VOL. 42 | ISSUE 45 | Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 2022 •
2 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Copyright: The entire contents of the DetroitMetro Times are copyright 2022 by Euclid Media Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the on recycled paper 248-620-2990Printed By - Chris -
4 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com NEWS & VIEWS
Easy. Ferndale is too expensive So everyone moves to Hazel Park. So Hazel Park was a “poor man” Ferndale. Which due to the increase of house renovations and property beautification the taxes will now be increased to match Ferndale. —@leenaallure, Instagram I live in Hazel Park, very few people are being displaced. The people on my block have lived there for over 35 years. There’s a difference between poverty and gentrification. —@hayleyelizabeth, Instagram I wrote a “hip Hazel Park” story like this when Mabel first opened. Since then so much has changed — Frame and the dispensaries have come in and the race track, Phoenix Cafe and Cellarmen’s have all gone. —Melody Baetens Malosh, Twitter (@melodybaetens)
address listed above. Prior written permission must be granted to Metro Times for additional copies. Metro Times may be distributed only by Metro Times’ authorized distributors and independent contractors. Subscriptions are available by mail inside the U.S. for six monthsat $80 and a yearly subscription for $150. Include check or money order payable to: Metro Times Subscriptions, P.O. Box 20734,Ferndale, MI, 48220. (Please note: Third Class subscription copies are usually received 3-5 days after publication date in theDetroit area.) Most back issues obtainable for $7 prepaid by mail. Printed
Keating Associate Publisher
Jim Cohen EDITORIAL Editor in Chief - Lee DeVito Digital Content Editor - Alex Washington Investigative Reporter - Steve Neavling Staff Writer - Randiah Camille Green ADVERTISING Associate Publisher - Jim Cohen Regional Sales Director - Danielle Smith-Elliott Sales Administration - Kathy Johnson Account Manager, Classifieds - Josh Cohen BUSINESS/OPERATIONS Business Support Specialist - Josh Cohen Controller - Kristy Dotson CREATIVE SERVICES Creative Director - Haimanti Germain Art Director - Evan Sult Production Manager - Sean Bieri Graphic Designer - Aspen Smit CIRCULATION Circulation Manager - Annie O’Brien EUCLID MEDIA GROUP Chief Executive Officer - Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers - Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services - Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator - Jaime Monzon euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising - Voice Media Group vmgadvertising.com1-888-278-9866 Detroit Metro Times P.O. Box 20734 Ferndale, MI metrotimes.com48220 Got a story tip or feedback? Emailorletters@metrotimes.comcall313-202-8011 Want to advertise with us? Call 313-961-4060 Want us dropped off at your business, or have questions about circulation? Call 313-202-8049 Get social: @metrotimes Detroit distribution: The Detroit Metro Times is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. The Detroit Metro Times is published every Wednesday by Euclid Media Group. Verified Audit Member • On the cover: Photo by Trever Long
Feedback News & Views Feedback 4 News 6 Informed Dissent 10 The Incision 12 Cover Story Festival guide 14 What’s Going On Things to do this week 34 Food Review 36 Bites 38 Weed One-hitters 40 Culture Film 42 Savage Love 44 Horoscopes .......................... 46 Vol. 42 | No. 45 | Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 2022
We received comments in response to Steve Neavling’s cover story about Hazel Park becoming hip. I know a few people that really enjoy living in that city and I’m very happy for them. —@dtownjohnd, Instagram That’s great news for Hazeltucky! —@purplehazejku, Instagram Because it’s one of the few cities that allowed recreational weed. —@cornation1, Instagram
Publisher
6 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
The Committee on Oversight and Re form hearing was intended to examine the gaps in current laws and regulations that leave frontline communities vul nerable to pollution. Seven witnesses, including residents and environmen talists, spoke out about the disparate impact on communities of color.
“We have to do everything within our power to protect environmental justice communities to speak for themselves,”
“If we don’t keep pushing and push ing and pushing, we’re not going to get the changes that we need,” Dingell said. “The current laws and regulations that we have in frontline communities have left too many behind.”
In 1954, her parents bought a house in the area before U.S. Ecology and other plants operated in the area. “I believe that the cause of this is from redlining, and racism forced my family to share our neighborhood with polluting facilities and industries of all kind,” McGhee testified. “There were no protections for my family then, and there are little to no protections for my family now.”
Environmental justice advocates gathered in July outside of U.S. Ecology in Detroit. STEVE NEAVLING
Environmental justice advocates said Congress can take several meaningful steps to reduce pollution facing front line communities. One of the main problems, they said, is that regulators allow each pollution-spewing facility to emit a certain amount of contaminants, regardless of the level of toxins already in the air from adjacent factories. That approach lacks common sense and poses serious risks to communities in Detroit that have numerous pollut ers in a small area, the advocates said. Regulators should also consider race as a factor in determining whether to allow emissions of contaminants so that predominantly Black communities are no longer choked out by a dispro portionate amount of emissions.
hearingcongressionalcenterDetroitracismEnvironmentalintakesstageat
Another solution, they said, is empowering communities to have a substantive say in what goes on in their backyards.
FOR MORE THAN a year, a pungent and nauseating odor has wafted from the new Jeep assembly plant, sickening residents on Detroit’s east side.
“These incidents of environmental injustice are a legacy of our nation’s re ally horrid policies regarding race and intentional race-based discrimination,” Leonard said. “Unless we take really strong, decisive, affirmative action, it’s going to be our legacy as well. If we don’t take that kind of action, then the next generation of activists and the next generation of congressional representatives will be here talking about the same thing, working on the sameRep.issues.”Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, agreed, saying swift action is needed.
Nick Leonard, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, encouraged Congress to take action soon because the problem will only get worse.
Five miles away, Detoiters living near U.S. Ecology’s hazardous-waste processing plant at E. Kirby and St. Aubin streets are inundated with dust, pollution, and noise. Even though the plant has received two dozen violation notices for environmental contamina tion since 2014, it has been allowed to continue operating and plans to expand operations.Thetwoplants are stark examples of environmental racism, and regulators must take action to end the disparate impact on predominantly Black com munities, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib said at a congressional field hearing Thursday at Wayne County Community College’s Eastern Campus in Detroit.
Despite five air quality violations from state regulators since September 2021, auto company Stellantis continues to operate the plant without making any meaningful changes.
Numerous studies have shown that Black communities nationwide are disproportionately exposed to indus trial air pollution. African-Americans, for example, are 75% more likely to live near industrial facilities than white people, according to “Fumes Across the Fence-Line,” a 2017 study by the Na tional Medical Association, the Clean Air Task Force, and the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of Colored People. The study estimates that nearly 2,500 children a year in Detroit have asthma attacks linked to air pollution.
Over the last year, Robert Shobe has lived with the constant reminder of what it’s like to live near Stellantis’s stench-spewing Jeep assembly plant.
“Our current environmental per mitting and enforcement systems are sacrificing Black, brown, and immi grant and low-income, working-class communities for the profits of U.S. pol luters,” Tlaib said. “We have an urgent and moral duty to build new systems and structures that put our health and environment first.” Pollution is a widespread problem in the majority-Black city of Detroit. The University of Michigan School of Public Health estimates that air pollu tion kills more than 650 Detroiters a year — more than twice the number of residents killed by gun violence annu ally. Thousands more are hospitalized, and children miss a disproportionate number of days at school because of illnesses and asthma.
“This plant is making us sick,” Shobe testified. “I am a cancer patient and am physically disabled. I suffer from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). When the smell comes down around my house, my eyes burn. I have a cough from smelling the paint. I feel a tightness in my chest. I’ve gotten head aches from the smell, and I’ve been living as a prisoner in my own house for over a Despiteyear.”filing complaints and demanding an end to the stench, Shobe said Stellantis has done nothing meaningful to address the smell. He questioned why the Michigan Depart ment of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) has allowed the plant to continue operating when a predomi nantly Black community is suffering.
Shobe encouraged the commit tee to create tougher environmental standards that “have consideration for human life and quality of life.” Pamela McGhee lives several blocks from U.S. Ecology’s hazardous-waste processing plant, which has a troubling history of environmental violations.
Jamesa Johnson-Greer, executive direc tor of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, testified. “Early and meaningful participation of communi ties to weigh in on how a project will impact them is critical. This should not be taken away in the name of expedit ing projects.”
—Steve Neavling
NEWS & VIEWS
The poll can be found at vote.metrotimes.com.
The Best of Detroit 2022 poll is now open!
