Attention: metroDetroit™-specific content. Deal.

…but the three giant abstract sculptures are still part of Lakeside's repurposed future.

^Untitled^ ^by^ ^Fletcher^ ^Benton^^,^ ^JC^ ^Penney^ ^court^ ^at^ ^Lakeside^ ^Mall.^
^Photo:^ ^Mitch^ ^Hotts,^ ^Macomb^ ^Daily^

“We have been deeply moved by how much Lakeside Mall has meant to the Sterling Heights community for nearly 50 years,” Allison Greenfield, principal of Leviathan Development and chief development officer of Lionheart Capital, said in a news release. “This inspired us to create plans for repurposing the existing public art within the reimagined Lakeside. One of Lionheart’s main pillars is to reduce waste and facilitate reuse of serviceable materials and items, when possible, in the redevelopment process.”

Emphasis mine. Am I the only one who finds this statement…meaningless? How is "repurposing the existing public art" going to help in this lofty goal? They're demolishing the place and most likely disposing of the tons of rubble in the most traditional and cost-effective manner. Hardly "reduce-reuse-recycle." Empty, useless marketingspeak and a little tone-deaf too.

^Untitled,^ ^Bruce^ ^Beasley^^,^ ^Lakeside^ ^Mall.^
^Photo:^ ^Lakeside^ ^Mall^

Lakeside Town Center will feature residences, parks, a hotel, office spaces, retail outlets, dining establishments, and more. Approximately 30 acres will be dedicated to the new public spaces, incorporating the repurposed sculptures from Lakeside Mall. “This thoughtful integration will enhance the community’s cultural landscape and preserve the artistic legacy of Lakeside,” officials said in the release.

^Untitled,^ ^Buky^ ^Schwartz,^ ^Macy's^ ^court^ ^at^ ^Lakeside^ ^Mall.^
^Photo:^ ^Lakeside^ ^Mall^

A date for the fixtures sale will be released later this year, according to the release.

Further reading:

• WXYZ-Detroit: 'One last glimpse'

If you can't see the crazy person on the bus, it's you.
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Jacob Russell says he’s been part of metro Detroit’s mostly white improv scene for almost 13 years and noticed his peers didn’t know much about contributions Black people made to American history. The comedian, who grew up on Detroit’s west side, said that disconnect inspired “Birth of a Ho’ Ass Nation,” a satirical one-man show to “give them a perspective of how I grew up and what I was taught.”

Russell said he was inspired to write the first play, which he first performed in 2017 and has since become a series, because he wanted to offer his audience something deeper than just jokes.

Along with writing the play, Russell, 38, plays all the characters like Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B Du Bois and Ida B. Wells. He also throws in some non-historical figures–a human version of Jim Crow, a talking lion simply named Lion and a heightened version of himself.

Everything I say is a lie…
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“Today, Detroit takes a step into a major national leadership role in fighting climate change,” Duggan said at the event in the footprint of the Gratiot-Findlay project. “127 city buildings are currently powered by 33 megawatts of energy per year from traditional sources, largely fossil fuels,” Duggan said. “In the next two years, we are going to build solar fields that are going to produce that 33 megawatts of energy in renewable energy, effectively generating all the power for city buildings from solar fields.”

Duggan said Monday that the program targets “some of the most blighted areas in the city” and would be “helping neighborhoods that think they’ve been forgotten.”

Homeowners in the footprint of the proposed solar fields stand to receive twice the fair market value of their homes or $90,000, whichever is higher, while renters will get 18 months of rent to relocate. Homeowners within community benefits areas surrounding the projects will receive $15,000 to $25,000 each for energy efficiency upgrades.

Support for solar arrays in city neighborhoods has been far from unanimous. Detroit dropped a plan for a project in Grixdale Farms after residents raised concerns about the potential for solar fields to hurt property values or add to issues with blight and crime in the area outside the project’s footprint.

Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!
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• Hart Plaza
• Belle Isle
• Ford Motor Company’s official rooftop party. Yeah. Real proletariat there, Lee. $350 a pop. Yes, proceeds do go to the The Michigan Thanksgiving Parade Foundation.
• TV (WDIV-4)

There. I just saved ya the trip. No thanks necessary. For those of you still asleep, it's tonight. Act accordingly.

