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2 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
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Vol. 38 | Issue 14 | Jan. 10-16, 2018
News & Views News....................................... 6 Politics & Prejudices............ 14 Stir It Up............................... 16
What’s Going On................ 20
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metrotimes.com
| January 10-16, 2018
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NEWS & VIEWS
Police Chief James Craig discusses the department’s 2017 crime statistics at a Jan. 4 news conference at the 8th Precinct in northwest Detroit.
COURTESY PHOTO
Putting Detroit’s improving crime picture into context By Violet Ikonomova
We know that public officials
want to put their best foot forward, but our jaundiced eyebrows raised a bit during a Thursday news conference intended to tout what the Detroit Police Department says was a banner year for crime reduction. According to the department’s self-reported data, crime fell across the board in 2017 when compared with the year before, with almost all crime categories showing their second straight year of reductions. Overall violent crime dropped 7 percent from 2016 and overall property crimes, like burglaries and larcenies, fell 9 percent. Cast as most significant, however, was the reported decline in the city’s homicide rate, a 12 percent year-over reduction to 267 killings — a low not seen in half a century. “Certainly when I look at what it was like coming in the door in 2013, the morale was a big issue, [there was] a lack of trust, high crime, but today we’ve seen a major progression
in overall decline in violent crime, and not by accident,” says Police Chief James Craig. “I’d like to emphasize not by accident.” Surrounded by more than a dozen law enforcement officials from the city, county, state, and federal levels, Craig attributed the crime reductions to strategic partnerships with the various agencies present. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, for example, has significantly cracked down on gang violence in Detroit over the past two years as part of a multi-agency program called Ceasefire, indicting more than 100 alleged members from some of the city’s most notorious crews. But when the chief and Mayor Mike Duggan, who was also on hand, turned their focus from strategy to staffing, claiming that the improvements had something to do with a more robust police force, we had to pinch ourselves to remember where we were. Wasn’t a similarly themed “things are improving” press conference also delivered
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at this time last year — the same year that the FBI went on to name Detroit the country’s most violent big city? Hadn’t the DPD hemorrhaged officers between 2000 and 2015, at a rate that far outpaced the city’s population decline? Aren’t department-reported homicide numbers known to serve as an unreliable barometer for the amount of bloodshed in the city? And what of that cooperation with other agencies — wasn’t 2017 the year we saw an inter-agency brawl when some Detroit patrol officers thought a group of undercovers from a neighboring precinct were drug peddlers? We felt a fact-check was in order.
What additional officers?
“We couldn’t do this without the hiring of additional officers,” Craig says before going on to champion the department for hiring a whopping 662 officers over the past two years. What he failed to mention was that, during the same period, the depart-
ment lost 444 officers due to attrition. Further, the DPD didn’t exactly hire 662 new cops, so much as it brought on 512 while shuffling things around internally to put 171 who were working desk jobs onto the streets, according to a spokesman for Duggan. But a net gain of what the Duggan administration says is 239 officers over two years has hardly recouped the losses the department endured before and during bankruptcy. According to a 2015 Detroit News story headlined, “Fewest cops are patrolling Detroit streets since 1920s,” there were just 1,590 officers with the department by the middle of that year — a reduction of 37 percent over the previous three years. Today, that number has climbed to only 1,621, according to the city’s latest data. “The situation has not improved the way we’d like,” Detroit Police Officers Association President Mark Diaz said in an email last week. “The guys are still working double shifts because of
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NEWS & VIEWS manpower shortages. More often than not they are forced to work doubles because of officers calling in sick due to issues related to exhaustion.” According to Diaz, a combination of these conditions and bankruptcy-era cuts to benefits has made it diffucult for the department to hold onto officers — particularly seasoned ones. While starting pay has increased for new officers, from about $27,000 a year during the bankruptcy to $36,000 today, Diaz says pay levels still max out below those of the police departments of neighboring cities and Detroit’s benefits aren’t as good. The elimination of longevity bonuses for long-time officers, for example, has sent more experienced patrolmen and women in search of better work. As a result, Diaz says that of the department’s approximately 1,621 officers, 700 of them have less than five years on the job. “The mayor can proudly display what he’s done with hiring, but it’s a facade,” Diaz said in an email following the Thursday news conference. “The city is being protected by fewer and fewer seasoned officers every month.” He added, “We are in a very dangerous situation.”
Numbers game “Stats don’t lie,” Craig remarked at one point Thursday, as if knowing the improved crime data might illicit some head-scratching amid virtually unchanged staffing levels. And while stats may not lie, they can certainly be manipulated, as evidenced by the aforementioned decision to portray the department as adding hundreds of officers per year. In the case of DPD’s crime statistics, the department may be able to cloak a possible increase in crime through a discrepancy in the way it tabulates crimes across categories. For example, the total number of crimes in the categories of homicides, non-fatal shootings, and carjackings are based on the number of people victimized by each of those crimes. By contrast, the numbers for the remaining categories — which include violent crimes like robberies, aggravated assaults, and rapes — are based on incidents. That means that if, for example, three people are assaulted by one assailant on one occasion, that could count as one crime. According to an investigative report published in October by Pulitzer
8 January 12 January10-16, 10-16,2018 2018 | | metrotimes.com metrotimes.com
Prize-winning journalist Charlie LeDuff, this discrepancy made it possible for Detroit to tell citizens it had reduced violent crime in 2016, while the data it submitted to the FBI, which counts crime based on total victims, showed an increase. According to LeDuff, when factoring in population declines, the FBI numbers show Detroit’s crime rate has actually stayed much the same in recent years. At best, he says, there has been only a 1 percent reduction in crime per capita since Craig assumed the role of police chief in 2013.
Homicide stats paint incomplete picture The Detroit Police Department’s homicide numbers are known to provide an incomplete picture of killings in the city, with the omission of homicides deemed “justified” being standard practice. Justified homicides include killings comitted in self-defense. That means that if Joe pulled a knife on John and John shot and killed him, the slaying does not count toward the city’s homicide rate. But the department has in the past also been found to incorrectly categorize some killings as justified in an apparent effort to cast itself in a better light. In 2008, for example, Detroit police incorrectly classified at least 22 of their 368 killings that year as “justifiable” and did not report them as homicides to the FBI as required, according to a separate report by LeDuff. As recently as 2012, even Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy expressed skepticism over the department’s homicide data. “I know they don’t report with accuracy,” Worthy said in a story by MLive. “It’s self-reporting. All the things they call justifiable may not be justifiable, is what I’m trying to tell you.” “As a general proposition, I believe that a lot of cities under-report (criminal homicides) because they don’t want to be seen as the most violent.” This year there were 15 such “justifiable” killings, according to a Detroit police spokeswoman — the same number as last year. Worthy’s office will release its own 2017 homicide stats for Detroit in two or more weeks, a spokeswoman with her office says. The Wayne County Medical Examiner will also release a homicide total later this winter. news@metrotimes.com @violetikon
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NEWS & VIEWS A progressive pro tem
Detroit city council’s youngest member sees her star rise By Violet Ikonomova
Early this month, Detroit
City Councilmember Mary Sheffield, 30, made history for the second time in her relatively short political career when she was elected as the council’s youngest-ever president pro tem. Earning support from four of her peers, Sheffield beat out councilmembers James Tate and Janeé Ayers for the role. Four years earlier, Sheffield set a separate record, when she became the youngest person ever elected to council at the age of 26. At the time, Sheffield was a community activist with a public affairs degree from Wayne State University known mostly for her last name. Her grandfather, Horace Sheffield Jr., was one of the first African-American leaders of a United Auto Workers local and helped stage the legendary 1941 Ford River Rouge strike that eventually led the automaker to recognize the UAW and require that all employees be members. Her father, Horace Sheffield III, is a prominent pastor and the executive director of the Detroit Association of Black Organizations. The influence of Sheffield’s father and grandfather are apparent in her politics. Guided by the notion that longtime Detroiters should be the primary beneficiaries of the city’s resurgence, Sheffield has emerged as one of the council’s more progressive members, often serving as a sort of check on gentrification. Her biggest achievement during her first term was an affordable housing ordinance mandating that developers receiving certain public subsidies set aside at least 20 percent of their rental housing units for people earning less than area median income. The ordinance also created a “trust fund” to help preserve or create affordable housing for people living near or below the poverty line. But Sheffield — whose District 5 covers affluent areas, like Midtown and downtown, and some low-income neighborhoods — is pragmatic in her approach, seeking to balance fighting for the little guy with continuing to attract newcomers to the city. “While a lot of my passion is [fighting homelessness and providing low-income] housing, I think people know that I’m a councilmember who
Metro Times: Why is the issue of housing so important to you?
Mary Sheffield: If we look at
Detroit and urban cores around the country, there’s a housing crisis that people are experiencing. The lack of quality affordable housing, the need for more affordable housing, and really when we’re seeing the rebirth of Detroit, the question becomes who can afford to live in downtown Detroit, and so we have to make sure that we’re building housing not just for the rich. It’s a passion for me to build communities where there’s mixed [levels of ] incomes. I think it’s important that people of all ages and races come together… and I don’t believe in low-income housing being secluded. It needs to be in urban cores and downtown areas where you have access to transportation and jobs and recreation and education, and you’re in areas where you see people who might make more than you. Studies have proven that those who are exposed to that are more successful in life and I think it’s better for the economy in general.
MT: You got some pushback from the Duggan administration on the affordable housing ordinance and it didn’t come out as strong as you would have liked. What did you learn from the way that played out?
Sheffield: I think it’s important
COURTESY PHOTO
represents everyone,” Sheffield says in a wide-ranging, half-hour phone. Below, we’ve transcribed her responses to some of our questions, including what it was like to go up against the
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Duggan administration on affordable housing, and whether she plans to capitalize on her political momentum with a run for the Congressional seat left vacant by former Rep. John Conyers.
to have a strong community voice [at the table]. When you hear personal stories of how an ordinance can impact a family or an individual or how someone was able to benefit because of low-income housing, that often works. But it’s a challenge when you have developers and people who come, who oppose certain things because of the financial implications or the fact that it may have a negative impact on the progress of Detroit. So balancing the two. You know, does the progress of Detroit mean that people who have been in Detroit can’t have access to affordable housing? You know, we want progress, I want to see new development, I believe we need market-rate housing, but if it’s going to be on the
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NEWS & VIEWS backs of those individuals who’ve been here and can’t afford to stay, maybe we don’t need it.
MT: You were absent at the end of
last year when council approved $250 million in brownfield incentives for Dan Gilbert’s coming developments downtown, including the Hudson’s site. How would you have voted on that, knowing the criticism surrounding Detroit’s community benefits ordinance, which activists describe as doing little to hold developers accountable to the communities where they build?
Sheffield: I would not have supported that. In fact, I was on record — because it did come to [our Planning and Economic] Committee earlier — really needing a strong community benefits agreement which was not in place whatsoever, and also there was a lack of affordability within the Hudson’s structure — there was only going to be about five affordable units which they were willing to put into that structure. MT: On the CBO issue, the activists
It’s a passion for me to build communities where there’s mixed [levels of] incomes. I think it’s important that people of all ages and races come together. who backed a strong community benefits ordinance in Prop A a couple of years ago are trying to have the council amend the ordinance. Is that something you’d be willing to sponsor?
Sheffield: I do foresee that coming up this term and I am absolutely looking forward to taking up that issue to figure out how we can strengthen the process that was approved by the voters. Proposal B (which passed instead of A), in my opinion, isn’t true community engagement the way it’s laid out right now, and so I am definitely an advocate for amending that ordinance to strengthen it in a
12 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
way that really delivers community benefits for those who are impacted by development. [As for sponsorship], I know that was originally the council president’s ordinance and so I probably would appeal to her and her suggestions.
