metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
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NEWS & VIEWS
Feedback
Last week, we ran a package of stories about how eating less meat can help cool the planet, led by an excerpt from longtime Metro Times contributor Michael Betzold’s new book, The Green New Meal: What You Eat Impacts Us All. The package included a list of some of our favorite vegan and vegetarian restaurants in metro Detroit. Chive kitchen is where its AT! —@mostly.toads, Twitter eo’s offers several plant based products and vegetarian items. ome try our plant based hot dog. —@leosconey, Instagram
ove eva. nd ass afe was always a good stop for post show grub after shows at the Ma estic Magic tick when lived in psilanti late ’ s early ’ s. —@ryanfromohio, Twitter. this is legit!!! —@johnoberg, Instagram This isn’t a really good list. —@graferino, Instagram imple solution. Take a hunters safety class. ick up a bow, or even a firearm. o out hunt for your meat. teroid free, cage free, ethically raised, tastes great. —@cliffcoo, Twitter Have a comment? Of course you do! Sound off: letters@metrotimes.com.
Vol. 42 | No. 19 | March 2-8, 2022
News & Views Feedback ............................... 4 News ...................................... 6 Informed Dissent .................. 9 The Incision......................... 10 Feature WTF NFTs: Expensive jpegs or artistic autonomy?.......... 12 What’s Going On Weekly calendar................... 16 Music Cryptic messages: Musicians take on the NFTs craze, too ......................18 Notes .......................................20 Food Review ................................. 22 Bites ..................................... 24 Weed One-Hitters .......................... 26 Culture Film: The Batman ................ 28 Film: The Room .................. 30 Savage Love ......................... 32 Horoscopes .......................... 34
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metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
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NEWS & VIEWS ‘The sovereign stuff is not valid’
Organizers of Indigenous sugarbush ceremony shut down by Detroit police say it’s not the first time they were harassed By Randiah Camille Green
Members of Michigan’s
Indigenous community have gathered for a sugarbush ceremony to collect and process maple sap in Rouge Park for the past three years. But when the Detroit Police Department shut down this year’s gathering with helicopters and threats of arrest, many say they were left traumatized. On Friday, at around 8 p.m., a ceremonial bonfire was interrupted by nearly 14 officers who told gatherers they had two minutes to put out the fire and leave or else they would be arrested. A video of the incident released on social media shows officers in what looks like paramilitary gear watching as people pack up chairs and other supplies. While the DPD has since apologized, the sugarbush organizers aren’t buying it. It turns out this is the second year the police have encroached on the sacred tradition. Community members felt it was another assault in a long history of terror enacted on native people by law enforcement. Rosebud Bear-Schneider, an Anishinaabe food educator and organizer of the Detroit Sugarbush Project, said what happened on Friday was a violation of Indigenous religious rights. “Putting in taps, collecting sap, boiling it down, and turning it into syrup or sugar is a community event for us,” she explains. “When we are harvesting anything from the land, we give thanks, set good intentions for that season, and offer respect for those gifts that we are taking through ceremony.” Soufy, an Anishinabek from Southwest Detroit who was at the gathering, tells Metro Times the group was offering prayers when the police shut everything down. “The first thing that the cops were told when they showed up was that there is a ceremony happening and you cannot interrupt. But they weren’t trying to hear anybody and started saying things like, ‘We’ll be the judge of that,’” he says. “We weren’t doing anything wrong.” Soufy’s partner, Hadassah GreenSky, can be seen on the video telling officers the group is protected under tribal sovereignty, to which one officer replies,
Detroit Sugarbush Project organizer Antonio Cosme speaking with police on Friday, Feb. 18.
“The police were misbehaving and only apologized because the media caught on to it. The asshole cops walked to the fire and started asserting themselves disrespectfully.” “the sovereign stuff is not valid.” When officers arrived on the scene, Detroit activist Antonio Cosme, another Detroit Sugarbush Project organizer, met them on the road away from where the ceremony was taking place in the forest. He says he showed the leading officer the group had a burn permit from the Detroit Fire Department and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) from the city. Meanwhile, other officers began to approach the bonfire happening further down in the trees. “That night they acknowledged our MOU and determined we were good. But by the time they radioed the other officers that had gone down, it was too late. I ran back toward the ceremony
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to see what was happening because I saw my friends leaving and everybody was scrambling and fearful,” Cosme says. “I started yelling at the police at that point and told them, ‘You fucking underlings aren’t paying attention, we were cleared.’” Then it became a dispute over a city ordinance that prohibits entering public parks after dark. However, the ordinance in question bars entry from 10 p.m. unless signs are posted stating the park closes earlier, and it was only 8 p.m. when police forced ceremony goers to leave. DPD released a statement about the incident saying the MOU Cosme presented was actually expired and there was “no evidence of compliance
ROSA MARÍA ZAMARRÓN
with key components of the expired MOU, such as a fire permit and proof of insurance.” DPD Chief James White later apologized in the statement for the mishandling of the situation, saying, “The officers’ actions were only due to the bonfire in the middle of a public park without a permit, and was not directed as a means to break up a sacred cultural ceremony.” “I have directed our Executive Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Mary Engelman, to identify opportunities for our officers to work with the organizers,” White said in the statement. “I’ve been in contact with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, state and local elected officials, and community members. We plan to meet with Michigan Sen. Adam Hollier and the Native American community to learn and grow from this situation.” But Cosme calls the empty apology “trash.” “The MOU is beside the point, the police were misbehaving and only apologized because the media caught on to it,” he says. “The asshole cops walked to the fire and started asserting themselves disrespectfully.”
ear chneider confirmed that at the time of the incident, the MOU had been e pired for a couple of weeks and the group had been waiting for the ational Wildlife ederation to issue them a new one since ovember. “ egardless of that, several of us working on the ugarbush ro ect are tribal citi ens and we have rights that allow us to have these types of gatherings,” she says. “There’s also a lack of understanding that it’s a very short window that we have for maple tapping season. We can’t tell the trees to wait because of bureaucracy.” he agrees the apology is only an attempt by the to ”cover their own asses” and the police response was unnecessary. “ ou would never think to go into a church or religious building and act that way, but some natives are out here practicing our cultural rights and responsibility to this land and so it’s O ” she says. osme tells Metro Times the police harassed participants at last year’s gathering as well. That time, he says, police approached the group with guns drawn, but left when the proper permits were presented. olice were allegedly responding to reports of gunshots, although osme pointed out there is a police firing range in ouge ark near
Rosebud Bear-Schneider (center) on the day of the sugarbush ceremony.
where the ceremony was taking place. The group has since filed two police reports against the offending officers, one on riday night and another on aturday morning at the th recinct. or osme, the whole incident is a symptom of a police state.
ROSA MARÍA ZAMARRÓN
“Think about what’s been happening in etroit. The police are cracking down,” he says. “They’re clearing the city of lack and brown people. There’s a culture of officers with big attitudes and bravado here in new etroit’ because there’s a bunch of new cops
with bigger budgets. These police need better training.” espite the debacle on riday night, community members have continued their work in ouge ark tapping the maple trees and collecting sap into buckets before the season ends.
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
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NEWS & VIEWS The Best of the Rest
They’ve gone over budget and were sued, but Michigan’s redistricting commissioners give themselves a raise anyway By Steve Neavling
The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which faces a $1.2 million shortfall and multiple lawsuits, decided it was time to give its 13 members a 7% pay hike, even as their work diminishes. Commissioners, who were previously rebuffed for allegedly violating the Open Meetings Act, voted 8-3 to boost their pay to nearly $60,000, a roughly $3,900 increase, the Associated Press reports. That’s far more than the statutorily required minimum salary of $39,825. The commission approved controversial new district maps for Congress and the state Senate and House in December. In a lawsuit, Black leaders accused commissioners of violating the Voting Rights Act after they eradicated every predominantly Black district. Several Michigan epublicans also filed a lawsuit against the commission, arguing that the new maps are “non-neutral,” “arbitrary,” and disregard community boundaries. Conversely, some Democrats accused the commission of giving the advantage to Republicans. The 13-member panel is made up of four Democrats, four Republicans, and five politically unaffiliated members. ven though they have finished the work they were tasked with completing — redrawing districts — all four emocrats and four of the five politically unaffiliated members voted in support of the salary increase. Some of the commissioners say they don’t have another job and rely solely on their ta funded salary to get by. Opponents pointed out that their main job is done, and they don’t deserve a pay hike. Commission Chair Rebecca Szetela,
who said she supported the salary increase because of in ation, said the commission may later take a pay cut as “we enter into more of a latency phase.” The panel is required to continue working until the legal challenges are over, but its work is virtually finished. “We’re trying to be fiscally responsible and be good stewards of the public’s money,” Szetela insisted. FAIR Maps, a conservative group that has opposed the commission, called for the eight commissioners to resign. “Sadly, as we’ve repeatedly seen from this body, they’re accountable to no one, incapable of shame or even basic levels of competence, and now gleefully padding their bank accounts at the expense of Michigan taxpayers,” executive director Tony Daunt said. “This is an outrageous development and I encourage Michiganders of all stripes to speak up and demand a reversal of this action.”
A happy home for dogs and cats used in experiments
Michigan lawmakers are considering legislation that would give homes to dogs and cats that are used in research. Two bipartisan bills in a state House committee would require that animals used for research be put up for adoption after they outlive their use for research. Under the legislation, animals that are deemed suitable for adoption must be offered to licensed animal shelters once the research is complete. One of the bills also would re uire research labs to disclose the number of animals released to shelters and where they were sent. All too often, advocates say, healthy dogs and cats are euthanized and deprived of a chance to live a happy life with a loving family once the research is over. “There are hundreds of dogs used in experiments every year. This bill would make sure that those dogs that are adoptable would have a fair chance at being placed in a loving home,” Molly Tamulevich, Michigan state director for the Human Society of the United States, tells Metro Times. “Unfortunately, euthanasia is often their fate.” Thirteen states already have similar laws. The legislation in Michigan, called Teddy’s Law, is named after a beagle rescued from a Michigan laboratory in 2019. Teddy and 31 other dogs were released to the Michigan Humane Society following an undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States that found the dogs were being
8 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
A polling station in Detroit.