Happy (early) Canada Day to our brothers and sisters across the river.

Free your mind and your ass will follow…
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🥵

Maybe you wanna see something light while getting out of the oppressive, heavy, humid Detroit summer? Something escapist for your escaping the heat. A romantic comedy with a happy ending for everybody…well, for almost everybody. Are you in luck!

Friday evening, 8:00pm, at the historic (and air-conditioned!) Redford Theatre (at fashionable 17360 Lahser Road, just north of Grand River Ave.) is the 1987 romantic comedy, Moonstruck!

Directed by the late, great Norman Jewison (Fiddler On The Roof, In The Heat Of The Night), see 80s post-op Cher riding the top of her wave as a movie star and pre-op Nicolas Cage at the beginning of his…

Cher is perfect as the widowed woman, convinced she is cursed by bad luck, who agrees to remarry, only to fall for her fiance’s opera-loving baker brother (Nicolas Cage). This still fresh romantic comedy from Norman Jewison (who passed earlier this year) is a love letter to Italian culture and New York City.

⚜ ~~ ⚜ 📽 ⚜ ~~ ⚜

Godzilla Saturday! 🏢🦖🔥

You want light? Some frivolous entertainment? How 'bout a man in a rubber monster costume terrorizing both a scale model of Tokyo and another actor in a blobby, shapeless rubber costume? No CGI here, no shin nothing except maybe getting kicked!

On Saturday, the historic Redford is showing not one but two masterworks from Japan's Toho Co.…oh, no!…it's a Godzilla Double-Header!

At the 2:00pm matinée is 1971's *Godzilla Vs The Smog Monster!

Perhaps the trippiest film in the original Godzilla series, in which the big guy battles a creature born of out-of-control pollution. Rare to see in any form, we screen the dubbed version that ran in US theaters in the early 1970s.

Then later at 8:00pm is the original, the one that started it all, Ishiro Hondo's 1954 Godzilla!

70th anniversary screening! Celebrate the birth of everyone’s favorite atomic dinosaur, stomping Tokyo on the big screen and in glorious black and white. We present the film’s recent restoration in Japanese with English subtitles.

⚜ ~~ ⚜ 📽 ⚜ ~~ ⚜

Tickets for all the shows are the usual $7 and $5 for seniors and kids. Stay cool "old school", fool! Go to the movies!

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right? -- Charles Schulz
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The Detroit Film Theatre at the world-reknown (and air-conditioned!) Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates cinematically the Juneteenth weekend with not one but three blockbusters of African Americana!

Tomorrow at 7:00pm, one showing only, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson's 2021 award-winning documentary, Summer of Soul!

In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson fashioned a joyful and transporting documentary — part music film, part historical record — created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in New York.

Incredibly, most of the footage was largely forgotten–but no more. Summer of Soul shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being, and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of injustice, past and present. Including concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension and many more. Academy Award® Winner, Best Documentary Feature; Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival. (118 min.)

Try to stay seated.

⚜ ~~ ⚜ 📽 ⚜ ~~ ⚜

Stormy Weather

On Saturday, at sweltering 3:00pm and muggy 7:00pm, the final days of the Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898--1971 exhibition close with the 1943 classic, star-studded musical, Stormy Weather!

One of two musical entertainments featuring all-Black casts released by major Hollywood studios in 1943, Stormy Weather has a traditional movie romance plot — but what really matters in this incredible film is the cast and musical numbers.

The great Lena Horne, whose performance of the title song is one for the ages, is only one of the brilliant talents on screen; there's also Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Katherine Dunham and her dance company, Dooley Wilson (Casablanca’s piano player), and the astonishing Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, performing what may still be the greatest dance number in movie history [emphasis mine -- r^2^ ] (their tap shoes are on display in Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 – 1971, at the DIA through June 23). (78 min.)

"Different Times": from the Wikipedia entry…

Although Stormy Weather and other musicals of the 1940s opened new roles for African Americans in Hollywood, breaking through old stereotypes and far surpassing limited roles previously available in race films produced for all-black audiences, it still perpetuates stereotypes. Notably, the musical numbers in the movie contain elements of minstrelsy. The performance of a cakewalk, for example, features flower headdresses reminiscent of the Little Black Sambo figures used in historical misrepresentations of Black American males.

