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NEWS & VIEWS
Feedback Readers respond to last week’s cover story, our annual Fiction Issue. This year’s was guest edited by Nandi Comer and deputy editor Zig Zag Claybourne. I only write a poem about once every five years. Wrote a SONNET for this. Check it and all the other amazing work out —@saladinahmed, Twitter Your content is 75% fiction anyways, don’t see the need for a full issue but sure… —@dangerdoodle, Instagram Thanks so much for the trust y’all give and for seeing the vision. —@nandicomer, Instagram
The third annual celebration of #Detroit literary and visual artists returns to the pages of @metrotimes and features a tremendous cross-section of Detroit’s artistic talent supported by @ KresgeArtsDet, which provided artist fees to all contributors. ... In the recent past, there had been no such widely-available, free, and yearly outlet for fiction and printed poetry in the #Detroit Metro Area. With artist fees provided by @kresge ... and widedistribution from @metrotimes, the Fiction Issue continues to bring Metro #Detroit high-quality, easily-available in print artistic content on an annual basis. —@ kresgedetroit, twitter Have a comment? Of course you do! Sound off: letters@metrotimes.com.
Vol. 42 | No. 31 | May 25-31, 2022
News & Views Feedback ............................... 4 News ...................................... 6 Best of the Rest ..................... 8 Informed Dissent ................ 10 The Incision......................... 12 Feature Movement Festival ............. 14
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NEWS & VIEWS
Taura Brown was on track to own a tiny home on Detroit’s west side as part of an innovative project to fight poverty — but now she’s embroiled in a bitter dispute with Cass Community Social Services, the nonprofit that runs the program. STEVE NEAVLING
Tiny homes, big dreams
How promise of homeownership in Detroit turned to an eviction and defamation lawsuit B y Steve Neavling
Taura Brown had big dreams
for her tiny home in Detroit. In January 2020, after living on a friend’s couch because she couldn’t afford rent, Brown was approved to move into a new 317-square-foot home that was part of a community of unique tiny houses in the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood on the city’s west side. Brown’s subsidized rent was just $317 a month, or $1 per square foot. Thousands of dollars in debt and battling stage-five kidney disease, rown made the best of her opportunity, paid rent on time, and attended Henry Ford College. Her credit score increased from 5 5 to 7 , and she quickly paid o her student debt. She was on her way to owning the tiny home. Or so she thought. “This is the house I told my son he was eventually going to move in,” Brown tells M etro Times. “I wanted
to keep it in my family forever. This is about generational wealth. This is what the house was supposed to be for.” Built by Cass Community Social Services , an anti-poverty nonprofit, the community of 19 tiny homes – ranging from 250 to 400 square feet – is designed for lower-income Detroiters and youth aging out of foster care. The goal is to provide permanent homes to people whose families never built generational wealth. The project made national news in 2019 as an innovative way to fight chronic poverty. When the houses were built, CCSS promised that tenants who pay rent for seven years will receive the deed to their home, mortgage-free. The goal was to break the cycle of poverty and create a path to homeownership. But Brown won’t have that opportunity. At the end of her 12-month lease, CCSS informed the 43-year-old that her lease won’t be renewed.
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iting the nonprofit’s promise of future homeownership, Brown refused to leave and was served eviction papers and a defamation lawsuit. A painted black barrel outside her home reads, “Eviction Free Zone.” “I’m not going anywhere,” Brown says. “My rent has never been late. My house is in order. I do everything I’m supposed to do. I want my house.” Brown alleges she was evicted in retaliation for blowing the whistle on problems at CCSS, claims that the nonprofit emphatically denies. he accused the nonprofit and its director, ev. Faith Fowler, of fraud and micromanaging residents. She alleged CCSS never intended to provide permanent homes for tenants. Saying CCSS has ignored high crime rates in the neighborhood – one of her neighbors was murdered in his tiny home – Brown has encouraged other tenants to speak up.
he also took aim at ’ nearby homeless shelter, saying people are mistreated and subjected to inhumane conditions and sexual assault. The homeless shelter, she said, is a magnet for drugs and se workers. he took her complaints to suburban churches, Fowler’s bishop, the city of Detroit, and the attorney general. “There is so much shady shit going on,” Brown says. “If you tell people they can have the house after seven years and renege, that’s a scam. You told the public and donors we were going to be homeowners.” fired back and filed a defamation lawsuit against Brown, accusing her of maliciously spreading lies about the nonprofit. The Detroit Eviction Defense, a group that defends people at risk of losing their homes, has come to Brown’s aid and said the eviction and lawsuit smack of retaliation. “This is racist silencing in the extreme,” Bob Day, a retired lawyer with Detroit Eviction Defense, tells M etro Times. “We’ve seen this before, but only from maniac developers.” On Sunday afternoon, dozens of supporters gathered near Brown’s house for a barbecue and to celebrate her recent graduation from Henry Ford College. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but conversations often steered toward Brown’s eviction. “This was supposed to be a program for homeownership for people facing homelessness,” Day said. “That’s the promise. hen she started to ask about it, that’s when they started to evict.” In an interview with M etro Times, Fowler denies wrongdoing. She says she respects Brown’s right to free speech and only moved to evict her because Brown is on the lease of another apartment on Detroit’s riverfront, where she spends most of her time. Fowler says the tiny homes are intended to be primary residences. By allowing Brown to live in a home where she rarely stays, someone who desperately needs a house can’t move in. At the end of the first year, it was pretty clear that Ms. Brown wasn’t at the house very much,” Fowler says. Brown says she often visits her boyfriend at his riverfront apartment and is only on that lease so she can use the swimming pool. She insists she primarily lives in her tiny home. modified the rules of the tiny home community to indicate that the houses must be the tenants’ primary residence. “It’s the expectation because that’s what people gave money for these houses to do to house folks and give them an opportunity to own a home,” Fowler says.
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Foundations, corporations, and religious organizations donated about $3 million to build the tiny home community for people who most need housing. Brown’s baseless allegations, Fowler says, have also made residents and nonprofit employees uncomfortable. In April 21, Brown wrote a newsletter for residents that accused a neighbor and employee of sni ng cocaine and labeled her a “samba” and “picaninny.” CCSS decided to sue Brown when she began accusing the nonprofit of breaking the law. “When she started saying ‘charity fraud,’ you can’t do that,” Fowler says. First o , you don’t have any evidence. We are squeaky clean.” Fowler takes some of the claims personally. A longtime pastor at the Cass Community United Methodist Church, she has spent many years helping Detroiters secure housing and jobs. Detroit has the highest poverty rate among big cities and a chronic level of homelessness. The tiny homes are one step toward addressing poverty and racial discrimination in mortgages, Fowler says. Of the 21 residents living in the tiny homes, 20 are Black. In two years, the first wave of tenants will become homeowners, Fowler says. “People often move in with nothing, and in seven years their house is going to be worth $70,000,” Fowler says. “It truly is a springboard for a better life.” Fowler says the Detroit Eviction Defense has never reached out to her and that she was going to agree to mediation to work out the problems with Brown. “She asked for mediation, and we said ‘yes’ to it, and then she asked for a lot of money, and that didn’t feel right to me,” Fowler says. What happens next may turn ugly. If the court evicts Brown, she says she’s not leaving, and volunteers with the Detroit Eviction Defense have pledged to create a barricade to prevent eviction. “We’ve done it quite a bit in the past,” Day says. For now, rown remains defiant. “I’m not going to move even if the court evicts me,” Brown says. “It’s a chance I have to take.” With an eviction on her record, it would be almost impossible to find a new apartment. That leaves CCSS with a tough decision to make. “Then what do I do?” Fowler asks. “Let her live there and not let someone else move in?” The next court hearing is set for June 1.
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Best of the Rest
Russian DJ Nina Kraviz is no longer performing at Detroit’s Movement Festival B y L ee D eV ito
Russian DJ Nina Kraviz is no longer performing at Detroit’s Movement Festival, according to a tweet by the event’s organizers. No reason was given. “Nina Kraviz is unable to play Movement this year,” the festival tweeted last week. “Stay tuned for updated lineup and set times.” Kraviz had faced calls for her boycott due to past social media posts that her critics interpreted as in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as her silence on the recent invasion of Ukraine. Kraviz broke her silence to release a statement on her Instagram account, saying, “It’s appalling what my country’s relations with Ukraine have become,” and “I am praying for peace.” Following Kraviz’s post, a group called the Ukrainian-American Crisis Response Committee of Michigan released its own statement, continuing to call for her removal from the festival. “Kraviz’s statement fails to address what have clearly been her pro-Putin attitudes,” the group said. “Her refusal to acknowledge that Russia has launched an unprovoked war against Ukraine and her characterization of the Russian invasion as “her country’s relations with Ukraine” is unsatisfactory. This is the same doublespeak used by Russian state representatives like Dmitri Peskov to attempt to justify this war. Kraviz avoids engaging with these issues by claiming that she does not engage in politics — however, this is not a matter of politics, but a matter of justice.” Kraviz’s alleged “pro-Putin” posts include a 2014 photo of her posing with a cardboard cutout of the Russian president, taken at the Coachella festival, as well as a 2016 tweet of a meme depicting Putin at a rave. Her publicist told M etro Times the posts were taken out of context. Kraviz is the third artist in recent weeks to suddenly drop out of the
Movement festival, which returns to Detroit’s art la a for the first time since 2019. Last week, the popular dubstep artist Skrillex announced he was pulling out to focus on his new music. “I hope you understand that this was a very di cult decision for me to make but I’ll be back soon with the show you all deserve,” he wrote on Instagram. The festival announced he would be replaced with local artist GRiZ. Then, a little more than a week before the festival, Los Angeles-based artist Flying Lotus announced he was pulling out to attend his sister’s wedding. “My lil sister is getting married and there’s no way I can miss that. Hope you’ll forgive meeeee,” he tweeted. Last week, the festival announced that Flying Lotus would be performing at Movement after all, rescheduling his set for Monday. He is replacing Kraviz’s spot on the schedule.
White supremacists are convicted of training for a civil war in Michigan
Three members of a militant white supremacist group were the first in Michigan to be convicted of conspiring to train with firearms for a civil war, state Attorney General Dana Nessel announced last week. The men belong to The Base, a proHitler movement that advocates a race war against non-white people with the goal of using violence “to overthrow the existing social and political order,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. Justen Watkins, Thomas Denton, and Tristan Webb were charged in August 2021 with larceny in a building, gang membership, felony possession of a firearm, and conspiracy to train with firearms for a civil war. They were accused of breaking into the vacant Michigan Department of Corrections Camp Tuscola annex and Tuscola Residential ReEntry Program in Caro in October 2020 and stealing state-issued clothing from one of the jails. Prosecutors allege they were scoping the site as potential training grounds for “hate camps,” which is the name the group gave its paramilitary firearms training exercises. “Securing these convictions on the conspiracy to train for civil disorder holds significance for many reasons, Nessel said in a statement. “They reiterate this o ce’s commitment to protecting Michigan residents, they create a historic precedent in our state’s court system, and they convey the real danger domestic terrorism
SHUTTERSTOCK
poses here and around the country. I appreciate the thorough work done by our team and partner agencies to secure these convictions. Let them send the message that in Michigan, we will not hesitate to prosecute those who commit crimes in the name of overthrowing our government or perpetuating racist ideologies.” Webb pleaded no contest Monday to gang membership, conspiracy to train with firearms for a civil disorder, and felony possession of a firearm. His sentencing hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet. Watkins pleaded guilty to the same charges in April and will be sentenced on June 12. Denton was sentenced to up to four years in prison on the same charges. The case was investigated by the FBI. “The pleas serve as an example of the FBI’s continued commitment to work alongside its law enforcement partners at every level to protect the security of our nation —even when Federal criminal statutes may not be available,” said James A. Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field ce, in a statement. A fourth member of the group, Alfred Gorman, pleaded guilty to gang membership and was sentenced to four years of probation on Feb. 28 in connection with another incident. Gorman and Watkins were charged in October 2020 for terrorizing a family in Dexter. The men were accused of targeting what they mistakenly believed was a home owned by Daniel Harper, a podcaster who combats white nationalism on “I Don’t Speak German.” The home was owned by a man with the same name, but not the podcaster. In September 2019, a U.S. Army soldier in Kansas was arrested on accusations of providing instructions online about how to build bombs to burn down Harper’s house. —Steve Neavling
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NEWS & VIEWS
Just as he did with the Supreme Court, Trump packed the federal judiciary with often-unqualified ideologues handpicked by the Federalist Society.