MT: What ordinances do you plan to introduce this year?
Sheffield: I’m looking forward to addressing the issue of water affordability. We have payment plans in place now, but [an ordinance on] some kind of income-based water affordability — we’re looking at how we can have
a tiered system. I’m also going to be focusing on is participatory budgeting, which [would help Detroiters] get more involved in the budgeting process. We have several hearings and budget presentations throughout March, and we never see anyone come down but they oftentimes complain about how their money is being spent, and so I want to see more of a participatory process where community can actually begin to have a chunk of the budget and really kind of just say where they want that money to go. And they actually have that in New York as well.
MT: You have some political momentum going. Are you going to throw your hat into the race for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District?
Sheffield: You know, honestly, at this time no, I have not considered a run for Congress, my focus is really just on city council and representing the citizens of District 5. news@metrotimes.com @violetikon
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metrotimes.com
| January 10-16, 2018
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NEWS & VIEWS Politics & Prejudices
The health care crisis you don’t know about By Jack Lessenberry
Ruth Spalding loves her job — not that it isn’t stressful. She is a social worker and therapist who sees poor people with a whole lot of problems. “I treat a lot of depression and anxiety, PTSD,” she says. “I have folks on my caseload with severe and persistent mental illness, folks who experience paranoid delusions on a regular basis.” She says she treats folks from 18 to 89. “I see a lot of survivors of intimate partner violence and domestic violence,” she says. “I see a lot of people who live with family members who otherwise wouldn’t due to poverty. All these folks work; they do not need more jobs, they need a decent wage.” “I see a lot of people one car repair away from total devastation,” she says. Heavy-duty stuff. But Ruth, who is 30 and calls herself, perhaps wrongly, a “typical millennial,” loves her job because she knows she is really making a difference. She works for a community health center called MidMichigan Community Health Services in Houghton Lake. What’s special about it is that it is one of about 40 Federally Qualified Health Centers in Michigan, and gets federal aid to treat a largely rural population who have little money and live in an area drastically underserved by doctors. Community health centers like hers served nearly 700,000 Michigan residents last year. Most are rural; a few inner-city. But all are in danger of being closed down. They, like CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program that serves 9 million or so poor kids, aren’t important to Donald Trump. Nor are they something the ruling Republicans in Congress care much about. Funding authorization for both ran out on Oct. 1, the same day the maniac shooting from his hotel window murdered 58 people at a country music concert in Las Vegas. The news media took little notice of the programs’ peril. Since then, both have been kept running temporarily. Of the two, CHIP probably has a better chance for long-term survival. It’s hard for even hard-right Republicans in Congress to deny doctor visits to little children. They did pass shortterm legislation last month including money to fund CHIP through the end
of March. Nobody knows anything for certain in the nut world of today’s Washington, but it is likely full funding for the children’s health insurance program will be passed to cover the rest of the year. But funding for community health care centers like the one in Houghton Lake is more at risk. Not only do the adult rural poor not look as good on posters, many of Spalding’s clients don’t even know they are being assisted through federal funding. “Some of the staff don’t realize it either,” she told me. But government money does keep the place afloat. In fact, you could argue it would be hard to find a better use for our tax dollars.
Service Act of 1944. They were started because rural areas lacked doctors and medical facilities. “But the federal government doesn’t create them — communities create them and then apply for the designation,” Spalding says. Hers, in Houghton, was created in the 1970s. “The community health center I worked for last year served about 16,000 patients,” she says. “We’re in a rural area. If we close, my patients will have nowhere else to go. Most of my patients see a primary care [practitioner] provided in the same building as they do me.” Three days after Christmas, Spalding told me, “Just today I had a patient tell me how thankful she was that I
It’s hard for even hard-right Republicans in Congress to deny doctor visits to little children. Ruth Spalding, by the way, doesn’t speak for the program, or for her employer, or anyone except herself. Herself, that is, and millions of Americans whose health care future is, she felt, too important to leave to the not-so-tender mercies of a bunch of GOP congressmen. She wasn’t exactly encouraged to talk about it, but came to me because she felt “keeping this alive in the press is the only way that this (saving the program’s funding) will get done.” For now, funding for the FQHCs has been maintained by a series of shortterm continuing resolutions, the latest of which expires next week, Jan. 19. That has left providers like hers more or less living day to day. Neither of these, by the way, are part of “Obamacare,” or the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans are now strangling. The CHIP program has been around since 1997, and was supported even by George W. Bush. Until now, its funding, currently about $14 billion, has been renewed almost automatically every year. The FQHC program is even older — it was created by the Public Health
14 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
could talk to her doctor down the hall so easily and how she felt she got such good care as a result of the coordination.” Best of all, “since we were created to serve the poor we can’t turn anyone away due to inability to pay.” That may all be threatened, however. Spalding does have a minor personal stake in the survival of the FQHCs. While she isn’t exactly getting rich working at MidMichigan, she got out of graduate school in 2011 owing about $39,000 in student loans. But by taking this job, she qualified for a student loan repayment program sponsored by the National Health Service Corps. Her loan balance vanishes if she stays at an approved site like MidMichigan for two years. She’s due to reach that milestone in June. However, if her center closes down before that, she’s still stuck with owning the whole $39,000, plus interest. Her center does get some other funding; a few patients do have private insurance. “I may just barely complete my contract, but many will not if the funds are not renewed,” Spalding says, adding that if the entire system implodes,
many of her co-workers will be out of a job with no place to transfer to — meaning they’ll once again be stuck with no job and crippling student loan balances, plus interest. For many boomers and Gen Xers, millennials are a bunch of spoiled brats who want to start their careers with cool jobs, high salaries, and generous vacation plans. That’s not Spalding, whose single mom went deeply in debt to move to a neighborhood in Ann Arbor where her daughter could attend a good high school. She had an inspirational teacher who helped her first get into psychology at Albion and then graduate school at the University of Michigan. She already knew the world was a little different from that which her classmates, largely professors’ kids, grew up in. “We have decided as a society to just throw away large portions of our nation, to write them off and provide them with substandard education, wages, housing,” she says. “It is the insanity I am tasked with helping my patients cope with, every day.” When she graduated, she says, “I had to work a million jobs because, well, that’s just how it is. I graduated into a Great Recession economy and all my jobs until now have been contractual, temporary, and usually the working conditions were horrendously abusive.” She worked in prisons. She saw grim stuff. Much grimmer than written here. She sees more, almost every day. But she tells me: “All that, I can handle. I cannot handle my patients losing their doctors and their therapist.” Memo to Congress: America can’t handle this either. letters@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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NEWS & VIEWS Stir It Up
A people’s history of Detroit by Larry Gabriel
It’s the dawning
of a New Year, and in many ways a new era. In 2018 we’ll see state elections and a new gubernatorial regime. We’ll possibly vote to legalize recreational marijuana. Canada is scheduled to legalize nationwide this year. Nationally there will be a grinding battle for control of Congress. In Detroit we’ll start to see if the city government can actually help breathe life into a neighborhood as the Fitz Forward process should actually start showing progress. But, as we look forward for more revitalization in Detroit, a look back can ground you on what is going on here. Some of that grounding can be found in The Dawn of Detroit, a great book that came out of 2017. Written by University of Michigan history professor Tiya Miles, Dawn examines the century starting with the founding of this frontier outpost on the river. Focused on the lives of the unfree — Native Americans, Africans, and indentured servants — we get a fresh perspective on Detroit’s history. Miles seeks to find what their lives were like by peering into the shadows and corners of historical accounts and documents that more often than not noted the unfree only in some sort of financial transaction. The lack of information is exacerbated by the fire of 1805 which burned down most businesses and private homes in the settlement. Dawn isn’t a slave history or a black history. It’s American history. It’s also about shifting alliances between select groups of Europeans, native tribes, free and enslaved blacks, and racial mixtures of all of them. Miles invites us to envision a land that was neither the United States nor Canada — when Detroit was a settlement on both sides of the river, and still not clearly a part of any nation well after the revolution. As in all really good histories, Miles invites us to think differently about the legends and myths we grew up with. For instance, Detroit was a key component of the Underground Railroad, a last stop before people escap-
16 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
ing slavery could cross the river to freedom in Canada. It is a neat, easily digested story. The question of slavery here in Detroit is never addressed. Nor is the complex idea that enslaved blacks in Canada escaped across the river to freedom in Detroit. Apparently part of the dynamics of the day were lingering animosities from the American Revolution. As boundaries and allegiances began to jell in the years following the revolution, harboring escaped slaves became a way to poke a finger in the eyes of interests across the river. It’s not that slavery did not exist in Canada, but the Canadians, part of the British Empire, felt no compunction to return the property (escaped slaves) of the Americans. And folks on this side of the river chose not to return the escaped property of the Canadians. As Judge Augustus Woodward ruled in an 1807 case: “There are no reciprocal treaties between Canada and the United States requiring the return of fugitive slaves, and if African-Americans established their freedom in Canada, they could not be returned to slavery upon return to the U.S. and vice versa.” But that was long after Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit was founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac as a bit of geopolitical jousting between the French and the English. The frontier outpost’s real value turned out to be as a center for fur
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NEWS & VIEWS trading and transport. Europe had grown fond of animal hides, particularly beaver pelts, and the fort’s position on the waterways made it a good trading point. Native Americans trapped animals and cured the skins for trade to Europeans, who then used slave labor to carry them out East, or loaded them on ships largely manned by enslaved crewman. That’s one of the points to make you think differently about slavery. We mostly envision it in terms of labor on southern plantations, where scores of people farmed acres of cotton. In Detroit and elsewhere it was more often a situation where there might be two to several held in servitude and ownership passed down for generations within the same family. In Dawn this is highlighted with the case of Hannah and Peter Denison, an enslaved couple who were held by the Tucker family in what is now Macomb County. William Tucker bequeathed the Denisons (including four children) to his wife Catherine. Hannah and Peter, the document states, were to be freed upon Catherine’s death. However, the Denison children were
to continue being held by the Tucker children. It was a strange bequeathal that gave one-sixth value of the four children to each of Tuckers six sons. The Tucker daughter had no equity in the Denison children, but would receive two cows instead. We also learn how Denison became the leader of a local black militia that was largely made up of Canadian slaves enticed to cross the river. There is plenty more food for thought in Dawn. There is discussion of how native groups were encouraged to live near the fort so that it would be easier to trade with them. Then when competition between tribes led to war, the Europeans sat on their hands — some even welcomed war due to fears of having too many Indians nearby. And we learn again that the men behind many of Detroit’s major street names — Woodward, Campau, Macomb and others — were slaveholders. This was pretty well known, but in Dawn we get a closer look at how these oligarchs gained their wealth and influence. Don’t let that information tie you
18 January January 10-16, 10-16, 2018 2018 || metrotimes.com metrotimes.com
Miles invites us to envision a land that was still not clearly a part of any nation well after the revolution. up in finger pointing and blame. If that is where you end up, then you haven’t learned the lessons of Dawn. The real importance of the book is in examining the complexity that exists in things we take for granted. It’s in understanding the geography of economic value. It’s in seeing the area as a fluid and evolving landscape rather than something that always has been and always will be. It took a while for me to digest the importance of this book. There were moments while reading that I wanted to get a clearer look into the domestic lives of the people being discussed, the kind of thing that might be in a diary or oral history. But those kinds of accounts don’t exist, and Miles’ work stands out as a masterpiece of piecing together what can be found and breathing some life into it. It also breathes life into a piece of American history that has been
rendered in a formulaic manner for so long, things that we celebrated as part of the DNA of the town — but, like DNA, incredibly more complex and nuanced than most folks want to contemplate. Still, it’s something you might do on a cold evening shared with a book. The reason that Cadillac chose this location is the same reason why Detroit is enjoying a rebound right now — all that water, and the ability to move goods. We still live and play on both sides of the river even though it’s now designated as a national border. Finally, even as we label eras with economic forces and industries and wars, in the end it’s people’s lives that we are talking about. Miles renders life wonderfully.
letters@metrotimes.com @gumbogabe
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metrotimes.com
| January 10-16, 2018
19
UP FRONT
What’s Going On
A week’s worth of things to do and places to do them by MT staff
GeometriX work by James Benjamin Franklin.