…just so you know.

Performing live at 7:00pm screening is the DFT's special guest, Detroit's musical child prodigy, Frank "Sugar Chile" Robinson!

⚜ ~~ ⚜ 📽 ⚜ ~~ ⚜

Moonlight

Finally, at the Sunday 2:00pm matinée, director Barry Jenkins' 2016 Academy Award winning film, Moonlight, starring Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes and Mahershala Ali. Moving. Touching. Difficult. Gripping. Yeah, it's all those adjectives and more. Jenkins' adaption of Tarell Alvin McCraney's play follows the life of Chiron from childhood to adulthood, his relationship with father-figure crack dealer Juan and his addicted mother Paula and how he just tries to navigate through the situations he finds himself in, inside and out. If you've never seen this powerful film, I'll say no more other than it's not what you'd call a "popcorn movie". You may need to bring Kleenex along.

⚜ ~~ ⚜ 📽 ⚜ ~~ ⚜

Tickets for all showings are $10, $8.50 for seniors, students and DIA members and available online (plus $1.50 inconvience fee).

Stay cool "old school", fool! Go to the movies!

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right? -- Charles Schulz
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So much going on today here at [email protected](disease).

From ace reporters Robert Snell and Louis Aguilar at the News, "rat, meet sinking ship"…

…prosecutors are applying more pressure on Smith by slapping a lien on his $1.25 million home, a move that reveals possible new criminal charges that could be filed in connection with one of the largest alleged embezzlements in a public corruption case in recent Detroit history[…]

Plea negotiations were described in a federal court filing by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Moran and Smith's criminal defense lawyer, Gerald Evelyn, on June 10. […] "The parties jointly request that the court continue the period in which an indictment must be returned by 60 days in order to permit the ongoing plea negotiations to continue, as the issuance of indictment may change the posture of the parties in negotiations," the lawyers wrote.

The lien signals Smith's home in a Novi gated community may be subject to forfeiture to the government because investigators believe the property is linked to fraud, bribery/theft and money laundering. "If the Department of Justice has liened property, that's a pretty good indication that it is proceeds of unlawful conduct," Birmingham criminal defense lawyer Wade Fink told The News after learning about the lien. "As a criminal defense lawyer seeing this, I would certainly be worried about a forthcoming indictment or ongoing discussions about what that indictment is going to look like."

Yeah, me being a mere genius and not a lawyer, I kinda see it that way too.

One last thought: all this hullabaloo these days about US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepting "gifts" with an estimated value of $2.4M. That's peanuts! Kids' stuff in comparison!

Alt link for your convenience via archive.is

What We Want Now
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Why is this even posted here at [email protected]? Read the article (or as much as you can stomach), peruse the graphic, and then you'll understand my perplexity…

Our study ranks 100 vehicles judged through the same five criteria as it’s been since the 2020 edition: assembly location, parts content, engine origin, transmission origin and U.S. manufacturing workforce. More than 400 vehicles of model-year 2024 vintage were analyzed to qualify the 100 vehicles on the list.

The tl;dr graphic…

~Detroit~ ~isn't~ ~even~ ~on~ ~there~ ~once!~ ~Cars.com~ ~graphic~ ~by~ ~Melissa~ ~Galicia~

The top 10 shifts considerably thanks largely to Tesla. The Texas-based all-electric automaker locked out the top four in the 2023 index, but its Model S sedan and Model X SUV come in at Nos. 4 and 9 this year, and noticeably absent from the top 10 is a vehicle that once ranked No. 1 outright in 2021: the Model 3 sedan. On the receiving end of these drops are Honda, whose Passport SUV now lands at No. 2, plus its Odyssey minivan and Ridgeline pickup truck at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively; Volkswagen, whose ID.4 electric vehicle ranks No. 3; Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus, with the Camry sedan and all-new TX SUV at Nos. 7 and 10, respectively; and Jeep, whose Gladiator rises to No. 8 this year.

It's so 20^th^ century but this town still insists on referring to itself as "Motown" or "the Motor City." Pffffft.

That's depressing. I need to see something adorable!

