Metro Times 08/25/2021 by Chava Communications

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

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Vol. 41 | Issue 45 | Aug. 25-31, 2021

Publisher - Chris Keating Associate Publisher - Jim Cohen

News & Views Feedback ............................... 8 News .................................... 10 The Incision......................... 12 Informed Dissent ................ 14

EDITORIAL Editor in Chief - Lee DeVito Digital Content Editor - Alex Washington Investigative Reporter - Steve Neavling Music and Listings Editor - Jerilyn Jordan Cannabis Editor - Larry Gabriel Copy Editor - Dave Mesrey

ADVERTISING Associate Publisher - Jim Cohen Regional Sales Director Danielle Smith-Elliott Multimedia Account Executive Jessica Frey Account Manager, Classifieds - Josh Cohen

Feature On Remembering and

BUSINESS/OPERATIONS

Releasing Aaliyah .............. 16

Business Support Specialist - Josh Cohen Controller - Kristy Dotson

CREATIVE SERVICES Graphic Designers Haimanti Germain, Evan Sult

Arts & Culture

CIRCULATION

What’s Going On.................. 24 Restaurant review ............... 26 Culture ................................. 28 Weed .................................... 30 Film ...................................... 34 Savage Love ......................... 36 Horoscopes .......................... 38

Circulation Manager - Annie O’Brien

EUCLID MEDIA GROUP Chief Executive Officer - Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers - Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services - Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator - Jaime Monzon euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising - Voice Media Group 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com Detroit Metro Times P.O. Box 20734 Ferndale, MI 48220 metrotimes.com Got a story tip or feedback? Email letters@metrotimes.com or call 313-202-8011 Want to advertise with us? Call 313-961-4060 Want us dropped off at your business, or have questions about circulation? Call 313-202-8049 Get social: @metrotimes Detroit distribution: The Detroit Metro Times is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. The Detroit Metro Times is published every Wednesday by Euclid Media Group.

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Cover illustration by Rachelle Baker

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EUCLID MEDIA • Copyright: The entire contents of the Detroit Metro Times are copyright 2021 by Euclid Media Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above. Prior written permission must be granted to Metro Times for additional copies. Metro Times may be distributed only by Metro Times’ authorized distributors and independent contractors. Subscriptions are available by mail inside the U.S. for six months at $80 and a yearly subscription for $150. Include check or money order payable to: Metro Times Subscriptions, P.O. Box 20734, Ferndale, MI, 48220. (Please note: Third Class subscription copies are usually received 3-5 days after publication date in the Detroit area.) Most back issues obtainable for $7 prepaid by mail.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

NEWS & VIEWS

Feedback

MON 8/23 FREE POOL WED 8/25 Welcome “Come Play Detroit” Old Miami Softball Team! Pietrzyk Pierogi Pop-Up @6PM THURS 8/26 WDET Presents “What’s So Funny About Detroit?”

Comedy Show in the backyard doors @ 6:30PM

House of BBQ @6PM FRI 8/27 Seminole Hills The End Electric Brothers Cortez

doors @9 $5 cover

Yardie Bites Jamaican Pop-up @6PM SAT 8/28 Smith & Wreckless Werkout Plan Plus Size Models XXX doors @9 $5 cover

House of BBQ @6PM SUN 8/29 Happy National Lemon Day! Deep Eddy Lemon Specials all week! *A reminder to our unvaccinated guests to please wear a mask when not seated.

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We received a number of responses to intern Sean Taormina’s cover story “Entertainment and incarceration in Greektown.”

There’s multiple problems in Greektown. First, and foremost is what is the cities plans for homelessness? Greektown is a high-traffic area, with high potential for charity with passersby, but the numbers are high. Police presence is heavy, but why is crime so high? How many fights are there ACTUALLY, or are we adding to the numbers less than “bright” folks that choose to hang out down there high or drunk with the hook posted right there. It’s not so much a simple “they’re hooligans down there” as much

generalized problems under higher scrutiny via higher badge presence, with the occasional fight in a confined area. —@bheard5, Instagram If you defund police, that means you cannot add more officers to the department. So people bitch about the presence of police, and then bitch about the lack of police presence. —@ stewy9588, Instagram Great article and the pictures really bring it to life. —@Ludvig_Prinn, Twitter Where the white people at that be down there fighting?? All I see is blacks in the picture. @ deontae.green_, Instagram Sound off: letters@metrotimes.com.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

NEWS & VIEWS

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Think of the children

Macomb County parents urge local leaders to enact a mask mandate in schools By Steve Neavling

More than 1,000 parents joined forces to call on Macomb County officials to enact a mask mandate for schools to help curb the spread of COVID-19. The group Macomb County Parents for Safe in Person School sent a letter Thursday to school, government, and health leaders in hopes of convincing them to require masks before the start of the school year. The letter, which was addressed to the Macomb Intermediate School District, the Macomb County Health Department, and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, includes endorsements from more than 40 local doctors, nurses, psychologists, businesses, organizations, and a law firm. “Masks are a proven mitigation strategy to reduce the spread of Covid-19,” the letter states. “If we don’t utilize masks and other health protocols, we can

expect constant quarantines or even a full shut down of some Macomb County Schools, which will require us to return to a remote learning situation. We recognize the hardship remote learning puts on working parents, teachers, and children. We must do everything in our power to keep the spread at a minimum and give our children a safe learning environment in school.” The plea to county officials comes as an alarming number of children are getting infected and hospitalized with COVID-19, filling up pediatric wings in some hospitals. Proponents of mask mandates are facing opposition from conservatives who say parents should decide whether their children wear face coverings. Last week, a Republican lawmaker introduced a bill that would bar school districts from requiring students to wear masks.

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On Wednesday, anti-maskers booed and hurled insults at the Birmingham Board of Education for approving a mask mandate for students. A man in the audience flashed a Nazi salute and chanted “Heil Hitler” as a Black woman and Jewish woman stood at a podium in support of masks. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration is allowing school districts to decide on mask mandates. Many school districts haven’t yet decided whether they’re going to require masks. Detroit Public Schools Community District was one of the first to require students and staff to wear masks. Emily Mellits, a lead organizer for the mask mandates in Macomb County, said face coverings are especially important for children who are too young to get vaccinated. “Being that our youngest children are not yet eligible for vaccination, they are

currently the most vulnerable population,” she said. “To remove the one effective mitigation strategy that can protect them is unacceptable. When McDonald’s is taking more precautions than our schools, there is a huge problem.” The group warned of the cascading impact on the community if students aren’t required to wear masks. “We know that when community transmission is high, everyone is affected,” the group states. “Businesses will see less customers as people are home sick or their children are home doing remote learning. Our already exhausted and overstretched health systems will see another surge. We must implement mask and safety protocols in the K-12 system in order to give our communities, our businesses, and our health systems as strong a chance as possible in fighting this latest surge.”

The Best of the Rest of the News By MT staff

ormer President Donald Trump found himself doing what he does best: pissing off his own base while cosplaying as the current Commander in Chief. Trump was lightly booed at an Alabama rally this weekend after he encouraged the crowd to get the COVID-19 vaccine. “You know what? I believe totally in your freedoms,” Trump told the crowd. “You got to do what you have to do, but I recommend: take the vaccines. I did it, it’s good.” He added, “If it doesn’t work, you’ll be the first to know.” Trump, who contracted COVID-19 last fall after making unfounded claims that hydroxychloroquine was a COVID-19 cure, praised his administration for the swiftness with which the Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were developed despite recklessly downplaying the virus for months. In Alabama, only 36% of residents are fully vaccinated, which is reportedly the lowest percentage of fully vaccinated people in the nation. Meanwhile, outside the rally, a woman interviewed by the Right Side Broadcasting Network said Trump never left the White House. “He’s already here,” she said. “He never left. He’s the 19th president of the Republic.” Woof.

ove was the guise behind a Proud Boys gathering in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday, which culminated in a violent clash between anti-fascist demonstrators without intervention by police. Far-right groups gathered for an event touted as the “Summer of Love,’’ which commemorated the anniversary of a violent clash that took place between supporters of police and former President Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter activists and ANTIFA last summer. The Proud Boys had gathered together to spew transphobic vitriol and defend those charged for the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, referring to the insurrectionists as “political prisoners.” Anti-fascist demonstrators and far-right groups brawled in a roving clash across northeast Portland, exchanging gunfire, paintballs, bear mace, and fireworks. One man, Dennis G. Anderson, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm after appearing to open fire at a group of anti-fascists. A motorist was also severely beaten by members of the Proud Boys.

Proud Boys reprised their infantile cosplay in Portland, Oregon, this weekend. SHUTTERSTOCK

he trial of R. Kelly got underway, with the disgraced R&B star facing, if convicted, 20 years in prison for racketeering, as well as sex trafficking and kidnapping charges stemming from decades of alleged sexual abuse toward a number of women. Of the six victims featured in the case, one “Jane Doe” is believed to be the late Detroit singer Aaliyah, who Kelly secretly married when he was 26 and she was 15. An explosive revelation emerged from the Eastern District of New York courthouse in Brooklyn when Demetrius Smith, Kelly’s tour manager from 1984 to 1996, claimed he believed Aaliyah had been impregnated by Kelly while she was a minor, which was the alleged cause behind the rushed marriage. Worried that he might get pushed out of Kelly’s inner circle, Smith volunteered to obtain counterfeit identification so Kelly and Aaliyah could legally wed. “I feel like I’m on trial for Aaliyah, shit,” Smith said during the testimony, expressing his discomfort in talking about the late singer without her family present.

irst toilet paper and car microchips and now … apples? According to the Michigan Apple Committee, the state is expected to produce 18.25 million bushels of apples, down from last year’s nearly 22 million. Per the committee, the reduced apple harvest size is related to chilly temperatures this past April, which, in some growing areas, reported temps in the 20s. Michigan, which ranks third in U.S. apple production, will likely have a larger crop in 2022 barring, oh, we don’t know, more global warming nastiness.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

NEWS & VIEWS The Incision

The COVID-19 booster By Abdul El-Sayed

“Public” is the operative term

in public health — it’s what we do collectively to assure conditions for people to be healthy. “Public” implies collective action: we, as a society, doing what we could not do alone. The principal agent of the public in a democratic society is our government, chosen by the people for the people to act on our behalf to promote public welfare. Good roads, clean air, public parks, public safety — these are all things we leave to our government to do for us. Public health is, perhaps, the center of all of them. After all, without our health, what more do we really have? And yet our response to this pandemic has been bedeviled by a startling lapse in public action. Whereas our counterparts in places like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and even the .K. have suffered far fewer cases, hospitalizations, or deaths because of incisive and timely action to reduce spread, we have not. That’s because public action requires public trust — the belief that the government is truly working on our collective behalf, taking correct actions to protect us all. And public trust is near an all time low. During the Eisenhower era, 73% of Americans believed they could trust the government to do what was right most or all of the time. Today, only 24% do. On social media, that loss of trust has been weaponized by a small minority to sow conspiracy and doubt in any public action against the pandemic. I honestly thought that where our failed public trust had flummo ed our mitigation efforts, our technology in the form of the medical marvel of a vaccine — would save us. I thought that the advent of a vaccine, something each could do on their own, would ultimately end this. And yet I forgot that the choice to be vaccinated was, itself, a function of public trust. So here we are: barely half of eligible people are fully vaccinated. And this is where I get to the vaccine boosters. On Wednesday, the Biden ad-