GAGE SKIDMORE/FLICKR
Informed Dissent
America will be stuck with the consequences of Trump for the rest of our lives effre
In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged George R. Jarkesy Jr., a Houston-area hedge fund manager and Republican donor, with defrauding investors. Jarkesy sued, arguing to a federal court in Washington, D.C. that the SEC proceedings violated his constitutional rights. No dice. He appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Same result. As with all SEC civil charges, the case went before an administrative law judge, who found Jarkesy liable and ordered him to pay back fines and ill-gotten gains” — a little less than $1 million — and abstain from associating with brokers, dealers, and advisers and serving as an o cer or director of an advisory board or as an investment adviser.” Jarkesy appealed, arguing that the SEC had no authority to penalize him for rules infractions. SEC commissioners — drawing on Supreme Court decisions dating back decades — rejected a claim that is basically the stu of sovereign citizen fever dreams. So Jarkesy ran to the 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals, where sovereign citizen fever dreams come true. The 5 th Circuit is where — as I men-
. illm
tioned last time — right-wing judges OK’d an absurd Texas law that prohibits social media companies from moderating Texas residents’ content. This is the court that tried to strike down the A ordable are Act a decade after it passed under a legal theory a prominent conservative scholar called ridiculous. It’s the court that abruptly canceled district court hearings on Texas’ abortion ban so it could take effect without delay. And it’s the court that forbade United Airlines from enforcing its vaccination policy and said military personnel should be free to disobey an order to get a COVID shot, too. Any bets on how they ruled this time? In a 2-1 decision, appointees of Donald Trump and George W. Bush declared that the SEC’s system for enforcing its own rules is unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court takes them seriously — the same Supreme Court that’s about to overturn Roe, so it’s not out of the question — the ruling could cripple not only the SEC but the entire government. The 5 th Circuit made three basic findings All securities fraud cases must go before a federal jury, not an administrative law judge ( ALJ) ; a law that allows
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the SEC to decide whether to take an enforcement action before a federal court or an ALJ is unconstitutional; and the existence of the SEC’s ALJ’s is unconstitutional because the president can’t fire them. In his dissent, Judge Eugene Davis, a Ronald Reagan appointee, pointed out that the first two assertions run counter to well-established case law. ( In 1979, for instance, the Supreme Court ruled that the onstitution does not prohibit ongress from assigning the fact finding function and initial adjudication to an administrative forum with which the jury would be incompatible.”) The third claim is more complicated. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the SEC’s ALJs had to be appointed by commissioners, not sta . The Trump administration asked the court to eliminate the ALJs’ job protections — which were designed to insulate them from political pressure and ensure their independence — as well, but the court declined. The 5 th Circuit wasn’t so circumspect. If the decision stands, the two judges will have given Wall Street the virtu-
ally unregulated market that brokers crave and those of us who remember the 2008 crash dread. For years, the Chamber of Commerce has complained that the SEC’s ALJs are biased, arguing in a court brief that the wins % of the cases it brought before its ALJs, as compared with % of cases before district court judges.” That’s not really true, but it’s also not the point. Bankers know that forcing the SEC to take 700 cases a year to federal juries will break the system. There aren’t enough federal judges, and the likelihood that Republican senators will allow President Biden to appoint a hundred new judges is, well, not great. As a result, all but the most serious fraud cases would be ignored. That’s the goal. What this ruling would mean for the 2,000 ALJs scattered across more than 25 federal agencies — most handle ocial ecurity benefits claims, while other issue findings in environmental, labor, and housing disputes, as well — isn’t clear. But if everything they do has to go before a jury, too, regulations won’t be worth the paper they’re printed on. Again, that’s a feature, not a bug. On Friday, another Trump appointee — District Court Judge Robert Summerhays — ordered the Biden administration to keep in place Title 42, a Trump-era order that prevents migrants from seeking asylum at the border, ostensibly because of the pandemic. When the administration appeals, the case will go to the 5 th Circuit. The White House probably isn’t in a hurry it hasn’t figured out how to deal with the expected crush of asylumseekers. But under the ruling’s logic, courts can halt the country’s asylum law indefinitely. And they might. The 5 th Circuit just upended an administrative system in place since 1946 by inventing a legal doctrine that utterly disregards decades of precedent. It wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last. Six of the court’s 17 active judges were appointed by Donald Trump. Five of them can unambiguously be described as radicals. Just as he did with the Supreme Court, Trump packed the federal judiciary with often-unqualified ideologues handpicked by the Federalist Society. Just like with the Supreme Court, the most viable solution is the kind of sweeping judicial reform Democrats don’t have the stomach — or the votes — to undertake. Elections have consequences. This country will be stuck with the consequences of 2016 for the rest of my life. et more t illm
.s
st c .com.
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NEWS & VIEWS The Incision
It was a good day for progressives — but the waters are getting choppier B y A bdul E l- Sayed
Last Tuesday saw a slate of primary elections in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, critical national battleground states, as well as in Oregon, Idaho, and Kentucky. For progressives, it was a good day. They saw key victories in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and more. But Tuesday also highlighted some troubling trends on the horizon — including the continued electoral capture of the Republican party by MAGA and the extent to which the pro-Israel government lobby will go to defeat progressives. Here are some of the key headlines. Progressives John Fetterman and Summer Lee win in Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman won his Democratic Senate primary, doing so from a hospital room while he recovered from a stroke brought on by atrial fibrillation. He had a pacemaker placed earlier in the day. More importantly, Fetterman trounced Rep. Conor Lamb, the archetypal centrist who was endorsed by Sen. Joe Manchin. Fetterman, who campaigns in Carhartt hoodies and gym shorts, supports Medicare for All, a woman’s right to choose, and union rights ( though I disagree on some of his environmental positions — he opposes fracking bans) . His victory represents an important adjustment on the arguments that centrists have been making about how to win over blue-collar voters around the country. Rather than strictly coding policy positions as “too left,” voters are responding to whom politicians implicitly say they represent in the ways they present themselves. In short, vibes matter. And John Fetterman is a man of few pretenses. Fetterman o ers an important counterpoint to the likes of James Carville and other centrist talking heads who argue that the voters’ rejection of democratic politicians at the polls is about their progressive policy positions. Rather, it’s a reminder that voters
Progressives John Fetterman and Summer Lee won victories in GUILLERMO ROMERO, MARK DIXON, WIKIMEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS Pennsylvania, despite opposition from the Democratic Party establishment.
elect politicians to do something. And the Conor Lamb-Joe Manchin wing of the party have, all too often, put their corporate donors’ interests ahead of achieving the policy goals they ostensibly support, whether it’s climate action, paid family leave, universal childcare, or student debt relief. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Summer Lee — a 34-year-old Justice Democratsbacked progressive organizer who was the first lack woman to represent Southwestern Pennsylvania in the state legislature — eeked out a win despite massive outside spending by pro-Israel super PACS to smear her. More on that later. Madison Cawthorn lost MAGA party boy Madison Cawthorn lost his seat in Congress after an all-out assault from his own party. His crime? It wasn’t supporting the insurrection against our democracy or his colleagues in Congress. Nor was it his continued denial of the results of the 2020 presidential election. In the modern GOP, those are matters of dogma. Rather, it was his choice to accuse his Republican colleagues of inviting him to cocainefueled orgies. From the moment he made that claim, the Republican opposition research machine manufactured scandal after scandal that dogged him throughout his campaign. Cawthorn was one of the worst MAGA-lomaniacs in Congress. It’s a good thing for our democracy that he lost his seat. But the way he lost it is an indictment on the modern GOP. Pro-Israel super PACs spent millions to smear progressives The Democratic Majority for Israel, which spent millions of dollars to tank an o -cycle special election campaign by prominent Bernie Sanders surrogate and former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner, e ed again in races around the
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country. They spent $2.3 million in an e ort to defeat ummer ee in ennsylvania, as well as $2 million targeting Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam’s campaign for congress in North Carolina. They weren’t alone. Another pro-Israel super PAC, the United Democracy Project, spent millions more. ather than specifically target these young progressive women of color on their stances on Palestinian rights, they either ran ads supporting opponents or smeared them as being not su ciently democratic. In Lee’s race, these Super PACs accounted for 75 % of the spending supporting her opponent, former Republican enate sta er teve Irwin. The ad campaign was so e ective, it brought him from 29 points down to within a few hundred votes of victory on election day. What’s emerging is that pro-Israel group see progressive candidates as a mortal threat to the longheld bipartisan consensus on Israel. And they are spending millions of dollars to try to defeat them. Pro-Pharma Democrat Kurt Schrader is on the ropes While the race is still too close to call, Rep. Kurt Schrader, the Democratic congressman who led the e ort to destroy the Democrats’ prescription drug reform, could be on his way out. That’s despite receiving gobs of pharmaceutical donations and a $300,000 ad blitz from a dark money pharma lobby group ahead of election day. It’s a reminder that you probably shouldn’t try to keep your constituents’ prescription drug costs high in exchange for an industry’s campaign dollars — or at least you shouldn’t be so brazen about it ( considering how many politicians on both sides of the aisle take this kind of funding every single cycle) .
MAGA’s gaining steam among GOP voters Perhaps the most depressing storyline of the entire midterm is the role that the twice impeached insurrectionist former president continues to play in his party’s future. Perhaps the most surprising outcome of all was the Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial primary victory of Doug Mastriano, Donald Trump’s endorsee who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mastriano has compared Democrats to Nazis for opposing abortion rights. In the GOP Senate primary, the race remains too close to call and will go on to a recount. Though Dr. Mehmet Oz — Trump’s endorsed candidate — is up by a slim margin over the more traditional ( though plenty MAGA) former hedge fund manager David McCormick, Oz wasn’t helped by the late surge of ultra-MAGA commentator Kathy Barnette, who claimed that “MAGA does not belong to President Trump.” The notion that Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate may lose only because he split votes with a candidate that is even more extreme than Trump does not bode well for a GOP that aims to be a legitimate governing partner in the future. Notably, Pennsylvania Democrats are pressing their tactical advantage. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro’s team ran ads that, while promoting Shapiro, took pains to specifically tie astriano to Trump, bargaining that the more MAGA their opponent would be in November’s general election, the easier it would be to beat them. Let’s hope that gamble pays o . Originally published M ay 1 9 in The Incision. G et more at abdulelsayed. substack.com.