Happy Juneteenth!

What We Want Now
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Happy Jubilee Day, Detroit!

This episode of Visions is celebrating Black Music Month!

You’ll hear music across all jazz genres and the decades exclusively from Black artists, including Hank Mobley, Meshell Ndegeocello, Marcus Belgrave and more.

Jazz music is black music, but there’s no better time to celebrate it than during June’s Black Music Month.

See, Kaleigh dearest, that's where you're wrong. Jazz/black music should be celebrated every day! 🥰 🎶

EDIT 08:57:54 CEST: typographic error.

What We Want Now
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First posted last week here, 18-year-old chess champion—the highest-rated African American female chess player in history—Jessica Hyatt's visit to the DIA in an organized simul against 27 opponents "outed" a whole bunch of Detroit dads and grandfathers who have introduced their daughters and granddaughters to the analytical game of chess.

[hellip;]there's a group of Detroit dads that have been making moves for years; taking their kids to practices and tournaments all over; sitting in silence — sometimes for hours at a time — as their progeny test wits, strategy and skills against their opponents, and loving every minute of it. Unlike soccer or hockey, any congratulatory cheers are saved for the end of the game. But these fathers' pride is on display all the time.

“When I introduced my daughter to chess, it was all about giving her critical-thinking skills, and she was like: ‘Oh, I love this game,’ " said Keith Walker, whose middle school daughter, Madison, is on the chess team at Bates Academy. “Now, I’ve been a part of the chess community in Detroit for about six years, and I can say that the fathers behind the chess scene are very strong. We give our kids security and safety, and we also look out for all of the kids that are playing. So all the kids are my kids and we become a unit.”

The smile on Michael Slater Jr.'s face as he took advantage of the minutes right before the start of the simul at the DIA to take some up-close pictures of his daughter Amara — a rising third-grader at Bates Academy — let everyone in the Great Hall know that Slater, too, definitely was having fun. […] “I support Amara in chess because she enjoys playing and I enjoy watching her,” Slater said[…] “But I am going to speak for all of the dads in Detroit’s chess community and say that we’re here and we’re involved in everything that we see our children do.”

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What We Want Now
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What do graffiti artist BVIS (real name: Bryan Herrin) and alleged terrorist Yousef Mohammad Ramadan have in common? What is the lowest common denominator here?

I'll give you all a clue. From the thin Metro Times article…

Despite Mayor Mike Duggan’s crackdown on graffiti, BVIS told Metro Times that he wasn’t afraid of getting caught. […] “I love just getting away with shit,” BVIS told us. “But part of me is like, I know people like it. It feels good to make people smile. But it is mostly the adrenaline rush.”

These two (Herrin and Ramadan) and many, many, oh so many people who, shall we say, work outside of the law (regardless where on the gamut) just can't resist painting a huge, neon red target on their backs. Some people just can't shut up.

~Photo:~ ~Midwest~ ~Modern~ ~via~ ~FOX2Detroit~

That said, from an Art History perspective, I like BVIS's guerilla art. I like that it's got elements—knowingly or not—of Pop Art, Outsider Art and even Deconstruction.

I also think that the penalty being bandied about is a tad extreme but IANAL. I'll ask my attorney what she thinks.

From the Freep's coverage…

Last week, a search warrant was served at Herrin’s home, police said. After his arrest, he now faces six counts of malicious destruction of property. Each count is punishable by up to four years in prison if found guilty; Herrin faces a total of 24 years. Bond was set at $50,000, which Herrin paid.

When asked whether Herrin's capture stemmed from his interview with Metro Times, [Detroit Police Sgt. Daron] Zhou could not ~~stop nodding and smirking~~ comment.

Snark all mine.

Hey, kids, wanna hear about the worst criminal activity in which I've ever been involved? I could tell you…but then I'd have to kill you.

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What We Want Now
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Brendel Hightower over at the Freep has compiled a pile of commemorations, celebrations and festivities for the upcoming Emancipation Day AKA Juneteenth, originating on June 19, 1865 but observed as a federal holiday only since June 17, 2021.

That's a lot of patience.

Here's a sample of the upcoming events, starting today…

• A Juneteenth Senior Lunch will be held at Southfield’s Parks and Recreation Building room 115 at City Hall.

