THIS IS BRUNCH!
Sat., Feb. 9th • Majestic Theatre, Garden Bowl & The Magic Stick •mtbrunch.com
VOL. 39 | ISSUE 17 | JANUARY 30–FEBRUARY 5, 2019
grand theft auto Why autoworkers feel like General Motors sold them out
By Lee DeVito
2 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
3
4 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
5
Parks & Rec
SPONSORED BY
FREE BOWLING PROVIDED BY
Info & Tickets:
Soul Cafe
Cafe Muse
DO
TOWN DE TR
S I N C E 19 8 7
WN
More Added Daily!
Great Lakes Coffee
Official After Party:
MTBrunch.com
PHOTOBOOTH PROVIDED BY
11 am-2:30 pm • The Majestic
Saturday, February 9
Mimosas, Bellinis, Bloody Marys, Spiked Coffees • Live Music • Bowling
River Bistro
Bangkok 96 Street Food
Gold Cash Gold
Beans & Cornbread
Brujo
Brass Rail
Jim Bradys Royal Oak/Ann Arbor
Coop
Beyond Juice
Woodbridge Pub
Apple Fritter
Empire Kitchen
Toast
OI
T
Food From 30+ Great Restaurants All Under One Roof Including:
THIS IS BRUNCH
Vol. 39 | Issue 17 | January 30–February 5, 2019
News & Views
Publisher - Chris Keating Associate Publisher - Jim Cohen
Feedback ............................. 10 Informed Dissent ................ 12
Feature How backlash against GM is planting the seeds for a green revolution ............................ 14
Food Review: What it’s like to eat at Ingham County Jail ........ 20 Bites ..................................... 22 Q&A with Rock City Eatery’s Nikita Sanches .................... 24 Ode to Olga’s Snackers ..... 26
EDITORIAL Editor in Chief - Lee DeVito Dining Editor - Tom Perkins Music and Listings Editor - Jerilyn Jordan Contributing Editors - Michael Jackman, Larry Gabriel Copy Editor - Sonia Khaleel Web Editor - Devin Culham Editorial Interns - Jessica D’Alfonso, Mike Dionne, Will Feuer, Angela Zielinski, Ariel Whitely Contributors - Sean Bieri, Doug Coombe, Kahn Santori Davison, Mike Ferdinande, Cal Garrison, Curt Guyette, Mike Pfeiffer, Dontae Rockymore, Dan Savage, Sara Barron, Jane Slaughter
ADVERTISING Associate Publisher - Jim Cohen Regional Sales Director - Danielle Smith-Elliott Senior Multimedia Account Executive Jeff Nutter Multimedia Account Executive Jessica Frey, Molly Clark Account Manager, Classifieds - Josh Cohen Marketing Intern - Mallary Becker
BUSINESS/OPERATIONS Business Support Specialist - Josh Cohen Controller - Kristy Dotson
CREATIVE SERVICES Graphic Designers - Paul Martinez, Haimanti Germain
CIRCULATION Circulation Manager - Annie O’Brien
EUCLID MEDIA GROUP
What’s Going On ............... 28 Fast Forward ....................... 34
National Advertising - Voice Media Group 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com
Music Chandra ............................... 36
Arts & Culture Film: Cold War .................... 40 Higher Ground .................... 44 Savage Love ........................ 46 Horoscopes .......................... 54 On the cover: Photo illustration by Tom Carlson
Printed on recycled paper Printed By
6 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Chief Executive Officer - Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers - Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Creative Director - Tom Carlson VP of Digital Services - Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator - Jaime Monzon euclidmediagroup.com
248-620-2990
Detroit Metro Times 30 E. Canfield St. Detroit, MI 48201 metrotimes.com Editorial: 313-202-8011 Advertising: 313-961-4060 Circulation: 313-202-8049 Got a story tip? Email editor@metrotimes.com or call 313-202-8011 The Detroit Metro Times is published every week by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member Detroit distribution: The Detroit Metro Times is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader.
EUCLID MEDIA • Copyright - The entire contents of the Detroit Metro Times are copyright 2019 by Euclid Media Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above. Prior written permission must be granted to Metro Times for additional copies. Metro Times may be distributed only by Metro Times’ authorized distributors and independent contractors. Subscriptions are available by mail inside the U.S. for six months at $80 and a yearly subscription for $150. Include check or money order payable to - Metro Times Subscriptions, 30 E. Canfield St., Detroit, MI 48201. (Please note - Third Class subscription copies are usually received 3-5 days after publication date in the Detroit area.) Most back issues obtainable for $5 at Metro Times offices or $7 prepaid by mail.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
7
COMING SOON CANDLEBOX WITH TO WHOM IT MAY AND THE LOWS: PRESENTED BY WRIF – February 16
THE WALL THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE – February 20 (*)
UMPHREY’S MCGEE WITH MICHAL MENERT & THE PRETTY FANTASTICS – February 22 & 23 (18+)
ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS WITH FLOR AND GRIZFOLK – March 1
STATE CHAMPS W/ OUR LAST NIGHT,
THE DANGEROUS SUMMER & GRAYSCALE – March 2
SWITCHFOOT WITH COLONY HOUSE & TYSON MOTSENBOCKER – March 3
BOB WEIR AND WOLF BROS
FEATURING DON WAS AND JAY LANE – March 5
FLOGGING MOLLY WITH LUCERO – March 8 CYPRESS HILL & HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD W/ DEMRICK & XZIBIT – March 10
QUINN XCII W/ ASHE & CHRISTIAN FRENCH – March 15 A BOOGIE WIT DA HOODIE WITH DON Q – March 16
THE MUSICAL BOX: A GENESIS EXTRAVAGANZA
– March 19 (*)
METRIC WITH JULY TALK – March 25 JAMEY JOHNSON WITH KELSEY WALDON – March 30 * denotes a seated show
8 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
on sale friday:
coming soon concert calendar: 2/1 – here come the mummies 18+ 2/5 – the devil makes three w/ lost dog street band
2/7 – Flint Eastwood supporting Poppy
2/8 – Saved By The 90s mar. 22 Summer Walker the shelter
mar. 17 Sabrina Carpenter st. andrew’s
2/9 – Dorothy
w/ Spirit Animal & Autumn Kings LOW TICKETS
2/9 – bam margera:
unfiltered @ the shelter low tickets
2/12 – bas w/ correy c,
innanet james, & rexx life raj
2/15 – chris lane
w/ paulina jayne
apr. 30 Overkill the shelter
w/ Death Angel & Act of Defiance
Found Glory jun. 16 New w/ Real Friends, st. andrew’s
The Early November, & Doll Skin
2/17 – palisades @ the shelter
w/ savage hands & dead silent
2/18 – Like A Storm w/ Royal Tusk & Afterlife @ The Shelter
2/19 – Peter Murphy
coming soon:
40 Years of Bauhaus w/ David J LOW TICKETS
2/21 – Action Bronson w/ Meyhem Lauren
2/26 – One Ok Rock
w/ Waterparks & Stand Atlantic LOW TICKETS
2/27 – You Me At Six feb. 1
Mick Jenkins w/ Kari Faux
The shelter low tickets
w/ Dreamers & machineheart
feb. 4
Young Dolph
st. andrew’s w/ Kap G
2/28 – The Cadillac Three w/ Republican Hair
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
9
NEWS & VIEWS Feedback Readers react to stories from the Jan. 23 issue We don’t get a lot of actual letters anymore. Most of the Feedback column is culled from comments on our social media posts and on metrotimes.com. So when an actual letter arrived in our inbox, we spit our coffee. This thoughtful email came in response to several recent stories pertaining to President Donald Trump’s proposed wall for the Mexican border. (Side note: If you want your comments shared, send us a letter to letters@metrotimes.com. There’s a good chance we’ll publish it these days!) William McMullin: The most effective ways to secure our U.S.-Mexico border is not through a physical wall. Republican US Representative Will Hurd, an ex-CIA official whose district is along the U.S.’s southern border says, “a wall from sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security.” One of the big issues with a physical wall is that it can take Border Patrol hours or even days in remote areas to respond, rendering a wall useless. A physical wall would harm the environment. It would threaten some of our most biologically diverse areas. It would not allow many species of plants,
10 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
animals, and insects to move across the border, blocking the migration of many. Over 1,500 native animal and plant species would be affected including many endangered and threatened species. A physical wall would also increase flooding. We are rapidly losing pollinators due to our chemical use and habitat loss. A wall could put even more stress on bees and butterflies. The wall will harm National Wildlife Refuge land. Construction is already planned soon to cut through the National Butterfly Center, a nature preserve along the Rio Grande. Instead of a physical wall, we need to use technological solutions such as the smart wall, the fiber-optic cable, the radar, lidar, high-infrared cameras, etc. They will be more effective, not waste taxpayers’ money, and be less harmful to the environment. Sincerely, William McMullin Master of Environmental Law and Policy, Vermont Law School, 2013 BBA in public administration and environmental studies, Western Michigan University, 2004 Have an opinion? Of course you do! Send feedback to letters@metrotimes.com.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
11
NEWS & VIEWS Informed Dissent
Nancy Pelosi is way better at this game than Trump is effre
If Donald Trump were a bet-
ter politician, this all could have been avoided. I’m not speaking of his administration’s breathtaking incompetence or his inability to grasp even the basic points of actual governance. The last two years have demonstrated an avalanche of ineptitude from tip to stern. Rather, I speak of the thing the president so often likes to brag about: his actual political savvy. In Trump’s narrative, he won an election that no one else could have, a victory so incredible that its only explanation is his superior instincts and intellect. And it’s true that his election over Hillary Clinton was a stunning though marginal upset, given the polling and the state of the economy and (much of) the media’s certainty that he would lose. But, in hindsight, it’s also true that he got extraordinarily lucky: He won by a relative handful of votes across three key Midwestern
. illman
states while losing the popular vote; he faced an almost-equally disliked opponent dogged by the FBI over email server management; he was aided by a Russian regime allegedly working closely with high-ranking elements of his campaign. Yet instead of recognizing that he hit an inside straight, Trump believed his own bullshit — that he was smarter than everyone else, that he had tapped into a reservoir of real-American antipathy toward the elites, that people really wanted his brand of simple-minded faux-populism: building the wall and banning immigrants and burning more coal and isolating ourselves in the name of nationalism. But he was spectacularly bad it. Even with Republican control of both chambers of Congress, he passed but one major law — a tax cut for the rich that did little more than explode the deficit and offer short-term stimulus to an already-growing economy. He didn’t replace Obamacare. He
12 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
didn’t build the wall. He couldn’t keep his team rowing in the same direction. Sure, he rolled back some of President Obama’s environmental and civil and labor rights initiatives through executive action, and he pushed through a number of judges, including two Supreme Court justices, largely thanks to Mitch McConnell’s undying cynicism and willingness to ditch the inconvenient filibuster. But or two years, he failed to notch legislative victories or to persuade the country that he was doing a good job, even with a good economy. Come November, he got his ass kicked. The wall he had made a centerpiece of his campaign — that unprecedentedly brilliant campaign — was slipping away. His base was restive. So he made his stand. No wall, no government funding. And he got his ass kicked again. The bill Trump signed Friday night to reopen the government for three weeks got him nothing. The 35-day shutdown
was an un ualified disaster. ight hundred thousand ederal wor ers suffered, the public blamed him, and Democrats held firm. The more he made his case to the American people, the more his approval ratings fell. On Thursday, a bill to fund the wall failed in the GOP-led Senate; on Friday morning, so many unpaid air-traffic controllers had called in sic that airports were seeing huge delays. Trump got one small fig lea rom the Democrats — a committee to study border security ahead of the next budget deadline. On Saturday, amid a backlash from his demoralized base — Ann Coulter even called him a wimp on Twitter — Trump returned to petulant defiance, declaring that he d get his wall in three weeks, for real this time. Except he won’t, and he might be the only one who doesn’t realize it. Nancy Pelosi always knew she wasn’t playing against the varsity; now Trump’s weakness has been put on full display. Democrats have no incentive to give in. Republicans have no way to force them to. If the government shuts down again, Trump will get blamed again. If he funds the government without a wall, his supporters will think he’s gone beta. In other words, Pelosi’s got him by the short hairs. That’s how the next two years are going to go: She’s better at this game than he is, but his ego’s too big to realize it. So he’ll fall for every trap she sets. As I see it, Trump has two possible outs: One, the Democrats agree to fund a smidgen of additional border fencing, and Trump tries to spin it as a win; or two, he declares a national emergency and tries to circumvent Congress to build the wall — which might be a hard sell to a federal judge, considering that he’s publicly dithered over declaring an emergency for two months, which undercuts the very notion of an actual emergency. Or the government shuts down, and he repeats this self-defeating exercise all over again. In the meantime, Trump gave Pelosi a perfect excuse to delay something he very much needs: the State of the Union address, originally scheduled for Tuesday night, its presidential pomp and circumstance allowing Trump to momentarily rise above his myriad troubles (hello, Roger Stone!) and his 6 a.m. toilet tweets and reassert himself after his party’s midterm shellacking. But he’s not going to get it — at least not yet. Not for a couple of days or a week. Not until Nancy Pelosi decides to let him back into her house.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
13
FEATURE
UAW workers hold a candlelight vigil after General Motors announces it will close five North American plants, including Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly.
