NEWS & VIEWS
Feedback
We received comments in response to Steve Neavling’s cover story last week, “Illegal document purge in Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office blocks freedom for the wrongfully convicted.”
After reading this article about Mike Duggan … Kym Worthy is just as responsible. She failed to comment on why she didn’t speak up when she discovered this when she first took office in 2004. The only way to provide justice for any of these appellants is for all of them to have their convictions overturned and for them to be released from prison as a consequence of the criminal behavior of Mike Duggan, his
administration, the Prosecutor’s Office, and Kym Worthy failing to speak up, and Dana Nessel failing to do anything as far as Duggan’s destruction of emails and records. These are all Democrats, so make them pay the price. Release all these prisoners. That would be justice, because they’re all corrupt. Nessel’s corrupt. Worthy’s corrupt. Duggan’s corrupt. They’re all corrupt. Duggan learned his corruption in the McNamara regime. … Release all these people as a result of the corruption and the violation of state law and the destruction of records. That’s the only fair and just thing to do.
—voicemail message left by a very angry guy
NEWS & VIEWS
Downtown tax incentives are exacerbating the ‘two Detroits’ problem: report
Tax incentives for Dan Gilbert and other downtown Detroit developers aren’t providing promised benefits that Mayor Mike Duggan and allied business leaders said would spill over to the rest of the city’s residents, a new report finds.
That has created a situation in which the wealthiest residents are largely the beneficiaries of the city’s controversial Downtown Development Authority (DDA) district, while longtime, largely low-income and Black residents in the other neighborhoods do not receive much benefit.
Though the DDA district has increased income tax revenues citywide and fueled downtown’s growth, it has, on balance, not achieved its aim of boosting the whole city, the report’s authors conclude. They argue that the DDA should pay off its debt, then potentially be wound down.
“Downtown has had a level of vibrancy that is not present in many other parts of the city,” the report continues. “Likewise, it is clear that investments in the downtown have not lifted the city to share in any levels of prosperity.”
The report was commissioned by the Detroit City Council and aims to provide clarity around the benefit that the DDA district and Detroit Economic Growth Council provide the wider city.
The Duggan administration and developers have pointed to gleaming new buildings in downtown areas as evidence of their incentives’ success in rebuilding the city, but the report looked at broad level data that shows how Detroit’s economy has in many ways sputtered since the DDA’s 1975 implementation.
The DDA district siphons property tax revenue that would otherwise contribute to the city’s general fund, Wayne County general fund, school districts, parks, libraries, and other “taxing jurisdictions.”
In 1975, downtowns were struggling and DDAs were established around the nation to divert money from other city services that were comparatively well funded.
Nearly 50 years later, downtown Detroit is thriving, while schools, the city, and libraries and other taxing jurisdictions are comparatively underfunded. In 2022 alone, the DDA captured $63 million that could have gone to other city or county services, but was instead diverted to subsidize downtown developers.
The Citizens Research Council of Michigan report looked at broad level data around housing prices, personal income, the city’s overall property value, and other measures to determine if a halfcentury of the DDA had lifted Detroit.
The report’s co-author, Eric Lupher,
white, wealthy people who have moved to Detroit in recent years, or who work in Detroit, but do not live here. That makes the “continuation of isolated and concentrated poverty and unemployment more likely,” the report states.
The average wage of Detroit residents is around $40,000 annually, but the average job in Detroit pays $80,000, pointing to the income tax gains being driven by people who work downtown, but do not live there. It also points to higher wages concentrating in downtown.
That amounts to “gentrification,” Lupher says.
“That’s not necessarily bad because the city needs investment and it needs people of all walks of life, and middle class and upper income people are important for building the tax base,” Lupher says. “But again all that new investment, the townhouses going up, it’s not necessarily benefiting the neighbors and longtimers that have stuck it out and are hoping for a better time.”
Meanwhile, there has not been a promised spill over into housing in recent decades. The report notes anecdotal housing successes, but broad level data shows the city’s tax revenue attributable to residential taxes dropped from 67% to 35% between its 2006 peak and 2022.
“The recent reports of gains in housing prices are encouraging, but the net gains to the city’s tax base are negligible in a historical context,” the authors wrote.
tells Metro Times the initial idea for the DDA district was to create “short-term pain” for schools, libraries, parks, and general funds in exchange “for long-term gain.”
“But here we are 47 years later and they’re not gaining anything,” Lupher adds. “We’ve lost sight of the end goal, which is to increase the tax base and benefit the whole community.”
Duggan spokesperson John Roach says the report actually states that the incentives program has helped the city, and “ultimately found that ‘[t]he city has benefited from increased income tax revenues relating to business activity downtown.’”
But the paragraph that Roach quotes also notes gains in income tax only partially offset hundreds of millions of dollars of lost property tax revenue that could have gone to providing services to the rest of the city via schools, parks, libraries, and general funds. Those have only “indirectly” benefited from the personal income tax gains, the report states.
The report notes the 22.4% increase in per capita personal income for Detroit residents “masked deep racial disparities among city residents.” In short, the gains were broadly driven by largely
The city’s property value is also still seriously lagging even as downtown flourishes. After dropping during the white flight of the 1960s and ’70s, it rebounded between 1994 and the Great Recession, but it fell off again and has barely recovered. Detroit’s inflationadjusted state equalized value (SEV), or value of its real estate, is still 74% below 1966 levels, though it has ticked up over the last two years.
In the face of administration fanfare over high profile downtown developments, the SEV data is “another reality check,” Lupher says.
“There are good things happening but it’s important to keep perspective — the city has fallen very far over the last five decades,” he says.
Roach called the report “deficient” because it did not include $234 million in income tax revenue growth between 2014 to 2024 as evidence of the DDA’s success.
“Mayor Duggan made it clear to the bankruptcy court in 2014 that his central strategy was to forgo property tax revenues in order to drive income tax revenues, which he predicted would be far more lucrative for the city,” Roach says. “That strategy has been remarkably successful — it’s responsible for 10 credit rating upgrades and [Detroit’s] return to an investment grade rating.”
The increased revenue helped the city
Dan Gilbert’s under-construction Hudson’s site tower is located in Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority district. STEVE NEAVLING
combat crime, improve EMS response times, and provide affordable housing subsidies, among other benefits to longtime residents, Roach adds.
He says the report’s authors were “embarrassing” themselves by not including the full $234 million figure.
Lupher says the full $234 million cannot be attributed to the DDA because it covers the entire city, not just downtown. He adds that he made multiple requests to the Duggan administration for the portion of the $234 million that could be attributed to the DDA, but the administration would not provide it.
The administration then called the report “deficient” because the report did not include data the city withheld.
When asked why the Duggan administration did not provide the information, Roach claimed that Lupher never made the request. When presented with the date of the request, Roach did not respond to a request for comment.
The new report comes on the heels of a Detroiters for Tax Justice paper that found the city lost out on $1 billion in tax revenue via incentives during the same period.
Alejandro Navarrete, a researcher for Detroit Action, a community advocacy group, tells Metro Times CRC’s report is “evidence that highlights the lack of evidence” that benefits are spilling over to the rest of the city. It also reveals “rigidity” in cost-benefit analyses used to justify the DDA district and incentives, he adds.
“People propose a cost-benefit analysis with forecasted benefits, but when the benefits don’t materialize, we get gaslit,” Navarrete says.
Detroit isn’t unique — DDA districts around the country have failed to provide spillover benefits, says Greg LeJoy, director of Good Jobs First, which tracks corporate subsidies. He pointed to Baltimore, which faces a similar problem as Detroit.
He said a main reason DDAs fail to revitalize broader cities is the lack of strong community benefit agreements tied to downtown projects. Though Detroit has a community benefits ordinance in place, it is viewed by many community members as weak. The Duggan administration, its corporate allies, and unions in 2016 torpedoed a much stronger community benefits ordinance.
Strong guarantees that neighborhood residents will receive good paying jobs, above minimum wage, apprenticeship programs, or set asides for minorityowned businesses are essential, LeJoy said. Absent that, there are not “any kind of ripple effects that would tie the success of downtown to the success of the rest of the city and that’s the big problem here.”
What Detroit has executed is “a real estate fortress strategy, but it’s not a saving-the-city strategy,” LeJoy added.
—Tom Perkins
Hyde harms us here in Michigan. It’s time for Hyde to go.
Historically and currently, the accessibility of sexual and reproductive health care (SRH) is embedded in a fabric of colonialism, racial capitalism, carcerality, white supremacy, and cis-heteropatriarchy.
As a growing community organizer who aims to center abolition and reproductive justice through the praxis of Black Queer Feminist Theory and as a family medicine physician who provides life-saving, full-spectrum reproductive health care, I have seen how these intersecting oppressive systems limit actual “choice” and access to bodily and reproductive autonomy for patients, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. September 30 marks the anniversary of one of these tools of oppression, the Hyde Amendment, a federal bill-rider that prohibits the use of federal funding such as Medicaid and others for abortion care with rare exceptions. This means that patients who rely on federal funding for their health care access and may already be impacted by poverty are then personally responsible for gathering the funds needed to cover abortion care. This amendment and other funding restrictions disproportionately impact reproductive health care access and freedom of the most marginalized patients by creating a cost barrier to accessing care.
When we look at the specific impact that Hyde has on people relying on Medicaid, the Hyde Amendment currently impacts 32 states and the District of Columbia including Michigan where I currently practice with 17 states providing Medicaid coverage for abortion care. In 2022, Medicaid covered 19% of women aged 19-64, with these women disproportionately experiencing poverty and being racially marginalized due to the intersecting systemic inequities of racism, capitalism, and sexism.
A majority of patients who access abortions are low-income. Hyde’s reach is unfortunately felt even further for anyone else relying on federal funds for health care including folks who are incarcerated, government workers, active military, veterans, and dependents, people in the Peace Corps, and people who rely on Indian Health Services for care.