WEDNESDAY, 1/10
COURTESY PHOTO
FRIDAY, 1/12
Dave Simonett
The Royal Tenenbaums
@ Otus Supply
@ Redford Theatre
MUSIC: Dave Simonett of bluegrassfolk outfit Trampled by Turtles knows a thing or two about devastation. The 36-year-old Minnesotan has been pretty vocal about his divorce (or as he has referred to it, “marital suicide”) in 2014. But Simonett has a rare gift of turning a deep dive of pain into achingly tender mementos instilled with hope. So, it makes perfect sense that Ferndale’s Otus Supply chose Simonett to kick off its weeklong one-year anniversary celebration. The concert, titled “Gimme Shelter,” benefits South Oakland Shelter with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the homeless community. The benefit show includes an option for a four-course dinner from award-winning chef Myles McVay.
FILM: A suicidal tennis star, a misanthropic wooden-fingered playwright, a neurotic widowed father, and a family’s faithfully unfaithful patriarch. These are but a few of Wes Anderson’s beautifully crafted — albeit dysfunctional — characters from his 2001 masterpiece The Royal Tenenbaums. With an all-star cast (Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, and both Luke and Owen Wilson) and a meticulously whimsical world, The Royal Tenenbaums reigns supreme as a truly transcendent tale of family, forbidden love, and Mordecai.
Event begins at 6 p.m.; 345 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-2916160; otussupply.com; Tickets are $25 for the show, $100 for dinner and a show.
Film begins at 8 p.m.; 17360 Lahser Rd., Detroit; 313-537-2560; redfordtheatre.com; Tickets are $5.
20 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
FRI, 1/12-SAT, 2/24
SUNDAY, 1/14
GeometriX Opening Reception
Winter Detroit City Record Show
@ Galerie Camille
@ UFCW Hall #876
ART: Galerie Camille’s latest exhibit GeometriX finds new space between emotive content and meticulous compositions in the work of local artists James Benjamin Franklin, Clark Goeman, and Franklin Jonas. From ceramic works, steel, lacquers, and resins to figurative forms based on mathematical calculations, GeometriX explores geometric concepts in an artistic context. Each of the featured artists challenges the perception of shape, color, and experience through each of their own mediums.
SHOP: For most vinyl-lovers, it’s the thrill of the hunt — that rare disc, that must-have addition to your growing collection that threatens to take up more real estate than your actual real estate. Well, thanks to the Winter Detroit City Record Show the hunt has been made a bit easier. Swap tales of the trade and scoff in unison with fellow record freaks when someone dare asks, “Does vinyl really sound better?” For $10, you get free reign to scour bins, crates, and tables filled with sonic treasures looking for their new home.
Opening runs from 6 p.m.9 p.m.; 4130 Cass Ave., Unit C, Detroit; 313-9746737; galeriecamille.com; Event is free and open to the public.
Show runs from 10 a.m to 3 p.m.; 876 Horace Brown Dr., Madison Heights; 586-5303110; detroitcityrecordshow.com; Tickets are $10, table rental is $30.
Lana Del Rey.
SUNDAY, 1/15
COURTESY PHOTO
TUESDAY, 1/16
TUES, 1/16-SUN, 1/28
WEDNESDAY, 1/17
Andrea Gibson
Passion Pit
The Bodyguard
Lana Del Rey
@ The Shelter
@ Royal Oak Music Theatre
@ Fisher Theatre
@ Little Caesars Arena
MUSIC: “Do you want to hear the best story you’ve ever heard in your life?” Andrea Gibson asks at the beginning of her poem “Maybe I Need You,” a spoken word song that when performed live is paired with a Bon Iver song or a song equally heartbreaking. “So I met this woman and I went home to her house with her,” she continues, “already a great story, right?” This intimate approach to storytelling is what makes poet and LGBTQ activist Andrea Gibson’s work so powerful. Her vocal cadence swells with each leap of love, loss, strange encounter, or romantic almost. Gibson is not for the faint of heart.
MUSIC: It’s hard to believe that the meticulously crafted sonic musings of indietronica darlings, Passion Pit, come down to, well, a single darling. Michael Angelakos is Passion Pit. Since Angelako’s debut album Manners in 2009, the “Sleepyhead” singer has refined his cartoonish catharsis without compromising his helium-high octave climbing vocals. This tour will support Angelakos’ Tremendous Sea of Love, a record he self-released on Twitter last year. But Angelako didn’t want to go it alone, though, so Chris Hartz, Aaron Harrison Folb, and Giuliano Pizzulo will join the singer for the upcoming tour.
THEATER: If you’re not still shook from 1992’s romantic thriller The Bodyguard, then you might want to check your pulse. The film, which stars the late Whitney Houston, birthed one of the most powerful soundtracks of all time. Thanks to a masterful adaptation by Academy Award winner (Birdman) Alexander Dinelaris, The Bodyguard has been reborn for Broadway. Grammy Award-nominee and R&B star Deborah Cox will take on the role of Houston’s Rachel Marron. Though the cast has changed you can count on hearing irresistible classics including one of the best-selling songs of all time, “I Will Always Love You.”
MUSIC: While Detroit’s temperature hovers mercilessly in the single digits, rest assured — sunshine is on its way, thanks to everyone’s favorite L.A. queen of melodrama and “#AestheticGoals” Lana Del Rey. Lady Lana’s 2017 record Lust for Life embodies the true spirit of “Hollywood sadcore” glam, featuring breathy Nancy Sinatra-esque vocals paired with an opulent display of retro nuances (all bound by a flower crown of thorns). But she’s not all runny mascara. In fact, she’s kind of a total badass. Hedonism and vintage Instagram filters are what we’ve come to love most about the pouty pop priestess. Oh yeah, the fact that she says she put a Wiccan hex on Donald Trump doesn’t hurt either.
Doors open at 7 p.m.; 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; 313-9618961; saintandrewsdetroit.com; Tickets are $24.
Doors open at 7 p.m.; 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; 248-3992980; royaloakmusictheatre.com; Tickets start at $30.
Performances Tuesday-Saturday begin at 8 p.m., Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.; 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit; 313-8721000; broadwayindetroit.com; Tickets start at $39.
Doors open at 7 p.m.; 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-4717000; olympiaentertainment.com; Tickets start at $39.50.
metrotimes.com
| January 10-16, 2018
21
UP FRONT
ply, 345 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $30-$35. Songs of Social Justice. 2 p.m.; Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, 20510 Livernois, Detroit, $15 or two for $20.
Monday, 1/15
The Killers. 8 p.m.; Masonic Temple, 500 Temple St., Detroit; $59.50-$75. Rebirth Brass Band. 8 p.m.; Otus Supply, 345 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $25-$30.
Tuesday, 1/16
Alex Aiono. 6:30 p.m.; The Crofoot Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $20-$25. Alexis Lombre Trio/Quartet. 8 pm; Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit; Free. Anti-Flag. 6 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $18-20. The Charles Boles Quartet. 6 pm; Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, 97 Kercheval Ave.., Grosse Pointe Farms; free. Tennis. 7 p.m.; Majestic Theatre, 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $16-$18.
Wednesday, 1/17
Squirrel Nut Zippers. 8 p.m.; El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; $30-$35.
ART Wednesday, 1/10
Rebirth Brass Band at Otus Supply.
MUSIC Wednesday, 1/10
August Burns Red. 6:30 p.m.; The Crofoot Ballroom, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $25. Gimme Shelter: A Spirited Benefit. 6 p.m.; Otus Supply, 345 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $10-$100.
Thursday, 1/11 Empty Mugs Showcase with Normal Park, Been Stellar, Ness Lake, and Lilly Talmers. 9 p.m.; Blind Pig, 208 N. First St., Ann Arbor; $7-$10. Hassles (Ken Vandermark). 7:30 p.m.; Third Man Records, 441 W. Canfield St., Detroit; $12. Tony Nova (DJ set). 10 p.m.; Trixie’s, 2656 Carpenter Ave., Hamtramck; free.
Friday, 1/12
AU5. 8 p.m.; Electricity Nightclub, 15 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $10. Cowboy Mouth. 8 p.m.; Magic Bag,
COURTESY PHOTO
22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20. Gus Dapperton. 8 p.m.; El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; $10-$15. John Douglas Quartet. 9:30 p.m.; Bert’s Marketplace, 2727 Russell St., Detroit; $5. Kate Voegele with Tyler Hilton. 8 p.m.; The Blind Pig, 208 S. First St., Ann Arbor; $17. Lime Rickey International with Matthew Smith. 9 p.m.; Trinosophes, 1464 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; free. River Spirit (EP release party). 8 p.m.; Third Wave Music, 4625 Second Ave., Unit C2, Detroit; free. Scott Grooves with Theresa MizzChavez. 9 p.m.; Marble Bar, 1501 Holden St., Detroit; free. The Werks. 8 p.m.; Otus Supply, 245 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $15-$20.
Saturday, 1/13
Easton Corbin. 6 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $30-$35. Fusion Shows 10th Birthday with Twin Peaks, Pup, Shortly, and more. 5:30 p.m.; The Crofoot, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac, $23-$25.
22 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
Oren Levin with Jacob Signman and Andrea Doria. 9 p.m.; The Blind Pig, 208 S. First St., Ann Arbor; $7-$10. Spafford. 7 p.m.; El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; $17-$20. Teddy Roberts & the Mouths with Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms, Spike Factory. 8 p.m.; PJ’S Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit; $5. The Budos Band. 8 p.m.; Otus Supply, 345 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $30-$100. The Devil Makes Three with Roebuck. 8 p.m.; Saint Andrew's Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $22.50. The Handgrenades. 8 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $7-$10. Tyvek with Teenanger. 8:30 p.m.; Third Man Records, 441 W. Canfield St., Detroit; $10-$12.
Sunday, 1/14
Flobots with Tropidelic. 8 p.m.; The Magic Bag; 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $17. Keller Williams. 7 p.m.; Otus Sup-
Best of the Best 2018. Noon.-5 p.m.; Lawrence Street Gallery, 22620 Woodward Ave., Suite A; Free. Through Jan. 26.
Saturday, 1/13 Loess by Suraj Bhamra opening reception. 7 p.m.; Oloman Cafe, 10215 Joseph Campau St., Hamtramck; free.
THEATRE Saturday, 1/13
Moscow Festival Ballet. 8 p.m.; Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $30-$50. The Shirt Off Our Backs: A benefit for Tangent Gallery with Lushes LaMoan, Chloe Bowie, Kitty Paige, and more. 9 p.m.; Tangent Gallery, 715 E. Milwaukee St., $10 suggested donation, cash at door.