The science is there on boosters… but so is the opportunity for Big Pharma to make billions.

ministration announced a policy of recommending a booster shot for fully vaccinated Americans eight months after their second dose beginning in September pending U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. Though the decision is backed by decent science … it’s backed by something else too. The science The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published three studies in their weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The first is a study of 1,129 patients who had been given two doses of mRNA vaccine Pfizer or Moderna) over 24 weeks beginning in March. It found that the effectiveness against hospitalizations was 86% over the first 12 weeks, and barely budged to 84% over the second 12 weeks. This study establishes that the vaccines don’t wane in effectiveness against hospitalizations over time (or, given the study period, against the delta variant). The second study, also based in New York, looked at age-adjusted hospitalization and infection among people vaccinated with the mRNA vaccines. It confirmed that while hospitalization risk was similar over time, infection risk increased among vaccinated people,

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dropping the vaccine effectiveness against infection from 91.7% to 79.8%. Finally, the third studied residents of nursing homes between March and August of this year. That study found that while two-dose mRNA vaccines were . effective against infections in nursing homes between March and May, effectiveness declined to just 53.1% between June and August. Taken in the conte t of the other two studies, it suggests that baseline effectiveness in seniors of the two-dose mRNA regimen may be lower in more vulnerable people, and that the impact of delta in these communities is more pronounced. There’s other data that is worth considering from abroad, as well. An Israeli HMO compared risk of infection among nearly 150,000 people over 60 who had received a third dose of mRNA vaccine at least one week prior with appro imately , people who had not. The risk of infection was over si times higher among those who hadn’t yet received a third dose. What does all of this mean? Two doses remain highly effective against severe infection requiring hospitalization. However, protection against breakthrough infection may

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wane with time and, in the face of delta, particularly in older and more vulnerable people. It appears that a third dose — a booster — may help prop up waning effectiveness. What we don’t know is if the booster will demonstrably reduce transmission by vaccinated people. Indeed, previous CDC guidelines recommending that vaccinated people mask up in communities with substantial transmission is based on the finding that infected vaccinated people can carry high levels of delta in their nasopharyn . Presumably, reducing breakthrough transmission reduces this possibility — but what does that mean for overall transmission patterns among the vaccinated? The ethics Now for the benefits and costs. Remember that whole civics lesson about public action I led with? It comes back into play here. The individual benefits of a third dose seem clear better protection against the risk of infection. The individual costs? Well, if you had that cold-like syndrome after your second dose, you’ll probably get it again after the third. But what about the collective? If there were definitive evidence that the

Our failure to vaccinate the globe increases the probability that the next variant and the variant after that will emerge. Vaccine boosters mean that hundreds of millions of doses that could have gone toward vaccinating people abroad will now go to offering boosters to double vaccinated people here at home. booster reduced transmission, you could argue that boosters would have a clear collective benefit. But there’s not, it’s ust presumptive. The collective costs are glaring. Billions of people in the world have yet to get a first vaccine not because they have chosen not to get it, but because there simply isn’t any to go around. Indeed, the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom hebreyesus proposed a moratorium on boosters until at least 10% of the citizens in every country are vaccinated. Protecting unvaccinated people from the ravages of COVID-19, which is rampaging in parts of Africa right now, must be an end unto itself. Nevertheless, there’s also the domestic implications of a global pandemic. Don’t forget the origin story of delta. It evolved in India, leading to a massive surge there that killed thousands of people. It’s now menacing the rest of the world and all of us here in the . Lambda, delta’s heir apparent, has already emerged in Peru, with thousands of cases being reported across outh America. Our failure to vaccinate the globe simply increases the probability that the next variant and the variant after that will emerge. Vaccine boosters mean that hundreds of millions of doses that could have gone toward vaccinating people who have not gotten a vaccine abroad will now go to offering boosters to double vaccinated people here at home. But there’s another consequence. If we step back here, it’s clear that the most important question facing vaccinations isn’t whether to give double vaccinated Americans a third dose, it’s how to get unvaccinated Americans to take their first two. In that regard, our mantra has been that vaccines are safe and effective. Recommending a third dose implicitly undercuts our own arguments among these people, who’ll

wonder how effective it really is if they need a third dose. The obvious counter argument here is that we’re dealing with a new variant, et cetera, et cetera but if logical arguments were effective, they’d be vaccinated already. The choice not to vaccinate is fear-based and emotional. These new recommendations could embolden those feelings. Here’s where I sit. I don’t think offering third doses was the best policy choice for us as a collective. But because that choice is now a fait accompli, I think it’s wise for individuals to get their boosters considering that if you don’t take them, they’re unfortunately more likely to wind up in the trash than in arms abroad that need them. The money Why are we doing this Pfizer and Moderna have been lobbying the government for some time to offer third booster shots based on evidence that antibody levels among vaccinated people waned with time. Though there’s no reason to doubt the science, don’t assume that pharmaceutical corporations were doing this simply out of altruism. An additional booster means literally 50% more in revenue for vaccine manufacturers. Analysts forecast an additional . billion for Pfizer and . billion for Moderna in 2 2 , largely as a result of booster sales. That’s in addition to the $60 billion in sales through 2 22. The additional revenue is particularly critical for Moderna, which, as a startup, relies on the revenue it makes on its COVID-19 vaccine for its market valuation. “Doing well by doing good,” is what folks in the business world might label Pfizer and Moderna’s efforts here at least folks in the part of the business world that can line up for a third dose. The rest of the world might ask how “well” they should e pect to do, and for whom the “good” ought to be done.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

NEWS & VIEWS Informed Dissent

How to lose a war in the graveyard of empires By ff y

On Nov. 2, 2001, T T s’s Thomas Friedman, one of the world’s most influential columnists, wrote, “A month into the war in Afghanistan, the hand-wringing has already begun over how long this might last. Let’s all take a deep breath and repeat after me ive war a chance.” We gave war a chance for 2 years. Nearly 2, . . servicemembers and some 170,000 Afghans died. And then everything went to shit overnight. Actually, it only everything went to shit overnight. The reality is more like that Hemingway line about the two ways you go bankrupt “ radually, then suddenly.” Let’s not mince words oe Biden owns the s y. The chaotic withdrawal was a failure of planning, intelligence, policy, imagination, whatever you want to call it. Biden set the . .’s end-of-August withdrawal deadline in April. The White House knew the Taliban was advancing. It knew the Afghan government was weak. It knew it had tens of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies to evacuate and a huge visa backlog to work through. vents happened faster than anticipated, but that doesn’t e cuse the scenes outside the Kabul airport, the reports of Americans being beaten by the Taliban as they tried to escape, the betrayal of those abandoned to the new regime. Nor does it e cuse Biden’s apparent foot-dragging on flying out Afghans because he worried about the optics in other words, that conservatives would fearmonger about refugees and terrorism and the immigration. (They are it ust shouldn’t matter. Biden claims there was no way to stage a non-chaotic withdrawal, and some of his defenders argue that an overly hawkish media has lost perspective. On CNN this weekend, former eorge W. Bush strategist-turned-critic Matthew Dowd called the coverage “way over the top,” pointing out that the White House has so far evacuated at least , people without losing an American life.

The U.S. “gave war a chance” in Afghanistan for 20 years, essentially to no avail.

Perhaps, but this nonetheless represents a stain on Biden’s presidency. at went wrong will be dissected and debated for years. But s t did, and on Biden’s watch and many Afghans will suffer for it. Polling suggests Biden is paying, too. As much as Biden’s critics want failure to be an orphan, however, there’s more than enough blame to go around. The a a y piece was a bipartisan, multidecade, multi-trillion-dollar misadventure doomed almost from the start. America went into Afghanistan full of hubris and bravado, high on post9 11 moral superiority and looking to kick ihadi ass for the Red, White, and Blue. But after failing to capture Osama bin Laden in December 2 1, the Bush administration pivoted to more politically convenient ass-kicking in Iraq while Afghanistan turned into the perpetual, no-win slog of “nationbuilding.” As Dowd told CNN “The original sin of the problem we’re seeing unfolding and everything that’s happened in 2 years is at Bush’s doorstep.” The original sin, yes. But he wasn’t the only sinner. oon after taking office, President Obama who, having opposed Iraq, decided Afghanistan was the “good” war ordered a “surge” of troops to halt Afghanistan’s deterioration. His administration spent $6 billion a year to equip and train the Afghan military, but despite public pronouncements to the contrary its forces could never stand on their own. Yet in late 2014,

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Obama declared the war over, though nearly 11, American troops remained. But the wheels of the Taliban’s victory were set in motion by Donald Trump, whose secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, signed an agreement in ebruary 2 2 that amounted to little more than capitulation. Trump agreed to remove . . troops by May 1, 2 21 Biden delayed it by several months — and arrange for the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners. In e change, the Taliban promised to negotiate with the Afghan government not give up its military campaign or agree to powersharing — and refrain from terrorism. nsurprisingly, the agreement “left many Afghan forces demoralized, bringing into stark relief the corrupt impulses of many Afghan officials and their tenuous loyalty to the country’s central government,” T as t st reported. After Trump pulled out all but 2, troops, the Taliban made its move, striking deals with Afghan officials in rural areas, then provincial capitals, and finally culminating in the negotiated surrender of Afghan forces earlier this month. And while Trump and Pompeo now insist they would have gotten Americans and Afghan allies out safely, the Trump administration is largely responsible for the Afghan visa backlog that has bedeviled Biden’s State Department. o it’s not without ustification that Biden blames Trump for hooking him to a bad deal. But Biden didn’t leave merely because his hands were tied. He

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got out because he wanted out. He’s believed the . . should leave since he was Obama’s VP. or 2 years, presidents have studiously avoided being The uy Who Lost Afghanistan and worried about opposing a media groupthink that views . . military occupation as an ob ective good. or better or worse, Biden ripped off the Band-Aid. It’s not unreasonable to question whether withdrawal was the right decision. After all, a relatively small commitment about 1 , troops and minimal sacrifice deaths since 2 1 had kept the Taliban at bay maintaining it might have preserved Afghanistan’s liberalization, especially for women and girls. Of course, that commitment would have required reversing Trump’s withdrawals and reneging on his deal with the Taliban, which likely would have ignited a new round of intense fighting. It would also have to be indefinite, come in support of a thoroughly corrupt government, and face opposition from more than two-thirds of Americans. There were no good options. There haven’t been since we strode into the graveyard of empires an unconquerable country that turned back the British mpire and the oviet nion determined to win an unwinnable war. This was a quagmire of our own making. And before we lost it suddenly, we’d lost it gradually. s

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FEATURE

Remembering and Releasing Aaliyah Honoring Detroit’s Baby Girl 20 years later By Imani Mixon