used in a cruel, year-long fungicide test. Charles River Laboratories released the dogs following public pressure. Dave Rubello, who adopted Teddy, said the legislation would provide hope to hundreds of other animals forced to live in labs. “Teddy made our family complete, and without a law like this in place, hundreds of beagles currently tested on in Michigan will never see this opportunity,” Rubello said in a statement. “Teddy was almost euthanized after months of excruciating testing. Because of the Humane Society of the United States, he was able to experience a home, grass under his paws, and fresh air. All dogs in Michigan deserve the same chance.” For the legislation to become law, the committee must vote to advance the bill to the full House. It would then go to the Senate before reaching the governor’s desk. “We want to get it out of committee, and we want folks in Lansing to know that this is an important issue to many people,” Tamulevich says. “We love animals in Michigan. Whether or not you agree with animal testing, I think we all agree that dogs all deserve a loving family.” —Steve Neavling
Rep. Tlaib tells striking Great Lakes Coffee workers they deserve better
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib joined more than 200 people who rallied in support of striking reat akes offee oasting Co. workers in Detroit last week, telling the baristas and cooks they deserve better pay and work conditions. “None of my residents should have to struggle this much. It shouldn’t be this hard,” Tlaib said outside Meijer’s ivertown Market store on ast effer-
STEVE NEAVLING
son Avenue, where one of Great Lakes offee’s stores is located. “ t shouldn’t be this hard to ask for basic dignity and basic needs to survive.” About 20 baristas have been on strike for a week and are demanding a fair contract that includes union representation; a starting wage of at least $15 per hour O 1 protocols anti harassment and anti-discrimination protections affordable health, dental, and vision insurance and paid time off, including sick days and parental leave. Employees and their supporters rallied for the second time in less than a week. The strike follows similar actions by Starbucks employees who are trying to unionize nationwide, including workers at multiple Starbucks locations in Michigan. “Your union brothers and sisters across the state are standing with you,” Tlaib said. “I want all the workers to know: It’s not just me as a member of Congress, there are people behind you. It’s inspiring a movement across the country to be able to say we need human dignity in the workplace, and that pathway is forming a union.” Lea Green, who works at Great Lakes offee for 1 an hour, said she loves her job and just wants fair wages and decent working conditions. “ love making coffee,” reen said. “ put my heart and soul into every pour. I love my customers. I love making them their favorite drinks. I believe I should be able to be in a job that I love and be treated fairly.” Her co-worker Lauren Delbeke said she and the other employees are standing up together for what’s right. “I have never gotten paid what I am worth, so we are out here striking today for hopefully for the good of all the baristas,” Delbeke said. —Steve Neavling
NEWS & VIEWS Informed Dissent
Fascism comes to America, draped in red, white, and blue effre
. illm
Mitch McConnell knows
how to win the midterm: Oppose everything Joe Biden does, blame him for anything that goes wrong, but never lay out an agenda that turns the election into a choice rather than a referendum. Last week, however, Sen. Rick Scott — a billionaire Medicare scammer who scammed Floridians into narrowly electing him governor twice and senator once, and who is in charge of electing Republicans to the Senate — threw a wrench into the machine with his “11 Point Plan to Rescue America,” a manifesto that mixes Newt Gingrich’s kick-the-poor ’90s with Trumpian authoritarianism, white Christian nationalism, overt attacks on voting rights, economic and constitutional illiteracy, and a Mack truck full of gaslighting. The 11 points speak for themselves: • Turn schools into patriotism factories where kids are forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance (unconstitutional) and teachers can get fired for making white children uncomfortable (i.e., “critical race theory”). Then again, none of that will matter after they close the Department of Education and implement a voucher program that ghettoizes public schools and routes billions of tax dollars to unregulated religious institutions. • End diversity training “or any woke ideological indoctrination” in the military — “woke” is Scott’s new favorite word cut off funding for universities that try to diversify their student bodies, and proclaim as a point of fact that the nation is colorblind (as if the last 400 years never happened). • Impose more draconian sentences for violent and nonviolent crime and e pand ualified immunity so that cops can even more easily abuse their authority with impunity. Blue lives matter, etc. “We will secure our border, finish building the wall, and name it after President Donald Trump.” • Give the president a line-item veto (not
Sen. Rick Scott laid out the GOP’s 2022 game plan. It should feature prominently in Democrats’ campaign ads.
From start to finish, this is an authoritarian document dressed up in the language of freedom. only unconstitutional, but it would render Congress irrelevant), prohibit debt ceiling increases (calamitous), tax poor and retired people (everyone should have “skin in the game”), and whatever “socialism will be treated as a foreign combatant” means. • Enact term limits for members of Congress and civil servants (unconstitutional and will empower lobbyists), move government agencies out of Washington and “into the real world” (expensive), and cut IRS funding in half (presumably so Scott’s pals can get away with tax fraud). • Ban same-day and automatic voter registration (because fraud, or whatever), unmanned collection boxes, and public campaign financing “ o serious person would ever favor this,” says the billionaire), and don’t count absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day. But voter ID will be mandatory, of course. • Ban abortion, ban porn, give tax breaks to “nuclear families,” and allow faithbased groups to discriminate against whoever they want. • God says trans people aren’t real, so doctors should be banned from treating trans children and trans men should be banned from women’s sports — which the party that just a few years ago ridiculed Title now finds sacred. (Strange, that.) Also, “no government forms will include questions about ‘gender identity’ or ‘sexual preference.’”
• Ban Facebook and Twitter from banning users for hate speech or spreading misinformation (unconstitutional), “reject both the roots and the adherents of cancel culture in America,” and “stop investing federal retirement dollars with ‘woke’ fund managers and companies that put left-wing politics ahead of profits” “woke” means clean energy, I presume). • Stop participating in peacekeeping missions, end imports from China (only $435 billion a year), “take climate change seriously but not hysterically” (i.e., do nothing), and “treat our enemies like enemies.” There is the Republican plan to “rescue” the country, which was apparently humming along fine until an. , 1. Most of it isn’t new, per se. What’s new is Scott’s attempt to marry the party’s anti-tax, pro-austerity wing with Trump’s populist, authoritarian wing. On the surface, that seems dubious. To the degree Trump had a policy outlook more sophisticated than “Build the Wall,” it was that he promised everything to everyone — cut taxes and increase spending and cut the deficit and pretended he never made those promises when they became inconvenient. Scott, however, wants to reframe the oligarchical (read: deeply unpopular) aspects of the GOP agenda as an extension of the culture wars: The “woke” left is sending your money to “undeserving”
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others; you don’t have to squint to see the racial subte t. rom start to finish, this is an authoritarian document dressed up in the language of freedom. Like all variants of right-wing populism, it focuses the grievances of its target demo (a loss of cultural primacy) at scapegoats (the wokes). Consider how Scott begins his treatise: “The militant left now controls the entire federal government, the news media, academia, Hollywood, and most corporate boardrooms — but they want more. They are redefining merica and silencing their opponents.” Put aside the obvious question — how much LSD does a man have to take to think of Joe Biden as the “militant left”? — and allow me to translate from Fox Newsese: Scott’s version of a white, Christian America that idealizes capitalists (for example, him) has lost favor in the cultural marketplace, and people who espouse racist, misogynistic, or bigoted views now face consequences they didn’t before (which they call censorship). A multicultural society forces their children to learn more than the historical myths on which their purported superiority was constructed (which they call indoctrination). They are victims, forever and always. Scott is promising to avenge their victimhood by imposing their cultural norms on everyone else — in the name of freedom — and maintaining the socioeconomic caste system that has fostered the greatest level of inequality in a century. That is the epublican arty’s platform. It’s also a gift to Democrats — if they can figure out how to use it. et more t illm
.s
st c .com.
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
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NEWS & VIEWS The Incision
Four ways corporate greed is driving inflation By Abdul El-Sayed
Like many Americans,
’ve been thinking a lot about in ation — what causes it, why we’re experiencing it right now, and how it’ll affect my family. o decided to cut into it, breaking down how it works and offering up an epidemiologist’s perspective in a two-part series. In part one, I broke down how the pandemic sits at the root of so much of what we’re experiencing right now. Today, in part two of the series, I want to explore another major driver we’ve talked a lot about in these pages: corporate greed. rogressive economists and more quietly, the Biden administration — have been making the case that the current in ation we’re e periencing is, at least in part, the consequence of corporate consolidation that allows a few behemoth corporations to exert monopoly power over critical products. Take General Mills. You may know them as a cereal company, makers of favorites like eese’s uffs. ut they also own baking company Betty Crocker, yogurt behemoth Yoplait, Annie’s (makers of the popular mac and cheese). They’ve been described as one of “10 companies that control everything you buy.” General Mills is raising prices by 20% in 2022. That’s despite the fact that the company increased profits by through fiscal year 1. ncreased profits in 1. rice hikes in 2022. This is a formula corporations across the country like Starbucks, Tyson Foods, and Chipotle are emulating. Amazon even raised the price of their rime membership. Today, want to offer up four ways corporations have driven this in ationary moment. (Hint: Most of them have been behaving this way well before the pandemic.) Let’s cut in.
Corporate monopolies are hiding behind the inflation smokescreen to raise prices Contrary to popular belief (and
Much of what set us up for inflation right now were corporate decisions made well before COVID.
O propaganda we are not actually a truly “free market” economy. One of the hallmarks of a true free market is free entry and exit. But money makes money, which is why the biggest danger to a free market isn’t government regulation (again contrary to popular belief and O propaganda , it’s monopoly. Corporations become so large that they crowd out, buy, or leverage government to prevent new entrants. As our economy consolidates, it allows a few actors in a given sector to collude to raise prices. The public worry over in ation has allowed corporations in highly consolidated sectors to use in ation as a smokescreen to raise their prices — just like General Mills. This is what M’s hief inancial Officer said on a quarterly shareholder call: “The team has done a marvelous job in driving price. rice has gone up from .1 to 1.4 to . .” That quote is particularly poignant. What corporate executives are willing to say on earnings calls is often a lot more honest than what they’re willing to say publicly. On those calls, they’ve made it very clear that this moment isn’t really about in ation, it’s about profit. My friend r. indsey Owens, who heads up the progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative, just published a report showing exactly how corporations used in ation to jack prices. You can read the full report yourself, but I think she did a great ob distilling its biggest findings on Twitter.
10 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
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Increased profits in 2021. Price hikes in 2022. This is a formula corporations across the country like Starbucks, Tyson Foods, and Chipotle are emulating. Amazon even raised the price of their Prime membership. Corporations lobby to keep their taxes low
f in ation is the product of too much money chasing too few goods and services, then how do you fight it? You have to take money out of the economy. There are basically two ways to do this. The monetary approach involves raising interest rates. If an interest rate is how much you’ll have to pay to borrow money, then raising the interest rate literally makes money more expensive. If you follow the supply and demand logic, making money more expensive reduces the amount of money that businesses or households will take out in loans, effectively reducing the amount of money in the economy. But the interest rate is a blunt instrument, affecting everyone. Raising rates are particularly hard on small businesses who rely on lines of credit to stay a oat and make payroll. Many of the dollars spent servicing debt or not borrowed at all
because interest rates are too high are dollars that ultimately don’t end up in a working person’s pocket. The second approach is fiscal ta ation. Unlike raising interest rates, taxation can be done progressively, tailored to the people with excess money currently overwhelmingly invested in large corporations. You know how we’ve been talking about “taxing the rich”? Well, this might be a good time to do that. But whereas the interest rate can be finely tuned through the Federal Reserve, taxation requires an act of Congress. If you haven’t noticed, Congress hasn’t been great at doing much right now, let alone raising taxes. Why? Because corporations have spent billions of dollars lobbying Congress to make sure they don’t. Indeed, the last time Congress altered our tax policy, it resulted in one of the single largest transfers of wealth to the rich in U.S. history.
Told correctly, the Great Resignation isn’t about workers “being paid to stay home,” rather, it’s about corporations having suppressed worker wages for decades — and workers deciding that enough is enough. The Great Resignation is a corporate wage suppression issue
Inf lation hasn’t been the only major economic change occurring in this moment. In 2021, nearly 5 million Americans left their job, sparking what talking heads are now, ominously, referring to as the “Great Resignation.” Most of the debate around this workforce shift has focused on the unintended consequences of COVID relief. But that characterization only works if we ignore the context. For the past several decades, the median worker saw their wages stagnate while the average CEO saw their salary skyrocket. The pandemic raised the stakes for millions of workers — “why should I risk my life to go out in a pandemic to make the CEO millions of dollars?” The suppression of wages was corporate policy. It, too, has to do with corporate consolidation. Not only can oligopolies collude to raise prices, they can also collude to keep worker wages in their sector low. And there’s strong evidence that they have. Told correctly, the Great Resignation, one of the contributors to our current in ation, isn’t about workers “being paid to stay home,” rather, it’s about corporations having suppressed worker wages for decades — and workers deciding that enough is enough.
Globalization and its discontents
nd finally, the story of this in ationary moment extends back to a set of policies made back during the Clinton administration In 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect, resident linton told us that the era of globalization was going to deliver an unheralded amount of consumer choice at unbeatable prices. But that era delivered — or took — a lot more. It shut down factories, cut jobs, and hollowed out a Midwest manufacturing corridor (and gave rise to Donald Trump, but that’s another
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story for another day). It did deliver cheaper, more plentiful goods … for a while. But globalization means vastly more complex supply chains. Those vastly more complex supply chains introduce vastly more points of failure when, say, a global pandemic occurs. I know these pandemics don’t happen all the time. But one is happening now — and since we’re talking about in ation now, we’ve got to point the finger at globalization. That, too, was corporate policy. Big corporations chasing cheap (and dangerous) labor were the fundamental engines behind America’s push outward in the ’90s. The chickens coming home to roost are bringing in ation with them. What’s worse is that fi ing a supply chain is kind of like putting the dominoes back up after you knock them all down. It’s tedious and time consuming. While there’s been a push to bring some of that chain back to the U.S., those are multiyear projects that won’t do anything about the pain we’re feeling right now.