The unspeakable and the unimaginable
MICHIGAN REPUBLICANS MAY be punished in the November elec tions for the Supreme Court’s overturn ing Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion, according to a new poll. Two-thirds of likely voters in Michi gan said they support a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, according to a new EPIC-MRA poll. Another 58% of voters said they are pro-choice, compared to just 33% who identify as pro-life. That could spell big trouble for Re publicans running for governor, attorney general, and secretary of state because all of them are rigidly opposed to abor tionRepublicanrights. gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, who supports an abortion ban without exceptions for rape and incest, trails Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, 39% to 50%, with 11% unde cided, according to the poll. Whitmer holds the steady lead despite 51% of respondents giving her a negative job rating. About 47% gave her a positive job rating. In the race for attorney general, incumbent Dana Nessel leads election conspiracy theorist Matthew DePerno 43% to 39%, with 18% undecided. De Perno also opposes abortion rights. DePerno is perhaps best known for filing a baseless lawsuit that claimed widespread fraud in the 2020 general election in Antrim County. He lost the case.Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson leads Oak Park educator and election conspiracy theorist Kristina Karamo 44% to 38%, with 18% undecided. In an October 2020 episode of her podcast “It’s Solid Food,” Karamo called abortion “child sacrifice” and a “satanic practice.”
I ESTIMATE I attended about 500 games at Tiger Stadium. Last Sunday, I saw my first game at Comerica Park. Fittingly, rain fell most of the morning. Maybe it would be called off because of my antipathy? I bought tickets at the box office two days in advance. When I mentioned all this to the older man at the window, he remarked: “I miss that place.” I told him I was coming because of who would be pitching on Sunday. “Who’s pitching on Sunday?” he replied, clueless. The schedule starter for the Angels was a player whose likes had never been seen before in Major League Baseball (a government-subsidized cabal of billionaires employing millionaires whose utter incomprehension of baseball is makes me happy to refuse to patronize their product — really, video replays to prove umpires can be fallible 1% of the time?). The 27-year-old pitcher-slugger-speedster from Japan utterly shatters my existence, though. Double-digit pitching victories and home runs and stolen bases? Even for the most disenchanted of baseball devotees who have become apostates, Shohei Ohtani is a must-see. He makes other uni corns look ordinary. I simply have to swallow my rage at the Ilitches who destroyed my temple and see him in person while I can. My thirst for his embrace of all that baseball can be has battled my rage and (barely) vanquished it. —Michael Betzold
8 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
showselection,inMichigancaseabortionCourt’sSupremeimperilsGOPupcomingpoll
A few things to know before you vote: You must register and turn off pop-up blockers before voting. If you’re having trouble casting votes, you may need to clear your browser’s cache.Allcategories are up to publisher’s discretion; some category winners may not be published in the print issue, subject to space. You may vote once per day, per email address, in as many categories as you like.
In the poll, voters were given nine issues and asked to rank which one they care most about. Abortion came out on top, with 19% saying it was their top priority. Despite the overwhelming support of abortion rights in Michigan, the three Republicans have not softened their positions. —Steve Neavling
The Metro Times annual Best of Detroit Reader’s Poll is now open. You can vote for all the people, places, and things to do that make De troit great across 300+ categories, including arts & entertainment, food & drink, goods & services, people & places, and sports & recreation.
BETZOLDMICHAEL PHOTOSCOURTESY
Vote from now until October 5. Winners will be revealed in the Best of Detroit issue on November 16.
Note: If you’re interested in aligning your business with the Best of Detroit and advertising on the Best of Detroit Reader’s Poll, please email adinfo@metrotimes.com for an awesome Best of Detroit marketing package. —Lee DeVito
YOU’VE HEARD WHAT we have to say. Now it’s YOUR turn to tell us what you think about metro Detroit.
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 9
By Jeffrey C. Billman
The law requires university instruc tion to be “objective” — as defined by the (mostly) DeSantis-appointed Board of Governors or a Republican-led legis lative subcommittee. Considering that the law was called the “Stop WOKE Act,” you can imagine what views will be seen as “objective.”
10 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
In other words, the obviously news making position he staked out in his campaign-launching memoir doesn’t reflect his actual position. Robinson also proposed eliminating the state’s board of education and local school boards and centralizing educa tion policy under one person. And then, through a massive expansion of charters and vouchers, he wants to put that per son out of a job.
One way to deal with such a crisis would be to treat educators like profes sionals, let them do their jobs, and pay them enough to live on. Alternatively, like Florida and Arizona, you could give them the finger. Arizona is allowing college students to teach; Florida is recruiting veterans with no educational experience — and no degree — to go intoTheclassrooms.nexttarget of this anti-education campaign is academia, which conserva tives have blamed for turning students into Marxists since the civil rights movement. Indeed, just 34% say col leges serve a public good. Not surprisingly, Ron DeSantis’s Florida is at the vanguard. In April, the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 7, the first law to regulate classroom instruction in higher education under the pretense of fighting CRT. (Parts of the law that sought to prevent diversity programs at private businesses have been blocked by a federal court.)
Take, for example, the guidance issued to faculty at North Florida Col lege to see how this will play out: Sure, professors can discuss the relationship between Jim Crow and other forms of racial discrimination, but they can’t say white people were responsible for segregation. And yes, professors can have students read contemporaneous accounts of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963, but only after reciting a disclaimer that those articles “may contain opinions that do not reflect the views of this College.”
NEWS & VIEWS
Right-wing propandists hyperventilated about critical race theory and teachers “grooming” kids into queerness. Fox News personalities accused preschool teachers of “brainwashing toddlers,” called teachers “the KKK with summers off,” and encouraged violence against teachers who discussed gender issues. Far-right lawmakers cracked down on books and classroom discussions that deviate from American mythologies or ask students to think critically about race or gender. The craze might have reached peak absurdity when a Texas school adminis trator admonished teachers to bothsides the Holocaust to avoid running afoul of the state’s anti-CRT law. But no less disheartening is a Florida school district’s decision to cancel book fairs for the same reason.
That, of course, has been a conser vative dream for decades. There’s a well-worn playbook to accomplish the goal: starve public schools of funding, complain about their performance, use their poor performance as an excuse to starve them of funds, complain about their performance, rinse and repeat.
Mark Robinson’s one cool trick for MAGA stardom is an unapologetic embrace of Christian nationalism. TWITTER (@MARKROBINSONNC)
Short-term populism has long-term consequences
Robinson is paranoid about any teaching that might be “woke,” which in his mind includes teaching children about climate change, which he doesn’t believe in. And teaching them social studies leads to conversations about history, which leads to slavery and Jim Crow and other ugly bits that might make nice white kids uncomfortable. No sooner was that position reported than Robinson walked it back. “We’re not talking about not teaching science to elementary school children,” he told a TV station. “What we’re talking about is putting reading, writing, and arithmetic — making that paramount in elementary school.”
If you’re not familiar with Mark Robinson, you will be soon. A Black Republican who makes up in ambition what he lacks in political ex perience or policy expertise, Robinson rode a viral rant about gun rights into North Carolina’s lieutenant governor’s office in 2020. As soon as he was sworn in, he started laying the groundwork to run for governor in 2024. Conservatives tout him as a “rising star.”
This demagoguery led to a sharp decline in the percentage of Republi cans who believe public schools benefit the country (just 42%). Along with low pay, legislative bigfooting has led to a collapse of teacher satisfaction.
Like K-12 schools, public university systems in Florida and states like it will, sooner than later, struggle to attract talent. Those who can will go where they’re respected, and the industries that will dominate the 21st century will follow. Their workers will demand that their kids learn from actual teachers, not whatever dude the school system picked up off the corner for $20 and a pack of smokes. And if Mark Robinson tries to elimi nate science in elementary schools, watch how fast North Carolina’s vaunted Research Triangle dries up.
Short-term populism has long-term consequences. And if the country di vides into states that sneer at academic elites and states that welcome and try to develop innovative minds, guess who will come out on top. Get more at billman.substack.com.
Robinson’s one cool trick for MAGA stardom is an unapologetic embrace of Christian nationalism. He is a bom bastic culture warrior who rails against abortion (even in cases of rape and incest, which he dismisses) and school “indoctrination” (which he believes is an ever-present threat). He tells pregnant women, “It’s not your body anymore,” and non-Christians, “I’m not going to let you force your demonic views on me and my children.” Oh, and taking children to gay pride parades is “demented” and transgender people have “something wrong with their brain.”
