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4 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com News & Views Feedback ...............................6 News TheInformed......................................7Dissent................10Incision.........................11 Cover Story Fall Arts Guide ....................12 What’s Going On Things to do this week ........26 Food Review .................................30 Bites .....................................32 Music Feature .................................36 Weed One-hitters ...........................38 Culture Film HoroscopesSavage......................................42Love.........................44..........................46Vol.42|No.47 | Sept. 14-20, 2022 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 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 on recycled paper 248-620-2990Printed By
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This story by andiah amille reen is so good ead it.
thank you for telling our story —Black to the Land Coalition, Facebook
all ust like to get out there and en oy the river and together
NEWS & VIEWS
We received comments in response to Randiah Camille Green’s cover story about the Black to the Land Coalition, group that brings Black and brown Detroiters on outdoor adventures.
hite girl here, been taking and taught hundreds, well over a thousand of black brown folks to kayak the etroit river for the past yrs. e don’t care if your black, brown, white, green, purple or orange, we
Have an opinion? Of course you do! Sound o letters metrotimes.com
This is ama ing ongratulations —@libertyserenity2.0, Instagram
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uly. nother of voters said they are pro-choice, compared to ust who identify as pro-life.
to upport MI omen and hildren, assailed the decision.
MARC KLOCKOW
The initiative calls for nine days of early voting, secure drop boxes, ballot tracking, public funding for postage on absentee ballots, and additional time for military and overseas voters to return their absentee ballots. The initiative would also allow voters to re uest an absentee ballot for all future elections.
Michigan GOP canvassers finally certify abortion rights, voting access petitions for November ballot initiatives
“It falls to voters now to reject this mistake-ridden, extreme proposal on lection ay, hristen ollo, spokes woman of the group, said. It authori es abortions up until the moment of birth, while sweeping away every law designed to impose common sense limits on abortions, such as parental consent, and health and safety regulations on abor tion clinics. This would become part of our constitution permanently, and no matter how much it endangered the health and safety of our children, we’d be stuck with it.
8 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
s painful as it was, the process worked, and for that we are very thank ful, romote the ote attorney hris topher Trebilcock told the canvassers. I am faithful that you both respect the rule of law.
Michigan Supreme Court ordered abortion rights and voting access initiatives on ballot after Republicans tried to block them.
The coalition behind the eproduc tive for All ballot initiative submitted a
The coalition’s attorney teve Liedel told canvassers that they have “a clear legal duty to certify the petitions and that voters made their intentions clear when they signed the petitions.
Abortion is officially on the ballot
The Michigan ourt of laims ruled earlier that the state’s ban is un constitutional and cannot be enforced. The Michigan upreme ourt will ultimately decide on the issue.
e are energi ed and motivated now more than ever to restore the protections that were lost under Roe, arci Mc onnell, spokeswoman for the eproductive reedom for ll campaign, said in a statement. This a rms that more than , voters read, signed, and understood the petitions and that the frivolous claims from the opposition are simply designed to distract from our effort to keep the abortion rights we had under oe for nearly years.
Today’s rulings from the Michigan upreme ourt underscore that the role of the oard of tate anvassers under law is to a rm the will of the voters, Michigan ecretary of tate ocelyn enson tweeted. That means certifying ballot proposals if when a su cient number of eligible citi ens’ signatures support the petition ust as the law compels them to certify election results based on the votes cast by the people of Michigan. I am grateful to the court for a rming this and hope the board now resumes its longstanding practice of working within its authority under Michigan law.
NEWS & VIEWS
The Promote the Vote initiative also will appear on the ballot.
The state’s abortion ban was in validated when the . . upreme ourt ruled in favor of abortion rights in Roe v. Wade in . ut since the case was overturned earlier this summer, the ban could go back into effect.
epublican anvasser ichard ous kamp denied that politics influenced his original vote against certification.
The 4-0 vote comes one day after the Michigan upreme ourt ordered the canvassers to certify the petitions, say ing epublicans on the board had no authority to re ect certification.
e had this process for a reason, epublican anvasser Tony aunt said. It’s adversarial. hen there is dis agreement, we have a deadlock.
It truly wasn’t partisan, ouskamp insisted.ouskamp and aunt originally re ected the eproductive reedom for ll initiative because of typographical errors, saying the amendment lacked su cient spacing between some of the words.The Michigan upreme ourt dis agreed.The eproductive reedom for ll and romote the ote initiatives will appear on the ovember ballot.
epublican canvassers said the voting rights petition failed to identify every constitutional provision the amend ment would override, an argument that emocrats re ected as pretty silly.
pponents of the initiative, iti ens
THE MICHIGAN BOARD of Canvass ers unanimously voted Friday to certify the ballot initiatives to amend the state constitution to a rm abortion rights and extend voting access.
They read it, they understood it, they signed their name to it, they made no mistakes or errors, Liedel said. They don’t need government o cials telling themMichiganotherwise.isone of states with a law banning abortion.
record , signatures, surpassing the roughly , re uired.
egardless of the higher court’s future ruling, the eproductive reedom for ll initiative would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and eliminate theTwo-thirdsban. of likely voters in Michi gan said they support a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, according to an I -M poll that was released in
Promote the Vote submitted nearly , signatures to get the initiative on the ovember ballot, surpassing the roughly , re uired. The Michi gan ureau of lections recommended certification for both initiatives.
The coalition behind the eproduc tive Freedom for All initiative submitted a record , signatures.
epublican canvassers said they had no choice but to certify following the high court’s decision.
By Steve Neavling
A notice on the restaurant says “this food service establishment is not to be engaged in business or used as a food service facility until approved by the etroit ealth epartment.
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 9
The Joker’s real name is ‘Jack White,’ DC Comics reveals
that we only see glimpses of at times, some meaningful, some meaning less. large thank you to Mr. anin for contributing this wonderful work to the record.hiteis a comic book fan. mong the treasures ac uired thanks to his even ation rmy royalties is Action Comics o. , the first appearance of uperman. e told The New Yorker that he considers it to be an important moment in literary history and keeps it in a temperaturecontrolled vault in ashville, where the etroit-born musician now lives.
Lafayette voluntarily closed after a failed health inspection on tuesday last week, then reopened briefly before being issued an o cial cease and desist notice on ednesday.
I’d love to thank comics for giv ing The oker the name of ack hite’ after me, he wrote in an Instagram post. Though his hair is usually not as blue as mine, i still take it as a flatter ing gesture on their part and consider it an honor. It was a lonely ourney through my life being the only person with that name until now.
UPDATED COVID-19 BOOSTER vaccines that target the previously vaccine-resistant micron muta tion of the virus are now available, the Michigan epartment of ealth and uman ervices said ednesday.
ust yesterday we received an abundance of notifications on social me dia from our etroit residents indicating that there were several rodents running through the building at Lafayette, hief ublic ealth cer for the ity of etroit enise air a o told The Detroit News. e imme diately issued a team of inspectors to go on site. hile we didn’t see any rodents running through the restaurant we did see substantial evidence that there were rodents there ... multiple sighting of droppings.
Omicron-targeted bivalent COVID-19 boosters are now available
WITH HIS FAMOUSLY pale skin, a penchant for colored suits, and a new blue hairdo, rock star ack hite has never looked more like the Batman bad guy the oker. o it’s perhaps no surprise what omics chose to be the real name for the iconic supervil lain.ccording to issue o. of the comic book series Flashpoint Beyond , which dropped last week, the oker’s original name is ack swald hite.
hite took to Instagram on ednesday last week to say he was honored by the news.
In a separate post, hite said that coincidently, he commissioned omics artist Mikel anin to create an illustration of him in the style of the oker for the album artwork for his record Fear of the Dawn, which was released earlier this year.
—Lee DeVito
It doesn’t matter which version you get, o cials say. If you previously got fi er doses you can switch to Mod erna, or vice versa.
I sent the drawings he had done of the oker that i loved, but i didn’t want him to make me look like the oker, only using some of the intensity of the face and bone structure style that he used, ust less maniacal haha hite wrote.eadded, i arre patterns and coincidences emerge in the universe
SHUTTERSTOCK
dominant variant, resident oe iden said in a statement. ust like your annual flu shot, you should get it sometime between Labor ay and alloween.ccording to the enters for isease ontrol and revention, in une unvaccinated people had twice the risk of testing positive for I - and eight times the risk of dying.Todate, nearly . million Michi ganders ages and up have gotten at least their first dose of the Ivaccines.
cases of I - to increase, said r. atasha agdasarian, Michigan epartment of ealth and uman ervices M chief medical executive. The bivalent booster will help fight the micron subvariants, including . and . I - vac cines remain our best defense against the virus, and we recommend all Michiganders stay up to date.
The oker’s real name has been known as ack, and was revealed in other Batman-related media, includ ing the films, where he was gangster
The federal ood and rug d ministration approved the use of the boosters last month. The iden ad ministration compared the updated shots to those of the flu vaccine.
The bivalent boosters come from pharmaceutical companies fi erio Tech and Moderna. The fi erio Tech boosters are available to people age and older, while the Moderna boosters are available to
ack apier in ’s Batman. ut this is the first time the oker’s full real name has been revealed in the core comic book canon.
ou can find the nearest clinic that offers them now at vaccines.gov.
This is great news as we go into the fall and winter when we expect
The department was alerted to potential rats inside the coney island following several social media posts.
ur calls to Lafayette oney Island went unanswered.
—Randiah Camille Green
LAFAYETTE CONEY ISLAND has temporarily lost the etroit coney dog war with neighboring merican oney Island. ot because they have the better dog, but because the etroit ealth epartment reportedly found rat poop in the restaurant.
—Lee DeVito
The shots are known as bivalent boosters because they have been re tooled to offer protection against the original strain of the virus in addition to the genetically similar micron variants . and . .
Detroit’s Lafayette Coney Island closed after rat poop found in restaurant
people age and older. The one-dose booster vaccines are available if it has been at least two months since previ ous vaccination.
s the virus continues to change, we will now be able to update our vaccines annually to target the
Trump tried to get Cannon assigned to the bonkers-ass lawsuit he filed accusing Hillary Clinton of spreading misinfor mation about his connections to Russia in 2016.
The ruling might not stand. But Roberts laid the groundwork in the 2014 obb obb ruling, in which he declared that corporations can have religious beliefs that exempt them from federal law. And the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear the inevitable appeal, is one of the most conservative in theFromcountry.there, it will go to the Supreme ourt, where five ustices have made their ideological agenda clear. That, John Roberts, is why people don’t trust the Trumpified courts.
White House — as part of its investiga tion, a remarkable mandate from a judge in a civil proceeding considering that the search that obtained these records was approved and overseen by a federal magistrate.Cannon, trying to sound reason able, said the intelligence community’s threat assessment could continue while the investigation was on hold, even as she held out the possibility of ordering the government to return to Trump the classified records he’d stolen. n riday, the Justice Department gently reminded her that the FBI is part of the intelligence community and is deeply intertwined in the threat Cannonassessment.hasyettorule on the govern ment’s motion to let the FBI investigate the recovered classified documents.
More than that, the crisis in confi dence stems from the growing recogni tion that five or six members of the u preme Court are the far right’s bulwark against democracy itself — their means of imposing an agenda without public support.When Justice Brett Kavanaugh tried to minimize the enormity of overturning Roe, he argued that he and his colleagues hadn’t outlawed abortion but rather returned the issue to the states, where democracy could function as the found ersThatintended.claim might hold up better if the court hadn’t spent the last decade crippling democratic safeguards first with iti ens nite , which opened the floodgates to untold billions of dollars in election-buying money; then with elb ount , which junked a key part of the Voting Rights Act; then with uc o, which signed off on extreme
partisan gerrymandering.
f course, revanchist udges pre-date Trump; the conservative movement to capture the judiciary has been in prog ress for decades.
On Sept. 12, 2021, Justice Amy Coney Barrett assured an audience at the University of Louisville’s McCon nell Center — named for the Senate majority leader who both introduced her that night and secured her place on the Supreme Court a year earlier — that “this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks.”
There’s a reason fewer Americans than ever — especially Democrats and independents — profess confidence in the justices now. SHUTTERSTOCK
Last week, eed ’ onnor, the eorge W. Bush appointee who previously tried to strike down the ffordable are ct on a batshit theory that Congress end ing the individual mandate killed the whole thing, ruled that a Texas company doesn’t have to cover HIV prophylaxis drugs because its owner says that medi cation “facilitates and encourages homo sexual behavior,” and saving the lives of homosexuals makes od mad.