• Dancing in the Street: Juneteenth Jubilee at Motown Museum: […]free museum tours[…]African dance workshop[…]live performances by Lolly Mariah, Hitsville Next Artists, and the 154 Dance Project[…]DJ Takeover[…]Visual Artist Danielle Eliska.

• Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom: City Officials & Civil Rights, Inclusion & Opportunity will host this celebration that will include raising the Juneteenth Flag[…]entertainment by We The People Band, Divine 9 Fraternity & Sorority Strolls […] and more from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

The article contains all the details regarding locations, times, dates and registrations. Happy Juneteenth!

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What We Want Now
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cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/13306381

Found this over at one of our regular sites, Michigan Advance, but honestly, it reads like a (not-very) covert ad for author Dave Liske's new book The Flint Coney. Flint Coney?!

That said I'm linking to the updated PBS video from which this comes from which plays less like one big book plug.

Moar Coney! BONUS:

• the original 2015 Made In Detroit broadcast about Detroit's coneys

Tell me you're not craving a couple of dogs now. What's that? You say you're vegetarian? Vegan? Well then…

• Velvet Peanut Butter!, with one of the greatest logos in the modern world ever! "Fresh! Pure! Delicious!"

Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It is also often observed for celebrating African American culture. Originating in Galveston, Texas, it has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865.

Southfield’s Juneteenth Celebration will kick off with the raising of the Juneteenth flag on Monday, June 10 at 5 p.m. at the circle drive in front of City Hall, 26000 Evergreen Road. This will be followed by the reading of the Juneteenth proclamation with City Council at 6 p.m.

Visit the linked WXYZ page or http://www.cityofsouthfield.com/ for further information on all of the week's planned events and activities.

Free your mind and your ass will follow…
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Critics refer to the kids who covered the iconic Beaux Arts-style building as vandals and hoodlums. But graffiti writers look back and describe it as sort of a gritty community center viewed as a safe space for children who loved to draw and paint but didn't have art programs like students who attended elite schools in the suburbs.

But how does a company spend $950 million on the massive 30-acre campus and keep graffiti, a reminder of when the station was an eyesore?

"Often, graffiti is referred to as blight, as something that scares away our economy, and people don't want to live near it," [muralist Freddy "SW Freddy"] Diaz said. "If we learn to embrace our past, I think we can have a good future. The Central Station embodies that. It was a landmark that maybe didn't have a future but what it meant to the people that were painting in there and hanging out, and seeing what it is now, man, it almost gives you goose bumps, to really learn to appreciate the good and the bad of everything, you know?"

Paul Carmona, 45, of Allen Park, is a former Detroit Police officer [who] began his spray painting at age 15 as "Phame." He focused on lettering at Michigan Central and other parts of the city with his spray cans over five years. "Going into the train station to paint, it was peaceful," he said. "You went into a different world where you didn't have to worry about nothing. You went there with your sketchbook and tried your best to put something up there that people would like."

"You would look at the architecture and attention to detail and arched cathedral ceilings and it makes you feel like you’re sitting in the Sistine Chapel or a place that you know is sacred," [artist "Fel3000ft"] said. "Keep in mind, I was a kid that had nowhere else to go. I needed a safe place to practice my art. I thank God that I had it. I don’t think there would be a career for a Fel3000ft from Detroit without that place. ... To see someone save it is, it’s moving to me. I cried my eyes out when I was invited back in there."

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Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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It is with a heavy heart I post this…

Biscoe, who was born in Washington D.C. in 1946, joined WXYZ as a night reporter in 1973. She previously worked as a radio DJ in Maryland and hosted a weekly public affairs show in Washington D.C. before coming to Detroit. Throughout her tenure at WXYZ, Biscoe was one of the most visible Black broadcast journalists in Detroit, and throughout America.

An informative, illustrated page on Ms Biscoe and her groundbreaking career over at broadcastingvault.com

From Wikipedia's page on Detroit's WXYZ-TV…

In 1987, the station created and produced a weekly educational literacy program aimed at children called Learn To Read, which was based on the audio-lingual method of literacy education, and was co-produced by Kentucky Educational Television. One of the hosts of this series was then WXYZ-TV news anchor Doris Biscoe.