Like many politicians preparing their next ascent, Robinson is about to re lease a memoir — We Are the Majority: The Life and Passions of a Patriot. But evidently, he didn’t have an editor to run interference between his brain and his word processor. According to pre views, in addition to the expected array of unhinged and offensive comments, Robinson made an interesting sugges tion for education policy. In elementary school, he writes, “we don’t need to be teaching social studies. We don’t need to be teaching science.”
Lately, though, depriving public schools of resources hasn’t been enough.
Combine all of that and — shock ingly — we have a massive teacher shortage.
Informed Dissent
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 13
14 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
“We’ve kind of stepped up our music,” says producer Jon Witz, noting that the festival has invested more into bringing national musical acts this year than at any other time during its history.Those include artists like pop group Fitz & the Tantrums (9:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2), reggae rock band 311 (9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3), alter native rock band Sponge (9:45 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4), and rapper Flo Rida (7:45 p.m on Monday, Sept. 5), among others.Thefestival was held in downtown Pontiac before moving to Royal Oak in 2010, where it has called home ever since.“Some people aren’t necessarily hit ting their stride or their best years as they get this old,” Witz adds. “We’re celebrating a pretty big birthday, and we are at the top of our game in terms of attendance, and recently fighting through the challenges of COVID, and being in a new location, and having 11 of those 12 years in Royal Oak being the best years of our history.”
Title sponsor Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort will create a gaming area on Fifth Avenue, which includes largerthan-life casino-themed sculpture installations, an exclusive festival offer of $1,000 in free play dollars for down loading the Play Eagle App, and the new Play Eagle Lounge, where guests can dine on dishes from the Cuisine Machine, which serves food based on the offerings of the Mount Pleasant casino’s eight merch,astro-turfednotsor.HouseMeanwhile,restaurants.cannabiscompanyofDankisreturningasasponThoughcannabisconsumptionwillbeallowedonthepremises,theloungewillfeatureprizes,gameslikecornhole,DJsfrom
THE BEAT GOES ON
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 15 FEATURE
Royal Oak’s Arts, Beats & Eats celebrates 25 years with more national music, brand activations
By Lee DeVito
PHOTO BY KONRAD MAZIARZ
BY METRO TIMES STAFF
For the 25th Arts, Beats & Eats — Royal Oak’s annual Labor Day festi val — organizers say they’re going big.
The festival was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but drew about 375,000 people when it returned in 2021, one of its best years for atten dance ever, Witz says. Beyond the music, the festival will feature a juried fine art show, carnival rides, and food vendors. Witz says he’s also excited for two sponsors who really stepped it up investing more than six figures into on-site brand activations.
His participation is an example of how Collins exposes the festival’s audiences to global jazz artists and ensembles.
The Detroit Jazz Festival returns to Hart Plaza
Some of those global and new artists Collins is referring to are London-bred saxophonist Nubya Garcia, Italian native Luca Ciarla’s SolOrkestra, and Grammy Award-winning, Charleston, South Carolina-based quintet Ranky Tanky, who performs Gullah-inspired music of the southeastern Sea Islands.
festival attempted to get approval for cannabis consumption on-site, to no avail. He says he’s positive it’s only a matter of time before Royal Oak allows it. “We didn’t get approval on a cannabis lounge, but having an isolated adultsonly cannabis lounge is something that I think you’ll see in Arts, Beats & Eats in the next couple of years,” he says. He adds, “When sponsors activate like this, they just create attractions that make the site look better, they create more experiences,” Witz says. “When companies step up like this, it’s just a better experience, a better atmosphere, and makes the festival lookFrombetter.”11a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Sunday and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Monday in down town Royal Oak; see artsbeatseats.com for the full schedule. Admission is free on Friday until 5 p.m., $10 after, and $5 before 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, $10 after.
By Veronica Johnson
A crowd at Arts, Beats & Eats in 2021.
JAZZED TO BE BACK
Detroit’s Movement Music Festival, and, new this year, a silent disco. The company will also have reps who can direct attendees to their eight House of Dank dispensaries to purchase canna bisWitzproducts.saysthe
Over the past two years, music festivals everywhere were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some managed to keep going. The Detroit Jazz Festival was one that absolutely refused to let down its fan base, taking a colossal risk switching to a virtual format by livestreaming its performances in the place of its typical gatheringAccordingdowntown.toChris Collins, the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation’s presi dent and artistic director, the gamble worked. A whopping 1 million people viewed the livestream, and the follow ing year that number doubled. Livestreaming has broadened the festival’s reach; still nothing compares to experiencing it live. Beginning Sept. 2, the festival returns to its in-person roots, though it will also double down on livestreaming. People can again hit Campus Martius and Hart Plaza to experience top-tier jazz artists, but Collins says they are also offering free admission to the world in real-time on all four stages via the festival’s website, YouTube page, and Facebook page.
“There’s no charge, there’s no sub scription fee or anything,” he says. “We wanted this to be a gift to everybody and an extension of the free jazz for ev erybody. Everybody should have access to this Cubanmusic.”pianist Chucho Valdés, an influencer in Afro-Cuban jazz, serves as the festival’s artist-in-residence. On opening night, Valdés will premiere a new work titled “Creation,” backed by the Yoruban Orchestra, Hilario Duràn, and John Beasley. Valdés also headlines Sunday and Monday.
16 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
EIGHTEEN
“We are, as you know, a true jazz festival,” says Collins. “The center of the art is where we live. But there’s so many branches and we wanted to seek out this past year of following up on leads and bringing in artists who have new voices on the scene, still jazz language and traditional foundations, but taking it in a direction that is commensurate with their generation and their life.”
PHOTOGRAPHY
Additional headliners of the festival include world-renowned vocalist Di anne Reeves, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant, the Bill Frisell Trio, trumpeter Theo Croker, and the Ulysses Owens Jr. Big Band with special guest Marquis Hill. The festival is also continuing its homecoming series, which brings long time artists from the city back to their roots to perform. Some of the home coming series artists include saxophon ist Charles McPherson, saxophonist JD Allen, and Reeves, who is a native of Detroit.Some of our other must-see perfor mances include: Nubya Garcia London-bred tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia is one to watch in jazz today. Her sound, as described by The Guardian, is “soulful, with enough controlled brawn in her tone to evoke a touchstone like
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 17
The Detroit Jazz Festival switched to a livestream format amid the pandemic. It’s back in-person for the first time since this year.
18 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Allen Dennard Quintet
Emmet Cohen Trio Emmet Cohen is another young in novator that is making waves in the jazz industry. His latest album Future Stride, composed of the classic stride tradition, is a perfect example of how he seamlessly marries the vintage and the modern, and in so doing attracts a diverse group of enthusiasts. He will be joined by his signature trio featuring bassist Russell Hall and drummer Kyle Poole at 5:45 p.m. on Monday at the Pyramid Stage.
Sonny Rollins.” Garcia released her debut album Source in 2020 to as tounding reviews and has a clever way of combining slick improvisational skills with electronic vibes, hip-hop, and melodic grooves that will have your ears itching for more. You can catch her at 7:45 p.m. on Sunday on the Absopure Waterfront Stage.
Leafar Village
James gracefully takes listeners on a journey through “Good Morning Heart ache,” “Lover Man,” and “God Bless the Child” with a neo-soul touch. Hearing him sing the album live will be a sweet treat for any devoted jazz fan. You can check him out on the JPMoran Chase Stage at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
And as far as local acts: Leslie DeShazor If you’ve never seen violinist and violist Leslie DeShazor in action, then the Detroit Jazz Fest is where you want to be this weekend. DeShazor is making her debut as a solo artist, after hav ing performed for the festival’s string orchestra for many years. She says she loved being a part of the string section, but thought it was time for her to have some autonomy in her career and make her own artistic decisions. “I’ve shied away from taking up my own project a lot over the years, mostly for fear of it not being good enough,” says DeShazor. “During the pandemic I started writing with the goal of releasing a project and it’s been a really eye opening experi ence.” She released her first album Jour ney with Me in 2021 and is electrifying on strings. She brings to life original compositions full of slick grooves and upbeat instrumentation. This time around she will be front and center, backed by her own band, and will be the main attraction with her viola in hand. You may even hear some vocals from her as well. DeShazor performs at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday on the Absopure Waterfront stage.
Anissa Lea
Jose James, Yesterday I had the Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday There are tons of covers of Billie Holi day classic tunes, but few really stand out when it comes to texture, feeling, and breadth.
Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya
This all-female septet is an awe-inspir ing group of distinguished musicians. When they come together, pure magic results. They first performed together at the 2018 Newport Jazz Festival and were then signed to Blue Note Records, where they recorded their self-titled debut in 2020. Just seeing them per form covers like Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder” or their original “Goddess of the Hunt” based on their namesake, you will become hooked. They take the Carhartt stage at 4 p.m. on Monday.
Jose James’ homage to the jazz and blues singer hits every note.
Artemis featuring Renee Rosnes, Ingrid Jensen, Nicole Glover, Alexa Tarantino, Noriko Ueda, and Allison Miller
In 2020, multi-instrumentalist Ra phael Lafear was chosen as a Kresge Film and Music Artist Fellow. His fire-spitting improvisational skills on the sax have taken him far, and he’s a mainstay in the city when it comes to his own band or linking up with other musicians as part of their per formances. His John Coltrane-esque licks will keep everyone on their toes when he performs at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday on the Absopure Waterfront stage.
Singer-songwriter Anissa Lea is a fresh voice in the city who gives off echoes of Amy Winehouse with her edgy vocals. She is creating a name for herself by taking contemporary pop and jazz standards and making them her own. She will be performing tunes from her self-titled debut album and may sprinkle in some jazz classics for the crowd to hover over. Her set is at 4:25 p.m. on Saturday at the Absopure Waterfront stage.
An NEA Jazz Master and legend in his own right, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim is an innovator in incorporating South African rhythms, jazz, and religious in fluences into his music. Seeing him in his element is definitely a remarkable sight for those lucky enough to witness the 87 year-old do his thing on the bandstand. He will be performing with his band Ekaya at 8 p.m. on Saturday on the JPMorgan Chase Stage.
Mark Lipson and Detroit CollectiveComposers
Drummer and composer Mark Lipson founded the Detroit Composers Col lective in 2015 to preserve the legacy of the city’s greatest jazz musicians. The group is composed of young and vet eran local artists who have done justice to their ancestors through recordings, performances, and workshops. There will most definitely be a mix of Detroit jazz royalty on stage when the band hits at 2 p.m. on Saturday on the JPM organ Chase stage. The Detroit Jazz Festival runs from Friday, Sept. 2-Monday, Sept. 5 at Hart Plaza, 1 Hart Plaza, Detroit. See detroitjazzfest.org for the full schedule. Admission is free.
As one of the young lions on the Detroit jazz scene, trumpeter Allen Dennard can hold his own when it comes to performing with local and national artists alike. He was one of many lucky cats who was mentored by the late, great Marcus Belgrave and has since then continued to hone his craft on the instrument, leading a number of bands including his quin tet who many will see at the festival at 2 p.m. on Sunday on the JPMorgan Chase Main stage.
COURTESY PHOTO
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 21
The spunky, punky Hamtramck Labor Day Festival has always been about resilience
By Biba Adams
THE BIGGEST DALLY YET?
According to the event’s of ficial website, the idea for the Ham tramck Labor Day Festival arose during a dark time in 1980 as the city faced an economic crisis.
“The whole festival is really for the com munity. In fact, last year when we were debating whether to do it or not, we knew we needed to do at the very least a pared down version of it. But it really came down to the fact that the kids love that carnival so much that we just had to do it. So the community has just really gotten behind it. The mayor and city council have all been really supportive of keeping it as a tradition.”
Lyons says that this year, the fest will return as a full-sized version, with
By Steve Neavling
“At the time, then-Mayor Robert Kozaren, with the help of a group of dedicated citizens, conceived having a huge city festival that would not only boost the spirits of the residents, but also show everyone else that Ham tramck was a tough town that could smile in the face of a crisis,” festival organizers write.
of diversity and inclusion in the city of Hamtramck.”Thisyearthe festival will feature a ton of music artists, including head liner ESG, the influential dance-punk band formed in the Bronx, New York in 1978 whose music has been sampled by scores of hip-hop artists, including TLC, Wu-Tang Clan, Kool Moe Dee, the Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Gang Starr, Junior Mafia, Tricky, Jay-Dee, and MF DOOM, among others. (The band performs at 9 p.m. on Monday.) Other musical highlights include rock ’n’ roll band Shadow Show (9 p.m. on Satur day), spooky electroclash duo ADULT. (8 p.m. on Monday), and alt-country band the Volebeats, which released its first new record in more than 12 years, Lonesome Galaxy, earlier this summer (5 p.m. on “HamtramckMonday).hasalways been pretty punk rock, and the vibrant community that we have here, the diversity,” Lyons says. “The plethora of great music venues that we’ve got here in Ham tramck really lends itself well to this kind of coming together of all sorts of different musicians. So I would say that Hamtramck has a solid place in metro Detroit’s music scene and will for a long time.”Lyons adds, “As this is a return to community gathering after a pretty rough couple of years, and as this is a celebration of the city’s 100th anni versary, I’m really looking forward to folks just being able to get out, have a good time — whether that’s families at the carnival, whether that’s watching the international Big Time Wrestling shows that we have, or hanging out, playing on rides, listening to bands. I’m just looking forward to this as a cel ebration of the community that makes Hamtramck the strange and wonderful place that it is.”
“Most of us have a longtime connec tion to it,” Thornton says. “There are folks, including myself, who were taken to Dally as a kid.” There will be 12 food vendors, includ ing Amicci’s Pizza, SnoBiz Detroit, Big Calvin’s BBQ, Conchy’s Empanadas, and House of Mac. Dozens of local bands will perform on five stages, and artwork will line the streets.Artand retail vendors will be sell ing T-shirts, jewelry, glass pipes, used
two music stages and the return of Big Time Wrestling. That’s in addition to the tradition of the cheekily named Hamtramck Yacht Club Canoe Race, in which onlookers pelt decorated wooden pushcarts with water balloons. The return of the full Hamtramck Labor Day Festival also happens to be the city’s centennial.
The one-day celebration of Cass Corridor’s art, culture and music had been growing every year until it was interrupted
After being canceled the previous two years due to COVID-19, Dally in the Alley, the annual one-day festival in Detroit’s Cass Corridor, will return on Saturday, Sept. 10 with nearly 50 music acts and dozens of art, retail, and food vendors. The largest commu nity-run festival in the city, Dally in the Alley draws tens of thousands of people to the festivities between Forest and Hancock and Second Avenue and Anthony Wayne.
“Our city government is as excited and supportive as they always have been,” says festival organizer Mickey Lyons.
The festival has continued to evolve over the decades, but it remains a staple of the city that describes itself as “the world in 2.2 square miles.” It was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic but returned in 2021 at a smaller scale with just one music stage.
“We’ll even have some 10- year-old cars rolling down Joseph Campau and hopefully some Dodge Brothers cars from the Dodge Brothers factory,” Lyons says. “And we are really using the parade to highlight the 100 years
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a children’s fair between 11:30 a.m. and 4 Heldp.m.since 1977, the block party is a celebration of local art, culture, food, and music in the Cass Corridor. Since its inception, the event has been 100% volunteer-run, with no corporate spon sors.“We feel a deep responsibility to the old-timers who started Dally,” Adriel Thornton, president of North Cass Community Union, which operates the event, tells Metro Times. “They started this with a purpose and a reason, and there was a tone that was set, and we want to keep that up.”
For many of the volunteers, Dally in the Alley is a passion and a tradition.
HAMTRAMCK AT 100
From Saturday, Sept. 3-Monday, Sept. 5, Joseph Campau Ave., Hamtramck; see hamtownfest.com for the full schedule. Admission is free.
22 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
KONRAD MAZIARZ
The Hamtramck Yacht Club Canoe Race sees onlookers pelt wheel-driven “canoes” with water balloons.
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 23
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 25
26 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com records, and photographs. Dally in the Alley had been growing every year, and it drew 120,000 people in 2019, according to organizers.
After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the North American In ternational Auto Show (NAIAS) returns to downtown Detroit this September, ushering in a new season for one of Detroit’s largest events — literally.
By Alex Washington
NAIAS rebrands as it rolls into the Motor City for warmer-weather reboot
The family-friendly affair will feature interactive attractions for children, including Fred Flintstone’s “Flintmo bile” and an electric Monster Truck. Not to mention the world’s largest rub ber duck, a nod to not only Michigan’s Great Lakes, but Jeep owners as well (#duckduckjeep).TheDetroitAuto Show is not just about vehicles that are on the ground, they will include those in the air. The new “Air Mobility Experience” will fea ture flight displays and demonstrations by six International flight mobility companies.“Wearethrilled to showcase AIR ONE, the sportscar of the sky, at an event as truly iconic as this,” said Rani Plaut, CEO and co-founder of the TelAviv based company AIR, in a state ment. “The Detroit Auto Show both inspires and embraces innovation and ingenuity, and we are excited to give automotive enthusiasts a look at a notso-distant future when flying will be as easy as driving.” The NAIAS Detroit Auto Show will run Sept. 17-25 at Huntington Place, 1 Wash ington Blvd., Detroit; naias.com. Tickets start at $10 for children, $20 for adults.
