Things to do this week

WHAT’S GOING ON

Imani Ma’at AnkhmenRa Amen’s An Unmasking of Thyself series is on view at Playground Detroit.

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.

FRIDAY, 7/29

Unmasking Daddy

Imani Ma’at AnkhmenRa Amen’s interactive exhibit at Playground Detroit combines African dance, drumming, photography, and ritual in a call to the ancestors. A n U nmasking of Thyself is part gallery exhibition and part performance art that includes four one-night performances. On Friday, July 29, the artist will present Act II in the performance series, “U nmasking Daddy,” a communal ritual honoring her father Baba Tahuti AnkhmenRa Amen, AKA Edward Lee Taylor Jr., by celebrating his life, legacy, and teachings. The corresponding exhibit of photos and prayer altars is on view at Playground Detroit until Aug. 12, and performances are scheduled for every Friday through its duration. Other performances in the series to follow include “U nmasking Heartbreak” on Friday, Aug. 5 and “U nmasking Joy”on Friday, Aug. 12. The exhibit opened on Friday, July 22.—Randiah Camille Green

Starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 29 at Playground Detroit; 2845 G ratiot A ve., Detroit; playgrounddetroit.com. Tickets for the performance are $10 and can be purchased online in advance. The exhibition is on view by appointment during gallery hours, noon-5 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays.

FRIDAY, 7/29

The O’Jays

People all over Detroit, join hands. Legendary R& B and soul group the O’Jays are bringing their farewell tour to Detroit this weekend.

“The Last Stop on the Love Train” tour will be pulling into the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre on Friday, July 29.

The trio announced the tour back in May. Lead singer Eddie Levert told V ibe magazine his plans were to retire without a tour, but later changed his mind. “I was thinking that I would quietly retire, but our fans and my body weren’t having it,” he said. “The love and physical ene t of performing eep u on the younger side of our age.” The O’Jays won’t be coming alone. Joining the OJays on stage is soul songstress Gladys Knight. —Alex Washington

Doors open at 8 p.m. on Friday, July 29 at the A retha Franklin A mphitheatre, 2600 A twater St., Detroit. Tickets begin at $54.50 and are available at ticketmaster. com. Doors open daily at 1 p.m. at 1 H art Plaza. G eneral admission weekend passes are $199 plus fees and are available from mopopfestival.com.

SAT-SUN, 7/30-7/31

Mo Pop

With a little more than a week before it starts, Detroit’s Mo Pop music festival lineup went through a bit of a shakeup. Festival organizers announced that Haitian-Canadian producer and DJ Kaytranada has canceled his appearance, and will now be replaced with Atlanta-based performer Washed Out. “We’re excited to announce Washed Out to the Saturday lineup!” the festival wrote on Instagram. “Due to circumstances out of our control, Kaytranada will no longer be joining us.”

On Twitter, Kaytranada wrote that the reason for the cancellation was due to a cheduling conflict with fellow anadian The Weeknd’s “After Hours Til Dawn” tour. The Weeknd announced Kaytranada was added to that tour after his original opener Doja Cat had to drop out due to tonsil surgery. “Sucks man. I really wanted to do MoPop ut there chedule conflict etween that and the AHTD tour and i can’t do those two cities in one day,” he wrote. “I promise i’ll be back soon Detroit.” Washed Out joins a bill that includes Detroit rapper Big Sean as a headliner, along with acts like Glass Animals, Jhené Aiko, Khruangbin, and more. Other Detroit artists on the bill include Tiny Jag, Charity, Gabriel Duran, and DJ duo Haute to Death. —Lee DeVito

THROUGH 7/31

Hastings Street

Detroit’s Black Bottom was a bustling predominantly Black neighborhood in the 1940s until it was razed to make way for the I-375 highway and Lafayette Park housing development.

A new musical explores the storied hi tor of thi neigh orhood lled with music, culture, and Black-owned businesses and its dismantling to make way for white residents. H astings Street made its debut on July 21 and runs until July 31 at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.

It’s being presented by Plowshares Theatre Company, which is Michigan’s only African American professional theater company. This is the group’s r t production ince hutting down in 2019 during the COV ID-19 pandemic.

Set in 1949, H astings Street introduces audiences to the Carson family, who moved to Detroit from the South to build a new life just as congress passed the Housing Act. Black Bottom is one of the neighborhoods targeted for “urban renewal,” which will ultimately leave its Black residents displaced and disenfranchised.

H astings Street tells a familiar story of lac etroiter ghting for their livelihood and community as they’re pushed out in the name of “revitalization,” all accompanied by a jazzy soundtrack. (Nope, that doesn’t sound like present-day “New Detroit” at all.) The actual Hastings Street in Detroit ran through Black Bottom and the adjacent Paradise V alley, another dismantled neighborhood known for its historic music scene and abundance of Black-owned businesses. In presentday Detroit, plans are underway to remove I-375 and replace it with an “urban boulevard” in an attempt to address the unjust legacy. —Randiah

Camille Green

COURTESY PHOTO

See website for showtimes at M usic H all C enter for the Performing A rts; 350 M adison A ve., Detroit; musichall.org; 313-887-8500. Tickets start at $29.