And the more exposure we have to any of Donald Trump’s judges, the more reason we have to be skeptical of all of them.Look no further than Aileen Cannon, the undistinguished Federalist Society member the Republican Senate con firmed to the federal bench in outh Florida as Donald Trump tried to over turn the 2020 election, and who Trump ran to in his desperate bid to slow the I’s investigation into stolen classified materials.Cannon obliged.
So last week, it was Chief Justice John Roberts’ turn to assure the country that his court wasn’t composed of partisan hacks.“The court has always decided contro versial cases and decisions have always been subject to intense criticism, and that is entirely appropriate,” Roberts said in Colorado Springs. “But I don’t understand the connection between the opinions people disagree with and the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.”
Get more at billman.substack.com.
10 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Roberts isn’t that naive.
We’ve seen them for the political hacks they are.
The court had just green-lit Texas’ Roe v. a e workaround and blocked Presi dent Joe Biden from reversing a Trumpera immigration policy. In the following year, it overturned the right to abortion and invented constitutional theories to gut environmental regulations, obliviate gun policies, and allow states to execute innocent men because they’d been given shitty lawyers.
The Trumpi ed courts can’t be trusted e re . illman
last 220 years. But there’s a reason fewer Americans than ever — especially Democrats and independents — profess confidence in the ustices now.
It’s not just that a few decisions didn’t go their way. It’s that most of these jus tices were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote and confirmed by senators who represent a minority of the population. And they did it while lectur ing about “judicial restraint.”
I note that laintiff filed this law suit in the Fort Pierce division of this District, where only one federal judge sits: Judge Aileen Cannon, who Plain tiff appointed in , udge onald Middlebrooks wrote in April. Middle brooks dismissed what he called Trump’s “200-page political manifesto.”
The Presidential Records Act is explicit that the documents Trump hoarded belong to the federal govern ment, and any lawsuits involving the must be filed in ashington, . . Cannon ignored that. Both the PRA and Supreme Court precedent are clear that Trump can’t exert executive privilege to keep records from the FBI (or any other part of the executive branch). Cannon decided he might, should the special master she planned to appoint decide that the records the law says belong to the government don’t actually belong to theMostgovernment.obnoxiously, Cannon ordered the FBI to stop using those documents including the more than classified documents Trump had taken from the
It’s true that the court has decided many controversial cases over the
If the government appeals Cannon’s rulings, the case will move to the 11th Circuit, where Trump appointed six of the 11 active judges.
Informed Dissent
The truth is that one can’t possibly cover Trump and Trumpism within the business-as-usual operating param eters of traditional political ournal ism. That assumes that both parties are engaging in a good faith political competition governed by the same rule of law. When one party is dominated by a movement that has consistently questioned the results of literally the most secure presidential election in merican history, they’ve thrown the old political rules out the window. nd if the old political rules are out the win dow, the old ournalistic rules should be, too.
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 11
Donald Trump broke the media, exploiting its inability to look away from the circus to dominate press coverage. While much of his coverage was negative, the controversy was the
Fast forward seven years since Trump first descended that gaudy golden esca lator and it’s clear that there’s another way that Trump has exploited the tradi tional rules of an industry ill equipped to handle him both-sidesism.
Biden isn’t Trump. Why do political journalists keep acting like he is?
ather than resort to the knee- erk both-sidesim, responsible ournal ism in this moment requires that we consistently, vociferously, and plainly reiterate ust how dangerous a threat to democracy Donald Trump and his movement actually pose.
ecause, let’s not forget if democ racy goes, freedom of the press will go with it.
NEWS & VIEWS
SHUTTERSTOCK
Trump declared war on ournalism, recognizing that a pre-emptive strike could frame as biased the inevitable coverage he received for failing to gov ern effectively and breaking the most basic democratic norms. nd ournal ists are falling into his trap.
If the be,rulesoldwindow,arepoliticaloldrulesoutthethejournalisticshouldtoo.
point. lood the one with shit, as his former advisor, Steven Bannon, dubbed their strategy, made Trump the singular most important news editor in every single newsroom.
after President Biden’s prime-time official address to mericans about the threat to democracy that the M wing of the Republican party poses. Rather than engage with the substance of the speech, some chose to call the president out for the Marines in fulldress uniform stationed behind him, arguing that he had politicized the armed forces. Except that every single member of the military has sworn an oath to defend our Constitution, the very document that M epubli cans are opposing.
Trump invited a literal Nazi sympathizer to speak at his rally. Biden had two Marines stationed behind him during an o cial address on the rising threat to democracy in the United States all motivated by Trump.
on’t get me wrong, I’m all for fair
ews outlets and ournalists bristle at the assertion by Trump, his acolytes, and his base that they are somehow liberal or against Trump. In order to prove their ob ectivity, they rush to criticize Trump opponents, all lead ing to this odd brand of both-sidesism we keep seeing. Meanwhile, Trump continues to flood the one with his own special brand of shit, continuously resetting the bar for himself — exacerbating the clear double standard for what earns criticism on both sides.
Ultimately, it leaves pundits and ournalists in the name of ob ectiv ity, mind you — criticizing politicians who are not Trump for things for which they would never criticize Trump. Not so ob ective, is it
The Incision
Originally published Sept. in The Incision. Get more at abdulelsayed. substack.com.
Both-sidesing Biden is leading to some audacious false equivalencies.
political coverage. But if that leaves you routinely criticizing the party that wants to preserve the democratic sys tem as loudly and vociferously as you criticize the party that wants to destroy it — you’ve lost the plot.
Speaking on a recent CNN panel, Francesca Chambers, a White House correspondent at USA Today, responded to a question about Donald Trump inviting a Nazi sympathazier who said he “wished Hitler would have finished the ob with this doo ie “Optics are everything as you know in politics, John. As you can see there, the former president of the United States has run into some issues with optics coming out of his rally this week. And at the same time you saw President Biden come into some criticism for optics coming out of his event this week. Not comparing those two but just saying that both President Biden and former president Trump are having some difficulties en it comes to o tical issues that both could have avoided.”
But that’s exactly what happened
By Abdul El-Sayed
Eastern Market District; 2500 Russell St., Detroit, from 6-11 p.m.
COURTESY PHOTO
Sept. 16-Oct. 22: Exhibition of portraits and scenes from labor activism, urban neighborhoods, counterculture, and more by the New York-based artist. Opening reception from 4-7 p.m. at Hill Gallery; 407 W. Brown St., Birmingham, 248-540-9288; hillgallery.com.
Eastern Market After Dark
n Detroit Month of Design
Starts at 2 p.m. at Ford Community & Performing Arts Center; 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn; 313-9432350; Ticketsdearbornfordcenter.com.are$25.
Sept. 23-25: Annual festival features art vendors and live music, including national acts like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Haley Heynderickx, and Flobots, in addition to local acts like Passalacqua, Summer Like The Season, Checker, and more.
Womxnhouse Detroit; 15354 St. Marys St., Detroit; Saturdays and Sundays from 2-8 p.m.; womxnhousedet.com.
Sept. 18: This annual hair show combines hot models and hot cars, including more than 200 creations, in addition to a dance party.
Funky Ferndale Art Fair
Tunde Olaniran: Made a Universe
Through Sept. 24: Exhibition juried by sculptor Sergio de Giusti, featuring 50 works in all media created by 40 artists from across the country.
Gyona Rice: Head in the Sand
Through Sept. 25: Gyona Rice discusses Black women’s identity through natural hair in a series of prints exploring the resistance of mainstream beauty norms.
Cranbrook Art Museum; 39221 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills; cranbrookartmuseum.org.248-645-3320;Admission is $10 except on Thursdays when it's free.
From 6 p.m.-midnight Friday, 11 a.m.midnight Saturday, and 11 a.m.9 p.m. Sunday, Nine Mile Road east of Woodward Avenue; ferndalediy.com.
Confluent: Detroit Art and the University Art Collection
The fall arts season is here. Here are some of the events we’re looking forward to be sure to check venue websites for the most up-to-date information.
Sept. 17-Oct 23: Norwest Gallery owner Asia Hamilton’s childhood home has been completely reimagined with
Through Sept. 25: Flint-based singer and songwriter Tunde Olaniran gets their film debut with Made a niverse, which they wrote, directed, scored, and starred in. The film is a cross between a horror movie and a music video and is accom panied by an exhibit of set recreations foreshadowing the impending doom. (See our feature in this week’s issue.)
12 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Sept. 23-25: The 18th annual fair returns to the streets of downtown Ferndale, featuring more than 100 artists working in painting, sculpture, jewelry, mixed media, and more.
DIY Street Fair
installations by women artists. This year the house has everything including photography, film, poetry, painting, performance art, sound installations, and beyond.
West of Center: Art That Pushes Boundaries
Sept. 22-Dec. 9: Featuring Detroit artists Anita Bates, Jeanne Bieri, Darryl DeAngelo Terreel, Sergio De Giusti, Mariam Ezzat, Mary Fortuna, Marcia reedman, M. affell ardner, Laura Makar, Sandra Osip, Tom Pyrzewski,
Womxnhouse Detroit
Various venues; see designcore.org for the full schedule.
Through Sept. 25: An examination of the nocturnal with eight artists explor ing symbols, costumes, and intimacies
Through Sept. 30: This annual month long celebration of Detroit’s UNESCO designation as a “City of Design” returns with the theme of “United By Design.” As usual, the festival takes place in various venues across the metro area, and this year features more than 65 indoor, outdoor, and virtual events. Highlights include “Sewing the Threads of Detroit’s Fashion Community: Business of Fashion” (Sept. 14 at the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center), “Black Footwear Forum and Celebration” (Sept. 16-18 at the newly reopened HBCU Pensole Lewis College), the Cranbrook architecture alumni show (Sept. 16 at Cranbrook Academy of Art), “Art on the Avenue” (Sept. 17 along the Historic Avenue of Fashion), and “The Mind of a Muralist” (Sept. 18 at the Marygrove Conservancy; see our feature on muralist and panelist Ijania Cortez in this week’s issue), among others.
Sept. 15-Oct. 2: Artists from all over the world compete for more than $250,ooo in prizes in a juried show on display all across Grand Rapids. Sure, it’s a bit of a hike from metro Detroit, but worth the trip if you haven’t visited G.R. lately. Various venues; see artprize.org for the full schedule.
Northville Art House; 215 W. Cady St., 248-344-0497; northvillearthouse.org.
The Bright Night Show
Detroit Contemporary; 487 W. Alexandrine St., Detroit; Fridays from 5-9 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from noon-5 detroitcontemporary.com.p.m.;
ArtsfallGuide
A selection of upcoming art happenings in metro Detroit and beyond By MT staff
Sept. 15: After a two-year hiatus, Eastern Market After Dark is back with live music, art, fashion, and open studios. Shed 2 of the market will highlight Detroit’s North End community in partnership with artists Philip Simp son, Donna Jackson, Bryce Detroit, Reshounn Foster, LaDonna Little, the Underground Music Academy, and more. The Detroit City Marching band, music collective d.Cipher, and Laura Earle’s FET!SH fashion show are among the evening’s programming.
Hair Wars
Ralph Fasanella: Portraits of American Life
John Rizzo, and Donita Simpson. Opening reception from 6-9 p.m.; Wayne State University's Elaine L. Jacob Gallery; 480 W. Hancock St., Detroit; waynestategalleries.org.313-577-2980;
From 3-7:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; Nine Mile Road west of Woodward Avenue; funkyferndaleartfair.com.
Paul Verdell: Forty Acres, through Oct. 8 at Library Street Collective.
Art Prize
After an annoying pair of competing high-tech spectacles based on the iconic painter came to the city, the DIA has the good old-fashioned stuff By Lee DeVito
“L’Arlésienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux Marie Julien, “1848-1911), 1888-89. Below:
Will realtheVan Goghplease stand up?
“Two Peasants Digging,” 1889.
T
While these exhibitions yielded plenty of whimsi cal selfies that seems to have been the main
The DIA arguably earned the right to hold such a special exhibition: the occasion also marks the th anniversary since the I became the first U.S. museum to acquire a Van Gogh painting, “SelfPortrait” (1887), or the famous image of the artist wearing a straw hit, his eyes radiating with energy.