an
LEE DEVITO
AmeRican sprInG? How backlash against GM is helping plant the seeds for a green revolution
By Lee DeVito
For thousands of General Motors autowork-
ers, there was little cheer to be felt this holiday season — which is why, on a Friday evening in early December, a small group of them braved the bitter cold to air their grievances in front of Detroit’s United Auto Workers Solidarity House, not far from GM’s Detroit headquarters. Two days before Thanksgiving, the board of directors of the biggest U.S. automaker approved a massive plan to cut billion in costs. That meant five
plants would be closed — or “unallocated,” to use the company’s antiseptic parlance — by the end of 2019. Those included Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, Lordstown Assembly in Ohio, and Oshawa Assembly near Toronto, as well as transmission plants in Warren and outside of Baltimore. Combined with 8,000 whitecollar cuts, the plan called for a 15 percent reduction of the company’s salaried workforce, or more than 14,000 workers. The news especially hurt because it came less than
14 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
a decade after the federal government spent $51 billion to eep the company afloat during its Chapter ban ruptcy. And that wasn t the first time the company convinced the government to lend a helping hand. In 1981, GM persuaded the city of Detroit to use eminent domain to seize and raze more than 1,000 houses, several Catholic churches, and more than 100 businesses in Detroit’s largely Polish “Poletown” community on the border of Hamtramck to build DetroitHamtramck Assembly, displacing 4,000 people.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
15
FEATURE At the time, an opposition case made it all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of General otors, finding economic development to be a legitimate use of eminent domain. But now, less than 40 years after GM destroyed the community in the name of economic development, the plant was closing. For some, GM’s announcement wasn’t a big surprise. After a decade of growth, the auto industry was expected to cool off last year. But then resident Donald Trump, who has long criticized the Big Three for building cars in Mexico and China to export back to the . ., issued tariffs on steel and aluminum. In October, Ford Motor Co. CEO im Hac ett orecasted that the tariffs would cost the company $1 billion in profits. Honda North America vice president Rick Schostek echoed the sentiment, saying the tariffs were causing the prices of U.S. steel to go higher, resulting in “hundreds of millions of dollars” in additional annual costs. GM CEO Mary Barra did not blame
saying instead the company’s “operating performance was impacted by significant headwinds rom commodity costs, and also cited orecasted profit losses of $1 billion. Trump — who won the 2016 election thanks, in part, to his promising to bring back manufacturing jobs to states like Michigan and Ohio — was pissed. In 2017, he held a rally at Lordstown, and promised that factory jobs would return. “Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan and aryland, he wrote on Twitter. Nothing being closed in Mexico & China. The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THAN we get We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including ... for electric cars.” The small group that braved the freezing temperatures to gather on Friday, Dec. 7 shared Trump’s anger at GM and Barra. But they also blamed union leadership. “I mean, it’s a slap in the face,”
Ta e care o your membership the woman who has been standing out here or hours yells. They ta e care o you The car drives off without even a solidarity honk. “This union was founded by bluecollar workers with blue-collar values, but they ve lost their way, eller says. “You know, we even had a guy that was here protesting earlier with us, an older gentleman. He’s retired and he asked to use the restroom, and they wouldn’t even let him use it. And this union Solidarity House belongs to the membership. They won’t even let us pass the gate. That just shows you that they’re a separate entity to the membership. They don’t stand with the membership. They re not unified with the membership.” GM’s layoffs were the latest headline in a string of bad news for the AW, which is under investigation as part of an expanding federal corruption probe. Initially, the investigation focused
salon run by the Hollywood stylist from Mad Max: Fury Road,” according to The Detroit News. (In a statement to the News, AW spokesman Brian Rothenberg defended the expenses as “entirely reasonable.” “Over three years, more than 650 union attendees, from all over the western half of the country, attended all-day meetings during week-long conferences,” he said. “Those are the facts, which stand in contrast to unattributed allegations.”) Still, the probe has ensnared some AW officials. In uly, Nancy Adams ohnson, the union s No. official at Fiat-Chrysler, pleaded guilty to illegally receiving cash and valuable items from the company. In all, the court alleges she spent more than , on flights and shopping sprees, and she faces up to months in ederal prison. A vice president of Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles N and the wi e o a deceased AW vice president have also pleaded guilty to charges in the alleged scheme. After getting linked to the federal investiga-
‘This union was founded by bluecollar workers with blue-collar values, but they’ve lost their way.’ Trump s tariffs or the drastic costcutting measure, though she had long tried to stay on the president’s good side, serving as a member on the president s trategic and olicy orum and a manufacturing advisory council. The relationship was certainly strained when GM publicly disagreed with the president s decision to leave the aris climate treaty in 2017, an agreement among nited Nations members to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Both councils were dissolved after a critical mass of CEOs resigned following Trump’s defense of a deadly white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Va., which resulted in the murder of a peaceful counterprotester. Instead, the company uietly filed complaints with the Commerce epartment, saying the new tariffs “[risked] undermining GM’s competitiveness against foreign auto producers by erecting broad brush trade barriers that increase our global costs.” In a statement, Chie inancial officer Chuck Stevens avoided naming Trump,
says Brian eller o AW ocal . Despite the fact that he works for FiatChrysler, he says he was so disgusted with the AW leadership that he led the demonstration outside of the Solidarity House that included members from all of Detroit’s Big Three automakers. The group says they have stood out here every day since Monday. One woman says she had been here since 2 p.m. on Friday. “It’s been years of corruption, collusion, and nepotism, eller says, re erring to a federal criminal probe into the union’s dealings. “These companies have been ma ing record profits on top of the corporate tax breaks.” Last year, eller and two other iat-Chrysler employees filed a lawsuit against the AW, alleging that union leaders colluded with company officials to influence collective bargaining agreements. A car drives by, exiting the Solidarity House parking lot. As the driver waits for the gate to open, he stoically looks ahead, doing his best to ignore the protesters.
16 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
on auto executives, including the late Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, for funneling money, gifts and illegal benefits to AW officials to eep them “fat, dumb, and happy,” according to prosecutors. As the AW upped its membership dues in recent years, leadership was using funds to pay for extravagant trips and meals, according to court documents. The feds are looking into whether ormer AW resident ennis Williams directed subordinates to funnel the funds from training centers. rosecutors are also investigating nearly $1 million of membership dues spent on condos, liquor, food, and golf in alm prings, Cali ., between and 2016, where Gary Jones held annual conferences before becoming president. In the desert oasis, AW leaders used either membership dues contributed by blue-collar workers or money from Fiat-Chrysler, its adversary across the bargaining table, to pay for dinners, condominiums, golf fees, and $1,217 at a
tion in late , ormer AW oe Ashton suddenly resigned from GM’s board with no explanation. (GM has said it has launched its own internal investigation, and that it is cooperating with federal investigators.) To make matters worse, it was revealed in November that the AW drew from the union’s member-funded $721 million strike fund to use nonunion labor to build a lakeside retreat or Williams. The union de ended the project, stating that it tries to use union labor whenever possible and that it was hard to find union contractors near Cheboygan. It also noted that the house belongs to the union, not Williams. But or the AW s critics, there is perhaps no clearer evidence of how far the union has strayed from its values. In 2014, union delegates voted to raise membership dues, the first time it had done so in 47 years. The union had , members as o , and members pay $670 to $1,600 in dues annually, depending on their hourly wage. Then last year, union delegates voted to
GM CEO Mary Barra at a shareholders meeting in 2017.
increase UAW leadership salaries by 31 percent. For Keller, the taxpayer subsidies and the ruthless workforce slashing don’t add up. In October, the company reported North American profits o $2.8 billion, up $700 million from a year ago. Meanwhile, the aftermath of the bankruptcy forced concessions on lower-level workers, including the creation o a different tier o wages or newer workers, which have yet to be restored. Keller says he and other workers are sick of feeling the squeeze. “We’re told that we got to be viable and competitive with foreign labor markets like Mexico and China and Indonesia,” he says. “But none of our CEOs are living up to that standard. They skim from the workers, not from themselves. And they’re the ones that have failed the company.” In 2017, Barra made $21.96 million — or about 295 times GM’s median employee salary. Keller believes the union’s leadership has become too entwined with the company executives. As part of the 2010 bailout, the UAW agreed to exchange its retirees’ health funds for stock in the Big Three, with 55 percent ownership in Chrysler, 18 percent stake in GM, and 11 percent in Ford. But Keller sees that as a huge conflict o interest What s good for shareholders isn’t necessarily good for workers. “You can’t negotiate wage increases if you’re holding GM stock because you’re afraid the stock is going to go
down,” Keller says. Indeed, the day GM announced the plant closures, its stock went up 4.8 percent. “As long as they’re sitting on GM stock, they’re not going to authorize a stri e, which is our only tool to fight back,” he says. “You can’t ride the fence and be on management’s side and then think you’re going to represent us at the same time. Now it feels like they’re colleagues with management and not representatives of labor.” Keller says he supports Trump’s tariffs, which also include a proposed percent tariff on vehicles built outside of the U.S. He concedes, however, that the tariffs have so ar not stopped the Big Three from shipping jobs overseas. “Me personally, I don’t believe in the Democratic or Republican parties,” he says. “I think they both let down the middle class, and there’s no lesser than two evils. They both get their campaign dollars from the same lobbyists and special interest groups. They protect Wall Street and, at the end of the day, it s always labor that ends up suffering. They were elected to do a job and I feel neither party is doing what they should be doing.” till, eller thin s the tariffs are a start. “That’s the only way anything’s going to happen,” he says, “because these companies are playing these countries’ labor at markets against each other for the lowest bidder.” To Keller’s point, backlash against
STEVE FECHT FOR GENERAL MOTORS
GM has gone international in recent years. In 2011, 12 former GM employees set up camp outside the U.S. embassy in Bogota, Colombia, in protest of what they allege were unsafe working conditions and unfair practices at the company’s Colmotores plant. The men allege that GM illegally fired them a ter sustaining in uries on the job. The company denied they were fired because o the in uries, and successfully litigated most of the claims through the Colombian courts. But the workers allege the company tampered with their medical records, rendering them ineligible for compensation. The case first caught Metro Times’ attention in 2013, when some of the protesters, after having camped outside the embassy for more than 670 days, dramatically sewed their lips shut as part of a hunger strike. Frank Hammer, a metro Detroit-based retired UAW international representative, former local president, and longtime progressive activist, took an interest in the case. One of the injured workers, Jorge Parra, traveled to Detroit to share his plight with the Solidarity House. The UAW then sent representatives to inspect the Bogota plant. GM also sent representatives, on the condition the hunger strike end. “GM set something up that they called the mediation, which for all intents and purposes wasn’t,” Hammer argues. “And GM and UAW came back home and pretty much wish they’d go
away, and they haven’t been there ever since.” But now, more than seven years later, Hammer says the former employees are still camped outside the embassy, demanding compensation, including medical costs, pensions, disability, and lost wages. It hasn’t been a total loss for the Colombian workers. Hammer says since the protests, workers successfully organized and formed an injured workers union, and that the company has fired ewer in ured wor ers and improved conditions in the Colmotores factory. In 2016, a judge ordered GM to reinstate 24 injured workers who were fired that year, though it later fired of them. The workers’ attorney, Liliana Quemba, attributed the victory in part to the tent encampment. Additionally, the udge fined the company , and ordered the GM Colmotores president and general manager to spend three days in jail, though GM attorneys successfully rescinded both orders. Still, it’s a precarious time for labor in Colombia. A report from the British Trade Union Confederation’s Justice for Colombia found that “violence against trade unionists has increased in 2018, with at least 161 so-called ‘violations of life, liberty, and physical integrity’ against trade unionists between the start of the year and 27 August,” including 14 murders, six attempted murders, and 134 threats. Conditions have worsened under the recent election of right-wing, anti-labor President Ivan Duque. Hammer fears the tent encampment could be in danger. “The implications for the encampment are unpredictable, but they certainly aren’t favorable,” he says. He notes the UAW has been supportive, sending funds down to the encampment. However, in recent years, he says he has found that most UAW membership does not seem to be aware of the case. He has called on the union to publicize it, and has also called for UAW leadership to make another trip to Bogota to visit the tent encampment and to invite Parra back to Detroit’s Solidarity House. Another activist even purchased GM stock so Hammer could attend the company’s annual shareholders meetings in June 2017 and 2018 to bring the issue to Barra. He says they were quickly escorted out by security after bringing up the issue, and the meeting was abruptly adjourned. It’s not the only organized opposition mounting against GM’s business practices outside of the U.S. Following the announcement of the Oshawa plant closure, which will eliminate some 3,000 jobs, Canadian
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
17
FEATURE auto worker union Unifor called for the boycott of GM’s Mexican-built vehicles in a TV ad. In late December, the union also ran four full-page ads critical of GM in the Free Press and Detroit News. “If it starts with 3, it’s not for me,” Unifor President Jerry Dias said at a news conference, referring to the exican-built cars vehicle identification number, according to The Detroit Free Press. “They are naive to believe that Canadians won’t betray them for their blatant disloyalty,” said Dias. “When they needed us, we were there. Mexico never gave them a dime.” In a statement, GM argued that Unifor’s boycott would create “collateral damage across the wider Ontario economy, which has more than 60 Ontario-based auto parts companies supporting Mexico production.” Nevertheless, the pressure appears to be gaining traction. Workers at Canadian auto supplier Inteva Products, which supplies both Ishawa and Detroit-Hamtramc , wal ed off the ob in solidarity with the laid-off wor ers. ias is set to meet with UAW leadership in February to discuss a possible plan to oin orces. A GM spokesman told the Free Press the company believed Dias was likely planning wildcat strikes at other suppliers to disrupt production. “If GM has no intention of honoring the collective bargaining agreement, the million-dollar question is, ‘Why should I?’” Dias said, according to the Free Press. Meanwhile, last week, more than 70,000 workers from more than 40 factories, including some that supply GM, launched a wildcat strike in the U.S.-Mexican border town of Matamoros after plant owners refused union demands for a 20 percent pay hike and an annual bonus. Weeks after Keller led the tiny protest in front of the Solidarity House,
the UAW holds a demonstration near Detroit’s Cobo Center to coincide with the North American International Auto Show’s annual charity gala. As industry executives sip Champagne in formal attire, the UAW is holding a candlelight vigil near the foot of “Transcending,” a giant arch that was built to commemorate the labor movement in the nearby Hart Plaza. At the vigil, the mood is somber and low-energy. At one point, UAW chaplain Philip Jackson is brought forward to appeal to the almighty for help. “We need a little help from above, God, today,” he says, looking up at the icy January sky. “I need you to help my brothers and sisters. I need you to make a way out of no way. I need you to touch the hearts of all the leaders of these companies that are negotiating for us today. I need you to open doors that men have shut.” With that, the procession marches over to Cobo and then returns before dispersing. Meanwhile, over at Cobo, there’s a concurrent demonstration against GM, with an entirely different vibe. There, a coalition has gathered to call on GM and lawmakers to “make Detroit the engine of a Green New Deal,” according to banners held by the protesters. Largely led by younger activists, the organizers have printed bold yellow and green screen-printed posters with messages like “Detroit is our city, not GM’s” and “Justice for Poletown.” The group is louder and livelier than the candlelight vigil, complete with a marching band. As the well-heeled gala attendees sheepishly scurry by, some protesters chant at them, “Make better life decisions!” Just outside Cobo’s windows, newly elected Detroit Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib takes to the megaphone in support of the demonstration. “Let’s not forget what happened to Poletown,” she says. “Let’s not forget every single person that gave up so
much for that plant in Hamtramck to be built, and for them to walk away. So I’m telling you, I stand with our UAW leaders, but I am for accountability today. If you leave, I want our money back! If you leave, I want our plant back! I want every single thing we ever gave you back! Because that’s what we deserve!” The group carries on, marching in front of Cobo, dancing and chanting “Which side are you on?” After police gently break up the group, the yellow and green posters disappear into the night. Days later, Hammer agrees that the energy was mar edly different between the candlelight vigil and the Green New Deal demonstration, which he helped organize as part of his group Auto Workers Caravan. “A candlelight vigil? What kind of message does that say?” he says. “It doesn t embody a fight. He says he’s alarmed that the UAW was not able to get more people to attend the vigil. “The UAW has to examine why it is that they were only able to turn out so few people for as critical of an issue as a plant closing,” he says. The Green New Deal demonstration was led by a coalition of a number of different groups, including the etroit chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Sunrise Michigan, Detroit’s Green Party, and the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, among many others. As outlined in pamphlets co-signed by Tlaib, the coalition demands that GM keep its factories open. If they can’t do that, the group believes the factories should be seized via public domain and be put to public use, in order to create ederal union obs to ta e us on a path to rapid decarbonization of the economy.” They also call for public hearings on the issue. Nicholas Jansen, who helped coordinate the event as director for Sunrise
Michigan, says it’s up to a new generation to demand better of companies like GM. “What we’re seeing is a coalition of progressive groups around the country rethinking how our economy works,” he says. “Young people did not create a lot of the problems we’re seeing, especially in terms of climate change. A lot of young people feel such a personal stake in this fight, and so we need to show up in solidarity with laborers because those are the groups that have been
‘The way we see it, these problems are larger than any one company or any one presidency. Our economy has been set up for decades to just benefit those at the top of it.’ 18 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Detroit Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib takes to the megaphone at a Green New Deal demonstration.