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The show m
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FEATURE
must go on Facing COVID-19, supply chain issues, and two years off, Movement Festival returns to Detroit with a sixth stage and new underground layout B y A s h l e y Z l at o p o l s k y This year’s Movement Festival was the most difficult to produce since Paxahau began organizing operations for Detroit’s Memorial Day electronic music festival in 2006. That very first Movement fest saw its own share of challenges, but Paxahau director of operations Sam Fotias says the 2022 iteration was just as tough, if not tougher, to produce. After two years of no festival due to COVID-19, Movement is finally back — but it wasn’t easy. The Paxahau team planned, re-planned, canceled plans, and made brand new plans, often on a whim, nearly every day since the pandemic first swept the United States in March of 2020. “It’s been a crash course in learning about contingencies,” Fotias admits. “Even the contingencies to our contingencies don’t exist anymore.” Two years of living in the COVID-19 pandemic changed the entertainment industry, disrupting supply lines, causing skyrocketing prices, and making it difficult to get things that in previous years would have never been an issue, like trucks to transport equipment. Plus, ever-evolving health restrictions, recommendations, and safety protocols make planning a festival that sees upwards of 100,000 attendees or more a delicate process. When news of COVID-19 first began to surface in late 2019, many, including Detroit-based event producers Paxahau, were doubtful the deadly virus could ever reach Michigan. “We just kept chugging along,” Fotias remembers, who says planning the festival is a year-round ordeal. “We had this thought that it’s not going to come
here, that it’ll be like H1N1 or SARS.” Yet as COVID-19 spread — and claimed more and more lives — the entertainment industry began to take notice. It started with South by Southwest and Ultra Music Festival being canceled, then tours worldwide started to pull shows from venues. “That was the first red flag,” Fotias explains. “Everybody was talking about it internally here at the office.” Unsure what could happen next, Paxahau continued with planning the 2020 festival. A few weeks before the event, however, it was obvious that Movement couldn’t take place. It would be the first time the festival, which originated as the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and went through several iterations before transforming into Movement, wouldn’t fill Hart Plaza with crowds and techno music since 2000, a whole 20 years. Instead, the festival was postponed to fall of 2020. “It’ll be over by then, it’ll roll through,” Fotias recalls thinking of the pandemic, remembering the idea of “flattening the curve.” Movement was just one of many events to take a hit during the COVID-19 shutdowns. “It happened at such a crucial time for the entertainment industry,” Fotias continues. “Spring and summer is a huge time not only for festivals, but for stadium tours, outdoor tours, and even smaller venues. A lot of people don’t realize that large contractors, the contractors we work with for the festival, gear up for the summer stuff. They invest millions of dollars in lighting, sound and video to meet contractual demands.” And 2020 was supposed to be one
A scene from 2019, the last time Detroit’s long-running techno festival was held in Hart Plaza due to the pandemic. STEPHEN BONDIO/MOVEMENT
of the most lucrative entertainment summers in history, Fotias explains. Instead, it became the exact opposite. “We were calling companies that we’ve been working with for over a decade, having conversations about pushing the festival, while they were on the hook for tens of millions of dollars of investments that they had made in anticipation of fulfilling these contracts that were just being wiped out,” he says. As hopes for a fall festival were also wiped out, with the pandemic continuing much longer than anyone anticipated, Fotias recalls the situation at the time as “grim.” “It was pretty intense,” he says. “There was no playbook for this. No matter how prepared you were, there was nothing that could prepare you for something like COVID-19.” Instead, Paxahau set their eyes on planning the 2021 festival. In fall of 2020, they had what Fotias explains was a “sad reunion” at Hart Plaza with the staff, who were otherwise working from home and practicing social distancing. “We just throttled up and put our thinking caps on,” he says. “We saw that the industry was turning towards streaming.” Inspired by what they saw, Paxahau created a virtual live broadcast of the annual Detroit Jazz Festival in September 2020, which they also produce. They formed a partnership with live streaming service Twitch and set up a studio in their Paxahau warehouse, where DJs could perform live for music fans to watch at home. “That helped us keep working,” Fotias says. “It helped us put money into the local entertainment industry by hiring audio and light [companies].” Yet as 2021 rolled around, it became obvious that another full-fledged Movement festival just wasn’t possible
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given the ongoing public health crisis, and Paxahau decided to pivot once again. “The vaccines were not on track to meet the goals that the governor had set forth to lift restrictions,” Fotias recalls. “That’s when we decided that we’ll do a ‘Micro Movement.’” During what would have been the 2021 Movement weekend, nearly 50 Detroit-based electronic music and hip-hop artists played smaller shows at select venues throughout the city. The shows were outdoors and had limited capacity. “We knew people wanted to get together,” Fotias says, “and I think people had a great time.” With major health restrictions lifted in Michigan in June 2021, Paxahau began to ramp up their live events. Though Jazz Fest once again saw a virtual model in order to err on the side of caution, club shows were on the rise — and so was planning for a 2022 Movement. Thanks to grants that helped support the entertainment industry, which took massive revenue losses during the pandemic, creating the caliber of Movement that fans were used to was a realistic possibility. “We started to send [contract] offers out for 2022 and get things lined up,” Fotias says. Yet the sudden rise of the Delta and later Omi-
cron variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 once again threatened to put a wrench in the festival’s plans. “Everybody started dropping out and getting sick,” Fotias recalls. “It impacted us to the point where we held off on going full steam until after the new year. But that’s when the pain really started.” Out of touch with many contractors, most of whom hadn’t worked in two years, Fotias likens it to “walking through a hellscape.” “Contractors didn’t exist anymore,” he says. “There were labor shortages across all sectors, inventory shortages, supply chain issues from microchips, to plastics, to metals. Lighting, audio, video, control consoles — everything had a shortage of inventory. There was no labor to move things around.” Trucking, a crucial service necessary for loading and unloading festival gear and equipment, had gone up almost 300% in price, Fotias says. “Just the stadium structures use 17-20 semi-trucks,” he says. “That has been the most incredible challenge, just navigating all of these things every day.” Movement festival planning, Fotias continues, comes with a new set of surprises each day. “The same high-low and heavy equipment provider that
I’ve been working with for 12 years can’t provide the 36 machines I need,” he says as an example. “There is a national shortage of forklifts, scissor lifts, and heavy equipment, because manufacturers can’t get raw materials to build new machines. It’s been a true uphill battle.” Still, the show must go on. Despite the challenges, Movement 2022 is moving forward as planned, with the Paxahau team ready to pivot on a moment’s notice. They keep a close eye on COVID-19 numbers as they continue to plan up until the last minute, when the festival’s gates open to thousands of fans. “We see the uptick that’s going on,” Fotias says of COVID-19 cases, “and it’s just something we’ll have to integrate within our public safety plan.” As their first year back in action after two years off, Movement isn’t holding back the punches. They’re ready to return with a bang. This year’s festival will see the addition of a sixth stage, the Detroit Stage presented by JARS, the festival’s first cannabis sponsor. “It was absolutely imperative for us to have a stage for local talent,” Fotias says. “So much amazing talent has bubbled up over the last few years, and we wanted to provide a place for them to showcase their talent for the thousands of people
who come [to Movement] from all over the world.” The Underground Stage, typically home to heavier techno, is also getting a new look. With its limited number of exits, Fotias explains that moving the stage to a better location was necessary for public safety. Fortunately, it’s not moving far. “A lot of people don’t know it exists, but there’s actually a subterranean [food] court area in the plaza that hasn’t been open for years,” he says. With double the square footage of the original underground stage, the subterranean court will be the Underground Stage’s new home moving forward, Fotias says. “I think it’s even more reminiscent of old Detroit warehouse parties,” Fotias explains. “It’s the most representative of where our [techno] culture comes from.” After a long two-year hiatus, many, including Paxahau, look forward to Movement’s awaited return. “The anticipation is that it will be positive,” Fotias says. “It’s going to be a good year.” Movement is from Saturday, May 28-Monday, 30 at Detroit’s Hart Plaza. More information is available at movementfestival.com.
to b2b or not to b2b This year’s Movement features more back-to-back DJ sets than ever B y M i c h a e l a n g e l o M at o s This is clearly the Movement festival’s year of the back-to-back. The back-to-back DJ set — hereafter, b2b — has been around as long as DJing itself. But only in the past decade has that specific term come into widespread use. It’s not the only term floating about — a number of promoters are now using “x,” instead. But the concept hasn’t budged, and “b2b” itself has yet to wear out its welcome. This year, Hart Plaza’s stages will host six b2b sets. In chronological order: on Saturday, Rick Wilhite b2b Andrés (Stargate Stage, 3:30 p.m.); Eris Drew b2b Octo Octa (Pyramid Stage, 5 p.m.); and Audion b2b Ryan Elliott (Underground
Stage, 6 p.m.). On Sunday, Carl Craig b2b James Murphy (Waterfront Stage, 10:30 p.m.). And on Monday, Vincent Patricola b2b Jesse Cory (Detroit Stage, 3 p.m.) and Goldie b2b LTJ Bukem (Waterfront Stage, 7:30 p.m.). That’s not counting the three-way DJ roundelay of Jorissen b3b Loren b3b Mathias (Saturday, Pyramid Stage, 2 p.m.); nor does it include Nancy Whang and Pat Mahoney, a readymade duo (Sunday, Waterfront Stage, 6 p.m.), nor Soul Clap w/Amp Fiddler, a live collaboration, not a b2b DJ set (Sunday, Waterfront Stage, 7:30 p.m.). And that also doesn’t count the number of after-parties and side events featur-
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ing b2bs — many, if not most of them. The b2b denotes not only that two DJs are playing together, but that they usually don’t. That’s becoming less and less the case with some DJs who are frequently paired up. At Movement, this includes Drew and Octa, who frequently play back-to-back — they’re a couple, but not a duo, if you follow — while Rick Wilhite and Andrés have played the Sampled Detroit party together during Movement weekend each of the last few years, as they noted during our interview. And, of course, the dons of ’90s drum and bass, Londoners Goldie and LTJ Bukem, have played b2b together a few times as well.
To get some insight on the art, soul, and mechanics of the b2b, Metro Times interviewed five of the DJs playing in that framework at Movement 2022: Andrés, Wilhite, Goldie, Bukem, and Craig. (The latter also plays solo on Saturday at Stargate Stage, 9:30 p.m.) All were done separately, apart from Andrés and Wilhite, who spoke together at the former’s house. All are veterans with stories galore from the DJ trenches. All agreed that the b2b format gave them plenty of leeway. Happily, so did our questions. How did you and your Movement b2b partner first meet? GOLDIE: Rage [the London club
where drum and bass germinated]. You have to understand, Rage was the equivalent of going to the Roxy or Studio 54 for some people. LTJ BUKEM: I remember spending quite a bit of time with Goldie in his Camden flat when he wrote “Terminator,” and immediately thought, “Here’s someone that sees things differently to everyone else. Always creatively thinking outside the box, pushing ideas to their limit.” GOLDIE: I have the most admiration for Danny. When I met him, I was like, “Shit, he’s mixed-race like me.” We’re very similar. We’re very lone-wolfish. We don’t mix with a lot of people. We do our own thing. And we were born a day apart. He’s the 18th and I’m the 19th. I think I’m a year older, maybe. Both Virgos. CARL CRAIG: I came by to [James Murphy’s] DFA office in Manhattan some years after I had first heard the one where he talked about Juan Atkins [“Losing My Edge,” 2002]. Once I started to hear a lot more of the DFA stuff, as well as the CD Soundsystem stuff, I was as charmed as anybody else. ANDRÉS: Buy-Rite Music. RICK WILHITE: Seven Mile Road. ANDRÉS: I worked there while I was in high school. And that’s where I met everybody. Kenny [Dixon Jr.] vouched for me to get a job in there. I was just wide-eyed. I was a super B-boy hiphop guy, as far as my foundation — I never knew that, later on, I would be making dance music. There was stuff that I would learn from these guys, like, “What’s the difference between techno and house? And what’s good?” I learned all that from my job. Do you remember the first time you played a b2b DJ set? What were the circumstances — a professional gig or something more casual? CARL CRAIG: My first back-to-back I can’t really remember, to tell you the truth. But the reason why I know it was professional is because we weren’t doing back-to-backs when I was starting out professionally, which was in 1991. LTJ BUKEM: Back-to-backs were quite rare in the ’90s as opposed to now being a mainstay in the drum and bass world. I first played a b2b with Peshay in the mid-’90s. We were booked to do it. Have you and your Movement partner played back-to-back together before? RICK WILHITE: Most definitely, yeah. ANDRÉS: I think it started at the Sampled Detroit party, right? RICK WILHITE: We did it [in] Amsterdam. We did it at the Mahogani party. ANDRÉS: I don’t think it really dawned on us that it was a special thing until the Sampled Detroit party. I guess
Are two DJs better than one? Matthew Dear (Audion) and Ryan Elliott.
