish. From the get-go, Queen Euphoriais in charge of this wild ride, and those two poor, dumb bastards have no choice but to follow her lead. Even when her character ropes the two into a latenight makeout session that ends on a very homoerotic note, Zendaya quietly makes it official that it’s her world and we’re all just doing gay shit in it.

Zendaya also has no problem playing someone whose thirst for competition supersedes her need to make rational decisions. Her character faces that dilemma that many women have dealt with: Should she stick with a stable yet unfulfilling life with her reliable simp husband, or risk all that shit for the unworthy, irresponsible douchebag who can bring the ruckus sexually (and personally)?

I wish I was as enthused about Challengers as my fellow film-critic colleagues. Apparently, the issue of whether or not sex is essential in movies has become such a tiresome debate, some people are ready to cheer a film that at least presents the idea that its main characters want to jump each other’s bones.

But as wild and insane as Guadagnino makes the tennis sequences between O’Connor and Faist (we even catch the match from the tennis ball’s perspective!), Challengers, like most heated, emotional, one-on-one interactions, comes to a messy, baffling finish. Not to mention that the absurdly-heightened finale declares what this movie truly is: the most bros-before-hoes movie Guadagnino has ever made.

Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O’Connor play tennis players entangled in a love triangle.

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

CULTURE

Savage Love Messed Up

By Dan Savage

: Q I recently discovered that my on-again/off-again boyfriend of ten years has been using online classifieds to schedule encounters with men. He creates posts when he’s out of town for work and he’s very specific about what he’s looking for. The acts are punitive in nature (but consensual) and he is always on the receiving end of these punitive activities. I wish to note that I am not someone who snoops. Rather, I am the sort of person who notices patterns of behavior and things suddenly come to me when I’m cooking or on a walk. Based on the secular community my boyfriend grew up in, I suspect that his anonymous activities are the result of some early childhood trauma. Based on the activities involved, I believe he was either abused or witnessed abuse while his brain was still developing and these activities — along with his chronic use of pot (on top painkillers and a couple of drinks each day) are an unhealthy coping mechanism. I don’t judge him for the acts themselves, nor do I judge him for his sexuality. But I am not OK with his lying and cheating and I very much resent his haphazard attitude towards my sexual health. He refuses to talk with me about this and the silence is further eroding my trust, to say nothing of the plans we made for our future together. Since he won’t discuss it, I have no way of knowing if he’s sought help, as he has in the past with other issues. I’ve spoken with one trusted friend about this, but I have otherwise kept it to myself. I love him and that will never change. But now what?

—Boyfriend Troubling Secrets

A: Here’s what you know: something about punitive (“inflicting, involving, or aiming at punishment”) theatrics makes your boyfriend’s dick hard and he’s been seeking out other men who share his kink for consensual encounters. And here’s what you don’t know: why these punitive activities, whatever they are (spanking? flogging? flossing?), make your boyfriend’s dick hard.

Backing up for a second: While you claim to have intuited these facts about your boyfriend — the realization came to you while you were making

soup or something — the details you shared are too specific for this to be a mere hunch. It sounds like you suspected something was up and snooped on his computer or his phone. So, while you may not like to think of yourself as the kind of person who snoops, BTS, you are the kind of person who snoops. (The proof is in the snooping.) And snooping is always wrong… except when the person who snooped finds something they had a right to know about, e.g., massive debts, a secret second family, sexual risk taking that puts the snooper at risk, etc.

So, if your boyfriend is engaging in sex acts that place your health at risk and/or doing things that violate the spirit of your on-again monogamous commitment, you were right to snoop and you have grounds for going offagain. But was he doing anything that put your health at risk? If spanking and/ or flogging and/or some other mystery punishment is all he’s been doing with other men — no sexual activities, just punitive ones — he wasn’t putting you at risk, BTS, and your boyfriend may have rationalized his deceit for that reason. He may also have been reluctant to tell you because he thought you wouldn’t understand… and it’s clear from your reaction that you don’t. You’ve made a huge, pathologizing leap from, “My boyfriend likes being spanked by other men,” to, “My boyfriend must have been sexually abused before his brain was fully formed.” Your boyfriend might have a history of childhood sexual abuse many men sadly do — but not all kinky men were abused and not all men who were abused are kinky. And while his use of substances is concerning, his substance abuse and his kinks aren’t necessarily linked.

You have a legitimate beef with your boyfriend: He’s been lying to you, BTS, and if his meetups with other men involved more than punitive activities — if spanking and/or flogging was followed up by sucking and/or fucking — he put your health at risk and he owes you an explanation, an apology, and some lab work. If you can keep the conversation focused on what he was doing, BTS, and stop making up shit up about why, he’s likelier to open up to you about the what and the why.

: Q I broke up with my ex in February after four years together and he didn’t take it very well even though I was as caring about it as possible. It had just become clear to me that we had totally different goals and visions for how we wanted to live our lives. He is coming back to town next week for work — his

boss told me —and he’ll be here a week. I want to see him. Should I ask if he would be willing to meet for coffee or something? I want to know how he is doing and what his plans for the future are. I want to know he’s OK. But he refuses to talk to me. Maybe it’s still too soon? What do you think, Dan? Should I reach out or let him be?