The exhibition also includes works by other PostImpressionist artists Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, as well as artists like Raoul Dufy, Henri Matisse, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, and Joseph Stella.
Left: “The Bedroom,” 1889. Above:
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 13
The exhibition tracks the introduction and recep tion of Van Gogh’s work in America as he gained widespread acclaim, which didn’t happen until well after the DIA purchased “Self-Portrait” for a mere $4,200. (Under emergency management in 2014, the cash-strapped city considered selling the work of art, which was valued by Christie’s to now be worth somewhere between $80 million and $150 million. Fortunately, the city was bailed out and didn’t have to resort to selling off its art.
hough he is known as one of the most famous artists in history, the Dutch painter
PHOTOSCOURTESY
point of them they also generated plenty of critical reviews, too. The New York Times dis missed them “wall-sized screen savers.” Boston. com also compared one of the exhibits to a screen saver, while also calling it a “cynical cash grab.” (The copyright to Van Gogh’s artwork is now in the public domain, hence the proliferation of these many exhibitions, or “experiences” to use the parlance of the people behind them.)
Vincent van Gogh never saw commercial success before his death in 1890. So he would probably be pretty confused about what happened in Detroit over the past year.
Last year, at least six competing “immersive” exhibitions based on the work of Van Gogh traveled the U.S., projecting digitally animated versions of the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist’s works on the walls and floors of venues across the country, to make viewers feel as if they walked inside the paintings. In Detroit, we got two. “Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience” came to the what is now called Huntington Place last June, and after months of delays, the “Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit etroit, riding off of an appearance in the criti cally panned etflix show mily in aris, came to what was initially billed as a “secret location” (later revealed to be Lighthouse ArtSpace in the former Harmonie Club Building) in May of this year. (We admit we had trouble keeping the two events straight, and we weren’t alone.)
So were we.
Fortunately, the Detroit Institute of Arts is here with the good stuff. In ctober, the museum is launching an exhibition of Van Gogh’s art. Called Van Gogh in America, the exhibition will include more than 70 works, including paintings, drawings, and prints. An exclusive to the DIA, the exhibi tion is being billed as the first ever devoted to an Gogh’s introduction to America, and the largestscale Van Gogh exhibition in a generation.
But what these “immersive experiences” miss is the very thing that makes Van Gogh’s art great. When you look at his brush strokes, especially up close, you do feel like you’re inside of the paint ings. They already glow with the spark of creative spirit without needing to be digitally projected or animated. To see a Van Gogh painting in real life is an immersive experience in and of itself.
PHOTOSCOURTESY
Van Gogh in America is on view from Oct. 2, 2022-Jan. 22, 2023 at the Detroit Institute of Arts; 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-8337900; dia.org. Tickets are $7-$29, and free for DIA members.
hen a acebook friend from alifornia, whom er nande had never met in person, learned of his situa tion, she started a crowdfunding campaign on his behalf, bought him a plane ticket, and found a friend for him to stay hewith.was a complete stranger and now we’re friends to this day, ernande says. It sounds cra y, but it’s the truth. I was in survival mode for most of my life. nd then I reali ed the war’s over. o now I can live.
I was in a hospital with cra y fucking people and I
I came back to nothing and was staying in a motel and I thought what has my life come to, he recalls. rosti tutes and drug addicts stay in motels and I didn’t think my life would ever come to that. t the motel, I was like I can’t do this no more, so I laid in tra c and I begged for someone to hit me. My friend came and got me and I was admitted to the hospital and that is what truly changed my life. That was rock bottom man. here do you go after rockernandebottom said he had to reali e that it was up to him to save himself.
Unspoken Lore
Through ept. rt Leaders allery will feature figurative artwork from sev eral world-renowned artists throughout eptember, including nna a umovs kaya, essam brishimi, erri arner, ietro damo, abe Leonard, and more.
Grungy Detroit T-shirt brand reminds wearers to “Be The Light”
hen he moved back to etroit, however, he struggled to find a ob and a place to live once again. hortly after, ernande attempted suicide, because he felt his life was once again deteriorating.
uddha heads splitting apart and the Virgin Mary holding a machine gun are images com monly featured in Detroit artist Blight Hernandez’s T-shirt brand.
In order to find the light, however, you have to go through darkness first. ernande , who grew up in outhwest etroit, knows this firsthand. efore becom ing the conscious, warmhearted artist he is today, he had to overcome childhood trauma, homelessness, and self-doubt.
I started painting when I was really depressed and sad, ust throwing paint around, and I was like there’s more to this. I can actually be good, he says. nd then I started sharing it and people would re-share it, and someone bought a painting and I was like, oh my god, someone would actually pay for this ’ lowly but surely, it became an evolution of ust believing in myself.
ow, ernande paints and screenprints full time.
Blight Hernandez.
Through ct. In his forthcoming ex hibit at Library treet ollective, aul
Brand owner Blight Hernandez talks meditation, homelessness, and coming out as a trans artist By Randiah Camille Green
I’ve been blessed that I don’t have to work for the man, I can ust do art, create clothes, and connect with people, he tells us. I’ve created a lot of happiness out of a lot of
Tony Rave: Michael Jesus Crisis
We exChange: An Assemblage of Possibilities
ernande grew up in a single-parent home with an unloving mother and was mostly raised by his grand mother. e says he suffered from depression for most of his life and a bad breakup in his early twenties left him homeless and hopeless after a string of dead-end jobs.
e met with ernande at hroma etroit where two of his paintings were featured in the space’s inaugural exhibition, ou elong, back in une.
Van Gogh in America
I was super sad, super depressed, and it was so hard for me to get it together, he recalls. I did so many therapies, medications, yoga, meditation, and then I got lighter.
14 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Through ct. This three-phase, yearlong collaboration loosely inspired by the French surrealist art game exquisite corpse and the lack science fiction writer ctavia utler sees metro etroit visual and literary artists create new works influenced by images and words from the prior phase. gallery talk will be held at p.m. on ept. . The Scarab Club; 217 Farnsworth St., Detroit; scarabclub.org.
PHOTOCOURTESY
e stayed in alifornia for four months where his new friend encouraged him to meditate daily and eat a vegan diet. ince he didn’t worry about having to work or pay bills, he could focus on healing his trauma and finding happiness again.
associated with the night. articipating artists include llison cout, ustin rady, hristian Mickovic, Michael olakowski, teven hik, ick i a a, Trevor ahner, and eager dwards. 333 Midland Annex Gallery; 333 Midland St., Highland Park; 333midland.com.
Through ct ew work and a retro spective of paintings by Linden od love. odlove’s vivid portraits, whimsi cal tableaus, and swirling abstracts stir introspection and discovery. 27th Letter Books; 3546 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 27thletterbooks.com.
ct. - an. This exhibit celebrates the I ’s status as the first public mu seum in the United States to purchase a incent van ogh painting his elfortrait from . It includes more than authentic an ogh works. ee our feature in this week’s issue. Detroit Institute of Arts; 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; dia.org. Tickets are $7-$29 (free for DIA members).
wasn’t one of them. I’m not cra y, he says. That’s when I reali ed, like, what are you going to do re you going to keep asking what is wrong r you’re going to fucking do something I had to boss up and I had to grow up in here, he says, pointing to himself. fter being released, he got a ob, saved up enough money to get his own place, and went back to making art, which he had loved since childhood.
Paul Verdell: Forty Acres
Art Leaders Gallery; 33086 Northwestern Hwy., West Bloomfield Township; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; artleaders.com
B
Through ct. Tony ave confronts cultural iconography worship and the association with whiteness and purity with his exhibit of cherub figurines and esus on the cross painted with blackface. M Contemporary Art; 205 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; noon-6 p.m. Thursdays through mcontemporaryart.com.Saturdays;
While they might look like death metal or punk band shirts at first glance, a closer look reveals meditative mes sages like mind over matter and e The Light, which is also the brand’s name.
Fall in Love with Figurative Art
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 15
ou didn’t know me then because I didn’t, he says. That wasn’t me. After I got to a certain space within myself, within my transition, it was like I’ve done what I needed to do, now what’s up with life? What’s up with life because there’s so much to live. Before there was no reason to live. There was nothing to do. It was just like passing time and now I’m here. I’m happy, and I’m ready to do what I have always wanted to do, which is art.
ow based in yandotte, the scruffy artist with stretched earlobes and dreadlocks creeping down his back spreads his positivity by screen printing on not just T-shirts, but whatever he can get his hands on. Vintage dresses, pants, button-downs, and windbreakers that Hernandez thrifts all get decked out in his home studio, where he prints every design himself.
e’s a self-described upcycle thrifter maniac. Most weekends ernan dez can be found slinging clothes at some kind of event whether it’s Dally in the Alley, Hamtramck Music Festival, or The Michigan Squeeze Station’s Infused est, where we first discovered his designs.
His clothing is also sold at Regeneration in Ferndale, Old Vintage, The Luckenbooth, and the Michigan Squeeze Station.
It’s not all love and light, though. Several of Hernandez’s designs and paintings feature political messages that are loud and clear, like one of a po lice o cer wearing a badge that says I with his brains being blown out.
Disdain for Wyandotte aside, Hernandez is at peace with his life.
Hernandez doesn’t talk to his mother, who he says shunned him for dressing like a boy when he was young and still doesn’t accept his pronouns or identity.While he’s open about being trans, Hernandez does not want to be known as a trans artist. Many of his followers probably didn’t know he was trans until he outed himself with an Instagram post of him wearing a trans af T-shirt at this year’s Motor City Pride.
Through Oct. 15: Solo exhibit of ab stract quilted work interspersed with gestural oil pastel drawings inspired by traditional African American quilting. Artist talk will be held on Sept. 22. Playground Detroit; 2845 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; noon-5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturday; playgrounddetroit.com.
Jamar Lockhart: In Living Color
Perspectives in Contemporary Woodworking
Through Oct. 22: Features work from Forrest Hudes, Breanne Johnson, Seth Keller, and Dawson Moore. Related events include a spoon-making session with Moore from 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 23 and a gallery talk from 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 8. I.M. Weiss Gallery; 2857 E. Grand Blvd., #104; Detroit; imweiss.gallery.
Through Oct. 15: This mixed media group show includes ten emerging artists medi tating on the future of art through sculp ture, oil paintings, pyrography, and more. Artists include Terrell Anglin, Loralee race, uadre urry, alima fi as sells, Kaleigh Blevins, Marlo Broughton, Erik Smith, Nonnie Williams, Marlon Ivory, and Nigerian artist Rotimi Godwin who will be making his U.S. debut.
Through Oct. 21: An exhibition of col orful abstract paintings by outhfield artist Bern Merlo. Color | Ink Studio; 20919 John R Rd., Hazel Park; colorinkstudio.com.248-398-6119;
16 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Detroit Punk: Dead and Alive
Julian J. Jones: MARKINGS
Metropolitan Museum of Design Detroit; 2439 Fourth St., Detroit; mmo-dd.org.
From Nov. 5: Cranbrook’s Fall season includes three exhibits by Detroitbased artists: Scott Hocking’s Detroit Stories, James Benjamin Franklin’s Full ircle, and akpak urden’s first solo museum show The Eye of Horus.
Conscious Response: Photographers Changing the Way We See Through Jan. 8, 2023: Black-and-white and color photographs from the 1950s to the present day, including works by Diane Arbus, Dawood Bey, Bruce David son, Roy Decarava, Robert Frank, Kenro Izu, Gordon Parks, Doug and Mike Starn, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and more. 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313833-7900; dia.org
“I surprised a lot of people that day because I don’t talk about it. It’s not who I am. I’m an artist, he says. I never wanted to be like, ey, everybody, I’m trans and I paint. Support me because I’m LGBTQ.’ So many people use that. It’s a part of my life, part of my story, but it’s personal. I don’t have to tell you if I don’t want to. But lately, I have been feeling like some people can’t fully understand me without knowing.
Verdell presents a new series of colorful large-scale paintings accompanied by a collection of works on paper. Library Street Collective; 1274 Library.; noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; lscgallery.com.