they kept booking us; we play every year. Then Movement asked us, and I think it’s because of that. GOLDIE: We did some back-to-backs in Liverpool going back awhile, preCOVID. It’s always a pleasure, because you know he’s gonna pull some stuff out. With Danny, I feel genre-less. LTJ BUKEM: With drum and bass, you have to realize, it’s a music formed from all styles of music. So put together two guys like Goldie and myself with the history we have, the set will go places it wouldn’t go in a solo set from either of us. CARL CRAIG: When you play back-toback, it can be either a partnership or a battle. The DJ battle goes back to Kool Herc and Africa Bambaataa, when they were throwing parties in the street, when they would plug into the light poles in order to get juice in order to run their sound systems. So, that logic is always there. With house music and techno and the newer breed of DJs, when you see somebody like Luciano and Ricardo Villalobos playing together, it’s not a battle. It’s a friendship, but it’s almost like band members, like dueling guitar players. You’re trying to outdo the other person, but it’s still a partnership with what’s happening. That’s how I look at whenever I do a back-to-back, with Luciano or with Stacey Pullen: it’s a friendship, it’s a discussion. ANDRÉS: I always tell people about watching us play: You never know what the next record is gonna be. RICK WILHITE: Right. ANDRÉS: We’re both competitive
WILL CALCUTT
in nature. We want to have one up on each other. It makes for an interesting combination. As long as we can mix it and make it work. Have you noticed the secret to the back-to-back situation? RICK WILHITE: Everybody is like, it’s like a new thing right now. But everybody can’t do that shit, man. It’s a method to that shit. Because we just happen to have that je ne sais quoi between each other; like, whatever you come with, I got something for that shit. ANDRÉS: And we’re so different from each other at the same time, but that’s what makes it interesting. I used to tease Rick and be like, “Hey, you got every record, man, but you don’t share.” [Wilhite laughs.] It’s always an educational thing for me, because I’m still learning, really. I’m very informational, very well groomed, but I’m still learning stuff. So, you’ve got to communicate. The thing about our sets is, you’re getting a lot of culture, a lot of information, by way of music. It’s definitely a school-is-in thing. There’s never any script. Because Rick knows my cultural background, so he knows where he can go, and he knows where I can go, and then he wants to let me know that “I know about this dope-ass Latin record.” [Rick laughs.] It becomes a whole thing of that — as well as wanting to please the crowd, we’re letting each other know. We’re pretty much showing off our records to each other, but it’s in the form of a set.
How would you describe each other’s style? RICK WILHITE: You can call mine ‘Malcolm X: unknown.’ [All laugh.] ANDRÉS: I always learn something from what he plays. I’ve got to stress that you technically never know what the next record is going to be, and that’s fun. I always feel like I come home learning about ten, fifteen, twenty [records]. I probably can’t remember half the shit, but I learned something, and that says a lot. And you just don’t know, so I’ve got to prepare. I’ve got to make sure I have a little bit of everything to counter — or to set it off. He said Malcolm X, I say freedom — that’s close enough. [laughs] Sometimes I’ll be trying to keep it [his turn on the decks]: “I want to show what I got.” And he’ll go changing it — and I’m like, “Shit, now you want to go into hip-hop, or go into a Latin record. Now I’ve got to try to bring it back, because I wanted to play this before he went there.” RICK WILHITE: You can’t just put me up there with just anybody. Who’s playing first? CARL CRAIG: [instantly] What’s on second? It’s just whoever feels they have something to say first. GOLDIE: Whoever feels it, man. You want it, Danny? You’re more than welcome, dude. Do whatever you want. I’m always about it. Listen, Danny wants to take the floor, he’s more than welcome. I’m like, “Take the floor, baby. I’ve got plenty of music.”
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Four decades of techno
Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins reflects on 40 years of music B y A s h l e y Z l at o p o l s k y The year was
1979, and Juan Atkins knew he was onto something special. Credited as one of the founders of Detroit techno, the genre pioneer was making music on a synthesizer bought for him by his grandmother. “I was going to high school and there were no other musicians around me,” he recalls. “So I had to make my own band.” On a mini monophonic synthesizer, which had just been released for public consumption, Atkins, now 59, learned how to connect drum sounds. He tinkered with white noise and pink noise until he developed a fully-formed song. It was the beginning of what would soon become known as Detroit techno, a sound that swept the world and grew its own subculture in the ’80s and ’90s, later influencing mainstream dance music. Now, Atkins is set to headline the Stargate Stage at Movement Electronic Music Festival on Sunday, May 29, where he’ll perform a special set to commemorate 40 years of Detroit techno. Throughout his 90-minute set, Atkins will traverse the history of Detroit techno, starting with his very first year of college when his hard work making music began to pay off. “I was taking mostly music theory and music courses,” he recalls of his time at Washtenaw County Community College, which he attended after graduating from Belleville High School. In a class of 12 students, Atkins played his creations to his peers, and his classmates couldn’t get enough of the futuristic sound they were hearing. Yet Atkins had no idea how big the sound would actually become. “I never saw it coming,” he says of Detroit techno’s growth. “But I knew I wanted to put out records.” In an experiment that he says turned out “10 times bigger” than he thought it would, Atkins launched a collaboration with a fellow local musician named
Juan Atkins is known as one of the originators of Detroit techno.
Richard Davis. Presenting Davis with his demo, the two combined their skills — Davis, who had already released a record with soundscapes, married his musical style with Atkins’ rhythms. The outcome was Cybotron, an electro music group that would put Detroit techno on the map. In 1981, the group’s first record was released. On the A side was “Alleys of Your Mind,” while the B side contained “Cosmic Raindance.” The Electrifying Mojo, a Detroit radio personality and DJ who broke dozens of artists to the Detroit community
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and beyond, got his hands on a copy of the record and played it late at night to Detroiters tuning in. Then the calls wouldn’t stop. “It went viral,” Atkins recalls. “It just blew up in Detroit.” Over the next several years, Cybotron was picked up by New York radio stations. Eventually, the music made its way to the United Kingdom, but it wasn’t until fellow Detroit techno pioneers and friends Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May, and Eddie Fowlkes began to also release music that the sound
MARIE STAGGAT
solidified itself as a true movement. “1987 and 1988 were the most important years,” Atkins says. Atkins, May, Saunderson, and Fowlkes were simultaneously releasing hits, landing everyone a deal with Virgin Records. The compilation was dubbed Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit. Worldwide tours began immediately. “It was like a culture shock,” Atkins recalls of bringing Detroit techno overseas. He played one of his very first shows in London to a crowd of 5,000, Continued on pg 22
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The Wizard returns
Jeff Mills talks about his early
beginnings, new music and mind control B y K a h n S a n t o r i D av i s o n Jeff Mills, aka
The Wizard, is a techno music DJ and producer from Detroit. During the 1980s his nightly radio feature as The Wizard helped further and cement Detroit’s legacy in techno music. Mills has gone on to release more than 100 different projects and receive recognition and acclaim from all over the world. Metro Times talked to Mills via phone about all things Detroit, techno, and his latest album. Let’s start from the beginning. What got you into techno music versus other forms of music? There came to a point where the messages in hip-hop weren’t telling me or showing me anything more than I didn’t already know. This was around 1988, 1989, and I loved music. So I really wanted to continue to be involved and keep being a DJ. I got into producing with a certain type of focus on reaching further. I found some of that in techno music, where machines were being used differently, where new ideas from mixing other genres were being used, and more uptempo dance music. The mixture of people were from everywhere, so you had all types of ideas — afrobeat sounds mixed with house music, you had the early sounds of drum & bass that was coming from the U.K., you had rave music at that time. So I just moved away from hip-hop and just had to explore. You were there at the ground level of techno music. Who were your musical DJ in uences? Who inspired you as you were ascending through the early stages of your career? In Detroit it was Ken Collier and Dale Willis who were big influences at the time. Stacey Hale, I remember being a teenager and going to listen to her when I was in high school. Outside of Detroit, the DJs from New York — Larry Levan, producer Shep Pettibone, David Morales, Tony Humphries,
Jeff Mills in 2014.
Frankie Knuckles. These are the DJs that were connected to Ken Collier and Dale Willis in some way. Let’s take it back to 1986. You were known as “The Wizard” and you were the featured DJ on WJLB during the late nights hat was my first introduction to techno and house music. There are a lot of kids like me who were hovered over
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AARON JONES
their boomboxes and radios with blank tapes ready to record the Wi ard What do you miss about that time period? That was serious business. I was in competition because I was on at the same time as the Electrifying Mojo, so there was that aspect of competing and trying to get ratings. But behind the scenes it was pretty serious. I really didn’t see that much daylight because
I was always looking for new music in some record store or traveling to some city like Chicago, Toronto, or on the phone trying to find something from New York. I had a studio in my apartment at the time. I was spending 8 hours a day just working on music, and preparing music for that night … trying to know what was working and what was not took a lot of time, too. So I was
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going around to all the record stores to see what people were asking for. It was a 2 -hour thing. I was aware that kids were listening and I knew that every second and every moment could be worth something. It was also the station’s point of view to keep the Wizard quiet and never reveal my identity. Techno music was so accessible back then. It was played in the clubs, on the radio, and many of the DJs worked at record stores. It feels like there’s a disconnect now. What happened? This industry changed. We lost a certain type of community. ike to do a show like the Wizard, you had to know the city. You had to know the east side, you had to know the west side, you really had to get around to know what people might want to hear and I did just that. So years leading up to the Wizard show, I was a street DJ. This was during and after my internship with Dale. I was in the street doing house parties, wedding receptions, sorority parties. I was all over the place. So I had a lot of knowledge about the lisner. I remember on WDR , something like there were a half-million listeners at any given time. So you have to imagine, “Who are these people What kind of music is going to make them stay on the radio station more ” y the time I got to the radio I knew how to mix it all up. I could play industrial Meat Beat Manifesto because that was part of the makeup of the city. You’re a very well-traveled artist. There’s probably not a continent you haven’t spinned on How has Detroit in uenced you o er the years and does it in uence
you now? Yeah, I definitely have some miles. I can tell you that Detroit, beyond its artists, beyond its DJs like myself, it has such a reputation. It’s such a legend of a city when it comes to music. I think it’s really beyond our control. I think that the impression that Europeans and Asians, atin Americans, what they think about Detroit is something much more than we thought that we could create or bring to other places. There is no other city like it in the world Motown, rock ’n’ roll, and all those artists. And it’s all done with this certain perspective that you don’t compromise when it comes to music. The way we approach music is serious. And that’s been handed down from generation to generation. I don’t think we have reached the full potential of how influential the city really is and has become. Just in regards to Detroit techno, it’s immeasurable how many people from Detroit taught people in Europe about dance music So I can’t answer the question because it’s very hard to note, there are so many aspects and factors are still developing as I’m speaking to you now. Last year you released The Clairvoyant while we were in the midst of the pandemic, whereas this year Mind Power Mind Control comes out on the brink of the return of a real summer. What was your mindstate creating Mind Power Mind Control? Was it just a natural progression rom coming out o this orced confinement to being able to come back outside? Well, The Clairvoyant was definitely me sitting on my sofa and making a response to what was going on with the
world. Mind Power Mind Control deals with the subject we’re going to have to deal with a few decades from now toward the end of the computer age and into the next age. About 100 years ago the industrial age started at the top of the century. It lasted for about 50 years, all the way down to around 1950, when they started to fool around with computers. The computer age started at that point and it will be the same thing. Mind Power Mind Control deals with that part of the century when something else is about to come and I have no idea what’s that going to be. ut I think that we’re in the prelude of what’s going to come . Mind Power Mind Control is my first proposal of what we should concentrate on to keep a rational mind as we go forward. When you create what comes first the sound, or do you create the message you plan to con ey first? The idea comes first and then it’s much easier to make the music because I know at least what the music should feel like. If it’s something with a very abstract subject, I know I should play the keys a certain way, or desonate type of chord structures and then I do a lot of research. With The Clairvoyant, I did research for months and months and months about 100 ago. ell us about film or ind ower ind Control. In the film there are different scenarios and examples of how the mind is being used. There’s a lot of contemporary dance in the film. I’m using dancers in many different ways and the
As the 2010s rolled in, Atkins says access to music-making technology saturated the market — a blessing and a curse at the same time. “You’ve got 10 times more people making music and it allows more creativity,” he recalls. “But then it becomes very hard work because you have all of this stuff to sift through and of it is bullshit.” Despite the challenges, Detroit techno continued to grow, perpetuated by its founders and also influenced by newer generations of artists joining its ranks. The biggest hurdle, Atkins says, was an unexpected one that shut down the whole world COVID-19.