What does this all mean for you and me?
In part one of this series, I explained how the pandemic — the way it changed demand and disrupted supply chains — shaped this moment’s in ation. The good news on that front is that this pandemic will end. The problem, though, is that corporate greed won’t. Much of what set us up for in ation right now were corporate decisions made well before COVID became part of our vernacular. ven if in ation begins to abate, we cannot lose sight of the kind of regulation we need — everything from raising corporate taxes to breaking up oligopolies — that we need to protect ourselves from the next one.
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*arrangements are in process. We will update the community very soon.
Originally published Feb. 17 in The Incision. It is republished here with permission. Get more at abdulelsayed. substack.com.
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
11
FEATURE
12 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Expensive jpegs or artistic autonomy? Detroit artists have already started to play around with this curious new digital artform, but is it just a trend?
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BY RANDIAH CAMILLE GREEN
When prolific Detroit artist Sheefy McFly posted
his series of NFTs for sale on OpenSea in December, it sold out in a matter of minutes. The five limited edition digital drawings were really ust characters from Super Mario Bros, The Simpsons, and Dragon Ball Z mashed together like a rankenstein e periment, but they each sold for . ethereum, or about at the time.
Unless you’re someone who’s already hip to the world of NFTs and cryptocur rency, the paragraph above probably doesn’t make much sense to you. irst of all, what the hell is an NFT and how do you buy one? What’s OpenSea? What is cryptocurrency ven after speaking with several etroit based artists and organi ations working in the NFT space (which may as well be outer space), the concept can still be a bit elusive everyone seems to have their own ideas of what this new tech nology is and what it can do. et’s try our best to break it down. “ T” is short for non fungible token, a uni ue digital file stored on a blockchain, or a decentrali ed, peer to peer network of computers. thereum is a form of cryptocurrency, or a digital currency also stored on a blockchain. n , the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was created, with the idea of developing a digital currency without the need for a central bank. Unlike cryptocurrency, or money in general, Ts are not mutually interchangeable hence “non fungible” . While they often take the form of digital art or music, an T can really be anything from the deed to a house to an eternal loop of cat videos. or the sake of this article, we’re going to be focusing on Ts being sold by artists. Open ea is ust a platform where artists sell Ts think like e ay or tsy. When you buy an NFT, you’re also purchasing an encryption code that serves as a sort of certificate of authen ticity on the blockchain. t shows who created the NFT, who has owned the NFT, and who currently owns the NFT. “ ou can never not be the original
Cover illustration by Tyler Gross.
artist once you’re on the blockchain,” says oyle Huge, the artist behind e troit’s iconic cockroach shaped art car, dubbed “the CarCroach.” rypto nerds get super into this stuff, and some believe Ts give artists more autonomy since they could share their work without paying submis sion fees to get into an e hibition, for e ample, or giving galleries a huge cut of the profit when a piece sells. ou can even build all types of things into the file’s encryption code, includ ing royalties from future sales. “ lot of times if do an e hibition, the gallery takes ,” Mc ly says. “ f sell a physical painting and some one resells it, don’t get a cut. With my Ts, can get a 1 cut every time someone resells that piece, and it has happened. ’m drawing it on my i ad and putting up a peg, and can make ust as much if not more than a mural or painting.” common criticism of Ts, howev er, is that they’re basically ust e pensive pegs that anybody could take a screen shot of instead of buying. t least with a one of a kind painting, for e ample, you could hang it on your wall. lus, the values of cryptocurrencies are constantly uctuating at the time of writing, 1 ethereum, or 1 TH, is worth roughly , . That’s not to mention that cryptocurrency can be a difficult concept to grasp for many people. “ ’m not trying to dilute the impor tance of NFTs, but it’s basically free money for a peg,” Mc ly says. “ ut at the end of the day, it’s not really about the peg. t’s about the encryption code. f have a entley and somebody takes a picture of it, that doesn’t mean they own it, because have the key. The encryption code is the key.” Ts have also become sort of a
oke in some circles because they often stretch the concept of what can be con sidered “art” to an almost unrecogni able degree. lot of times, the digital art that is sold as an T doesn’t have as much painstaking detail as, say, an actual painting would, either. ack orsey, the O and founder of Twitter sold his first tweet as an T for over . million. es, it’s literally his tweet that says “ ust setting up my twttr.” Then you have burger chain White Castle, which released an NFT collection called Sliderverse with digital artist he u Wu. The animated images feature highly pi elated White astle menu items like sliders, chicken rings, and fries that look like they were plucked right out of an old school arcade game like Galaga. The Bored Ape Yacht Club collec tion is probably the most popular, but still unimpressive, e ample of T art. They’re ape avatars that look as bored with themselves as am, but for some reason, celebrities are going apeshit over them. minem bought a yawning wearing a trucker hat and a gold chain for 1 .4 TH around 4 1, at the time . He’s oined by other bandwagon umping celebrities like immy allon and aris Hilton, who’ve dropped hundreds of thousands on these things. (On a recent episode of The Tonight Show, Fallon and Hilton already sounded bored of their Bored Apes.) At its worst, Ts can feel like the latest hollow trend, but the creators behind the BAYC are probably laughing their asses off all the way to the bank as the hype continues to grow. I write about art all the time and understand that it is sub ective. rt is for the satisfaction of the artist, and whatever it is that they want to e press through their work. The audience is merely an observer who is receiving the artists’ message, and whether you like it, understand it, or think it outright sucks doesn’t really matter. “When a new art style emerges, there’s always gonna be confusion, irritation, and misunderstanding,” Mc ly says. “Think about it. eople hated Warhol’s
work when he first started. eople ust don’t get it yet, so they’re going to hate on it right now, but with how everything is going with Ts and the Metaverse, this is something that can’t be over looked,” he says, referring to a virtual reality space that Silicon Valley players like the company formerly known as acebook say is the future. He adds, “ ou can’t ust say this isn’t art and shun it away.” ut what makes someone want to spend 4 , on a cartoon drawing that looks like it probably took a high school student an hour to make Or . million on a tweet don’t have the answer to those uestions, because that ust seems like a rich person playing off mass psychosis to get richer by doing absolutely nothing. n etroit, however, Ts pres ent a way for artists to truly take their creativity to previously unimaginable realms. They’re ust another means for fans to support artists that they know and love, sometimes with added ben efits beyond ust a digital drawing. “The fact that people can support an artist ust by simply buying a peg is the part that those haters are ignoring,” Huge says. “ re Ts like eanie abies Maybe. nything that gets really hyped is going to have that. Once it goes up, it comes down. ure, maybe there’s 1 of Ts that are making 1, every week, but look at people who are buying them to support artists.” Huge has sold a few Ts of his own, including digital scans of his art car, the ar roach, a 4 ivic Honda with hunks of metal and unk welded to it to make it look like a giant cock roach. ou’ve probably seen it putter ing around etroit at the Marche du ain ouge parade and wondered WT it is. Huge says the Ts are more than ust the image, though, and that owner ship of the digital file could come with other perks. “ The ar roach Ts look kind of rough and tumble and as lo fi as the art car, so we thought if people are going to invest in these Ts, maybe they get an e perience with the oach,” he says. “Maybe we’ll show up to your wedding
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with it or take you to your bar mitzvah, or do whatever you want.”
‘Everywhere and Nowhere’
Similar to Huge, Gerald Collins sees NFTs as a new medium to play around with. The Detroit-based artist released a collection of three NFTs in a partnership with art gallery Playground Detroit called “Everywhere and Nowhere” late last year. “I look at the artistic mediums as channels, and whatever you go through shapes the end experience for the viewer,” he says. “It really doesn’t matter which medium I choose, it matters what the purpose of the actual project is.” “Everywhere and Nowhere” combines elements of light, sound, and film. aging waterfalls crash over rocks and peaceful streams ow gently in a glowing circle as ethereal music plays in the background. That’s a very poetic characterization of the collection, which could also just as easily be described as a one-minute video loop of footage of water with a uorescent filter and music layered on top. “What I really want people to focus on is the water patterns within the circles and the light that surrounds them,” Collins says. “The light is there to challenge the perception of what colors people see because light hitting the water changes what the eyes perceive. It’s actually part of a physical installation that I designed and took footage of, and the water is footage from my travels, so there’s a mix of physical and digital mixing.” The collection has five copies of each
piece available for sale at 1 ETH each. (To refresh your memory, 1 ETH was around $2,500 at the time of writing.) You can easily view the short videoformat NFTs on Playground Detroit’s arible page, which is another platform to buy and sell NFTs similar to OpenSea. Of course, this will undoubtedly cause nagging naysayers to, once again, question why someone would pay that much for something they can easily view for free. But really, it’s the same as collecting anything else, whether it be baseball cards or vinyl records. Yes, these are mass-produced items, but there are people out there who are willing to drop a couple hundred or even a thousand on a particular record just because they love the artist and want to have bragging rights about their collection. NFTs are the same. “If you collect books, or albums, or figurines, what’s the difference ” ollins says. “People scan books and you can see them online, but it’s a different feeling actually owning that book. At the end of the day, the NFT is still art and it’s still coming from that artist’s lexicon of work.” Every purchase of an “Everywhere and Nowhere” NFT also comes with a still shot of the piece printed on plexiglass. This extra feature is part of what’s built into the NFTs encryption code. These codes give artists limitless possibilities for what they can include in an NFT, whether it’s royalties, music, or a physical copy in addition to the digital version. “Something additional that’s physical will stand the test of time, because we
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don’t know how the NFT space will look in the future,” Collins explains. “Music artists have built in one-on-one sessions with themselves for ‘x’ amount of minutes in NFTs, for example. These are all added incentives for any collector.” Collins also points out how NFTs became a way for people to view and collect art early in the pandemic, when many museums and galleries were closed.
Then there’s Hygienic Dress League
Hygienic Dress League is and has always been weird as hell. The Detroitbased hipster art duo Dorota and Steve Coy (who are also husband and wife) became a legally registered corporation back in 2007 as part of a performance art piece. Now they plan on making shares of their company available for public purchase as NFTs. “A corporation is a human-made thing. Why is that a thing that exists in our society ” teve says. “Why is our value structure based around profit Society could be structured in any way we want it to. Corporations could be families and profits could be spending time together.” In early January, Hygienic Dress eague applied for certification through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to be able to legally sell their company stock. By purchasing 10 shares in the company, which start at $50 each, a buyer will receive an “employee” — a digital character that is also an NFT. There are three tiers of employees available: the “Extractors,” which are the most common, “Transporters,” which are
mid-level, and “Executives,” who are the top dogs. There are 44,444 Extractors available, while Executives are rarer, with only 2,222 available. The catch is that a shareholder has no idea which type of employee they will get, as it’s completely randomized. You can also get “promoted” by exchanging employee types. or e ample, if you collect five tractors, you can become a Transporter. Four Transporters can be promoted to an Executive. The three-tiered employee system is an obvious social commentary on the working class being disposable, while CEOs make more money and exploit the people that work below them. “[Extractors] do all the work. They show up and they do what they’re told and they get shit pay,” Dorota explains. “Extractors are the backbone of our society. The way things are structured now puts these people at a disadvantage.” So shares from Hygienic Dress League Corp., which is really just a symbolic venture and satirization of corporate culture, can be purchased as NFTs. Then, after buying 10 shares, investors will receive an NFT of one of Hygienic Dress League’s employees, which effectively makes them an employee. A limited number of employee NFTs might also be released for purchase without leading their owner to becoming a shareholder in the company as well. ost yet It’s such an abstract idea that it leaves us with more questions than answers. And still, there’s more layers to the experiment underneath the folds. Possessing an NFT from HDL Corp.