FILM Friday, 1/12 and Saturday, 1/13
To Wong Foo. Midnight; Main Art Theatre, 118 N. Main St., Royal Oak; $7.
calendar@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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metrotimes.com
| January 10-16, 2018
23
FEATURE Auto pilot
What happened when Trump tried to tame the auto industry — and the auto industry tried to tame Trump By Lee DeVito
On the afternoon of March 15,
2017, President Donald Trump made his first visit to Michigan since the campaign trail. Michigan, of course, ought to have a special place in Trump’s heart. As one of the three Rust Belt states making up the so-called “blue wall” that unexpectedly flipped red, Michigan helped Trump land his stunning victory in 2016 — due at least in part to his numerous campaign promises to invest in U.S. manufacturing, and in particular an interest in talking about the auto industry. Ypsilanti’s new American Center for Mobility was chosen as the site of Trump’s first visit as president. Originally known as Willow Run, the site is inextricably tied to the history of U.S. industrial might. Henry Ford purchased the land, then a farm, in 1931 as part of a program to teach inner city children about rural life. By World War II, Ford erected a factory there to manufacture B-24 Liberator bombers as part of the Arsenal of Democracy. One of the plant’s workers, Rose Will Monroe, would even become known as a real-life version of the iconic folklore hero Rosie the Riveter. The facility was later sold to General Motors, where it was used to manufacture vehicle parts until GM ceased operations there in 2010. But in 2016, Gov. Rick Snyder announced the site would soon get a new lease on life as proving grounds to test autonomous, self-driving vehicles — the next phase of automotive innovation. In true Trump fashion, the Ypsilanti visit was a grand ordeal. The president was shown 11 U.S.-made cars, including a made-in-Detroit Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Mustang made in nearby Flat Rock. Executives from Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers — GM’s Mary Barra, Ford’s Mark Fields, and Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne — were on hand for a roundtable discussion, as well as United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams. The Big Three even bussed in hundreds of its workers to the facility so they could watch a speech from Trump, who took the stage
under a banner that read “Buy American — Hire American.” Yet despite the nature of the venue, Trump didn’t mention autonomous vehicles even once during his 20-minute speech. He didn’t mention electric vehicles, or even hybrids. Instead, Trump seemed more interested in a return to the industry’s past. The president spent much of his speech with the singular focus of attacking “industry-killing regulations” and “job-crushing taxes,” including Obama-era fuel efficiency standards, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He also took the opportunity to address his voters. “There is no more beautiful sight than an American-made car — no more beautiful sight,” Trump said to a round of applause. “I love this state, I love the people of this state. And you did me a big favor, because you gave me a victory, and that victory hasn’t been won by a Republican in a long time — long time. And you’re going to be very happy, believe me. You’re going to be very, very happy.” The crowd seemed to eat it up. “We want to be the car capital of the world again. We will be. And it won’t be long, believe me,” Trump declared. “The era of economic surrender for the United States is over — it’s over.” He then praised the Big Three for making some “very wise decisions” regarding a number of recent moves. He also seemed to praise himself. “Already, we’re seeing jobs coming back. Since my election, Ford has announced 700 new jobs coming back to their plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. Fiat-Chrysler has announced that they will create 2,000 new jobs in Michigan and Ohio. And just today — breaking news — General Motors announced that they’re adding or keeping 900 jobs right here in Michigan, and that’s going to be over the next 12 months. And that’s just the beginning, folks. In fact, I told them, that’s peanuts — that’s peanuts. We’re going to have a lot more.”
24 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
The jobs had nothing to do with Trump. The Fiat-Chrysler and Ford announcements were made before Trump even took office. Both Fiat-Chrysler and GM pointed out that their plans both dated back to UAW contracts signed in 2015. And Trump failed to mention that on Nov. 9 — the day after he was elected — GM announced it was laying off 2,000 workers in Michigan and Ohio. Fields was perhaps purposefully ambiguous with Ford’s announcement, appearing to play it both ways. “When we
make decisions like this as a company … first we do what’s right for our business. This makes sense for our business,” he told CNN, but added that Ford looked at “all factors, including what we view as a more positive U.S. manufacturing business environment under President Trump.” Nevertheless, Trump persisted. “The assault on the American auto industry, believe me, is over. It’s over,” he told the crowd in Ypsi. “Not going to happen anymore.” The crowd ate it up. “Here’s a guy
Donald Trump visits Ypsilanti’s American Center for Mobility in March 2017 — his first trip to Michigan as president.
who wants to bring Detroit back to its greatness,” a Fiat-Chrysler assembly line worker and Trump voter named Paul Thayer told Automotive News. “Let’s give him a chance.” Even the UAW’s Williams — who had been critical of Trump on the campaign trail, and backed both Obama and Trump’s 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton — seemed to be won over, especially when it came to Trump’s views on renegotiating NAFTA and pulling out of the TPP.
“He’s been the first president that has addressed this issue,” he said, according to Automotive News. “I’m going to give him kudos for it. We’ve been hollering about this for 20 years and he is the first president who has brought this up.” But not everyone assembled was buying it. Outside, several hundred held signs protesting the president and his policies. “I do not believe that he is responsible for bringing jobs back,” a woman
named Karen Moss told WXYZ. “I think that is another con job. I think our auto executives are responsible for that.”
Less than a year into his first term, the headlines are dominated with reports about the Trump administration’s many scandals. A federal investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia is ongoing, as is an
BILL PUGLIANO/GETTY IMAGES
obstruction of justice investigation into his firing of former FBI director James Comey over the Russia probe. Despite the president’s attempt at a cease and desist, Michael Wolff’s bombshell tell-all book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House dropped on Friday, painting a portrait of an utterly dysfunctional Oval Office led by an erratic snake oil huckster who allegedly never wanted the job anyway. Prompted by the salacious details presented in the book, on Saturday
metrotimes.com
| January 10-16, 2018
25
FEATURE
Trump participates in a roundtable with General Motors CEO Mary Barra, left, and UAW president Dennis Williams, right.
morning Trump went on a twitterstorm defending his own sanity (“I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius… and a very stable genius at that!”) and denouncing the Russia investigation as a hoax, all but guaranteeing the news cycle would focus on his mental state for at least the next few days. It’s been a surreal ride. But even as the president seems caught in this constant cycle of scandal, work continues on major regulatory and legislative efforts that could have significant impact on the auto industry. It prompts the question: Is the Trump administration helping or hindering the auto industry, especially in Detroit? Throughout his campaign to “Make America Great Again,” Trump repeatedly mentioned the Big Three, along with other U.S. manufacturers. He promised to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., and to make the country an attractive place for companies to do business. Trump’s heavy hand is a far cry from the waning days of the George W. Bush administration, when executives from the Big Three flew to Washington to beg for a government bailout that was at the time criticized by Republicans. And it’s fundamentally a major break from the Republican party’s typically laissez faire economic approach. Republicans, especially Michigan Republicans, didn’t seem to mind — nor did they seem to mind Trump’s misogyny, racism, and xenophobia, not to mention his lack of traditional conservative values. Even certain Obama
Trump’s relationship with the auto industry wasn’t always so warm. In fact, on the campaign trail, it could be downright contentious. voters were willing to set that all aside. Finally, somebody in politics seemed to get it, they thought — “it” being the importance of U.S. manufacturing. But Trump’s relationship with the auto industry wasn’t always so warm. In fact, on the campaign trail, it could be downright contentious. Trump would often take credit for industry news that had nothing to do with him. Automakers seemed not to mind — as long as he stopped bullying them on Twitter. Back in 2015, then-candidate Trump attacked Ford’s decision to build a new $1.6 billion plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, promising to bring those jobs back to the U.S. by slapping the madein-Mexico cars with a 35 percent tariff. He also promised to dissolve NAFTA. Later in 2015, Trump took credit for Ford moving a plant from Mexico to Ohio. “Word is that Ford Motor, because of my constant badgering at packed events, is going to cancel their deal to go to Mexico and stay in U.S.,” he tweeted. In reality, Trump — who is so fond of denouncing the mainstream media as “Fake News” — appeared to have himself been duped by a fake news article that falsely claimed he persuaded
26 January 10-16, 2018 | metrotimes.com
the company to move production from Mexico to “struggling Youngstown, Ohio.” Ford has no facilities in Youngstown. While the company had recently shifted production of trucks from Mexico to Ohio, that deal was in the works since 2011. Ford was still going ahead with its new Mexican plant. It didn’t matter to Trump. “Do you think I will get credit for keeping Ford in U.S.,” he tweeted. “Who cares, my supporters know the truth. Think what can be done as president!” Throughout the campaign trail, Trump continued to slam the company, causing Executive Chairman Bill Ford to reportedly fly to New York to try and get the candidate to tone it down. But by September 2016, Trump was at it again, talking about Ford’s new Mexican plant at a campaign stop in Flint. At the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2016, just a week after Trump’s election, Fields defended Ford’s Mexican operations and attacked Trump’s border tax, saying, a tariff “would be harmful, I think, to the entire industry and the economy, and therefore we want to engage in a very productive set of discussions.”
NICHOLAS KAMM/GETTY IMAGES
Fields also defended NAFTA. “The facts are when we look at something like NAFTA, production and supply chains are deeply integrated across the three countries,” he said. “A lot of that integration supports U.S. jobs, and we want to make sure we’re looking at those facts.” Two days later, Trump tweeted that he got a call from Ford. “Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky — no Mexico,” he wrote. “I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!” This wasn’t accurate, either. A statement issued by the company clarified that Ford told Trump the company canceled plans to move production of its low-selling Lincoln MKC from Louisville to Mexico. But the company said it was never planning on closing the Louisville plant — or even shedding any jobs. A Wall Street Journal report revealed that by January, the Big Three seemed to be frantically trying to figure out what to do with this “new, unpredictable force” that was about to enter the White House. Fields even said he spent the holidays re-reading Trump’s autobiography The Art of the Deal “to better understand the new occupant of the Oval Office,” according to the WSJ. (Apparently nobody told Fields The Art of the Deal ghostwriter Tony Schwartz has since disowned the book as a work
of fiction. “I put lipstick on a pig,” he said.) Weeks before taking office, Trump took aim at GM for importing its Chevy Cruze from Mexico. “Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!” he tweeted. This, too, was inaccurate — the company charged that the majority of its Cruze models are made in Ohio, and most of the Mexican-made Cruzes are sold outside of the U.S. Mere hours after Trump attacked GM, Ford announced it would scrap the San Luis Potosí plant entirely and reinvest in Flat Rock. Fields reportedly called Trump to tell him the news before it went public. Like clockwork, Trump tweeted. “Thank you to Ford for scrapping a new plant in Mexico and creating 700 new jobs in the U.S.,” he wrote. “This is just the beginning — much more to follow.” Days later, when Fiat-Chrysler made its jobs announcement, Trump once again took to Twitter to take credit. “It’s finally happening,” he wrote. But Marchionne cautioned that he needed more information on Trump’s policies before making any further decisions on Mexican investments. “I need clarity. I think we all need clarity,” Marchionne said when asked about Trump. “And we are not the only ones that need clarity.”
Early on in his administration, President Trump appeared to make good on his word in making the auto industry a priority. GM’s Barra was invited to join Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a business advisory council that included CEOs from corporations like Disney, IBM, Wal-Mart, and JPMorgan. On Jan. 24 — his first Tuesday on the job — Trump hosted the Big Three execs to a breakfast meeting at the White House. It was the first time a president met with the Big Three since 2011. (Curiously, executives from foreign-based automakers such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai were not invited, even though all have U.S. plants and employ tens of thousands of workers.) At the meeting, Trump eschewed talk of a border tax in favor of instead discussion about reforming the Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s absolutely crazy,” he told the group. “I am to a large extent an environmentalist. I believe in it. But it’s out of control. We’re going to make a very short process. Generally speaking we’re going to give you your permits. We’re going to be very friendly.” The kumbaya moment didn’t last long. Less than a week later, Trump issued an executive order banning travelers to the U.S. from seven primar-
ily Muslim countries. Fields, along with executive chairman Bill Ford, issued a joint statement condemning the move. The company — headquartered in Dearborn, home to the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in both Michigan and the U.S. — said it did not support the policy, “or any other that goes against our values as a company.” There would be other rifts. In June, Trump — who believes climate change is a hoax — announced the U.S. would break from the Paris climate accord, an agreement among United Nations members to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Previously, in December 2015, the Big Three along with other automakers had signed a two-page commitment to “decarbonize” automotive transportation in response to the Paris treaty. Again, the companies vocally opposed the president. “GM will not waver from our commitment to the environment and our position on climate change has not changed,” the company said in a statement. “International agreements aside, we remain committed to creating a better environment.” “We believe climate change is real, and remain deeply committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our vehicles and our facilities,” a statement from Ford said. “Our commitment to sustainability is why we’re investing so heavily in electrification and adding 13 new electrified vehicles to our lineup.” Elon Musk, CEO of Silicon Valley automaker Tesla, resigned from the president’s advisory council in protest, apparently frustrated he could not change the president’s mind. “Am departing presidential councils,” he wrote on Twitter. “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.” Coincidentally, Trump’s Paris accord announcement came on the same day as GM’s annual sustainability report, which outlined the company’s commitment to the environment. “Environmental stewardship and sustainability are part of our business model and core to our operations,” Barra said in the report. For now, Barra would decide to stay on the council.