—Wishing Him Well

A: It doesn’t matter what I think, WHW, and it doesn’t matter what you want. If your ex-boyfriend doesn’t want to see you right now, you don’t get to have coffee with him. And since I’m guessing your ex-boyfriend’s refusal to see you wasn’t unprompted — you reached out to him already, he told you to fuck off already — you already know how he feels about seeing you: he’s not into the idea. He might be devastated right now, he might be doing OK — either way, your ex-boyfriend is under no obligation to make you feel better about your decision to end this relationship. If he changes his mind and wants to meet up and talk, you’ll hear from him. In the meantime, WHW, you’re gonna have to respect his expressed wants and needs: he wants you to fuck off, he needs you to leave him alone.

P.S. What the fuck was his boss thinking when he told you your ex was coming to town? That’s not information any employer should be sharing with the exes of their employees!

: Q

I’m a 33-year-old gay man emailing you because I have a kink that I enjoy but have always felt ashamed about. Earth-shattering, right? My kink is called “wet and messy” (WAM) and it involves getting covered head to toe in messy, gloopy substances. People who are into this usually have preferred substances; in no specific order my preferred substances are paint, mud, and pies. People enjoy WAM for a variety of reasons; some people like the humiliation aspect, but I just love the feeling of losing myself in the mess. It’s very primal and very freeing. I’ve done this with a couple of men I met through a website that caters to people who are interested in this, and I’ve even told my long-term boyfriend about it. He took it well and even offered to do it with me, but I shot him down. The problem is I feel ashamed about this on some level. I know it’s harmless, if a little weird, but I can’t shake the feeling of shame that keeps me from enjoying this part of my sexuality. I feel like I’ll be branded a freak forever if my boyfriend sees how much I enjoy this. This feels like as much of a struggle as coming out of the closet was. Any sage words? —Getting Off On Pies

A: I’ve talked with a lot of kinky gay men over the years — ahem — and more than one has described kink as a second coming out. That said, gay people who wanna come out to lovers and friends about kink have an advantage over straight people who wanna do the same: experience and perspective. Because telling lovers you’re kinky is a lot less scary than telling parents you’re gay; lovers that shame can be replaced, parents who shame are forever. But just as coming out as gay has the power to improve lives and relationships, coming out as kinky has the power to improve love lives and romantic relationships.

And speaking of romantic relationships…

Don’t deny yourself the pleasure of exploring your kink with someone who cares about you and don’t deny your boyfriend the pleasure of giving you this pleasure. It doesn’t sound like he offered to indulge you because he doesn’t want you doing this with other guys — he’s not offering to grimly go through the motions to control you — but that he offered because he’s sincerely invested in your pleasure. And if your boyfriend is one of those guys who gets off on getting people off, letting him get you off will get him off too. And sometimes kinks are contagious, GOOP, even the weirder ones: a guy gives his partner’s kink a try and something clicks and before you know it’s his weird kink too.

And your kink isn’t really that weird. While WAM, aka “gunging” and “sploshing,” isn’t my thing, it’s not that hard to wrap my head around it. You find the sensation of paint, mud, and pies running down your skin arousing. Not for me! But easily understood! Additionally, you like being covered in gooey substances because it relieves you — temporarily — from the burden of being yourself. Like a drone covered head-to-toe in rubber or a furry in a mascot costume or woman in Lycra a superhero, you enjoy — from time to time — erasing and/or transforming yourself. In that, you are far from alone.

Look, GOOP, if getting covered in slime gives you joy and doesn’t hurt anyone, take your boyfriend’s yes for an answer! If you could learn to let go of the shame of being a cocksucker, you can let go of the shame of being a wet-and-messy player. Get some tarp, bake some pies, and invite the boyfriend over to play.

Got problems? Yes, you do. Email your question for the column to mailbox@ savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast right now at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns, and more at Savage.Love.

CULTURE Free Will Astrology

By Rob Brezsny

ARIES: March 21 – April 19

When my friend Jessalyn first visited Disneyland as a child, she was smitten by its glimmering, unblemished mystery. “It was far more real than real,” she said. “A dream come true.” But after a few hours, her infatuation unraveled. She began to see through the luster. Waiting in long lines to go on the rides exhausted her. The mechanical elephant was broken. The food was unappetizing. The actor impersonating Mickey Mouse shucked his big mouse head and swilled a beer. The days ahead may have resemblances to Jessalyn’s awakening for you. This slow-motion jolt might vex you initially, although I believe it’s a healthy sign. It will lead to a cleansed perspective that’s free of illusion and teeming with clarity.

TAURUS: April 20 – May 20

Keizoku wa chikara nari is a Japanese proverb that means “To

continue is power.” I propose you make that your motto for the next four weeks. Everything you need to happen and all the resources you need to attract will come your way as long as your overarching intention is perseverance. This is always a key principle for you Tauruses, but especially now. If you can keep going, if you can overcome your urges to quit your devotions, you will gain a permanent invigoration of your willpower.