facing a lot of these challenges so far. We’re going to be the ones that have to help push for solutions so we can have a sustainable life.” The coalition also points out that GM’s plans go against its own pledge to become environmentally friendly. In a statement posted to LinkedIn in late 2017, Barra wrote that “General Motors has committed itself to leading the way toward this future, guided by our vision of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.” The plant closures, apparently, were supposed to be necessary steps to retool GM for this greener future. But the coalition for a Green New Deal notes that GM does not appear to be making these greener moves just yet. All of the products slashed in the November cost-cutting announcement were sedans, including the hybrid Volt. Its remaining products include gasguzzling trucks and SUVs, which are more popular and have higher profit margins. Ford and Fiat-Chrysler have made similar changes to their product
lines, favoring more popular trucks and SUVs at the expense of lower-selling and more uel-efficient smaller cars. But what the coalition is calling for, Jansen says, goes beyond just GM’s dealings in Detroit. “The way we see it, these problems are larger than any one company or any one presidency,” he says. “Our economy has been set up for decades to ust benefit those at the top of it. CEOs are now making 100, 200 times more than the average worker, and that’s just not in one place and only one state — that is all across the board. We’re seeing workers everywhere being left behind.” Jansen believes the Green New Deal — an idea that has been around for at least a decade, but gained prominence after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez staged a recent sit-in outside House pea er Nancy elosi s office in support of it — will gain traction in the elections ahead. “By the end of this year, any candidate running or office that wants to be taken seriously in 2020 needs to
JOSEPH XU
support a Green New Deal. Otherwise, they’re not thinking about climate change seriously enough,” he says, citing the latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which estimates that we only have about 12 years to stop a climate change catastrophe. Hammer says he’s pleased to see the Green New Deal gaining traction. A decade ago, he says he incorporated elements of it as a new “Arsenal of Democracy” plan brought forth to Washington as part of the Auto Workers Caravan. “I prefer ‘Arsenal of Democracy,’ because it was a way that the U.S. mobilized to counter the Nazi threat in Europe,” he says, referring to the years 1942 through 1945, when U.S. auto plants were ordered by ederal fiat to cease making new cars in order to make military weapons and vehicles instead. “We saw the government directing the auto companies to convert their plants to deal with the crisis of the moment, and I very much think that we’re in
a similar crisis now,” he says. “The government has to step up its power to direct private companies to begin to convert to renewable energy.” He says the UAW has been slow to recognize the threat of climate change. “It needs to look at our situation and begin to educate the leadership and the ran and file about this issue and the role of the auto industry, and what we need to do to improve things for autoworkers and to improve things for the environment,” he says. “I think it would behest the AW to initiate ran and file Green New Deal committees.” He also reiterates that the issue is much bigger than the UAW. “In a globalized economy and dealing with a company that is as globalized as GM is, the UAW needs to be globalized and have a global union,” he says. In the meantime, Keller says to expect future demonstrations. He reiterates the urgency of the situation. In a global market, countries become intertwined economically. If the U.S. dollar collapses, it pulls everybody down. “Everybody’s going to be a loser,” he says. “You don’t have to be an economics teacher to know this.” Until the union authorizes a strike, Keller is calling on union members to protest on their own time. There will be more marches outside of the Solidarity House, he says. He has also called on members to peacefully protest outside of GM dealerships. “I know that the membership is listening to me when I go on Facebook Live, but I don’t know what the participation is going to be until it gets warmer outside,” he says. “Hopefully it will gain traction come early spring and we can get these people a couple hours prior to their shift or a couple hours after their shift. We need to put some kind of pressure on our leadership to negotiate a fair and just contract, to give some of the pie over to labor, because we’re the ones that build those profits. “All I’m saying is something’s got to be done to stop General Motors from doing what they’re doing now,” he says. “You want us to buy American products and support American companies? Then American companies need to support good-paying American jobs. It can’t be where they got this mindset to where they can just abuse us and have us build a product that they reap all the benefits from. Labor is the heart of the company. We are the heart of the union. Without us, nothing moves forward.” Another protest is planned at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9 in front of GM’s world head uarters on . efferson Avenue between Randolph and Beaubien Streets in Detroit.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
19
FOOD What it’s like to eat at Ingham County Jail By Bill Wylie-Kellermann Ready your appetites. With generous support from the Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and assistance from Judge Frank DeLucca of 54-A District Court, we sent our intrepid reporter Bill WylieKellermann incognito into the Ingham County Jail for a 10-day excursion to sample its hostelry and cuisine. His report follows.
I always look to the clientele to
gauge the authenticity of an eatery. A quick glance around Ingham County Jail reveals people of color disproportionately present. They clearly frequent the place, so I figure it must be the real deal. The ambience blends a buffed institutional look with a casual lived-in air. At the bac , a noisy game o spades is in progress. n a nearby stainless-steel table, a worn ane rey paperbac lies open, half-read. Comporting with the institutional style, the waitstaff as well as the bac of the house) are decked out in orange jumpsuits. I’m told they work for privileges. No tipping here! A perusal of the menu says the place is made or vegetarians or ma es you one for the duration). Meat is only available on the somewhat pricey socalled “commissary” menu. In general, the secret ingredient of every meal is soy aged and textured vegetable protein. A fellow diner speculated that the property of soy known to increase estrogen levels was a tactical culinary device to quiet the energies of the largely male guests. I was made wary, and sometimes pushed it to the side. The fare is not for the glutenconscious, but is a carb-lovers dream. Starch is a staple here: macaroni,
A dramatic re-enactment of what it’s like to eat at the Ingham County slammer.
spaghetti generally over-coo ed , white rice with a gummy ingredient I couldn t discern , and potatoes al dente) in white sauce, or perhaps wheat paste, all with plenteous blac pepper. The che liberally employs the latter to cover a multitude of sins, though in general there is a take-it-or-leave-it approach to minimalist spicing. Most meals include vegetables, resh rom a local freezer. They were always thawed, but with a serving temperature that made this diner wish for lukewarm. Management has made a clear decision against presentation, or perhaps is reaching for something of the ironic. The dishes are served with a kind of slop-it-on quality that may not sit with all tastes. The compartmented trays are a nice touch. ortions are ade uate, but to be honest I lost weight simply by not cleaning my plate. Breakfast is served at 5:30 a.m. and eaten in silence as a rule. uests repair uic ly to blan et and bed therea ter, as the air conditioning, even midwinter, is set far too high. Other meals are taken with conversation: jocular and obscene commentary on the day s are. Table community uic ly grows. A unique ritual accompanies each meal. iners exchange ood items either by free gift, trade, or in payment of a previous debt. This can be great un, though it may leave first-time patrons a little nonplussed. Eventually, however, all catch on and join in. By my lights, the best entr e was
20 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
texturi ed vegetable protein in barbecue sauce. pread it on white bread and if you close your eyes you can almost imagine the pulled pork sandwich from one of Detroit’s famous destination eateries. One plate came with a pile of plain T , a flour tortilla not made inhouse), a puddle of cheese sauce, and some rice. I think the chef was going or Tex- ex. verheard at a table nearby emember. It s not about the taste. You have to eat to live.” Cornbread is standard with practically every meal. It s thic and moist, but sadly tasteless. ixed in a plastic bag with powdered mil rom brea ast, it does ma e a passable mush. I tried to send word through our server that split, ried in butter, and smothered in real maple syrup, it would make a truly winning side item. I quickly learned to trust the wisdom and advice o the waitstaff. ne day, handing a plate through the doorway, the server said under his breath to each diner, “Don’t eat it.” Kindly judicious. xcept or the thawed vegetables and a nibble o cornbread, I didn t. rices are moderate, as it were, but a little hard to calculate. Under Michigan’s “Pay to Stay” law, Ingham County charges prisoners $50 per day for their room and board, so meals are included. The jail contracts with a private company at about a dollar per meal, but out o that comes overhead, preparation, and profit. When not in use preparing ail
SHUTTERSTOCK
Ingham County Jail 630 North Cedar Rd., Mason 517-676-2431 sh.ingham.org Meals included in room and board
meals, the company leases the kitchen in a side deal to cook for its other contracts. Moreover, the same company runs the supplementary “commissary” menu where coffee, tea, meat products, condiments, soup, chips not to be sold individually), dessert options, and even ast- ood items may be purchased at inflated, monopoly prices. The absence o those among the regular offerings may actually be designed to push guests those who have the resources on account) onto the privatized menu. As to a rating, I’d give the companionship o table camaraderie five stars. As for the food and the house, how low can you go? Bill Wylie-Kellermann is a Methodist pastor recently retired from St Peter’s Episcopal in Detroit. He served the 10 days in prison for a Poor Peoples Campaign direct action that occured last May when he and others blocked the doors and entered the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in Lansing. It’s director, Nick Lyons, is under indictment for his role in the cover-up of the Flint water crisis.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
21
FOOD
Bites
Beans & Cornbread shoebox lunches.
COURTESY BEANS & CORNBREAD
Beans & Cornbread is bringing back Jim Crow-era shoebox lunches for Black History Month Southfield restaurant Beans & Cornbread is bringing back
facts on them, and come with soul food dishes like Down Home Chicken Wings, Harlem Burritos, or Southern Fried Catfish Strips, with sides of sweet potato fries, coleslaw, or mac & cheese. The boxes are also available for sale without purchase of a meal in quantities of 10 or more. Last year, Beans & Cornbread owner Patrick Coleman told us the idea was inspired by stories his mother and grandmother told him about growing up in the South, which he thinks is
important for the younger generations to learn about. “You’re experiencing history, you’re doing what people had to do to sustain themselves,” he said. “There are kids who have no idea this happened. I think every kid in the sixth grade should have one of these boxes. I think this would be something great for corporations to serve their employees.” Boxed lunches are $11, and the box by itself is $3. A portion of the proceeds goes to Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation’s youth education programs. The boxes will be available throughout the month of February. Beans & Cornbread is located at 29508 Northwestern Hwy., Southfield. More information is available at 248208-1680 and beanscornread.com.