Clubs were closed, artists ceased to tour and music fans were stuck at home. For Atkins, however, it was a surprising opportunity to slow down and get back to the basics. “You can’t go anywhere, you can’t go to restaurants,” he says, having grown accustomed to four decades of traveling on weekends to gigs. “It allows you to think.” The pandemic gave Atkins a chance to spend two years in the studio, a scenario that had become nearly unheard of due to the growing demands of his busy schedule. “I didn’t really have time to develop sound designs,” he says of pre-pandemic years. Now, Atkins plans to present his new material to the world during his headlining set at Movement, and says has no plans of slowing down. Instead, he continues to look to a world that isn’t here just yet, the same way he did more than four decades ago. “It’s 0 years of Detroit techno,” Atkins laughs. “ 0 includes the future.”
Continued from pg 18
really notable in the progression of Detroit techno,” he says of the early 2000s. “Then the internet happened. It broke down racial barriers and it allowed people to interact with each other, to find out where music is coming from.” Now, anybody could discover Detroit techno. On the flipside, more people also had the ability to make their own music. “The music had a metamorphosis,” Atkins says of the genre. “It was progressing, but at the same time, we found ourselves discerning what was good electronic music and what was bad. By 2010, it wasn’t a novelty anymore.”
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What would the 2 22 Je ills tell the 2 Je ills? i e has anything changed with your creative processes? Well, my thinking is almost the same in 2022 as it was in 1982. I still deal with music in basically the same way. My studio set-up is not too different as it was in 1982. I don’t still make music as the Wizard, but my mindset has not changed. I always want to use music as an instrument. What can fans expert in the future Is there another direction or shift you think you’ll go musically I’m constantly working on things electronic music needs. One of them is to express what a solo is, what a musician should do in the case of electronic music — not just letting the machine play the tracks, but what should the person do other than just press the button. So I’m exploring many different [ways] of putting the human aspect back into electronic music. What can fans expect from your Movement set? I think that the set should be if the Wizard were on the radio right now in Detroit. What would I play right now With all the things and styles, if i had a radio show, what should I play That sounds like it would be quite interesting to try that not necessarily what they want to hear, but what do they need
JUAN ATKINS where he was the only lack person in addition to a maintenance man. “That was something that I’d said I’d never see in the U.S.A. The U. . was more progressive and open-minded towards music, specifically music made by Black kids.” Ironically, Detroit techno initially took a stronger footing overseas than in Detroit. In Detroit, Atkins says it took the music about 10-1 years to branch out of the underground community, where it had found a home in the city’s rave culture. With the launch of Detroit Electronic Music Festival, or DEMF, in 2000 (later to become Movement Music Festival , Atkins finally had a platform to play the same type of set he would play in Europe for a U.S. audience, now in a more public setting. “It was one of the things that was
film displays how the mind is making these dancers do certain things through a special type of language they are using to say things that maybe aren’t even possible to say verbally.
Motor City Six Here are a half-dozen local DJs to check out at Movement By B ro cco l i Movement Electronic Music Festival is back, and you can
says member Steven Stavropoulos. “[Tim arrett and I] wrote a fully original set for the festival, and this one in particular is special because it’s a true representation of everything ke thu has done musically and stylistically over the years.”
feel it in the air. “Techno Christmas” is officially happening, and after multiple false starts and years of pandemicinduced limitations, it’s almost hard to believe that we will once again be gathering this year in Hart Plaza over Memorial Day Weekend to celebrate the city that birthed techno. Dance music was born on the fringes, in dark underground clubs and grungy DIY spaces, and yet Movement Festival still serves as perhaps the most globally significant music event in Detroit. It’s an incredible platform for local artists, and for the lucky few that are able to share a stage with some of the biggest names in dance music, it is a momentous occasion on both a personal and professional level. We spoke with a few of the artists that will be playing this year about what it means to them:
Originated in Ann Arbor and established in Detroit in 2016, Jerk X Jollof is committed to developing and nourishing a connection between Afro-Caribbean talent, culture, and influence within and beyond the United States. “We’re grateful to Paxahau for giving us a slot at the festival in 2022,” says member Brendan Asante. “It’s always a great feeling to dance outside with other people during the day to afrobeats, soca, and dancehall — being able to spin these vibes at Movement will definitely give a unique sonic twist to Hart Plaza that day.”
Houseparty was created in 2012 by brothers Jhouse and Masquenada, who wanted to create an environment where Detroiters could hang out and pay homage to great music while also showcasing fellow local DJs, producers, and
DJ Beige performs at Detroit’s Movement on Sunday.
performers. “Movement has always been a heavy event but this one feels special,” says Nabeele Najjar, aka Masquenada. “The impact that [Movement] has had on music culture runs deep, so it feels great to be a part of the return of an event that we believe impacts millions of people.” laaqgold adds “My personal narrative is often crafted through sound, so I just hope to tell a story that all who listen can resonate with.”
Rebecca oldberg, aka 1 Acid ueen, has established herself as one of the most consistent and versatile artists in the local dance music scene, whether it’s banging a dark techno set at an underground party, or doing a Janet Jackson vs. Madonna night with the legendary
LILY SHAFROTH
DJ Psycho. “After a couple of long years on hiatus, the return to Hart Plaza for the Festival is more meaningful than ever,” she says. “ eing one of the Detroitbased artists on the lineup I hope to showcase the energy and spirit of the city, which is ingrained in my music.”
e Thu is one of the most productive and promising live techno acts in Detroit. With a string of solid releases on labels at home and abroad such as Detroit Underground, PITS, and Symbiostic, plus a brand new video premiering in preparation for Movement, the duo has proven themselves worthy of the momentum and praise that they have received. “ rowing up in SE Michigan, our Memorial Days have been synonymous with going to the festival downtown,”
eige has become a household name for fans of Detroit dance music. Having established their series “Chaotic Neutral” on NYC’s The ot Radio, releasing their recent mixtape Amen Vol. 1, and playing at venues such as Market Hotel, Jupiter Disco, and ood Room, eige has steadily expanded their reputation across the U.S. and beyond. “Movement has been a mecca of dance music culture for me even before I moved to Detroit from the ay Area seven years ago,” eige says. “I attended my first Movement only a month after I took my first DJ workshop, and it did not even cross my mind in a million years that I would one day be playing there. It’s pretty surreal, so I’m just going to try to do it justice. I rarely plan my sets, but whatever I do, I want to play something that only I could play, in a way that only I could play it.”
Deon Jamar is the people’s DJ. His Healin’ Session series is one of the most respected and intentional parties in Detroit right now, and his dedication to immersing himself in his craft is evident in every mix that he plays. Under the mentorship of Theo Parrish, he continues to come into his own as an artist. “For me, playing movement fest is bittersweet because I’ve never attended the festival,” he says. “I usually frequent the after parties, particularly Music allery. It does feel good to be recognized as someone deserving of that platform. My goal is to help bring joy and release to any and everybody who needs it I hope whoever is in earshot of the music I play feels better than before they got there.”
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
23
Spot Lite is hosting a Movement Festival day party with an all-Detroit lineup.
Select events happening in metro Detroit this week — a special Movement Festival edition. Submit your events to metrotimes.com/calendar. Be sure to check venue websites for COVID-19 policies.
SAT 5/28 Underground & Black
Pretty much as soon as it opened just in time for last year’s scaled-down “MicroMovement” Festival, new venue Spot Lite established itself as a favorite in Detroit’s electronic music scene, thanks to its scrappy, warehouse-like vibe and its owners’ love of all things house and techno. The venue is the perfect location for DJ Ash Lauryn’s “Underground & Black” showcase, a homecoming of sorts for the DJ, who now calls Atlanta home. auryn, who we profiled in our Music Issue back in March, had long been a fan of electronic music before she ever hit the decks, coming up in Detroit’s rave scene in the early 2000s. She told Metro Times that she was inspired to start making her own music after seeing a lack of Black millennial women DJs. In that spirit, her Movement weekend day party includes a lineup of mostly young Detroit DJs, including Kyle Hall, Stefan Ringer, Deon Jamar, Lorenzo Dewberry, AK6405, and The AM. —Lee DeVito
From noon-9 p.m. at Spot Lite; 2905 Beaufait St., Detroit; spotlitedetroit.com. Tickets are $25.
SAT 5/28 Texture
Save your energy for this proper allnight rave. For the occasion, Detroit’s Marble Bar is bringing in trippy light installations by artist Patrick Ethan, aka “Light Daddy.” The stacked lineup includes Fred P, Lena Willikens, Aurora Hala, Solar & Mozhgan, Martyn, Nkisii, Sepehr, Priori, 2Lanes, Jonny from Space, JEM, and Jacob Park. Dance the night away and watch the sunrise. —Lee DeVito From 10 p.m. Saturday-10 a.m. Sunday at Marble Bar; 1501 Holden St., Detroit. Tickets are $40.
SAT 5/28 Something Cold
This one’s for fans of the dark side of electronic music — industrial, EBM, minimal-synth, and the like, selected by Noah Anthony, with a massive yet entirely appropriate amount of fog machine haze to go with it. According to the event’s listing, this time the Something Cold DJs will be joined by Noah Anthony, who apparently tore the club up with “his crushing PA from our
24 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
LIZZ WILKINSON
six-year anniversary seven years ago.” Let’s see if lighting strikes twice. —Lee DeVito From 10 p.m.-2 a.m. at UFO Factory; 2110 Trumbull St., Detroit. Tickets are $10.
SAT 5/28-SUN 5/29 Deli rave with Sheefy McFly
Have you ever raved in a freaking deli? Probably not, but that’s OK because here’s your chance to do so. Of course, none other than Detroit’s Sheefy McFly, aka Edward Elecktro, would host a rave in a sandwich shop, because why not This unofficial Movement Festival afterparty is going down both Saturday, May 28 and Sunday, May 29 at Nathan’s Deli in Detroit. DJs ThreeThirteen, Monaco.png, Drummer B, and more will provide the sounds. McFly will also be on deck with art and merch on sale, and yes, you can grab a corned beef sandwich to stave off your late-night munchies. —Randiah Camille Green Goes from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. both nights at athan’s Deli Je erson Detroit Entry is $10 and ladies are free before 11 p.m.
SUN 5/29 Jeff Mills ‘Mind Power Mind Control’ screening
The Movement Festival festivities continue with a screening of Jeff Mills’ experimental film, Mind Power Mind Control, on Sunday at Cinema Detroit. Really, it’s a collection of conceptual clips from the musician and artist tied to his newest album Mind Power Mind Control. Esoteric sounds and seemingly random video clips come together to make this abstract piece that aims to put viewers in a dream-like state. (We’re going to assume “dream-like state,” means a psychedelic druginduced state of consciousness.) Mills created the film over the past six years, incorporating themes of self-power using the mind, special human abilities, and other weird shit. He’ll explain it better as he introduces the film at the beginning of each screening. The film is approximately 60 minutes long and there are three showings on Sunday at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the Detroit Public School System Music Education and the Underground Music Academy. —Randiah Camille Green Cinema Detroit is located at 4126 Third Street, Detroit. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased online in advance at axisrecords.com. Seats are limited to 100 people per show and doors open 30 minutes prior to each screening. No photography or video recording is allowed inside the theater.