On the cover of her 2001 self-titled album, Aaliyah stands in a nearly see-through mesh halter top, her eyes heavy but focused under wispy lashes, her glossy lips parted, ready for song. Here she debuted a new, futuristic logo with her name stylized so that the A’s look like upsidedown V’s instead. The back cover reveals the same photo in reverse, with Aaliyah sporting a lower-back tattoo and curls that cascade past her bra line. Her untied halter top stays miraculously in place. On her two prior album covers, Aaliyah wears dark black sunglasses coupled with a backwards baseball cap on 1994’s Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number and a side-swept bang on 1996’s One in a Million. In both instances, she is in focus, but just left of frame. Not quite in the spotlight, but not quite hidden. Based on the visual cues alone, Aaliyah signals that Aaliyah, the person and the artist, is ready to show more of herself and stand squarely in her own truth. he is finally alone and finally returning our gaze. When an artist’s name becomes italicized and otherwise stylized on an album cover, the project is cemented as an official record of their life up to that moment. When an artist passes merely a month after their first selftitled release, as was tragically the case when Aaliyah died 20 years ago at the

2001 was a whirlwind year for Aaliyah.

age of 22, the album that was slated to become their most important work also becomes their last. “ he was already venturing off. he was about to get it, trust,” says Eric Seats, one of the lead producers of Aaliyah’s self-titled album, which he refers to as “the red album.” It’s been so long since we’ve seen Aaliyah in action that it’s hard to remember the greater artistic ecosystem she was a part of, besides mainstays like producers Missy Elliott and Timbaland, who both have credits on Aaliyah. They collaborated on the inquisitive and declarative smooth jam “I Care 4 U” and Timbaland produced the lead single, “We Need a Resolution.” Sure, throwback videos and images imply that Aaliyah was beholden to a certain celebrity crew, but she also existed in a liminal space. For those of us who tuned in to 106 & Park

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every weekday and awaited the world premieres, she was loved and celebrated. For others, she was still unknown. Ricky Martin mispronounced her name at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards while awarding her best female music video for “Try Again” — Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Macy Gray, and Toni Braxton were in the same category. Perhaps her name was spelled phonetically (ah-lee-yah) on the cover of her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, to prevent mishaps like this. Just two months before, evidenced by a clip that resurfaces every year, Aaliyah was briefly interviewed on the red carpet by a blonde-highlighted, newly solo Beyoncé for MTV News during the pre-show. Can you even imagine a time when Beyoncé could be booked as a red-carpet correspondent, let alone a time when she still regularly interacted with the media or a live broadcast awards show, for a night? They bonded over a shared proclamation that D’Angelo, a featured performer for the night, was fine. Aaliyah donned a black one-shoulder Gucci gown and gold arm cuff, while Beyonc sported a sequined yellow gown that appears to be a Miss Tina original. In their brief, yet warm interview, Beyoncé refers to Aaliyah as “one of the hottest female artists out there,” then passes the broadcast back to her co-host, Sisqó. Fellow Detroiter Eminem won the most nominations and awards for the night. Aaliyah was a no-brainer for Black girl (aka urban)

fame, but she was still working on breaking into the broader, more popular market. Aaliyah was a big deal on a path to becoming an even bigger deal, as international superstars do. Seats and his music partner, Rapture D. Stewart, collectively known as Key Beats, Inc., were one of the producer crews tasked with crafting the sound for the new-millennium Aaliyah. Seats and Stewart grew up in church together, with Seats on the drums and Stewart on the organ, but they each know how to play the other’s instrument. They already had a sanctified flow going before calling Baby Girl to the altar, and they were ready to push it even further. “Every album is a testimony,” says Seats. Seats attended Los Angeles County High School for the Performing Arts and was in the same graduating class with his choirmate, the white boy R&B heartthrob Jon B., who Seats would later go on tour with as a drummer. Around the same time, Stewart became the unofficial music director for Timbaland’s musical production crew The Superfriends, producing for acts like Ginuwine and Playa. Seats got contracts from Montell Jordan and Timbaland in the same week, asking him to work more consistently as a producer for each of them. After learning that Timbaland enjoyed some throwback Key Beats, Inc. tracks, Seats decided to continue to join forces with Stewart, and the duo relocated from Cali to

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

NYC on Timbaland’s dime. The West Coast guys didn’t have many East Coast friends so they stuck to the studio, where they diligently worked on music for acts like Lil Mo, Missy Elliott, 702, and Tank. Aaliyah heard their tracks and requested that Key Beats, Inc. work on her upcoming album. “In my mind, this is your time to shine,” recalls Seats. “This is probably going to be one of the projects that supersedes a bunch of other work — past, present, or future. You need to let people know who you are.” Pretty soon they were being flown to Australia with Aaliyah while she was filming Queen of the Damned, where she was cast as Anne Rice’s vampire queen Akasha. Aaliyah would film for the movie during the day, then record at night. In the days before one computer could suffice to produce an album’s worth of songs, all of the producers transported their MPCs, Rolands, and Tritons overseas in Anvil cases. They had too much equipment to carry on their backs. When it was studio time, Seats says Aaliyah would float between producers and hop on whatever track resonated with her. The only way to guarantee that you’d make it on the album was to make something magnetic — something Aaliyah could vibe to, and something fellow producer and songwriter Static Major could write to. “ rom leaving a movie set of filming all day and then bringing your behind to the studio to bounce through four different rooms of producers and them all wanting you to sing on something and getting it done without any complaints? We never saw her tired,” says Seats. Key Beats has seven production credits on the 14-track Aaliyah. This means they produced half of the songs on the iconic album. During our interview, Seats picks up the nearby Aaliyah vinyl and reads off a list of unforgettable bangers — “Loose Rap,” “Rock the Boat,” “Extra Smooth,” “U Got Nerve,” “It’s Whatever,” “Those Were the Days,” “Messed Up,” plus the bonus track “Erica Kane” — all tracks that he and Stewart produced. Although most of the beats were made on the spot, Seats shares that he made the ethereal beat for “It’s Whatever” at least a decade before, while he was working a full-time insurance job. Seats reveals that there are also two unreleased songs produced by Key Beats that were intended for the self-titled album — “Quit Hatin” and “Don’t Let Em Fool You.” “I bet you every producer that worked on it probably has a full version or two or three of something that she recorded,” says Seats. “We have a lot of half-songs done. We have a few full ones floating around, too. o accumulated between the crew, there’s prob-

A young Aaliyah performing in Hello, Dolly! at Gesu.

ably a bunch of stuff. There’s some stuff I probably ain’t even heard, and I can say that for them, too.” There’s a nearly 13-minute clip on YouTube from the special edition DVD presented by Blackground Records that accompanied the album. The video is a mashup of behind-the-scenes footage sandwiched between snippets of Aaliyah guiding us through the album track by track with music snippets in between. The album’s production crew — Black, Bud’da, J- Dub, Key Beats, Static Major, and Timbaland — is featured on the music video set for “We Need a Resolution,” the lead single. During their interview, Seats and Stewart are seated next to each other in director’s chairs wearing cream ensembles — Seats rocks oversized jeans, a cream sweater plus braids beneath a bucket hat, and Stewart is in a cream sweatsuit set. “That’s pretty much how we normally do our songs. It’s music first and then writing and then we’ll collab and make whatever changes we have to make to make it right,” says Stewart in the 2001 video. It was a whirlwind time for the singer. After the release of the 2 action film Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah’s first ma or film, where she appeared alongside martial artist et Li, she began filming Queen of the Damned and was also cast to be in the next two The Matrix films. he was constantly traveling to film a movie and promote her new album, so her schedule was a bit too packed to make room for romance, but if you let hip-hop entrepreneur Dame Dash tell it, they were soulmates.

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“We didn’t have that much time,” Dash tells Metro Times. According to hip-hop love story legend and confirmed by Dash, Aaliyah and Dash had the same money manager, but that’s not what brought them together. Dash was attending a basketball game, where he met Aaliyah for the first time. he was dressed e actly as you’d imagine — a petite woman swimming in an oversized jersey. He thought she was cute, and pretty soon they got to know each other better. They were both in a phase of life where they went wherever work called. Dash was working on backing the 2 2 film Paid in Full, and Aaliyah was working on Queen of the Damned, so when they had a free moment to spend together in the same city, they would; otherwise they’d keep in contact via Blackberry. They had been dating for about a year and were longing for a time when they’d be in the same place at the same time. Dash remembers one time when his friend and model Natane Adcock brought him to a Vibe photoshoot featuring Adcock, Kidada Jones, Bijou Phillips, and Aaliyah, aptly titled Hot Girls. He spent the whole day with them, talking about big things like what happens to your soul when you leave this earth. “We ended up really having so much fun that we didn’t want the fun to stop,” Dash says. “So the intention really wasn’t to be, like, in love, but you fall in love — it’s not something you do on purpose.” Many of the tight-knit crews we once saw Aaliyah enveloped in have dispersed or altogether disappeared

COURTESY OF KATHLEEN SAMUL

because being back together again with just about everyone but Aaliyah doesn’t seem feasible, and also probably feels wrong. The pop culture moments that we’ve made of Aaliyah are real memories for the people who actually made them with her. “ he was getting her flowers, but she didn’t get to en oy her flowers,” says Dash. We lost Aaliyah just as she was preparing to ascend, so her entertainment legacy has been left up to a lot of folks who never actually knew her or to anyone who feels drawn to it. As of this article being published, most of her songs aren’t available on streaming music services. That will soon change. On Aug. 8, her long-dormant label Blackground Records emerged to announce a long-awaited, albeit contentious deal (her estate remains opposed to the project) to release Aaliyah on streaming services on Sept. 10, along with the rest of Blackground’s catalog, which includes One in a Million, a couple Aaliyah compilations, and albums from acts like JoJo, Toni Braxton, and Tank. Aaliyah’s catalog predates all of the music streaming services we’ve come to know. Aaliyah was released on July , 2 1, three months before the first iPod became commercially available and almost a year before iTunes (now Apple Music) even became a thing. Up until Blackground’s surprise announcement earlier this month, YouTube was the only place you could go to listen to all one hour, two minutes, and 28 seconds of Aaliyah in its entirety (unless you had a CD from the era). At the time of my latest listen, the video