Detroit’s Joy neighborhood welcomes first fullservice restaurant in nearly 20 years
owner-chef Mashelle Sykes, who recently graduated from the Oakland Community College culinary program. It’s the type of spot that one usually sees opening in the downtown area. However, Sykes wanted to bring something new to the neighborhood, which is bound by Joy, Plymouth, Greenfield, and Southfield roads. “I am excited to share my love of quality food with Detroiters and suburbanites alike while also inspiring new development in this Detroit neighborhood,” Sykes said in a statement.
The menu includes plates like fried catfish with a remoulade sauce, grilled pork chops, buttermilk fried chicken, and different preparations of shrimp, as well as vegan options. Fusion Flare’s brunch service runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m and will offer French toast, chicken and waffles, salmon croquettes and rice, and shrimp or catfish with grits. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m.10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.midnight Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m. -9 p.m. Sunday. For more information, go to fusionflare.net.
By Lee DeVito
its “shoebox lunches” in honor of Black History Month. Like last year, the lunches are served in custom boxes designed to look like the shoebox lunches from the Jim Crow era — a time when black people were banned from eating in restaurants, and had to pack their own meals in a shoebox. Beans & Cornbread’s shoebox lunches are printed with black history
By Tom Perkins A new American and soul food restaurant called Fusion Flare Kitchen & Cocktails is the first full-service restaurant to open in Detroit’s west side Joy community in nearly 20 years. The restaurant is the product of
22 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Two slices of pizza news By Devin Culham Mootz Pizzeria + Bar is now serving New York-style pizza to downtown Detroit. The new restaurant opened its doors to the public on Jan. 28. Located near the Belt, Mootz will feature a menu curated by six-time World Pizza Games champion Bruno DiFabio. DiFabio’s creations include signature pies like Uptown + the Bronx (cup and char pepperoni, mozzarella, Sicilian oregano and NYC pizza sauce), Beast of Burden (pinched sausage, ricotta, mozzarella and NYC pizza sauce), and the Juliet (prosciutto, fig jam, mozzarella, gorgonzola and balsamic glaze). In addition to pizza, Mootz will also serve baked ravioli, “Nonna’s meatballs,” and a burrata salad. The 4,000-square-foot pizzeria will have dining space for 100 guests, a patio, a full bar with 20 beers on tap, and a menu filled with wine and craft cocktails. For those looking to grab a quick slice of ‘za, Mootz will also have pizza-by-the-slice available at an adjacent counter called the Side Hustle, which will stay open late on Friday and Saturday nights. Mootz is located at 1230 Library St. and will be open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to midnight, and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. In other pizza news, the originators of Detroit-style pizza are planning a westward expansion. Buddy’s Pizza announced on Tuesday that the famous metro Detroit pizzeria is planning to open a new location in Grand Rapids. The restaurant, located at 4061 28th St., will be the company’s 14th store and its first location outside southeast Michigan. The 6,620-square-foot location will hold seating for 210 guests, and include an outdoor patio to accommodate 20 more. It plans to pay homage to its Detroit roots with a modern, industrial interior, that will feature garage doors, mosaic tiling, and reclaimed beams from Detroit factories. In 1946, at its original location near Conant Street and Davison Avenue, Buddy’s developed what came to be known as Detroit-style pizza, a style offering an extra thick, crunchy, square crust. The Grand Rapids location will open this spring.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
23
Side Dish
FOOD Detroit’s restaurant boom a ‘doubleedged sword,’ says Rock City Eatery chef Nikita Sanches By Tom Perkins
When Rock City Eatery chef
and co-owner Nikita Sanches began plying his trade in Hamtramck in 2013, he did so at a time when metro Detroit’s restaurant industry’s epicenter was only beginning to shift from the suburbs to the city. Rock City, which Sanches describes as “American with global influences, uic ly made its name in downtown Hamtramck, serving everything from mac and cheese to ramen to Mexican-style beef tongue to Spanish-style tripe. But after several years in the tiny location, a much larger spot on Woodward Avenue along the future QLine route opened up. It sits a few stops from downtown’s arenas and stadium, so Sanches headed south. A ter five years o success in two vastly different neighborhoods, the -year-old holds a uni ue perspective on the city’s evolving restaurant industry. Perhaps Sanches’ most interesting observation is one that doesn’t get mentioned much — the customer is changing as much as the industry, and that presents a whole set o uestions and challenges for downtown chefs. Metro Times sat down with Sanches or a uic chat about how the region s restaurants have changed over the last five years. The interview was delayed by a surprise visit from the health department, which we’re happy to report Sanches passed with no violations.
Sanches: It’s a double-edged sword. There s more people coming down and there s more traffic, but it also brings out people who don’t necessarily understand that not all restaurants are like Applebee’s or Chili’s or Outback Steakhouse where you get a bread basket and butter, and you can have 50 things on the menu, you know what I mean o it s li e the uality o a diner has maybe changed somewhat. But, I would say 99.9 percent of people that eat here are awesome. MT: What are the pros and cons of moving from Hamtramc to etroit Sanches: The good thing about it is we’ve got more space and an actual kitchen now. We had a little closet of a kitchen in Hamtramck, and it still blows my mind how much food we were able to
crank out of there. The most negative thing is our overhead is crazy — our bills are way higher compared to what it was in Hamtramck. And I miss Hamtown a lot just in general because we actually had local regulars that would come in all the time, and it was a very community-oriented restaurant, where here it’s mostly the traffic o people going to a game and coming in and just trying to get out. You don’t have as much camaraderie with your customers, so I miss that. So there’s the good and the bad. If I had a choice right now, I would definitely want to still be in Hamtramck and have this intimate little spot where you know everyone’s name, kind of like Cheers. MT: So you mentioned the customers are basically changing as much as the restaurants Sanches: es, the first wave of customers were people who want trendy food and to go to places right when they first open. So they come back a few times, and you’re like, “Oh, this is my customer base. ventually what ends up happening, those people filter out and they move onto the next hotspot and what you end up with are regular people who are like, “Oh I heard about
Metro Times: What in the Detroit restaurant industry changed for the better over the last five years Nikita Sanches: It’s awesome because there’s way more options and you can get any cuisine you crave, and there’s just more people coming to the city to eat instead of going to their local suburban restaurant, which kind of sucks for the suburban neighborhood spots. That s part o why there’s so many places closing in the burbs — because people are looking more toward going downtown, having an experience and eating out in the city. But there’s also more competition down here. MT: o what s changed or the worse
this place, I m gonna try it out. And i they like it there, they are the ones that are going to come back. We’ve traded people out ... and it gets frustrating because it s hard to figure out, li e, who am I really catering to Is it these cool, trendy people who try new places all the time r is it people rom armington Hills or Oxford going to Detroit for a game When we opened in Detroit, it took a year to ind o find our ooting again, and I’m just kind of narrowing the menu down to where we are, which is comfort food with a twist. And we don t do as much adventurous stuff as we did back in Hamtramck because we get a lot of people who just are not interested in that. We get people who feel comfortable ordering and eating a burger. MT: But I read somewhere that there are too many burgers in Detroit. Sanches: Well, it’s like people love burgers, people love comfort food. It’s funny you bring it up because I’m thinking about going very burger heavy on the next round of menu changes for the summer. It’s not about me and my ego and doing stuff that s exciting or me. It s about people that just come and eat and pay my bills, essentially. So, why not Why wouldn t I ust give them what they want MT: What’s your favorite beer at the moment Sanches: High i e. To be honest, I’m not a huge craft beer guy. I’m not big on IPAs, and it seems like every brewery just focuses on just triple, uadruple I As and it s ust li e, How much hops can someone uc ing ta e But I would say anything from Batch Brewery is amazing because they do a really good ob. They actually produce great beer on a small scale and it’s just a great product. MT: What would you be doing if you weren t a che and restaurateur Sanches: It would be cool to be a truck driver — just you and the road. No one to deal with, nothing to worry about. Just like, OK, so I have to go to this spot to pick something up and I got to go to this spot to drop it off and ... drive across the country, behind the wheel, taking it in, and seeing places.
Nikita Sanches.
24 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
VADIM YELIZAROV
Rock City Eatery is located at 4216 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-265rockcityeatery.com. 3729; rockcityeatery.com
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
25
FOOD
Olga Loizon R.I.P.
Olga’s Snackers.
COURTESY PHOTO
A legacy, deliciously seasoned An ode to Olga’s Snackers By Jerilyn Jordan zooks?!) with a brand name plastered what I believe were the death throes On Monday afternoon, it across it just to avoid a sideways glance o mall rat culture, lga s defied lunch was announced that restaurateur and on my way to English class, then you table cliques — at least for me. If you pita bread pioneer Olga Loizon had shopped at Hot Topic, you ate at Olga’s. likely ate at Olga’s. I know I did. A lot. died. She was 92 years old. My best friend of 25 years, JacMany may know Loizon as lyn Bialokur, spent the ages of the founder of Olga’s Kitchen 15 to 19 as a server at the Olga’s — home of the Original Olga Kitchen located at the once-bussandwich, Peasant Soup, Orange tling Lakeside Mall in Sterling Cream Cooler, and perhaps most Heights. While she looks back notably, the Snacker. Drawing on her job fondly, I remember it inspiration from Greek souveven more so because I reaped laki sandwiches (Loizon was a the benefits o having a best second-born daughter of Greek friend who just so happened to immigrants), Loizon overcame work at the best restaurant in many obstacles to start a modthe mall. est restaurant operation in “We would mess up orders Birmingham in 1970 that was on purpose to what we liked to based almost entirely around eat so we would have to take the her homemade pita bread. After food back to the kitchen and eat a buyout, some expansion, it ourselves,” she admitted to me franchising, and a name change, over text message while remiwhat she whipped up became a niscing over her Olga’s years. “I metro Detroit staple. never got sick of it and love it to If at any point you visited a this day. I really loved that time.” Michigan mall in the late ’90s COURTESY PHOTO Loizon in 1967. Bialokur, who now works as to early 2000s, chances are you a hazardous waste coordinator, asserts If you fancied distressed, low-rise, were seduced by the scent of Olga’s that the bread is, in fact, the secret to bootcut jeans from American Eagle, Kitchen — a seasoned symphony Olga’s greatness and that each sandyou ate at Olga’s. Or, if you were like of “grilled to order” bread wrapped wich is grilled to order as famously me, and shopped primarily at thrift around a blend of lamb, beef, sweet advertised. Perhaps the greatest perk stores but would regrettably drop $50 onion, and tomato, and dripping in of having a best friend who worked at dollars on a sweatshop sweatshirt from Olgasauce. Olga’s was the endless pile of Snackers PacSun or Gadzooks (remember GadAs a teenager growing up during
26 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
on which I lived for several years. Who would have thought that a basket of tiny, triangle-shaped, elegantly seasoned fried-dough calorie bombs paired with a sweet and rich Swiss almond cheese (that was often served so cold that it would bend the Snacker upon dipping) could provide such a visceral teenage memory? A symbol of simpler times, perhaps? It was preAmazon, pre-gluten-free, pre-memes, pre-smartphones. At the time, there was no greater pleasure than going to the mall unsupervised. Sitting across from my friend after her shift, talking shit over curly fries, a hijacked Orange Cream Cooler, and some crazy, custom secret menu concoction the kitchen staff threw together, we, li e oi on, were dreamers. We knew what we wanted to do, but had no idea how to do it. We anguished over boy drama and cur ews, scheming how to afford Blink-182 tickets. We were living in a pre-nightmare socio-political dystopian era. Fried bread was good enough to be great. A ter filing or ban ruptcy in and switching hands a few times, Olga’s Kitchen made a move to exit several malls and invest in free-standing restaurants, while renovating others. Among the locations placed on the chopping block, however, was Lakeside Mall. “We were like a little family and I think Olga created a lot of that,” Bialokur adds. “She would stop in every once in a while and say hi to everyone. Makes me really want that job back lol.” We agree to catch up over some lga s next wee . When I confirm that I have permission to quote her for this story, Bialokur had this to say: “For Olga’s, anything!” n lieu of owers, the oi on famil has re uested that chec donations be sent to the lga oi on emorial und at aurel ar Dr. ., te. , i onia. Donations made to the foundation will bene t oung women with a passion for entrepreneurship.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
27
THIS WEEK
FRIDAY, 2/1
WEDNESDAY, 1/30
Mick Jenkins @ Shelter
Mirror, Mirror: Opening reception
MUSIC Chicago hip-hop is having a moment. A new generation of diverse storytellers, all equipped with an informed sense of emotional and spatial awareness, are bubbling to the top. a.m. ong them is Free Nation’s Mick Jenkins. The young MC made major strides with his sophomore LP, Pieces of a Man, which finds en ins throwing down on some relaxed existential puzzle-piece placement. Jenkins goes all over the map with his spoken word style reckoning as he takes on Christianity, the street, success, and navigating #MeToo. Kari Faux is also on the bill.