WISHING YOU ALL A SAFE & HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!
Wed 5/25
PATIO BAR OPEN @5PM Shorts Beer PROMO: $3 Starcut Squishy/ $3 Soft Parade Summer Shandy
Mizz Ruth’s Grill @5pm Thurs 5/26
Mizz Ruth’s Grill @7pm Fri 5/27
PATIO BAR OPEN @2PM FUNK NIGHT Who Got The Props Pre-Party DJs JMAC/FRANK RAINES/EMERY MARC Doors@9 $5 Cover Mizz Ruth’s Grill @5pm Sat 5/28
PATIO BAR OPEN @2PM SOMETHING ELEGANT - LADY DJ DANCE PARTY! Doors@9 $5 cover
Sun 5/29
Happy Birthday, Julie Flynn! DETROIT ART-O-Q @5-9PM Live music by Electric Otto’s Funk Factory/ Live art by Justin Cinquemani/drum circles /vintage clothing market FOOD by COUS COUS CUISINE THE DETROIT PARTY DETROIT Techno & Afro House Beats w/ Drums of Detroit/Tony Novas/ EsShaki/Dr. Tingle Fingers/Host VJ Strokenfeld Doors @9pm $5 cover Happy Birthday, Evan Hutchings! Mon 5/30
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! Thank A Veteran! LUAU PIG ROAST @3pm Surfer jams by DJ Anytime @7pm Long Drink PROMO @3pm FREE POOL ALL DAY Happy Birthday, Eddy Trudo & Sean Templeton! Tues 5/31
B. Y. O. R.: Bring Your Own Records You Can DJ! 9pm NO COVER! Happy Birthday, Joanna Maslach! Coming Up In June:
6/02 Craven Idol(UK)/Berator(CHI)/TBA 6/03 Foul Mouth/Bizarre(D12) Album Release 6/04 Poor Player/HONEY & BUFFALO/WC Edgar 6/06 PRINCE’s Birthday Dance Party! 6/10 Sudden Death Syndrome/Scum Queens/ Macho/Hail Alien 6/11 PARKHOUSE NIGHT 6/12 TIED DOWN Post-Fest (hardcore) *Full Moon Parties Coming this Summer! JELLO SHOTS always $1
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
25
FOOD
Even when Freya’s plates are busy, they’re harmonious.
MARC KLOCKOW
A whole new experience B y Tom P erkins
Among the many pitfalls to opening a second restaurant is failing to create a new identity. Some notable chefs and restaurateurs in Detroit and beyond have opened second spots that have felt like an e tension of their first, which is K, but it leaves one with a sense of wanting. Freya chef Doug Hewitt says he was cognizant of this challenge as he and restaurateur Sandy Levine developed their sophomore concept, and though some former Chartreuse employees are now at Freya, there’s a bit more of a team approach, and there’s a lot of new faces playing big roles, ewitt says. Among those is hoebe immerman, Freya’s chef de cuisine, who arrived from Marrow and collaborates on many of the plates. There’s also en obinson, Freya’s baker and “pasta guy” who came over from Chartreuse but Hewitt says is given more room to put his touch on the restaurant’s identity, and does his thing in an in-house bakery with a proper bread oven. obinson’s e cellent work greets diners as they’re seated sourdough bread with an earthy,
rich mushroom pate adorned with brightening pickled mustard seed, red cabbage mostarda, green garlic, and edible owers. It’s served ne t to a small mound of greens grown by students from Drew Farm at Detroit’s Drew Transition Center. The dish’s te tural interplay, bright palette, and the perfectly contrasting avors and counterpoints set the tone and are indicative of what’s in store. ven when ewitt, immerman, and obison’s plates are busy, they’re harmonious. Freya o ers three menus, and a dining partner and I got the pescetarian and omnivore options, though there’s also a vegan menu. It was 5 for each, and we chose a wine pairing for an additional 5 , required % gratuity, and spent another 5 on cocktails from the ad oined bar, Dragon y no duds in the mix. Among the finest immrman- ewitt collabs is a plate of entwined jumbo shrimp with slightly spicy lobstertomato broth that’s packed with avor from fried ginger and garlic, shells from Freya’s shellfish, and roasted tomatoes that were grown last year by Drew
26 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Farm then roasted and frozen. The savory side is balanced with a sweetish poblano cornbread that holds the shrimp, and the package o ers a real creole vibe. Freya’s eritage pork plate comes with medallions of high end hog wrapped in prosciutto that are set amid nettle gnocchi and pickled mushroom awash in a slightly acidic spruce tip cream, while a mustard bread crumb provides additional tang and crunch. Hewitt cures his delicate scallops for ust an hour in salt and sugar, then lightly sears to get them just inch beyond raw. The thin slices are arranged in an electric green jalapeño-basil broth, and nestled among echuan pickles, fermented bell peppers, dill, and other herbs. The omnivore and pesecetrian menus each came with a soup that’s really more like a sauce with a white asparagus puree with potato and brown butter that supports a generous portion of lump crab and lobster. Lentils provided contrasting te ture along with green garlic, slivers of asparagus, and edible owers a crowd-pleaser. Among the desserts was a pine nut
Freya Detroit 2929 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit 313-818-3915 freyadetroit.com $85 Handicap accessible
panna cotta with a vegan butterfinger, lemon puree, fennel, tarragon, and rhubarb am, all of which is pulled together in a rhubarb broth. Hewitt describes it as quintessential en obinson. The front of the house sta is, in a word, attentive. There’s not ust one server per table it seemed like we had interacted with the entire sta by the time we left. The interior is clean, simple, and minimal with gray e posed brick, and early in the evening the room is filled with a pleasant light that filters through the big glass brick windows. It manages to be intimate, and Hewitt said they aimed for something that’s se y without being weird that’s a good way to put it. The open kitchen is inviting, filled with wood and warmth, a departure from the stainless steel and subway-tiled sterile kitchens that are commonplace these days. Just as with the dishes, the interior holds a sense of the familiar, but the evolution to something new and exciting.
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
27
FOOD
Josh Greenwood says his former Urban Bean Co. underwent a $750,000 renovation to become the new SPKR BOX.
MARC KLOCKOW
A caffeine boost
Former Urban Bean Co. coffee shop rebrands as SPKR BOX bar B y L ee D eV ito
Detroit’s Capitol Park
neighborhood has changed a lot since osh reenwood first acquired the funky id-century modern building at the corner of G rand R iver and G riswold back in . hen he first opened his rban ean o. co ee shop there, he installed a DJ booth as a nod to its former tenant, lake a ter, a techno D who ran the ave the inyl record store in the space in the ’ s. obody was in apitol ark, back then, reenwood recalls. There weren’t even streetlights. It was ust like me and basically arry ongo of ne t-door afe D’ ongos peakeasy holding down the neighborhood. e lived above his place, and I lived here at the store for a number of years. The rban ean o. has opened in fits and starts, closing in and reopening in , after Dan ilbert relocated his uicken oans headquarters downtown and brought in an in u of young workers. In recent years, it seemed that reenwood’s gamble was finally paying o , as apitol ark now bu es with a multitude of retail and restaurant options. Then the pandemic happened. reenwood says he decided early on to use the forced closure to reimagine his shop, which resulted in rebranding it as K and acquiring a liquor license. As apitol ark transitioned into what it is today, which is a thriving neighborhood, it only makes sense for
us to get a liquor license and provide some boo e and some co ee, and polish this thing up, he says. reenwood has a deep love and appreciation for techno, having booked D s for 5 years, including at his former astern arket nightclub ush. e’s gearing up to open K in time for the ovement festival, planning to draw techno fans to the renovated space with a number of D events. The 75 , restoration saw reenwood and his partners, which also includes Tony acco of oot pi eria, simultaneously bringing back elements of the building to their original glory while also adding new features. For e ample, over the years, as its windows broke, the previous owners replaced them in sections, resulting in a patchwork of uneven break bars. ut now the glass window panes are restored to the original design, and reenwood claims they’re now the tallest in the city at feet and three inches high. Additions to the space include a brand new bar and equipment, as well as the construction of a co y private nook and a smaller, second- oor bar. The custom D booth’s wood panels have also been upgraded with bright yellow upholstery. To helm K ’s beverage program, reenwood tapped Thomas hillips, who comes with e perience at Tallulah ine ar istro and ella iatti in irmingham and ed rown
28 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
in rosse ointe ark, among others. hillips says he is building a menu around co ee-infused cocktails, but wants the bar’s o erings to be wellrounded. If you walk in and you want a argarita, or a crewdriver, or a French 75, we can make that, he says. I want to establish that standard, and you can always have that here. ut what we want to have fun with is kind of ust like playing with co ee cocktails. efore, it was a co ee shop with really good espresso and some fun lattes, reenwood adds. And now we’re totally est oastin’ it. For food, reenwood says he’s partnering with a local company called illage and ies, which makes what he describes as a cross between a croissant and a pasty. hillips describes them as adult ot ockets. K will be open daily 7 a.m..am. reenwood says he is hoping to fill a niche in the local bar scene for third-shifters, noting that most bars in town don’t hold early morning hours. aturally, the renovations also include a new sound system, and reenwood says he plans to pipe the music to an outdoor speaker to entice people walking down the street. e’s lining up a number of D events for ovement weekend. That includes The uice is oose party from p.m. on Friday, ay 7, featuring D s ara imms, Alley Kay, Animkee,
sy- hick, irkin, , en ero, Adam harles, and Andrea Kala ian. n aturday, ay , the A , higeto b b cott , and Isaac rieto will also spin from p.m.- a.m. There’s also a free drum and bass-themed party with D ec starting at p.m. on unday, ay . A ovement afterparty is also planned for Tuesday, ay . reenwood says he’ll also continue a tradition from the rban ean o. days, recording the internet radio show P lanet Funk for .fm on ednesdays. The show features two guest D s spinning live in the cafe, who are then interviewed. e don’t necessarily always play techno, reenwood says. I mean, there are people that come in and play all these 5s and a and funk and r b. e kind of mi it up but there’s no trance. e don’t allow trance here. Actually, there’s one person that’s allowed to play trance, but he only plays like once a year. e gets a pass, because he’s a sweetheart. e adds, e’re e cited about opening, and e cited about the team. e’re gonna kick some ass on this corner. It’s not your normal co ee shop. ike, we can be loud, hillips says. That’s what I want, to be di erent. ike we want to be loud and proud, and blast ams, and have fun with it. SP K R B OX is located at 2 0 0 G rand River A ve., D etroit; more information is available at spkrbox .bar.
FOOD
Lance Havelka opened Drexel Spirits in a former Depression-era bank on Detroit’s east side.
COURTESY PHOTO
The spirit of Detroit
Inspired by a trip to Scotland, Drexel Spirits is crafting whiskey in a former bank in Detroit B y M ickey L yons
Somewhere between Dearborn, California, B oston,
I reland, Scotland, Detroit, California, N orth Carolina, Scotland, and Detroit again, Lance Havelka came up with a plan. I t wasn’ t fully formed, and it certainly wasn’ t what you’ d call practical, but the former photojournalist was utterly driven. O K , call it more of a mission: to craft new American spirits with distinctive avor profiles in Detroit. The journeys, metaphorical and literal, avelka undertook in order to find himself blending spirits in a hollowedout former bank building on the city’ s far east side were considerable. O riginally from Ann Arbor, Havelka has lived and worked on both U .S. coasts, but always felt the pull of home. A seven-month residency in hardscrabble G lasgow granted him a primer on whiskey-making methods in the U nited Kingdom as well as an a nity for the industrious G laswegians. He brought back an approach to blending whiskey that is eq ual parts Scottish, Canadian, and American. B orn from Havelka’ s meticulous precision and historical inspiration from both sides of the Atlantic, Dre el pirits launched its first products in 2 0 2 1 and now consists of six distinct but interconnected spirits. avelka says he first started thinking
deeply about spirits, and whiskey in particular, as a grad student in B oston. His neighborhood pub was populated by expats from Scotland and I reland. These new friends were more than happy to educate him in the traditions of distilling and blending whiskey. A summer trip to the two countries in 2 0 0 5 laid the foundation for his obsession with distilling. First, though, Havelka moved to Detroit brie y before striking out for southern California as a photojournalist. oured on the tra c, high cost of living, and recession-era job prospects, Havelka pivoted yet again and decided to regroup in N orth Carolina with family while he figured out where to take his career. Thinking back on his time in Scotland, he started drawing connections between G laswegians and Detroiters. “There was just something about G lasgow that just spoke to me. The amazing accents, the very lyrical ways of speaking, ” Havelka says. “They just have a wonderful sense of humor. Anthony B ourdain once said, ‘ Y ou have to have a sense of humor to live in a place so relentlessly fucked as Detroit, ’ and I think G lasgow is the same way. I t takes a very particular, strange sense of humor to live in Detroit and in G lasgow.”