A lot of times, the digital art that is sold as an NFT doesn’t have as much painstaking detail as, say, an actual painting would. From left: a pair of NFTs by Sheefy McFly, Doyle Huge’s CarCroach, and a piece by Hygienic Dress League COURTESY PHOTOS
comes with some e tra benefits, too. Anyone who holds a stock NFT or an employee NFT will get access to a virtual office. What’s a virtual office, you ask “The virtual office will be a place for avatars to gather and experience surreal installations,” the company’s manifesto states. “An exclusive virtual market place for additional NFTs will also be available in the virtual space… HDL Corp. will build an augmented reality experience for shareholders and employees.” No, this augmented reality doesn’t actually exist anywhere in the metaverse just yet — it’s still just an idea HDL is playing around with. Eventually, they plan to open art spaces (real, physical ones) around the U.S. featuring installations, a drink lounge, and NFT galleries, although you’ll have to be an HDL Corp. employee or shareholder to get in. A promotional video for Hygienic Dress League’s NFT release features golden gas mask-clad workers wearing hazmat suits and goggles, bowing in a circle as a gold triangle descends from the sky. Elsewhere, more gas maskwearing figures this time, much better dressed) stand in front of an abandoned house as they show off a golden pigeon spinning around in their hands. Hygienic Dress League obviously has a thing for painting things gold, and the gold gask mask motif makes an appearance in almost all of their other work. Even though the video is clearly satirical, it straight up looks like it could be a ripoff of a ady aga music video. But maybe that’s kind of
“
the point. “Our visuals seem like there’s a lot of sarcasm and humor, and people wonder is this real or is this fake,” Steve says. “It’s humorous, but there can also be these sad undertones when you think of things on a deeper level. It’s meant to be playful and fun, but also thought-provoking.” They want people to question why they go to work and what they actually want to do with their lives. “We’re all going through this thing called life and we’re just sort of programmed to do it. You get married, you work a job to make money,” Dorota explains. “A lot of our food grows on trees for free, yet we pay for it. We work a whole bunch to pay for free time.” While they aren’t wrong, and maybe these are things we should think about, everyone doesn’t have the luxury of quitting their jobs to make art. People living in poverty with families to feed, crippling debts to pay, or who are otherwise just surviving (hello!) cannot commit themselves to such an experimental idea. To HDL’s credit, when challenged on this, they don’t deny it. “We know that we do come from massive privilege to be able to do this project,” Dorota says. “You are trapped. Society is structured against the have-nots. That is actually the point, that people don’t actually have time to question these things. We’re not saying to individuals, ‘Hey, quit your jobs and become artists.’ Steve and I are full participants in the world we live in. We just formed a corporation to become players in it. We took art and corporatized it.”
How about something a little less confusing?
There are some people out there who are trying to demystify NFTs and make them more accessible to the average person. FACINGS is a Detroit-based NFT infrastructure platform that allows brands and artists to sell NFTs. The company currently hosts NFTs on the WAX blockchain, which costs artists less money to upload their artwork than other popular blockchains. Most importantly, with FACINGS, you can buy an NFT with either cryptocurrency or a credit card. “If someone is new [to NFTs] and they don’t have whatever amount of money needed to get their first T, we’re like yeah, you can just buy one using a credit card,” says FACINGS Media Producer and IP Analyst Francis Kräbbe. “We spent a lot of time and energy and testing to make sure [crypto] wasn’t a barrier to entry accessibility… because the amount of information and misinformation about it is overwhelming. In order to cut through that, we wanted to offer the e perience of being able to ust spend 10 or 20 bucks to check it out.” Finally, NFTs for the rest of us, who do want to support artists but can’t wrap our heads around the whole crypto thing. You can also sign up for a WAX wallet with platforms like Google, Facebook, or Steam. is officially launching its NFT platform later this year, but they have already worked with several artists to sell their collections. These include a range of NFT packs from a comic book with collectible pages to tickets to see an online concert at Dectraland (a virtual
world platform that’s kind of like Animal Crossing for crypto enthusiasts). Purchasing the comic book NFT, called Finney, gives you access to the whole volume, but each NFT includes randomized special edition pages that could be in full color or have special animations. There are two types of people who buy NFTs, according to Kirsten Pomales Langenbrunner, FACINGS’s chief operations officer people who want to collect them and investors who want to make a ton of money reselling them. When it comes to art specifically, Pomales feels similar to Collins in that there’s not much difference between collecting NFTs and something like baseball cards. If anything, NFTs are easier to collect because they don’t wear and tear like physical objects, and they can be traded on global open markets. “There’s nothing that really gives concrete value to abe uth printed on a piece of paper, per se,” she explains. “It’s just the collectible aspect is there because there are only a certain number of those in existence created by the manufacturer.” While Detroit artists are probably not selling NFTs for $400,000 like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, some of them are taking this artform and doing something much more inventive. And most real artists don’t start making art with the idea to make tons of cash anyway. No one knows the future of NFTs or if they will even be a thing in years, but who cares f the purpose of art is to make you think, question reality, and evoke emotion, then NFTs have already succeeded.
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WHAT’S GOING ON
Autorama returns to Detroit’s convention center.
Select events happening in metro Detroit this week. Submit your events to metrotimes.com/calendar. Be sure to check venue websites for COVID-19 policies.
FRI 3/4 & SAT 3/5 Corktown Music Festival
The annual Hamtramck Music Festival won’t return to its typical time in early March this year. Instead, some HMF organizers have decided to host a different festival in its place, called the Corktown Music Festival. Taking place across four venues ’s ager House, ancy Whiskey, The aelic eague, and Two ames pirits this new incarnation will host more than 70 acts across two days. The 2020 Hamtramck Music est ust barely made it before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, and in 2021 the event was moved to summer, leading the festival’s board of directors to vote against resuming it this March. All good. The Corktown version will be ust as rowdy of a time, with performances by adyWarship
and Warhorses, u uki ivine rovidence, the ult of paceskull, and more. The full lineup and schedule can be found at facebook.com corktownmusicfestival. —Randiah Camille Green Wristbands for the weekend are $20 and give attendees all access to both days. They can be purchased online and at PJ’s Lager House on the day of the event or in advance at Found Sound in Ferndale, Village Vinyl in Warren, and Dearborn Music in Dearborn and Farmington. rocee s will e e t ws e rt, o ro t t t r ises mo e to el rescue homeless dogs and cats.
FRI 3/4 & SAT 3/5 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Classical Roots The etroit ymphony Orchestra will host its 21st annual Classical Roots Concerts and Celebration Gala on Friday and aturday. The yearly program honors frican merican composers, musicians, educators, and leaders,
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COURTESY PHOTO
and raises funds for the O’s frican American music and musician development program. This year’s program celebrates O director r. lenda rice and late conductor and arts advocate Michael Morgan. riday’s performance features pianist ara ownes, conductor William Eddins, and the Brazeal ennard horale, while aturday’s orchestra includes a at incoln Center Orchestra with world-renowned trumpet player Wynton Marsalis. —Randiah Camille Green ri s er orm ce st rts t : .m. and Saturday’s performance begins at 8 p.m. at Orchestra Hall; 3711 Woodward e., etroit so.or . Tic ets st rt t . t r s co cert will lso be webcast for free at dso.org and on Facebook. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 request required to attend.
FRI 3/4 TO SUN 3/6 Autorama
Hot rods! Trucks! Motorcycles!
eople who are serious about souped up cars, re oice. t’s the return of “ merica’s reatest Hot od how,” utorama, after being canceled last year due to COVID-19. This year’s event marks the th installment of the world famous custom car event, and will take place at Detroit’s Huntington lace the venue formerly known as T enter obo enter obo Hall if you know, you know . cross three days, of the most “chopped, channeled, dumped, and decked” custom cars will roll into the Motor ity. pecial guests this year include hip oose from reality T show Overhaulin and WW Hall of amer ting. —Randiah Camille Green Hours are Friday 12 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Huntington Place; 1 Washington Blvd, Detroit; 313-877-8777; huntingtonplacedetroit.com. Tickets re or lts, or c il re si to 12 years old, and free for children under e.
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MUSIC Cryptic messages
Musicians take on the NFTs craze, too By Bill Forman
When our Founding Fathers
drafted the Constitution, they could scarcely have foreseen the arrival of household assault weapons, Senate filibusters or, in all likelihood, ings of Leon sending a cryptographic video into space and then auctioning off the iPhone it was played on. But all of these things have come to pass, one of the most recent being the Southern rock band teaming up with Elon Musk to shoot a non-fungible token of their self-esteem into the stratosphere. To the credit of all involved, the money raised from the recent launch of SpaceX’s Inspiration4 was donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It also earned tons of publicity for the band — the Billboard magazine headline “Kings of Leon Will Become First Band to Have an NFT Played in Space” was repeated, in various forms, by countless media outlets ust as they were reaching the midpoint of their 2021 tour. This was not Kings of Leon’s maiden voyage into the realm of nonfungible tokens, a form of digitally certified art that’s sold as a part of the cryptocurrency blockchain. Last March, the band rush-released its When You See Yourself album as a collection of digital NFTs, and were hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as the first band to do so. Actually, that wasn’t true — Devon Welsh’s Belave, a virtually unknown indie band, beat them to the punch with the even-more-rushed release of an album called Does the Bird Fly Over Your Head? But Kings of Leon could at least take consolation in the more than $2 million they raked in, a quarter of which they donated to Live Nation’s Global Relief Fund for Live Music Crews. One of the biggest debates, when it comes to non-fungible tokens, centers on the question of ownership. While an NFT “original” contains metadata that proves its authenticity, trademarks and copyrights are not part of the transaction. In fact, the same content can be downloaded by pretty much anyone with a functioning internet connection. So why, you may ask, would anyone
Russian Russian feminist punks Pussy Riot recently issued an NFT that features a digitized copy of co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova’s two-year prison sentence for criticizing Vladamir Putin. COURTESY PHOTO
buy them? There are a number of potential reasons. You may, for instance, want to show your support for the content creator. You might want to impress people by ashing the contents of your digital wallet. Or you may simply have too much money. But the most powerful motivation for buying NFTs is the possibility of reaping huge profits by reselling them. Think of it as the virtual equivalent of ipping foreclosed homes, auctioning autographs on eBay, or clearing shelves of toilet paper so that
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you can ack up the price on ma on during a pandemic. NFTs can also give musicians an opportunity to profit from their work in artistic areas for which they’re less well-known. Grimes, the experimental pop artist who until recently was Musk’s girlfriend, netted $6 million for WarNymph Collection Vol. 1, a digital art series that portrays winged babies oating through space. Space, as it turns out, is a recurring theme in the blockchain art world. Both NASA and the U.S. Space Force
have released their own branded NFTs. And then there’s Chris Torres, the creator of Nyan Cat, who pocketed $600,000 earlier this year for an T of his op Tart bodied cat ying through space and leaving a rainbow trail in its wake. uring the first three months of 1 alone, collectors and venture capitalists reportedly invested more than $2 billion in NFTs. So it’s only natural that these once obscure ob ects of desire have earned their fair share of derision. “Many of the digital collectibles
being traded on today’s exchanges are, to be frank, crap,” declared Forbes magazine with uncharacteristic candor back in 2018, a full three years before Nyan Cat made its big leap into the NFT art market. “People are creating things with no real value and attempting to bring value to them through tokenization. Think of the current overabundance of digital art. Unfortunately, the amount of demand is nowhere near the supply.” Of course, one need only look to fine art galleries to find works that are ust as ba ing as their cryptographic counterparts, yet have no shortage of buyers. Consider Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian,” a work of art that consisted of nothing more than a banana duct-taped to a gallery wall. The piece sold for $120,000, prompting the artist to create a second and third edition, which also netted si figure sales. “Whether affi ed to the wall of an art fair booth or displayed on the cover of the New York Post, his work forces us to question how value is placed on material goods,” explained gallery owner Emmanuel Perrotin. “The spectacle is as much a part of the work as the banana.” Cattelan, meanwhile, claimed to have spent a full year laboring over bronze and resin versions of his sculpture
Think of it as the virtual equivalent of flipping foreclosed homes, auctioning autographs on eBay, or clearing shelves of toilet paper so that you can jack up the price on Amazon during a pandemic. before realizing that “the banana is supposed to be a banana.” No less unusual — but considerably more interesting — was Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a 2015 album that the hiphop supergroup released in a limited edition of one and auctioned off for $2 million, with the stipulation that it could not be commercially released until the year 2103. The winning bidder turned out to be Martin Shkreli, better known as “Pharma Bro,” the former hedge fund manager who infamously acquired the manufacturing license for an HIV drug and upped its price by 4,000 percent. Shkreli would later brag that he had no plans to actually listen to the album, but simply bought it to “keep it from the people.” Not long afterward, he was indicted for securities fraud and
sentenced to seven years in prison. The federal government subsequently seized his assets, including the album, which was sold this past July for a reported $4 million. Not surprisingly, Wu-Tang members are venturing into the non-fungible universe both individually and collectively. The group plans to issue a 4 page coffee table book about their legacy in the form of NFTs, while Method Man is releasing a series of comic book NFTs featuring exclusive artwork and unreleased music. Elsewhere in the hip-hop world, Death Row continues to release its 30th anniversary NFTs, while Def Jam cofounder Russell Simmons has launched Masterminds of Hip Hop, a series that encodes never-before-heard recordings by artists ranging from Chuck D and MC Lyte to Big Daddy Kane and
Grandmaster Caz. ut the most intriguing offering at the moment may be a freshly minted NFT by Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist band whose agitprop image might seem inconsistent with such entrepreneurial enterprises. The group recently issued “Virgin Mary, Please Become a Feminist,” an NFT that combines hand-drawn images by co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova with a digitized original copy of her twoyear prison sentence for staging an antiPutin protest in a Moscow cathedral. The new NFT is a follow-up to a series of tokens from the band’s “Panic ttack” video, the first of which sold for $187,000, which the group donated to a shelter for victims of domestic violence in Russia. As Tolokonnikova put it at the time, “I’m always looking for ways to support our activist art without being involved in institutions. NFTs are good because they claim that digital art is art, and they actually show that there is value in something that no one can touch.” As we head further into 2022, an increasing number of artists view NFTs as a more viable medium than YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify combined. How long that will continue — for Pussy Riot, Kings of Leon or even Nyan Cat — remains to be seen.