With Trump, the Big Three find themselves in the position of attempting to tame the untamable. “The industry is in a peculiar position,” Paul Eisenstein, a journalist who has written about the auto industry for more than 30 years, tells Metro Times. “You’ve got a president who has been attacking automakers left and right
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FEATURE
After getting blasted by Trump for moving production to Mexico, former Ford President and CEO Mark Fields announces a $700 million plan to expand its Flat Rock facilities in January 2017. Fields would be ousted in May, with some citing his awkward PR with the president as a factor. COURTESY PHOTO
since he became a candidate. He is proposing a number of things that the industry, to be honest, hates — like the border tax. And they certainly hate the idea of having trade agreements and other things torn up that could completely disrupt a global production network that has taken decades to put in place.” Yet at the same time, Trump can potentially offer things the industry wants — like loosening fuel efficiency standards and other regulations. “(The industry) is in a peculiar place where they both have to stand up to Trump and yet at the same time they have to flatter him and his seemingly very fragile ego,” Eisenstein says. It’s a lot of theater. Those job announcements Trump cited during his Ypsilanti speech had been in the works long before he was elected, but the timing of the announcements seemed to indicate an attempt on the automakers’ part to please the president. Then there was Ford’s decision, announced weeks before Trump’s inauguration, to cancel its new Mexican plant. “That was much ado about nothing,” Eisenstein says. In reality, Ford canceled the San Luis Potosí plant when it realized demand for small cars had dropped so much that it decided it couldn’t support another Mexican plant. It instead decided to shift the production of its small cars,
including the Ford Focus, to an existing plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, and expand its Flat Rock operations. “The decision, in fact, simply reflected the economic realities of the markets,” Eisenstein says. To a degree, the mainstream media was complicit in entertaining this fantasy. “Donald J. Trump has promised to change the way American automakers do business. Less than three weeks before his inauguration as president, he has already knocked the companies on their heels,” the New York Times proclaimed following the Flat Rock announcement. “GM to invest $1 billion in U.S. after pressure from Trump,” a Detroit Free Press headline read, implying a cause and effect. Factory plant projects can be under study anywhere from months to years. The proposal to scrap the second Mexican plant, Eisenstein says, was already in the hands of Ford’s board of directors before the November election, back when it seemed likely that Hillary Clinton was going to win. “So they certainly didn’t do it because of Trump. They did it purely for economics,” he says. “What you find is some of the manufacturers would very much like to appease him, and so they’re being vague about how their decisions were made,” he says. Eisenstein notes other U.S. industry
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developments that have been long in the making. New plants by Volvo and Mercedes-Benz planned for Charleston, South Carolina set to open during Trump’s term were both initiated under Obama, as were expansions by Mercedes in Alabama and BMW in South Carolina. “South Carolina is a great example of how Donald Trump seems to have a relatively poor understanding of what’s happening in the industry,” Eisenstein says. Due to today’s global economy and trade agreements like NAFTA, the concept of an “American-made” automobile is a gray area these days. According to a recent American-Made Index study, the most “Americanmade” car is the Toyota Camry — made in Kentucky and Indiana. “The reality is the single largest automotive exporter operating in the U.S. is BMW. Honda and Toyota aren’t far behind,” Eisenstein says. “BMW and Mercedes, and secondarily the Japanese, are the reason we do have a reasonable number of American made cars being exported today.”
It’s now been nearly a year since Trump’s White House meeting with the Big Three execs. Marchionne is set to retire next year. Fields was ousted in May, replaced by new CEO Jim Hack-
ett, following concerns of Ford’s falling stock prices and a perception the company was lagging behind in the race to get autonomous vehicles on the road. There was also a feeling that Fields had bungled the company’s relationship with Trump. Citing an unnamed source familiar with Ford’s board of directors, The Wall Street Journal reported there was a perception that Fields “unnecessarily put the iconic car company on President Donald Trump’s radar” during the 2016 campaign when he announced the plan to move Ford Focus production from Michigan to Mexico without pointing out that the company had plans to preserve those jobs. Later, Fields’ announcement that the Mexican plant would be scrapped created confusion and “ended up costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost investment,” according to the WSJ. Once Hackett took the helm, he announced the company would shift gears yet again. The Focus would not be built in Mexico after all. Instead, the company realized it could save even more money by building the model in China. Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum was abruptly disbanded in August. Some members resigned in protest of the president’s lukewarm condemnation of the violent clash between white supremacists and protesters in Char-
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FEATURE Ironically for Trump, 2017 is the first year since 2009 to see U.S. auto sales slip. lottesville. GM’s Barra did not, apparently caught between two undesirable outcomes. If she resigned, she would lose her seat at the table, and risked alienating pro-Trump GM customers. If she stayed, it could incite a boycott. It was a choice Barra wouldn’t have to make. On Twitter, Trump claimed to have been the one who decided to end the council, yet offered little explanation as to why. (“Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both,” he said. “Thank you all!”) But Barra’s statement suggested the true cause. “General Motors is about unity and inclusion and so am I,” she said. “Recent events, particularly those in Charlottesville, Virginia, and its aftermath, require that we come together as a country and reinforce values and ideals that unite us — tolerance, inclusion, and diversity — and speak against those which divide us — racism, bigotry, and any politics based on ethnicity.” When asked for an interview about working with Trump, a spokesman for UAW’s Williams repeated a statement the union president made often over the past year. “There are certain things that we have worked with presidents on that are in the interest of our membership and working men and women in this country, and we’ll do the same with President Trump,” he said. “But, we’re not going to shy away or walk away from the core principles we have. There may be issues we are in conflict with, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t work with the administration on things that I think are very important to the American public, and American workers, and UAW members throughout the globe.” A Ford spokesman said the company “will continue to offer our point of view on how public policy can best support American manufacturing and innovation, including policies to accelerate the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles and trade policies that support U.S-based manufacturers.” A GM spokesman said the company “(looks) forward to continuing our work with the administration on policies that support a strong and competitive economy and automotive industry, in addition to improving vehicle and road safety and
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the environment.” (A spokesman for Fiat-Chrysler declined to comment.) Ironically for Trump — who has been so eager to take credit for events that had gone into action long before he took office — 2017 is the first year since 2009 to see U.S. auto sales slip. 2016 saw the industry reach a record high of 17.55 million new vehicles sold. 2017’s totals fell to 17.2 million, and sales are expected to drop further in 2018. “Now, critics will certainly blame (Trump), but in reality the market was going to slide this year no matter who was in office,” Eisenstein says. “This is a cyclical thing that everyone was expecting, no matter who won the White House.” How much further and how quickly the market declines could have much to do with what the Trump administration does in the year ahead. Representatives for NAFTA are set to meet in Montreal at the end of the month to negotiate the trade deal. The American Automotive Policy Council, a coalition representing the Big Three, created a new campaign called Driving American Jobs to try and dissuade Trump from pulling out of NAFTA entirely. In November, the coalition met with Vice President Mike Pence to try and get his support as well. It may be that dismantling NAFTA is Trump’s battle alone. According to a CNBC report, GOP lawmakers “began seeking reassurances in December from the administration that it would not withdraw from NAFTA as talks enter their final stretch in early 2018.” According to the report, a “heated exchange” took place between Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and top U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer at a White House meeting on Dec. 5. Alexander reportedly challenged Lighthizer to name one single GOP senator who would support a NAFTA withdrawal. Aside from the corporate tax cuts in the GOP tax plan signed into law by Trump in December, which automakers will likely appreciate, there hasn’t been a major headline regarding the president and the auto industry in months. Of course, with Trump being as erratic as he is, this could change at any time. The industry lurches on. ldevito@metrotimes.com @leedevito
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FOOD
Prince’s Bakery 10622 W. Warren Ave., Dearborn 313-584-4636
Open daily from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Prices 50 cents to $4
Sfeeha, or meat pies.
TOM PERKINS
These Lebanese bakers make some of metro Detroit’s best pizzas and pies By Tom Perkins
Is there a better, more vibrant
food neighborhood in metro Detroit than that along Warren Avenue in Dearborn and Detroit? Arguably, no. The proof is in the James Beard award-winning Al Ameer; the flavors of Aleppo, Syria at Al Chabab; the kebabs at the Dearborn Meat Market and other halal butchers; and in the dozens of other restaurants trading in Lebanese, Iraqi, and other Middle Eastern cuisine. Indeed, when it comes to variety, it has greater downtown Detroit beat. There are also the Lebanese bakeries — many of them. In Lebanon, the bakeries populate every neighborhood, and they’ve proliferated along Warren. And while the bakeries’ menus cover a lot of the same turf, there’s always one in the bunch that does it better, and the best of the Warren strip’s savory pies and pizzas are baked in the Prince’s Bakery oven. Father and son Ali and Hussein Saad set their small shop apart in several ways. The filling in their meat and spinach pies — for several reasons
— pops with more flavor. And those fillings arrive in any number of doughy vessels that bake in around a minute in Prince’s open flame oven that’s in excess of 750 degrees. The roughly one-minute quick run in the high heat ensures that the dough retains moisture and doesn’t dry out. It’s a similar approach to the Neopolitan brick pizza oven, and is why Prince’s meat and spinach pies arrives in light and fluffy dough. When you visit, the best place to start is the sfeeha — meat pies — which the Saads say is their claim to fame, and an informal taste test of every bakery on Warren reveals why. The mini lamb pies are a small, nearly pyramid-shaped pastry that cradles a big, red Lebanese meatball. Prince’s packs the tender minced lamb with plenty of sauteed onion, garlic, tomatoes, and a seven-spice blend of salt, black pepper, cardamom, and more. Like a lot of Lebanese meat, it’s a slightly sweet but mostly savory package, and it’s more moist at Prince’s because of that quick trip to the oven.