@ CCS Center Galleries
ART Since 1994, the Friendship Circle has provided inclusive social and creative opportunities for special needs adults in search of a platform to express themselves. An extension of the organization’s art progr a.m. ming, which also includes restaurant skills and bakery training, is Friendship Circle Soul Studio — which will post up at the CCS Center Galleries through March 30 with its Mirror, Mirror exhibition. Produced and compiled over the past two years, the exhibit’s vibrant large-scale works range from animated sculptural tapestries to intricately beaded curtains and abstract expressionist paintings. Light snacks and beverages will be provided.
Doors open at 6 p.m. , 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; 313-961-8961; saintandrewsdetroit.com; Tickets are $22.
SATURDAY, 2/2
Opening runs from 6-8 p.m. ; Manoogian Visual Resource Center; 301 Frederick Douglass Ave., Detroit; ccs.org; Event is free and open to the public.
THURSDAY, 1/31 John Maus @ El Club
Music While a button-up dress shirt, slacks, and a shaggy head of hair might not scream untamed experimental synth per ormer, ohn aus defies his uni orm. His wildly expressive, hypogenic, poplaced, Ian Curtis-esque live performances and his shimmering synth catharsis has helped the 38-year-old forge a cult following. His latest tour ollows a year defined by triumph and tragedy as 2018 saw the release of Maus’ sixth record Addendum, and the sudden death of his brother and bandmate while on tour in Latvia, which forced the cancellation of his remaining tour dates. a.m. anda LeClaire will DJ.
Doors open at 8 p.m. ; 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; 313-279-7382; elclubdetroit.com; Tickets are $20.
THURSDAY, 1/31 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Brew and View @ Emerald Theatre
FILM For a screenplay that was written in just six days after a one-sentence pitch with a cast of virtual unknowns, Ferris ueller’s Da ff bec a.m. e the first cinematic how-to guide to playing hooky —
Cagliostro: A Haunted Exhibition @ The Rectory “Beady” glass and acrylic beads on wire, Alyssa Gold.
COURTESY PHOTO
What’s Going On
A week’s worth of things to do and places to do them not to mention a sightseeing trip through the Windy City. The 1986 John Hughes comedy starring Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller follows his misadventures with on-screen girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara), and Red Wings jersey-wearing bestie, Cameron (played by 30-year-old Alan Ruck), as they skip out on class to parade through town, ta e in some fine art, and, eventually, send a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder to its demise.
Doors open at 8 p.m., screening begins at 9 p.m.; 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; 586-913-1921; theemeraldtheatre.com; Tickets are $5.
FRIDAY, 2/1 Winter exhibitions opening @ MOCAD
ART + MUSIC This year’s group exhibitions deliver works from all
28 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
over the world and from our very own backyard. From the south of France, Unfurled: Supports/Surfaces showcases work by more than 14 artists created during 1966 through 1976 while the country endured social upheaval. Parallels and Peripheries, an ongoing series originating in Mi a.m. i, explores art in relation to myth, memory, and sociopolitical environments. Southeast Michigan artists were selected for the Useless Utility collection, which plays within the blurred space between domestic and work life. Mike Kelly’s Mobile Homestead will also get a colorful makeover from Gradient Colors, an immersive installation from ProjectArt students. The opening will include music by John FM as well as a performance by artist collective the TETRA.
Members preview begins at 6 p.m. , reception begins at 7 p.m. ; 4454 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-8326622; mocadetroit.org; $5 donation.
ART To honor the 50th anniversary of the death of great occultist Cagliostro, his “allegedly” haunted 19th-century rectory is opening its doors for a free night of conjuring and congregating. The one-night event Cagliostro: A Haunted Exhibition will transform the Rectory into a gallery space which will feature spooky and seductive art from Legerdemain (Brian Sheehan), Red Devil Made This (Nate Cieslak), and Calvin Waterman, an musical scoring by A Death Cinematic and Gnaw Their Tongues. In addition to art and music, expect performance pieces, séances, and libations and refreshments.
Doors open at 6 p.m. ; 4231 St. Aubin St., facebook.com/ simpleboxconstruction; Event is free and open to the public.
MONDAY, 2/4 Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story @ Detroit Artists’ Test Lab
FILM What do Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane, and the Velvet Underground all have in common? They all once took the stage at the historic Grande Ballroom in Detroit. Though the iconic rock venue located on Grand River Avenue closed its doors in 1972, it has served as a source of music myth and
Wednesday 1/30
GoTtA GeT OvEr ThE HuMp AcT CaSuAl ReSiDeNcY Friday 2/1
PhLuFfHeAd (PhIsH TrIbUtE)
Saturday 2/2
ThE KrIs KuRzAwA GrOuP PlAyS ZaPpA Tuesday 2/5
Kaki King, DSO, Feb. 5.
lore, all of which is captured in the 2012 award-winning documentary Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story.” As the first installment o etroit Artists Test Lab documentary series, Louder Than Love director Tony Annun io will lead a discussion with author Leo Early about the past and future of the legendary venue following a free screening.
Screening begins at 7 p.m. ; 14600 Mack Ave., Detroit; 313-733-1270; detroittestlab.com; Event is free and open to the public.
TUESDAY, 2/5 Kaki King @ DSO
MUSIC Thirteen years ago, guitarist and composer Kaki King landed herself on Rolling Stone s list o the new guitar gods,” which went on to say that King was a genre unto hersel with her incredible emotional dexterity and genre-bending, layered fingerstyle techni ues. ince
SHAM HINCHEY AND MARZIA MESSINA
then, she s maintained the title with various pro ects. While it has been five years since her groundbreaking solo visual undertaking The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body, which found King pairing ancient artistry with digital technology as she performed with projections cast across her guitar, the 39-year-old is now calling upon some extra hands. The etroit ymphony rchestras string ensemble will accompany King as she explores her expansive catalog. The Interlochen Arts Academy singer-songwriter students will support.
Doors open at 7 p.m. , 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-576-5111; dso.org; Tickets are $15+.
WED., 2/6-SUN., 2/10 FRIENDS! The Musical Parody @ City Theatre
MUSICAL The words nagi, pivot, and we were on a brea , are cemented
in the annals of pop culture thanks to a little show called Friends. Fifteen years later and everyone s avorite gaggle of besties is back and this time with music. The off-Broadway misadventure FRIENDS! The Musical Parody delivers a ast-paced, music-filled romp through the series most iconic moments, though reimagined and served with a fresh dose o sel -awareness. Ta e the musical s The ne Where We a e a illion ollars an Episode,” for ex a.m. ple, because yes — Jennifer Aniston and company made a cool million per episode in the final seasons. r rove treet, a little number that begs the audience to suspend disbelief” when taking into account onicas spacious and totally unaffordable apartment. How the hell did six randoms manage to reserve a couch in a bustling New or coffee shop every day for 10 years, anyway?
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. ; 2301 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313471-3200; 313presents.com; Tickets are $30.
ThE GhOsT Of PaUl ReVeRe Friday 2/8
StAy GoLdEn: An 80S & 90S HiP-HoP ThRoWbAcK Saturday 2/9
BaCk FoRtY
(GrEeNsKy BlUeGrAsS PrE-PaRtY)
now serving
brunch
FoR TiCkEtS & DiNnEr ReSeRvAtIoNs
ViSiT OtUsSuPpLy.CoM 345 E 9 MILE RD
FeRnDaLe
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
29
THIS WEEK
John Maus, El Club, Jan. 31.
MUSIC Wednesday, Jan. 30 Bowie Night IV 7p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; Free before 8 p.m., $5 after. Planet D Nonet 6:30 p.m.; Mr. B’s, 215 S. Main, Royal Oak; $10+.
SHAWN BRACKBILL
Momentum with Ellen Rowe 8 p.m., 9:30 p.m.; Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor; $10-$35. Tbone Paxton p.m. Cliff Bell s, Park Ave., Detroit; No cover.
Friday, Feb. 1
TOMBOY 10p.m.; Deluxx Fluxx, 1274 Library St., Detroit; Free.
Ask Mary 6:30 p.m.; Detroit Shipping Company, 474 Peterboro St., Detroit; Free.
Tonotrope p.m. Cliff Bell s, Park Ave., Detroit; No cover.
Comethazine 7 p.m.; The Crofoot Ballroom, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $20+.
Video Age, Jackson Macintosh, and Shadow Show 9 p.m.; UFO Factory, 2110 Trumbull, Detroit; $10-$12.
Here Come the Mummies 8:30 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $20+.
Thursday, Jan. 31
The Hughes/Smith Quintet 9 p.m.; Cliff Bell s, ar Ave., etroit .
Interstellar Thursdays with Tony Nova Every other Thursday, 9 p.m.; The Grasshopper Underground, 22757 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; Free. John Maus 8 p.m.; El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; $20. Lala Lala, Sen Morimoto 7 p.m.; Deluxx Fluxx, 1274 Library St., Detroit; $10.
30 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Jeff Cuny Duo p.m. Cliff Bell s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit; No cover. Kasey Ch a.m. bers 8 p.m.; The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor; $25. Mick Jenkins 6 p.m.; The Shelter, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $22. Nora En Pure 9:30p.m.; Elektricity Nightclub, 15 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $20.
Phluffhead 8:30 p.m.; Otus Supply, 345 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $15-$20. Ripe 8:30 p.m.; El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; $14-$16. Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $25-$75. The Mega 80s 8 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $12. Vundabar 7 p.m.; Deluxx Fluxx, 1274 Library St., Detroit; $13.
Saturday, Feb. 2 Beats Antique 8 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $23. Carter Winter 6:30 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $10-$15. Class of 98 Band: The 90s Party Palooza 8 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $5+. Dead Horses 8 p.m.; The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor; $20. Dennis DeYoung 7 p.m.; MGM Grand Detroit, 1777 Third St., Detroit; $40. Elaine Dame p.m. Cliff Bell s,
The
Old
Miami
OUR PATIO NIGHTLY BONFIRES ON
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30TH ~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VANESSA!!! ~ FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST ANY ISLAND (SURF PUNK) TEAMONADE (OHIO) THE END ELECTRIC (SALSA-CLASH) 9PM DOORS / $5 COVER
Mick Jenkins, Saint Andrew’s Hall, Feb. 2.
Park Ave., Detroit; $10.
Young Dolph 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $35.
Emily King 9 p.m.; El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; $25+. Eprom 9:30 p.m.; Elektricity Nightclub, 15 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $15. Fuck You Pay Me 7 p.m.; Sanctuary etroit, Caniff t., Hamtramc . GIRL FIGHT 8 p.m.; Ghost Light, 2314 Caniff t., H a.m. tr a.m. c - . Hunny 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $15. Jim McCarty’s Mystery Train 8 p.m.; Downstairs, 28999 Joy Rd., Westland; $10. Spafford 8 p.m.; Majestic Theatre, Woodward Ave., etroit . Ten Year Fanfare 2019 5 & 7 p.m.; The Crofoot Ballroom, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $12. Werewolves Record Release 8 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $5.
Sunday, Feb. 3 Sunday Brunch with Jarrod Champion a.m. Cliff Bell s, Park Ave., Detroit; No cover.
Monday, Feb. 4 Bring Me The Horizon 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $72+.
SAM SCHMIEG
Tuesday, Feb. 5 Dennis Coffey 8 p.m.; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; Free. The Devil Makes Three 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $22.50. The Ghost of Paul Revere 8 p.m.; Otus Supply, 345 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale - . Great Lakes Swimmers 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $12.
.
Kaki King + Strings 7 p.m.; The Cube, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $15+. Lucrecia Dalt (Bogota/Berlin) 8 p.m.; Trinosophes, 1464 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; $10. Trunino Lowe Quartet p.m. Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit; No cover.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND OLD MIAMI BIRTHDAY SHOW! CHOKE CHAINS (DETROIT PUNK) WIZARD THE GIRL (STONER ROCK) COUNTER ELITES (SPAZ PUNK) DAWG LOVE (PRIMAL R&B) 9PM DOORS / $5 COVER SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD BIG GAME SUNDAY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH BROTHER HALLOW, JOJO STELLA, JACK OATS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH NOTHING ELEGANT (MONTHLY ASS EVERYWHERE) FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH JUST GUYS BEING DUDES, DEAR DARKNESS, ALL THE WILD CHILDREN
If/Then Through Feb. 16; Stagecrafters, 415 S. Lafayette, Royal Oak; $21+.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH VALID, BOOG BROWN, BANG BELUSHI, W/ GUESTS
Never Not Once Wednesdays- undays.; Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park St., Chelsea; $13.50+.
OPEN EVERY DAY INCLUDING HOLIDAYS INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK: THEOLDMIAMI CALL US FOR BOOKING! 313-831-3830
The House on Poe Street Thursdays- undays. etroit epertory Theatre, 13103 Woodrow Wilson St., Detroit;
The Old Miami
THEATER
3930 Cass • Cass Corridor • 313-831-3830
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
31
THIS WEEK
Friends! The Musical Parody, City Theatre, Feb. 6-10.