With the Hyde Amendment prohibiting Medicaid funding for
abortion, low-income patients and patients of color seeking abortion care may be economically coerced to continue a pregnancy due to the cost of an abortion. In 2021, the average out-of-pocket cost of an abortion alone was greater than $500, with higher costs in later trimesters and for procedural abortions compared to medication abortions. As a provider of reproductive health care who cares for many patients reliant on Medicaid for their health insurance, I have personally witnessed how the cost of care dictates what services are accessible to marginalized patients and how the lack of coverage restricts their ability to make decisions about their own bodies. I have listened when a patient is negotiating whether to use their savings for abortion care or to meet their basic needs such as rent, food, electricity, etc. I have had patients decide to continue with an unwanted pregnancy or delay their care due to the overwhelming cost of accessing an abortion, often even with the assistance of abortion funds. Access to abortion care should not be a function of the state a patient resides in or related to a patient’s financial means to cover the service. A patient’s bodily autonomy should be a basic human right in all aspects of healthcare including reproductive health care. The Hyde Amendment is economically coercive, restrictive, ableist, racist, and harmful to the health and wellbeing of patients and communities by disproportionately rendering care inaccessible to those who are often already the most marginalized.
I entered health care with a passion for caring for those at the margins of oppression, and with a belief that health care can serve as a tool for advancing liberation, justice, abolition, and autonomy. The Hyde Amendment has denied reproductive freedom and access, particularly to low-income and patients of color who are already facing tremendous social and economic injustice. I have learned that being a health care provider is not only a matter of being able to provide competent, compassionate medical care; it also requires abolition of the systems of oppression that disproportionately harm marginalized patients and communities and transforming the social and economic conditions that limit true reproductive freedom. Centering reproductive justice in the provision of reproductive health care requires that we dismantle the systems of structural harm and violence such as the Hyde Amendment that selectively afford choice and autonomy to our patients and communities while simultaneously reimaging care and systems that are affirming, nurturing, and liberatory. As a physician with hopes for a better future for patients, I call on Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment to take real steps towards a reality where everyone can afford the abortion care they need.
Dr. Meera is a physician in Michigan and a Fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health.
September 30 marks the anniversary of the Hyde Amendment. SHUTTERSTOCK
Fact-check: Tlaib did not say Nessel charged pro-Palestinian protesters because she’s Jewish
Michigan Attorney General
Dana Nessel, a Democratic state lawmaker, and some news agencies are falsely claiming that U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Nessel’s office only filed charges against pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Michigan because she’s Jewish.
The spurious claims stem from an interview that Tlaib did with Metro Times on Sept. 13. Tlaib, who was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrants and is the only Palestinian American member of Congress, argued the charges were an unjust and heavy-handed response to peaceful civil disobedience.
Tlaib pointed out that Nessel, who has been in office since January 2019, has not filed charges against protesters opposed to racism, police brutality, water shutoffs, and environmental contamination.
Tlaib never once mentioned Nessel’s religion or Judaism. But Metro Times pointed out in the story that Nessel is Jewish, and that appears to be the spark that led to the false claims.
It should also be noted that the ACLU of Michigan criticized Nessel for charging peaceful protesters at the University of Michigan.
Shortly after the article was published, state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Democrat who is Jewish, posted a screenshot of the story on X and claimed that Tlaib’s response was an attempt “to divide us into ‘good’ Jews she accepts & bad Jews.”
“This is a disgusting charge of dual loyalty – Jews in America cannot fully uphold American ideals because we are fundamentally biased in favor of our religion over our citizenship,” Moss wrote.
What Tlaib actually said was, “It seems that the Attorney General decided if the
issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”
Tlaib was referring to anti-Palestinian attitudes.
Institutions throughout the U.S. have disproportionately sided with Israel, and many of them are not run by Jewish people.
On Sept. 20, after a Detroit News reporter drew up a political cartoon that appeared to depict Tlaib as a member of Hezbollah, Nessel repeated the false narrative.
“Rashida’s religion should not be used in a cartoon to imply that she’s a terrorist. It’s Islamophobic and wrong,” Nessel wrote on X. “Just as Rashida should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s anti-Semitic and wrong.”
The following Sunday, CNN host Jake Tapper followed up with a segment in which he falsely claimed that Tlaib said Nessel only filed the charges “because she’s Jewish and the protesters are not.” Tapper made the statement while interviewing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and tried to get her to weigh in on his false claim.
Whitmer didn’t take the bait.
“I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having,” Whitmer said.
Whitmer took a more diplomatic approach: “I know that our Jewish community is in pain, as is our Palestinian and Muslim and Arab communities in Michigan. I know that seeing the incredible toll that this war has taken on both communities has been really, really challenging and difficult, and my heart breaks for so many.”
Jewish Insider followed up with an
article that repeated the false claims, saying “Tlaib claimed that Nessel is only charging the protesters because she’s Jewish.”
On Sept. 23, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), a Muslim advocacy group, condemned the false statements as a “blatant and hateful hoax perpetrated by the rightwing outlet Jewish Insider and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.”
“It is shameful that Attorney General Nessel has joined a blatantly false and hateful smear campaign against Congresswoman Tlaib because she dared to criticize her politically charged prosecutions of anti-genocide protesters, which includes members of the Jewish community,” CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said in a statement.
“Mischaracterizing dissent as ‘antisemitic’ in order to stifle concerns of biased prosecutions is not only undemocratic but also takes attention away from real antisemitism that takes place in society.”
It should also be noted that Tlaib has been a consistent supporter of equality and an outspoken advocate for racial justice. She has opposed facial recognition technology, for example, because of its racial biases, and Tlaib called on the Detroit Police Department in 2019 to hire Black analysts to work with facial recognition technology since a majority of Detroit’s population is Black.
Then-DPD Chief James Craig, who is Black and later came out as a Donald Trump supporter, called Tlaib’s statement “racist” and “insulting.”
The charges Nessel’s office filed on Sept. 12 stem from a University of Michigan student protest encampment that was
Whistleblower alleges unsanitary conditions at DMC hospitals
A former employee of the housekeeping and environmental services company contracted to clean Detroit’s Harper-Hutzel Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Michigan has filed a lawsuit, alleging he was fired and discriminated against in retaliation for blowing the whistle on unsanitary conditions in operating rooms, patient areas, and baby delivery rooms.
The lawsuit was filed last month in Wayne County Circuit Court against North Carolina-based Compass Group and Crothall Healthcare, which were contracted to provide cleaning services for Tenet Healthcare, the for-profit parent company of the Detroit Medical Center, which operates the two hospitals.
Jerrell Atkins alleges he was fired from his job as operations manager in June, a
little more than a year after he reported “unsafe, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions” in a complaint to Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). According to the complaint, doctors were delivering babies in operating rooms with unsterile and unclean surgical equipment, beds, and rooms. Hospital workers were also using unsanitary machinery and equipment that was “contaminated by raw sewage and feces in surgical operating rooms,” Atkins alleged.
One of the biggest problems, the lawsuit claims, was the “shockingly outrageous” lack of cleaning supplies, which was part of an “extreme” costcutting move.
To avoid penalties from public agencies, the companies fabricated
established in April. It grew to include about 60 tents and was intended to draw attention to Israel’s ongoing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The attacks started after Oct. 7, when Hamas in Gaza killed more than 1,000 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages. Israel’s U.S.-backed retaliation has killed more than 40,000 people, many of them women and children.
The students called for a ceasefire truce and also demanded the university divest from corporations linked to Israel. Despite multiple meetings between student liaisons and the university, the encampment remained in place, leading to police action on May 21.
Most of those charged are alumni and students who refused to vacate the encampment after police ordered them to leave.
Two people were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail, for refusing to leave the encampment after repeated orders to vacate. An additional seven were charged with trespassing and resisting or obstructing a police officer, a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. These charges are reserved for those who allegedly made physical contact with officers or obstructed arrests, Nessel said.
In addition, two people, including a U-M alumnus, have been charged for separate incidents during a counter-protest on April 25. One is charged with disturbing the peace and attempted ethnic intimidation, while the other faces charges of malicious destruction of personal property for allegedly breaking and discarding protestors’ flags.
Of those charged, only three were Muslim, and some were Jewish, according to CAIR-MI.
—Steve Neavling
records to suggest they were in compliance, according to the suit.
Atkins, who is Black and gay, also alleged that upper management used racial and homophobic slurs “within earshot” of him and ignored his complaints about it.
The lawsuit alleges retaliation, hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and violations of the ElliottLarsen Civil Rights Act.
“This lawsuit is just part of a sharp blade that is being used to eradicate the cancerous culture of profits over safety fostered by Compass and Crothall,” said Muneeb M. Ahmad, an attorney with Just Right Law, which filed the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit is a beacon of hope to other employees who may be afraid to speak up and is meant to give a voice against
this retaliatory and discriminatory behavior.”
This is just the latest lawsuit filed by former Compass Group and Crothall Healthcare employees who worked at Tenet’s hospitals in Detroit. In June 2022, Denise Bonds, of Detroit, and Shenesia Rhodes, of St. Clair Shores, sued Tenet, Compass Group and Crothall Healthcare, alleging they were fired after raising concerns about the shortage of cleaning supplies and insufficient staffing. The shortage left Detroit’s Harper University Hospital and Hutzel Women’s Hospital dirty and unsanitary. Metro Times reached out to Tenet Healthcare, Compass Group, and Crothall Healthcare for comment but they did not immediately respond.
—Steve Neavling
NEWS & VIEWS
Detroit sports fans finally high on their own, local supply
By Joe Lapointe
During Saturday’s long rain delay at soggy and foggy Comerica Park, the big scoreboard in left field showed glimpses of the Michigan Wolverines down the road in misty Ann Arbor, defending their national college football championship.
Despite that visual stimulation, the baseball fans chanted “Let’s go, Tigers!” although the tarp remained on the field and the team had clinched its improbable playoff berth the night before. Some boisterous voices in the grandstands sounded still groggy from the celebration the night before.
Across the street, on downtown’s near east side, Ford Field awaited Monday night’s nationally televised match between Seattle and the Lions, Super Bowl contenders who astonished the National Football League, the Motor City, and maybe even themselves last season by nearly reaching the title game.
Just up nearby Woodward Avenue at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings are about to start their season after giving local puck nuts a tingle last spring by almost reaching the postseason tournament for the first time since 2016.
And the Pistons? Following the worst season in franchise history and one of the worst ever in professional sports, they have yet another management team and hope for an upward bounce. After finishing 14-68, there is great need, much expectation, and, perhaps, peer pressure from fellow franchises, for improvement.
Overall — after roughly a decade of decay for its four pro teams — Motown fans finally have at least some teams over which to brag and swagger. At least for now, they hold their heads high in Comerica’s low-hanging clouds. And this romantic fling has not yet reached the honeymoon stage.
For a bedrock sports community with more than a century of joy and heartbreak, love and loss, this feels more like a first crush, a flirtation that might bloom into something more for a new generation of fans who either live here
or in the national diaspora of the Great Lakes State.