The event began as a neighborhood party in 1977, when members of North Cass Community Union sold beer on card tables in the alley. It became Dally in the Alley in 1982. To finance the event, organizers sell beer and merchandise, which is created by local artists and often features the festival’s mascot, an alley cat. “We would really appreciate it if people responsibly drink the beer,” Thornton says with a laugh. “It literally is the lifeline of the event.”
HEATING UP
Beer will cost a little more this year because of the increasing costs to put on the event, which includes sound systems, security, lights, barriers, bike racks, trash pickup, and chair rentals.
COURTESY PHOTO
For decades, the Cass Corridor has been a counterculture hub for artists, musicians, hipsters, hippies, drift ers, and misfits. To outsiders, it also became synonymous with drugs, crime, and sex workers. “It was a community,” Thornton says. “It wasn’t necessary this bad, dangerous place.”The Cass Corridor’s underground heyday is long gone. Gentrification has driven out a lot of old-timers, and city officials and the media have rebranded the Cass Corridor as just another sec tion of Midtown. But at Dally in the Alley, the funky, rebellious spirit of the Cass Corridor kindles again. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m on Saturday, Sept. 10 between Forest and Hancock and Second Avenue and Anthony Wayne; see dallyinthealley.com for the full schedule. Admission is free.
The following year, rumors swirled about what a summer auto show could look like as organizers prepared for their final winter event. Then the pandemic happened. In 2022, the NAIAS will finally get to show everyone all the changes when the public show opens on Sept. 17. One thing many will notice is a new logo that prominently features the word “Detroit,” as NAIAS is branding the event the Detroit Auto Show, like it was prior to expect to see the latest auto technology with an emphasis on electric vehicles. “This year’s auto show plays a vitally important role in promoting emerg ing technologies particularly in the EV space,” Detroit Auto Show Executive Director Rod Alberts said in a press release. “And, as the first auto show of the season and with the release of new models in the fall, we expect the show to be a pivotal player in consumers’ ve hicle shopping and purchase decisions.” Keeping tradition, the auto show kicks off with the Charity Preview on Sept. 16 and will feature a performance of disco pioneers Nile Rodgers and Chic, known for their 1978 hit “Le Freak.”
Attendees1989.can
Since 1989, NAIAS has taken over Huntington Place (briefly TCF Center and formerly Cobo Hall) every January for one of the largest international auto shows in the world. In 2018, a new plan was announced to move NAIAS from the frigid Detroit January to the much warmer June, with an anticipated date of the switch hap pening in 2020.
Revelers Dallying the in Alley. STEVE NEAVLING
Guests test out a new car at a NAIAS event.
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 27
Her character is Princess Isaade M’Oboko, who is based on Nigerian Yoruba culture. The fictional prin cess wears an Elizabethan-style dress constructed from African fabric, and Christian still plays her at the festival everySheyear.says generally people are either fully committed to getting in costume, or aren’t interested in attending the medieval fair at all. “People are either take it or leave it, but for some people, it can take you and never let go,” she says.
HIGH FANTASY
The Michigan Renaissance Festival opens the gates for any fairytale character imaginable in The Realm
Eavotall is a mountainous highland region populated by stoics. Ustrann is a gulf-filled region with several small islands — think pirates. The people of Askiar are typically scholars and philosophers, with deserts to the north and fertile coast to the south. Finally, Isamore is the cosmopolitan city where all the roads meet. It’s home to the fictional Village of Hollygrove, where the festival itself is set. Oh, and there’s also the Solarvale and Polarvale domains, which are home to theSmithfairies.says the regions are broad enough that anyone can see their char acter, heritage, or costume represented in the “Metrofestival.Detroit has a vast diversity to it and we want to find a way to invite more of that diversity into our festi val,” Smith says. “People can come in with any medieval or fantasy costume character and we have a way for them to belong. We don’t want anyone to feel like they’re an outsider. Your character belongs at the festival. You belong at theSmithfestival.”isfrom Eavotall, whose colors are green and tan. Their animal is a stag and the regional greeting is “strength and honor to you.” He says the idea is for visitors to have fun with it — just pick whatever region fits your character (or has colors that you like). This year also marks the end of (the fictional) Queen Elizabeth’s reign as the festival’s monarch. She’s being re placed by a new queen and king to rule over the land. With more than 100 local artisans vending everything from fairy wands to medieval weapons, and more than 17 stages of performances, plus a festival cast who stroll the grounds interacting with visitors, it’s hard to know what to pay attention to.
By Randiah Camille Green
A few standout acts not to miss, ac cording to Renaissance Festival enter tainment director Maria Christian, are African drum group the Djobi Wakeup Ensemble, and Celtic fusion bands Tartanic and PICTUS.
Michigan Renaissance Festival attendees immerse themselves in another world.
It’s kind of like joining a Hogwarts House in the Harry Potter world, minus the sassy sorting hat. There’s The Northern Ranges of Eavotall, The Western Isles of Ustrann, The Southern Deserts of Askiar, and The Eastern Shires of Isamore. Each region has its own colors, greeting, and symbol.“It’snot dissimilar from nations in Game of Thrones or Avatar the Last Airbender, or teams in Twilight,” says Richard Smith, who designed The Realm map and region symbols. “There’s a big popularity within those worlds with having these teams that you can join up, so we’re doing some thing similar. In so many ways it’s still the same fair it’s always been, but we’ve invited a new angle to address what new fans are coming up with.”
Christian has been part of the fair sinceThough1997. she grew up in Holly, she had never attended the Renaissance Festival until about 25 years ago, and was hooked from the moment she arrived. She still remembers the very first day she stepped onto the mystical grounds that have kept her entranced all these “Whenyears.Iwalked through the gates I felt like I was walking through a storybook,” she reminisces. “I think I went back every weekend that year as an attendee and then decided to audi tion and created this African princess character. She was not historical, but everything about her was. Then I ended up becoming the entertainment direc tor after that.”
K.MACKE PHOTOGRAPHY, FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS “People can come in with any medieval or fantasy costume character and we have a way for them to belong. We don’t want anyone to feel like they’re an outsider. Your character belongs at the festival. You belong at the festival.”
28 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
A band of fairies, wenches, Vi kings, and other fantastical characters have descended on the city of Holly for the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Expect all the giant turkey legs, jousting, and Elizabethan corsets dur ing the quirky festival, which runs until Oct. 2, with added lore to fuel even more fandom. This year, visitors will find them selves immersed in The Realm, a fantasyland made up of four distinct regions. Each region is home to dif ferent types of characters, and guests choose which one they want to join.
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 29
“People walk away and say there was too much food, but that’s the point of the feast. We want you to feel like you couldn’t possibly finish it all,” she says. “There are two hours of entertainment and we have a great house band and characters that come in. We usually sell out, especially after Labor Day.” She’s not lying about there being so much food you can’t possibly finish it all.
It’s arguably never been a better time to be a geek. Comic book culture is bigger than ever, thanks to the onslaught of blockbuster super hero film adaptations from Marvel and DC PopularityComics.isso high that it’s perhaps no surprise that the longrunning Motor City Comic Con has returned with two conventions this year — one held in its typical time slot in May, and a fall version slated for October. “Motor City Comic Con used to have two conventions each year, and we are going back to that tradition,” says executive director Liz Allen. “[The year] 2006 was the last time both a fall and spring convention was held, so we brought it back this year.”
The 74-year-old performer who came up in Detroit’s classic rock scene will be in attendance at the convention all three days, available for autographs and to pose for photos withOtherfans.celebrity guests include pro wrestler Anna Jay, comedian James “Murr” Murray, Taken actor Clive Standen, The Walking Dead actress Laurie Holden, comedian Jamie Farr, and M*A*S*H* actress Loretta Swit. “When booking [celebrity] guests, we really like to listen to our guests’ requests,” Allen says. “We are always open to attendee comments on social media, and they can even submit guest suggestions through our ‘re quest a guest’ feature on our website. We try to round out the guest list so that there is someone for everyone, from classic sitcom stars, anime voice actors, musicians, wrestlers, come dians, and the stars of today’s hit TV shows and movies.”