The stage at Detroit School of the Arts, where Aaliyah first auditioned as a vocal major, has been named in her honor. IMANI MIXON

that was posted by RnBPopLover14 on Feb. 10, 2013 with a static image of the album cover had garnered more than 5 million views before abruptly being blocked by Blackground’s streaming partner EMPIRE on copyright grounds. There are currently more than 11,000 videos on TikTok using “Are You That Somebody?” — a hit song that still gets radio play in Detroit, but was only ever made commercially available on the soundtrack to the 1998 movie Dr. Doolittle — as a soundtrack for daily vlogs, hair tutorials, outfit of the day uploads, and rogue BTS fan posts. For the last 20 years, people have had to get creative with their commemoration of Aaliyah. Contemporary listeners are typically introduced to Aaliyah through the untrustworthy filter of the male ego, so Aaliyah is often flattened to the role of the quintessential R&B girlfriend. If you Google promotional photos of Aaliyah, you’d be hard-pressed to find an image taken by a woman, especially a Black woman. Many of the images we have of Aaliyah are produced and consumed by the male gaze. We could chalk it up to the white, male-dominated industries of photography and entertainment, or we can consider how much of our

perception of Aaliyah is polluted by this gaze. Even after Aaliyah’s passing, men have laid claim to her image and her legacy in a very forward, sometimes touching but always presumptively cringey manner. Listeners who weren’t even born when Aaliyah was around are likely to hear her name dropped from the lips of a male rapper or hear her voice in a posthumous, nonconsensual “feature” or “collaboration” before actually engaging with her catalog. As the conversation around consent and justice continues with a revised look at Y2K pop icons like Britney Spears and Janet Jackson, the lines get even more blurred (and intrusive) when we think about the future assumptions that male artists in particular have pushed on Aaliyah. This infinite loop of grieving, craving, and accessing Aaliyah is not exclusive to a handful of male artists; it permeates the culture and its commitment to nostalgia. Aaliyah is still invoked or directly referenced in today’s music. Instead of sampling her voice in the garbled, barely recognizable way of other dearly departed artists, folks endeavor to preserve the cool clarity of her sound. You can liken the artists and producers

in possession of Aaliyah’s posthumous releases and features to vintage collectors. Music industry folks thirsting for her unreleased gems desire the never-worn-with-tags version of her discography with minimum scratches, no wear, and no tear. In order for Aaliyah’s voice to call us back in time, it needs to sound just like it used to — in its purest, most untouched form before today’s artists twist and flip it into a chorus, refrain, or duet. Her rendition of the Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best (You Are Love)” is New New’s favorite song, which plays in the background of her first kiss with Rashad in the 2 cult classic film ATL. Her voice opens and closes Drake’s 2010 track “Unforgettable.” Kendrick Lamar sporadically laments “R.I.P. Aaliyah’’ on 2011’s “Blow My High.” ASAP Rocky’s boisturous 2012 party anthem “Fuckin’ Problems” interpolates “Quit Hatin,” one of the unreleased songs Key Beats produced for Aaliyah. She is stuck in agreeable repetition on Drake’s 2012 deep cut “Enough Said.” She stands up for herself and her reputation in Chris Brown’s 2013 “Don’t Think They Know.” “One in a Million” morphs into a bass-heavy rap ballad with Tink’s 2015 “Million.” Frank Ocean recalls her Isley Brothers cover about a minute into Endless, his meanderingly experimental visual album from 2016. She becomes a prototype for other nameless, modelesque girls to follow in Roddy Ricch’s 2019 Billboard-topping hit “The Box.” Just last month, Normani danced her way to R&B princess comparisons overnight in the music video for her 2021 single “Wild Side,” which allegedly does not sample “One in a Million.” Although Aaliyah has been gone now for 20 years, her energy is deeply embedded into so much modern media that her image, likeness, physicality, and voice haven’t gotten any days off. Aaliyah’s voice offers Blackness and sexiness by necessity. In turn, artists use Aaliyah’s voice to achieve a vulnerable coolness by proximity. It is not an even exchange, because she is not here to weigh in, so the question arises — would Aaliyah, a frequent sampler and cover artist in her own right, approve of these modern-day features masquerading as collaborations? She took the slow jams we were raised on, then remixed and rebirthed them. Perhaps she would oblige if the new track breathed life into an old sample and gave it a life of its own, like her multiple renditions of “At Your Best (You Are Love).” As evidenced in New New’s passenger-seat singalong in ATL, “At Your Best (You Are Love)” is the kind of song you can’t sing without closing your eyes. The lyrics to this simultaneously beckoning and welcoming love song remain

unchanged, but artists claim the classic as their own with ad-libs at the end of the song. Forever showmen, the Isleys draw out their outro. Ronald ends on a plea, “please do it for my sake, sweet love,” which narrowly makes it in as the song nears the 5:23 timestamp. Aaliyah has an a cappella version and a Gangster child remix of this song, too, but ends her original cover on a definitive “stay at your best baby.” Her version has 9 million views on YouTube. Never underestimate the power of a cool-ass Black girl. Frank Ocean’s guitar-less, synth-forward version sounds like a somber garden, with pieces of the original song planted in the soil as something new and refreshingly simple sprouts out. Ocean’s rendition returns us to the timelessness of the song. How can you actually prove Frank Ocean is referencing Aaliyah’s iteration and not the Isley Brothers original? On Jan. 16, 2015, Ocean released a snippet on his Tumblr titled “You Are Luhh’’ on what would have been Aaliyah’s 36th birthday. What was once a breakout song for 15-year-old Aaliyah’s debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, has become a tribute that is both frozen in and sauntering through time. Aaliyah was not granted the luxury of being around long enough to disappoint us — whether through action or art, a tone-deaf comment, a lackluster release, all the things that we nitpick our present-day celebrities over. Instead we’re left with space to cling to whichever version of Aaliyah we prefer — the star, the homegirl, the girlfriend, the actress, the style icon. Aaliyah regularly trends on Twitter, even though the platform didn’t go live until five years after her death. he is summoned when an R&B girl drops a cool, choreography-heavy video and when that guy we muted and canceled is finally arrested and on trial. he has stans running fan accounts and websites full of throwback pictures, videos, and what-ifs. One account even successfully petitioned MAC Cosmetics to release a line of makeup inspired by Aaliyah. Digital media is one highly questionable, deeply exhausting way to keep her alive. There are countless memorial profiles set up for her, designed by serious fans and fast fashion girls alike. Offering us a continuous glimpse at a life that Aaliyah worked so hard to keep private and sacred. Oftentimes, our intrigue toes the line of intrusion. We have seen dearly departed young starlets like Selena live on through new media — movies, podcasts, and a Netfli series. ver since she’s been gone, we’ve selfishly wanted Aaliyah’s estate to indulge our resurgent interest in her life and her style. But doesn’t it feel

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

sacrilegious to put someone’s image to work well after they’re gone? We’re all still trying to re-create her one-of-a-kind vibe, and as the ’90s and Y2K trends come back in style, so too does Aaliyah. After interning at Essence, 30-year-old stylist Derek Lee was tapped by a new hire at Blackground Records to style Aaliyah for a Teen Vogue shoot on Santa Monica Beach. Her team liked him so much that they flew him back out two days later to style her “One in a Million” music video. With classic menswear, techy sportswear, nylon, funky cargos, and vests in tow, Lee began to handcraft Aaliyah’s exclusive, yet inviting, highfashion, yet hip aesthetic. He’s responsible for scoring that iconic Dolce & abbana fit. ou know, the rhinestone choker and matching bralette from the “Try Again” video that the girls recycle each Halloween season? That fit was a mutual favorite for Lee and Aaliyah. “I really always liked that soft hard, that masculine feminine,” says Lee. “I’ve always liked that stuff. o it was a perfect fit.” It’s impossible to pick a favorite Aaliyah style moment, but one look that particularly resonates with today’s fashion is the intricate all-black attire that Aaliyah wears in the 38-second dance break at the end of the “Are You That Somebody?” video. She transitions from sporty sexy silver athleisure to a leather blazer and pants set with a sparkling cranberry red bralette and Gstring beneath. We didn’t get to see the aforementioned trench, Locs sunglasses, and hat, so Aaliyah could be lowkey; instead, Lee served up a dramatic encore. Lee handmade costumes that consisted of a crop top, a sheer Bolero top with onyx fringe beading, and maxi skirt with slits on both sides and cut outs at the hip, falling just beneath Aaliyah’s ever-visible midriff. He glammed out the backup dancers too — the men had a black button-up (with only the top button buttoned) and slacks while the women wore the same outfit as Aaliyah. In the video, they take turns dancing in stylish pairs and come together as a coordinated collective before strolling off camera. According to Lee, it was the first instance of him purposefully nudging Aaliyah deeper into her fashion journey. “My whole equation for working with her was to come with what I know her style is, what she’s going to like, and bring one thing that’s going to push it a little bit to the next level so when she’s ready for that, it’s there,” says Lee. According to Lee, support from Aaliyah’s friend and choreographer Fatima Robinson convinced her to give the daring custom black co-ord a try.

“Fatima was like, ‘Aaliyah, it’s time. You look fabulous. You look good ma, it’s time to let ’em have it,’” recalls Lee. Sure, the set is a Lee original, but if you were browsing for the skirt online right now, you’d enter “cut out,” “side cut,” “strap detail,” or “waist cut out” in your search engine and open up the portal of what fashion outlets call the visible thong trend. Add “sexy” and “naughty” to your search and the skirts will populate even more quickly. Even riskier than not wearing underwear, the visible thong gives the illusion that a G-string is purposefully peeking out from a pair of bottoms. Aaliyah’s visible thong moment predates Britney Spears’ 2000 VMA performance and Degrassi’s unforgettable episode featuring Manny Santos’ scandalous undergarments in 2003. Simply put, Aaliyah

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and anime-worthy pieces, then giving them a street edge. He imagines that present-day Aaliyah would be wearing some of today’s trendy designer brands, but thinks that Japanese streetwear designers like TheSoloist, WTAPS, NEIGHBORHOOD, White Mountaineering, and Yohji Yamamoto would be more her speed. “The swag was already there,” says Lee. “She was that girl. It was just a matter of, from where?” For some reason, Aaliyah is not one of those artists who is synonymous with Detroit, unless of course you’re from the city. Aside from her otherworldly aesthetic, part of Aaliyah’s magnetism is that she feels like everyone’s coolest and most popping homegirl, a feat that is bolstered by the

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was a trendsetter. Back in the day, Lee worked with celeb clients like Frankie J, Ginuwine, MC Lyte, Usher, Wesley Snipes, and YSB for BET, but Aaliyah quickly became his primary client. The duo worked together to refine Aaliyah’s cool-as-hell aesthetic to also be glamorous as hell. Lee was aware of Aaliyah’s stylistic influence on the masses and declined requests from other women artists, for fear of R&B princess replicas. It was hard not to want to dress like her. “Rarely did I do other women because they kind of wanted me to do her,” says Lee. “They kind of wanted her style a little bit.” “Rock the Boat” was the last time we saw Aaliyah in all her glory, and it was the last video Lee styled for her. It was tough for him to keep styling after Aaliyah’s passing. After briefly styling Lil’ Kim for her 2003 a B a Ma a album, where she rocks remixed menswear featuring a barely there black bra and suspenders attached to pinstripe pants, zipped down to there, Lee stopped styling other women musical artists. He currently styles for television and commercials, most notably MTV’s Ridiculousness. With her imaginative crop tops paired with oversized pants, her monochrome, her satin slips, her asymmetric silhouettes, and her metallic icy-blue colorways, Aaliyah was dressed for a future she never got to see. Lee had plans to create superhero-inspired ensembles next — customizing manga

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fact that, unlike a Beyoncé or a Ciara, her hometown was not the central focus of her origin story. After all, without intense Googling and a deep dive into Tumblr, how would anyone know that she grew up in Detroit? The back cover of her first album features an ominous Illinois license plate. At the tail end of that Aaliyah DVD, she shares a go-to dance move that she refers to as a belly roll, but would clearly register as a hip roll for any Detroiter who attended a basement party, middle school dance, or late-night skate in the city. For a certain period in time, Aaliyah was simultaneously everywhere and not really from anywhere in particular. If you’re from the city, though, chances are you or someone you know probably has at least one Aaliyah story. There’s this one lady who used to babysit her or this one guy who was invited to her first listening party. Although her Detroit roots aren’t really prominent in any recollection of her life story, the city holds her dear. Detroit is central to Aaliyah’s life and career, in large part due to her attendance at the city’s premier art school, Detroit School of the Arts. You may even know that the “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number” music video was filmed on Belle Isle and at D A with some of her classmates. If you’re a fan with encyclopedic knowledge, you’d also know that her original backup dancers, Charles Burton and Demetrius Howard, were fellow dance students at DSA. For fans all over the world, Aaliyah is an easy choice for being the ultimate Black girl