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The mix of lamb and spices is also spread across a thin Lebanese flatbread called manoush, which is crispy but still moist. The Saads also utilize the manoush to deliver their za’atar, a staple spread as common to Lebanon as mayonnaise is to the U.S. It’s a punchy, slightly yellow mix of olive oil, sesame seeds, thyme, sumac, oregano, and other spices, though Hussein says that each Lebanese village holds its own recipes, and each bakery in Dearborn follows suit. The triangular spinach pies called sabanaekh are also a staple in Lebanese bakeries. They’re among Prince’s bestsellers, and they also stand as the best on Warren. That’s a result of a sour and moist mix of sauteed spinach and onions flavored with olive oil, salt, and sumac, all of which comes encased in a small, soft, puffy dough pouch. A more mellow variation is found in the turnovers, which are slightly larger and stuffed with sauteed spinach, broccoli, and cheese. Up to this point, the recipes are traditional. But the pizza portion
of the “menu” (there isn’t actually a menu — you come in and point to which items among the smorgasboard get your attention) is where there’s a more American element. Add a layer of mozzarella to your six-or-eight-inch manoush with lamb or za’atar, for example, and you enter “fusion” territory. That’s OK — the za’atar is intense, and a taming layer of cheese works well with all that thyme, oregano, garlic, and olive oil. But Prince’s is also serving straightup pizza, as are many LebaneseAmerican bakeries. The pizzas on Warren live and die by the quality of the manoush, and the manoush at Prince’s is superior. It’s marked by a thin, crunchy layer that’s followed by a light, soft interior with a little stretch and a lot of flavor. There are usually a few pizza options to choose from with toppings like black olives, tomatoes, and bell peppers. The Saads also bake a pepperoni roll for meat eaters. Hussein Saad says the shop started selling pizzas after he went to a brick oven pizzeria and got what he describes as “the worst pizza of my life.” Convinced he could do better, he went to the shop the next day and started pounding out pizzas to go with the Lebanese pies. The customers love it, and Ali Saad says it’s a business move that especially attracts the secondgeneration of Lebanese immigrants. Beyond that, Prince’s bakes soft croissants filled with cheese or spinach or za’atar, and sweet turnovers filled with strawberry and other fruits compose the dessert menu. The small, basic shop is mostly carryout, though there’s one long table for eating in that customers regularly put to use. A couple coolers hold sodas, juices, bottled water, and yogurt drinks, and though the shop fills up in the morning and around lunch, you usually won’t wait more than 10 to 15 minutes. But perhaps the best part is the price. Even a broke person who foolishly chose journalism as a career can order at Prince’s and walk away with a feast-in-a-box for under $10. And this isn’t mere dollar menu fare — these are some of the best bites in a stretch that’s arguably Michigan’s best food neighborhood. eat@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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FOOD Bites By Tom Perkins
Nosh Pit vegetarian restaurant will host a January soft opening in Hamtramck The Nosh Pit vegetarian food truck is planning a soft opening for its brick and mortar space in Hamtramck on Jan. 17, and will open to the public sometime in February. Owners and husband-and-wife-team Karen and Eric Schultz are opening the restaurant at 2995 Yemans St. in downtown Hamtramck, and will initially offer dinner service Thursday through Saturday. The restaurant will serve items from the food truck menu as well as the Nosh Pit’s catering menu. That means lots of sandwiches and comfort foods like three cheese baked ziti, mushroom lasagna, farmer’s pie, and potato and vegetable tart. The menu will also include several breakfast items, and the Schultzes say they will hire the owner of Safflower Street bakery to work out of the kitchen and sell baked goods. Safflower Street recently put together the vegan dessert menu at Ale Mary’s. Nosh Pit doesn’t have a liquor license, but the Schultzes say they’ll carry a local kombucha and drinking vinegars with which they’ll make a house drink. Plans also include a food truck park in Hamtramck, and Karen Schultz says they’ll get started on that once the restaurant is up and running. Nosh Pit chose Hamtramck because Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski — a vegetarian for 42 years — pitched the city while Nosh Pit was parked at the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival. It joins the recently-opened California Burgerz, Remas Mediterranean restaurant, and Hello Shawarma in Hamtramck. More information is available at facebook.com/NoshPitDetroit.
Romaine lettuce linked to E. Coli outbreak in Michigan
Romaine lettuce tainted with E. Coli is believed to have sickened at least 58 people in North America, including Michigan. It also killed one person in the U.S. and one in Canada. The strain of E. Coli O157:H7 has also led to illnesses in 12 other states, and food safety experts are urging people to
The Amanda salad from Nosh Pit.
throw out their romaine lettuce. Food Safety News reports that officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are still investigating the exact source of the outbreak. Though U.S. government officials have stopped short of advising people to avoid romaine altogether, Canadian officials linked the illnesses to lettuce on Dec. 14. It appears that the same strain is sickening Americans, so consumer advocates are urging people to avoid the lettuce altogether. The 17 U.S. cases were reported beginning Nov. 15 to Dec. 8, while Canada had 41 cases. “The FDA should follow the lead of the Canadian government and immediately warn the public about this risk,” Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union, told NBC News. “The available data strongly suggest that romaine lettuce is the source of the U.S. outbreak. If so, and people aren’t warned, more may get sick.” Leafy greens, including romaine let-
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COURTESY PHOTO
tuce, were the cause of outbreaks from E. coli 0157:H7 in 2006, 2011, 2012, and 2013. “While anyone can get sick if they are infected with this strain of E. coli, young children, the elderly, and anyone who has a condition that weakens the immune system, such as cancer or diabetes, are at a greater risk,” James Rogers, Consumer Report’s director of food safety and research, told NBC News.
Como’s asks $4M for closed Ferndale pizzeria
The owners of Como’s Restaurant — which was permanently shut down last year over ongoing, serious health code violations — are asking $4 million for the property. The nearly 8,000-square-foot building sits at the corner of Nine Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, so it’s an excellent spot for a new development. The Freep reports that city officials are hoping to see someone redevelop the property with a denser mixed-use project instead of simply remodeling the
existing building and installing a new restaurant. The property also holds tax liens worth $275,000, which must be paid by Como’s or the buyer, The Freep reports. Como’s furniture and equipment — including its sign — are on sale in an online liquidation auction. Como’s owner George Grego said in November that multiple offers were made for the property. His family owned and operated the pizzeria since 1961. In September 2016, the restaurant was ordered to shut down due to an inability to maintain a clean environment. This past September, it was cited for serving expired food, and for having soiled surfaces, malfunctioning equipment, and inaccessible hand-washing sinks. Health commissioner Dave Woodward previously said the county rarely shuts down restaurants, but the board could not ignore the ongoing issues. It voted unanimously to shut down the restaurant. eat@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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MUSIC
Greet Death.
COURTESY PHOTO
Davisburg rock city
Greet Death revises the ’90s with ear-bleeding pop By Eric Gallippo
There are some great grungeera guitar influences on Greet Death’s debut album, Dixieland, some stoner metal tendencies, and enough shoegaze warble to please any pedalboard geek. But the thing that sticks in your head for days and days are the melodies. “We all listen to Drake and Taylor Swift as much as Hum and Cloakroom, so our influences are pretty eclectic,” says guitarist and vocalist Logan Gaval. “As a musician, I’m always trying to accentuate the best elements of ’90s guitar rock, sonically, without going into the butt rock Pearl Jam territory.” The band’s revisionist take on the decade that gave us so many bad Nirvana would-bes doesn’t stop there: They also unironically — as far as I can tell — named their best song “Cumbersome,” as if to erase all memory of Seven Mary Three’s second-tier alt-rock staple. Dixieland isn’t a concept album, but
recurring musical themes and lyrics evenly preoccupied with Christian symbolism, death, and make it cohesive and insular sounding, like eavesdropping on the shorthand lingo of an outsider group of young white dudes. (And seriously, is this some kind of Catholic/ Christian guilt trip? “Not really,” Gaval says. “Maybe.”) There’s a good reason for that: The band is from the small town of Davisburg, and Gaval along with bassist and vocalist Sam Boyhtari, both in their early- to mid-20s now, have been playing in bands together since they were kids. Davisburg is kind of smack in the middle of Flint and Detroit, and while the band made the former its homebase starting out, they’ve been getting more gigs in and around the latter recently, including an opening spot for instrumental metal headliners Pelican last October and as part of the always-
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awesome but closely curated No Rest Fest in December. “Flint is very inviting toward local and developing bands, and it’s a great place to get started playing shows and learning how to perform,” Boyhtari says. “Detroit isn’t as accessible without contacts. I think once we played in Michigan enough, drew the interest of bookers, developed a profile, and played tons of DIY shows in the metro area, we began playing Detroit proper more often.” Originally called Pines, the band spent a couple of years writing its debut album and changed the name just before releasing Dixieland on Flesh and Bone Records last summer. Response has been positive, including a surprise glowing review from indie tastemaker Pitchfork. “The Pitchfork thing was totally unexpected,” Boyhtari says. “It definitely didn’t change our plans as far as touring
incessantly and continuing to work hard, but as a promotional and pitching tool it’s extremely valuable. We’re very fortunate that so many people care about this thing we’ve created together.” The band has already put in some time on the road supporting the album, and 2018 will bring more touring as well as writing. “Spring is going to be crazy in particular,” Boyhtari says. “Keep an eye out for that.” Greet Death will perform on Saturday, Jan. 13 with Twin Peaks, Pup, Shortly, and others as part of Fusion Shows 10th Birthday Party at the Crofoot, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; 248-858-9333; thecrofoot.com; Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; Tickets are $23 advance, $25 day of show. letters@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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MUSIC Smooth sailing
How Tennis’ Alaina Moore navigates marriage, music, and womanhood by Jerilyn Jordan
The origin of indie glam duo
Tennis is not your typical tale of boy meets girl. Long before they were husband and wife, and well before they were a band, Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley knew that the rules did not apply to them or rather, they had a strong and mutual disinterest in playing by the rules. The couple have discovered a practical magic that keeps them afloat. Tennis is most commonly referred to as “the sailing band,” and it is this reputation that has become as much of a signature as their devotion to ’70s pop whimsy. In the span of seven years, the couple has endured two harrowing sailing trips (both of which are heavily documented and served as inspiration for 2011’s Cape Dory and 2017’s Yours Conditionally), but Moore is gleeful when acknowledging that their greatest adventure has little to do with music or sailboats. Though Moore is admittedly reluctant to celebrate the slew of bandrelated successes in 2017 — namely continuing to grow their label Mutually Detrimental, selling out the Fillmore in San Francisco, touring with the Shins, and peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard vinyl sales charts with their self-released record Yours Conditionally alongside “like, a Beatles re-issue and the La La Land soundtrack” — she admits that for Tennis, it was a special year. “I feel like, despite what was going on culturally and politically, it was an amazing year full of personal milestones for Patrick and I,” Moore says. “I feel proud that I made a political and artistic statement before I knew I needed to. I mean, I wrote Yours Conditionally, a really female-centered and feminist record before the Trump election. I’m proud our most successful record is deeply about womanhood, my identity, and challenges patriarchal conventions like monogamy during what was a pretty abysmal year for women.” The process for Yours Conditionally required Moore and Riley to challenge the Tennis formula while perfecting the tried-and-true methods that have
served the band in the past. They left their label and surrendered, once again, to the sea. Yours Conditionally does not drift far from their tendency for nondescript themes of closeness and isolation. What their fourth record does explore, however, is a bit of new territory — growth beneath the surface as Moore and Riley hone their sights on the horizon. “We knew the quality of our work would go up because we would write from a more joyful place without trying to make someone happy who is, you know, bankrolling your whole endeavor,” Moore says. “That freedom was worth it even if it was the the last album we made. Instead it’s the most successful record because we did what was right for us.” Moore and Riley, both music school dropouts, met in philosophy class while attending the University of Colorado. Before they married, Moore said that music was not part of their relationship’s vocabulary. In fact, they hadn’t played instruments in front of one another and had only been to a few live shows together. It wasn’t until 2011 when they sold off the bulk of their material possessions, bought a 30-foot sailboat and embarked on an eightmonth high-stakes voyage along the Eastern Atlantic Seaboard that their music language surfaced. “It was very immersive,” she says. “We had a rule that there was no captain — it was an egalitarian-run ship. Neither of us knew how to sail. Neither of us had any more knowledge than the other one about anything other than Pat is a better diesel mechanic, but we were both complete novices. After the trip, when we finally found music, it was a weird bonus — like a cherry on top of an already really great thing.” “Pragmatic” is a word Moore uses often to describe both her approach to her musicianship and her marriage. For example, Moore explains that she and Pat have “infinity veto power” when it comes to creative material. As the sole songwriter, she knows that she’s on to something if it excites her partner. As for the whole “til death do us part” business, Moore says their relationship
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Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore of Tennis.