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MUSIC Indie rock heads to Eastern Market Detroit event space The Eastern to host live music, starting with singer-songwriter Soccer Mommy By Lee DeVito
An event space in Detroit that
has until now been known more for hosting weddings and corporate events is gearing up to become what could be the city’s latest live music venue. The Eastern, located at 3434 Russell St. in Detroit’s Eastern Market, is set to feature a performance by acclaimed Nashville-based indie rock artist Sophia Regina Allison, known by her stage name Soccer Mommy, on Friday, April 1. “Yes, this is new for us and experimental at this point,” venue owner Scott Rutterbush tells Metro Times, adding that the show is through a partnership with Audiotree Presents. “We are excited about the potential this has for both Audiotree and The Eastern,” Rutterbush adds. The Eastern says metro Detroiters should expect more live music at the venue in the near future, provided it has no weddings booked, which it typically does on Fridays and Saturdays in May through October. Audiotree Presents talent buyer Nate Dorough says that the Soccer Mommy show is the first planned under the new partnership, though more concerts are in the works. The arrangement could be a win-win for both Audiotree Presents and the venue, he says. With a capacity of 600, The Eastern is a bit larger than a spot like El Club, which can hold 400, but smaller than a place like the Magic Stick, which holds 700. Audiotree Presents also books at the Loving Touch, the Magic Bag, and Otus Supply in Ferndale; the Sanctuary in Hamtramck; the Blind Big in Ann Arbor; and the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids. “We have a lot of 200- to 400-capacity spaces, and I just need something where I could take a band that I’ve worked with over the years and grow them into the next size space,” Dorough says. lus, “ fill that void for the astern, [which] could easily book a Friday, Saturday, Sunday night,” he says. “I’ll take the tours that need a Tuesday night and plug them in there.” The 5,000-square-foot venue, which opened in 2017 in the former Hook and Ladder House No. 5 and the Detroit
The Eastern venue in Detroit could start hosting more live music.
Fire Department Repair Shop (the second oldest standing fire station in the city, originally built in 1888), is known for its raw, industrial feel, with exposed bricks and a polished concrete oor. While it has a bar and a license to sell alcohol, it doesn’t actually have a stage — a temporary stage will have to be built for each concert, so Dorough says he would likely only book acts that he’s sure would sell enough tickets to make it worth the effort. orough notes Soccer Mommy sold out its previous show at El Club. The venue also has a 3,000-squarefoot outdoor patio and a roll-up garage door. “We’re hoping to turn it into a thing where we do it semi-regularly,” he says, adding that they don’t want to compete with the city’s existing rooms. (However, booking agents previously told Metro Times that sometimes it feels like so many musical acts skip the city altogether on tours because its venues can easily get all booked up,
20 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
a problem that has been exacerbated by the ood of tours booked following the pandemic’s pause on live music.) Dorough adds, “That’s kind of the goal here, is to take some of the artists that I’ve been working with for years and just have a cool space to grow with them, and then eventually I’ll lose them to the big boys.” Dorough says he’s long had an affinity for o eat performance spaces. In 2017, as the manager of the artist formerly known as Flint Eastwood and now known as Jax Anderson, he booked a gig in the ornate lobby of Detroit’s iconic Fisher building. “I’ve always loved the fun of developing a concert idea in a non-traditional space,” he says. “I’m the type of guy that walks into the grocery store and is like, ‘Wow, I could put a stage up there.’” He adds, “That vibe of walking into a space that wasn’t really created for concerts, but works in that way, it’s lightning in a bottle. So we’re just excited to give that a shot here and see how it
COURTESY PHOTO
all goes. And I think Eastern Market is such a great spot for it. It’s a great place to walk around and get food after a show, and just be part of the city.” Tickets for the Soccer Mommy show are $25 advance, $28 at the door. New York City-based artist Peel Dream Magazine is opening. Tickets are available for purchase at audiotreepresents. com, where Dorough says information on future concerts at The Eastern will also appear. Audiotree Presents is the live music arm of the Audiotree digital music discovery platform that books concerts in Michigan and Illinois. Former Audiotree CEO Michael Johnston, the son of Kalamazoo billionaire philanthropists and business leaders William Johnston and Ronda Stryker, grew up in Portage before moving to Chicago and co-founding Audiotree. Johnson was recently ousted from the company following allegations that he and his wife videotaped their nanny and her friend in a bathroom with hidden cameras.
3/18 EMO NIGHT BROOKLYN 3/24 POPPY
W/ MZ NEON
3/27 DRAGONFORCE
W/ FIREWIND, VISIONS OF ATLANTIS & SEVEN SPIRED
MAR 11 YOLA ST. ANDREWS
PUCK MAR 16 KNUCKLE W/ HOT MULLIGAN, MEET ME ST. ANDREWS
@ THE ALTAR, & ANXIOUS
3/28 JERRY CANTRELL 4/1
PERFUME GENIUS
4/3
LIKE MOTHS TO FLAMES & POLARIS
W/ ALPHA WOLF, INVENT, ANIMATE
4/4 4/6
ST. PAUL & THE MAR 20 BROKEN BONES ST. ANDREWS W/ THEE SACRED SOULS
FOR A KING MAR 21 FIT W/ SILENT PLANET, ST. ANDREWS
HOLLOW FRONT, & AVOID
4/9
JOJO
W/ TANERÉLLE, LINDSEY LOMIS
ANIMALS AS LEADERS
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SAVED BY THE 90’S
4/10 KEVIN DEVINE
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4/15 LIL TECCA
W/ BABYSANTANA, BKTHERULA, YVNGXCHRIS
4/16 SNOW THA PRODUCT BOTH VENUES ARE
MAR 22 JESSE & JOY ST. ANDREWS
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MAR 31 FOZZY ST. ANDREWS FT. CHRIS JERICHO
NOW HIRING!
SEND RESUMES TO STANDREWSJOBS@LIVENATION.COM
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
21
FOOD Bangin’ brisket By Tom Perkins
Generally speaking, you
aren’t going to find much brisket in etroit’s barbecue pits. Here, ribs and rib tips are king, and for beef and brisket you got to head north of ight Mile. ut even then, finding brisket worth mentioning is a bit of a challenge. Oakland ounty isn’t marillo, so it was with low e pectations that we set out to investigate rkins weet it’s claims of having “best brisket in the city.” olks they might not be wrong. rkins’ brisket checks all the bo es smokey, super tender, rich, and moist, with a rub that’s peppery, sweet, and ust the right level of salty. urely whoever is behind rkins is a Te as transplant, right ope. Owner rkan arana was born in ra and cut his teeth running a pit behind a Taylor party store before opening shop in outhfield in 1 . s rkan tells the story, his buddy made some beef erky and gave it to him as a gift. rkan didn’t like it and thought he could do better, so he started smoking. That eventually led to barbecuing, and after years of trial and error and developing his own recipes behind the party store, rkins was born. What makes arana’s brisket better than most in the region He says he doesn’t buy the cheap stuff and has his own uni ue trimming method. He smokes low and slow for 1 hours or long enough to drink a 1 pack of beer, read a newspaper, and take a long nap, he tells me over cherry, apple, or oak wood. He says he only rubs on salt and pepper, and, post smoke, sprays on a “li uid avoring” that imparts some of the sweetness while adding depth. He’s getting results. We also tried the brisket sandwich, which offered chopped brisket that wasn’t uite as rich as its sliced counterpart on the plate, but delicious nonetheless, and right at home with the brioche bun and raw onion. The brisket can also be applied to uesadillas, mac and cheese, baked potatoes, and grilled cheese choose your favorite vehicle and it’s hard to go wrong, or ust order it by the half pound. The signature barbecue sauce is, as one would e pect, sweet and peppery that seems to be the overarching avor profile at rkins. ike the brisket, the pulled pork is
Brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken from Arkins Sweet BBQ Pit.
He smokes low and slow for 12 hours — or long enough to drink a 12 pack of beer, read a newspaper, and take a long nap, he tells me. smoked at degrees for 1 hours, and it’s e cellent. light, tender and smoky verison with the sweet and peppery notes. The smoked chickens’ skin is so crisp that it feels like it could shatter like glass, an effect arana says he achieves by smoking the bird for a few hours, then cooking it on the grill. That leaves it with the right proportions of smoky, salty, and peppery. rkins also offers t. ouis style ribs and rib tips, though we didn’t order them. This was strictly a brisket
22 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
uest, but arana assured me they’re worth a try. He also sells giant half pound polish sausages and alape o cheese sausages that are enough for a meal. rkins’ sides are definitely worth noting The slaw is crisp and fresh in a sweet and tangy vinegar based dressing with plenty of pepper, while his mac and cheese is thick, gooey, and stretchy, with a smokey cheddar, cream cheese, Monterey ack, parmesan, and sour cream mi . The greens are bright and acidic, not cooked within an inch of
TOM PERKINS
Arkins Sweet BBQ Pit 30140 Southfield Rd., Southfield arkinsbbq.com 248-731-7397 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wed-Sun; closed Mon-Tues $5.20-$34.30 Handicap accessible
their life as can happen with some, and arana says the recipe is a riff on his mom’s spinach soup. rkins’ small carryout only shop on outhfield oad south of 1 Mile oad has a cooler full of drinks, and though arana has said he has considered e panding, he’s happy with the largely word of mouth base he’s cultivated with one location.