R&B entertainer of our time. For Detroiters, we find pride in knowing she was one of our own. In fact, if you use the Selden Street entrance at DSA in Detroit’s historic Cass Corridor neighborhood while classes are in session, Aaliyah is the first student you see. he’s peeking out from a Jonathan Mannion portrait hanging in the principal’s office. Aaliyah luxuriously leans back in a chair wearing a zip-up fur jacket and cheetah-print pants. She’s rocking her signature side-swept bang and glancing directly at anyone who visits her alma mater. Dr. Mayowa Reynolds is the current principal, and the picture was gifted to her from DSA past principal and founder Dr. Denise Davis-Cotton. “She was always a student and not a star,” says Davis-Cotton. Davis-Cotton met Aaliyah’s parents at the movies and told them about the new school she’d just opened. They came to visit, and Aaliyah decided that she wanted to attend. In 1994, Aaliyah auditioned as a vocal major by singing “Ave Maria,” then switched to dance. She entered DSA as a 14-yearold freshman, and by her sophomore year she was hitting the road. Luckily, DSA had previously made arrangements for Tony Award-winning Broadway star Celia Keenan-Bolger, and they used that model to accommodate Aaliyah’s work schedule and school curriculum, along with her backup dancers. Whenever she wasn’t physically at school, she had a professional tutor. DSA was still in its infancy — there was only one graduating class before Aaliyah’s in 1997. According to Davis-Cotton, Aaliyah was deeply interested in math and science and was a member of the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program, better known as DAPCEP. She had to be in attendance for state tests, but she elected to attend graduation and prom, too. “She embraced the philosophy of the school, the ideas of the school, and how the school met the needs of a child who was aspiring to become that which she became,” says Davis-Cotton. The DSA building that Aaliyah attended a little over a mile away at 4333 Rosa Parks Blvd. has been torn down, but Davis-Cotton, who was with DSA from 1992 until her retirement in 2010, helped oversee the new building that was built in 2005. Back at the new DSA building on Selden Street, there are a few student-made portraits of Aaliyah hanging in the hall, but the most prominent tribute is on the fourth floor the Aaliyah Memorial Recital Hall. The 1 -seat theater hosts staff conferences, rehearsals, and end-of-the-year solo performances. Her fresh new logo from the Aaliyah era is even incorporated into the signage. It’s the ultimate art school kid’s

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

Much of Aaliyah’s catalog has been out of print and unavailable for streaming — until now.

dream — a performance space, much more grand than the one you auditioned in, named in your honor at the school that was a launching pad for your career. When you visit DSA, it’s easy to imagine that you’re walking through the halls where greatness once was and where greatness is to be discovered. It’s hard to forget Aaliyah when her name and face ring and shine through the halls. “We love our own, and we honor our own,” says DavisCotton. No matter how jovial or agreeable my interviews for this story are, there is a line I cannot cross, a question I’m cautioned from asking. Some don’t want to talk about her death, others decline to share family information or whereabouts, and most cannot weigh in on where Aaliyah, the image and the artist, exists in the current cultural landscape because it’s the kind of news that they actively avoid. No one wants to see their dear friend, their student, or their soulmate disparaged or discredited. Especially since she’s not here to defend herself. Particularly because she kept so much of herself close to the chest. “What I know about her was all I need to know,” says Lee, the stylist. On Aug. 25, 2001, 22- year-old Aaliyah Dana Haughton was killed in an airplane crash after leaving the set of the “Rock the Boat” music video. According to Seats, “Rock the Boat” wasn’t supposed to be the next single after “We Need a Resolution,” but all the producers petitioned for a public vote and selected it. Now there would be a video for it, too.

“We wanted so bad to go over there and watch them film the video to a song we produced, [but] it just didn’t work out and we just ended up being at the studio,” says Seats. I don’t remember where I was when I heard the news, but her loss was embedded in one of my weekly childhood activities, which makes that time

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in my life much easier to remember. The Aaliyah album was released one day before my baby sister Nia was born. That summer I attended math tutoring to catch up with the fourth-grade curriculum at the pretty white suburban private school I was headed to in the fall. It would be the first time I would experience being somewhere with so few Black people. I was one of only a handful Black students, one of about two other Black girls in my grade, and I bet we were the only ones who even knew who Aaliyah was. Everyone else

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was deep into Coldplay and Jason Mraz and Eminem and Britney and Christina and Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch. Aaliyah passed on a summer Saturday when I hadn’t yet started fourth grade or journalism, so it wasn’t my duty to explain why this was a big deal, why this felt so major. Back then, I was

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always with my closest cousin, Dierra, who was a student at Gesu (another Aaliyah alma mater). We went skating every Sunday at Great Skate in Roseville, sharing quarters and snacks and sneaking looks at whoever was sneaking looks at us. That Sunday after her death was sadder, though. The DJ dedicated his set to our Baby Girl. There was no need for the clipboard request sheet; he knew her songs from front to back, and most of us did, too. The only person who I interviewed who recalled the day that Aaliyah

passed with me was producer Eric eats. A self-identified roller-skating rink kid, he told me that the litmus test he conducted for each track he made was, “Can I skate to this?” I told him that the first place I memorialized Aaliyah’s passing was at the skating rink. My pink pom-pom skates too festive for what felt like collective mourning. After all, Aaliyah was an artist for all-girls skates and couples skates — not this, never this. I told Seats that our somber skating session was something that could only happen in metro Detroit, and he kindly interrupted me. “I think that probably happened everywhere,” he says. “She had that effect.” Seats remembers being at Music Grinder Studios in Los Angeles, probably working with Tank, when he got a hesitant call from fellow Aaliyah producer Bud’da asking if they’d heard anything weird about Baby Girl. Seats assumes Bud’da was afraid to say what he knew to be true and asked Seats to call him back if they heard anything. Seats turned on the radio and knew it was bad news when Aaliyah was on repeat everywhere, because it for damn sure wasn’t her birthday. It was Cancer season, and she’s a Capricorn. They called Jomo, Aaliyah’s cousin and manager and their manager at the time, to confirm the news, and omo couldn’t even get a word out. “It wasn’t nothing to do but go home and cry,” says Seats. For other Black girls like me — from Detroit, born before iPods and destined for CDs, trying to straighten our hair into a jetblack silky sheen, wanting our art to take us somewhere far, hoping to see what happens outside of the city — Aaliyah was our first Black girl tragedy, the first shocking loss in a long lifetime of them. In imagining Aaliyah’s future, we can also imagine the future of her fans. As we go on to honor her legacy, my hope is that we can lay down our overprotective capes, release ourselves from the responsibility of defending her honor, and stop posthumously entering her in the best entertainer, prettiest girl, greatest dancer, best hair, best-dressed Olympics. Instead, in this glorious future, we let Aaliyah rest, because even though we never saw her tired, we can imagine her still. We look to her with reverence and care. We continue to tell the story about how one time Detroit made this one girl such a star that no one even bothered to ask where she came up, mostly because where she was going was very high and achingly far.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

WHAT’S GOING ON

En Vogue.

THU 8/26 The Mountain Goats

As the world was burning and one day after California-based stalwarts of folk the Mountain Goats wrapped Getting into Knives in 2020, the fourpiece drove from Memphis to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record the band’s 20th studio record, Dark in Here. Released earlier this year, Dark in Here could be, at first glance, considered the broody, gloomy, doomy, and desolate companion. But what the ohn Darnielle-led outfit manages to do is shine a heat lamp on those feelings through subtle and swelling instrumentation and thoughtful lyrics that explore a colorful world in grayscale.“Swim right through the night/Break the surface and rise like a geyser/When my time is right,” Darnielle sings on the album closer, “Let

COURTESY PHOTO

Me Bathe in Demonic Light,” a song that trails off like fireflies dancing at dusk with finger snaps and flute. The Mountain Goats will appear with Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards. — Jerilyn Jordan Doors open at 7 p.m. at the Royal Oak Music Theatre; 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; 248-399-2980; royaloakmusictheatre.com. Tickets are $30. *Venue requires proof of vaccination

THU 8/26 Boyz II Men and En Vogue

Something magical happened in the early nineties and no, we’re not talking about the advent of the Hot Pocket. We’re talking about the R&B scene, baby, which filled the airwaves with sensual hits, power ballads, and so

24 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

much harmonizing. Two of the genre’s biggest names have decided to give us the gift of a joint headlining tour and our loins are not ready. Of course we’re talking about power trios Boyz II Men and En Vogue. The timelessness of Boyz II Men has propelled the Philadelphia group to become the best-selling R&B group of all time, with more than 64 million albums sold thanks to hits like “End of the Road,” “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” and, our personal favorite, “I’ll Make Love to You.” What? It’s a really sexy song even if you’re, like, singing to a Hot Pocket. Anyway, over the years, Boyz II Men have also launched a charity, performed as part of a celebrated Las Vegas residency, earned scores of awards, including a nomination at the CMT Music Awards for their Crossroads performance of “Motownphilly” with country singer Brett Young, and, later, collaborated

with Steep Canyon Rangers on a bluegrass track. It’s no wonder the Boyz have teamed up with En Vogue, which is recognized as one of the top 5 highest selling American female music groups of all time. Known for hits like “Hold On,” “Free Your Mind,” “Never Gonna Get It,” “Whatta Man feat. Salt N Pepa”, and “Don’t Let Go,” En Vogue continues to surprise and enchant with creative collaborations and genre-shifting. In 2004, they landed on the indie Billboard chart for their sixth record Soul Flower and, in 2019, they collaborated with Chance the Rapper alongside Kierra Sheard and Ari Lennox on “I Got You (Always and Forever).” — Jerilyn Jordan Doors open at 7:30 p.m. at Michigan Lottery Amphitheater at Freedom Hill; 14900 Metropolitan Pkwy., Sterling Heights; 313-471-7000; 313presents.com. Tickets are $39.50+.

The Mountain Goats.

SAT 8/28 King Crimson

Calling all 21st century schizoid people: this may be your last chance to catch the gods of prog rock in concert, in the states, anway. “Management has said it’s very unlikely we’ll be back in America,” Crimson’s Jakko Jaksyzk reveals. “I think they thought announcing it as a kind of farewell tour was a tacky device, and something you end up potentially regretting if you change your mind. But in essence, as I understand it, this’ll be the last time we play here.” This news for prog rock fans is as if the night sky suddenly was void of stars, in other words,”Starless.” Sigh. Well, before we sacrifice ourselves in the “Court of the Crimson King,” the “Music Is Our riend” tour finds lead guitarist and Crimson co-founder Robert Fripp joined by bassist Tony Levin, multi-instrumentalist Mel Collins, drummers Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison, and Jeremy Stacey, and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jaksyzk. For most, King Crimson is as notorious for being a turnstile of membership and hiatus as they are for their meticulous mastery of anti-gravitational arrangements, an ouroboros of rapture and climax. King Crimson has never been anything but ambitious. Just look at “benign dictator” Fripp, who has been kept us wildly entertained during the pandemic when he and his wife of 35 years, Toyah Wilcox launched a YouTube series where they titillatingly cover hit songs by Nirvana, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and Britney Spears. — Jerilyn Jordan Doors open at 7:30 p.m. at Meadow

JADE WILSON

Brook Amphitheatre; 3554 Walton Blvd., Rochester Hills; 313-471-7000; Tickets are $59.50+.