Through Oct. 22: Exhibition detroitUNDERGROUND 69 explores the design of the first wave of etroit punk rock in a Sharpie-scrawled gallery
Through Oct. 29: Paintings and sculptures by the San Francisco-based artist. What Pipeline; 3525 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; whatpipeline.com.
Cranbrook Museum of Art
“Yeah, it’s stolen land, so I stole the sign. How ironic that you’re selling the land when you took the land, he says. That’s their symbolism and it’s fucking disgusting. I went to their city hall, and it’s everywhere, and they call themselves the warriors’ with the chief’ as the depiction. There’s also a 200-year-old burial ground on the water of Wyandotte and they built a plas tic chemical plant right on top of it. The remains of the burial ground are right next to the workers’ parking lot and they’re so old that they’re rising to the surface.
ou can find more about Be The ight on its nstagram page, stay within.
Bern Merlo: Abstract Dreams
One of his paintings in the Chroma show, “It Was Never Yours To Begin ith, shows a Indigenous chief wearing a headdress on top of a blood stained for sale sign. Ironically, the sign was already embla oned with the city of Wyandotte’s logo — a solemn looking Indigenous man — when Hernandez stole, we mean salvaged, it for his art.
Oct. 15-Nov. 13: Digital collages from the self-taught artist. Opening reception from 6-9 p.m. at Norwest Gallery of Art; 19556 Grand River Ave., Detroit; norwestgallery.com.
He shakes his head in disgust as he continues. “It’s so symbolic and spiritual, he says. or me, it seems like they’re rising to the surface to revolt back because of everything. For someone like me, I drive in that town and I want to puke. or somebody else driving in that town, they probably go, h, this is nice.’
Cranbrook Art Museum; 39221 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills; 248645-3320; cranbrookartmuseum.org. Admission is $10 except on Thursdays when it’s free.
Nov. 4-Dec. 3: This 2019 Knight Arts Challenge winner is a multi-media theater performance around and on top of a huge table that investigates free speech — past, present, and future.
Through Oct. 9: Detroit artist Jamar Lockhart explores the intersection between color and feeling with this abstract show at Norwest Gallery. Norwest Gallery of Art; 19556 Grand River Ave., Detroit; 1-5 p.m. Saturdays and noon-4 p.m. Sundays; norwestgallery.com.
sadness. The T-shirt designs look kind of dark, but they keep me rooted in positivity. I know what it is to not be in a good place and I like connecting with people who aren’t in a good place. I like giving them that contrast of — it’s possible, man.
I was a victim for so long, he says. I was in a victim mentality, and all oe is me, my mom never loved me.’ I’ll be this year, and I’m way past that. It doesn’t get me nowhere. I accept everything for the way that it is — my shitty childhood, the good times, the bad times, my mother and my father for what they are and what they aren’t. I believe in myself now, and that’s the difference.
Hernandez is also a trans man. Transitioning from female to male freed Hernandez from a life he did not want to live. Becoming who he actually was inside, he tells us, allowed him to embrace his full potential.
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center; 1516 S. Cranbrook Rd., Birmingham; bbartcenter.org.
Prodigy
Sabrina Nelson: I Had a Prayin’ Grandmother
Color, Texture, Depth
Through Nov. 3: The Detroit artist presents her latest multimedia installation in Birmingham.
St. Anthony’s; 3553 W. Vernor Hwy. , Detroit; ahostofpeople.org. Tickets are $1520. Only 25 seats are available per night.
Irwin House Gallery; 2351 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit; noon-7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays and noon6 p.m. Sundays; irwinhousegallery.org.
Fire in the Theater!
Finding Value: A James Charles Morris Exhibition
Through Oct. 15: Acrylic and ink paintings by Elizabeth Schwartz. WSG Gallery; 111 E. Ann St., Ann Arbor; wsg-art.com.
Quintessa Matranga: Tables and Chairs
meant to mimic the punk dives of the past like Bookie’s Club 870. An “in the round design talk is scheduled forp.m. on Sept. 14.
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 17
An only child to a single mother, Cortez grew up in church. Her mother handled props and set de sign for theatrical productions at Perfecting Church on Detroit’s eastside, and because Cortez could paint she often assisted in building the sets for the church’sCortezplays.discovered her natural artistic ability in elementary school, but never thought twice about it as her schooling progressed.
After graduating high school and a brief stint at community college, at 23, Cortez found herself working at Quicken Loans (now Rocket Mortgage). Though the job was a good choice for her at the time, orte uickly became very unfulfilled.
The second thing that makes Ijania (pronounced eye-JAY-nuh) Cortez sparkle while she’s sharing her life? Her own story of hustle and triumph.
Cortez (above) and her mural on the new Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center for at-risk LGBTQ youth.
In colorliving
“I started assisting all of these people in the art world and really kept my head down until it was my time to get things going for myself,” says Cortez. “I literally just started working. Even now, when I’m around here, and I can’t find anything to do, that’s the time for me to call someone like Hubert Massey and say ‘Hey, do you need me to lay some tiles? Do you need me to pass you paint ’ hatever I can do just to keep me moving and my brain fresh.”
PHOTOSCOURTESY
“I believe in prayer and just trusting God,” says Cortez. “If art was my purpose, it was going to hap pen. I didn’t know how, but it was going to happen. Tiff didn’t know me from nothing. hen I got to Miami, I was winging it. I had no idea what I was going to do, I ust wanted to be there. Tiff hit me up and asked if I was down in Miami and if I wanted to be her plus one to a few events. e did Miami for the next 10 days and I just saw so much at one time.”
That week in Miami lit a spark in Cortez, it reignited her passion for art and made the vision for her life a little clearer. She became a student of her craft, spending time researching galleries and the artists they represented. She looked for anyone she could assist and learn from other artists, until she felt she was ready to step out on her own.
Teamer wouldn’t be the last Black man that Cortez would paint. In fact, many of her subjects are Black men, intentionally painted in bright neon colors, something that some would find unorthodox for a queer female artist.
“In high school, I would kind of mess with the kids that were in the art class,” jokes Cortez. “They would be showing off their drawings and I would ust be like, ive me five seconds,’ and ust draw something because what they had wasn’t shit.”
“For me as a queer woman, it seems like there’s not normally access for guys to be sweet to you or to be tender to you,” Cortez says. “I don’t have that experience with a lot of men. So every man that is somebody who I have had that experience with where they just show me themselves, and who they are, and I get inspired by that. I love women, but women are softer. ith men, I can put them in these blocks and illustrate these points about strength without making it brute or aggressive.”
Cortez says she would also like to bring her art to the middle of Detroit neighborhoods, too.
jania Cortez loves her mama. You may be reading this and thinking that’s an interesting way to start a story about one of Detroit’s most talented artists and muralists, but her love for her mother is one of two things Cortez sparkles about while I interview her.
“The Mind of a Muralist: Exploring Mural Making in Metro Detroit” will be from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18 at Marygrove Conservancy Theatre; 8425 McNichols Rd., Detroit. For additional information, including registration, see designcore.org.
Detroit muralist Ijania Cortez paints the city neon By Alex Washington
“It was good at the time, but then it was like, I’m living check-to-check and this is awful,” says Cortez.”I started to think about art more. I spent my time doodling at my desk, but I still wasn’t taking it seriously. Growing up here, art just didn’t feel like it was an option, it didn’t feel like a viable thing.”
In 2018, Cortez began painting murals at the encouragement of Detroit artist Sydney James, but despite the motivation Cortez says she still felt illprepared. That was her first time using spray paint, but James’s support helped her power through. That resulted in “Transference,” a mural of her
Art and creativity have always been a part of Cortez’s life. However, the 2021 Kresge Arts Gilda Award recipient did not always take her artistry as passionately as she does today.
I
“My mom is my studio manager, I work very closely with my mother, which I get a lot of shit for, but I can trust my mother,” Cortez says. “My mother is really on the sideline at every mural that I do. If you pull up somewhere and I’m working, you’re going to see my mama right there because she handles everything.”
espte the confidence in skill that filled the artist when she was young, it would take nearly a decade before Cortez stepped out on faith and became an artist full time.
Cortez quit Quicken Loans on Sept. 12, 2016 — she says she’ll never forget the date — and never looked back. She then began to dabble in art, but says her view on how to survive as an artist didn’t change until she went on a group trip to Miami and found herself at the Art Basel festival. It was there she saw the prices of artwork and began to think her doodling could become something lucrative.
The following year, Cortez took the trip to Miami by herself with no plan other than to be around the happenings of Art Basel. A week before the trip, Cor te met etroit metal artist Tiff Massey, who would end up changing the course of things for the artist.
18 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
friend Corey Teamer, located underneath viaducts in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood. Cortez says she met Teamer at a family bonfire and thought he was beautiful. She asked if he would like to be painted and took a reference photo, but had no idea how she would use him. That mural began two weeks later.
As for the future, Cortez’s looks as bright as the neon portraits that she paints. At the beginning of the month, a mural of LGBTQ pioneer Ruth Ellis completed by Cortez was unveiled on the side of a new housing project for at-risk youth opening in October. She will also be a featured panelist on the “The Mind of a Muralist” panel as a part of Detroit Month of Design, and is currently making plans to host a show of her own in early 2023.
“I would love to do large art installations in the hood, like a neon walkthrough right on Dexter,” she says. I want people to be curious about stuff, and to see that Black people are creating things, and being successful and thriving, and that art is OK. Creativity is OK.”
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 19
dd in impromptu songs, many of which hail from laniran’s spunky album tranger, and you’ve got Made a Universe. At times it feels like a disjointed art film interrupted by Lady aga-style music videos with elaborate costumes and some BDSM gear before the viewer is erked back into the story. It makes for an ex perimental mashup that left us wanting to know more about the actual characters and their backstories.
hile lanrian does a lot of the heavy lifting, sev eral other artists sprinkled their imagination on Made a niverse to make the multi-dimensional effort.
“That’s a song that most people didn’t really lis ten to on the album, laniran says. I wanted that song to have its own life because there’s a lot more to unpack than maybe was given the chance to from most listeners when it came out.
By Randiah Camille Green
The Flint-based artist combines comic book lore, BDSM gear, and horror in debut film and exhibit ‘Made a Universe’
If there’s one thing Olaniran teaches us in their debut film and museum exhibition, it’s that every thing is a portal.
They add, I wanted to explore some of this music in an untraditional way, not ust trying to do music videos, but having a narrative that explores it.
Most of these questions are eventually answered in the film, but some are more abstract.
s there anything Tunde Olaniran can’t do? We already know the Flint native is a master of crafting pop songs with danceable beats and catchy vocals. ith their first museum exhibit, Made a niverse, we learn that laniran can write, direct, and act in a film too.
What’s with the hairy black hand that looks like it crawled out of a Tales From the Crypt episode clawing through a bed? How did these cars crash into the wall ho is aivan, a superhero who ap pears on a lone T-shirt that’s been abandoned on the deserted beach?
It’s a brilliant foreshadowing technique that fully immerses the viewer into the film and leads them back out into safety after the experience has com menced.
The sets were created in collaboration with Detroit and Flint-based artists including Vanessa ronan, aty resner, llen utt, my isherrice, atasha este, kyylar Taylor, Matthew s mon, achelle aker, and Lisa aud. It was filmed entirely in etroit and arbor each, Michigan.
“He brought up this metaphor of being who he is, this iconic person, all doors open for him all the time, laniran recalls. nd he’s like, I want to make sure that the doors don’t close behind me and that everyone can come through with me.’ He’s gone everywhere and has met so many people in different communities that he ust sees a singular humanity and doesn’t want to leave any person that he meets behind.
Tunde Olaniran is in a universe of their own
I want you, walking in, to go from serenity to dread as much as we can evoke before the film starts, laniran says. Then once you leave the film you can go back, hopefully, with a sense of seren ity again, but also all of the things you’re passing through have a different meaning now that you’ve seen the film. This is the same feeling the main character has by the end. There’s some glimpse of hope as you’re walking back out.
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The music video crossover style makes sense, be ing that laniran is a pop singer, producer, design er, and choreographer. To their credit, the songs are infectious one of the tracks, orgiveness has been stuck in our heads since seeing the film.
laniran even worked with rammy award-win ning cellist o- o Ma on several songs for the film, including one called oorway. This track, along with one of the final scenes where laniran trans ports the other characters onto the beach through a doorway, was inspired by a conversation they had with o- o Ma in the studio.