$17-$20. The How and the Why ThursdaysSundays.; Theatre Nova, 416 W. Huron, Ann Arbor; $22. The Last Five Years MondaysSundays, 2, 3 & 8 p.m.; Tipping Point Theatre, 361 E. Cady St., Northville; $31+. The Music Man Thursday-Sunday, 2, 7:30, & 8 p.m.; The Berman Center for the Performing Arts, 6600 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield - . The Phantom of The Opera Wednesday 8 p.m., Thursday 8 p.m., Friday Feb. 1, 8 p.m., Saturday Feb. 2, 2 & 8p.m.and Sunday Feb. 3, 2 & 7:30 p.m.; Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit; $64+.
COMEDY
Pandemonia Every other Friday, 8 & 10 p.m.; Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $20.
Constriction Through March 2, 6-9 p.m.; K. Oss Contemporary Art, 1410 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; Free admission.
Sunday Buffet Sundays, 7 p.m.; Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $10.
Figures & Flowers Through Feb. 9; David Klein Gallery Birmingham., 163 Townsend St., Birmingham; Free.
Thursday Night Live! Thursdays, - p.m. Ant Hall, Caniff t., Hamtramck; $5.
Global Glass: A Survey of Form and Function Opening reception on Thursday, 5 p.m., through Sept. 20; Alfred Berkowitz Gallery, U of M-Dearborn, Dearborn; Free.
Tony Rock and Tony Roberts Comedy Night Out Thursday 8 p.m.; Sound Board at MotorCity Casino Hotel, 2901 Grand River, Detroit; $33+.
FILM Brew & View: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Thursday 8 & 9 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $5.
All-Star Showdown Saturdays, 8 & 10 p.m.; Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $20.
Do The Right Thing Friday Feb. 1, 8 p.m.; Historic Redford Theatre, 17360 Lahser Rd., Detroit; $5.
First Fridays Comedy Showcase feat. SugaBear Friday Feb. 1, 9:30 p.m.; The Crofoot, 1 South Saginaw Street, Pontiac; $10.+.
Good Burger Friday Feb. 1, midnight and Saturday Feb. 2, midnight; Main Art Theatre, 118 N. Main St., Royal Oak; $7.
Forever Fifteen Sundays, 10 p.m.; Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; $5. Fresh Sauce Sundays, 9 p.m.; Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; Free. Joe List Thursday 7:30 p.m., Friday Feb. 1, 7:15 & 9:45 p.m.and Saturday Feb. 2, 7 & 9:30 p.m.; Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle, 310 S. Troy St., Royal Oak; $10. Open Mic Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.; Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle, 310 S. Troy St., Royal Oak; $5.
32 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
COURTESY PHOTO
Say Amen Somebody! Saturday Feb. 2, 4:30 & 7 p.m.and Sunday Feb. 3, 2 & 4:30 p.m.; Detroit Film Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; $7.50-$9.50. The Gospel According to Andre Saturday Feb. 2, 2 p.m.; Detroit Film Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; Free. Your Name Wednesday 7 p.m.; Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor; $8.50-$10.50.
ART Annica Cuppetelli: Measures of
James Oscar Lee Artist Talk: “Plodded Account” Solo Exhibition Thursday 6-8 p.m.; Playground Detroit, 2845 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; Free. Measured Space Mondays-Sundays, 5 p.m.; Scarab Club, 217 Farnsworth St., Detroit; Free. Melanie Manos: Truing Through Feb. 23; Simone DeSousa Gallery, 444 W. Willis St., Units 111 and 112, Detroit; Free. Mirror, Mirror: Soul Studio at CCS Center Gallery Wednesday 6 p.m.; Center Galleries, 301 Frederick Douglass Ave., Detroit; Free. Natural Forms: Figurative and Landscape Works by Ann Kelly Caldwell, Fran Wolok, and Nora Venturelli Mondays-Sundays, 6 p.m.; Northville Art House, 215 W. Cady St., Northville; Free. Opening: Winter 2019 Exhibition Friday Feb. 1, 7 p.m.; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), 4454 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $5 suggested donation. Get listed! Email calendar@metrotimes. com or go to metrotimes.com/addevent to do it yourself.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
33
Fast-Forward
Dave Matthews Band DTE Energy Music Theatre, July 9, 7 p.m., $45+ RENÉ HUEMER
Sheila E Sound Board, Feb. 7, 8 p.m., $38+
Muse Little Caesars Arena, April 4, 7:30 p.m.; $44.50+
Poppy Saint Andrew’s Hall, Feb. 7, 7 p.m., $20+
Ariana Grande Little Caesars Arena, April 5, 8 p.m.; $89.95+
Adam Sandler Fox Theatre, Feb. 8, 8 p.m.; $325+
An Evening with President Bill Clinton and Former Secretary Hillary Clinton Fox Theatre, April 12, 7:30 p.m, $69.50+
Cher Little Caesars Arena, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m., $54.95+ Anderson .Paak The Fillmore, Feb. 15, 7 p.m., $62+ Eric Church Little Caesars Arena, Feb. 15-16, 8 p.m., $34+ Kelly Clarkson Little Caesars Arena, Feb. 21, 7 p.m., $20+ Cold Cave Majestic Theatre, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.; $20-$25 Teenage Fanclub El Club, March 7, 8 p.m., $25 Mariah Carey Fox Theatre, March 8, 8 p.m., $49.95+ Meek Mill Fox Theatre, March 9, 8 p.m., $29.50+
34 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Trevor Noah Fox Theatre, April 26, 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m. $35+ Ali Wong The Fillmore, May 4, 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m., $55+ Patton Oswalt The Fillmore, May 18, 8 p.m.; $37.50+ Slayer DTE Energy Music Theatre, May 19, 6 p.m., $29.50+ The Who Little Caesars Arena, May 28, 7:30 p.m., $68+ Luke Combs DTE Energy Music Theatre, May 30, 7 p.m.; $79+ Weird Al Yankovic Meadow Brook Amphitheatre, July 5, 8 p.m., $30+
Cypress Hill The Fillmore, March 10, 6:30 p.m., $30+
New Kids on the Block Little Caesars Arena, June 18, 7:30 p.m., $79.95+
Kiss Little Caesars Arena, March 13, 7 p.m.; $99+
Jeff Lynne’s ELO Little Caesars Arena, July 20, 8 p.m., $69.50+
James Bay Royal Oak Music Theatre, March 18, 7 p.m., $43+
Adam Lambert + Queen Little Caesars Arena, July 27, 8 p.m.; $395+
Justin Timberlake Little Caesars Arena, March 25, 7:30 p.m.; $49.50+
John Mayer Little Caesars Arena, Aug. 2, 7 p.m., $54.50+
Mumford & Sons Little Caesars Arena, March 27, 7:30 p.m., $44.50+
Bryan Ferry Fox Theatre, Aug. 3, 8 p.m ., $39.50+
Demetri Martin Royal Oak Music Theatre, March 29, 7 p.m., $39.50
Backstreet Boys Little Caesars Arena, Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $79.50+
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
35
MUSIC
Chandra Oppenheim and band.
KATE YOUNG
Transportation time warp
Chandra revives her pre-teen post-punk band, more than three decades later By Ana Gavrilovska
When most people are 2, they finger paint. When Broo lyn-born Chandra ppenheim was , she was enlisted to participate in the conceptual wor o her ather, amed artist ennis ppenheim. The piece was called Color Application or Chandra and it involved a parrot teaching Chandra color names. Her ather taught the parrot the names, which it would then teach to Chandra she distinctly remembers learning the word yellow rom this parrot. articipating in an art piece when you yoursel can barely spea and the co-star is a parrot is uite an auspicious beginning. It s little wonder that in , Chandra would come to find hersel ronting a no wave art pun outsider-disco band at the tender age o in New or s pulsing underground music scene. In the years that passed between her earliest exposure to art and the ormation o the band, she developed
a een ability to acutely express the absurdity and anxiety o everyday li e, without necessarily intending to. he honed this ability through perormance art as well as songwriting At age , she and a riend were boo ed to open or aurie Anderson, avant-garde artist and uture wi e o ou eed . Well, almost. It was to ta e place at a little per ormance art space in anhattan s Tribeca neighborhood, but Anderson canceled at the last minute. ome people, upon hearing Anderson wouldn t be per orming, got up to wal away, but oddly enough, the vast ma ority o the audience stayed put. We had their ull attention, Chandra says. The show was a series o s its she had created over the course o one summer. ne involved a private detective with a split personality whose other personality had committed the crime another involved two large city trash cans set up at either end o the stage. Chandra and her riend too turns
36 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
wal ing across the stage and throwing things into these big metal cans, starting with hot dog wrappers and progressing to expensive items li e her ather s camera. The piece culminated with the girls throwing baby dolls, into the garbage That was -year-old Chandra Her lyrics had a similarly strange, dar vibe. An early song was about crawling around or help a ter umping out o a window, while the ew recorded songs cover everything rom adolescent ealousy ate ou re too wea ou re so sweet ou re too good or us to getting lost on public transportation ubways The train eeps on going It ust won t stop ou get real scared cause you can t figure it out . I was definitely influenced by the way my ather thought about li e and art. I thin I pic ed it up through osmosis, Chandra says. I didn t think about it, it s ust where my brain would naturally go to express mysel . I was
thin ing about the rhythm o the words, or playing around with how they sounded together. This poetic bent is also evident in the way that Chandra s vocals are chants rather than croons, hypnotic and disorienting while maintaining a potent innocence. But the band itsel was not Chandra s idea. he benefited rom the seasoned musicality o two players in the New or scene ugenie iserio and teve Alexander, riends o her ather s. irst they were members o early s no wave band odel Citi ens with which they released an produced by ohn Cale , then they spun off into a similarly styled group called the ance. The two were loo ing or an additional pro ect. nter Chandra, stage right. They were hanging out with my dad and it came up, she says. omehow, someone said, Well, what about Chandra Would she want to do a band with us The answer to that uestion
Valentine’s Specials UPLES
’S COMFORTABLE FOR CO
EROTIC SHOPPING THAT
V ELTIES • LI N G ER IE RO M AN TIC TO YS • N O • M AG AZ IN ES BA C HE LO RE TT E G IF TS E LATEST DVDS WEEKLY RELEASES OF TH
HAND-BLOWN PIPES • GRINDERS •WRAPS WOODEN PIPES • VAPORIZERS DETOX PRODUCTS • ALWAYS EXPANDING OUR SELECTION!
MILITARY DISCOUNT 30% OFF D U D E S
D A Y
W E D N E S D A Y
I S
Tuesdays Ladies Day 20% OFF!
THE FAIRER SEX GETS
20% OFF! ON LINGERIE & NOVELTIES
ONLINE STORE COUPON
‘METRO’ 20% OFF!
10% OFF! ANY PURCHASE WITH THIS COUPON
EXP. 2/28/19 MINIMUM PURCHASE OF $25 *EXCLUDES MAGAZINES
FREE SHIPPING FOR ALL ONLINE PURCHASES • CONTACT INFO@INTIMATEIDEAS.COM FOR PARTIES 3101 W. HURON, WATERFORD | 248.706.9675 - 11619 TELEGRAPH, TAYLOR | 734.287.6464 - 36443 WARREN RD, WESTLAND | 734.331.4155 FRONT PAGE 20731 DEQUINDRE, HAZEL PARK | 248.541.3633 - 32239 LITTLE MACK, ROSEVILLE | 586.285.9439 5275 E. PICKARD, MT. PLEASANT | 989.773.6848 - 46484 GRATIOT, CHESTERFIELD | 586.949.6408
WWW.INTIMATEIDEAS.COM
facebook.com/ intimateideas @intimatestores
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
37
MUSIC was a resounding yes. After a successful initial rehearsal, the group began regularly practicing. They would do so or a good part o the year be ore finally playing their first show at the udd Club — which Chandra remembers well for two reasons. One, she was quite nervous. Two, the DJ did something marvelous: “Right before I went on, they played [the Jackson 5’s] ‘ABC’ and I just thought that was very clever, funny, and sweet.”
bum World of My Dreams. This consists of songs written by Chandra’s songwriting students, ages 5 to 11 — one of which is her own daughter, Issa. When the schedule allows (unfortunately not in Detroit), Issa sometimes joins Chandra on stage to sing Transportation songs, which has a delightfully disconcerting effect as Issa loo s ust li e her mother at age 10. Transportation was freshly reissued late last year, this time by Telephone
‘I was definitely influenced by the way my father thought about life and art. I think I picked it up through osmosis.’ This incarnation of the band only lasted a year, but that was enough time to play a short but well-received tour and record the songs that would make up the original Transportation EP, released on the Dance’s own label, GoGo/On. The group then morphed into the Chandra Dimension, with a similar ocus but filled out by members in Chandra’s peer group, though Diserio and Alexander remained as musical mentors and producers. It was fun for Chandra to play with kids her own age, but this band was just as short-lived. They recorded a handful of songs which never saw the light of day until 2008 when Cantor Records released the first reissue, which brought Chandra s mesmerizing mutant disco sound to wider audiences — or at least record nerds or the first time. It came down to a choice for Chandra, a seemingly self-imposed one at that: the band or school. She was already bringing her homework to rehearsals, and the younger musicians simply weren’t as tight, less able to channel the funkiness that gives this kind of music its discordant danceability. School it was, thus putting an end to her unlikely childhood stardom. Since then, Chandra, who now lives in ortland, aine, has spent her li e in and out of music and art, though she will always be remembered for the enchantingly odd songs of her youth. Two recent projects of note include an elaborate performance piece called “A Slightly Better Idea” that combined photography, a live band, stage sets, choreography, and costumes — and was performed exactly once; and the Young Songwriters Project’s double al-
38 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Explosion and Rain Boots Records, now with two more previously unreleased Chandra Dimension songs. It is this that brings her to Detroit — for the first time ever. Her bac ing band these days is a Toronto-based group featuring members of Bile Sister, Tough Age, New Chance, and Blonde Elvis; drummer Jesse Locke is a major reason that this particular group exists as it does. In 2014, Chandra wanted to do a second run of the Cantor reissue; label head Aaron Levin reached out to oc e to spearhead that effort. We got caught up in the excitement and asked Chandra to come to Toronto to play and perform a few songs for a release party,” Locke says. This was such a fun experience they decided to learn the whole album. Now, here they are. “I’m just trying to channel [the music] and do it justice,” Locke says. “We’re doing new arrangements of the songs in some ways, but also trying to keep the spirit alive of the weird, abrasive, dissonant grooves with pop hooks.” When asked what her favorite of her own songs is, Chandra notes that it’s hard to pick, but mentions “Get It Out of Your System,” which brings the entire Transportation experience full circle. “I’ve always liked it. But now, singing these songs decades after I wrote them, it’s about stepping through a time warp, thinking about the passage of time over a lifetime,” she says. “It seems like a premonition to me.” Chandra plays on Friday, Feb. 1 at Third Man Records with Tyvek; 441 W. an eld t., Detroit Doors at p.m., Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 day of show.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
39
CULTURE
Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig in Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War.