is built on quality rather than a belief in forever. “I feel like everyone is trying to negotiate what part of a longstanding social convention is useful or meaningful to you and what part can you throw away or redesign,” she says. “And that’s what we’re trying to do. It makes us value our marriage so much more, which is why we choose each other over our art.” For a band that is, well, very openly married, it might come as a surprise that they had no intention of getting married. Instead, they made the choice to elope to appease conservative parents. “It was hurting our parents more than it benefitted us,” Moore says. “So, I basically just did some utilitarian calculus after years of living together and calling each other life partners and we eloped.” It was a decidedly anti-romantic approach. They didn’t prepare vows, nor did they have rings, and they resisted most traditional symbols and constructs of a wedding day. “The second we were actually married I immediately cried my eyes out and I was like, ‘Oh my god you’re my husband,’” she says. “It was weird.” Unlike their first nautical expedition, their sophomore voyage in 2016 from San Francisco to the Sea of Cortez was intended solely as a creative jolt rather than a test of the emotional endurance between lovers. While Moore and Riley
PHOTO CREDIT
have become more seasoned sailors over time and more well-rounded musicians with Yours Conditionally, they accept the reality that nothing is unsinkable. In fact, Moore reveals that if she wasn’t making music with her best friend, she wouldn’t do it at all. She would just write. “I would never perform or tour, I would just write privately — I don’t know what Patrick would do but I think he would just sail around the world on our boat until he died,” she laughs. “Our fundamental code of conduct is that I care about Patrick more than I care about this song, or the record, or this show,” she says. “Whenever we reach those tough points we literally say to each other ‘I choose you over whatever the other thing is.’” She continues, “There are many lovers in rock ’n’ roll who do not make that choice and I don’t think that it’s wrong. I just know that’s what’s different for us. But we really resist the urge to collapse into ourselves into one person.” Tennis will perform Tuesday, Jan. 16 at the Majestic Theatre; Doors open at 7 p.m.; 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313833-9700; majesticdetroit.com; Tickets are $16-$18.
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FILM
Margot Robbie plays the larger-than-life Tonya Harding.
COURTESY PHOTO
Redemption and retribution — on ice By Jerilyn Jordan
If you’re looking for an uplift-
ing rags-to-riches story, the tale of competitive figure skater Tonya Harding is not it. Directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl), I, Tonya is more than an electrifying portrait of a disgraced icon and prodigal athlete. Though uproarious in its uniquely comedic recipe and, at times, reckless in its downplaying of a true life laden with a history of abuse and trauma, I, Tonya explores the evolution of the American Dream — deferred and deep-fried. The film adopts a dizzying “mockumentary” structure that jumps from confessional interviews to scripted asides that break the fourth wall and various retellings of real-life events. “I never did this,” Harding says, looking at the camera while cocking a shotgun. Harding is played by a de-glamorized Margot Robbie, who delivers a sensational performance that speaks more to Harding’s resilience than her appearance — something real-life Harding struggled with as her love of over-processed hair, garish lipstick, and ZZ Top were problematic for the wholesome image of the figure skating community at large. I, Tonya is purposeful in its fact-versus-fiction formula, yet provides ample ammo for a choose-your-own-adventure-style tale of white trashdom. And Steven Rogers’ (Hope Floats, P.S. I Love You) screenplay is masterful in helping us understand what led to what the film refers to as “The Incident.” The film introduces us to a side of the
Tonya Harding story that is less familiar than the infamous knee-bashing of fellow skater and teammate Nancy Kerrigan during practice at Cobo Hall in 1994, ahead of the Olympic Games in Norway: namely, Harding’s abusive relationship with her chain-smoking, alcoholic, knife-throwing mother, LaVona Golden (played by a remarkably merciless Allison Janney). Janney portrays Golden as an unloving mother from hell, subjecting Tonya to nightmarish displays of physical and emotional abuse. Harding’s early years were riddled with embarrassment (like being forced to pee her pants on the ice because a bathroom break would eat into her rink time and having to wear her skating uniform to school picture day so her mother could skimp on competition headshots). “You skated like a graceless bull dyke,” Golden scolds after a performance. When the film cuts to the “documentary” footage of Golden, she is seen wearing a fur coat while smoking a cigarette, an oxygen tank at her side and a parrot on her shoulder — claiming she did the best she could. Enter Jeff Gillooly (played by Sebastian Stan). Here, Harding swaps one abuser out for another in her teen years when she chooses to move in with her boyfriend (and eventually, her on-again, off-again husband) — and also one of the perpetrators of “The Incident” that marred Harding’s bright future. A saccharine and docile Kerrigan (as she is portrayed from a distance in the film) was a skilled skater in her own
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right and fit the bill as an ideal candidate for America’s top Olympian — real girl-next-door material. Meanwhile, Harding was the girl smoking cigarettes in the alley behind the girl next door — except Harding could land a triple axle and was the first American figure skater to do so (a fact the film rightfully belabors because, as shown in a slow-motion shot of the nearly impossible maneuver, it’s fucking impressive). “Nancy gets hit and the whole world shits,” a puffy-faced Harding says to the camera in her confessional mockumentary setting, a humble kitchen with a seemingly permanent pile of dirty dishes in the sink behind her. “For me, it’s an everyday occurrence.” Though the film flirts with truth and non-truth, toggling between he-said, she-said contradicting accounts of what may or may not have happened, Harding isn’t wrong here. But for Harding it was never about what was right or what was wrong, or who was for or against her. It’s made clear that Harding would always have to work twice as hard even though she was twice as talented — another example of cruel and systematic prejudice. While the film seems to exhaust its brand of acrobatic levity by the time “The Incident” occurs, perhaps focusing a bit too heavily on self-proclaimed “expert of counterterrorism” and Harding’s dimwitted ex-bodyguard Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser), I, Tonya manages to tighten its laces when addressing the real criminals — us.
I, Tonya Rated R Runtime: 120 minutes “You’re all my attackers,” Harding says, addressing the audience from the kitchen. Twenty-three years later and we are still spectators of and participants in the downfall of a real person who still really exists. It’s a rare moment where the film’s distracting use, at times, of outrageous acts of violence, obscenity, and white trash-ery takes a backseat and reveals the wear and tear of serving as both a hometown punching bag and America’s favorite punchline. Harding is seated in front of a mirror before her botched Olympic performance. Beneath a shaft of uneven florescent light, the camera lingers on Harding’s mouth wincing between a rink-ready smile plastered in a too-dark plum lipstick and complete collapse. As she presses a blush stick over her cheekbones, she bares her teeth and raises her head before bursting into a momentary bout of tears. She regains control and steps onto the ice. She placed eighth. “There’s no such thing as truth. I mean it’s bullshit!” Harding declares in a chilling voice-over. “Everyone has their own truth and life does whatever the fuck it wants.”
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FILM
Scott Sheppard and Jennifer Kidwell in Underground Railroad Game.
COURTESY PHOTO
Dangerous ideas
UMS performance festival aims to disrupt with provocative theater By Lee DeVito
Terrorism, transgender identity, slavery, BDSM, addiction,
and depression — these are just some of the themes slated for exploration in No Safety Net, a new performance art series from the University of Michigan’s University Musical Society. “We purposefully selected plays that put major societal topics on the table, so issues that inspire strong beliefs, but that can be rather difficult to talk about,” says UMS spokeswoman Mallory Shea. “We curated the festival with the specific intention of examining the way that theater can be used. It’s exploring theater as a tool for disrupting, organizing, and creating counternarratives to the status quo.” She adds, “The leadership here has stated that universities should be dangerous places for ideas, and safe spaces for people.” No Safety Net’s programming offers a three-week series of 22 performances. “Audience members are going to be
asked to reconsider their own opinions and biases, and definitely to listen to different viewpoints,” Shea says. “We want to get various different voices in the room, and try and create a platform for that kind of dialogue in the community.” To do that, No Safety Net will also include educational workshops on topics such as systemic racism and gender identity. Shea says she hopes that people will all participate in these activities in addition to enjoying the performances. Two of the productions will be U.S. premieres — and also the only time those two productions will be presented in the U.S. this season. Those include Us/Them by Belgian Theatre company Bronks (which offers a look at a 2004 Beslan hostage crisis through physical theater, with an intended audience of children ages 12 and up) as well as (I Could Go On Singing) Over the Rainbow (an immersive work by Glasgow-based artist FK Alexander that focuses on addiction and recovery, featuring music
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from the noise band Okishima Island Tourist Association). Emblematic of the festival’s aspirations is Underground Railroad Game, a play written by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott Sheppard of Philadelphia’s Lightning Rod Special troupe, who also serve as the production's sole performers. The production is based on Sheppard’s childhood growing up in Hanover, Penn. Located outside of Gettysburg, Sheppard says the town has a big Civil War reenactment culture, which manifested in one of his school’s most popular traditions, the Underground Railroad Game — essentially a live action role-playing game in which the students were divided up into Union and Confederate soldiers and tasked with sneaking “slave” dolls from one side of the school to the other. “I’ll be completely honest, and I’ll say the fucked up part of it didn’t really dawn on me until later,” Sheppard says with a laugh. “We didn’t quite appreci-
ate at all how awful things were — the politics of the war, the things that were being fought for, the ignorance behind it, and the capitalism built on the slave system.” Sheppard says looking back, his school’s Underground Railroad Game seemed to more so romanticize the war rather than cause the students to think about it critically. “It was this metaphor where it was almost ham-handed, in the sense that slaves were still literal objects,” he says. “There were no AfricanAmerican students except for this one student, and he was assigned to be a Confederate soldier.” It wasn’t until much later — when Sheppard and Kidwell, who grew up across the Mason-Dixon line in Baltimore, both found themselves attending the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training in Philadelphia in 2011, as part of its inaugural class — that Sheppard started really thinking about his childhood Civil War LARPing experiences. Unexpectedly, he says he and Kidwell, who had never worked together, were assigned to make a piece together. That was the origin of what would later become Underground Railroad Game the play. But that’s just a starting off point for the production. At times, the production parodies American racial tropes — the black slave, the white savior. “It oscillates between a few different realities,” Kidwell explains. “There’s this historical fiction, this romanticization of the past, which is also like a reduction of the past, or a simplification. I think the piece indulges in that, but it’s also critiquing through that indulgence.” At other times, Sheppard and Kidwell play teachers inspired by Sheppard’s childhood experiences playing the Underground Railroad Game, where they address the audience as if they are students at the school. And the “roleplaying” here is not just limited to the children — the play further explores its themes through a BDSM-heavy romance subplot in which the racial tropes it explores are turned upside down. “Eventually, it became a piece about how we teach history and how we learn about history,” Sheppard says. “And so this piece that I thought was going to be about the past became about the present.” No Safety Net starts Jan. 17; Arthur Miller Theatre, 1226 Murfin Ave., Ann Arbor and the Stamps Gallery, 201 S. Division Street, Ann Arbor; see ums.org/ nosafetynet for more information; Shows run through Feb. 3. letters@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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CULTURE Savage Love
Worms turn by Dan Savage
Q:
I’m a 67-year-old gay man. After a breakup 15 years ago, I believed the possibility of emotional and sexual intimacy with a partner was over for me. Then a couple of months ago, my desire for sexual contact increased dramatically. For the first time, I began using apps, and I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store; it seemed strangely similar to when I first came out in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood in the early 1970s. Also, I was surprised — not unpleasantly — by the whole Daddy phenomenon, never imagining that this old face and body would interest younger men. You can probably guess what happened next: I was contacted by a 22-year-old man who revealed himself to be mature, intelligent, sweet, and, fatally, the physical type that arouses me most. I fell hard, and he seems to like me too. Am I a creep? A fool? Is my judgment impaired? —Dumb And Daddy
A:
The sexy “Daddy” thing — which has always been with us — seems to be undergoing a resurgence. Perhaps our omnipresent abusive orange father figure is giving us all daddy issues that are manifesting (in some) as a burning desire to service kinder, sexier, more benevolent daddies. Or perhaps the internet is to blame — not for creating more people interested in intergenerational sex and/or romance, but for making it easier for people to anonymously seek out the kind of sex and kinds of sex partners they truly want. Even if the initial looking is anonymous, DAD, discussing one’s desires with others who share them helps people grow more comfortable with their desires and themselves — nothing melts away shame quite like knowing you’re not alone — and more people are coming out about their non-normative sexual desires, partner preferences, relationship models, etc., than ever before. That said, DAD, if the affections of a consenting adult 40-plus years your junior is your particular perk of aging, go ahead and enjoy it. Keep your expectations realistic (a successful STR is likelier than a successful LTR), don’t do anything stupid (see Father Clements, below), and reacquaint yourself with my constantly updated and
revised Campsite Rule: When there’s a significant age and/or experience gap, the older and/or more experienced person has a responsibility to leave the younger and/or less experienced person in better shape than they found them. No unplanned or planned pregnancies, no sexually transmitted infections, no leading the younger partner to believe “forever” is likely. Do what you can to boost their knowledge, skills, and self-confidence while you’re together, and do your best to stick the nearly inevitable dismount — the chances that you’ll be together forever are slim, but you can forever be a friend, mentor, and resource. While the age difference will creep some out, DAD, that doesn’t mean you’re a creep. Don’t want to be a fool? Don’t do anything foolish (see Father Clements, below). Worried about infatuation-impaired judgment leading you to do something foolish? Ask a few trusted friends to smack you upside the head if you start paying his rent or lending him your credit cards. And just as you don’t want to take advantage of this young man, DAD, you don’t want to be taken advantage of either. We associate age with power, but youth and beauty confer their own kinds of power, and that power can be abused — it can also lead seemingly sensible men to sign their life savings over to 24-yearold Romanian “models.” For example: “A 79-year-old retired priest has been left heartbroken and homeless after his 24-year-old husband left him just after their home was put into his name,” LGBTQ Nation reported. “Philip Clements sold his home in Kent, England, for £214,750, before moving to Romania and purchasing an apartment for the couple to live in in Bucharest. He signed over the property to Florin Marin, so that Marin would have security after he passed away… Marin broke things off just weeks after the apartment was put in his name, and Clements found himself homeless.” Keep Father Clements’s sad story in mind, DAD, but don’t be paralyzed by it. Because there are lots of examples of loving, lasting, non-creepy, non-foolish relationships between partners with significant age gaps out there. So enjoy this while it lasts, and if things start to get creepy — if he starts shopping for an apartment in Bucharest — then you’ll have to pull the plug. But if this turns into a loving, lasting, healthy, and unconventional LTR, DAD, then one day he’ll get to pull your plug. (When that day comes, which hopefully won’t be for a long, long time.)