“Every experience, every wound, every interaction is potentially a portal that you can walk through into a new reality and you can create something new,” Tunde Olaniran says.
I
Made a Universe leads Cranbrook Art Museum visitors down a slow descent into horror. Stepping into Olanrian’s foreboding world begins on a tran uil beach with a doorway to calm waters, but things quickly fade to darkness as you walk through a dis torted bedroom and garden with broken-down cars lodged into the walls. t last, a chasm of water shutoff notices leads to an eerie bill payment center glowing red as though welcoming the arrival of Satan.
Times. ou deal with emergencies every other day because you’re trying to pay one thing, and then you can’t fully pay something else. The pay center just felt like this central location that held a lot of emotional energy because you’re forced to be in this place. I was thinking about how helpless and trapped you can feel in those situations.
REARICKPDANDMUSEUMARTCRANBROOK
The physical installation is a recreation of the set of laniran’s film by the same name, which is screened in the exhibit’s final room after you’ve passed the atanic payment o ce . nscreen we meet laniran, who has the power to open portals to other dimensions, as they try to save the other characters from society’s oppressive forces. ne of the characters, Leon, has resorted to stealing cars to make ends meet, while elsewhere Flint residents are stuck in an endless hell waiting to pay their utility bills.
very experience, every wound, every inter action is potentially a portal that you can walk through into a new reality and you can create something new, they say. hether you go through it or not is also a choice and whether you take other people with you. Do you think about how many doors you walk through every day? What if each of those was an opportunity or a challenge
By choosing to have museum goers walk through the exhibit before seeing the film, laniran offers the chance for our imagination to run wild in anticipation.
Made a Universe is on view through Sept. 25 at the Cranbrook Museum of Art; 39221 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills; 248-6453320; cranbrookartmuseum.org. Admission is $10 except on Thursdays when it’s free.
“I wanted to recreate the feeling of growing up living in lint and being poor, laniran tells Metro
If you’re here, you’re out of options, a worker at the payment center says in the film. If you leave, we will find you. ou must resolve your matters today or we will come to collect what’s ours.
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 21
ith this spot specifically, there are only res taurants in Greektown, there are no retail shops on the strip,” Garcons says. “We are introducing a new genre of art and fashion. Detroit is not generally looked at as a fashion and art city. Overall the world doesn’t look at us in that way. So I want to create a whole new wave for the next generation. Woodward is where all the clothing shops are. But we are in a pizzaGarconsjoint.”recently graduated from Warren Lincoln Academy. Born and raised on the eastside of De troit, he didn’t think about making fashion design a career until recently. His fashion design introduc
22 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Neither is old enough to remember the original PizzaPapalis that opened in 1986 and permanently closed earlier this year. Judnic says he had never been to the restaurant, but he remembers when his mother would bring home pizza from it.
Judnic says they got access to the space through family connections.
Once they got the green light for operation, Gar cons and Judnic cleaned the restaurant overnight to
tion came from seeing a local fashion brand named Deviate, located in the Boys and Girls club. “I was learning about manufacturing because I knew how to make clothes,” he says, “But I wanted to dive deeper into the fashion scene. I wanted to learn all the ins and out.”
When asked what his dream project is, Garcons says there are two sides. “For fashion, I don’t think of money,” he says. “I love what I do and want respect in the industry for my work. I want to do more collaborations with other brands, and I want to style and design. From the art side, I want my work in museums and available to the public. I want to travel and have my work all over the world. I’m also not one-dimensional. I’m not limiting myself to just fashion and art.”
turn it into a pop-up shop.
Garcons says he was honored to be alongside Judnic. “Andrew has eight-plus years in the game, and I look to him as a mentor,” he says. “It’s cool to have someone here to relate to. Sometimes collaborative partnerships don’t work out, but this fits perfectly.
“My uncle knows the owner,” he says. “I had been looking for a pop-up location for a long time. I have been producing merch and selling online and on social media. So I wanted to start doing our own thing. One day my uncle said, ‘You guys can use the space until the end of the summer or until the own ers figure out what they will do with it.’
Garcon is preparing his designs for the New York Fashion Week runway in the the winter, while Judnic is working on soon releasing his fall collection for Nine Clothing Co.
Fashionforward
Trent Garcons (below) co-opened an art gallery inside the former PizzaPapalis.
arcons learned how to seam and made a flannel from scratch for the Lost Artist Collective DetroitNew York fashion show, where he says his piece grabbed the attention of stylists for musical artists Travis Scott and Weekend.
“I look at Gucci and big brands for motivation, not necessarily inspiration,” he says. “I want to have original inspiration. I think my best method is just looking around Detroit. Detroit is my inspiration the art here is very different. I pull inspiration from those spaces. Even the building structures are inspiring.”Nowentering his second year at the College for Creative Studies, Judnic says doing art is therapeutic for him. He builds almost all of his canvases by hand. ut his most significant piece to date that is one that sat in the gallery’s entryway, inspired by the album cover for rapper ScHoolboy Q’s Oxymoron. “My moods inspire me,” he says. “I don’t sit and paint. But I will go and spray paint in an abandoned building. I will draw inspiration from Basquiat and Leonardo Davinci. I like big pieces with lots of expressions.”
udnic’s imagination is where he draws influence for his fashion. Still, he mentions the late Virgil Abloh of Louis Vuitton and the streetwear label ff- hite as an influence. rowing up, I isolated myself as a child, and my drawings would be hands with faces, buildings with feet, or giant birds,” he says. “So what motivates me is if I want to see an image, I want to be able to do it myself, and I do. A lot of my work is inspired by music — for example, streetwear is inspired by the hip-hop scene. I was a skateboarder and designing clothes — I would print on my jeans and make original T-shirts. People would see that and ask for me to print on their clothes, too.”
“I never knew anything about the spot before opening the gallery,” Garcons says. “I got the historical updates from my father and brother. They were like, ‘What do you mean, PizzaPapalis? That’s where all the etroit playas would be ’ n our first day opening our pop-up, everyone that came in mentioned this being the old PizzaPapalis.”
Judnic says he realized in high school he wanted to become a designer.
rent Garcons, 18, of Detroit, and Andrew Judnic, 20, of Grosse Pointe, created new history in a historic building located in Greektown.Thetwocrossed paths in their creative journeys through mutual friends and social media connec tions to create a fashion and art pop-up in Greek town’s former PizzaPapalis building.
The Monroe Street Gallery displayed original art pieces and their fashion brands, Garcons’s displayer and Judnic’s Nine Clothing Co. The pop-up opened on July 16 and closed on Labor Day.
Young Detroit artists turned former Greektown PizzaPapalis into an art gallery and fashion store By Amber Ogden
T
PHOTOSCOURTESY
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 23
—Randiah Camille Green
—Lee DeVito
WHAT’S GOING ON
The fabled oblo Island holds fond memories for older generations of Detroiters that are being told in a docu mentary about the amusement park’s ferries.
tinues aturday evening at the ollege for reative tudies’s Taubman enter with a tribute to 2022 Honoree Ed Welburn, a designer, Automotive Hall of Fame inductee, and former General Motors vice president of global design. (The event includes an open bar and roving gourmet dinner.) The festival wraps up unday at the I with a showcase of historically significant vehicles vying for awards and accolades in a variety of classes including Pre-War American Classics, Midwest Hot Rods, upercars, ports ars, and more. portion of every ticket sold supports local charities.
Chris Rock
Things kick off on aturday at om erica Park with a new event called Cars Community, a family-friendly event that features more than 200 vehicles and free ride and drives available on a first-come, first-served basis. It con
At the time, Bob-Lo Excursion Co., which operated the ferries, did not allow Black folks to ride. Ray sued the company and won, but took her case to the . . upreme ourt after the company appealed the loss. Long story short, the . . upreme ourt upheld the decision, forcing the company to accommodate Black riders. Ray’s case set the precedent for Brown v. Board of Education, which made segregation in public schools unconstitutional, and every Black Detroiter should know her name.The Mariner Theater in Marine City will also be hosting an extended run of the documentary accompanied by a oblo museum exhibit through ep tember. sessions with filmmaker aron chillinger, former Detroit Free Press columnist and Metro Times edi tor Desiree Cooper, who co-wrote the documentary, and Boblo Boat restoration groups are planned to follow the film premiere.
Various venues; see bobloboatsfilm.com for full schedule.
Boblo Boats: A Detroit Ferry Tale
Show starts at p.m. on Friday and Saturday and p.m. on Sunday at the Fox Theatre; 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-471-7000; 313presents.com. Tickets start at $49.50.
—Alex Washington
the ult of pace kull This is the most theatrical, surf punk band in Detroit,” owner PJ Ryder says in a press release. “Actually they are the ONLY theatrical surf punk in Detroit!”), Detroit 442 (“This is my favorite heavy Detroit rock band working today!”), Tin Foil (“Hard and twisted Detroit rock”), straight punk rock , and Haf-Life (“The heaviest funk band in the world!”). Bring earplugs.
Doors at p.m. at PJ’s Lager House; 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 313-961-4668; pjslagerhouse.com. Admission is free.
STARTS THUR, 9/15
Metro Detroit’s long-standing tribute to the most exquisite automobiles has been retooled as a weekend-long event with a new set of dates and location. The annual car show, now dubbed Detroit Concours d’Elegance, has a new home in the Motor City.
Various venues; see detroitconcours.com for the full schedule.
Select events happening in metro Detroit this week.
SAT, 9/17
Detroit d’EleganceConcours
“We’re incredibly excited about the event’s new home in downtown Detroit,” McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Traverse City-based auto enthusiast brand Hagerty, said in a statement. “Being there puts car lovers right in the middle of the thriving design, music, and sporting culture of the Motor City. Concours weekends are about champi oning the fact that all cars are cool and some of them are just jewels that need to be celebrated. This event will honor the tradition of the concours, but also bring in new elements to provide onramps for future car lovers and fami lies.”
The Concours d’Elegance auto show has been retooled as the new Motor City-centric Detroit Concours d’Elegance, with a new home at the DIA.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HAGERTY
In case all of this means nothing to you (if, say, you were born after 1993, when the island shut down) Boblo Island was an amusement park located about 18 miles downriver from Detroit on ois lanc Island, ntario. The Boblo Boats doc tells the story of preservationist efforts to save the te. Claire ferry from the scrapyard and, more importantly, arah . ay, who fought to desegregate the Boblo boats after being denied a seat because she was Black in 1945.
PJ’s Lager House ‘End of an Era’
—Lee DeVito
Boblo Boats: Detroit Ferry Tale will have a limited two-week run in select Detroit theaters this week, producers announced. The doc was first screened at the 2021 Freep Festival and is narrated by Motown’s Martha Reeves, who voices the island’s SS Columbia steamboat.
Quite possibly one of the most asked uestions after ill mith slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards is what would happen to the two comedians after. Well, it seems Rock, his left cheek, and ego will be fine, as the comedian is set to perform a string of three back-to-back shows in Detroit as part of his “Ego Death World Tour.” According to a press release, additional dates were added “due to overwhelming demand.” While some might think Rock is simply capitalizing on being at the other end of mith’s right hand, during his last tour five
SAT, 9/17-SUN, 9/18
As rock ’n’ roll bar PJ’s Lager House continues to move to sell its business to the owner of the next-door James liver offee o. building, it has been hosting a series of free “End of an Era” concerts celebrating its motto, “Live Life Loud.” Next up might be the loudest, heaviest night of the entire series, featuring a stacked lineup of out-there rock ’n’ roll. That includes headliners
FRI, 9/16-SUN, 9/18
years ago, Rock added additional dates in Detroit as well.