SAT 8/28-SUN 8/29 Hazel Park Art Fair

Like so many community events, the Hazel Park Art Fair is making a triumphant return after taking a hiatus and will showcase the work of more than 70 established and up and coming artists across a variety of mediums, all of whom will be displaying their creations at Green Acres Park. In addition to art vendors, folks can enjoy live music, aerialists, and food trucks and vendors, as well as a charity craft beer tent, where proceeds will benefit a local nonprofit focused on food insecurity within our community. Families with children can enjoy a free “Take & Create” art kit which contains a simple craft that families can work on at home after they soak in some inspiration at the fair. — Jerilyn Jordan Event runs 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28 and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29; 620 W. Woodward Hts., Hazel Park; hpartfair.org. Event is free.

SAT 8/28-SUN 8/29 Blake’s 6th Annual Cider Dayze

It doesn’t have to be autumn to desire some cider. Or in the case of Blake’s 6th Annual Cider Dayze event, lots of cider … and craft beer … and wine. Touted as the largest premier craft cider and beer festival in the Midwest, Cider Dayze

Hazel Park Art Fair.

GREG AUBURY

returns with alcoholic offerings from more than 50 regional craft breweries, cideries, and wineries including Arbor Brewing Co., Bell’s Brewery, Eastern Market Brewing Company, Odd Side Ales, Tilted Axis Brewing Company, Short’s Brewing Company, Virtue Cider, and, of course, Blake’s Hard Cider. The two-day festival will also feature food trucks, lawn games, a silent disco, a beer stein holding competition, and live music from Uptown All Stars, St. Thomas Boys, Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers, and the Gobies. Tickets include nine drink tickets and a commemorative tasting glass. —Jerilyn Jordan Event runs noon-7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28 and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29; at Blake’s Hard Cider, 17985 Armada Center Rd., Armada; blakefarms.com. Tickets are $40+, designated driver tickets are $20 and include two non-alcoholic drinks.

WEDNESDAY, 9/1 Tinder Live with Lane Moore

It’s no secret that being single can be both liberating and totally humiliating, especially when it comes to using dating apps. Like, how many young Republicans holding sea bass or duck-faced face-tuned babes does it

take until you swipe right on the one? While you worsen your carpal tunnel syndrome searching for someone to eat gelato with (or someone to eat your gelato), you might as well laugh about the process with comedian, New York Times best-selling author, Onion contributor, and former Cosmopolitan Magazine’s sex and relationships editor Lane Moore. Voted one of Brooklyn Magazine’s “50 Funniest People in Brooklyn,” Moore is bringing her popular improvised and interactive comedy show, Tinder Live, on the road — and no one is safe, including Moore. Tinder Live is just as it sounds, but is always filled with surprises, as Moore trudges through the trenches of Tinder, swiping, and messaging along the way, in front of a live audience. Amid the jokes, private messages, and excessive emoji use, Tinder Live also has heart, as Moore’s performance serves as a reminder as to just how fucking hard online dating is and how, at the end of the day, all you can do is laugh, dick pics and all. Oh, we may have forgotten to mention a major detail: due to the geographical nature of Tinder, Moore will be searching for love right here in Detroit. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. —Jerilyn Jordan Doors open at 7 p.m. at El Club; 4114 Vernor Hwy., Detroit; 313-279-7382; elclubdetroit.com; Tickets are $26. *Venue requires proof of vaccination

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

FOOD Mastering Detroit-style rib tips By Tom Perkins

BBQ Central’s beef ribs spend up to three hours on the smoker and grill.

Despite the many grills filled with ribs, chicken wings, and other meats puffing throughout Detroit in mom-and-pop restaurants, backyards, and on street corners, the city isn’t famous for its barbecue in the way that t. Louis or Te as is. Perhaps that’s partly because Detroiters trade in a range of styles, and historically there hasn’t been a cohesive local barbecue identity or an item that every spot in town does well. But it seems that’s slowly changing. Detroit’s pitmasters continue to prove that their version of one dish is better than most the humble rib tip. And one of the newest restaurants, BB Central, arguably does it best, solidifying Detroit’s standing as a tip town in the process. Rib tips are what they purport to be tips of the rib. Butchers used to whack them off cooked slabs with cleavers and throw them away because they’re often cartilage and gristleriddled bone. But there’s also plenty of meat wrapped around the nubs, and many contend that this is some of the finest in the pig rich,

moist, and flavorful. While getting at that meat requires a little more effort, tearing at tips with your teeth is carnal, and there’s a payoff when the dish is done right, as it is at BB Central. Owner Denita Ramsey perfects her tips by serving them in a pool of Central’s e cellent sweet and savory sauce. But the tips, which are pork, are only partly how Central is making its name. It’s also the only beef rib game in town. enerally speaking, beef ribs have more meat, and some will argue that they’re more flavorful. Ramsey says she put beef ribs on the menu so people who don’t eat pork for religious or health reasons can en oy the dish. The concept seems to be working out well. Her small carryout shop at even Mile and West Outer Drive is regularly packed with customers, and her most recent location at McNichols and outhfield also remains busy, but in a different way. It’s right ne t to the freeway, and DoorDash and ber ats drivers take deliveries as far south as Dearborn and north to outhfield, which gets Central to people who she says otherwise might not come

26 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

TOM PERKINS

to Detroit. Ramsey, who worked in marketing at 1 2. M before going into the barbecue business in late 2 19, said that was by design. Central’s beef ribs are thick with tender meat, and spend up to three hours on the smoker and grill, leaving the bones full-bodied and smoky. I ordered a combo meal with the smoked chicken, which is supposed to come with a quarter of a bird that can be made with white or dark meat. Instead I received a small pile of chicken wings, which are hit with a dry rub and meaty and smoky. nfortunately, I had also ordered wings separately, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I had asked for the separate order of wings without sauce, and though they were good, the wings with the sauce that were part of the combo meal were even better. The lesson When barbecue sauce is of this quality, consider dousing everything with it. The fried turkey is composed of umbo, lightly fried legs that are marinated in a Ca un-y lemon, pepper, and butter sauce that really shines through and can be ordered alone or as a meal.

BBQ Central 12729 W. Seven Mile Rd., Detroit 313-397-7523 bbqcentraldet.com 11 a.m.-8:45 p.m. daily. Opens at noon on Sunday. Handicap accessible $3 for sides to $39 for full slab dinners

Ramsey says the dish is, as with the beef ribs, part of her effort to offer a healthy component that you won’t find in most barbecue shops. The menu also includes salmon, shrimp kebabs, and other lighter fare. The list of Central’s sides is long. Its mac-and-cheese is rich and dense with plenty of cheese, and good te ture. The greens are awesome, full of flavor and depth. ometimes greens get too watery or thin not these. Both locations are carryout only, and a limited amount of their dishes are made daily. On two occasions the beef ribs had sold out by the time I arrived for dinner, which is the mark of a good dish, so get there early.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

CULTURE

Ja’Nye Hampton, 22, began Detroit Flower Company during the height of the pandemic.

PHOTO VIA JA’NYE HAMPTON

Detroit Flower Company continues to bloom despite pandemic B y A l ex Washington

Maybe you’ve seen a bou-

uet of roses and sun owers decorated with eucalyptus and wrapped in burlap come across your Instagram feed with the simple caption If you lo e them, etroit lower o. them. Her start in oral artistry began years ago while she was still in high school. ike most sophomores, a ye Hampton decided to get an afterschool ob. Instead of making burgers or cups of co ee, she made bou uets at hrifty lorist, a local orist chain. uring her time there, she became uite popular with the regular clients who noticed she had a natural knack for oral design. It ust kind of got to a point where people would come in after three because they know I worked from p.m. to p.m. because I was still in high school, Hampton recalls. hey would come in and say Hey, we want

that small girl to make them. espite being a talented orist, Hampton wasn t drawn to oral design immediately. After graduating high school and enrolling in college, Hampton left all things oral behind. Instead, she became a certified fitness trainer and yoga instructor and opened her own uice bar. It wasn t until a friend asked her to arrange a grocery store bou uet for an e ent that her close friends began to push her to return to her orist origins. y friend really pushed me to open etroit lower ompany as a business, says Hampton. Although, maybe like the first si months I had one customer and it was her secret admirer. hile Hampton was still on the fence about becoming a orist, she continued to take oral orders during the pandemic. entually, her ar-

28 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

rangements became the topic of conersation on witter, which helped shape and grow her clientele. witter took it and blew it up for me, says Hampton. I always thank enn, ueen of outhfield on witter. he and ourtni mentioned me e ery single day and I started to gain followers from them. etroit lower ompany s rapid growth took Hampton s business from social media to a small storefront on etroit s estside. he storefront is ust the beginning of Hampton s plans for etroit lower ompany. arlier this summer, Hampton posted a co ee and ower cart on her social media and says one of her goals is to open a co ee shop in a etroit neighborhood. I ust lo e co ee, I lo e e erything about it, says Hampton. I would lo e for people to be able to buy co ee and

owers from the same place in the hood. hile etroit lower ompany continues to bloom after growing in the darkness of a global pandemic, Hampton says she wants to continue to make her clients feel special and connected. hough she is running a business, she wants her clients to feel they are getting more than owers, that they are gaining friends, as well. I feel like etroit lower ompany is so much more than owers, it s an e perience, says Hampton. I like making other people happy, it keeps me going. etroit lower ompany is e tremely personable and I m going to keep that going. D etroit F l ower C ompany is l ocated at 1 56 4 3 W. M cN ichol s, D etroit. F or more in orm tion isit detroit o erco. com.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

WEED What we on

We tried all four strains of Tee Grizzley’s new cannabis line By Alex Washington

When it comes to weed, I have

to admit I’m a little bit green. I don’t know how to roll a blunt, I have no idea how much a zip is, and I just learned how to French inhale a few months ago. During the pandemic, I started to use cannabis to deal with anxiety, migraines, and menstrual cramps. While I don’t indulge every day or often enough to consider myself a stoner, I look at its use as no different than having a drink at happy hour. So when Tee Grizzley’s Grizzley Gas cannabis line debuted earlier this month at Levels Cannabis in Centerline, I decided to review all four strains. Each strain contained about 25% THC and was labeled as “exotic” cannabis. Noticeably missing from the label was each flower’s classification sativa, indica, or hybrid. All flowers were ground using an herb grinder and smoked in RAW Organic Hemp Cones (I was serious about not knowing how to roll). I judged each flower on four things smell, color, smoke, and high. I decided to start with the Grizzley as strain and figured a aturday morning wake-and-bake fit the occasion. Since it was the brand’s namesake, I thought it would be great to use as a control. When I opened the pack, I was honestly underwhelmed. It smelled pretty basic, like what I could get anywhere on the street, and wasn’t too dark in color. Seeing and smelling this let me know I made the right choice on where to start. When it finally came time to puff it, it was probably the cleanest smoke I’ve ever pulled — very light on the inhale. My initial thoughts were “this is it?” It felt like I had dipped into my mom’s stash. I honestly thought it was a complete bust until I found myself scarfing cold slices of a leftover Little Caesars HotN-Ready a few minutes later. Of all the strains, the high of this one smacked me the hardest. After I came down and gathered myself, I decided to roll up East Side OG. To be very real, I was most excited about this because the packaging was reminiscent of an old-school airbrushed background at a Detroit cabaret. The smell of this flower was a lot stronger than the Grizzley Gas.