3/12 MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
w/ Foxing & Michigander LOW TICKET ALERT
3/21 SNOH AALEGRA THIS FRIDAY
SLASH
FEAT. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS
w/ Ama Lou LOW TICKET ALERT
MARCH 10
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE W/ AUGUST BURNS RED & LIGHT THE TORCH
4/3 SOLD OUT 4/11 LOW TICKET ALERT DR. JORDAN B. PETERSON: BEYOND ORDER 4/8
DR. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: COSMIC COLLISIONS
4/18 SPOON MARCH 13
AMINÉ
W/ AJ TRACEY & 454
w/ Margaret Glaspy
MARCH 17
PAPA ROACH
W/ HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD & BAD WOLVES
4/19 ROYAL BLOOD 4/27 KALEO
w/ Bones Owens
4/29 LEWIS BLACK: OFF THE RAILS 4/30 SEVENDUST
MARCH 26
ARI SHAFFIR, BIG JAY OAKERSON & ROBERT KELLY
APRIL 14
JESSIE JAMES DECKER
5/1
MIKE.
5/6
JESSE MCCARTNEY
W/ ADAM DOLEAC
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
23
FOOD Bites
Metro Detroit restaurants and chefs are all over the 2022 list of James Beard Award semifinalists By Randiah Camille Green
The list of 2022 James Beard
ward semifinalists confirms what we’ve known all along the food scene in Metro etroit has got it going on. early Michigan restaurants and chefs are being considered for the prestigious award, including aobab are’s Hamissi Mamba and adia i imbere. inalists will be announced on March 1 , while the winners will be crowned in une. Mamba and i imbere were shortlisted for the “ est hef reat akes” category. They are oined by ma’s hef Mike ansom, hmad an i of earborn’s lTayeb, nthony ombardo of heWolf, Omar nani of affron de Twah, ames igato of Mabel ray, arah Welch of Marrow, and ate Williams of arl’s. Warda ouguettay from Midtown etroit’s Warda tisserie is a semifinalist for the “Outstanding astry hef” award, while i Hye im of Miss im in nn rbor is in the running for “Outstanding hef.” estaurant wise, etroit’s arda got a nod in the “ est ew estaurant” category out of other eateries nationwide. Owners of upscale soul food spot avannah lue . . impson and oger opp are among semifinalists for “Outstanding estaurateur.” ongstanding orktown staple Mudgie’s eli and hoenicia in irmingham both made it to the list of semifinalists for “Outstanding Hospitality.” ast but not least, etroit speakeasy helby is up for the “Outstanding ar rogram” award while Madam in irmingham is in on the “Outstanding Wine rogram” list.
Chefs from Detroit’s destroyed Taqueria El Rey get pop-up residency Batch Brewing Company ollowing the fire that left outhwest
Mamba Hamissi and Nadia Nijimbere of Detroit’s Baobab Fare.
etroit’s Ta ueria l ey destroyed last month, orktown’s atch rewing o. will host the taco spot’s chefs for a recurring pop up on Mondays and Tuesdays. ccording to a press release, atch rewing ompany owner tephen oginson reached out to the owners to offer his kitchen so the chefs can still earn an income while the restaurant rebuilds. “We’re all in this together, so we need to step up for our community,” oginson said in a statement. “ liseo uentes and his family have been anchors in the outhwest community for so long, they deserve our support now.” The Ta ueria l ey chefs will serve their famous tacos, char grilled chicken, and ribs starting in March through the end of the month, and possibly longer, according to the release. The pop ups will be from p.m. until 1 p.m. each night, or until supplies run out. ast month, atch rewing o. also hosted the former sous chef of Michael ymon’s oast after it abruptly shuttered in etroit’s Westin ook adillac hotel. Together, they served oast’s popular happy hour burger, with proceeds going toward helping oast employees left without income. “ t atch rewing ompany, we’re working to be more than ust a brewery,” oginson said in a statement. “We want to be a community resource. The last two years have been incredibly hard on the restaurant industry and if we’ve learned anything, it’s to stick together.” Throughout the pandemic, oginson helped other service industry workers by raising more than , through his organi ation eelgood Tap. atch rewing o. is located at 14
24 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
NOAH ELLIOTT MORRISON
orter t., etroit 1 brewingco.com.
batch—Lee DeVito
Seasons Market opens new supermarket in Detroit’s Cass Corridor focusing on seasonal produce
etroit’s ass orridor has its fair share of beloved local markets. Marcus Market anyone That place is the am ut there’s a newcomer to the scene that hopes to offer more of a fresh, healthy vibe. easons Market opened up shop at 41 econd ve. on eb. 1 , and is a cross between a farmer’s market, supermarket, coffee shop, and bar. The “ armer’s tand” area of the store focuses primarily on fresh, seasonal produce from local producers while the rest of the shop sells typical everyday staples. easons Market also features products and pre made meals from local faves like valon reads, etroit egan oul, and um illage. Oh, yeah and there’s a cafe that serves alcohol in the evening. This place is hyper Michigan focused with nearly all the wine craft beer on tap coming from local breweries. isitors can grab an e presso or horts rewing o. beer and take it up to the second oor dining loft or the outdoor surrounding garden when it finally gets warm again . —Randiah Camille Green
Detroit staple Louisiana Creole Gumbo forced out of Eastern Market, owner blames ‘gentrification’ or more than
years, there has
been one place etroiters fre uented to get a little taste of ew Orleans. ouisiana reole umbo has been a staple at the edge of astern Market for decades, but now the restaurant’s original location at the corner of t. ubin and ratiot will close. ccording to o etroit, the owner of the building the restaurant has operated in for half a century has decided to sell, forcing out the avorful establishment. Owner oe pencer told o that he offered to buy the building, but the owner wouldn’t sell it to him. pencer also said he believed that the gentrification of etroit played a role in what forced out the small business. “This whole gentrification thing is really unfair,” he said. “ specially for people who have held on for this property, we’ve carried this property, we paid for it more than once, twice through the years. We have paid rent, we’ve been a good customer to him. ut, he didn’t want to sell to us, although we made an offer to sell to buy it.” While the owner of the building did not give a direct uote to the news station, he told o that he attempted to make a deal to sell with ouisiana reole umbo, and it didn’t work out. Though the original ratiot staple will soon ust be a memory for many etroiters, ouisiana reole umbo has two other locations. n 1 , the restaurant opened its second location at 1 W. even Mile d. in etroit. ast spring, the restaurant e panded to the suburbs by opening its third location in armington Hills at 1 Orchard ake d. —Alex Washington
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
25
WEED One-Hitters
Michigan’s first cannabis consumption lounge to open in Hazel Park By Steve Neavling
People who drink alcohol
have bars. But where do Michigan residents go to smoke or vape cannabis with friends? Although recreational marijuana has been legal in Michigan for more than three years, there still isn’t a business that serves as a gathering spot for cannabis users. That’s about to change. If all goes as planned, Hazel Park is set to have the first consumption lounge in Michigan. Troy-based cannabis company Trucenta, which operates a recreational cannabis dispensary with locations in Hazel Park and Battle Creek under the name Breeze, submitted an application in January to open a consumption lounge called Hot Box Social at 23619 John R., about four blocks north of Nine Mile Rd. “We’re still waiting for one more approval,” Sandy Aldrich, chief marketing officer of Trucenta, tells Metro Times. Other businesses have expressed interest in opening consumption lounges in Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, and Kalkaska, but they are not as far along in the application process. Decked out with sofas, plush chairs, tables and bar seating, the Hot Box Social has been holding cannabis events that don’t involve consumption. Aldrich says Trucenta is interested in offering the space for weddings receptions, bachelor parties, and other events before it opens as a consumption lounge.
Michigan’s Indigenous tribes want in on weed
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow Michigan’s 13 Indigenous tribes to open up recreational marijuana businesses and receive a portion of the taxes levied on sales. The House legislation, which is expected to advance from a committee Tuesday, would enable tribal members
Hot Box Social is on pace to become the state’s first cannabis consumption lounge.
to enter into compact agreements with the Marijuana Regulatory Agency to get licensed to become growers, processors, transporters, and testers. They also would have access to the state’s marijuana tracking system, called Metrc. “Really this is a problem we’ve been trying to fi for close to four years,” Whitney Gravelle, president of the executive council for Bay Mills Indian Community, told The Detroit News. “When Michigan legalized cannabis in 2018, tribes were forgotten about. That’s typically not the process for other states that have legalized. ... But from the moment it was legalized in Michigan, we’ve playing catch-up.” Under the bill, the tribal businesses also would be subject to 6% sales tax and 10% excise tax, the same rates required of all other recreational marijuana businesses in Michigan. Just like other municipalities in the state, the tribes would receive a portion of the tax proceeds so they can gain “the economic benefit from this burgeoning industry.” “Entering into the compact agreements will allow us to provide tribes access because they will be recognized as essentially a business the same way the state-licensed businesses are so they could participate in the Metrc system,” Brisbo said. “They could bring
26 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
in supply from state-licensed operators and all of their sales could be tracked as well.” —Steve Neavling
JARS Cannabis and Terrapin offer scholarships to cannabis school
Since Michiganders voted to legalize recreational cannabis in 2018, the industry has skyrocketed to new highs. That’s obvious. What isn’t always so obvious is how people who were disproportionately affected by the war on drugs — *cough* minorities and poor people *cough* — can participate in the “new” money-making industry. To help level the playing field, several cannabis companies in Michigan are working on social equity programs, including JARS Cannabis and grow facility Terrapin. The two have paired up to fund over 20 scholarships to Higher Learning Institutions, Michigan’s first licensed vocational and technical school for cannabis in Pontiac. The scholarship program, called the Cannabis Community Social Equity Scholarship, will be available to those “who reside in disproportionately impacted communities and have plans to operate a marijuana establishment there; those who have marijuanarelated convictions; or people who have been registered as Primary Caregivers
TRUCENTA
in Michigan.” “The war on drugs disproportionately affected many groups and communities in Michigan,” Terrapin CEO Chris Woods said in a press release. “We feel a responsibility to help right those wrongs, and create pathways into the legal cannabis industry for those who were targeted the most.” Scholarship recipients will undergo a year-long professional development program focusing on subjects like cultivation, extraction, budtending, and licensing. The program will also offer facility tours, guest lecture seminars, and one-on-one mentorship with industry professionals. Since opening in February of 2020, Higher Learning Institutions has had about 100 graduates so far. While this particular scholarship is only available to those affected by the war on drugs, enrollment in the school is open to anyone interested in learning the technical side of building a cannabusiness. In addition to the social equity program, annabis will also offer a general admission scholarship for Higher Learning Institutions students that can be used for individual courses. More information, including the scholarship application, can be found at yourhigherlearning.com/scholarships. —Randiah Camille Green
CULTURE All the things a Batman movie should do By George Elkind
Veering from the false realism of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and the more earnest fantasias of Zack Snyder’s work, Matt Reeves’s The Batman moves toward a looser and better-humored fantasy space in its treatment of its title figure. With a script that seizes upon even the lowest-hanging sorts of camp morsels — a Catwoman (a game Zoë Kravitz) who makes “nine lives” quips and lingers over the phrase “the Cat and the Bat” — this iteration feels comfortable admitting a level of cheese into its system that olan co. could never have stomached, at least not consciously. The result is une pectedly welcome, a comic book movie that feels buoyed by a mi ture of humility and fidelity to its cartoon origins, and which stumbles only when it grasps at being more. s a figure for he can’t really be considered the same “character” in the old literary sense, across so many decades and re-castings — Batman has served as a canvas, usually, for whatever its creators need him to be, whether for commercial or personally driven reasons. Whether a super cop, a compulsive child-adopter and family man, a James Bond-style superspy, or technocratic control freak, the man (and that part’s important) has risen to an impossible range of occasions under an even greater variety of circumstances, ideologies, and times. ndefatigable, paternalistic, and discontented as he remains across creative treatments, longstanding commercial success and a core chameleonic nature have allowed him to be to some e tent whatever his creators might like him to be. On the screen or page, in their efforts to build a hero for their respective times and tastes, these artists often reveal stuff they might not wish to always a risk in making even the most mildly e pressive forms of art. With atman, a bit improbably, film artists often seem to get more license than one might e pect and show themselves accordingly. As Reeves renders him, Robert Pattinson’s ruce Wayne is a hapha ard, scrappy vigilante activist, e orci ing his own pains by in icting them he hopes constructively on others. Still wrecked over losing his parents
Zoë Kravitz and Robert Pattison play familiar characters in The Batman.