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SH
Q:
Someone at work — not my boss — asked me to fuck his wife. He’s a nice guy, his wife is hot, and I’m single. This is a first for me. Besides STI status, what questions should I ask? —Help Interested Straight Boy Understand Lust’s Limitations
A:
1. “Are you a cuckold or is this a hotwife thing?” (Considering your signoff, HISBULL, either you’ve assumed he’s a cuckold or he’s told you he is one. If he is a cuck, he may want dirty texts and pictures — or he’ll want to be in the room where it happens. Is that okay with you?) 2. “Have you done this before?” (The reality of another person sleeping with your up-to-now-monogamous spouse can dredge up intense emotions, e.g., jealousy, sadness, anger, rage. If they’ve done this before and enjoyed it, you can jump right in. If they haven’t, maybe start with a make-out session at a time or in a place where you can’t progress to sex.) 3. “Can I speak directly with your wife?” (You’ll want to make sure she isn’t doing this under duress and that she’s into you, and you’ll want to independently verify the things he’s told you about their arrangement, health, experiences, etc.)
Q:
I recently started seeing a gorgeous 24-year-old woman who’s smart and sweet and also happens to have a few out-there fetishes. There’s not much I’ll say no to, Dan, but one of the things she’s into is formicophilia (a sexual interest in being crawled on or nibbled by insects). I offered to get some ants and worms to crawl on her body while I fuck her, but she wants me to put earthworms in her vagina. Is there a safe way to do this? Female condom? I want to help, but putting worms in your vagina seems like it will end with an embarrassing trip to the ER. —Worries Over Really Messy Scenario
A:
“I thought I had heard everything,” said Dr. Jen Gunter, an ob-gyn
UT
T
S ER
TO
CK
in San Francisco. “Apparently not.” Dr. Gunter, “Twitter’s resident gynecologist,” first went viral when she urged women not to put jade eggs in their vaginas, just one of the many idiocies pushed by the idiots at Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s idiotic “lifestyle” website. Last week, Dr. Gunter had to urge women and men not to shoot coffee up their butts, also recommended by Goop. So I thought she might have something to say about stuffing earthworms in your girlfriend’s vagina. “This is obviously unstudied,” Dr. Gunter said, “but anything that lives in soil could easily inoculate the vagina with pathogenic bacteria. Also, I am not sure what earthworm innards could do to the vagina, but I am guessing the worms would get squished and meet an untimely demise during sex. How would you get the pieces of dead earthworm out of her vagina? I can think of a lot of ways this could go very wrong. I would advise against it.” I’m with Dr. Gunter (and, no doubt, PETA): Don’t stuff earthworms in your girlfriend’s vagina. That said, WORMS, tucking a few earthworms into a female condom and carefully inserting it into your girlfriend’s vagina without shoving your cock in there too… is a thoroughly disgusting thing to contemplate and blech. But while it would most likely kill the earthworms (maybe switch ’em out for gummy worms at the last second?), it probably wouldn’t damage your girlfriend or land you both in the ER. Even so, WORMS, don’t do it. Because blech. Read Dr. Gunter’s blog (drjengunter. wordpress.com), follow her on Twitter (@DrJenGunter), and check out her new column in the New York Times (The Cycle). On the Lovecast: Finally, a toy to help you DO YOUR KEGELS! Listen at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage
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Horoscopes
CULTURE ARIES: March 21 – April 20
If you’ve done your homework, what’s going on right now reflects your ability to stay in touch with the heart and soul of your experience. In that case, everything that you’ve been dreaming about has come true, or is on the verge of manifesting. Stay tuned to your instincts, because what got you this far will take you the rest of the way. If you’ve been backsliding into ego-based behaviors or giving too much credence to false beliefs, and/or the drive to be right about everything, it’ll take everything you’ve got to return to a place where you are centered and clear. TAURUS: April 21 – May 20
by Cal Garrison
LEO: July 21 – Aug. 20
You’ve gotten caught up in other people’s stories and other people’s stuff. If it’s working out for you, that’s OK but be wary of what it costs you to accept a codependent role. The need to be who you are has to be included in this set up. Those of you who are already clear that it’s costing you a fortune to fit in with everyone’s expectations but your own, get a grip. You didn’t come here to be a shadow. The longer you wait to face the facts the messier things will be. If it’s not too late, maybe it’s time to slip a little of your SELF into this equation to see if there’s room for you too. VIRGO: Aug. 21 – Sept. 20
Wait and see how things pan out. You’ve done everything you can to hold things together. Based on what you feel is important and necessary for your survival, holding things together doesn’t have to mean keeping things as they are. Life has changed. So has your perspective on it. What lies ahead will rise or fall depending on your ability to stay tuned to the current program, and upon your ability to let go when situations demand it. It does no good to force things. Toeing the line only gets us so far. When it starts to snap, it’s best to wake up and call a spade a spade.
This is either feeling good — or — you are totally lost and confused. On some days, it goes up and down. Riding out your moods requires the ability to stay in the moment and refrain from making judgments about what’s going on. Normally disposed to have all of your ducks in a row, this state of affairs has you flummoxed. Everything is born out of chaos. Believe it or not there is order to be found in that which makes no sense. Grounding yourself is bound to require more time for yourself and the ability to lose your expectations enough to be OK with anything.
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20
LIBRA: Sept. 21 – Oct. 20
After a long period of not knowing for sure which way the axe will fall, you are moving into a phase where it becomes important to adjust to the fact that it could all turn out in your favor. These adjustments are sure to include the idea that sometimes we have to take two steps back before we can move forward. Other themes suggest that the direct approach to anything will not yield success at this time. Your downfall will be allowing these uncertainties to discourage you. Your strength will lie in trusting life enough to know that they are, in fact, showing you the way. CANCER: June 21 – July 20
You hover between wanting to keep things the way they are and wondering if you’ve missed your calling. Try to see this phase as the space that you occupy when you’re between one thing and the next. There’s no doubt that everything you’re doing is on the verge of change, but there’s no sense in projecting too much onto what the future might hold when everything is spinning like a top. From what I can see this period of stability is forming the foundation for things that are as yet unseen. Stay calm, remain in the moment, make the most of it, and wait on the will of heaven.
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You could use a little time out. If the opportunity arises don’t let your purse strings pinch your willingness to take off. You never know what you’ll find on the wings of serendipity; it often leads us into places that change us forever. Lots of good opportunities surround the need to stay put, but they will be here when you get back. As far as you and your loved ones go? They may not be on the same bandwidth right now. If that is the case, give each other plenty of space. There are definitely some issues to consider, but more reasons to keep working on the good stuff. SCORPIO: Oct. 21 – Nov. 20
Things are looking up. After putting up with more than your share of tests, the wheels are finally moving in your direction. It even seems as if the people who have never been there for you before are all of a sudden showing up with bells on. This may have something to do with the fact that you’ve released so much baggage in the last few months. Always a work in progress, keep in mind that resting on your laurels isn’t where it’s at right now. As much as you have every reason to be proud of your achievements, keep your nose to the grindstone and your heart to the wheel.
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 21 – Dec. 20
You are doing the inner work that lays the groundwork for what has yet to manifest. In a few months whatever this is about will start to show on the surface. If anything, your intentions need to be clear. New relationships, and new starts are forming in the ethers. With that in mind it will serve you to avoid people and situations that subtract from your joy and diminish your sense of what’s possible. Getting back on the ball with your sense of purpose, as well as any work that has fallen by the wayside, will require you to get real about who and what needs to stay or go. CAPRICORN: Dec. 21 - Jan. 20
Wondering where things are at, and hoping for the best, is where things stand right now. It’s no sign of weakness to be this uncertain; after all, you have always known how to get things to happen. There are times when all of us have to bow to the fact that we are not in charge. Those of you who understand this are in better shape than those of you who insist on remaining in control. The outer stuff, and the place where appearances lie is where you tend to get stuck. If you can let go of your pictures, and drop the reins, everything you are doing will turn out just fine. AQUARIUS: Jan. 21 – Feb. 20
The pace is about to pick up. Don’t fall asleep to the need to stay on the ball, and whatever you do, don’t slip into overconfidence. The idea that you have it made only fits when you realize that there is always more to be done. What seems to be riding on air, relative to both your work and your relationships, is subject to change. There are bound to be tests in both areas. Seeing people for what they are, and being savvy re: their weaknesses will help you navigate the days ahead. Pay attention to your intuition and be as objective as you can about who’s there for you and who isn’t. PISCES: Feb. 21 – March 20
You’ve reached some sort of limit. Either at the peak or at the breaking point, this is a climactic time for sure. Whether you realize it or not, the sum total of all of your efforts is being fed by forces that have been guiding you since the day you were born. To lose yourself to doubt or be overtaken by any lack of confidence will drag you down. If the pressure gets too great you may find yourself bowing to your fears and the baser emotions that well up whenever we forget who we are. Trust your guides. To remain strong in your endeavors is more important than anything right now.
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