Whether you’re a weed novice or a grizzled veteran, Tee Grizzley’s got a strain for you. LEE DEVITO

Slightly darker in color, this was more of what I was expecting when I read “exotic” on the package. The texture after breakdown was more wet than the first it had a little more bounce. While Grizzley Gas was easy on the lungs, the smoke of East Side OG was more rough — like, I’m-coughing-andmight-not-ever-stop type of rough. Despite this one being more intense, the high was much softer. It didn’t feel as abrupt as the Grizzley Gas. I decided to take a break and allow my body to reset before resuming the next day with another wake-and-bake. I was least interested in Marshmallow OG, despite knowing nothing about it — the packaging just wasn’t appealing to me. Much to my surprise, it ended up being my favorite of all of the strains. It sits somewhere between Grizzley Gas and East Side OG. There’s a slight sweetness to the flavor of it, which makes the name quite fitting. The high was a much slower crawl than the two previous flowers. This is the one I would roll and go chill on Belle Isle and listen to Slum Village. I will probably smoke this one again. Going into the last strain, my expectations were nonexistent. I saved the strain I was least interested in for last. Jet Fuel Gelato just sounded like I was being fast-talked into a mediocre strain. I was right. It’s about the same sweetness as

30 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

Marshmallow OG, but with a name like Jet Fuel Gelato, I wanted the strength of East Side OG with the hard-hitting high of Grizzley Gas. It wasn’t spectacular, but it wasn’t bad. I ended up with a soft and smooth high similar to that of Marshmallow OG. The highs on all the Grizzley strains were immediate as described and, overall, the quality wasn’t low-grade. Do I think they all fall under exotic flowers es and no. The rizzley as strain felt pretty basic, but the Marshmallow OG and East Side OG certainly lived up to the name and expectation of exotic buds. If you hit the dispensary and see them on the shelf, they’re definitely worth a second look.

Cannabis business conference heads to Detroit this fall with more than 75 speakers

The Midwest Cannabis Business Conference will host an in-person conference in Detroit this September. The two day event is hosted by the National Cannabis Industry Association and will be Sep. 22 - 23 at the TCF Center in Downtown Detroit. The conference will feature over 75 speakers on a variety of cann-business related topics including accounting and tax strategies, vertical farming, social equity and cannabis in BIPOC communities.

Even with a hefty speaker roster that includes Rebecca Colett, founder of Detroit-based cannabis brand Calyxeum, and Andrew Brisbo, the executive director of Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency, the MCBC still found the room to include standout keynote speakers. Former Detroit Lions players Calvin Johnson and Rob Sims are slated to give keynote addresses during the conference. The former offensive linemen recently began heavily promoting their cannabis line, Primitiv, at dispensaries throughout Michigan. Last month, the state of Michigan garnered over $23 million in tax revenue due to cannabis sales, a new record for the state. —Alex Washington NCIA’s Midwest Cannabis Business Conference will be Wednesday, Sept. 22 - Thursday, Sept. 23 at TCF Center, 1 Washington Blvd, Detroit; Tickets can be purchased at michigancannabisbusinessconference.com.; Early bird tickets are currently $50+ and prices are e pected to inflate after ept. . —Alex Washington

Cloud Cannabis opens Macomb County’s first marijuana dispensary for in-person service

No, your head is not in the clouds. Macomb County, home of Jobbie Nooner, the Golden Butthole, Kid Rock’s childhood mansion, is now home to its first adult-use recreational marijuana dispensary, thanks to Michigan-based provisioning center Cloud Cannabis. Cloud Cannabis, which operates provisioning centers in Ann Arbor, Muskegon, Traverse City, and, soon, Detroit, opened its Utica location (44115 Van Dyke Ave.) for curbside in May, but, as of last week, Macomb’s first dispensary is officially for in-person service. Per a press release, the Utica location features a “spectrum of effects” wall, which highlights a variety of cannabis products, including strains that produce high-energy effects and products that aid in sleep and relaxation. Cloud Cannabis Utica is open 9 a.m.9 p.m. seven days a week. —Jerilyn Jordan

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

32 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

CULTURE

Beth (Rebecca Hall) finds her picture-perfect home is no safe harbor from terror.

COURTESY SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

Where the heart is?

‘The Night House’ exposes the horrors of not knowing your romantic partner By Eileen G’Sell

Ignore the repeated staccato piano key and overcast sky, and the first scene of David Bruckner’s The Night House could inspire considerable envy. Within a lakefront residence screaming minimalist chic meets bucolic escapism, a series of shots set the stage for what will soon reveal itself to be one part ghost story, one part psychological thriller, and one part domestic drama: wall-to-wall windows, a sculpted wind chime, exposed ceiling beams, a double marble bathroom vanity, woodgrain picture frames of a handsome hetero couple. For the majority of us quarantined for more than a year in smaller, humbler abodes, the setting seems less scary than a swell spot to start an indoor herb garden, read hardbound books, or sink into sea salts in a freestanding tub. So how does a house that looks like a backdrop for a West Elm catalog become a claustrophobic hellhole of dread and despair By redefining what haunts it. As explored in an array of horror films from the past few years — take Ari Aster’s 2018 Hereditary or Natalie Erika James’s 2020 Relic — family trauma can be just as blood-curdling as the clearly supernatural. But while most hauntings frame the ghastly and ghostly in filial terms a demonic child or delirious parent — The Night House examines how marriage itself can be a site of unspeakable darkness. Look closer and the opening shots clue us in to what’s to come: tissues

wadded up aside an empty tumbler, a prescription bottle tucked behind a jewelry box, a “Take Back Control” facial mask on the bathroom counter. Shortly after, we meet Beth (Rebecca Hall), the film’s defiant heroine, dumping a lasagna after the funeral of her husband, Owen (Evan Jonigkeit). Spinning his suicide note in her left hand while swilling brandy with her right, Beth scrutinizes their living room, frantic for answers in the house that he both designed and helped build. “Did you seriously not know anything was wrong?” asks a tactless teacher colleague during a night out at the pub. “No, I didn’t know,” she responds bluntly. “I’m the one who struggled with that stuff depression, dark thoughts … maybe I infected him with my bullshit.” Much of the rest of the film consists of Beth doggedly searching the house — and herself — for reasons for Owen’s suicide. In a scene reminiscent of Babadook, she pages through what seems to be an innocuous book of blueprints for their home, flipping from meticulously detailed floor plans to equally detailed and so eerie — measurements for a labyrinth. “Trick It, Don’t Listen to It,” reads an ominous notation in Owen’s blocky script. “Our House,” the verso reads below a figure of the fa ade, the recto mysteriously labeled “Reverse Floorplan” ne t to a mirror image of the first. Was he designing two identical houses at the same time? And whom — or what — was he trying to trick? The next morning, the

34 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

opening chords to Richard Thompson’s “The Calvary Cross” blasts from the home stereo. “COME DOWN,” glows the screen of Beth’s iPhone with a message from Owen, followed by “DON’T BE AFRAID.” Of course, like Beth, we should be afraid — though of what, precisely, the film duly obscures, sprinkling her psychological unraveling (and heavy drinking) with some serious jump scares. The Night House vacillates between validating Beth’s deepest fears that she is to blame for her husband’s death and suggesting that, in fact, Owen’s not the affable ock with a circular saw that she (and we) have taken him for. “Just remember who you fell in love with,” counsels her best friend Claire (Sarah Goldberg), in response to the string of Beth lookalikes found in Owen’s iPhone photos. “No matter who he became, he was that, too.” As likely as it may be that a wife or husband would blame themselves if their spouse suddenly and violently took their own life, some might take The Night House as yet another story indicting the wife for her husband’s misdeeds. “There’s nothing,” Beth tells Claire, recounting a near-death experience she had as a teen in an attempt to decipher Owen’s cryptic suicide note. “I wish I could tell you something — a light at the end of the tunnel. But there’s just tunnel.” To Beth, her attraction to death is to blame for it all, no matter how preposterous the logic. Troubling (and implicitly sexist) as

The Night House Rated: R Runtime: 170 minutes this logic may be, as the film’s protagonist, Beth is an unapologetic badass, a lanky skeptic whose stubbornness (and occasional bitchiness) invigorate the frame. No matter her torment, she swings purposefully from room to room, confronting her demons external and internal, and shattering final-girl horror tropes in the process. From a sarcastic eye roll at a grade-grubbing parent to a quivering lower lip when a storm door shudders, Hall’s face is preternaturally expressive, dominating each shot as much as the nightmarish terrain of the lakefront property. “You wanna say something?! Talk to me,” she demands of Death, the house, her absent husband. Rather than flee whatever is chasing her, Beth downs a tumbler of brandy and rallies against the void. By contrast, Owen remains but a strapping cipher (or an excuse to get Jonigkeit naked onscreen). If interpreted as suggesting that a wife’s depression can cause her husband’s suicide, The Night House may feel a shallow exercise in survivorblaming masked as pathology. But as a gripping exploration of how grief can twist our clearest perceptions, it’s a thrilling row across the waters of marital terror.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

Savage Love

CULTURE Q:

I’m a woman who recently went out on a third date with a man. I invited him back to my place and we started making out, which led to him going M ts at t ff his pants and to my surprise he had a micro penis. I was shocked and turned ff t a tt t t knowing how sensitive men can be, I maintained a poker face, did my best to t t t at as t ff a was able to orgasm. Is there a nice way to let someone know you do not want to continue to have sex because of their penis size? And is there a responsibility on the part of a person with a micro penis to disclose that fact before sex? I t ss t ff wasn’t so shocked. — Smaller Men And Lessons Learned

A : I don’t believe you, SMALL. I

don’t think you would’ve been any less shocked or turned off if this guy brought up the size of his dick between the start of the first date and the end of the third. And if he had, MALL, you would’ve written me a letter about this weird guy who started telling you about his small dick and ended your letter with a shocked, “Who does that?” (And I would’ve said, “Guys into SPH, because otherwise there’s no reason someone would bring that up in advance.”) Look, dicks are a lot like labia: they come in all shapes and sizes, and you usually don’t know what you’re gonna get when you go to bed with someone for the first time. While it’s fine to have a preference for larger or smaller, you should be prepared for natural variance and prepared to roll with it. If you can’t bear the thought of winding up in bed with a guy whose dick is too small for you, MALL, then solicit dick pics in advance of a first date. Or make a disclosure of your own you’re a size queen who requires a guy to be packing at least however many inches. But if asking for dick pics and or disclosing your dick preferences in advance seems too forward, MALL, you’re under no obligation to fuck a guy if you’re not into his dick. No one is obligated to go through with se ust to spare someone else’s feelings. We should try to be considerate of other people’s feelings, of course, which sometimes means offering up an e cuse, however transparently false it might be. But you can get up and go whenever you like.