Therefore, what’s old is new again in a town that derives a disproportionate percentage of its self-esteem from its sports teams. The current mood feels a little like Christmas morning with most of the presents still under the tree, still wrapped.
And what could possibly go wrong? Two recent Lions’ developments suggest that success sometimes brings problems not present when all four teams took turns occupying last place in their respective divisions, occasionally at the same time.
For instance: It was reported that Lions’ coach Dan Campbell had to move his family to a new neighborhood because overzealous fans learned his home address and felt free to stop by for conversation and advice.
At the last Lions’ home game, a fistfight at a post-game tailgate in Eastern Market escalated into a gun battle that left two men dead. For that reason, tailgating was forbidden in the market before Monday’s game. Sports excitement can draw mobs with violence on the fringes.
And success could increase the sale, consumption and spillage of alcoholic beverages among both fans and athletes.
In Friday’s beer-and-Champagne celebration in the clubhouse — televised by Bally Sports Detroit — the young Tigers whooped it up like college kids at the first frat party of the fall semester.
Imagine if they win the three-game first round, the five-game second round, the seven-game third round, and, finally, the seven-game World Series. That would mean a total of five alcohol showers. These scenes used to occur only after the World Series with the winning team.
Now, with a 12-team October tournament and celebration even for
clinching a berth, all this has become a bit excessive. But we must cut some slack for these young Tigers. Like the mid-1960s teams and the early 1980s teams, the core is a young group that came up together.
As Detroiters of a certain age will well remember, those groups won the World Series in 1968 and again in 1984, the last one 40 years ago, which is a long time to wait for another championship, despite two finals appearances earlier this century.
Compared to some cities, Detroit fans tend to be patient, less demanding toward ownership and management, and willing to tolerate one “rebuild” after another. They do take the long view. Not that this should matter much to this season’s bunch of guys in the “D” shirts.
They finished with a torrid fourth quarter behind the imaginative management of A.J. Hinch, the pitching of Tarik Skubal (and a cast of thousands), and the inspiration of the multi-talented Riley Greene, who hits, fields, and runs with aplomb and baseball smarts.
They are a team of dirty uniforms from daring base-running and head-first slides and near-collisions among aggressive infielders and outfielders, who need to learn to call louder for the ball before bigger, louder crowds. In many ways, this type of team brings out the cliches.
For instance:
They’re playing with house money; everything from now on is just gravy; they’re so inexperienced they don’t know enough to be nervous. Cliches get to be that way because they are rooted in truth. That’s what is happening here.
So let’s forewarn these young Tigers what winning leads to around here. That core ’68 group — Horton, Freehan, Stanley, Northrup, McLain, Lolich that grew up together — they are treated as secular saints of the city. Same goes for
’84 and Gibson, Petry, Rozema, Morris, Trammel, Parrish, and Whitaker.
From other sports, we elected as mayor the basketball star, Dave Bing. Across the Detroit River, builders are finishing a major, international bridge to Canada named after a Red Wings’ star, Gordie Howe. Across from City Hall is a giant “Fist” monument to the boxer, Joe Louis. Down through the decades, tales of the Bad Boy Pistons and the Hockeytown Red Wings are passed from grandparents to parents to children.
Speaking of such things, one personal memory. When Detroit hosted the Super Bowl in 2006, one of my assignments was a historical story so I interviewed by telephone Joe Schmidt, the former Lions’ captain and linebacker who recently died. Schmidt also coached the team. He is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Schmidt led the Lions in the 1950s, when they won three NFL championships in six seasons and the city of Detroit prospered among America’s top five populations.
In the youth of the Baby Boomers, Detroit had a trinity of sports heroes: Joe Schmidt of the Lions, Al Kaline of the Tigers, and Gordie Howe of the Red Wings.
At the end of our conversation, Schmidt said “Thanks for remembering me.” I almost choked up. What would I say in response, “You’re welcome?” Of course I remembered Joe Schmidt! No Detroit sports fan in my generation will ever forget the great Joe Schmidt. But there is always a new generation.
So now you know, all you up-andcoming Tigers, Lions, Wings, and Pistons. Should you succeed even a little bit in your era, you will be treated as princes of the city while here. And if you ever win a championship, your name and legend will live on forever, even when you’re gone.
There’s a new, youthful optimism for four, old franchises.
ASSOCIATED PRESS/CARLOS OSORIO
PART TWO of a series about the illegal destruction of Wayne County prosecutor files
THE BODY OF Lenny Thompson was found on the side of a road at Rouge Park in Detroit in August 1988, wrapped in layers of curtains, clothing, a bed sheet, and a blanket, and fastened with a rope and a drape.
Thompson had been stabbed 12 times with a four-inch blade.
Over the next week, Detroit police illegally arrested 28 potential witnesses without warrants and questioned five more, according to records obtained by Metro Times.
What detectives gathered were numerous potential motives, contradictory eyewitness accounts, and at least six different suspects.
Most people described Thompson as a crack dealer with a temper and a lot of enemies. A couple of weeks before he was murdered, he used a machete to chop off the hand of a drug customer who complained that he was shorted in a dope deal with Thompson, according to multiple witnesses. And about a month before Thompson’s body was found, he shot at a man named Jay whose house he had been staying at on Chapel Street on the city’s west side, according to his neighbors, friends, and associates.
At that house less than a day before Thompson’s body was found, two witnesses told police they saw Jay and his friend carrying what appeared to be a body wrapped in blankets. One of the witnesses, known as Madonna, said she also smelled an awful stench inside the house, and one of the occupants who was “acting strangely” insisted it was from a dead dog.
Despite these accounts, police and Wayne County prosecutors claimed that Thompson was killed at a different house by other people, including Mark McCloud, who was charged with Thompson’s murder.
Alarmingly, neither McCloud nor his attorney were informed of the contradictory evidence, despite his constitutional right to access it. He discovered through a public records request that all witness statements challenging the allegations against him had been withheld.
Police and prosecutors are constitutionally required to turn over exculpatory evidence, which is any information that shows that a defendant is innocent. Defendants who prove that exculpatory evidence was withheld during their trial are entitled to a new one under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brady v. Maryland ruling. Withholding exculpatory evidence is called a “Brady violation.”
Of the 33 witnesses questioned by police, only five of them testified at McCloud’s trial, and all of their testimony
fit the prosecutor’s narrative.
Without any physical evidence tying him to the scene, McCloud was convicted of murder and kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
About two years ago, with the help of an attorney, Rachel Wolfe, and a private investigator, Scott Lewis, McCloud received a copy of his unredacted police file. It showed that police withheld a secret file that contained interviews with more than two dozen witnesses who threw his guilt into serious question.
“I would never have come to prison if they turned this information over,” McCloud tells Metro Times from the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson. “You have no recourse to fight when you have officers withholding exculpatory evidence. I wrote the judge in the case at least 20 times, same with the Detroit Police Department and the prosecutor. And I got nothing.”
McCloud’s case has been complicated by the fact that the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office destroyed thousands of records from 1995 and earlier in violation of a state law that requires prosecutors to retain files for at least 50 years, as reported last week by Metro Times. The records were allegedly destroyed when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was prosecutor between 2001 and 2004, according to the current prosecutor, Kym Worthy.
Without those records, McCloud faces a steeper challenge convincing a judge of his innocence. For example, it’s easier for him to prove that police withheld exculpatory evidence from prosecutors if he could compare their files to the police records.
“It matters in these old cases because we compare the prosecutor files with the police files,” Wolfe says. “As we know in the ’80 and ’90s, [police] set aside miscellaneous files that they didn’t share with the prosecutor. If I don’t have the prosecutor file, I have no idea what they had.”
Wolfe is asking a judge to overturn the conviction based on the withheld exculpatory evidence.
“I think the Brady violation is huge. I believe he is innocent,” Wolfe tells Metro Times. “My argument is that he didn’t get a free trial because of the Brady violation, and he couldn’t present the exculpatory information.”
To strengthen McCloud’s case, Lewis tracked down some of the witnesses who gave statements that contradicted the official version of events. One of them, Derrick Ali, said in an affidavit that he saw two men lugging what appeared to be a heavy, rolled-up rug out of a house where Thompson sold drugs. It was not
the house where police and prosecutors alleged Thompson was killed.
Ali said he was surprised authorities didn’t call him to testify or ask him follow-up questions.
“I never heard from the police again,” Ali said in the affidavit. “I expected to be called into court to testify but I was never contacted and asked to testify. If I had been asked to testify, I would have testified truthfully to everything that I knew and saw.”
MISCELLANEOUS FILES
McCloud is just one of many prisoners to find out that police withheld evidence that may have acquitted them. In the 1980s and 1990s, Detroit homicide detectives illegally withheld records in what they called a “miscellaneous file” that was concealed from prosecutors because it contained exculpatory evidence.
Although not widely reported in the media, the existence of the miscellaneous files made waves in prisons and the legal system, raising hopes that innocent inmates could now prove they were wrongfully convicted.
The misconduct was first brought to light in September 1996 when defense attorney Sarah Hunter met surreptitiously with a former FBI agent and a suspended Detroit police officer, Ritchie Harrison, in a parked car outside a Highland Park grocery store. Harrison revealed that Detroit homicide detectives maintained unlawful “miscellaneous files” used to withhold exculpatory evidence in murder cases, according to an affidavit signed by Hunter in 2004, after Harrison and the agent died.
Harrison also described how officers were instructed to fabricate details and destroy evidence to secure convictions, often framing innocent people in the process.
The miscellaneous files contained witness statements, alternative case theories, and the names of other suspects, along with potentially exonerating and impeaching evidence that could hurt the police department’s case. For police, the files effectively ensured that only incriminating evidence was presented when they requested that prosecutors file criminal charges.
When information about the miscellaneous files became known to inmates, defense attorneys, and private investigators in 2004, the police department became inundated with public records requests for the miscellaneous files. And sure enough, the files existed in many cases, and they often included exculpatory evidence.
But the full extent of the misconduct is unknown, in large part because the
destruction of the files has stymied efforts to uncover what police withheld from prosecutors, depriving potentially innocent people of freedom.
Hunter used the information to help exonerate Dwight Love, a Detroit man who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1982. Love’s conviction was overturned, and he was granted a new trial in 1997. Although prosecutors initially sought to retry him, the charges were ultimately dismissed in 2001. Love was released but died in Detroit in 2014.