30 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
First launched in 1989, Motor City Comic Con has changed a lot since its inception, Allen says. “There has been a lot added to the program ming over the past 33 years,” she says. “There has been an increased number of panels that go into specific genres and topics, themed events within the convention, cosplay contests, exten sion of the number of vendors, artists and exhibitors, and overall variety added since the inception of Motor City Comic Con. And of course, there is always a focus to bring in celebrity and comic guests that we know fans will be excited to see.”
By Lee DeVito
The Motor City Comic Con takes place from noon-7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, oct. 16 at the Suburban Collection Showplace, 46199 Grand River Ave., Novi; Ticketsmotorcitycomiccon.com.startat$35forages13and up, with VIP passes available. It’s hammer time. JOSH JUSTICE
It’s not just about superheroes. This year, rock star Alice Cooper is one of Motor City Comic Con’s celeb rity guests.
Take The Quest, for example, a pro gram that Smith runs where partici pants are sent on an RPG-style journey to learn the greeting and magic “power move” from each region. There’s also the morning Hawk Walk, where partici pants get to hang out with some birds of prey before the festival grounds open to the public, followed by brunch. And then there’s the Feast of Fantasy, an epic, six-course banquet that lasts for two hours which Christian calls, “the best seat in the house.”
Beyond just a chance to play dress up, the Renaissance Festival offers a ton of additional programming including opportunities for role-playing and im mersive experiences.
Just check out this menu for the La bor Day “Vikings Invasion” feast: cheesy crab bread, seafood chowder, salad, lemon sorbet with mint, a seafood tower with lobster tail, shrimp, crab legs and calamari, red potatoes, corn on the cob, squash, and a mixed fruit layer cake with chantilly cream. It’s like a seafood boil on steroids, but we guess they don’t call it a feast for nothing. The Feast of Fantasy is held twice a day at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., with a different menu each weekend. Tickets are $100, which includes entrance to the festival.Either way, there’s something magi cal about being whisked away into sim pler times — even if you don’t indulge in a fantastic feast or create an elaborate character.“Whether it’s being called up on the stage during a show, or sitting in a pub and listening to some phenomenal mu sicians live, or just walking around with a turkey drumstick in your hand and having a great time, you just get caught up in the fun of it,” Christian says. “It’s a moment where you can just let go of the things that bug you every day and play like a kid.”
This year, Motor City Comic Con is offering wristbands for fans who want to avoid long lines. The wristbands are available to purchase in advance through Sept., 16 on the Motor City Comic Con website for an additional $15. The wristbands are shipped to at tendees’ homes before the convention and allow fans to bypass ticket lines. They also grant re-entry to the event. Beyond that, Allen says more an nouncements are expected for this year’s fall “Everyoneconvention.shouldstay tuned as we are going to keep making more guest announcements!” she says.
The Michigan Renaissance Festival is from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays (plus Labor Day Monday, Sept. 5 and Friday, Sept. 30) through Oct. 2; 12600 Dixie Hwy., Holly. Full schedule is available at michrenfest.com. Tickets start at $21.95 in advance or $25.95 at the gate.
Motor City Comic Con is back to hosting two conventions this year
REVENGE OF THE NERDS
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 31
32 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
“But in our world, it is following the plague,” Dunivant says. “And Zombo is riding through the sky, calling out the dead and calling out those that are hid den or hibernating. It’s a call to gather onceDunivantmore.” has been doing Theatre Bizarre since 2000, first launching the event in Detroit’s former Michigan State Fairgrounds. In 2010, Theatre Bi zarre was shut down by Detroit officials due to various zoning violations, caus ing the event organizers to last-minute relocate indoors to the Fillmore The atre. The event has called the Masonic Temple home since 2011. After all these years, Dunivant main tains that Theatre Bizarre is peerless.
“There’s nothing else like it in the world, and there really isn’t anything that could even come close to compar ing to our scale,” he says. “But also in contrast to that is the fact that this is still so totally grassroots, that none of us are doing this as a part of a produc tion company or with any kind of finan cial backing. This is not a production house. This is just a group of friends and family trying to create something that the world has never seen before.” Hail Zombo! Theatre Bizarre is open to the public from 6:30 p.m.-4 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15 and 22 at the Masonic Temple; 500 Temple St., Detroit; 313-832-7100; theatrebizarre.com. Tickets are $125.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Theatre Bizarre almost didn’t happen this year
In other words, step aside “crushable” and “session” beers. Now is the time for silky stouts and velvety porters, creamy IPAs, and other warm fuzzy beers. So says Scott Graham, executive di rector of the Michigan Brewers Guild.
TREVOR LONGTREVER LONG
At this year’s Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Beer Festival, held at Eastern Market on Saturday, Oct. 22, the name of the day is “hefty.” Think hopped-up New England IPAs, Belgian tripels and Scotch Wee Heavy ales. Traditional style ales, harvest ales and fresh- or wet-hopped beers — those made from recently harvested hops bursting with flavor — will dominate the seasonal The Halloween party is set to return to the Masonic Temple for the first time since 2019.
At this year’s Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Beer Festival, ‘hefty’ suds will dominate the offerings
By Mickey Lyons Fall isn’t just about pumpkin spice lattes and apple cider. Sometimes it’s about deep umber, smoky stouts, with an overload of whopping malt and just a touch of creaminess. Maybe it’s about settling into the cold weather months clutching a mug of chocolatey, dry-hopped, Imperial Something.
By Lee DeVito
Pulling off the event involves a crew of some 1,500, who transform Detroit’s Masonic Temple into a grand, gothic carnival. The event is dubbed “The Greatest Masquerade on Earth.”
When it became apparent in 2020 that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to cause Theatre Bizarre, De troit’s long-running Halloween festival, to be canceled, event mastermind and artist John Dunivant says he was in a strange way “Personally,glad.itwas a bit of a relief, because this event is brutal. It tears our lives apart,” he says, adding, “I have kids, and I don’t see them in October.”
Like many of us, Dunivant took time off during the pandemic to reflect on his life and priorities. He decided to cancel the festival again in 2021 due to the continued uncertainty of the pan demic. But when Dunivant talked to his crew this year, they convinced him that the show must go on. “I was ready to let it go,” he says. “I think the excitement of so many of the crew was infectious … This crew is more than just a crew, it’s a commu nity of friends and family. It was more the excitement of being together with everyone again, and then once that started rolling then there were other milestones of the creation process that are always exciting.”
The event is set to return for two weekends in October. Tickets for the event, held on Saturdays Oct. 15 and 22, are now on Dunivantsale.says due to all of the events that were canceled because of the pan demic, there was pressure to share the sprawling space — Detroit’s is the larg est Masonic Temple in the world — with operator AEG Presents, which entered into an exclusive operating and booking deal with the venue in 2019. This year, a Judas Priest concert is scheduled for the venue’s main stage on Oct. 22. Dunivant says the concert will change Theatre Bizarre’s footprint somewhat, but mostly for back-of-the-house stuff — things like security and fueling stations for the event’s fire perform ers, for example. On the attendee end, Dunivant believes only one hallway and a stairwell will be closed to the public. Each year, Dunivant and the other folks behind the scenes come up with a different theme for the event, which concerns the elaborate backstory of Zombo the Clown, the Theatre Bizarre’s spooky, skeletal mascot. This year, the theme is “The Call: The Wild Hunt of Saint“ZomboZombo.”issort of the godlike charac ter that oversees this world,” Dunivant explains. “And there’s a lot of narrative that has been threaded throughout this over the years. As the story continues, it’ll reflect times we’re in, it’ll reflect all sorts of different things. So coming out of a pandemic, we just sort of wanted to weave that into the mythology of the mainThestoryline.”themeis based on the Wild Hunt of Odin, in which the mythologi cal figure is joined by a group of super natural hunters. In various European folkloric traditions, witnessing a Wild Hunt was believed to be a harbinger of a catastrophic event like a plague.
HOPPED UP
DEREK DANDRIDGE “One thing that sets Michigan beer drinkers apart is their loyalty to their local beer. I mean, they go out, they seek, they support local beer.”
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 33
The Michigan Brewers Guild Detroit Fall Beer Festival is from 1-6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Eastern Market; mibeer.com. Tickets are $55 per person in advance, $65 day of. A beer aficionado at Detroit’s Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Beer Festival.