‘Cold’ fish By Cameron Meier
“After so many years, even the
fire o passion dies, and with it what was believed the light o the truth, wrote Italian novelist and philosopher mberto co in The Name of the Rose. co s writing contemplates the relationship between time, emotion, and personal certainty, as does olish writer-director awe awli ows i s Cold War. oosely based on the lives o his parents, the film ta es place during the height o tensions between the oviet bloc and the West, and tells the tale o two star-crossed lovers separated by politics and their own missteps. And though awli ows i surely intended or his characters passion to burn red hot on the screen in star contrast to the blac -and-white cinematography we re instead le t with little but a cold, passionless, underwritten tale o a
relationship wrec ed by circumstance. Wi tor Tomas ot and ula oanna ulig meet in post-World War II oland. He is an accomplished musical scholar with a devotion to ol tunes, and she is an aspiring singer. Though he is older and essentially her supervisor in a Communist-run traveling troupe, he is unable to resist her unpredictability, honesty, and smoldering sensuality, while she is drawn to his, well, it s not clear. erhaps it s their passion or music that brings them together, or their shared resistance to the propagandi ing o what they hoped would be a noble cultural endeavor. ltimately, they seem to become permanently bonded not so much by love but by their exile rom one another a ter ula ails to oin Wi tor when he de ects to rance.
40 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS
Cold War has received praise and scar nominations or oreign-language film, director and cinematography but its champions are either ignoring or, astonishingly, not bothered by the film s episodic structure, which suc s relatability, character development, and narrative satis action rom what could have been a haunting tale o ound-and-lost-and- ound romance. ore a series o vignettes set over two decades, Cold War might have held intrigue and heartbrea i awli ow i s script co-written by anus owac i and iotr Bor ows i contained more tenderness. ather, it portrays Wi tor and ula as angry, rustrated, noncommunicative, and even abusive. And though the film has an old- ashioned, uiet beauty, which is bolstered by its color palette or lac thereo and its . aspect ratio, its bare-bones, oddly structured story smells o arthouse pretentiousness. ac ueline usann wrote, in Valley of the Dolls, eople parted, years passed,
Cold War Rated: R Run-time: 89 minutes they met again and the meeting proved no reunion, offered no warm memories, only the acid nowledge that time had passed and things weren t as bright or attractive as they had been. And thus Wi tor and ula eep on eeping on, clinging to an inexplicable, impractical, and o ten ugly love that is so understated and undernourished as to be practically nonexistent. Cold War s critical success is all the more rustrating considering the plethora o better oreign films rom . o stay out o the Cold and instead warm to Burning, get caught with Shoplifters, embrace The Guilty, and visit Roma, which could become the first nonnglish-language movie to ever win the Academy Award or best film.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
41
42 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
43
CULTURE Higher Ground
John Sinclair launches lawsuit to declassify marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug By Larry Gabriel
You let folks smoke marijuana,
and the next thing you know they’ll want to declassify it and get the cops off their bac s. That s what s happening with a lawsuit filed against the state o ichigan last wee by longtime marijuana activist John Sinclair and others calling for the state to declassify marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. Now that voters have legalized adult use of marijuana for recreational purposes, there is a whole bundle o legal contradictions that have to be solved. Law enforcement has consistently exploited some of those contradictions to continue its fight against mari uana. We’re still struggling with the fact that we’ve had a medical marijuana law for a decade, yet still don’t have a functioning distribution system. The act that mari uana is classified as a Schedule 1 drug with no medical use — while at the same time the state is running a medical marijuana program that recognizes a medical use for numerous conditions — is another glaring contradiction. And when law en orcement is faced with a contradiction when it comes to marijuana, it has a history of coming down hard against pot. John Sinclair vs. the State of Michigan takes aim at cleaning up the leverage law enforcement agencies still use against mari uana. As attorney Tom avigne said at the press con erence last Wednesday to announce the suit This should end the policing o mari uana. It should no longer be a law en orcement issue. There was also some discussion o how mari uana was first classified as a chedule drug, as explained by ohn Ehrlichman, a former aide to President ichard Nixon. The ha er Commission report to Nixon in 1972 found that mari uana shouldn t even be considered a drug and should be decriminali ed. Nixon rejected the report, according
Cannabis activist John Sinclair (left) and attorney Michael Komorn.
to a 1994 interview with Ehrlichman that was published in Harper’s magaine in . In it, hrlichman essentially admitted that the war on drugs was really ust a war on blac people and the radical le t. The Nixon campaign in , and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies the antiwar le t and blac people, he says. ou understand what I m saying We new we couldn t ma e it illegal to be either against the war or blac , but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blac s with heroin, and then criminali ing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, brea up their meetings and vilify them night a ter night on the evening news. id we now we were lying about the drugs course we did. That is the science behind how the rug n orcement Agency made mariuana a chedule drug. It was to go a ter Nixon s political enemies. o why is it still a chedule drug
CBD-infused libations
ost ol s now it simply as CB , though the scientific name or it is cannabidiol. To many, it s the sa e cousin o THC it s a cannabis-derived compound that doesn t get you high. THC was first discovered as the part of marijuana that gets you high, and most o the attention about the plant has been about that. But CB is uic ly overta ing that or its medicinal ualities, considering the spectacular results
44 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
LARRY GABRIEL
we’ve seen it have in controlling some orms o epileptic sei ures. Hemp-derived CB can be ound in many forms — pills, tinctures, creams, oils, edibles on the shelves of stores that have nothing to do with mari uana. o it should come as no surprise that we can now find it in drin s being served at Ale ary s Beer Hall in oyal a . General manager Justin Pries says that the establishment, which first opened as a cra t beer bar and now includes a restaurant serving vegan dishes is now serving drin s with CB in them. A short list o available CB in used libations includes Aunt Bea s CB outhern Tea, a aspberry Citrus Hemporita, and the ellow elon. And yes, there is alcohol in the drinks, which were developed by house beverage manager am tigall. Their CB comes rom sodas that are already or sale off the shel in ichigan. When we speak to Pries, they’d only been serving the drin s or a couple o days, but he says there s already been a positive reaction rom the public. I want to hear customers say, osh, that s a good drin , he says. That s important to me. It s a testament to how deeply cannabis is in used into our culture that Ale ary s drin s are made rom a soda that already has CB in it. ach soda contains milligrams o CB , and each bottle ma es our drin s. That means each drin contains about five milligrams o CB . That s generally less than your typical CB -in used gummy
or hard candy, which run rom about to milligrams o CB each. It s still evolving, says ries. We re working on other cocktails, using oils and things li e that. This is ust to get our oot in the door. It s going to be uite a bit more. What we re doing now, it comes basically prepac aged. We want to ma e sure we re using uality stuff and using it correctly. I there is more to come at Ale Mary’s, then there is plenty more to come elsewhere as businesses test the waters on what sells and what the law will allow. or instance, mixing alcohol with THC is against the law in ichigan. A law passed in ctober banned the use, possession, or sale o mari uana-in used beer, wine, li uor, and mixed drin s. Hemp-derived CB seems to have been given a pass because hemp is a cannabis plant with less than . percent THC, and there ore will not get you high. CB is believed to have pain relieving, anxiety reducing, and anti-nausea properties. It s also being researched or possible neuroprotective and heart health effects, as well as anti-tumor possibilities. r. Nina obb o Integrity edicine in outhfield says that she recommends patients start with 20-25 milligrams o CB twice daily or pain control although it varies. As ol s try to figure out how mariuana can fit into the social atmosphere and users try to find ways to use it while sociali ing in public, it may be ironic that while cannabis has been pri ed or its THC, it may be CB that leads the way in social acceptance o the plant. ust to be able to order CB -in used drin s in oyal a shows how uietly the substance has moved orward while most ol s were loo ing the other way. CB s potential is so big that it s possible that THC will one day become an a terthought. It really too off when r. an ay Gupta showed children with epilepsy getting relie with CB on CNN. What’s happening now is that elderly church ladies are finding that it relieves their aching nees. Next thing you now they ll be ordering drin s with the stuff in it. ries says there have been no complaints from the customers so far as he hints at more to come. ast wee s rollout o Ale ary s first three offerings was about getting out there ahead o the competition. That poses the uestion Are we headed toward a uture o CB coc tail parties Will someone at the bar order a drin with double CB because the boss got on their last nerve today A ter all this time as little brother, could CB become the new THC when it comes to cannabis chic
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
45
CULTURE Q:
I’m a 21-year-old woman, and I have an IUD. I’ve had sex with quite a few men, and one thing seems to be almost constant among them: trying to fuck without condoms. Many of the men ’ e been with seem to be perfectl ne and terribly eager to have sex without condoms. This has always angered me. They generally assume or make sure I’m on birth control, which they immediately take to mean condom-free sex is welcome. I don’t want to have sex without condoms without being in a committed relationship. I know people cheat and monogamy doesn’t mean STIs won’t happen, but it’s a risk I’m comfortable with. I’m so annoyed by how often men try to get out of using condoms (it’s often persistent, even with people I’ve been seeing a while) that I want to start lying and say I’m not on birth control. The risk of a baby seems to be the only STI most men are concerned with. Is it all right for me to lie and say I’m not on any birth control and explain why I lied later on if things get serious? —I’m Understandably Distressed
A:
et s get this out o the way first ou re right, I , sexually transmitted in ections TI do happen to people in monogamous relationships. eople cheat, people lie, people contract, people transmit. A study ound that people in consensually nonmonogamous CN relationships were no more li ely to contract an TI than people in monogamous relationships. The reason I a person in a monogamous relationship screws around and doesn t use a condom, they can t as their partner to start using condoms again without drawing attention to their infidelity. I someone in a CN relationship as s their primary partner to start using condoms again because a condom bro e or ell off or didn t wind up on a coc or some other reason they re drawing attention to their fidelity. oving on ight again, I Babies do seem to be the only TI many men are worried about. Australian researchers conducted a large study about stealthing the deeply shitty, rape-ad acent practice o surreptitiously removing the condom during intercourse and they were shoc ed to discover how common this deeply shitty practice seems to be. The researchers estimated in advance that approximately percent o the sample would report having been stealthed, sex researcher ustin ehmiller wrote in a blog post loo ing at the results o the study. In act, percent o the women and percent o the men surveyed reported having experienced stealthing A ma ority o
46 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Savage Love
both groups reported discussing the event with their partner a terward, and most also reported eeling emotionally stressed about it. A ma ority also considered stealthing to be a orm o sexual assault. These results suggest that stealthing is not a rare occurrence and we would do well to study it urther. The researchers didn t as heterosexual men about being stealthed and, as ehmiller points out, there are some scattered reports out there about women po ing holes in condoms be ore sex or retrieving them a ter sex. We don t need a study to tease out the motives o these women they want to have a child and don t care whether their partners do and that is not OK but we could use a study that as ed heterosexual men about their motives or stealthing. ne uestion we should put to these assholes Are they more li ely to go stealth, i.e., to sexually assault a woman, i they now her to be on some other orm o birth control r are they ust so wrapped up in their own momentary sexual pleasure that they don t give a shit about babies or any o the other TIs oving on to your actual uestion Can you lie course you can. Should you lie In the case o a casual sex partner who might not have your best interests at heart, i.e., some total rando you want to uc but aren t sure you can trust, I thin you can lie and should lie. This lie doesn t do him any harm it s not li e you re telling him you re on birth control when you re not. And i telling this lie inspires some rando to be more care ul about eeping the condom on sometimes condoms all off by accident , then it s a lie that made the sex sa er or you and or him. And i you get serious about someone you initially lied to about having an I i some dude ma es the transition rom hot rando to hot boy riend and he reacts badly when you tell him the truth, ust say or text this to him I could have waited to uc you until I was sure you were a good guy. But then you would have missed out on all the awesome sex we ve had up to now. Would that have been better And by coming clean now, I m basically saying that I thin you re a good guy that I can trust. I now that now, but I didn t always now it because I m not psychic. Now, do you want to raw-dog me or do you want to complain
Q:
My girlfriend opposes sex work because she believes it oppresses women. Early in our relationship, she demanded to know if I had ever paid for sex because she couldn’t be with me if I had. And I told her the truth: “No, never.”