RAMPANT POLICE MISCONDUCT
For this story, Metro Times interviewed about a dozen inmates who say Detroit police withheld exculpatory evidence in miscellaneous files that were not turned over to the defense. All of the prisoners maintain they’re innocent and that the miscellaneous files would lead to their acquittal if they were charged today.
Indeed, many of the miscellaneous files obtained by Metro Times contain information that contradicts the prosecutors’ cases. Much of the information is compelling and ultimately denied the young men of their constitutional right to mounting an adequate defense when they were on trial for murder.
Without access to the prosecutor’s files, the prisoners cannot show whether or not the potentially exculpatory evidence from police was withheld from prosecutors.
“You really need to get all the cards on the table,” Lewis, an investigative journalist-turned-private investigator, tells Metro Times. “The fact that they withheld all these files creates serious problems, especially if you can’t compare them to the prosecutor’s records.”
Lewis adds, “The thing that is important for the prosecutor’s file is, if you’re looking for a Brady violation for withholding evidence, you’re looking to see what the prosecutor saw and what’s in the police file that wasn’t in the prosecutor file.”
During his career as a private investigator, Lewis says he’s handled 15 to 20 cases in which prisoners “told me they got things from the miscellaneous file that they never saw before.”
The file purge, coupled with the miscellaneous police files, is especially troubling because it involved records from a deeply problematic period in Detroit’s Homicide Division, when rampant misconduct, coerced confessions, and constitutional violations by police, particularly homicide detectives, were so widespread that the U.S. Department of Justice intervened, pressing for reforms to avoid a costly lawsuit in the early 2000s. This era of misconduct led to a significant num-
ber of wrongful convictions and false confessions, evidenced by a surge in exonerations and court settlements. Legal experts say many innocent people remain incarcerated, but the destruction of the prosecutor’s files has compromised many of their cases, leaving some prisoners without a clear path to proving their innocence.
“It was like the Wild West in the ’80s, ’90, and early 2000s,” Lewis says of the police department. “They did whatever the hell they wanted down there. It’s a very serious problem.”
FALSE NARRATIVES
When Tommie Lee Seymore was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1990, he was just 19 years old and adamant that he was innocent.
Prosecutors built a narrative that Seymore was a drug dealer that killed 26-year-old Nathaniel “Pops” Cunningham after he demanded Seymore’s associates stop selling narcotics. Prosecu-
tors portrayed Cunningham as a good Samaritan who was “trying to rid the community of drugs,” according to trial transcripts.
But according to police records withheld from Seymore during his trial, Cunningham was far from a moral crusader, and plenty of people had reasons to kill him. He was a drug dealer and had previously been arrested for a jail escape and assaults, including the murder of a gang member in September 1988, the records state.
“The deceased wasn’t a good guy like they painted,” Seymore says in an interview from the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson. “Other people wanted him dead.”
Police withheld compelling evidence that suggested a notorious gang, Best Friends, was responsible for Cunningham’s murder.
At the time of his death, Cunningham was in the midst of a war against Best Friends, which was known for large-scale drug sales, contract killings, and drive-by shootings, according
to police reports. He was previously charged with robbing and murdering one of Best Friends’s members Tommy “Peewee” Hayes, but he was acquitted after the prosecution’s star witness disappeared, according to court records.
The murder also fit the modus operandi of Best Friends: Cunningham was ambushed and gunned down by an AK-47, and his rear tires were flattened, the hallmarks of the gang’s attacks.
The gang’s notorious former hitman, Nathaniel “Boone” Craft, who admitted to police that he murdered at least 30 people, swore in an affidavit in January 2020 that Cunningham’s murder fit his and his partner’s operating style.
“I also determined that this murder exactly fit the method of operation my partner and I used when we committed murders for the Best Friends gang,” Craft said in the affidavit. “We would determine the target’s routine, hide and lie in wait until the victim was leaving and arriving at the location. We always ap-
proached the victim’s car from the rear and opened fire with an AK47. The AK47 was powerful enough to go through car doors, seats or anything else that might give the intended victim protection.”
Craft said his partner in crime, Charles Wilkes, may have murdered Cunningham “because he was in possession of the AK-47 that night.” Wilkes said a simple ballistics test could prove their weapon was used in the murder.
According to Seymore’s request for a new trial, the miscellaneous files “show an elaborate act of suppression by the DPD to keep Mr. Cunningham’s true criminal arrest record from the defense. The deliberate suppression of evidence by the DPD denied Mr. Seymore of his right to a fair trial. … The suppressed evidence would have given Mr. Seymore an opportunity to present the complete defense.”
Seymore received the miscellaneous files from the Detroit Police Department in 2017, and he was floored that
The body of Lenny Thompson was found on the side of a road at Rouge Park in Detroit in August 1988.
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investigators had withheld evidence that he believes would have acquitted him during his trial.
Seymore hoped to prove that prosecutors never received the exculpatory evidence but their records have been destroyed. He also wanted to know if prosecutors had additional suspects and motives.
“Did the prosecutor have that information? Did they withhold that information from me?” Seymore asks.
In May 2017, Barbara Brown, a public records officer for the prosecutor’s office, revealed in a letter to Lewis, his private investigator, that Seymore’s file was likely “included in the confidential destruction” of records from 1995 and earlier.
When he first learned about the file purge, Seymore says, “I was devastated, but I wasn’t deterred. I remained vigilant because I still have the miscellaneous files.”
‘MOE DID IT!’
On Christmas afternoon in 1991, Donald Elliott was engulfed in flames, and his dying words to Detroit firefighters and medics were, “Moe did it, Moe did it,” according to police records.
Moe is Mario Lee Brown, one of two men eventually convicted of murdering Elliott.
According to prosecutors, Brown and James Goodman attacked Elliott because he owed them money and wasn’t paying them back. Goodman was allegedly armed with a handgun, beat Elliot, and doused him in charcoal lighter fluid.
“Light that motherfucker up,” Brown allegedly commanded.
Using a butane lighter, Goodman set Elliott on fire, prosecutors alleged. Elliott ran to the rear of the house engulfed in flames, which spread to the house and caused significant damage. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
After Goodman and Brown were convicted and sentenced to prison, one of the prosecution’s key witnesses cast doubt about his trial testimony, saying in an affidavit that detectives bombarded him with so many lies that he eventually began to believe them. Also, three of the prosecution’s witnesses were “heavy drug users,” Goodman says.
That’s important, he explains, because there was no physical evidence tying him to the scene.
According to firefighters and medics who talked to Elliott before his death, he never mentioned Goodman’s name.
Goodman says he has three witnesses who can confirm he was nowhere near the scene when Elliott was killed.
But building a case for his innocence has been especially difficult since both the prosecutor’s office and the 36th
District Court told him his records were destroyed.
He wants to prove that prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by denying him a probable cause hearing and that exculpatory evidence was withheld. He has other questions: Whom did Detroit police interview? Were any of the witnesses promised anything in return for their testimony? Were there alternative suspects and motives? Was he offered a plea deal he wasn’t told about?
“The destroying of my prosecutor’s file has left me with no way to prove my factual innocence,” Goodman says from the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility.
“Since the 36th District Court file and my Wayne County prosecutor’s file have been destroyed, why am I in prison [when] there’s no factual documentation of me being involved with any crime?”
‘WHY?’
Even when inmates have compelling evidence that they were wrongfully convicted, they often spend years waiting for a court to take up their case.
After 3o years in prison, McCloud may finally get his chance to prove his innocence. In April, Wolfe filed a motion requesting the 3rd Circuit Court in Detroit to overturn McCloud’s conviction, citing, among other things, the new evidence discovered in the police department’s miscellaneous files.
In a hopeful move for McCloud, Wayne County prosecutors conceded that he should receive an evidentiary hearing so a judge can consider the new evidence, Wolfe says.
McCloud has been waiting for this day since the prison door clicked behind him in February 1989. He says he has pleaded his case in letters to judges, prosecutor, and police “at least 20 times each” for many years, but to no avail.
Describing the challenges he faced in trying to access his records, McCloud said, “it’s easier to chew nails” than to obtain the police and prosecutor files.
Now, all he has is time to wait.
“I just sit in the yard and look up at the sky and just say, ‘Why?’” McCloud somberly adds, “My family wants me home.”
This is part of an ongoing series about wrongful convictions and police misconduct. Other stories in the series:
• “A Detroit detective terrorized young men into making false confessions. Some are still behind bars.”
• “Activists call for a review of all cases tied to a Detroit detective who terrorized young men to get false confessions”
• “Illegal document purge in Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office blocks freedom for the wrongfully convicted”
See metrotimes.com to read more.
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, Oct. 2
Live/Concert
$uicideboy$, Denzel Curry, Pouya, Haarper, Shakewell, Ekkstacy 6:30 p.m.; Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $45.50-$195.50.
Matt Lorusso Trio & Special Guests 8-11 p.m.; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover.
Mk.gee, SEES00000 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $32.50.
Organ Fairchild, Peanut Butter Mosquito, the Aromas 7-11 p.m.; New Dodge Lounge, 8850 Joseph Campau Ave., Hamtramck; $10/15.
Skilla Baby 2nd Annual Bday Bash 7 pm; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $27-$152.
Sky Covington in Concert accompanied by Pamela Wise & Friends Performs Jazz 7-10 pm; Aretha’s Jazz Cafe, 350 Madison St., Detroit; $25.
Skilla Baby, Tee Grizzley, Baby Money 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $27-$152. Karaoke
Offbeat KARAOKE with Robby Rob 9 p.m.; Third Street Detroit, 4626 Third St., Detroit; no cover.
Thursday, Oct. 3
Live/Concert
Alec Benjamin, Matt Hansen 6:30 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $27.50-$57.50.
Carly Pearce, Karley Scott Collins 8 p.m.; Caesars Palace WindsorAugustus Ballroom, 377 E. Riverside Dr., Windsor; $33-$78.
Dwight Yoakam, the Mavericks 7 p.m.; Detroit Masonic Temple Library, 500 Temple St, Detroit; $30-$244.
Gong, Tangerine Time Machine, Custard Flux 7:30 & 8 pm; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $20$120.
Hail the Sun, A Lot Like Birds,
Zeta, Flat Out 6 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $29.50. Hatebreed, Carcass, Harm’s Way, Crypta 6 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $35-$69.50.
JP Cooper, Sam Fischer 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $25.