Graham. “We’ll see plenty of Oktober fests and a trend away from lighter beers and wheat beers. It may not be imperial stout and bock season just yet,” he says, “but it is going to trend a little heavier. And, of course, many many, many varia tions of That’sIPA.”good news for hop lovers of all stripes. Graham expects hundreds of different beers from dozens of brewer ies from all over Michigan. The festival has been held at Eastern Market for 13 years and is the only one of the four fes tivals put on in Detroit by the nonprofit BrewersGrahamGuild.and his team are always happy to come to Detroit, he says, because “part of the fun is that there’ll be breweries that maybe you can’t get to geographically, or they’re new, and so you can try their beers too. I’m looking forward to being back in Detroit. It’s always got a different character.” One newcomer to the festival is Oak Park’s Unexpected Craft Brewing Com pany, which just opened last October.
Co-owner and head brewer Edward Stencel is excited to bring his signature Peanut Butter Stencel Stout, a crowd favorite both at the new brewery and at his previous business, Dearborn’s River Rouge Brewing Company. Stencel promises a mix of the brewery’s classic lineup of stouts, porters, IPAs, and other familiar beers, as well as a few surprises for beer drinkers who might not be familiar with UCBC yet. For Stencel, Detroit’s Fall Beer festival is one of his favorites. Raised in Livo nia and a graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, he honed his craft in San Diego but was thrilled to return to his home state to build his business. “I’ve been to a lot of festivals and been in a lot of beer communities around the country and around the world,” he says, “and one thing that sets Michigan beer drinkers apart is their loyalty to their lo cal beer. I mean, they go out, they seek, they support local beer.”
Michiganders at the festival will have plenty of opportunities to sample the offerings of Michigan breweries large and small from all over the state. One thing sippers won’t find, says Grahan, is industrially-produced and tasteless beers. Says Scott, “Maybe you think you don’t like beer, but there are hundreds of different flavor variations. There’s so much more than yellow, fizzy industrial beer that it can really be a fun experi ence for somebody who doesn’t feel like they have much experience with local beer. And at the same time, it’s a great experience for somebody who does feel more sophisticated or more experi enced to meet other folks.”
WHAT’S GOING ON
FRI, 9/2
TUES 9/6-WED, 9/7 Lil Nas X If you missed your chance to get tickets for Lil’ Nas X’s first-ever tour that kicks off in Detroit, you now have a chance to score some. Due to popular demand, the rapper’s “Long Live Montero” tour moved from Detroit’s Fillmore theater to the larger Fox Theatre, and there are now more tickets available. Lil Nas X announced the tour back in April, and dditional tour dates were added after the “Industry Baby” singer’s tour sold out. Fans who purchased tickets for the show at the Fillmore will receive and email with updates. —Alex Washington Starts at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6 and Wednesday, Sept. 7 at the Fox Theatre; 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-471-7000; 313presents.com. Tickets start at $49.95.
34 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
It Takes a Village
More than 70 artists who’ve displayed their work at the Library Street Col lective gallery in Detroit will come together for a one-night-only exhibit on Friday, Sept. 2. Olivia Guterson’s intri cate floral paintings and Jason REVOK’s dripping geometrical patterns will be part of the show, dubbed It Takes a Village. Other featured artists include Charles McGee, Cydney Camp, Judy Bowman, Phillip K. Smith III, Michael Thorpe, Ryan McGinness, José Parlá, and more. The work will be spread across LSC and sister gallery Louis Buhl & Co., located in Detroit’s trendy art alley, The Belt. It Takes a Village is also a fundraiser for the gallery’s forthcom ing public skatepark in Detroit’s East Village Neighborhood. The skatepark is a partnership with local non-profit Jefferson East and is designed by pro skater Tony Hawk and artist McArthur Binion. It was first announced in 2021 as part of LSC’s ambitious art campus project, The Shepherd, which includes a repurposed 110-year-old Romanesque church and the Charles McGree Legacy Park dedicated to the late Detroit artist. Both the skatepark and the Charles McGee Legacy Park are slated to open in the spring of 2023. —Randiah Camille Green It Takes a Village will be up from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2 at Library Street Collective; 1274 Library St., Detroit; lscgallery.com.
SAT, 9/3 Wu-Tang Clan and Nas There’s hip-hop, and then there is the Wu-Tang Clan. For 30 years, Wu Tang Clan has been the archetypal hip-hop group. The raucous crew with its many members and factions is definitely among the genre’s most notorious. Further, Wu-Tang has parlayed their musical talents into a wide range of other entertainment ventures, includ ing films, clothing lines, and even a bar. The Wu is a brand name, and even more than a brand, Wu-Tang has a fan following that could rival most cult leaders. Diehards have been tattooing the familiar “W” on their bodies for decades and concerts still sell out. For this tour, the group is joined by simi larly iconic hip-hop acts Nas and Busta Rhymes. —Biba Adams Starts at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3 at Pine Knob Music Theatre; 33 Bob Seger Dr., Clarkston; 313presents.com. Tickets start at $29.50.
Select events happening in metro De troit this week.
COURTESY PHOTO
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 37
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 41
In Three Thousand Years of Longing, Idris Elba stars as the Djinn and Tilda Swinton as Alithea Binnie. METRO GOLDWYN MAYER PICTURES
While reflecting some credible measure of orientalizing tendency on Miller’s behalf (the Australian filmmaker is now 77, and treats his Middle Eastern settings as vaguely primitive, erotically free, and rich in mystery), these recurring motifs don’t just stir questions of taste or politics — they provide a field for inquiry into the film’s themes. In offering the women and girls who find him wishes, Elba’s Djinn labors to free them not only from the hours or obstacles that separate them from their desires but from the enduring patriarchal structures which respectively surround them. At the same time, he’s a prisoner of their desires both expressed and withheld, whether erotic or platonic, subject despite his own pow ers to their respective whims. Amid each relationship swirl the tensions between pain, power, openness, and the costs of vulnerability — forces which persist into theForpresent.Alithea, who retains control over her situation with the Djinn (if not a clear sense of direction over what to do with it), these stories all inform her choices and feelings at present. Whether warily mulling the question of whether Elba’s figure could be a “trickster Djinn” (an old trope) or contemplating how much of her own story to reveal, her story be comes a part of the sweep of history the Djinn conjures up for her. Working from this sense of scale, Miller works to get at the enormity and consequence of roman tic feeling, brushing aside concerns over fact and fiction, and truth and lies, in favor of the emotionally true. This tendency continues into the film’s last act back in London — a sequence which becomes, through bent rules, tem poral ellipses, and perplexing implica tions, haphazard to the point of endan gering the film. As the film’s previously refreshing cartoon logics seem to ossify and break, with the world around the two lead characters seeming to crumble away from both us and them, the ruptures in logic allow something to be glimpsed through them: the endurance of Miller’s central concerns. As in the work of old peers from David Cronenberg to Clint Eastwood to Claire Denis, a director’s inattention can be as expressive and revealing as portions of their films more labored-over and refined. For Miller, here his chief concerns provide the film a sturdy, lively center: one that exerts a force so strong that by its finish little else seems to count.
For Elba’s Djinn, dalliances have taken place with a succession of wom en, each separated by centuries. Once cursed by the new groom of Sheba, his onetime lover, his life since has taken on a cyclical, naturally existential rhythm of confinement (one might say repression) and freedom (or release). Swinton’s sharp but mannered Alithea finds herself in a similar, more com pressed lull commensurate with her mortal life; since her divorce some long while back, she’s worked to be happy alone. For hours over a long day, the two swap tales, each rendered in flash back via vividly colored combinations of practical and computer-based effects work. Weaving gods, warfare, and more modest folklore all together in spaces which seem to echo one another for their focus on the contradictions of possessive romance, the film’s tales are riddled with purchased brides and concubines (features of the latest Mad Max, too, and of plenty more dystopias besides).
LongingYearsThousandThreeof Rated: Run-time:R 108 minutes
The ironic conceit that romance is deepened by the threat of its end is an old one, and George Miller grabs it by the hilt. Last seen helming Mad Max: Fury Road (and seemingly getting a blank check here for it), Mill er’s latest swims through millennia as recounted by a Djinn on love and loss amid a filmic world that mashes myth and folklore with more familiar histori cal details. Conjuring an anything-goes atmosphere from a mess of references, abrupt turns, flashes of brilliance, and received biases, Three Thousand Years of Longing works its frame narrative and nested palace-intrigue trappings into a structure that allows it to marvel across them at the rewards and require ments of romance over the duration of any person’s life. The film feels steadier for privileging this fixation, the romantic themes at its center girding (and sometimes making up for) what surrounds them. In both its sincer ity and its flashes of communicative inattention, the film proves evocative, angular, and ultimately winning even as it knowingly plies old tropes.