GEMINI: May 21 – June 20

Do you believe there are divine beings, animal spirits, and departed ancestors who are willing and able to help us? If not, you may want to skip this horoscope. I won’t be upset if you feel that way. But if you do harbor such views, as I do, I’m pleased to tell you that they will be extra available for you in the coming weeks. Remember one of the key rules about their behavior: They love to be asked for assistance; they adore it when you express your desires for them to bring you specific blessings and insights. Reach out, Gemini! Call on them.

CANCER: June 21 – July 22

goals. Be audacious, Leo! Be brazen and brave and brilliant! I predict you will be gifted with lucid intuitions about how best to channel your drive for success. You will get feelers from influential people who can help you in your quest for victory. (P.S.: The phrase “your one wild and precious life” comes from poet Mary Oliver.)

VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22

Is it possible to be too smart for your own good? Maybe, although that won’t be a problem for you anytime soon. However, you may temporarily be too smart for some people who are fixated on conventional and simplistic solutions. You could be too super-brilliant for those who wallow in fear or regard cynicism as a sign of intelligence. But I will not advise you to dumb yourself down, dear Virgo. Instead, I will suggest you be crafty and circumspect. Act agreeable and humble, even as you plot behind the scenes to turn everything upside-down and inside-out — by which I mean, make it work with more grace and benefit for everyone concerned.

LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

the perks of wobbliness. Your anxious ruminations and worried fantasies are so colorful that I almost hesitate to tell you to stop. I’m wondering if this is one of those rare phases when you could take advantage of your so-called negative feelings. Is it possible that lurking just below the uneasiness are sensational revelations about a path to liberation? I’m guessing there are. To pluck these revelations, you must get to the core of the uneasiness.

CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

During the last 11 months, life has offered you unprecedented opportunities to deepen and ripen your emotional intelligence. You have been vividly invited to grow your wisdom about how to manage and understand your feelings. I trust you have been capitalizing on these glorious teachings. I hope you have honed your skills at tapping into the power and insights provided by your heart and gut. There’s still more time to work on this project, Capricorn. In the coming weeks, seek out breakthroughs that will climax this phase of your destiny.

Happy Mother’s Day, to all you mothers doing the best you can. I believe more mothers should call the shots when it comes to running the world. Maybe, just maybe, there would be fewer shots fired.

I’m taking a gamble here as I advise you to experiment with the counsel of visionary poet and painter William Blake (1757–1825). It’s a gamble because I’m asking you to exert a measure of caution as you explore his daring, unruly advice. Be simultaneously prudent and ebullient, Cancerian. Be discerning and wild. Be watchful and experimental. Here are Blake’s directions: 1. The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom, for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough. 2. If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise. 3. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. 4. No bird soars too high if it soars with its own wings. 5. Exuberance is Beauty.

LEO: July 23 – August 22

Cosmic energies are staging a big party in your astrological House of Ambition. It’s a great time to expand and intensify your concepts of what you want to accomplish with your one wild and precious life. You will attract unexpected help as you shed your inhibitions about asking for what you really want. Life will benevolently conspire on your behalf as you dare to get bolder in defining your highest

In my fairy tale about your life in the coming weeks and months, you will transform from a crafty sleuth to an eager explorer. You will finish your wrestling matches with tricky angels and wander off to consort with big thinkers and deep feelers. You will finish your yeoman attempts to keep everyone happy in the human zoo and instead indulge your sacred longings for liberation and experimentation. In this fairy tale of your life, Libra, I will play the role of your secret benefactor. I will unleash a steady stream of prayers to bless you with blithe zeal as you relish every heart-opening, brain-cleansing moment of your new chapter.

SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21:

In the coming months, I will encourage you to keep deepening and refining the art of intimacy. I will rejoice as you learn more and more about how to feel close to people you care for and how to creatively deal with challenges you encounter in your quest to become closer. Dear Scorpio, I will also cheer you on whenever you dream up innovations to propitiate togetherness. Bonus blessings! If you do all I’m describing, your identity will come into brighter focus. You will know who you are with greater accuracy. Get ready! The coming weeks will offer you novel opportunities to make progress on the themes I›ve mentioned.

SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

You could offer a workshop on

AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

Naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau declared, “We need the tonic of wildness.” Amen! In my view, you Aquarians especially need this sweet, rugged healing power in the coming weeks. Borrowing more words from Thoreau, I urge you to exult in all that is mysterious, unsurveyed, and unfathomable. Like Thoreau, I hope you will deepen your connection with the natural world because “it is cheerfully, musically earnest.” Share in his belief that “we must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day. We must take root, send out some little fiber.”

PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20

I have four questions and homework assignments for you, Pisces. 1. Is there a person in your inner circle who is close to ripening a latent talent that would ultimately benefit you? I suspect there is. What can you do to assist them? 2. Is there a pending gift or legacy that you have not yet claimed or activated? I think so. What would be a good first step to get it fully into your life? 3. What half-dormant potency could you call on and use if you were more confident about your ability to wield it? I believe you now have the wherewithal to summon the confidence you need. 4. What wasteful habit could you replace with a positive new habit?

Homework: What’s your favorite subject to fantasize about?

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