By Dan Savage
She didn’t ask if I’d ever been paid for sex. (One guy, he blew me, no women were oppressed because no women were involved, it happened twice.) Do I need to tell her? —Two-Time Gay For Pay
A : Nope. Q:
My partner is too embarrassed to raise this question with his doctor: Is it safe for me to drink my partner’s urine? He’s HIV-positive, but his viral load is undetectable. I know that other STIs could potentially be passed on to the watersports receiver through urine. My partner has been tested for everything and has no other STIs. He is worried that his urine could contain enough of his antiretroviral drugs (Tivicay and Descovy) to do me harm. He is particularly worried that might suffer from the side effects of those drugs. I am not currently on any medications. I believe that his fear stems from when he was on chemo drugs for something else. Nurses treating him then advised me not to use his hospital bathroom so that I would not possibly be exposed to any chemo-drug residue. I know that you’re not a doctor — but could you ask a doctor for us? —Ingesting Medicines
A:
This one is easy, says r. eter halit, a physician who has been treating people with HI AI or years. Tivicay and escovy are very benign medicines with very little potential toxicity in standard doses. I one were to drin the urine o someone ta ing these medicines, there would be essentially no Tivicay, as this medicine is excreted by the liver, not the idneys. The remnants o the drug are excreted in the eces, so to get significant exposure to secondhand Tivicay, you d have to eat well, never mind. As or escovy that s actually two medicines in one. irst, the bad news mtricitabine and teno ovir ala enamide, the meds in escovy, are excreted in the urine. And the good news The amount o escovy that would be in one liter o urine is much less than a single pill s worth, says r. halit, who is also a member o the American Academy o HI edicine. ince these medicines are intrinsically very sa e to begin with, in my opinion the health ris rom exposure to the small amounts that may be ound in urine is negligible. on t worry about it. On the Lovecast, Andrew Gurza on dating with disabilities: savagelovecast. com. Questions? mail@savagelove.net. Impeach the Motherfucker Already: ITMFA.org.
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
47
48 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
49
50 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
CLASSIFIEDS PHARMACY
DISH TV
RIPE RECORDS 15212 Charlevoix St, Grosse Pointe Park (313) 469-7479 riperecordsdetroit.com
MASSAGE THERAPIST Marijuana users, aged 18 – 55, who are physically and psychologically healthy are needed for a 3-week research study.
COAT DRIVE
ALPHA OMEGA INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH
Is collecting coats for underprivileged kids in Detroit and Metro Detroit. Coats Drop Location 333 W. 11 Mile Rd, Madison Heights Mi. 48071 Pamela Burton Cell: 248-277-6752
CHEAP FLIGHTS!
Candidates will be thoroughly medically and psychiatrically screened. Only marijuana users who are in good health, from 18 to 55 years old, and not seeking treatment will be accepted. Participants will be interviewed, fill out questionnaires, and, if eligible, will participate in experimental sessions that involve drug administration and choices between drug and money and will take part in a sleep study.
Book Your Flight Today on United, Delta, American, Air France, Air Canada. We have the best rates. Call today to learn more 1-855-231-1523
Participants must be willing to participate in 2 separate residential unit stays (over a 2-week period). The 1st stay will last for 4 consecutive nights and the 2nd stay will last for 3 consecutive nights (7 nights total) during which time they will participate in experimental sessions that involve drug administration and complete nightly sleep study sessions.
ROOMMATE
NEED A ROOMMATE?
CASHIER/CLERK WANTED
CLEANING SERVICES
UPTOWN ADULT SUPERSTORE
CLEAN CLUTTER CLEANING SERVICE
CASH REWARD
Specializing in: Residential Cleaning, Commercial, Janitorial, Hoarder Cleaning and BiohazardCleaning. Serving Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties 313-228-1010 cleanclutteredcleaning.com
The purpose is to examine the links among stress, marijuana craving, and marijuana reminders, or “cues.” Eligible individuals must be using marijuana and not be in treatment. This is not a treatment study.
AIR FARE
Roommates.com will help you find your Perfect Match™ today!
(Dvd’s, Toys, etc) Detroit area, must be 18yrs old Cashier, stock & cleaning Benefits-Hol/Vac/Health Call (313)869-9477 or come in to apply
SELL YOUR RECORDS TO US!
$59.99 For 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR Included, Free Voice Remote. Some restrictions apply. Call Now 1-800-373-6508
REG. AFFAIRS ASSOC.
for Battlecreek Pharmacy, Detroit, MI: Ensure compl. w/FDA, MI BOP, DEA, HIPPA; SOP manual for pharm. to help w/ensuring compl. & smooth workflow; Dev. Alogrithms to idnt. Imporper pharm. Claims paymt. & to idnt. & provide sup. Cl. Doc. for utiliz. Rev. NDC pricing from CMS ASP, CMS AMP, CMS FUL, Firth d/bank & medi-span. Monitor ICD-9 & CPT codes for billing insur. Req. MS in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing or rel fld. F/T mail resume @ 16311 Grand River Ave. Detroit, MI 48227.
TV AND INTERNET
Participants can earn up to $50.00 for screening, and up to $932.00 for completing the study.
Anyone interested in participating should call (313) 993-3960 or (888) 457-3744 (toll free) and ask about the Marijuana Study. Wayne State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer
LUNG CANCER? And Age 60+? You And Your Family May Be Entitled To Significant Cash Award. Call 844-898-7142 for Information. No Risk. No Money Out Of Pocket.
The Detroit VA Medical Center Sleep Research Laboratory is seeking participants:
The Wayne State University and Detroit VA Medical Center Sleep Disorders Laboratory is seeking participants: •
Veterans or Non-Veterans aged 18-60, with high blood pressure, who snore and/or stop breathing at night may be eligible for studies investigating sleep disordered breathing.
Volunteers will be compensated for study participation. This research is sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs and veterans will be given priority consideration for participation. Call (313) 576-4414 for more information
• •
Healthy individuals 18-89 years with normal sleep/or inimal snoring. Healthy individuals 18-89 years who snore and/or stop breathing at night or have sleep apnea but are not on PAP therapy.
Volunteers will be compensated for their participation in the study. Please call Sleep Research Laboratory at (313) 576-4464 for further information. DETROIT VA MEDICAL CENTER
ESCORT
TS BARBIE QUE
Transexual Escort 734-772-2349
ESCORT
MISTRESS BREANNA
Italian Goddess looking for men to dominate. Into the forbidden arts. By appointment only. 248-432-72013
ENTERTAINMENT
BECOME A PORN STAR!!!
Famous LA Company Recruiting In Detroit. Hiring Attractive Females & Males. No Experience Needed. (313) 289-2008
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
51
Dating made Easy
Playmates or soul mates, you’ll find them on MegaMates Always FREE to listen and reply to ads!
Always FREE to listen and reply to ads!
Detroit:
(313) 481-9342 www.megamates.com 18+
52 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
Detroit:
(313) 481-9318 www.megamates.com 18+
r u o y s ’ t a Wh Pleasure?
DON’T FORGET YOUR
VALENTINE ADULT TOYS • SHOES • OILS • DVDS LUBES • COSTUMES CORSETS LINGERIE (QUEEN SIZES TOO!) MASSAGE GIFT SETS BACHELORETTE PARTY FAVORS GIFT CARDS AVAILABLE
(586) 722-7913 TO ADVERTISE ESCORT SERVICES OR MASSAGE THERAPY, CALL (313) 961-4060
35806 VAN DYKE AVE. STERLING HEIGHTS 48312 @ 15 1/2 MILE RD
MON-SAT 10AM-9PM | SUN NOON-5PM ORDER ONLINE AT THEPLEASUREZONESTORE.COM metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
53
CULTURE ARIES: March 21 – April 20 Everything has just reached critical mass. This is either feeling bad or good, depending on how much of the truth you have been willing to face. Those of you who have made it through the gauntlet with your integrity intact are probably breathing a sigh of relief that you’ve passed all these tests with flying colors. Those o you who have copped out, played the blame game, or taken the spiritual bypass that allowed you to excuse your denial mechanisms are in the belly of the beast, with one last chance to get real enough to reckon with the consequences of your actions.
Horoscopes By Cal Garrison
LEO: July 21 – August 20 You need to settle down long enough to get your bearings. So much has been swirling around you, it’s been hard to stay grounded enough to know where you’re at. The gap between what’s really going on and who you think you are is abysmal. In order to get to the next step you’re going to have to switch to decaf and face things for what they are. It is no longer appropriate to dramatize your situation, nor is it OK to keep using the same old methods to try to heal things that have been there forever. A big reality check is in order. Be brave enough to face things head on.
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 21 – Dec. 20 Stay tuned to opportunities because they’re going to be cropping up everywhere. A lot of what’s about to open up will happen where you least expect to find it. ne o the eys to making things click has to do with getting out of your comfort zone. Invitations to do even the most mundane things will yield more than you can imagine. And if anyone invites you to ta e off on a trip or wants you to sign up for a seminar, know that the lords of serendipity are there to put you in the right place at the right time. Who knows? In a year or less you could be totally free, clear, and out of here!
VIRGO: August 21 – Sept. 20 Too many things are showing you how amazing life gets when we shut up and start paying attention. The signals are everywhere and you guys can’t afford to be looking the other way. People have arrived who have turned into guides, or teachers, or guardians, and they have come to redirect your focus. Changing direction, and/or moving into areas of self-expression that force you to redefine both your goals and whoever you think you are, has turned your world into a whirlwind of possibilities that need to be fully examined before you can decide what to do.
CAPRICORN: Dec. 21 – Jan. 20 You could look at this a million different ways. I every crisis is an opportunity to correct mistakes that we made long before everything blew up in our face, your current state of emergency could be seen as a blessing. eflecting back on the last few years it might help you to zero in on the moment when you went off the rails, or out o integrity. Life has its own way of getting us back on track. If you’re on top of this situation it’s because you’ve learned your lesson. If you’re still wringing your hands wondering “Why me?” it’ll be a while before things settle down.
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20 You’ve been working too hard to notice that your emotional needs are in the back seat. More than a few months of this have made it clear that you need some fresh air. At the point where duty and responsibility go over the top, there is an opening that allows us to see what we really need. You’re just about there. None of what’s become too important is as big as you’ve made it. Loosening your attachments and getting far enough away from the fray to make room for a little life to trickle in will open the space for all of this pressure to give birth to things that are lasting and real.
LIBRA: Sept. 21 – Oct. 20 Hold steady enough to hear people out. It’s time to take their needs and interests into account. As you process whatever they have to share, it will become clear that you’ve been out of touch with who you thought they were for a long, long time. The next few weeks will require you to adjust to all of this. It will be mind-blowing to have to figure out i you can be yoursel in this situation. It’s usually the case that the person who is averse to change needs it even more than the one who’s rocking the boat. Take a deep breath and consider the virtues of changing your tune, or your mind.
AQUARIUS: Jan. 21 – Feb. 20 ou are fine. top using all your mental energy worrying about how this is going to go. With more than enough support, you will find some unusual people coming out of the woodwork. It’s up to you to know who’s here to help and who’s here to make things harder. Those close to your situation care enough to go out of their way. Others are totally out for themselves. As long as you are smart enough to know who’s who, and are able to keep your ego in check, you will be free and clear within a month or three. Keep your nose to the grindstone and let hard work free your mind.
CANCER: June 21 – July 20 You are still here doing what’s expected, but you have the strange feeling that something else is getting ready to pop up and change all of this. The gears are in neutral and you are definitely primed or something beyond what’s been in your face for the last few years. The need to dispel your anxiety, along with the thought that none of us are ever 100 percent sure we’re on the right track, will go a long way in letting you be OK with sitting back and watching the show. How things play out will depend entirely on whether or not you are able to let life show you where to go.
SCORPIO: Oct. 21 – Nov. 20 You have had your share of ups and downs. At this point you feel totally hooked on the idea that everything is “your fault.” This makes it hard to see the truth. In regularly timed cycles, everything in your life is slated to get shaken and stirred; that’s just the way it is. What you assume is a sign that you are screwing things up is, in fact, the way that you move from one phase of experience to the next. Don’t waste one more minute mourning what s lost. What ust flew out the window or fell apart at the seams was meant to get you off your anny and on to the next thing.
PISCES: Feb. 21 – March 20 If you haven’t already done so, you’re just about to drop the hammer on people who have been sucking your energy and your resources for far too long. As much as the softie in you feels bad about it, the situation has gotten ridiculous, to the point where the tail is wagging the dog. Don’t worry about what will happen to them. The karma that goes with sucking people dry is theirs and theirs alone. With these parasites gone for good, you are now in a position to move forward unencumbered by the weight of people and things that ept all o your best efforts from coming to fruition.
TAURUS: April 21 – May 20 Dealing with one nut job after another has taught you enough about human nature to merit a degree in psychotherapy. Between the people you work with, and for, and the people who love you, there is a three-ring circus o agendas and affairs that ma es you wonder why you chose this instead of something a little less intense. I am here to remind you that intensity is your middle name. You are exactly where you need to be at the moment — and for some reason your presence in this situation makes you vital to it, and vital to any prayer it has for turning out for the best.
54 January 30-February 5, 2019 | metrotimes.com
metrotimes.com | January 30-February 5, 2019
55