From a (much exaggerated) account by blogger Tod Ridley at Medium, Tonya Harding and Doris Biscoe Walk Into a Laundry-mat…

In Detroit, in the 90’s, there were two rival stations in Detroit that mattered. ABC Channel 7 and NBC Channel 4. Doris Biscoe was the Grand Dame of Channel 7. She was a strong and confident, gorgeous and gigantic, 6’6″ African American. [emphasis mine -- r^2^ ]

I knew these details of her because the news station for Channel 7 was next to our college campus. I regularly saw Doris pulling into the station in her Lincoln Continental, head slightly bent over because of her height. She was a God. And fabulous.

Yes, Ms Biscoe was fabulous and tall but 6'6"? While I can't disprove this by-eye measurement (while sitting down), I think Ridley maybe was a bit starstruck at the time.

Cause of death has not yet been announced. Condolences to the surviving family from all of us at !detroit.

Hail, hail, stomp and drool! Two shows today at the historic Redford Theatre (at fashionable 17360 Lahser Road, just north of Grand River Ave.), truly "something for everyone."

In a ~~bizarre~~ calculated move by the Detroit movie house, today's 2:00pm matinée is the 60^th^ Anniversary screening of George Sidney's Viva Las Vegas. Watch Elvis and Ann-Margret scorch the screen together in this 1964 rock 'n roll classic. You say you've never seen it?! Maybe you've already—ahem!—formulated certain ideas regarding the King of Rock and Roll? Maybe you need reminding? Do yourself a favor. See it today! On the Redford's big screen!

From Wikipedia…

The chemistry between the two stars was genuine during filming. Presley and Ann-Margret began an affair, and this received considerable attention from film and music gossip columnists. This reportedly led to a showdown with Presley's worried girlfriend Priscilla Beaulieu (Elvis and Priscilla married in 1967). In her 1985 book Elvis and Me, Priscilla Presley describes the difficulties that she experienced when the gossip columnists erroneously "announced" that Ann-Margret and Presley had become engaged to be married. […] In her memoirs, Ann-Margret refers to Elvis Presley as her "soulmate" and stated: "We felt there was a need in 'The Industry' for a female Elvis Presley."

❦ ———— 🎥 ———— ❦

Later, at 8:00pm, the Redford presents The Secret of NIMH, the 1982 by that giant of animated film, Don Bluth, incidentally his studio's first feature-length animated film.

Based on a 1971 children’s novel, this animated classic from Don Bluth finds the widowed mouse Mrs. Frisby, forced from her home, helped by a group of rats with heightened intelligence. Along with still-gorgeous animation, the movie also features vocal work by Elizabeth Hartman, John Carradine, and Dom DeLuise.

While appropriate for the whole family, Bluth's NIMH didn't aim low regarding its audience, having a more sophisticated tone to it. And there's always that gorgeous, pre-anime, Bluth house style…❤

❦ ———— 🎥 ———— ❦

Tickets for each show today are $7 or $5 for and seniors and kids. See ya there, cinephiles!

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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From the Psychology Today page…

It is the part of the brain that is phylogenetically very primitive. Many people call it the "Lizard Brain,” because the limbic system is about all a lizard has for brain function. It is in charge of fight, flight, feeding, fear, freezing up, and fornication.

Well, this evening at the DIA, it's all about higher brain functions.

Detroit City Chess Club simul match with Jessica Hyatt

In The Museum
Friday, Jun 7, 2024, 5:45 p.m.
Admission gratis

Join us for the Detroit City Chess Club simul match with Jessica Hyatt. Hyatt, 18, is the highest-rated African American female chess player in history! With a peak United States Chess Federation (USCF) rating of 2168, and a FIDE rating of 1948, she is on her way to clinching the master title!

In 2019, Hyatt won the New York State Scholastic Championships, and has since been invited by the USCF to represent the US internationally as a part of their youth team (2019–present). In 2022, Hyatt received a special honoree at the Liberty Science Center’s Genius Gala.

In 2023, she became the Pan-American Youth Female Under-18 Blitz Champion, the KCF All-Girls Nationals Champion, and represented the US for the World Youth Chess Championships. Along with chess, Hyatt plays ranked junior tennis and golf, and is a jazz pianist.