26 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 27 Wed 9/14 Happy Birthday, Enoch! Thurs 9/15 LITERARY DEATH MATCH One Night in Detroit @ The Old Miami! Nationally Recognized & Critically Acclaimed! “...part literary event, part comedy show, part game show” JUDGED by LOCAL CELEBS! $10 Doors(literarydeathmatch.com)presale$15atthedoor@6:30/Event@7pm*MizzRUTH’SGRILL@5pm Fri 9/16 Beauville/Ryan Dillilah & The HappyDoors@9pm/$5DelmaticsCoverTOPDOGGGRILL@7pmBirthday,Bianca! Sat 9/17 Seatbelts/Cinecyde/DrunkenCircusMonkeyDoors@9pm/$5CoverMizzRUTH’SGRILL@7pm Mon 9/19 FREE POOL ALL DAY Tues 9/18 B. Y. O. R. Bring Your Own (weekly)Records You Can DJ! @9PM NO COVER! Happy Birthday, Joe Z! Coming Up in September: 9/22 VINTAGE & ART MARKET on the PATIO* 2-11pm 9/23 Super Horndog/Static Factory 9/24 SUPER FUN DANCE PARTY (monthly) 9/25*weather10/01DCombust/Exhibition/BLOCK/BreachGears&Beerspermitting JELLO SHOTS always $1
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 29
A notch less extravagant is the wagyu short rib, a still-rich, sweet, and onion-y dish. It starts off with a light 12-hour cure then a 36-hour sous vide run. Though it’s tender, McLain says he tries to avoid a mushy piece of meat, and he succeeds in maintaining the texture. It’s served with a mix of caramelized onion bordelaise, thyme, Michigan cherries, and a bit more bourdelaise to top it off.
the richest dish of the visit.
But for those looking for range on the prix fixe, something like the wagyu bavette for a third course will still provide the steakhouse experience. McLain says he went with the bavette, which is part of the flank, because it provides a naturally beefy flavor, and isn’t a cut one often finds on menus around Detroit. It arrived under and on a mix of charred corn, corn puree,
The prix fixe menu is relatively new, instituted following the shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. The restaurant hadn’t totally gotten its feet under it when the pandemic hit, McLain says, so it took a bit of what worked, shedded some of what didn’t, and developed the format. At $80, it’s a bargain and it was a hit, so it stayed. But Highlands also maintains a selec tion of the unique, reserve steaks for those who want to splurge on a singu lar cut of beef, like a 45-day dry-aged 10-ounce ribeye for $125.
grilled peaches, and shishito peppers.
Otherwise, Highlands is a serious upgrade from what was previously in the spot, and perhaps Detroit’s best restaurant space offers the type of experience for which it calls.
The prix fixe menu at Highlands is rich, but you don’t need to be to try it.
A menu worthy of Detroit’s best restaurant space
The wine list is extensive, and our server was kind enough to replace a rosé a dining partner didn’t love with a sauvignon blanc that she did. A reserve spirits menu offers choices like Pappy Van Winkle 10-year bourbon, and the cocktail selection is solid. Perhaps the only real issue wasn’t with the menu, but with the cleanliness. The elevator floor on the way up and down was littered, and garbage cans in the men’s room were overflowing at the end of the evening. Not the kind of bookend one expects or wants on this level of dining experience.
30 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
rich and toothsome.” Though most restaurants make tartare from a tender filet, McLain says such cuts often leave the dish mushy. That’s a pet peeve of his, and Highlands’s take includes a bit more texture. It’s rendered even richer from the addition of slow cooked creamy egg yolks, and the meat is served atop a smoked egg yolk dressing. It might be the largest tartare portion I’ve encountered in Detroit.
FOOD
The sea scallops were among the highlights and are what McLain characterizes as a version of a signa ture dish he created many years ago. It rides on the combination of scallop, ox, and mushrooms that provides a richness, sweetness, and earthiness. The sauce is built with caramelized sweet onions and a carmel reduction that works with the red wine, savory scallops, and foie gras butter. It arrives with charred broccoli, maitake, hon shimeji mushrooms, and three big scallop pucks. Intensely rich.
By Tom Perkins
Highland’s crescenza ravioli is a small pillow stuffed with soft, creamy crescenza cheese wrapped in freshly made pasta sheets with minced black truffle and shallot. It’s lightly fried and topped with dehydrated maitake and oyster mushrooms, which turn up the umami and provide textural contrast. Tons of parmesan is added to the mix and hot brown butter is poured table side over the plate to top off perhaps
Among the words that could be used to describe each of the plates myself and a dining partner ordered from the three-course, prix fixe menu at Highlands, the latest restaurant to call the top of the GM RENCEN home, are “rich” and “decadent.” Not a bad bite in the mix as chef Shawn McClain, a past James Beard Award winner, builds his extravagant menu with ingredients like black truffle, foie gras jus, maitake mushrooms, and smoked egg yolks. Umami is heavy across the board, and if you don’t exercise a disciplined pace, you may find yourself barely able to take on the third course. Among things overheard on the elevator ride down from the top of the GM RENCEN after the meal: “I’m so full that I don’t have to eat for a month.”Every family member and friend who has dined at Highlands in recent months has expressed some version of the same sentiment. It’s partly a product of the prix fixe menu, which offers balance and a range of selections across three courses, including less heart-stopping dishes like prosciutto and melons, or the gem lettuce. But who in their right mind is going to pick melons over, say, beef tartare? In the latter, Highlands employs a wagyu tri-tip cut, which McLain says provides the “best combination of
Highlands 400 Renaissance Center, oors 71 and 72, Wheelchair$80313-877-9090highlandsdetroit.comDetroitforprixxemenuaccessible
The tuna crudo is among the lighter options. Delicate pieces of ruby tuna are served over a bed of pressed sushi rice that’s lightly crisped, while avocado puree adds a creamy element. The package is seasoned with a light vinaigrette and adorned with Fresno chili — texturally interesting without overshadowing the fish.
TOM PERKINS
Coleman remembers growing up and watching his mom and aunts cook on different occasions. eing in the kitchen with his family always put him in a peaceful state of mind, he says.
Coleman says he hopes to take his Krazy Kravings restaurant beyond Detroit someday.
Pizza Hut’s take pizza‘Detroit-style’onisback
“DETROIT-STYLE” PIZZA IS back at Pizza Hut for a third time.
The restaurant chain debuted its “Detroit-style” pizza in January 2021 and brought it back in August 2021, citing high demand.
“There’s been no shortage of people asking for Detroit-Style Pizza to be back on menus and Pizza Hut was very happy to oblige those fans,” Lindsay Morgan, chief marketing o cer of i a ut, said in a state ment. “The last return cemented Detroit-Style’s status as repeat fall fan-favorite on our menu but we are happy to make this available at a value, nationwide.”
Krazy Kravings is located at 20826 W. Seven Mile Rd., Detroit. More information is available on Instagram at @krazy_kravings_617.
After launching a soul food truck last year, chef Kourtney Coleman — aka “Celebrity Chef KC” — opened his brick and mortar Krazy Kravings restaurant earlier this year.
To celebrate the return of the pizza, Pizza Hut partnered with Tik Tok star Jon Moss to create a song, titled “Pizza Hut Anthem.”
32 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
tomers,” he explains.
FOOD
“The customer is always catered to and honored,” he says. “I want to give people love and en oyment from the insideColemanout.” has also catered to ce lebrities when they came for a visit to Detroit, including former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, former pro basketball player Lamar Odom, and rappers Trina and Blueface.
who has been in the restaurant industry for the past five years, says that he has a beloved item on the menu that he en oys creating for his customers.“Myfavorite food to make on the menu would probably be our mouthwatering Krazy Burger,” he says. “It’s the perfect blend of veggies and burger patty, not to mention my secret sauce. I feel like every time I make a burger it gets more and more delicious.”Hesayshe also loves the loaded potatoes. “My customers request some of the craziest toppings for that potato,” he laughs.
AN UP-AND-COMING DETROIT chef claims his food brings “Krazy Kravings” that people can’t ignore.
SE7ENFIFTEEN
But the brick-and-mortar carry-out restaurant is easier for him to handle for large crowds, he says.
Chef Kourtney Coleman.
“Chef KC” started his entrepreneurial ourney with his dad, who was an owner of a local nightclub in Detroit. KC would help run the club and would watch the chefs cook in the kitchen, which later inspired him to step out and oin the restaurant industry.
Its return comes after Detroitstyle pizza has trended in recent years, with restaurants across the world trying their hand at the Motor City’sAlthoughpies. it was popular at Pizza ut, some etroit-style pi a afi cionados have deemed its take to be inauthentic, including one reviewer who told The Washington Post that the vibe was so off that anyone who grew up in Detroit would probably be offended.
says. “You also have to keep your ear to the streets literally when you’re in the food truck to know what foods to keep on your menu, and what new food is the catch for the time.”
“My goal is for Krazy Kravings to be an international brand known and remembered for its savory flavor, unmatched customer service, and making people feel good from the inside out,” he says.
“Pizza Hut has always been my goto pizza, so with the success of my Pizza Hut character from TikTok, and the new Detroit-Style pizza, I knew I had to write the Pizza Hut Anthem to celebrate it coming back,” Moss said in a statement. “As my mascot grew in popular ity, I wanted to create something that would bring Pizza Hut and fans together in a fun, upbeat way. Because after all, No One OutPizzas The Hut.”
For a limited time, Pizza Hut is of fering its take on the Detroit classic thick, crispy, rectangular, sauceon-the-top pies.
The restaurant is offering four types of “Detroit-style” pizza start ing at $11.99: Double Pepperoni (classic pepperoni, crispy cupped Pepperoni), Meaty Deluxe (crispy cupped pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon), Supremo (Italian sausage, green pepper, red onion), and CYO first topping included, additional toppings $1).
The menu features shrimp, chicken wings, loaded baked potatoes, corn, and more. Prices range from $20-30 perColeman,meal.
—Steve Neavling
restaurantandintoKravingstrucksoulchefDetroitturnsfoodKrazybrickmortar
“My background is built on entrepreneurship with my dad — all I know is work hard and build,” Coleman says. “It’s natural for me to take my hobby into a hustle or an act of service. I love food. You need food to live.”
—Darlene A. White
I en oy cooking, because it’s relax ing,” he says. “I originally started playing around in the kitchen ust messing around, and I kept returning because I like the routine of the kitchen and that nothing is off-limits when you are creating food.”
Coleman says he learned a lot about running a business from the food truck. “It has taught me how to deal with a big crowd, and helped me figure out what people like to eat, he
All the food at Krazy Kravings, including seasonings and spices, are fresh, Coleman says, and the meats are“Wemade-to-order.usuallyhave a long line, but that’s because I want to make sure everything is fresh, so while you’re waiting for your food, we are in the kitchen making it fresh for our cus
“What makes my food Krazy is the flavor is ust right, not too much, not too little,” Coleman says. “Once you bite my food it’s instantly a party in your mouth. My food is a delight for yourThepalate.”Krazy Kravings restaurant is located on Seven Mile Road, between Lasher and Evergreen Roads on Detroit’s westside, and has quickly established itself as a neighborhood go-to spot for a hearty soul food meal.
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 33
34 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 35
I told ree y at the beginning, I said man, if everybody goes and gets a dif ferent ob, they’re going to start getting back to landscaping or whatever they’re going to do, then we’re not going to have a band, he says.
studio album, Dance Songs For Hard Times
of Laterme. in the year, the eytons and enteney got together with producer ance owell and recorded Dance Songs in a lightning- uick five days. eyton says the band’s th fulllength album was the easiest recording pro ect of its career. It was recorded live in the studio to eight-track analog tape, although eyton says he and owell took advantage of recording technology if a certain song needed an additional part or an overdub, and they also put a good deal of thought into the tones and song arrangements before hitting record.Theresult perhaps surprisingly given the di cult times in which the songs were created is a lively and decidedly upbeat album. es, there are some serious lyrics, such as ays and Means about financial struggles and o Tellin’ hen about the uncer tainty and isolation of the pandemic . ut much of the album provides an emotional lift. ith their sound still firmly rooted in the classic earthy blues style that’s characteri ed all of the bands’ albums and centered around eyton’s highly accomplished playing, which moves easily between finger picked and slide guitar parts, the ig amn and comes out rocking on the boogying ays nd Means and the frenetically fun attle an. The energy only occasionally wanes from there, as Too ool To ance, Til I ie, and ad ongs offer more gritty highIt’spoints.thebest record we’ve ever done, eyton says. It’s not ust me saying it. Literally every review that mentioned it said ethat.adds, I think the hardest thing to do in music is to craft a good song. That’s the thing on this record I think I’m most proud of is the actual songs. eyton and his bandmates plan to showcase a good number of the new songs on the current tour, but the show may come with a few surprises, too.It definitely is going to be pulling from the new record for certain, but at the same time, there’s enough time in the set that we can sprinkle stuff in from a lot of other records, too, eyton says. nd then also, too, I like to put stuff in the set that you can only see if you come to the show, things that aren’t on any record. I think that’s sort of a bonus for the people that are coming out and paying that full ticket price to see the show.