Magic Bag Presents: The Cactus Blossoms, Lou Hazel 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.
Orianthi 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $25-$150.
The Schizophonics, Wiccans, I Are Citizen 7 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $15.
The Stylistics 8 p.m.; Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $35-$47. Karaoke
DARE-U-OKE 9 p.m.-midnight; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover.
Drag Queen Karaoke 8 p.m.-2 a.m.; Woodward Avenue Brewers, 22646 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; no cover.
Karaoke at Detroit Shipping with DJ MO WILL 6-9 p.m.; Detroit Shipping Company, 474 Peterboro St., Detroit; no cover.
Friday, Oct. 4
Live/Concert
Skilla Baby, Tee Grizzley, Baby Money 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $27-$152.
Air Supply 8 p.m.; The Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $57-$77.
Artikal Sound System, Highdeas 7 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $20.
Atlanta Rhythm Section 8 pm; Flagstar Strand Theatre for the Performing Arts, 12 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $30-$60.
Boots, Boo’s, & Brews Country Halloween Party! 8 p.m.; Diamondback Music Hall, 49345 S. Interstate 94 Service Dr., Belleville; $10-$15.
Coco & Clair Clair, SadBoi 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $27-$37.
Dirty White and the High Life Social Club, Leaving Lifting, Ryn Scott 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; $5.
Faun 7 p.m.; Majestic Theatre, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $29.50.
28 October 2-8, 2024 | metrotimes.com
FOOL HOUSE - The Ultimate 90’s Dance Party 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $20-$30.
Magic Bag Presents: Richie Kotzen, Mark Daly 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $38. Skilla Baby 2nd Annual Bday Bash 7 pm; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $27-$152.
The Music of Star Wars with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 10:45 a.m., 8 p.m.; Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $20. The Obsessed, Restless Spirit 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $18.
UDO, Kill Ritual, Midnite Hellion 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $30.
DJ/Dance
Bart Skils, Weska, Raedy Lex, ALOKUS 9 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $20-$25.
Saturday, Oct. 5
Live/Concert
Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, GAWD 8 p.m.; Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill, 14900 Metropolitan Pkwy., Sterling Heights; $29.50-$109.50.
Average White Band 8 p.m.; The Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $37-$57.
Beats Antique, Haywyre 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $23.
Dogz of War, Self Absorbed, Poison Tongues, Death In Custody, Fistful of Hate, No Refuge 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.
An Evening with Eva Noblezada & Reeve Carney 6:30 p.m., 8:45 p.m.; Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Avenue, Detroit; $60.
HOUSE OF 1000 JOUMANAS: A full night of Joumanas hosted by Luscious Minj 9 p.m.; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; $5.
Magic Bag Presents: Jonathan Richman featuring Tommy Larkins on drums 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $25.
Mike Ward & Steve Madewell 8 p.m.; Trinity House Theatre, 38840 W. Six Mile Rd., Livonia; $20.
Morris Day & The TIme 8-10 p.m.; FIM Capitol Theatre, 140 E 2nd Street,
Flint; $55 - 80.
Niko Moon 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $19-$54.
Palaye Royale, I See Stars, Weathers, Diamante 6 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $29.50-$59.50.
Playground Twist (Siouxsie and the Bansheestribute), Clampdown, Blood & Roses 8 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $12.
Smooth Jazz Fall Fest with Najee, Alexander Zonjic featuring Keiko Matsui and Jazz Funk Soul featuring Jeff Lorber, Everette Harp, and Paul Jackson Jr. 7 p.m.; Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $35-$250.
The Hourlies, Cherry Drop, Velvet Snakes 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $12.
The Music of Star Wars with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 10:45 a.m., 8 p.m.; Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $20. DJ/Dance
Babies R Stupid, YxFF, OMO, 3 the Hardway, PCP USB 9 p.m.; Donovan’s, 3003 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; $11.99.
Miss Monique, Kawsan, Thay Rodrigues 9 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $25-$30.
Sunday, Oct. 6 Live/Concert
Bears In Trees, Mothé, Thank You I’m Sorry 6 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $20.
Celtic Thunder ODYSSEY 7:30 p.m.; The Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $50-$80.
KEN Mode, HIDE, Deeper Graves, Abuse Repression, Pythian 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $18.
Little Stranger, WAX, Jarv, Damn Skippy 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $26-$125.
The Get Up Kids, Smoking Popes 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $27.50.
The Music of Star Wars with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 3 p.m.; Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $20. DJ/Dance
Dilla Fest 2024 with DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown (Erykah Badu),
Moodymann, Dez Andrés, DJ
Killa $quid 6 p.m.; Russell Industrial Complex-Exhibition Center, 1600 Clay St., Detroit; $43.78
Monday, Oct. 7
Live/Concert
Billie Eilish, Nat & Alex Wolff 7 p.m.; Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $59.50-$499.50. DJ/Dance
Adult Skate Night 8:30-11 p.m.; Lexus Velodrome, 601 Mack Ave., Detroit; $5.
Tuesday, Oct. 8
Live/Concert
Balance & Composure, Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band, Milly 6:30 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $30.50.
Daniel Kahn: Songs of Sholem & Koyekh (Peace & Strength) 7-9 p.m.; Congregation T’chiyah, 22331 Woodward Ave, Ferndale; $10- $54. Global Sunsets, Blackman & Arnold Trio 7-10 p.m.; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover.
Hanson, Underneath: Experience, Matthew Sweet 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $50-$180.
Johnny Shoe 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Alpino, 1426 Bagley St, Detroit; $10.
Rose Betts, Simone 7 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $18. Skeletal Remains, Bewitcher, Phobophilic, Witch Vomit, Archthrone 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $20. DJ/Dance
B.Y.O.R Bring Your Own Records Night 9 p.m.-midnight; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; no cover. Open Mic
Open Mic : Art in a Fly Space 7-10 p.m.; Detroit Shipping Company, 474 Peterboro St., Detroit; no cover.
THEATER
Performance
Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest The Dinner Detective Comedy Mystery Dinner Show; $69.99; Saturday, Oct. 5, 6-9 p.m.
Embassy Suites Troy The Dinner Detective Comedy Mystery Dinner Show; $69.99; Saturday, Oct. 5, 6-9 p.m.
Fisher Theatre - Detroit Some Like it Hot; Wednesday, Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 5, 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m,, Sunday Oct. 6; 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m.;
Huge T. rex exhibit coming to Detroit
Millions of years ago, the ferocious Tyrannosaurus roamed what is now western North America. Now the king of the dinosaurs will soon visit Detroit.
The Michigan Science Center announced that the traveling exhibit Tyrannosaurs - Meet the Family is coming to the museum starting on Sunday.
Sponsored by Ford Philanthropy, construction on the massive exhibit is set to take course over the coming weeks. The exhibition was created by the Australian Museum and features interactive hands-on displays and a collection of T. rex skeleton casts and fossils, including one of the world’s biggest.
“This exhibition is one of the largest and most impressive we’ve ever hosted at the Michigan Science Center,” said Dr. Christian Greer, president and CEO of the Michigan Science Center. “We are excited to give guests of all ages the chance to learn about these incredible animals in a way that is not only educational but also truly immersive. Ford Philanthropy’s generous support helps us continue our mission to inspire curious minds and ignite a lifelong passion for learning that puts you at the center of science.”
The exhibit runs through Jan. 12, 2025. The Michigan Science Center is located at 5020 John R St., Detroit. More information is available at mi-sci.org.
—Lee DeVito
Musical
Detroit Opera House Moulin Rouge (Touring); Wednesday, Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 5, 2 & 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 6, 1 & 6:30 p.m.
FIM Elgood Theatre Godspell. This bold new production, directed by producing artistic director Michael Lluberes will be reimagined with actors performing in a pool of water. A group of disciples help Jesus Christ tell different parables by using a parables by using a wide variety of games, storytelling techniques, and a hefty dose of comic timing. Tickets start at $27; Genesee County residents save 30% Wednesday Oct. 2, 10 a.m.; Thursday, Oct. 3, 10 a.m.; Friday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 6, 2 p.m.
Fox Theatre Ain’t Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations (Touring); $30-$80; Thursday, Oct. 3, 8 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m.
COMEDY
Improv
Go Comedy! Improv Theater Pandemonia; $25; Fridays, Saturdays; 8 p.m.
Stand-up
Caesars Palace Windsor - Augustus Ballroom Nikki Glaser: Alive And Unwell Tour; $33-$78; Friday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 7:30 p.m.
Historic Redford Theatre Scream Theater. This isn’t any typical stage show; it’s a live radio broadcast brought to life. Picture this: a darkened stage, the spotlight illuminating the actors’ faces as they weave intricate tales of mystery and suspense. Meanwhile, foley artists craft a sonic landscape right before your eyes, transforming everyday objects into thunder, footsteps, or even the eerie creak of a haunted house. $20 for adults, $10 for children. Friday Oct. 4, 8-10 p.m. and Saturday Oct. 5, 8-10 p.m.
Planet Ant Theatre Silly Goose: A Planet Ant Farm Team Original One Act Comedy. In this hilarious, grown-up fairy tale, a mischievous little Goose takes on the Mayor of Smalltownerton, an idyllic small town, in an epic battle to win over its citizens. Join our feathered hero for a honkin’ good time as he works alongside a farmer, a gardener, a cowboy, a chef and even the story’s narrator to compete in a high-stakes pageant that could decide the fate of the town forever. Content Warning Play contains foul language and flashing lights sequences or patterns that may affect photosensitive viewers. $20; Through Oct. 5, 7-8 p.m.
The Inspired Acting Company
The Book Club Play Personal dramas collide with literary debates when the book club allows a documentary crew to film their intellectual banter. Secrets spill, tensions flare, and reality gets a bit tangled with fiction. With a dash of humor and a sprinkle of heart, “The Book Club Play” dives into friendship, identity, and the magic of storytelling, nudging the audience to ponder the role of books in their own crazy adventures. $30-$35 Fridays, Saturdays, 8-10 p.m. and Sundays, 2-4 p.m.
Tipping Point Theatre Grand Horizons. Bill and Nancy have recently marked fifty years of marriage and settled comfortably in their new home at Grand Horizons, a senior living community. Their lives are structured in marital unison until one evening, Nancy announces she wants a divorce. Bill says OK. Their two adult sons are shocked as they question everything they thought was true in their lives and struggle to make sense of this unexpected news. $25-$55; Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2-3:45 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, 7:30-9:15 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 4, 7:30-9:15 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 5, 7:30-9:15 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 6, 2-3:45 p.m.