at a young age, he’s built a reputation as a sort of urban legend, inspiring fears in the city’s criminal element, which he stirs by surprising crooks where he’s able “ can’t be everywhere at once,” he remarks), something he tells himself will help tamp down crime. riven largely by ghostly projections and a kind of stunted empathy specifically a desire to prevent others from e periencing the sorts of losses he’s felt himself — he operates less from a place of logic than of defiant, reactionary, and broadly directed anger, and is worn thin constantly as a result. Working in the run-up to a contentious mayoral election as his e travagant holdings wither from misuse and neglect, his eyes, along with those of effrey Wright’s ommissioner Gordon (“a good cop,” Batman continually insists) are trained for much of the film’s duration on the corrupt streaks running through Gotham
28 March 2-8, 2022 | metrotimes.com
ity’s governing forces. His rivals’ villains more on this later are fi ed upon the same. While not uite an underdog, Pattinson’s more slender detective feels miles from the rippling, blunt instruments en eck and histian Bale each made of themselves for the title role. When he fights, it’s usually against small packs of untrained brutes and amateurs, with the element of surprise and a web of shadows at his back, allowing him to dispatch them with not e treme advantages in training and e uipment. As rendered by Reeves, cinematographer Greig Fraser (also of Dune and Zero Dark Thirty), and production designer James Chinlund, Gotham proves an ideal stomping ground for this, eternally but attractively hazy and underlit. ess industrial a city than a post-Gilded Age one, the city’s a maze of looming, baroque, and e travagant relics spaces which feel
WARNER BROS/COURTESY EVERETT C
The Batman Rated: PG-13 Run time: 176 minutes less useful in remedying the city’s ills than in serving as haunted temples to wealthy civic leaders from some better past. hooting its darkened, rain soaked surfaces in hazy shallow focus while deploying scant and mostly practical forms of light (both Edward Hopper and idley cott are clear in uences , raser and eeves seem less concerned with making their graffiti encrusted cityscape credible or familiar than making it evocative and absorbing. nd why shouldn’t they The best comics are made up of fine and rarely realistic drawings, and more filmic work could aspire, given the e pense involved, to something like those virtues. The film’s villain shares its crew
heads’ taste for theatrical trails of crumbs, staging elaborate games of murder to lead his pursuers around by the nose. As the Riddler, Paul Dano’s tricks hail from the playbook established in stuff like Zodiac and Se7en, though the film’s 1 rating (surely a studio mandate) constrains how far these or the film’s scant car nal elements can go, partially blunt ing both with a kid glove handling. eeves and crew make something of the iddler’s mood board approach to killing anyway, which seizes largely upon outing corrupt and hypocritical doings by public figures, largely ow ing through the domain of the Pen guin a sufficient olin arrell buried in prosthetics) in the form of his vaguely seedy druggy se y ceberg ounge. rowing over tabloid photo graphs and leaked tapes, the Penguin, a self starting sadist wielding duct tape and a phone camera as principle weapons from behind a sack cloth mask, provides a good enough engine for the film that tends not to under line its politics, even as they aren’t so hard to glean. oming off a little kinky, maybe ueer, and eventually as right wing, his complaints — about corrupt, selfish, and hypocritical oli garchs, of rampant inequality, and of rampant self dealing are the sort of
As Reeves renders him, Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is a haphazard, scrappy vigilante activist, exorcizing his own pains by inflicting them — he hopes constructively — on others. obvious stuff you can nod your head at; they’re simple facts of life. The perverse trouble, though, is that a film’s villains often present its heroes with a problem to solve and in attempting to theorize solutions, The Batman presents sources of cor ruption as limited, assailable, and possible to root out. n reality, as most of us should know, they are sys temic, and thus persistent, because they’re so diffuse in source. harm reduction approach is as good as the iddler or atman’s anti corruption work could really ever get, but neither they nor eeves and his scripters seem to grasp that it’s the summit of what they might be able to achieve. As the Riddler sketches out a circle of corrupt figures in city leader ship at present, as well as various cherished figures from otham’s past
— enclosing both Pattinson’s Wayne and his dear, good olice ommis sioner ordon they suggest at intervals the notion that with better cops, a more thoughtful billionaire, and a sweeter mayor and DA, they might be able to fi things in some big way. Such thinking is a rich per son’s progressivism, one which in courting power — loses sight of what power does, and the film attempts to couple these childlike notions with criti ues of a broken windows sounding but scarcely visible renewal program that’s at the center of the backgrounded mayoral campaign. A realer class consciousness could have been better wrestled with by giving ravit ’s atwoman, who’s a close but less well heeled foil to Wayne in her endeavors, more space to demon strate both her mode of working and
a better individuated point of view. ortunately, the film’s most naive politics tend to recede in the time spent viewing, only muddying things severely in its final act. They’re by and large eclipsed by the film’s scenario, its figuration of its well played char acters, and its many admirable formal aspects — which suggest a fantastical world shaded by more appropriate levels of cynicism than does the oc casionally boneheaded script. While it’s possible, though ’m not con vinced, that the stubborn optimism of its writing leavens The Batman, making it more pleasurable than it really had to be, suspect its virtues lie (along with the aspects mentioned above in the humility and sense of play it could use still a little more of. n spite of this, it’s surprisingly lively, attractive, and good humored. While ’d be the last to ask for more movies uite like this given the glut of big budget superhero stuff we’ve all been drowning in for years can’t deny my pleasure anyway in catching one that feels made a bit more modestly, and that’s attractive, fun, and finely acted on top. While it may sound like faint praise, it feels e ceptional to say this considering the climate of Holly wood at present: The Batman mostly does the things it ought to.
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
29
CULTURE An unlikely and enduring cult classic
Greg Sestero on what he learned making ‘the greatest bad movie ever made’ By Lee DeVito
Twenty years ago, Greg Sestero was a model who had been trying to break into Hollywood when he agreed to help an eccentric entrepreneur he met in an acting class named Tommy Wiseau make an indie feature film. Wiseau would write, produce, e ecutive produce, direct, and star in the movie alongside estero, who figured nobody would ever actually see it. The rest is history the film The Room is a bizarre love triangle drama that was panned by critics, but eventually amassed an enthusiastic midnight movie fan base known for yelling at the screen, throwing ob ects including plastic spoons and footballs , and dressing up as their favorite characters. The film’s cult following has only continued to grow. On aturday, estero will appear for a Q&A and meetand-greet for a screening of The Room at the oyal Oak Music Theatre. estero says he’s still surprised by the film’s unlikely success, and the career it’s afforded him. When reached by phone, he’s on a scouting trip in ew Me ico for an upcoming U O abduction film tentatively called Forbidden Sky. He’s also gearing up for a wide release of his latest pro ect, Miracle Valley, a horror film he also wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. “ guess pulled a Tommy,” he says of his experience wearing many hats on the set of the film. hot in ri ona, estero describes Miracle Valley as inspired, in a way, by his experience making The Room. “ ’ve always been really fascinated by cults, like the Manson cult ... the whole culture of that,” estero says. “ nd being part of The Room is very much a cult, and seeing sort of the exciting aspect of what cults are about.” round , estero says he noticed people in the audience throwing a football during a festival screening of The Room, echoing the actions of one of the movie’s most confounding scenes. ut it wasn’t until that he truly became fully aware of The Room’s following, when a reporter from Entertainment Weekly contacted him for a story. “ thought it was a oke,” estero recalls. t that time, the movie had taken off among . .’s comedy scene, and was becoming known for its raucous view-
Greg Sestero, left, and Tommy Wiseau on the set of the 2003 film The Room.
COURTESY PHOTO
Tommy Wiseau is “a very complex, mysterious guy that I just kind of stopped trying to solve,” says Greg Sestero.
largely an enigma. “He’s mysterious, but at the same time he’s very smart in his own way,” estero says. “He’s a very comple , mysterious guy that ust kind of stopped trying to solve.” The best way to understand Wiseau is from his magnum opus, estero says. “ think when it comes to his life, he genuinely really wanted to build something that would move people,” he says, adding, “ think The Room is definitely something that is very much who he is.” estero says that though he’s open to the possibility of revisiting The Room as a se uel, he also knows that it would be difficult to recapture that lightning in a bottle. “ t ust has this sort of magic or whatever,” he says. “ t would be really hard to recapture that vibe.” till, estero says he’s ama ed by how The Room’s legacy continues to evolve, with audiences coming up with new rituals. He says he’s recently noticed a new trend where viewers begin counting down in one scene as Wiseau’s character ohnny ips out, tearing a room apart. “ o it’s almost like the audience is stepping up to make the movie an even better e perience,” estero says. “ t’s always evolving.”
ing parties. “I think there are very few movies that do that, that bring about that participation,” he says, adding that The Room falls in a niche category that includes The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Big Lebowski. “ ou ust can’t plan those kinds of things,” he says. As The Room’s fan base grew, estero wanted to try and harness the momentum. “ was like, O , people are seeing this movie. What do do with this ” he says. “How does this propel me forward ” n 1 , he started writing a memoir about his experiences behind the scenes, which became the 1 book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made. n 14, eth ogen’s production company Point Grey Pictures acquired the rights for a film adaptation. estero was soon tapped to help, consulting with the filmmakers and providing photos to the production designer for an authentic dramatization of the making of the movie. The resulting 1 buddy comedy The Disaster Artist was produced and directed by
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ames ranco, who also played Wiseau alongside ranco’s brother ave, who played estero. ranco’s portrayal of Wiseau wound up winning a Golden lobes award for est ctor Musical or omedy. “ t was ust so fun to be a part of, and was so at peace with it,” estero says. “ was glad those guys got the story, they were a great group. t was great to ust en oy the process and be a part of it.” Sestero says his experience working on the huge Hollywood production inspired him to want to continue to make his own films. He produced and wrote Best F(r) iends, a two part 1 dark comedy that once again starred estero and Wiseau, this time as an . . drifter and a mortician with a dark past, loosely based on a road trip the two took together. Sestero says the two still keep in touch. “We’ve known each other now for almost 4 years,” estero says. “ t’s one of those things where you almost become like cousins, in a way. Our lives are entwined creatively.” espite so many years of friendship, though, estero says Wiseau is still
“An Evening Inside The Room with Greg Sestero” starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 5 at the Royal Oak Music Theatre; 318 W. 4th St., Royal Oak; 248399-2980; royaloakmusictheatre.com. Tickets are $15-$35.