How Americana act Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band weathered the pandemic to make its best record yet
The pandemic proved to be a di cult time for everend eyton. irst and foremost, there was uite a scare when his wife and washboard player in everend eyton’s ig amn and , ree y, fell ill soon after the country shut down.
By Alan Sculley
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band performs with Jeremy Porter & the Tucos on Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Magic Bag; 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; 248544-1991; themagicbag.com. Doors open at 8 p.m.; tickets are $20 advance.
MUSIC
36 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
COURTESY PHOTO
doesn’t know for sure what ailed him, but he suspects he had a mild case of I .
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band performs at Ferndale’s Magic Bag on Saturday.
he had a temperature for over a month. It was unbelievable. nd her lungs will be permanently scarred. he has been going to get treatment at a lung I center. he’ll have linger ing effects from being sick, eyton says. e had a doctor at the hospital who told me when he sent us home, I’ve never sent anybody home as sick as your wife is.’
eyton had returned home from touring before the pandemic had hit, and as usually happens when he’s on tour, he had amassed a collection of song ideas that were in various stages of completion. e planned to finish those ideas and make a new album in what he thought would be a normal year of .
e adds, It ust felt like there was this whole record that was pouring out
nother unsettling issue was wheth er everend eyton’s ig amn and, which was formed in in Indiana and also includes drummer Max en teney, would survive the pandemic.
eyton, though, figured out ways to generate enough income to pay the group’s crew and keep the organi ation intact until touring could resume. e set up a atreon account in which fans donated money for a variety of spe cial band items and the group played monthly livestream shows that also generated funds.
ut the pandemic prompted eyton to set aside the vast ma ority of song ideas he had cataloged on tour. uring March and pril of , he split much of his time between caring for ree y and writing songs
COVID-19 blues
If serious health issues and career uncertainty made life hard during the pandemic, one thing that came easily was new music, in the form of the
eyton doesn’t know for sure if ree y had coronavirus or pneumonia. ut she had it bad.
ree y did eventually recover. eyton himself didn’t get so sick, but he had a health issue for a time that left him baffled.Ihad this weird, the best way I can describe it is like this fog on my brain for six months, he says. It ust made me, well it’s kind of like when you first wake up in the morning and your brain
is not all the way awake, that’s what it felt eytonlike.
hen everything got shut down, ev erything changed. It ust felt like none of this stuff I had been working on made sense. o I would say it’s at least of the album was ust written in a two or three-week period, eyton says. It ust felt like I had all this emo tion inside of me and the world had changed, and I ust felt like I needed to express that.
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 37
avid earns, a spokesman for the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, says it’s not clear yet when hitmer will appoint the next executive director.
Silva and Kyle Miller co-host a podcast called ChadWatch , which examines “cor rupt, deceptive and potentially dangerous practices affecting Michigan consumers.
Silva’s resume is impressive. A longtime cannabis activist, Silva played a key role in legalizing marijuana in the state and has helped social equity applicants and people looking to expunge their marijuana-relat ed records. e’s currently a sales account manager for Redemption Cannabis.
The event, called Falling Leaves Fest, describes itself as “the state’s largest licensed and regulated can nabis fall fest and farmer’s market ever staged in Michigan. It’s scheduled for 9 a.m.-7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 25.
e’re at a crossroads in this industry, and it could go either way in the future, Silva says.
But his tongue-and-cheek campaign has serious intentions: The nearly threeyear-old recreational cannabis industry in Michigan is experiencing growing pains and scandals. Small business operators are having trouble competing with larger
One man’s journey to improve Michigan’s troubled cannabis industry
ith more than , dispensaries across the state, and new communi ties beginning to embrace recreational cannabis, Silva said the next director will play an important role in determining the direction of the industry.
knows the industry from the operator side.
Inaugural Falling Leaves Fest will combine cannabis with a farmer’s market
AN EVENT THAT bills itself as a cross between a cannabis consump tion festival and a farmer’s market is planned for Muskegon’s istoric Marsh Field.
Grand opening celebrations include deals, giveaways, and tacos from the Ta queria El Chaparrito food truck.
More information is available at cannabisfallfest.com.
e certainly has the experience and resume oy Liskey wrote on acebook. “It would be nice to have someone who
“This connection to local produce will aid in normalizing cannabis viewed in this type of setting, allowing it to take its rightful place among other natural, healthy, consumables.
ith alling Leaves est, we wanted to identify and highlight the intersection between or local farming community and the cannabis commu nity, as they both harvest from mother earth, alling Leaves est organi er Michael ebster said in a statement.
Chads are the out-of-touch, moneygrubbing suits who got into the industry just to make money.
FEW PEOPLE HAVE more knowledge of Michigan’s cannabis industry than Chris Silva, a longtime advocate of legal marijuana.The37-year-old Grand Rapids man launched a social media campaign to replace Andrew Brisbo as the executive director of Michigan’s Cannabis Regula tory Agency. Brisbo, who helped launch the agency and held the job since 2019, is leaving the post to take over as the direc tor of the state’s Bureau of Construction Codes.Silva is no bureaucrat, and he’s pretty confident that ov. retchen hitmer won’t appoint him. Plus, he loves cannabis too much to pass a drug test.
fuck with these Chads is to have a system that works and is accountable.
who are canna-curious, the organi ers say.
e need to have a set of rules that treats everyone fairly, and we need an even playing field, ilva tells Metro Times “Scumbags hate rules. The best way to
Pure Roots opens cannabis dispensary at its Lansing cultivation and processing facilities
—Lee DeVito
It will celebrate its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony starting at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 20.
corporations that are driving down the price of cannabis to the point that some dispensaries and growers are selling their product at a loss.
CANNABIS COMPANY PURE Roots is opening a dispensary on the same site of its 16,000-square-foot cultivation and processing facilities in Lansing.
Lansing Mayor Andy Schor will also be on Thehand.dispensary will be open from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.
is analy ed by terpene profiles, and cat egori ed by desired effect est, elief, evive, and eflect.
The 4,000-square-foot dispensary, the company’s first Lansing retail store, is located at 515 N. Larch St.
The event’s title sponsor is Primitiv, the cannabis brand owned by former Detroit Lions players Calvin Johnson and Rob Sims, who have become vocal cannabis advocates after they say it helped them mitigate chronic injuries from playing professional football.
38 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Silva says the industry needs a strong leader who will create more transparency and better testing standards, hold bad actors accountable, and help smaller busi nesses compete in the cut-throat industry.
—Steve Neavling
“Spending a fall afternoon in a his toric outdoor setting and interacting with cannabis enthusiasts in a more traditional farmer’s market setting is such a smart idea, and we are excited to be part of this inaugural event, Sims said in a statement.
The event is organized by Cannvas Events, which says it expects some 2,500 attendees. Marsh Field is a his toric baseball field that is now home to the minor league team the Muskegon Clippers.Tickets start at $25 for general admission and $75 for VIP, which in cludes special parking, seating, cabana access, and a gift bag containing prod ucts from participating retailers.
“Using the iPad app we created, our system will match [customers] with products available in our inventory with the appropriate level of T , George said. “Beyond that, our budtenders will also ask them questions, make recommendations, and give information. A customized budtender guided tour will give customers shop ping for Cannabis and CBD a unique and world class experience.
The uality of our flower, the shop ping experience, and our budtenders’ knowledge sets us apart, eorge said in a Thestatement.company uses iPads to help cus tomers find products by asking them questions about their needs. Cannabis
The company boasts that it does not use remediated cannabis flower, or can nabis that has failed regulatory testing and is then treated to remove mold, yeast, and other microbial contami nants. It says this results in a smoother smoking experience.
In November 2021, the state agency recalled $229 million dollars worth of marijuana because Viridis Laboratories and Viridis North, which were launched by three former cops, were accused of producing inaccurate results.
Silva’s Facebook video announcing his campaign to be the next executive director racked up more than 2,700 views.
COURTESY PHOTO WEED
More information is available at pureroots.com.
By Lee DeVito
The goal is to make a traditional farmer’s market event that could “feel like a welcoming experience for those
“This industry was created and fostered by people who are good people, who are doing this because they were sick and tired of people going to ail for this, ilva said on his podcast. “They were sick and tired of people’s lives being destroyed. This was an opportunity for a lot of people to have the freedom to create a business and do something entrepreneurial and to better themselves and their community.
In May, Viridis Laboratories was ac cused of fraudulently inflating T levels.
Pure Roots has been available for delivery in the Lansing area for the past year, but Reni George, Pure Roots’s vice president of governmental affairs, says the dispensary will offer a uni ue shop ping experience for customers.
40 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Tucker: The Man and His Dream takes a look at the story of an underdog in Detroit’s auto industry.
and an agreeable sense of entitlement regarding wealthy financiers’ support. I won’t be the first to note the parallels with the the director’s own life and his films One from the Heart and Apocalypse Now movies that saw oppola dig grave financial holes for himself driven by some wild stew of ego, integ rity, and creative ambition, crossing his fingers that it would all come out all right in the end.
Coppola’s Detroit drama is a wild ride
a key influence on oppola’s Godfa ther , Tucker’s crew deploys a grab-bag of film-historical techni ues. rightblue day-for-night scenes radiate into dining rooms festooned with eye-pop ping wallpaper numerous high-stakes phone calls are shot not in split screen but with da ling, reality-bending split diopter techni ues. These and many more technical flourishes result not in distraction but elation, enliven ing the film with a sense of creative ambition that seems to flow out from its lead.hile the film’s technical aspects feel uite fresh, the story beats prove less so. Though the screenplay-level bones of the pro ect are made to feel defamiliari ed through stylistic expres sion or adornment , the portions in which such skeletons make themselves visible provide Tucker with its most distracting aspect. eemingly o and dialogue scenes designed to cue up essential flashes of innovation ureka moments, let’s say feel received from handbooks in their conceptuali ation, especially since such instances in biop ics still stand now as a tested olly wood standby. ut the problem is less the artificiality in the writing con
42 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
ut ollywood movies are com prised of their scripts, performances, and visual styles all at once, and the harmonies that ring the loudest in any are bound to change from moment to moment. or most of Tucker, the pieces of its style that come together with the most force seem largely able to make up for its script’s adherence to conven tion. case could even be made that the script’s plain normalcy enables the film’s flexible style by easing the pres sures of providing visual and editorial forms of continuity. or oppola, there seems to be as in his too-overlooked One From the Heart an earnest but comparatively brighter sense of hope guiding things along here. hen Tuck er pitches his car with its swiveling headlights, its first-of-its-kind safety features, and even its colorway and silhouette oppola and company seem genuinely mystified, taking to the film’s showmanship even as they’re the ones putting the whole thing on. The sensation proves uplifting, making me happy to partake in what they’re having as a viewer even despite the film’s sparse faults.
COURTESY OF THE DIA
Sly, big-hearted Tucker: The Man and His Dream brings a self-reflexive but inviting style to what might have been a dry did-you-know biopic one getting a revival screen ing at the etroit ilm Theatre this weekend. longtime passion pro ect for rancis ord oppola initially intended to be a hybrid musical, it still angles pleasantly , Tucker hinges on eff ridges’s embodiment of reston Tucker, a dauntless underdog eager to buck the longstanding etroit auto makers’ vice grip on the industry by launching his own brand. hile the film’s sometimes rote script and its buoyant, emotionally expressive formal features seem at times to chafe against one another, the latter enable it to suc ceed anyway, culminating in a work of inimitable style.
If there’s anything disingenuous about the film’s sense of belief in creative fulfillment as its own reward, I couldn’t find much evidence for it. n the contrary, Tucker seems to capture what it preaches thoroughly if not perfectly, allowing for a welcome sense of immersion in a uite contagious mood.Tucker
et in the s after Tucker designed vehicles and munitions for the meri can war effort, oppola’s direction pitches the man as stubbornly and a bit naively ambitious something ridges plays off by imbuing him with his almost cartoonishly boyish charms. It’s no great surprise oppola related to the psilanti husband and father of four, a self-starter with an appetite for risk
Rated: Run-time:PG 110 minutes CULTURE
ere, the stakes and budget are lower than oppola’s early banner produc tions, the air looser and more playful.