Grotto Pizzeria & Tavern Slice Comedy Room at the Grotto; $10; Friday Oct. 4, 7-9 p.m.& 9:30-11 p.m.
Little Caesars Arena Tom Segura: Come Together; $32.50-$99.50; Saturday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m.
Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle Tom Cotter; $30; Friday, Oct. 4, 7:15 p.m. & 9:45 p.m., and Saturday Oct. 5, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. Brad Upton; $35; Sunday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.
Sound Board Terry Fator; $51-$64; Saturday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m.
The Crofoot Comics for Kamala with Mike Geeter, Bob Phillips, Ann Duke, Roni Shanel, Robyn Gilleran, Josh Adams; $29$39; Sunday, Oct. 6, 2:30 p.m.
The Temple Theatre Steve Martin & Martin Short: The Dukes of Funnytown!” Featuring Jeff Babko and the Steep Canyon Rangers; $100-$385. Friday, Oct. 4, 7 p.m..
Continuing This Week Stand-up
Blind Pig Blind Pig Comedy; Mondays, 8 p.m.
The Independent Comedy Club at Planet Ant The Sh*t Show Open Mic: Every Friday & Saturday at The Independent; 8 p.m.
COURTESY PHOTO
MUSIC
Life line
Hip-hop artist Lom Rudy talks about surviving three shootings and his new album
By Kahn Santori Davison
The hip-hop artist known as Lom Rudy is sitting inside of Royal Oak’s Northside Audio studio texting, returning calls, and preparing to hop behind the mic. Dressed in all black and a pair of white Nike Air Force 1s, he’s talking to the studio engineer about a verse for a feature he wants to record and other songs.
Over the last 24 months Rudy has been one of the most consistent and creative emcees emerging out of Detroit’s ever evolving hip-hop scene.
“I treat music like I treat the streets as far as networking and using resources,” he says confidently. “I gravitate more towards people that’s being productive and doing their thing. I really don’t want to be around muthafuckas that’s bullshitting and not doing nothing.”
Rudy, 31, grew up in Inkster, a small suburb that sits on Detroit’s doorstep
with around 25,000 residents. Much like Detroit, Inkster shares a poverty rate that’s a pinch over 30% and has battled the challenges of a high crime rate that comes with it.
“It’s just like a mini Detroit forreal,” he says. “Everything that’s going on from the westside to the eastside [of Detroit] is going on in Inkster. People making money, people getting killed, literally everything.”
His parents both faced their own separate challenges in navigating through street culture which left him no other choice than to move in with his aunt midway through high school. Eventually Rudy found his own lane into street culture. “I got turned on to a lot of stuff early, probably more so than most people did,” he says. “My dad was in prison and my mom lived in the city so I was like staying with family members.”
Rudy found solace in hip-hop, growing up on mainstays Doughboyz Cashout and Team Eastside, and by high school he was part of his own hip-hop group, L.O.M. (Loyalty Over Money). But penning bars and hitting the studio with his crew took a backseat to the easy access of the fast money that came from the streets. “I was getting a lot of money in the streets so I wasn’t thinking about music,” he says.
Participating in Detroit’s economic underbelly is risky, no matter someone’s chosen street trade, popularity, low profile, or intentions. For every enemy known there are 10 incognito, and you become targeted by them and police the more your (perceived) monetary status ascends. Even comradery among fellow hustlers is nonexistent or superficial at best. In 2013, Rudy had just left the Crazy Horse gentlemen’s
club and was shot in the stomach while driving on I-94 in Detroit.
“Somebody pulled up on the side of me and shot the car up … everything happens for a reason,” he says with a nod. “I’ve always been in the streets so I kind of know what comes with it.”
Rudy made a full recovery and jumped back into his street lifestyle while treating music as a part-time job. But in 2016 he was indicted by the United States of America and the State of Michigan for access device fraud and manufacturing over 50 grams of heroin. Rudy was incarcerated in 2016 and released from prison in 2018.
Upon release he felt like he was fully ready to focus on music. His group had peacefully parted ways to pursue solo ventures and Rudy needed a plan filled with attainable and legal goals.
“When I was in prison I thought, ‘Damn, I don’t wanna come back to jail.
Lom Rudy has been one of the most consistent and creative emcees emerging out of Detroit’s ever evolving hip-hop scene.
KAHN SANTORI DAVISON
So what am I going to do when I come home?’” he says. “So when I came home in 2018, that’s when I really started focusing on the music and I noticed you can’t do both.”
Rudy’s first offering was 2019’s Chess not Checkers. The project was powered by street narratives like “Make It Back” and “Headed to Texas.”
“That was my first solo project,” he says. “I just wanted to see how it did forreal, and I got a good response. It felt good, it made me want to keep going and put more effort into it forreal.”
However tragedy struck again in 2021 when Rudy was shot four times while leaving the Seaside Lounge in Houston, Texas. “I was walking to the car, some niggas ran up on me with masks on trying to take my watch,” he says. Rudy was shot in his mouth, neck, chest, and leg.
“That was the first time where I felt like I almost died,” he says. “That gave me a wake-up call. I thought being out of town, I was good, but shit can happen anywhere.”
Rudy was able to make a full recovery and released his second project, Second Chance, shortly after. The project was helped with guest bars from fellow emcees Courtny Bell on “I Can Tell” and Baby Money on “Keep Hustlin.”
Although the project had already been in the works prior to Rudy’s near-fatal shooting, he expedited the release. As the idiom goes, “turning a negative into a positive.”
“I started noticing that more people were paying attention to me after that Houston shit happened,” he says. “People wanna see you damn near die. I felt since I had all these eyes on me and all this attention I might as well capitalize on it and I dropped that and it did better than the first tape did.”
A year later, on April 20, 2022, Rudy was yet the victim of another shooting. He was shot four times in Detroit. Video from the aftermath of the shooting was posted on social media
“I was somewhere I didn’t have no business being and I knew that while I was in there,” he confesses.
Rudy had to learn how to walk again during a rehab stint that also left him blind in his left with a vertical scar underneath. He also aggressively started recording more music which resulted in God’s Favorite, a body of work that he calls his “favorite album.”
“The majority of God’s Favorite was about the incident. It was more like real life experiences in that one. That project was way more personal,” he says.
On “My Life” off of God’s Favorite he raps:
“I then sent some shit and hit some shit I know karma real Had to teach myself to walk again I
know how it feel I then took 3 of em to the face so I know how it heal”
And on “Checkmate” he’s more cocky and witty:
“I went from in the hood to continents/ Toasting to our accomplishments. Selling bows like condiments/IG bitches wit compliments they keep boosting my confidence”
Rudy’s brushes with death have left just as many emotional scars as physical scars. His PTSD is comparable to a soldier returning home from war. He’s wary of large crowds, skeptical of people he doesn’t know, and is still getting used to taking selfies with fans. He’s humble, self-aware, and is not a provocateur in any way. He sees his trio of shootings as more “wrong place, wrong time” situations, not street karma coming back at him.
“I’ve never been the person just to be doing something to a person. So I don’t need to be watching my back. Stuff be coming my way, it was people trying to take shit from me,” he says.
Musically Rudy has already had a productive 2024. He collaborated with heavyweight emcee Allstar JR to release Casino Bag and Casino Bag 2 “We socially sound good together. We sound like we’ve been making music together for a long time,” he says. In July he took a major pivot and dropped “Hey There,” an interpolation of pop rock band Plain White T’s 2006 megahit “Hey There Delilah” with a trap twist. Rudy states he had the original version stuck in his head for weeks and on whim, decided to record a verse one day in the studio.
“[That] shit sounded good!” he says. “I posted that shit and it did good, so I was like, ‘we gonna put this shit out forreal.’”
The song has grown Rudy’s following with new fans outside of his normal trap supporters. His next album Checkmate is complete and set to be released this month along with a documentary about the 2022 shooting
Rudy is two years removed from the last attempt on his life and his perspective has grown sharper with each passing day. He’s a father of four children under the age of 8 and he uses their love and support to keep him focused.
“I got four other people that I have to take care of,” he says. “I gotta put them first. It keeps me structured and keeps me balanced.”
Rudy is still independent but says he’s willing to listen to what any record label is willing to offer him as long as he maintains some creative control. “I feel like my creative process is a big reason why I am where I am,” he says, adding, “I ain’t stoppin no time soon.”
FOOD
Bites
New Orleans-style brunch restaurant opens downtown
Sugah Please is bringing a taste of the South to Detroit.
The New Orleans-inspired breakfast and brunch restaurant named after the popular Southern term of endearment just opened its doors in the heart of downtown, offering comfort food, craft cocktails, and espresso drinks.
Located at 150 W. Jefferson Ave., the new spot hosted a ribbon-cutting event on Sept. 16 with Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison and City Council President Mary Sheffield. Sugah Please is the 174th business to open a brick-and-mortar in Detroit with support from Motor City Match, according to the city.
Owner Wendy Ringo originally
intended to open her restaurant in Detroit’s Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she instead ended up launching an online delivery service offering coffees, teas, and sweets.
The pivot led to Sugah Please gaining a strong social media following which supported the eatery in opening a location at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi.
After a successful year there, Ringo is returning to her roots with a second location of Sugah Please in Detroit.
“I couldn’t rest until we found our traction in the city. Detroit is who I am, and Detroit is who I’ll forever be,” Ringo said in a statement. “This is a story of
persevering; I think we represent the grit of the city.”
The restaurant’s dishes are inspired by the owner’s family roots.
Menu items include Creole Crabcakes, Catfish Beignets, Shrimp and Grits, Seafood Gumbo, and a Peach Bourbon Barbecue Chicken Wings. Guests can also enjoy signature craft cocktails, such as the “Sugah Blue,” which blend traditional drinks with Detroit-inspired innovation.
Additionally, Sugah Please plans to partner with other Michigan- and Detroit-based suppliers to add more offerings to the menu. Soon, ground coffee, K-pod gift sets, and coffee subscriptions will be available, according to its website, allowing customers to bring a taste of the restaurant home.
Sugah Please is still in its soft opening phase, operating Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
For more information and updates, see sugahplease.com.
—Layla McMurtrie
Glenlore Trails releases glow-in-the-dark beer cans
Guests visiting
Commerce Township’s Glenlore Trails this fall have a new way to get lit.