metrotimes.com | March 2-8, 2022
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CULTURE Q:
I’m a 34-year-old straight cis male. About eighteen months ago I met a lovely human that I’m crazy about. When we started dating, she said she needed us to be poly and I agreed. It w s rst or ot o s lw s been interested — my parents are queer and have been poly my whole li e — so it w s t ew co ce t to me. Early on, we went on some random dates, made out with some other people, but took it slow because we wanted to il o tio o tr st lo e rst. ow we re t ere. e rece tl st rte ti close rie o o rs. In theory, I’m good with it. I adore him and he cares about us as a couple. T ere s lots o comm ic tio e ing in all directions. We’ve even tossed ro t e i e o some t reesomes or o rsomes. c t w it or t e w e m tr l sto e or t is, we can all play and love on each other. But I don’t want to “overcome the jealousy” or “deal with it.” I want being poly to e somet i t t m es li e m i t m still ei restricte sill eeli s t i m e i some e rio s tri rc l c it list c . ice or mo i o s ic l s possible into a polyamorous paradise? w t to eel eerer little less m i stre m —Seeking Polyamorous Effortless Wonders
A : No relationship — closed, open,
or poly — is a paradise. Ideally a relationship brings more joy into your life than pain. (Unwanted pain; wanted pain is its own kind of joy.) But misunderstandings, disagreements, and hurt feelings are a part of every romantic partnership. And the longer that partnership goes on, the likelier the people in it — couple, throuple, or quad — are going to face the kind of relationshipextinction-level event that requires contrition, forgiveness, and aggressive memory-holing to survive. As for jealousy… My husband has been with his boyfriend for five years there are times when I see them together and I am not just happy for them, SPEW, but made happy by them. (I’m straining to avoid the term “compersion” here, or “the other c-word,” as it’s known at our house.) But there are times when I feel jealous… and if I’m still experiencing jealousy after 20+ years in an open relationship… and still feeling experiencing jealousy after 30+ years being pretty fucking queer… I don’t think jealousy is something you need to completely overcome before opening
your relationship or that that being “queerer” cures. And it’s important to distinguish between different kinds of ealousy. There’s the healthy kind of jealousy (someone is being neglected or taken for granted, and their feelings need to be considered), there’s the unhealthy kind of jealousy (someone is controlling and manipulative, which is a red ag for abuse , and then there’s se y and energizing kind of jealousy (seeing your partner through another’s eyes and recognizing — or being reminded — of your partner’s desirability). Instead of trying to expunge all feelings of jealousy from your emotional repertoire before opening your relationship (which no one does before entering into closed relationships), you need to ask yourself what kind of jealousy you’re feeling at a particular moment. If it’s the healthy kind, ask for you what you need; if it’s the unhealthy kind, get your ass into therapy; if it’s the sexy and energizing kind, enjoy the ride. nd finally It’s good that you’re taking your time, because rushing things is a good way to fuck this up. But paradoxically, SPEW, if you wait until you’re no longer experiencing any jealousy — or no longer have con icted feelings about this — you’ll never get there.
Q:
I’m a 36-year-old cis gay man who c me o t ec e o o wi es re cce t ce rom rie s mil , t e r m i e sit tio now might change that. Last summer, my husband died unexpectedly, leaving me widowed and trying to pick up the ieces. co l t slee m c or w ile and went online to chat. I wound up meeting this great guy who lives across the country. He’s a sexy leather daddy, and I’ve traveled to stay with him on two occ sio s some o t e ottest sex I’ve ever had. Plus, I really like im e s , sm rt, ee . ere s my dilemma: He’s married to another m , lso e eeli s or t e husband. I plan to move there soon to see where this goes and start the next c ter o m li e. will e etti m ow rtme t, t le st t rst. t s still e rl , t eel li e co l ll in love with both these men. How do I pursue this and start over somewhere new while making this all understandle to t e str i ts i m li e s t ere a way to explain this to my mom and t e rest o m mil wit o t re i them out? I know it shouldn’t matter, ll ollow m e rt eit er w , t
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Savage Love By Dan Savage
You want them to think you’re “one of the good ones,” i.e., one of the monogamous ones, while they couldn’t care less. But even if they do care and would prefer to see you monogamously married again, they will embrace your new relationship if you make it clear you will accept nothing less from them.
Q:
JOE NEWTON
I’d hate to lose this close connection wit m mil i t e et weir e o t m ti li e. —No More Mr. Heteronormative
A : I’m so sorry for your loss, NMMH,
and ’m so glad you were able to find the support you needed online — and it’s nice to be reminded that people don’t just go online to share conspiracy theories and post revenge porn. People find connection online, they find support, and sometimes they find new love in the form of a sexy leather daddy. As for what to tell your family about your relationship… For now, NMMH, nothing. Just like you’re getting your own apartment after you move because you want to wait and see where this relationship goes before moving in with these guys, you’re going to want to see where this relationship goes before you tell your family about these guys. This isn’t about hiding things from your family, NHHM, but about waiting to roll out your new relationship if and/or when it gets serious. You most likely didn’t introduce mom to your late husband after your second date; similarly, there’s no need to introduce mom to these guys after seeing them on only two occasions. And in my experience — in my own highly personal and highly relevant experience — it’s often easier for the families of gay men to accept that we’re open or poly than it is for the families of straight people. Our families have some practice letting go of expectations and prejudices. And while it’s possible your family’s made it clear their acceptance was conditioned upon you marrying and settling down and behaving “heteronormatively,” it’s also possible you’re projecting.
My husband used to go strip clubs wit rie s e ore we were m rrie , and I’ve heard stories about how strippers would be all over him — especially i t ere were t wome i is sm ll group. I want to go to one with him. But I have exactly zero interest in being touched by strangers, strippers or not. I also don’t want anyone touching my husband. I just want to watch. Is there some way to signal that? Do they only come o er to o i t e see o ti m going to tip, btw, but on the way out so no one thinks I want extra attention. —Curious About These Clubs Husband Visited
A : Please don’t go to a strip club.
Strippers make money selling private dances — in many strip clubs, strippers pay the club to dance. And when strippers aren’t up on the stage, they’re walking the aisles, and approaching men who might be interested in buying a private dance. Very few strippers are gonna plop themselves down on someone’s lap (that’s what they’re selling; they’re not giving that shit away for free), but it’s not uncommon for strippers to place a hand on someone’s shoulder or lower back, lean in, and chat up a potential customer. I wouldn’t describe that sort of incidental contract as being “all over” someone, but it definitely counts as “touching.” So, CATCHV, if seeing your husband touched by a stripper would upset you, or if being touched by a stripper would upset you, going to a strip club with or without your husband is a very bad idea. Go to a burlesque show instead. For the Record: Fuck Greg Abbot for what he’s doing to trans kids and their families in Texas, fuck every last Republican in Florida for what they’re doing to LGBT kids in schools, and fuck Vladimir Putin for what he’s doing to innocent men, women, and children in Ukraine. Ask: questions@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter: @FakeDanSavage. Columns, podcasts, books, merch and more t www.s e.lo e
CULTURE ARIES: March 21 – April 19 “I not only bow to the inevitable,” wrote Aries author Thornton Wilder. “I am fortified by it.” Wow. That was a brazen declaration. Did he sincerely mean it? He declared that he grew stronger through surrender, that he derived energy by willingly giving in to the epic trends of his destiny. I don›t think that›s always true for everyone. But I suspect it will be a useful perspective for you in the coming weeks, Aries. TAURUS: April 20 – May 20 ive la diff rence Hooray for how we are not alike am all in favor of cultural diversity, neurodiversity, spiritual diversity, and physical diversity. Are you? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to celebrate the bounties and blessings that come your way because of the holy gift of endless variety. The immediate future will also be a perfect phase to be extra appreciative that your companions and allies are not the same as you. I encourage you to tell them why you love how different they are. ow here›s poet Anna Akhmatova to weave it together: “I breathe the moonlight, and you breathe the sunlight, but we live together in the same love.”
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20 Gemini singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said, “I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.” I think that will be a key theme for you in the coming weeks. Dylan described the type of hero I hope you aspire to be. e alert ou are on the cusp of an invigorating liberation. To ensure you proceed with maximum grace, take on the increased responsibility that ustifies and fortifies your additional freedom. CANCER: June 21 – July 22 “I’d rather be seduced than comforted,” wrote author Judith Rossner. What about you, Cancerian? Do you prefer being enticed, invited, drawn out of your shell, and led into interesting temptation? Or are you more inclined to thrive when you’re nurtured, soothed, supported, and encouraged to relax and cultivate peace? I’m not saying one is better than the other, but I urge you to favor the first in the coming weeks being enticed, invited, drawn out of your shell, and led into interesting temptation. LEO: July 23 – August 22 A woman from Cornwall, UK, named Karen Harris was adopted as a little girl. At age 18, she began trying to track down her biological parents. Thirty four years later, she was finally reunited with her father. The turning point: He appeared on the “Suggested Friends” feature on her Facebook page. I propose we make Karen Harris your inspirational role model. ow is a favorable time to find what you lost a while ago; to re-link with a good resource that disappeared from your life; to reclaim a connection that could be meaningful to you again. VIRGO: Aug. 23 – Sept. 22 Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa told us, “Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquility.” Instead, he said that meditation is how we “expose and undo our neurotic games, our selfdeceptions, our hidden fears and hopes.” Excuse me, Mr. Trungpa, but I don’t allow anyone, not even a holy guy like you, to dictate what meditation is and isn’t. Many other spiritual mentors I’ve enjoyed learning from say that meditation can also be a discipline to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, and tranquility. And I suspect that’s what Virgo meditators should emphasize in the coming weeks. ou people are in a phase when you can cultivate extraordinary encounters with that all fun stuff. f you’re not a meditator, now would be a good time to try it out. I recommend the books Meditation for eginners by ack ornfield and How
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Free Will Astrology By Rob Brezsny
JAMES NOELLERT
to Meditate by Pema Chödrön. LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22 Comedian Fred Allen observed, “It is probably not love that makes the world go around, but rather those mutually supportive alliances through which partners recognize their dependence on each other for the achievement of shared and private goals.” That’s an unromantic thing to say, isn’t it? Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe it’s very romantic, even enchanting, to exult in how our allies help us make our dreams come true—and how we help them make their dreams come true. In my astrological opinion, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to focus on the synergies and symbioses that empower you. SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21 “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood ” declare many self help gurus. “It’s never too early to start channeling the wise elder who is already forming within you,” declare I. Oddly enough, both of these guiding principles will be useful for you to meditate on during the coming weeks. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’re in an unusually good position to resurrect childlike wonder and curiosity. ou’re also poised to draw stellar advice from the uture ou who has learned many secrets that the Current ou doesn’t know yet. onus our nner Child and your Inner Elder could collaborate to create a marvelous breakthrough or two. SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21 “A myriad of modest delights constitute happiness,” wrote poet Charles Baudelaire. That will be a reliable formula for you in the coming weeks, agittarius. ou may not harvest any glorious outbreaks of bliss, but you will be regularly visited by small enchantments, generous details, and useful tweaks. I hope you won’t miss or ignore some of these nurturing blessings because you’re fi ated on the hope of making big leaps. Be grateful for modest delights. CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19
I found out some fun facts about renowned Capricorn poet Robert Duncan (1919–1988), who was a bohemian socialist and trailblazing gay activist. He was adopted by Theosophical parents who chose him because of his astrological make-up. They interpreted Robert’s dreams when he was a child. Later in life, he had an affair with actor obert e iro’s father, also named obert, who was a famous abstract expressionist painter. Anyway, Capricorn, this is the kind of quirky and fascinating information I hope you’ll be on the lookout for. It’s time to seek high entertainment as you expedite your learning; to change your fate for the better as you gather interesting clues; to be voraciously curious as you attract stimulating in uences that inspire you to be innovative. AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18 “I always strive, when I can, to spread sweetness and light,” said P. G. Wodehouse. “There have been several complaints about it.” I know what he means. During my own crusade to express crafty, discerning forms of optimism, I have enraged many people. They don’t like to be reminded that thousands of things go right every day. They would rather stew in their disgruntlement and cynicism, delusionally imagining that a dire perspective is the most intelligent and realistic stance. If you’re one of those types, Aquarius, I have bad news for you: The coming weeks will bring you invitations and opportunities to cultivate a more positive outlook. I don’t mean that you should ignore problems or stop trying to fi what needs correction. Simply notice everything that’s working well and providing you with what you need. For inspiration, read my essay (tinyurl.com/ HighestGlory). PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20 Pastor and activist Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842–1933) said, “All great discoveries are made by people whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.” The approach worked well for him. In 1892, he discovered and exposed monumental corruption in the ew ork ity government. His actions led to significant reforms of the local police and political organizations. In my astrological opinion, you should incorporate his view as you craft the next chapter of your life story. ou may not yet have been able to fully conceive of your future prospects and labors of love, but your feelings can lead you to them. This week’s homework: See if you can forgive yourself for a wrong turn you haven’t been able to forgive yourself for.
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