The Man and is ream screens at the DIA’s Detroit Film Theatre at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, and 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18; 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7900; dia.org. Tickets are $9.50 for general admission.
The cast which features rederic or rest also of One and Apocalypse as a key car designer, oan llen as Tucker’s sharp but practical wife era, and ean tockwell in an indelible cameo role all seem keen to run with what they’re handed, eschewing realism for a brisk but heightened affect most all of them seem to share. t times I was remind ed of the achowski isters’ live-action Speed Racer . ealism has little to do with oppola’s aims here, nor does aes thetic fidelity to the cinematic period in which Tucker’s set. enefitting from the guiding hand of inimitable cinema tographer ittorio toraro perhaps most notably of ’s The Conformist,
By George Elkind
sidering the heightened register of the whole endeavor but instead the lack of invention. The very thing that gives so much of Tucker its refreshing sense of vigor and est is absent in these moments in a way that’s revealing in a negative, inexpressive sort of sense. In moments such as these, the gears mov ing the film’s narrative can be glimpsed, and they look mundane when sighted. It’s almost enough to make you secondguess the sense of verve that feels so present and nearly da ling throughout the rest of the film.
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 43
44 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
At the time I checked his phone, I also found strange messages to one of his male friends. My BF sent this guy nudes and videos of him having sex with other women. (This was before we met.) There were also messages detailing how much they admired and missed each other’s cocks, and my boyfriend said he wanted to fuck other women with his friend. When I asked him about his relationship with this man, he said that they are just good friends, and that this kind of sexting was “something straight guys do.” I don’t think any of my past straight boyfriends ever talked about missing ot er u s coc s but t is is t e first boyfriend whose phone I ever checked for shenanigans. Is this something straight guys do?
Go to Savage.Love to read the rest.
I’m monogamous and have been atin m bo rien o i entifies as straight for a little over a year. He told me that he had a strict “no contact with e es olic en e first met. ue to some sketchy behavior, lies, and gaslighting on his part — regarding contacts with his ex-girlfriends, open dating rofiles an multi le rivate nsta ram accounts — I checked his phone, and m sus icions ere confirme . e i n t cheat but there were some inappropriate messages that he apologized for. He blocked all his exes and is on the straight and narrow now.
A: Your boyfriend made the rule — no contact with exes (not even eye contact on the subway?) — but at some point, after the lying and gaslight ing, you became the enforcer: digging through his phone, ordering him to block his exes, take down framed pho tos,
P.S. I hope those videos you BF sent his friend of him having sex with other women were taken with the consent of those other women and that he had their permission to share those videos with his friend.
:Q
If this friend is the only guy your boy friend has ever messed around with, SMELLTEST, if that one guy’s cock is the only cock he’s ever wanted to push past his tonsils, your boyfriend is free to round himself down to straight. I also don’t think having messed around with this one dude makes them “exes” in the romantic/dating sense of the term, and I think you should let your boyfriend put his picture back up.
Heetc.was apparently willing to over look your snooping, SMELLTEST, seeing as you’re still together. And you were apparently willing to overlook the mountain of incriminating evidence you found on his phone. While you honored his “no contact with exes” rule from the start, he was swapping texts, sexts, and photos with his exes the whole time, lurking on dating apps, and maintaining multiple Instagram accounts. You concluded he hadn’t cheated on you — he just broke his own stupid rule — but in my experience, SMELLTEST, “rules for thee, not for me” types are rarely very good at honoring monogamous commitments over the long term. I’m not saying he’s cheated on you already, but if not get ting cheated on ever is important to you… he might not be the guy.
I haven’t had a chance to snoop through Harry Styles’s phone, SMELLT T, so I can’t definitively say that no straight guy has ever sent another straight guy his dick pics. (Or spat on another straight guy at a film premiere. And seeing as lots of straight men enjoy playing “gay chicken” these days (and posting the videos to TikTok), it stands to reason that some straight guys may be swapping dick pics and ironic messages about how badly they want each other’s cocks for the lols. But I don’t think that kind of behavior is common among straight guys, particularly straight guys in their 40s.
Police states
—Straight Men Exchanging Long Lusty Texts Exuding Sexual Tension
Finally, SMELLTEST, what the two of you are doing — this guy with his nocontact rules about exes and his lies, you with your snooping and demands to take down photos — sounds so ex hausting. Is this a relationship or a po lice state? If he can manage to remain monogamous and gets a charge out of swapping dick pics with an old friend, what harm is there in that? Why not let him have that? And if the guy was hot… why not let both of them have you?
There is more to this week’s Savage Love. To read the entire column, go to Savage.Love.
I’m bi. The “no contact with exes” rule was his idea, not mine, and I think this guy counts as an ex and should remain blocked. Do you agree?
As for his claim that swapping dick pics and compliments are things straight guys do…
By Dan Savage
My hunch is that your guy had and enjoyed a few MMF threesomes with this guy before you met, and it was in that context — with a woman in the room to heterosexualize any incidental homosexual contact — that he came to appreciate his friend’s cock. Seeing as you dug through his phone long enough to find all the dating apps he’s on, all the messages he’d been swapping with ex-girlfriends, and all those fake Instagram accounts, SMELLTEST, if he was bisexual you probably would’ve found messages he’d sent to other men and his rindr, cruff, and ni es accounts too.
:Q Most of your readers starts with specifying their sexual orientation, age, and sex. Some of this information…
Ask:questions@savagelove.net. Listen to Dan on the Savage Lovecast. Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.
I don’t care if my boyfriend was bisexual, but I don’t want to be lied to. And I really don’t want to be the crazy girlfriend, but my boyfriend had framed photos of this particular guy in his house that I made him remove. also as e im to cut o all contact with this man. This is all fresh in my mind because we ran into this guy the other night. They kept telling each other how good they both looked and my BF was visibly nervous the whole time. Is my boyfriend telling me the truth? Do straight guys who don’t have any sexual interest in their friends send them dick pics? My BF is in his mid-40s. He knows
LoveSavage CULTURE
metrotimes.com | September 14-20, 2022 45
Please promise me you will respect and revere your glorious star power in the coming weeks. I feel it’s important, both to you and those whose lives you touch, that you exalt and exult in your access to your mag nificence. or everyone’s benefit, you should play freely with the art of being ma estic and regal and sovereign. To do this right, you must refrain from indulging in trivial wishes, passing fan cies, and minor attractions. You must give yourself to what’s stellar. You must serve your holiest longings, your rivet ing dreams, and your thrilling hopes.
SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21
thinking we too could live to be 96,
CANCER: June 21 – July 22
CULTURE Free Will Astrology
had great medical,
PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20
ARIES: March 21 – April 19
I will remind you about a poten tial superpower that is your birthright to develop: You can help people to act in service to the deepest truths and strongest love. You can even teach them how to do it. Have you been ripening this talent in 2022? Have you been bringing it more to the forefront of your relationships? I hope so. The coming months will stir you to go further than ever before in expressing this gift. For best results, take a vow to nurture the deepest truths and strongest love in all your thoughts and dealings with others.
According to Libran poet T. S. Eliot, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” Those are your guiding thoughts for the coming days, Libra. You’re almost ready to start fresh; you’re on the verge of being able to start planning your launch date or grand opening. Now all you have to do is create a big crisp emptiness where the next phase will have plenty of room to germinate. The best way to do that is to finish the old process as completely as possible.
“I am lonely, yet not everybody will do,” observed Piscean author Anaïs in. ome people fill the gaps, and others emphasize my loneliness,” she concluded. According to my reading of the astrological omens, Pisces, it’s your task right now to identify which people intensify your loneliness and which really do fill the gaps. nd then devote yourself with extra care to cultivating your connections with the gap-fillers. Loneliness is sometimes a good thing — a state that helps you renew and deepen your communion with your deep self. But I don’t belief that’s your assignment these days. Instead, you’ll be wise to experience intimacy that enriches your sense of feeling at home in the world. You’ll thrive by consort ing with allies who sweeten your love of life.
LEO: July 23 – August 22
46 September 14-20, 2022 | metrotimes.com
CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19 Tips to get the most out of the next six weeks: 1. Be the cautiously opti mistic voice of reason. Be the methodical motivator who prods and inspires. Organize as you uplift. Encourage others as you build e ciency. . on’t take other people’s apparent stupidity or rudeness as personal affronts. Try to understand how the suffering they have endured may have led to their behavior. 3. Be your own father. Guide yourself as a wise and benevolent male elder would. 4. Seek new ways to experience euphoria and enchantment, with an emphasis on what pleasures will also make you healthier.
I’m if we didn’t a went smelled
My reader Monica Ballard has this advice for you Aries folks: “If you don’t vividly ask for and eagerly welcome the gifts the Universe has in store for you, you may have to settle for trinkets and baubles. So never settle.” That’s always useful counsel for you Rams. And in the coming weeks, you will be wise to heed it with extra intensity. Here’s a good metaphor to spur you on on’t fill up on unk snacks or glitzy hors d’oeuvres. Instead, hold out for gourmet feasts featuring healthy, delectable entrées.
JAMES NOELLERT
have to labor for
like freshly cut flowers and mowed grass. ICE BEERCOLD
Your mind is sometimes a lush and beautiful maze that you get lost in. Is that a problem? Now and then it is, yes. ut ust as often, it’s an entertain ing blessing. As you wander around amidst the lavish finery, not uite sure of where you are or where you’re going, you often make discoveries that rouse your half-dormant potentials. You luckily stumble into unforeseen insights you didn’t realize you needed to know. I believe the description I ust articulated fits your current ramble through the amazing maze. My advice: Don’t be in a mad rush to escape. Allow this dizzying but da ling expedition to offer you all its rich teachings.
living and everywhere we
AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18
believer in luck,” said my Uncle Ned. “I’ve found that the harder I work, the more luck I have.” He was correct, but it’s also true that luck sometimes surges your way when you’ve taken a break from your hard work.
LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22
VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22
TAURUS: April 20 – May 20
“Poetry is a life-cherishing force,” said Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Oliver, who published 33 volumes of poetry and read hundreds of other poets. Her statement isn’t true for everyone, of course. To reach the point where reading poetry provides our souls with nourishment, we may have to work hard to learn how to appreciate it. Some of us don’t have the leisure or temperament to do so. In any case, Cancerian, what are your life-cherish ing forces hat influences inspire you to know and feel all that’s most precious about your time on earth? Now would be an excellent time to ruminate on those treasures — and take steps to nurture them with tender ingenuity.
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20
Now and then, you slip into phases when you’re poised on the brink of either self-damage or self-discovery. You wobble and lurch on the borderline where self-undoing vies with self-cre ation. Whenever this situation arises, here are key uestions to ask yourself Is there a strategy you can implement to ensure that you glide into selfdiscovery and self-creation? Is there a homing thought that will lure you away from the perverse temptations of selfdamage and self-undoing? The answers to these ueries are always yes if you regard love as your top priority and if you serve the cause of love over every other consideration.
This week’s homework: invite you to send blessing to someone you regard as challenging to bless. Testify.
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21 ometimes serendipity is ust intention unmasked,” said Sagittar ian author Elizabeth Berg. I suspect her theory will be true for you in the coming weeks. You have done an adroit ob of formulating your intentions and collecting the information you need to carry out your intentions. What may be best now is to relax your focus as you make room for life to respond to your diligent preparations. “I’m a great
It’s impossible to be perfect. It’s neither healthy nor productive to obsess on perfectionism. You know these things. You understand you can’t afford to get bogged down in overthink ing and overreaching and overpolish ing. And when you are at your best, you sublimate such manic urges. You transform them into the elegant inten tion to clarify and refine and refresh. With grace and care, you express useful beauty instead of aiming for hyperimmaculate precision. I believe that in
uarian author ichard ord has advice for writers: “Find what causes a commotion in your heart. Find a way to write about that.” I will amend his counsel to apply to all of you non-writers, as well. By my reckoning, the coming weeks will be prime time to be gleefully honest as you identify what causes commotions in your heart. Why should you do that? Because it will lead you to the good decisions you need to make in the coming months. As you attend to this holy homework, I suggest you direct the following invitation to the universe: “Beguile me, mystify me, delight me, fascinate me, and rouse me to feel deep, delicious feelings.”
the coming weeks, dear Virgo, you will be a master of these services — skilled at performing them for yourself and others.
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