By George Elkind
42 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
When love is a possessiveconfounding,act
Opening on Tilda Swinton’s Alithea Binnie, a prominent, London-residing narratologist (she studies stories) giving a conference talk in Istanbul, Miller positions her from the jump as a distant, even repressed analyst of the tales she makes her subject. Teach ing stories which once held intimate, guiding resonances for those who first shared and later repeated them, Bin nie describes mythological systems to packed rooms in ways that feel largely explanatory and matter-of-fact, drained of either mystery or emotional investment. Though Swinton remains gripping (and increasingly open, lately) as a screen presence, the film positions Alithea as a dowdy outsider, working to impose control over her life with a certain firmness — and in so resist ing the constant churn of the modern world around her. But she resists, too, through ardent dismissal, real-seeming visions of folkloric entities which pep per her experience of daily life. Soon after one such frightening episode, in one scene at a souvenir shop that recalls another like it in David Lean’s Summer time, she finds a bottle and potential artifact she elects to take home with her. The “visiting collector” dynamics here are plainly colonial in resonance — on which more later — but it’s something the film works with for the most part knowingly, if not always with great sense. Once back within the confines of her hotel room, Alithea’s joined by a massive, powerful Djinn (Idris Elba), a powerful spirit who springs from the bottle and insists on granting her three genuine wishes in order to set himself free from his longtime prison. The interlocking power dynamics in play provide the film with its founda tion (Can another person’s “wish” be demanded from them? Who is holding who captive here? Etc.), a structure and set of questions upon which a steady procession of flashbacks and eventu ally plot architecture is erected. In the interest of getting to know each other, and perhaps to gain a rhetorical upper hand, the two begin recounting tales of what’s mattered to them most: chiefly the romances that have colored their respective pasts.
metrotimes.com | August 31-September 6, 2022 43
LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22 In her book Tales From Earth sea, Libra-born Ursula K. Le Guin wrote, “What goes too long unchanged destroys itself. The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so lives.” I trust you’re embodying those truths right now. You’re in a phase of your cycle when you can’t afford to remain unchanged. You need to enthusias tically and purposefully engage in dissolutions that will prepare the way for your rebirth in the weeks after your birthday. The process might sometimes feel strenuous, but it should ultimately be great fun.
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21
6. Fall in love with everything and everyone: a D-List celebrity, an oak tree, a neon sign, a feral cat.
PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20
Capricorn novelist Marcia Douglas writes books about the his tory of her people in Jamaica. In one passage, she writes, “My grandmother used to tell stories about women that change into birds and lizards. One day, a church-going man dared to laugh at her; he said it was too much for him to swallow. My grandmother looked at him and said, ‘I bet you believe Jesus turned water into wine.’” My purpose in telling you this, Capricorn, is to encour age you to nurture and celebrate your own fantastic tales. Life isn’t all about reasonableness and pragmatism. You need myth and magic to thrive. You require the gifts of imagination and art and lyrical flights of fancy. This is es pecially true now. To paraphrase David Byrne, now is a perfect time to refrain from making too much sense.
JAMES NOELLERT
3. Be a hopeful cynic and a cheer ful skeptic. 4. Do things that inspire people to tell you, “Just when I thought I had you figured out, you do something unexpected to confound me.” 5. Just for fun, walk backward every now and then.
This week’s homework: What bold dream may not be beyond your power to achieve?
CULTURE Free Will Astrology
46 August 31-September 6, 2022 | metrotimes.com
LEO: July 23 – August 22 Blogger Scott Williams writes, “There are two kinds of magic. One comes from the heroic leap, the upward surge of energy, the explosive arc that burns bright across the sky. The other kind is the slow accretion of effort: the water-on-stone method, the soft root of the plant that splits the sidewalk, the constant wind that scours the mountain clean.” Can you guess which type of magic will be your specialty in the coming weeks, Leo? It will be the laborious, slow accretion of effort. And that is precisely what will work best for the tasks that are most important for you to accomplish.
To be the best Aquarius you can be in the coming weeks, I suggest the following: 1. Zig when others zag. Zag when others zig. 2. Play with the fantasy that you’re an extraterrestrial who’s engaged in an experiment on planet Earth.
AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18
TAURUS: April 20 – May 20 In his poem “Auguries of In nocence,” William Blake (1757–1827) championed the ability “to see a World in a Grain of Sand. And a Heaven in a Wild Flower. Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, Taurus, you are primed to do just that in the coming days. You have the power to discern the sacred in the midst of mundane events. The magic and mystery of life will shine from every little thing you encounter. So I will love it if you deliver the following message to a person you care for: “Now I see that the beauty I had not been able to find in the world is in you.”
CANCER: June 21 – July 22 “My own curiosity and inter est are insatiable,” wrote Cancerian author Emma Lazarus (1849–1887). Inspired by the wealth of influences she absorbed, she created an array of poetry, plays, novels, essays, and trans lations—including the famous poem that graces the pedestal of America’s Statue of Liberty. I recommend her as a role model for you in the coming weeks, Cancerian. I think you’re ripe for an expansion and deepening of your curiosity. You will benefit from cultivating an enthusiastic quest for new information and fresh influences. Here’s a mantra for you: “I am wildly innocent as I vivify my soul’s educa tion.”
Happy Labor Day!! Ideas only become a reality with the sweat of the worker. OPEN NOON-2AM THIS SAT, SUN & LABOR DAY
VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22 “Now that I’m free to be myself, who am I?” Virgo-born Mary Oliver asks that question to start one of her poems. She spends the rest of the poem speculating on possible answers. At the end, she concludes she mostly longs to be an “empty, waiting, pure, speechless receptacle.” Such a state of being might work well for a poet with lots of time on her hands, but I don’t recommend it for you in the coming weeks. Instead, I hope you’ll be profuse, active, busy, experimental, and expressive. That’s the best way to celebrate the fact that you are now freer to be yourself than you have been in a while.
CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19
By Rob Brezsny
ARIES: March 21 – April 19 In his poem “Autobiographia Lit eraria,” Aries-born Frank O’Hara wrote, “When I was a child, I played in a corner of the schoolyard all alone. If anyone was looking for me, I hid behind a tree and cried out, ‘I am an orphan.’” Over the years, though, O’Hara underwent a marvelous transformation. This is how his poem ends: “And here I am, the center of all beauty! Writing these po ems! Imagine!” In the coming months, Aries, I suspect that you, too, will have the potency to outgrow and transcend a sadness or awkwardness from your own past. The shadow of an old source of suffering may not disappear completely, but I bet it will lose much of its power to diminish you.
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20 “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time,” said philosopher Bertrand Russell. I will add that the time you enjoy wasting is often essential to your well-being. For the sake of your sanity and health, you periodically need to temporarily shed your ambitions and avoid as many of your responsibilities as you safely can. During these interludes of refreshing emptiness, you recharge your precious life energy. You become like a fallow field allowing fertile nutri ents to regenerate. In my astrological opinion, now is one of these revitalizing phases for you.
A blogger who calls herself HellFresh writes, “Open and raw com munication with your partners and allies may be uncomfortable and feel awkward and vulnerable, but it solves so many problems that can’t be solved any other way.” Having spent years studying the demanding arts of intimate relationship, I agree with her. She adds, “The idea that was sold to us is ‘love is effortless and you should communicate telepathi cally with your partner.’ That’s false.” I propose, Pisces, that you fortify yourself with these truths as you enter the Rein vent Your Relationships Phase of your astrological cycle.
As a Scorpio, novelist Fyodor Dos toyevsky was rarely guilty of oversim plification. Like any intelligent person, he could hold contradictory ideas in his mind without feeling compelled to seek more superficial truths. He wrote, “The causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.” I hope you will draw inspiration from his example in the coming weeks, dear Scorpio. I trust you will resist the temptation to reduce colorful mysteries to straightforward explanations. There will always be at least three sides to every story. I invite you to relish glorious paradoxes and fertile enigmas.
SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21
Author Zadie Smith praised Sagittarian writer Joan Didion. She says, “I remain grateful for the day I picked up Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem and realized that a woman could speak without hedging her bets, without hemming and hawing, without making nice, without sounding pleasant or sweet, without deference, and even without doubt.” I encourage Sagittarians of every gender to be inspired by Didion in the coming weeks. It’s a favorable time to claim more of the authority you have earned. Speak your kaleidoscopic wisdom without apology or dilution. More fiercely than ever before, embody your high ideals and show how well they work in the rhythms of daily life.