Havelka spent seven months in Scotland studying Scotch whiskey-making. He found unlikely inspiration in a tiny distillery in the southwest corner of Scotland. Springbank Distillery remains a lone holdout of malt-to-bottle Scotch whisky-making, and one of only two distilleries to hold the Campbeltown classification. cotch whisky has five regional classifications, based on traditional methods of production and avor profiles peyside, owland, Highland, I slay, and Campbeltown. I t is typical of Havelka’ s q uirky character that he was drawn to the least wellknown of the five classifications. Another appeal of Scottish whiskey for Havelka was the attention to blending. American whiskey, including bourbon, prioritizes distilling and then aging whiskey. The master distiller at an American distillery tinkers with the ratio of grains in each barrel — in whiskey parlance, the mash bill — and then selects barrels and calculates the ideal aging conditions for each barrel. The prestige for bourbon production, then, lies in what happens before the whiskey comes out of the barrel. For Scotch and Canadian whiskies, another factor in uences the final taste of the product. “I am fascinated by distilling, ” says Havelka, “but the blend-
ing part of it is my favorite part.” Master blenders seek whiskey perfection by pulling di erent avors and te tures from several di erent barrels and blending them into one large batch, then bottling that. B lending after aging presents a uniq ue set of challenges, says Havelka. “At times it might seem that it won’t be that di cult, he says, but when you break it down, you have to worry about creating a consistent avor profile across a large batch of bottles. And that’ s where Havelka found his niche. R eturning to Detroit from Scotland, he rallied his family and friends, nailed down investors, and purchased a derelict Depression-era bank building on Charlevoix street. I nside, the clean white walls are adorned by Havelka’ s photos: his nephew and mother, a friend from G ermany caught in a private moment of contemplation, a city skyline. I n one corner, a washing station and thermostat; in another, a dozen wooden barrels marked with hieroglyphic symbols jostle against larger steel blending barrels. Tubes, measuring tools and beakers are scattered across every surface. A simple plastictopped table in the center of the room serves as avelka’s o ce. Y ou can almost see the wheels spinning in his head when he says, “There is no best style of whiskey. I t is all highly subjective. B ut when it comes down to it, the beauty of it is there are so many di erent approaches to it, so many different mash bills and ways to bring out the avor you want. O f his decision to blend international techniques and avors with Detroit ingenuity, Havelka says, “I f you’ re not immediately drawn to the people, the architecture and the history, you should have your head examined.” Currently, Drexel Spirits produces four whiskies, a barrel-aged gin and a jalapeño-infused vodka. Sourcing bourbon from several distilleries in K entucky, Havelka then blends and ages them into four distinct hybrid whiskies. In his whiskies, avelka ri s on, rather than tries to replicate, the traditions of Scotch and bourbon distilling. B ourbank W hiskey is a straight bourbon finished in ort barrels Irboun’s Irish and bourbon blend is aged in sherry casks. K intra’ s straight bourbon is finished in chocolate liqueur barrels. Dock & Castle, named for a three-times great-grandfather’ s grocery in Dundee, Scotland, blends Scotch and bourbon whiskies, then ages the blend in cognac barrels. Currently, D rex el Spirits are available at a few liq uor stores and bars across metro D etroit, including J umbo’s B ar. M ore information is available at drex elwhiskey.com.
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
29
WEED One-Hitters
Method Man’s weed brand TICAL is now available in Michigan B y Randiah Camille G reen
It shouldn’t be shocking to anyone who’ s ever listened to Method Man that he has a cannabis brand called TI CAL. The man has been using the word “tical” as a slang for pot since the early 1 9 9 0 s. N ow, TI CAL is available at five lack-owned dispensaries in Detroit. TI CAL partnered with R ochester Hills-based G lorious Cannabis to release its infused pre-roll strain “Sweet I sland Skunk” earlier this week. The pre-rolls are available at House of Z en, W est Coast Meds, R emedy, The House of Mary Jane, and Al Harrington’ s V iola. They will also be coming to all eight House of Dank locations. P artnering with women and minority-owned businesses has been part of Method Man’ s vision for TI CAL since the brand first dropped in alifornia in 2 0 2 0 . “P ersonally, it is essential that we use our brand to help bring awareness to the social, systemic and economic injustice in communities that have struggled with oppressive mass incarceration and racially-biased policing procedures, ” he told the N ew Y ork P ost at the time. TI CAL, an acronym for “Taking All Lives into Consideration, ” is also the name of ethod an’s first solo album from 1 9 9 4 . “P artnering with TI CAL and Method Man is about so much more than just working with a celebrity, ” P ete Truby, G lorious Cannabis Co.’ s vice president of marketing, tells en inga. ethod Man has been a true pioneer in the culture for over 2 0 years, and his passion for both top-tier q uality and raising awareness about injustice is an inspiration. W e’ re excited about this partnership and are working hard to ensure our product lives up to the high standards of TI CAL’ s great brand.”
Detroit boxing legend Thomas Hearns launches ‘Hitman Cannabis’
Mike Tyson isn’ t the only boxing great entering the cannabis game ( although his pot gummies shaped like human ears are pretty ridiculous) . N ow,
Detroit heavy hitter Thomas “Hitman” Hearns has teamed up with P remier G row to bring us Hitman Cannabis. The seven-time world champion entered a 1 0 -year licensing deal with P remier G row for the Hitman brand, which is a nod to his nickname. Hitman Cannabis weed is expected to hit dispensaries this summer. Hearns, aka the Hitman, aka the otor ity obra, was the first bo er in history to win world titles in five di erent weight classes. From the marketing, it sounds like Hitman Cannabis will be delivering some strong weed. A landing page on P remier G row’ s website dubs it, “knockout smoke for heavy hitters” with a “coming soon” message. “W e are very excited to have our locally grown products represented by a Detroit icon and boxing legend, while also positioning his brand for wellness and pain relief, said a uschegian, CE O and founder of P remier G row, in a statement. “Hearns shares our vision which is to be the best at what we do while o ering the highest quality products to consumers.” Hitman Cannabis will have a line of ower and other products, while the partnership will also see D products released under Hearns’ own brand, Hearns W ellness. P remier G row is based in Detroit and speciali es in premium, e otic ower and pre-rolls. —R and iah C am ille G r een
Kalkushka Cannabis Lounge set to open to the public
A new cannabis consumption lounge is set to open in N orthern Michigan next month. The K alkushka Cannabis Lounge will open June 1 in downtown K alkaska, the company says. The new lounge is located in a revitali ed historic building ne t to The otanical o. dispensary. The company says the 3 , 0 0 0 -sq uarefoot lounge will provide a place for people age 2 1 and up to consume cannabis with live entertainment programming. I t will also be available to rent
30 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
Method Man.
out for private events. Food will be provided by Traverse City’ s P ark Street Café, with beverages from nearby W illiamsburg’ s the N orthwoods Soda & Syrup Co. “O ur passion is bringing good people together and enhancing lives through cannabis, and the K alkushka Lounge is a place where people from all walks of life can come together and bond over this ama ing plant, said R uss Chambers, CE O of parent company Carbidex. ntry is . uests can Y bring your own bud) or receive a discount for products purchased at The otanical Co. “W hile the K alkushka Lounge is a place where public cannabis use is allowed, we’ re aiming to make it a welcoming place for anyone, ” K alkushka
SHUTTERSTOCK
Lounge general manager Chris Atteberry said in a statement. “W e want it to be a spot where cannabis enthusiasts, the cannabis-curious, and their non-consuming friends can all come together and have a great time.” In arch, the ot o ocial in a el ark became the state’s first o cially licensed cannabis consumption lounge, though it hasn’t o cially opened to the public yet. I t’ s located at 2 3 6 1 0 John R R d. The owners say they hope to open this summer. ot o ocial also plans to hold live events when it opens, they say. The 3 , 0 0 0 -sq uare-foot space is available to rent for private events. G uests can bring their own weed or order it from the nearby ree e dispensary. —L ee D eV ito
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
31
CULTURE
Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics faces off against Dennis Rodman of the Detroit Pistons in 1987.
MANNY MILLAN/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED VIA GETTY IMAGES
When the Bird got the Worm
Thirty-five years ago, in a race-based tempest, the Pistons’ ‘Bad Boys’ trash-talked the Boston Celtics’ star B y J oe L apointe
When I entered the crowded
B oston Celtics’ locker room in the dingy old B oston G arden, I saw the big scrum of television cameras and reporters crowding around Larry B ird, the great star of the Celtics. So I joined the back row of the growing semi-circle by his locker and stood on my toes to see and hear. I saw B ird’ s stern expression and heard his serious tone of voice. He
wasn’ t in his usual persona of the “Hick from French Lick.” B ird then said something I ’ d never heard before after a sports event, much less the seventh and deciding contest of a bitter E astern onference finals triumph over the Detroit P istons. “W ell, I don’ t apologize for being white, ” B ird said. His voice had a wary edge. I whispered to the reporter next to me “W hy
32 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
is he talking about this? ” “B ecause ‘ W orm’ said B ird is overrated because he’ s white, ” the guy told me, using the nickname “W orm” for Dennis R odman, a rookie Detroit forward. This was May 3 0 , 1 9 8 7 , 3 5 years ago this month. I t began one of the most searing stories I ever reported as a sports journalist, one of those episodes that spills over into sensitive cultural areas to transcend mere fun and games.