The illuminated hiking trail attraction has partnered with Griffin Claw Brewing Co. for its new “Glenlore Trails’ Luminous Lager,” a new beer served in glow-in-the-dark cans.
“The beer is brewed with a generous helping of joy and a minuscule measure of mischievous magic,” the company says in a release. “The radiant brew is ideal for an enchanted evening along the trail. Super crisp
and ultra refreshening, this easydrinking lager is just plain fun.”
The 16-ounce cans contain 5.0% alcohol by volume.
Glenlore Trails is the brainchild of Bluewater Technologies, a Detroitarea audiovisual production company. It first launched in 2020 as a way for the company to stay busy during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, since it lost most of its business related to canceled events like the North American International Auto Show.
The one-mile family-friendly trail winds through a forest enhanced by interactive LED displays that play
Detroit City Distillery announces absinthe and Halloween pop-up
A Halloween pop-up and a rare absinthe are coming soon to Detroit City Distillery, perfectly kicking off the spooky season.
On Friday, Dead City Distillery will take over DCD’s Tasting Room on Riopelle Street in Eastern Market.
Alongside the festivities, the distillery is introducing Absinthe Supérieure Isabella, a 136-proof spirit that’s as mysterious as it is potent.
The exclusive absinthe release is the result of a year-long collaboration with Dr. Justin Sledge of the popular YouTube channel Esoterica. Absinthe Supérieure Isabella is named after the famed 16th-century alchemist Isabella Cortese and pays tribute to a centuries-old recipe. It’s light green in color due to natural ingredients used in distilling, including Grande Wormwood and other botanicals.
“Collaborating with Justin on this ultra-rare recipe made before absinthe was banned was really fun and fascinating for our team,” JP Jerome, master distiller and co-owner at DCD, said in a press release. “We think afficionados will be pleased with the authenticity of this spirit, which is of course, green in color, carrying floral notes with a black licorice finish. We can’t wait to introduce our customers to our version of the iconic Green Fairy.”
animations and sounds.
Glenlore Trails launched its Halloween-themed “Enchanted” edition last weekend, which runs through Nov. 3.
After that, the space will switch over to a winter-themed “Aurora” version which will run from mid-November through December.
The Luminous Lager will be offered for a limited time while supplies last.
Glenlore Trails is located at 3860 Newtown Rd., Commerce Township. More information and tickets are available at glenloretrails.com.
—Lee DeVito
Visitors to the pop-up will enjoy a Halloween-themed cocktail menu, featuring drinks crafted with Absinthe Supérieure Isabella and other fall favorites. Alongside the cocktails, limited-edition glassware and merchandise will be available.
Absinthe Supérieure Isabella will be available for $60 a bottle at the distillery’s Tasting Room starting Oct. 10, and online for in-person pickup. Starting in November, it will also hit shelves in select liquor and grocery stores.
More information can be found at detroitcitydistillery.com.
—Layla McMurtrie
Sugah Please is located at 1501 W. Jefferson Ave., Detroit. CITY OF DETROIT, FLICKR
CULTURE
Film Double trouble: Two films show limits of movie industry
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Rated: PG-13
Run-time: 104 minutes
Sing Sing
Rated: R
Run-time: 103 minutes
My dream format for writing about movies would be to write about one big and one little movie every week. That way I can be a part of the conversation connected to the newest blockbuster everyone is watching while also trying to bring attention to a smaller movie that deserves more eyeballs aimed at it.
It’s basically like trying to have my cake and eat it, too, but it’s sometimes impossible to find opposing movies every week that are both worth discussing. This week, however, is perfect, with the stillcrushing-it-at-the-box-office Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the much smaller arthouse crowd pleaser Sing Sing Also, I will never have another chance
By Jared Rasic, Last Word Features
to do two movies with identically repetitive alliteration for titles, so my OCD also wins this week.
Listen, I will ultimately watch Michael Keaton read from the phone book for two hours, so I feel like an ungrateful child for complaining about a new Beetlejuice movie. But Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and company deserved a better script to play with. So much of the film feels like it was written by committee, where five or six of the story threads only exist to fill time and don’t focus on the characters we actually care about.
What the original Beetlejuice did so well (aside from weaponizing Tim Burton’s gothic whimsy house style) was how it used the characters. We have a newly dead couple discovering the universe of the afterlife along with the audience, so we meet Keaton’s Beetlejuice and his trickster demon shenanigans are just as shocking to us as they are to our dead protagonists. A bunch of dead people can’t sustain an entire Hollywood movie, so then we’re introduced to the Deetz family, who move into the newly dead couple’s
and Burton seems more energized as a filmmaker than he has since at least Sweeney Todd, but it all feels like cosplay and not a story worthy of these characters. When I most definitely will run into a drunk guy dressed like Beetlejuice on Halloween, if I ask him to tell me about his night, it will almost certainly be a more interesting story than the one Beetlejuice Beetlejuice tells.
Still, there are lots of cool practical effects and I love Burton’s vision of the afterlife. So I would probably watch another one of these and, since it’s already made a quarter of a billion dollars, I’m sure we’ll get many more.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Sing Sing, a tiny movie about a prison arts program putting on a play. Shot on 16 mm over 19 days and around several decommissioned prisons, Sing Sing focuses almost exclusively on the transformative power of art, the way that performance can help process pain, and the humanization of people to whom most of the world give little or no thought at all.
The great Colman Domingo plays John “Divine G” Whitfield, an innocent man serving 25 to life in New York’s Sing Sing Maximum Security Correctional Facility. Along with a few other inmates, he puts on performances with the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program (a real thing, by the way), helping men with no outlet for their trauma and emotions find a way to be vulnerable with themselves and others.
beloved home and start turning things upside down.
Ryder’s Lydia Deetz was such an iconic ’80s character because she was one of the first mainstream goth teenagers in pop culture history, and her blend of dry humor, ideation of death, and plucky badassery made her unforgettable. Picking up with Lydia almost 30 years later in the sequel removes all of what made the character such an original creation. Now Lydia feels like a castoff from a Hot Topic clearance sale, making a living as a television medium and trying to connect with her estranged daughter (played by the typecast Jenna Ortega).
Without going into the plethoric plot machinations, Lydia hooks up with Keaton’s Beetlejuice again to save her daughter from a terrible teenage boy, while he needs Lydia to protect him from his undead ex (played by Monica Bellucci looking like Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas). Did we need Beetlejuice backstory? Probably not, but at least we could have gotten one more interesting than this.
It’s great to see Keaton hamming it up as the ghost with the most again
Domingo is astonishing, and along with Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin (an actual participant in the RTA program), creates a living, breathing world that lets us inhabit and empathize with an entire society of people most of us have no context to relate to or understand.
Director Greg Kwedar gives us a beautiful example of the possibilities inherent in the arts and Sing Sing proves that the real importance of cinema has nothing to do with the budget or how much money a single movie makes. I’d be shocked if Sing Sing didn’t get nominated for lots of Oscars come awards season and I’ll be incredulous if Domingo and Maclin aren’t nominated for their performances.
Sing Sing and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice couldn’t be more different, but they do show the limitations of the movie industry. When a movie like 2 Fast 2 Beetlejuice has millions at its disposal for marketing, millions of people are guaranteed to see it, whereas a genuinely important film like Sing Sing has barely made over $2 million since its release. Word of mouth is where something small and beautiful like this finds its audience. So here I am, yelling into the wind to find and celebrate the art inside all of the noise.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Sing Sing couldn’t be more different.
PARISA TAGHIZADEH/WARNER BROS.
CULTURE
Savage Love Quickies
By Dan Savage
: Q Quick & dirty question for you about online dating: What’s the best next step after texting? Audio message? Phone call? Video date? Or a quick, in-person meetup?
A: I recommend a quick video call — a brief Facetime chat — before that first brief, in-person meeting in a public place. If someone isn’t willing to jump on FaceTime to confirm their photos are current and they’re not a fake, a flake, or a chatbot, they don’t deserve the pleasure of your company.
: Q Help! I keep falling in love! With every female friend I have!
A: Maybe! You should stop! Using your dick! As a divining rod! To pick female friends!
: Q We used to talk, my boyfriend and me. We used to share everything. Now I can barely get him to talk to me, to share things with me, to spend time with me. The more I ask him to spend time with me to talk and share, the more withdrawn he becomes. And forget about sex. How can I get our intimacy back?
A: You can only ask — and you have asked repeatedly, and it sounds like the answer to all three asks (talk, share, fuck) is “no.” So, time to go.
: Q Which is better: wrist cuffs or handcuffs?
A: By “handcuffs,” you obviously mean steel law-enforcement-style restraints that snap around wrists, like these from Smith & Wesson. By wrist cuffs, I’m assuming you mean wide and ideally padded leather restraints that buckle around wrists, like these from Mr. S Leather. Handcuffs are effective, but they’re not comfortable or safe for play; if they twist, they can do nerve or bone damage; and while some kinksters find the “law enforcement” vibes arousing, others are turned off by them. Leather wrist restraints, on the other hand, are far safer and far more comfortable for play and longer-term wear, and they give “depraved pervert” vibes, which many kinksters prefer.
: Q There is this guy. Sometimes, it seems like he’s really into me; other times, he completely ignores me. Hot and cold. Push and pull. Clings then ghosts. What should I do?
A: Someone else.
: Q I feel creeped out when a man refers to me as his “lover.” It makes me feel like Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: “I’ve been slimed!” Hearing that word applied to me makes me want to jump in the shower. But I don’t say anything because I know it’s supposed to be a compliment. What’s wrong with me?
A: Nothing. Lots of people have aversions to certain words — words that trigger feelings of irrational disgust — and “lover” triggers you the way moist, loins, panties, phlegm, and sputum trigger others. Personally, I always hated the word “nipple” when applied to me, so I was delighted when gay men started using “tits” a decade or two ago. (They don’t give milk, but they’re still tits — decommissioned tits, tits in drydock, but tits.) Some possible alternatives for “lover” that your lovers could use when referring to you (offered in ascending order of emotional importance): cumdump, fuckbuddy, friend-with-benefits, significant other, boyfriend/girlfriend/ enbyfriend, fiancé/fiancée/intended, husband/wife/spouse.
: Q I am going to the Dominican Republic with my boyfriend for our anniversary. He is quite well endowed, and he wants to top me. How can I be a good bottom and anally douche in a country where the tap water is not drinkable?