Thank you, Ms Hyatt. I'm totally in awe and at the same time completely intimidated by you.

The Real Reel: A Poetry Performance with InsideOut Literary Arts

Kresge Reception area
Friday, Jun 7, 2024, 6 p.m.
Admission gratis

Join InsideOut Literary Arts and some of Detroit's finest youth and adult poets for a reading celebrating the creative and enduring legacy of African Americans in film, from its very beginning through the start of the Civil Rights Movement.

Inspired by Regeneration Black Cinema 1898 – 1971, the event will showcase new poetic works written during visits to the exhibition. Featuring performances by MARS Marshall. La Shaun phoenix Moore, Kahn Davison, Brittany Rogers, Scheherazade Washington Parrish, Charisma Holly, and Kya Mills.

Feed your mind.

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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From The Freep: "Red flags about ex-Detroit Conservancy CFO show up in court records"…

Federal prosecutors charged William Smith, the ousted CFO of the Conservancy, on Wednesday with bank and wire fraud, alleging the 51-year-old's scheme there went unchecked for more than 11 years while he falsified bank statements, made unauthorized wire transfers to his company and paid his credit card bills with Conservancy money.

While that scheme allegedly played out, court records show Smith was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in private investments with a business partner who would later be indicted by the U.S. Attorney in Detroit, in deals involving franchise restaurants in the area, including Which Wich sandwich shops and a pizzeria chain called Pie Five.

In 2019, a grand jury indicted Smith's partner, John Draper II, on two counts of wire fraud, with federal prosecutors accusing him of defrauding investors, including parents of his children’s classmates at Detroit Country Day School in suburban Detroit.

Certainly To Be Continued…

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A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents and things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything.
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So, the Michigan Central Station officially reopens today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're already sooo over it. Enough already. What else is there to do?

Nearby Wyandotte says, "have a shot and a slab!" The Swiggin' Pig festival starts today at 5:00pm in chic, downtown Wyandotte and runs all weekend long. Formalwear not required. NSAID of choice may be required. Napkins/wetnaps are definitely required.

The four day weekend will have something for everyone including live music from Metro Detroit’s most popular bands, ice cold craft beers, a carnival, shows, Crafters Market, whiskey tasting and BBQ!

Oooh, tell me more…

Top pitmasters will serve up some of the area’s finest barbecue offering finger lickin’ good meals for purchase at each of the food trucks. There will be plenty to keep the kids busy too, including a carnival that will feature 20 rides, interactive FREE games including Giant Jenga and Connect 4, cornhole, face-painting, magic shows and more!

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Maybe you want something a little more…virtual? A hair less social? Something that's not gonna leave you stained with BBQ sauce, perhaps? Over at the world-reknown Detroit Institute of Arts is Night Out with PRISM to be followed by a selection of short films over at the Detroit Film Theatre, I’ll Be Your Mirror: Queer Documentary Shorts. Cue descriptions!…

Join PRISM, the DIA's LGBTQ+ and allyship employee belonging group, for a "Night Out with PRISM" before the screening of I'll Be Your Mirror: Queer Documentary Shorts. Mix and mingle with PRISM members and the film program curator Adam Baran in the Detroit Film Theatre's Crystal Gallery at 6 p.m. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

Inspired by the themes of this year’s Mighty Real Queer Detroit biennial, I’ll Be Your Mirror: Reflections of the Contemporary Queer, is a program of LGBTQ+ documentary shorts curated by filmmaker Adam Baran. Drawn from films produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ll Be Your Mirror assembles an intergenerational portrait of queer lives in these increasingly perilous times.

The PRISM mingle is gratis but registration is required (scroll down). Tickets for the I'll Be Your Mirror screening are available at the door of the DFT or online here.

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What about a smaller concert? Y'know, a gig? How about some (self-described) Latin shoegaze? Some mirar fijamente los zapatos? Tonight in not-too-distant Pontiac at The Pike Room @ The Crofoot is post-rock artiste Esteban Flores, professionally known as Slow Joy. Be forewarned: show starts at 6:00pm.