Q : I’m married to a wonderful

By Dan Savage

woman. I know that’s where the BUT comes in, but it’s the truth. She’s fantastic. The challenge is sex. My wife always struggled with physical intimacy. She doesn’t like to have her neck or ears touched or really any form of gentle touch. These were favorites of mine, but we were compatible in other areas, so it wasn’t a big deal. It got worse after our children were born, and now her y sa st t ta y ff ts t and I’m really struggling. I’ve communicated that sex is important to me and s a sa a t ff t t ts strictly intercourse. I miss foreplay. I’ve tried to broach this subject and my wife gets very defensive. What are some baby steps I can propose? — Touched Or Not

A : There aren’t a lot of baby steps be-

tween someone not kissing your neck and someone kissing your neck, TON, so unless your wife is willing to get into therapy and work on identifying the root cause of her aversion to touch and there may not be one there’s not much you can do. he might ust not like it. If things got worse after the kids arrived, perhaps things will improve once they’re older. And if most of the childcare responsibilities fall on your wife’s shoulders, well, she might be all touched out by the time you come for her neck. But if you were se ually incompatible at the start of the relationship if you never really clicked se ually that’s a hard-bordering-onimpossible thing to reverse engineer years or decades in.

y s anally that my back pain will go away, or at the very least lessen. I know there are all kinds of great chemicals that get released when a person comes but is there more to this than that? Is it like acupuncture points, but in my ass? I’ve had physical issues with my back that physical therapy hasn’t been able to B t st y ass s y a pain. Any insights? — Anal Makes Everything Nice

A : Maybe it’s physical, maybe it’s

chemical, or maybe you’ve stumbled over and impaled yourself on a unique version of the placebo effect only you’re taking dildos, not sugar pills. Don’t waste time wondering why this works, AM N, ust be thankful it does.

My husband and I are opening our relationship. I’m good looking enough to get a date easily, but my husband...

36 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

JOE NEWTON

well, he’s ridiculously sexy to me, and he’s had enough hookups in his life to know he’s attractive to other women. But he’s in his late thirties now and — there’s no delicate way to put this — ear hair, long eyebrow hairs, nose hairs, receding hairline, long chest hairs that creep up his neck. TOO MUCH STRAY HAIR EVERYWHERE! From ten feet away he looks amazing but close he just looks unkempt. My question is this: how do I tell him? I’m all about body positivity but the kind of women he’s attracted to put time and care into their appearance and I think he should do the same! Hinting has not worked. I love him as is but don’t want to listen to him complain that it’s tough for a “middle-aged guy” t a at s a s t t ss — Husband Is Not Trying Enough Really

A : A lot of young straight guys think

a casual disregard for their own looks is masculine and alluring. And it often works until those ear and nose hairs start coming in. At that point they think, “I’m not doing anything differently but I’m not getting attention like I used to ” To get that same kind of attention, of course, they need to start doing things differently, e.g., they need to adopt new grooming practices and start taking better care of themselves. My advice stop hinting, HINT R, start telling.

I’m a young gay man who likes to be spanked hard. I tried dating nice guys, but they didn’t want to hurt me.

Now I want to give kinky hookup apps a try, but I worry sadistic guys who do want to hurt me won’t be nice. I want to be hurt but I’m worried about being with someone who enjoys it too much. Does that make sense? I’m kind of stuck and could use a little push. — Hate Extremely Limp Paddling

ou tried imploring vanilla nice guys to hurt you and that didn’t work, HELP, so it’s time to take a chance on kinky guys who do wanna hurt you. That’s the push you wanted, right ome kinky people are assholes, of course, so use your best udgment and trust your gut. But I gotta say some of the nicest guys I’ve ever met were sadists. It wasn’t ust that these guys wanted to hurt me in safe, sane, and mutually pleasurable ways and that was nice of them. They were genuinely sweet. At first, I thought they might be overcompensating out of guilt, H LP, or, even worse, that their kindness was an act. But eventually I had to conclude that some sort of inverse relationship e ists between being the kind of selfaware, self-actualized sadist who wants to do terrible things to someone who wants terrible things done to them, and ust generally being a decent and thoughtful person. Now go get spanked by a guy who likes spanking you as much as you like getting spanked. Questions? mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage or savagelovecast.com.

metrotimes.com | August 25-31, 2021

CULTURE ARIES: March 21 – April 19 Aries mythologist J oseph Campbell advised us to love our fate. H e said we should tell ourselves, “Whatever my fate is, this is what I need.” E ven if an event seems inconvenient or disruptive, we treat it as an opportunity, as an interesting challenge. “If you bring love to that moment, not discouragement,” Campbell said, you will find the strength. Campbell concludes that any detour or disarray you can learn from “is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! ” Few signs of the zodiac are inclined to enthusiastically adopt such an approach, but you Aries folks are most likely to do so. N ow is an especially favorable time to use it. TAURUS: April 20 – May 20 The brilliant Taurus dancer and choreographer M artha Graham spoke of “a vitality, a life force, a q uickening that is translated through you into action,” adding that “there is only one of you in all time.” She added, “It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how it compares with other ex pressions. It is your business

to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.” B ut even if you do this very well, Graham said, you will nevertheless always feel “a divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest” that will fuel you. This is the perfect message for you Tauruses to embrace in the coming weeks. GEMINI: May 21 – June 20 here s growing scientific e idence that we make ourselves stupid by complaining too much — or even by listening to other people complain a lot. E x cessive negative thoughts drain energy from our hippocampus, a part of our brain that’s essential to problem- solving. This doesn’t mean, of course, that we should avoid dealing with difficult issues. ut it does suggest we should be discerning about how many disturbing and depressing ideas we entertain. According to my reading of the omens, all this will be especially useful advice for you in the coming weeks. CANCER: June 21 – July 22 Your brain contains one hundred billion nerve cells. E ach cell has the potential to be linked with tens of thousands of others. And they’re always busy. Typically, your gray matter makes a million new connections every second. B ut I suspect your number of connections will increase even beyond that in the coming weeks. Your most complex organ will be working with greater intensity than usual. Will that be a bad thing or a good thing? It depends on whether you formulate an intention to channel your intelligence into wise analysis about important matters — and not waste it in careless fussing about trivial details. LEO: July 23 – August 22 “You should have a sticky soul,” counsels author E lizabeth B erg. “The act of continually taking things in should be as much a part of you as your hair color.” I especially endorse that attitude for you during the nex t four weeks, Leo. Your task is to make yourself ex tra magnetic for all the perceptions, ex periences, ideas, connections, and resources you need most. B y September 2 3 , I suspect you will have gained an infusion of ex tra ballast and gravitas. VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22 “I sing like the nightingale whose melody is crowded in the too narrow passage of her throat,” wrote author V irginia Woolf. That was an insulting curse for her to ing at herself. I disapprove of such behavior — especially for you in the coming

38 August 25-31, 2021 | metrotimes.com

Free Will Astrology B y R ob B rez sny weeks. If you hope to be in alignment with cosmic rhythms, don’t you dare say nasty things about yourself, even in the privacy of your own thoughts. In fact, please focus on the ex act opposite inging praise and appreciation and compliments at yourself. LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22 The blogger at www- wlw.tumblr.com says the following are the top tender actions. ( 1 ) Fastening clothes or j ewelry for your companion. ( 2 ) Letting them rest their head on your shoulder. ( 3 ) Idly playing with their hands. ( 4 ) B rushing a leaf out of their hair. ( 5 ) Locking pinkies. ( 6 ) R ubbing their back when you embrace. ( 7 ) B oth of you wearing an item that belongs to the other. D ear Libra, I hope you will employ these tender actions with greater freq uency than usual in the coming weeks. Why? In my astrological opinion, it’s a ripe time to boost your A ection uotient with the allies you care for the most. SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21 N aturalist H enry D avid Thoreau wrote in his j ournal, “I feel slightly complimented when nature condescends to make use of me without my knowledge — as when I help scatter her seeds in my walk — or carry burs and cockles on my clothes from field to field. I feel as though I had done something for the commonweal.” I mention this, Scorpio, because the coming weeks will be an ex cellent time for you to carry out good deeds and helpful transformations on nature’s behalf. Your ability to collaborate benevolently with plants and animals and elemental forces will be at a peak. So will your knack for creating interesting connections between yourself and all wild things. SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21 You may never have heard of Sagittarian artist B aya M ahieddine ( 1 9 3 1 – 1 9 9 8 ) . At age 1 6 , she ex perienced a splash of acclaim with a show in Paris. Famous artists Pablo Picasso, H enri M atisse, and Georges B raq ues came. They drew inspiration from M ahieddine’s innovative use of color, elements from her Algerian heritage, and her dream- like images. Picasso even invited her to work with him, ex ulting in the fresh perspectives she ignited. B ut her art never received the full credit it warranted. In accordance with astrological omens, this horoscope is a small way of providing her with the recognition and appreciation she deserves. It also authorizes you to go out and get the recognition and appreciation you deserve but have not yet fully received.

CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19 “Who knows what is unfolding on the other side of each hour?” asked Capricorn poet J uan R amó n J imé nez ( translated by Capricorn poet R obert B ly) . “H ow many times the sunrise was there, behind a mountain. H ow many times the brilliant cloud piling up far o was already a golden body full of thunder! ” Your assignment, Capricorn, is to imagine what is unfolding j ust beyond your perception and understanding. B ut here’s the twist: You must steer your mind away from inclinations to indulge in fear. You must imagine that the events in the works are beautiful, interesting, or redemptive. If you’re not willing to do that, skip the ex ercise altogether. AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18 “B etter than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew- wet red berries in a cup,” wrote author Wendell B erry. I mostly agree with that sentiment, although I will also put in a good word for certain kinds of arguments. There are moments when it’s crucial for your psychological and spiritual health that you initiate a conversation about delicate issues that might lead to a dispute. H owever, I don’t think this is one of those times, Aq uarius. In my astrological opinion, picking dew- wet red berries is far more sensible than any argument. For further inspiration, read this testimony from actor N atasha yonne I definitely would rather take a nap than get angry.” PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20 For painter V incent van Gogh, love wasn’t primarily a sentimental feeling. N or was it an unfocused generalized wish for health and happiness in those he cared for. R ather, he wrote, “You must love with a high, serious, intimate sympathy, with a will, with intelligence.” H is love was alert, acute, active, and energized. It was animated with a determination to be resourceful and ingenious in nurturing the beloved. For van Gogh, love was always in action, forever moving toward ever- fresh engagement. In service to intimacy, he said, “You must always seek to know more thoroughly, better, and more.” I hope you’ll make these meditations a top priority during the nex t seven weeks. This week’s homework: This is what I do to earn a l iving. Let me know what you do. N ewsl etter@ F reeWil l A strol ogy.com

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