A: They sell bottled water in the Dominican Republic — I checked — and as anyone who has ever left their douche bulb at home and had to improvise on the road knows, a squeezable plastic water bottle doubles as a douche bulb in a pinch.
: Q I want you to put me in touch with the man who wants a submissive boyfriend willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for him and have his genitals removed. I would do anything to have a boyfriend, even if it meant making that sacrifice. Please send him my email address.
A: I am not allowed to put my readers in touch with each other — per my lawyer’s advice — but I can’t stop my readers from sliding into the comment thread for a particular column or podcast in the hopes of catching the attention of a particular
letter writer or caller. But before you do anything rash: desperation is unattractive and I don’t think anything shouts “desperate” quite so loudly as, “I will cut off my cock and balls to land a boyfriend.” Boyfriends are great — I’m a big fan of mine — but unless becoming a nullo is something you’ve always wanted to do for you, it’s not something you should do for “love.”
: Q My boyfriend is depressed. Which normally, I can handle. I’m supportive as much as I can be. Except lately, now that I’m going through a rough time myself, I’m less able to be supportive. And I need him to step up and support me. He might not be capable of doing that, though. And the kind of support I need right now is that I need to feel wanted. I need to feel desired. So, if he’s having some low libido issues, what do I do?
A: You need to ask yourself how much longer you’re willing to stay with someone who — for whatever reason — can’t meet your emotional or sexual needs. Extenuating circumstances should always be taken into consideration, of course, and someone who ends a committed relationship at the first sign of trouble wasn’t serious about their commitment. But extenuating circumstances aren’t paralyzing circumstances, and a commitment isn’t a sexual and emotional suicide pact. If someone isn’t meeting your needs but is making a good-faith effort to get themselves to a place where they can, you should stick around. So, my question for you is this: Is your boyfriend making an effort to get there?
: Q Is it better to be very explicit/ specific when it comes to planning an encounter that is going to be tricky to set up — advance planning, securing a hotel room, renting a car — or should you allow room for spontaneity? I have a feeling my possible partner will feel pressured if I start making these arrangements. But if we just play it by ear, it might not happen at all.
A: Make those arrangements but say this (say it and mean it) to your possible partner: “I’m gonna get a hotel room and rent a car in case we need them — but no pressure. If you’re not feeling it when we get together, or if I’m not feeling it, nothing has to happen. I’m pretty sure I would love to spend the night with you, but a night alone a hotel room watching movies and eating room service isn’t a bad consolation prize.”
: Q I have mixed feelings about a guy, and I don’t know how to resolve them. On the one hand, I feel like he could be the love of my life, the best sex I’ve ever had, etc. On the other, I want to push him away, pull away from him, distance myself from him,
etc. I keep writing breakup letters that I never send. Why do I desire him so much that he consumes most of my thoughts, and yet also want him out of my life? How do I know what I really want?
A: Could be a case of “right person, wrong time,” i.e., he’s someone you could see yourself committing to but you’re not ready to make a commitment, or your Spidey senses could be picking up on something you aren’t able to see and/or can’t quite articulate. This is a good time to call in your besties — supportive friends, not underminers — and ask them to be brutally honest with you about what they think of this guy as a person and you two as a couple.
: Q Best place to meet ENM people in 2024?
A: As much as people like to complain about dating and hookup apps, they’re still the best place to meet people with niche sexual interests and/or an interest in non-standard relationship models, e.g. open, poly, toly, monogamish, swinging, DADT, stag/vixen, cuck/slut and all the other forms ethically non-monogamous relationships can take.
: Q I last too long and want to be able to come easier. I don’t use a “death grip” during JO. Any advice?
A: Fire on all cylinders: in addition to direct stimulation of your dick during penis-in-vagina/penis-in-butt/penisin-whatever, toss in some tit play (if your tits are wired), toss in a butt plug (if your ass is in play), toss in some dirty talk (if you enjoy it).
: Q How do you know when it’s time to open a relationship?
A: When you’ve talked with your partner about opening your relationship and you’re both in agreement — that doesn’t have to mean you’re both happy about it (some people open things up under duress), but you both have to be board.
: Q Bi guy in relationship needs dick. I’m in my 50s and want to explore. How do I get started?
A: Take some accurate pics, download some Sniffies (or Grindr or Scruff or Feeld), get some dick.
Read the full column online at savage. love.
Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@ savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns, and more at Savage.
CULTURE
Free Will Astrology
By Rob Brezsny
ARIES: March 21 – April 19
During some Wiccan rituals, participants are asked, “What binds you? And what will you do to free yourself from what binds you?” I recommend this exercise to you right now, Aries. Here’s a third question: Will you replace your shackles with a weaving that inspires and empowers you? In other words, will you shed what binds you and, in its stead, create a bond that links you to an influence you treasure?
TAURUS: April 20 – May 20
If I had to name the zodiac sign that other signs are most likely to underestimate, I would say Taurus. Why? Well, many of you Bulls are rather modest and humble. You prefer to let your practical actions speak louder than fine words. Your well-grounded strength is diligent and poised, not flashy. People may misread your resilience and dependability as signs of passivity. But here’s good news, dear Taurus: In the
coming weeks, you will be less likely to be undervalued and overlooked. Even those who have been ignorant of your appeal may tune in to the fullness of your tender power and earthy wisdom.
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20
In the coming days, I invite you to work on writing an essay called “People and Things I Never Knew I Liked and Loved Until Now.” To get the project started, visit places that have previously been off your radar. Wander around in uncharted territory, inviting life to surprise you. Call on every trick you know to stimulate your imagination and break out of habitual ruts of thinking. A key practice will be to experiment and improvise as you open your heart and your eyes wide. Here’s my prophecy: In the frontiers, you will encounter unruly delights that inspire you to grow wiser.
CANCER: June 21 – July 22
Now is an excellent time to search for new teachers, mentors, and role models. Please cooperate with life’s intention to connect you with people and animals who can inspire your journey for the months and years ahead. A good way to prepare yourself for this onslaught of grace is to contemplate the history of your educational experiences. Who are the heroes, helpers, and villains who have taught you crucial lessons? Another strategy to get ready is to think about what’s most vital for you to learn right now. What are the gaps in your understanding that need to be filled?
LEO: July 23 – August 22
The English language has more synonyms than any other language. That’s in part because it’s like a magpie. It steals words from many tongues, including German, French, Old Norse, Latin, and Greek, as well as from Algonquin, Chinese, Hindi, Basque, and Tagalog. Japanese may be the next most magpie-like language. It borrows from English, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and German. In accordance with astrological possibilities, I invite you to adopt the spirit of the English and Japanese languages in the coming weeks. Freely borrow and steal influences. Be a collector of sundry inspirations, a scavenger of fun ideas, a gatherer of rich cultural diversity.
VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22
Here are my bold decrees: You are entitled to extra bonuses and special privileges in the coming
weeks. The biggest piece of every cake and pie should go to you, as should the freshest wonders, the most provocative revelations, and the wildest breakthroughs. I invite you to give and take extravagant amounts of everything you regard as sweet, rich, and nourishing. I hope you will begin cultivating a skill you are destined to master. I trust you will receive clear and direct answers to at least two nagging questions.
LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22
On those infrequent occasions when I buy a new gadget, I never read the instructions. I drop the booklet in the recycling bin immediately, despite the fact that I may not know all the fine points of using my new vacuum cleaner, air purifier, or hairdryer. Research reveals that I am typical. Ninety-two percent of all instructions get thrown away. I don’t recommend this approach to you in the coming weeks, however, whether you’re dealing with gadgets or more intangible things. You really should call on guidance to help you navigate your way through introductory phases and new experiences.
SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21:
I knew a Scorpio performance artist who did a splashy public show about private matters. She stationed herself on the rooftop of an apartment building and for 12 hours loudly described everything she felt guilty about. (She was an ex-Catholic who had been raised to regard some normal behavior as sinful.) If you, dear Scorpio, have ever felt an urge to engage in a purge of remorse, now would be an excellent time. I suggest an alternate approach, though. Spend a half hour writing your regrets on paper, then burn the paper in the kitchen sink as you chant something like the following: “With love and compassion for myself, I apologize for my shortcomings and frailties. I declare myself free of shame and guilt. I forgive myself forever.”
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21
Be HEARTY, POTENT, and DYNAMIC, Sagittarius. Don’t worry about decorum and propriety. Be in quest of lively twists that excite the adventurer in you. Avoid anyone who seems to like you best when you are anxious or tightly controlled. Don’t proceed as if you have nothing to lose; instead, act as if you have everything to win. Finally, my dear, ask life to bring you a steady stream of marvels that make you overjoyed to be alive. If you’re feeling extra bold (and I believe you will), request the delivery of a miracle or two.
CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19
Nineteenth-century Capricorn author Anne Brontë wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which many critics regard as the first feminist novel. It challenged contemporary social customs. The main character, Helen, leaves her husband because he’s a bad influence on their son. She goes into hiding, becoming a single mother who supports her family by creating art. Unfortunately, after the author’s death at a young age, her older sister Charlotte suppressed the publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It’s not well-known today. I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, so as to inspire you to action. I believe the coming months will be a favorable time to get the attention and recognition you’ve been denied but thoroughly deserve. Start now! Liberate, express, and disseminate whatever has been suppressed.
AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18
What is the most important question you want to find an answer for during the next year? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to formulate that inquiry clearly and concisely. I urge you to write it out in longhand and place it in a prominent place in your home. Ponder it lightly and lovingly for two minutes every morning upon awakening and each night before sleep. (Key descriptors: “lightly and lovingly.”) As new insights float into your awareness, jot them down. One further suggestion: Create or acquire a symbolic representation of the primal question.
PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20
Scientific research suggests that some foods are more addictive than cocaine. They include pizza, chocolate, potato chips, and ice cream. The good news is that they are not as problematic for long-term health as cocaine. The bad news is that they are not exactly healthy. (The sugar in chocolate neutralizes its modest health benefits.) With these facts in mind, Pisces, I invite you to reorder your priorities about addictive things. Now is a favorable time to figure out what substances and activities might be tonifying, invigorating addictions — and then retrain yourself to focus your addictive energy on them. Maybe you could encourage an addiction to juices that blend spinach, cucumber, kale, celery, and apple. Perhaps you could cultivate an addiction to doing a pleasurable form of exercise or reading books that thrill your imagination.
Homework: Interested in my inside thoughts about astrology? Read my book Astrology Is Real. Free excerpts: tinyurl.com/BraveBliss
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