A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents and things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything.
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…yeah, and either you're totally stoked about it or totally sick of hearing about it. If I had money on it I'd go with B but for the sake of argument let's pretend you picked A.

And why wouldn't you be geeked? The towering architectural giant that is the Michigan Central Station finally found its glasses and officially comes back from the ruin-porn dead, the neighborhood is unquestionably improved by its resuscitation—at least for now, aesthetically—and to cap it off there's a mega-concert tonight organized by Warren's own Eminem (with manager Paul Rosenberg) with all-star performances including the only Detroit-based millionaires we can (barely) tolerate, Jack White and Big Sean—just kidding witcha, home fries!

Plus, culture-lovers (all seven of you), the world-reknown Detroit Symphony Orchestra will be at the gig warming up their bows, mallets, lips and digits for their performance at Orchestra Hall starting tomorrow!

The entire, free-but-reserved-seating, 90-minute concert will be broadcast live on WDIV-4 and, if you're one of their 147 subscribers, NBC's Peacock streaming service. The rest of the country gets to gnash their teeth in envy at the splendour that is Detroit when NBC broadcasts a 60-minute recap of the celebration Sunday, June 9 at 7:00pm EST.

The concert tonight and guided tours of the MCS are totally "sold out." But don't fret, junior: tours of the MCS grounds will re-commence June 21 and run every Friday and Saturday until August 31, 2024.

100% snark-free: we really do have a beautiful, majestic city. Sometimes I like just driving or walking through it and just reflect on all its concrete grandeur.

Okay, wanna read a real journalistic account instead of my ravings? Here ya go…

• The Freep : Eminem-produced Michigan Central concert in Detroit to star Diana Ross, Jack White, more
  • Alt link for your convenience via archive.is

• The Freep again: Michigan Central Station tours: How to visit Ford's renovated train depot
  • Alt link for your convenience via archive.is

• WDIV-4: Metro Detroiters count down to highly anticipated concert at Michigan Central Station

• WXYZ Detroit: Michigan Central concert: Parking, road closures & everything you need to know

But…but what if I don't give a rat's ass?

You gotta say yes to another excess
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If you live or have lived in metroDetroit™ or follow the goings-on of southeast Michigan, you've surely seen some of Max Ortiz's photographic work, from the purely didactic or ceremonial to seemingly "fly-on-the-wall", images captured by Ortiz's sharp eye that would have been missed in those blink-of-an-eye moments.

~Max~ ~Ortiz~ ~hangs~ ~expensive~ ~Detroit~ ~News~ ~video~ ~camera~ ~inches~ ~from~ ~the~ ~ground~ ~while~ ~filming~ ~the~ ~Dream~ ~Cruise~ ~along~ ~Woodward~ ~Ave,~ ~Aug~ ~17,~ ~2006.~
~Photo:~ ~David~ ~Guralnick,~ ~Detroit~ ~News~

Max Ortiz passed away at the all-too-young age of 58 on May 31, 2024 and the News [and we here at !detroit] pays tribute to staff photographer and more, a California native with transplanted roots long grown in Royal Oak, MI.

Alt links for your convenience via archive.is:

• The Detroit News : Max Ortiz, award-winning photojournalist, dies at 58
• Detroit News photo gallery: Max Ortiz remembered as talented, caring Detroit News photojournalist

What We Want Now
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People can access the island of Grosse Ile by either taking the toll bridge or the Grosse Ile Parkway Bridge, which is free. The toll bridge was financed, designed and constructed from 1912-13 by the Grosse Ile Bridge Company, according to the company's website. Motorists passing over the bridge must pay a fee [or] apply for a bridge pass.

The advantage of buying the toll bridge is that the township would have control of one span accessing the island community if the Grosse Ile Parkway Bridge, the other bridge, were closed at some point, [Township Supervisor James Budny] said.

The parkway bridge was closed for more than a year between 2020 and 2021 because of emergency repairs to several areas including underwater piers.

Another benefit of taking over the Grosse Ile Toll Bridge is that it could generate some money for the township, Budny said. He said it would remain a toll bridge. He intends for the bridge to pay for itself and not to place a tax on residents to run it.

Alt link for your convenience via archive.is

What We Want Now
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