I n some ways, it illustrates both how far we’ ve come in sports and racial relations and how far we have to go. At the very least, it recalls an era when the P istons were on their way to glory but not q uite there yet, building a combative reputation that some fans outside Detroit still resent. R odman at the time was young and naï ve. I f he’ d really talked this trash about B ird being white, I needed to get
his side. So I hurried down the corridor to the even-smaller P istons’ room in this decrepit, old barn on this sweltering afternoon. As I walked through the door, I saw R odman – fully showered and dressed now – carrying a small travel bag and striding briskly past me. “Dennis? ” I said. He just nodded, looked the other way and kept walking, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as a 6 -foot-6 man can be. Later, I learned R odman’ s actual words about B ird following B oston’ s 1 1 7 -1 1 4 victory. “He ain’ t G od, ” R odman had said of B ird. “He ain’ t the best player in the N B A. N ot to me.” W hen q uestioned, R odman added that B ird had won the Most V aluable P layer award three times because, R odman said, “he’ s white.” “I don’ t care, ” R odman added. “G o ahead and tell him . . . He can’ t run. He’ s slow. He’ s white.” The Celtics then were defending champions of the N ational B asketball Association and a legacy dynasty. This generation of Celts was aging but holding on. The P istons were a rising power – young and tough and cocky — but two years away from their first A crown. And, true, the Celtics always seemed to have the most white players, some of them q uite good. This got under the skin, so to speak, of some B lack players and fans. I n that afternoon’ s game, B ird led all scorers with 3 7 points. R odman, considered a defensive and rebounding specialist, had zero rebounds and three points. O n that day, at least, B ird got the W orm. As R odman exited the G arden locker room, I noticed the media herd drifting toward I siah Thomas, the captain of the P istons and generally considered the team spokesman. B y then, Thomas and everyone else knew R odman had jumped into the deep end of the pool without swimming lessons. So Thomas played lifeguard, diving into lots of hot water that q uickly came to a boil. “Larry B ird is a very, very good basketball player, an exceptional talent, ” Thomas said. “B ut if he were B lack, he’ d be just another good guy.” And the P istons were not what anyone called “good guys.” I n those years, they proudly called themselves the “B ad B oys.” I took good notes and added this incident to my pitch list. The story I wrote about this was one of 1 0 we published about the game in the Free P ress the next morning, a Sunday. I t was the shortest P istons’ story, with minimal display, deep inside the sports section. That night, hours after the game, I
predicted to one of my co-workers that the editors in the sports department would bury the story this way the next day because it would be too hot to handle and they would be timid about the topic. “B ut watch it grow, ” I said. A week later, I was still covering the a air, writing lengthy takeouts and columns that spread across several pages. Thomas eventually seemed to sense the mess. Four days later, he called B ird on the telephone to apologize. He also held two news conferences, the first at the ontiac ilverdome, the P istons’ home building in that era, the second with B ird in Los Angeles where the Celtics were meeting the Lakers in the championship series. Thomas tried to explain that his comments about B ird were meant only as sarcasm. “C’ mon, give me a break, ” Thomas said at the Silverdome. “I was laughing. W e have it on tape. Y ou can hear the sarcasm in my voice. The media misunderstood me. I ’ m shocked and really hurt that people would believe this. I have a great relationship with Larry. Hell, no, I don’ t agree with Dennis.” Those of us who covered Thomas in those days remember how he often said strong words with a smile on his face and a chuckle in his voice. Those of us who heard him speak of B ird in B oston G arden that Saturday afternoon didn’ t sense he was kidding in the least. B efore Thomas could arrive in Los Angeles, B ird absolved him with “I was satisfied. I could tell he was being sincere and talking from the heart. I ’ ve always respected him, and I respect him much more after the phone call.” Later that day, when Thomas and B ird appeared together in the Celtics’ hotel, B ird was asked directly if he accepted Thomas’ s words. “I f they don’ t bother me, ” B ird said, “they shouldn’ t bother anybody.” R odman, through the P istons, issued a statement that said in part: “I would like to apologize to Larry B ird for the emotional comments I made . . . I was wrong and, honestly, that is not the way I feel. I t was a mistake on my behalf.” Thomas spoke in person and at length, elaborating on how sports journalists – especially on television – tended to praise B lack athletes as naturally, physically talented while citing white athletes as cerebral thinkers. “The word ‘ athletes, ’ I think, that’ s an unconscious statement concerning race, ” Thomas said. “I don’ t like it.” Thomas specifically mentioned Tom Heinsohn, a white announcer with a B oston background who covered the series for the CB S television network. Thomas said Heinsohn constantly complimented B ird’ s good plays as intelli-
gent in ways he didn’ t for B lack players. “Maybe I was more sensitive to it because B oston has more white players than any other pro team, ” Thomas said. At the time, the P istons were underdogs, struggling for respect. Just 3 0 years out of Fort W ayne, they played on the football field of the now-demolished Silverdome, with a big, blue curtain dividing the building in half. This was after they left Cobo Arena and before they built the now-demolished P alace of Auburn Hills. Conversely, the Celtics were N B A royalty and B ird’ s image in particular had cultural resonance in that era. I n the film D o the Right Thing, Spike Lee wrote, directed, and starred in a movie about a B lack neighborhood in the N ew Y ork borough of B rooklyn. I n a single scene, ee captured ird’s e ect. I n it, a group of young, B lack guys talk on the sidewalk and watch as a young, white guy rides by on a bicycle in a green basketball shirt. He represents gentrification in the neighborhood. He accidentally rolls over the white “Air Jordan” shoes of a B lack character named “B uggin’ O ut.” The culprit, drinking from a carton of orange juice, is q uickly surrounded by B uggin’ O ut and his angry friends, who reject the white guy’ s apology. “W hat you want to live in a B lack neighborhood for anyway? ” B uggin’ O ut shouts. The white guy counters that he owns the brownstone and it is a free country. He carries his bicycle up the steps. B y now, the viewer can read the back of his jersey: “B I R D, 3 3 .” As the days went on in that week after the incident, the editors req uested more stories. I tried to put historical perspective into racial and tribal undercurrents surrounding B ird, Thomas, R odman, and basketball. I found some in a book published exactly 5 0 years before this racial volcano erupted in B oston. The 1 9 3 7 book was called Farewell to Sport and I q uoted from it at length. The author, P aul G allico, was leaving his job as a sports columnist in N ew Y ork. He was considered enlightened for his era. He wrote then about which group of people were best suited to the relatively new game called basketball: The Jews. “Curiously, it is a game that above all others seems to appeal to the temperament of Jews, ” G allico wrote. “And, for the past years, Jewish players on the college teams around N ew Y ork have had the game all to themselves . . . Jews ock to basketball by the thousands . . . I t appeals to the Hebrew with his O riental background . . . The game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and ashy trickiness, artful dodging,
and general smart-aleckness.” Curiously, with B lack people banned at the time from Major League B aseball and many college football teams, G allico – in a chapter called “E ight B all” — wrote of racial discrimination against them. He took then what seemed like a sympathetic point of view and o ered a kind of praise, especially for the B lack pri efighter. e is generally a magnificent physical specimen, powerful, wiry, hard, and not nearly so sensible to pain as his white brother, ” G allico wrote. “He has a thick, hard skull and good hands. He is crafty and tricky and, contrary to public opinion, as game as a white man when the cards are not stacked against him.” How could G allico have known how tone-deaf those words would sound many years later After re ecting on how one era’ s “insight” can become another era’ s embarrassing stereotype, I noted that jokes like “white men can’ t jump” were common at the time among both white and B lack fans. And then I pontificated. “I f an observer, even in a joking way, has the right to bestow even self-deprecating stereotypes, ” I wrote, “doesn’ t he also assume the right to make serious stereotypical comments about himself and others – perhaps comments that may not be positive or attering or comments that may constitute hollow praise with negative implications? ” R eading that 3 5 years later makes me think to myself: Y ou might have tried to say this in a more simple way, the way I did that same week, when I rode a bus through my old e erson- halmers neighborhood on the E ast Side and two young B lack guys sat down behind me. I mmediately, they started to discuss the Larry B ird R ace I ssue. “I wonder if the reporters got it all wrong, ” one of them said. “I wonder if they misq uoted I siah or didn’ t understand that he was joking.” “R ight, ” his buddy said. “Y ou never know about the press. Sometimes they confuse things.” I couldn’ t resist. “Hey, guys, ” I said, turning around. “I ’ m the guy who wrote the story in the Free P ress after the game.” And for the next half hour – passing by B elle I sle and on down to the Joe Louis Fist— the three of us enjoyed a spirited, forthright, and respectful conversation about journalism, sports, and race. This is another chapter of J oe L apointe’s sports reporting memoir to be titled either The Fire-B alling FlameThrower Threw B ullets to Slam the Door or Local Team Hopes to W in N ext G ame.
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
33
CULTURE Glass houses
Detroit’s newest art gallery isn’t where you might expect to find it B y L ee D eV ito
Detroit’s latest art gallery doesn’t k eep regular business hours. It doesn’t have the typical white walls. There’s also barely even any art in it, either. But techno fans visiting Detroit for the Movement Festival might be interested in check ing out the new 136 4 gallery once it o cially opens on Thursday. The project is the brainchild of Detroit techno icon Carl Craig and art curator Elysia Borowy. The exhibition space is located in a steel-and-glass modernist townhome at 136 4 Joliet P l. in Detroit’s idyllic Lafayette P ark community. The neighborhood was designed by Chicago-viaBerlin architect Ludwig Mies van der R ohe in the 1950s on the site of the city’s former Black Bottom neighborhood as an urban renewal project. While appointments are available, the gallery is primarily accessible only by peering through the windows of the townhome. Its inaugural exhibition features only two artists, represented by one work each: a black -and-white image of the musician P rince by Detroit rock ’n’ roll photographer Leni Sinclair and a mixed-media piece by Chicago artist ameron pratley. It’s patley’s first showing in Detroit. I would definitely say that this is an avant-garde experiment in visual culture,” Borowy tells M etro Times. “The one thing that Carl and I really talk ed about quite a bit is that it is a true collaboration between us.” Borowy says she did not want to be the spok esperson for the gallery, preferring for the art to speak for itself. N evertheless, she granted M etro Times an interview explaining the project, which Borowy says was inspired in part by Maurizio Cattelan’s Wrong G allery in N ew York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. “It was basically just a window,” she says. “And the door was always lock ed. It had artwork in the vestibule, and it
There’s an unconventional art gallery tucked inside a Mies van der Rohe-designed townhome in Detroit.
would get reviews. There was this really cheek y way that people would talk about it, because they’d always say, ‘ It was a great show, but it was at the wrong gallery.’” The 136 4 gallery is just about as minimal as you can get. To prep, Borowy and Craig installed track lighting and had the townhome’s walls painted black , “a nod to [ Craig’s] experience in dance clubs,” Borowy explains. “Everyone paints their place white. ... so we’ve painted it black , lik e you’re entering the void.” Borowy says she and Craig got to k now each other in 2021 while work ing together on the Bottega V eneta fashion show in Detroit. They also both live in the Lafayette P ark neighborhood. Borowy admits she was also possibly inspired by the Mik e K elley Mobile Homestead, the art gallery built as a replica of the late eponymous artist’s childhood home that is part of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit’s campus, where she used to serve as executive director. Borowy did not wish to talk about MOCAD.
34 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
The concepts of privacy and being public figures are important to both her and Craig, she says. e became public figures, she says of their careers, adding, “I don’t k now when I became a public figure. ut now that I am, I’m really protective of my personal life.” It’s perhaps counterintuitive for one to desire to maintain privacy while at the same time inviting strangers to peer into one’s home. When we suggest if the idea of putting a gallery in her neighborhood was more of a utilitarian choice than a conceptual one, Borowy disagrees. Lafayette P ark is k nown for its openness, she says. “The Mies van der R ohe townhomes are really better k nown as ‘ the glass houses,’” she says. “And when you start look ing around in the community, you can really see that they’re set up in a voyeuristic manner, and that point of engagement comes through the glass.” She adds, “It’s very, very open, and so I took a big cue from that. And if you study how people live in the community, they set their furniture up and design [ their spaces] almost as if to be
LEE DEVITO
viewed.” Borowy says she’s also recently had a home studio built, and has returned to work ing in ceramics, which is what she studied in college. “Oh my god, it’s amazing,” she says. “I mean, I fell in love with clay. I love it.” She says she hadn’t had much time to work in the medium during her professional career in museum administration. “I think everyone k nows that I gave my life to my work ,” she says. The 136 4 gallery will feature more exhibitions, but lik ely about every three months or so, Borowy says. She says she hopes the project, which a friend described as “quirk y,” can stand out as an outside-of-the-box art experience in Detroit. “We have all these big galleries already,” she says. “Detroit is what I call an ‘ opaque city.’ Lik e, it’s for those who know, and this definitely is part of that. It just adds to its mystique as an international city.” M ore information is available on Instagram, @1 3 6 4 _a rt_d etroit.
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
35
Savage Love
CULTURE M y laptop died last week. M y laptop co l t ie e s i t e o ce with capable tech support people close . o. l to lost its ill to li e e st o s s o miles in a country where I don’t speak the l e. o s t le to ccess my Savage L ove email — which is a ro lem si ce o estio s me s o col m . o to t o st r m s i m ollo ers t ere to se me t eir ic irt estio s. I wrote my responses on my phone… ic ro e t o e oi t s tter i t e scree . o m l to is e m o e is ro e m t m s re loo ie . B ut I got this week’s column done with the help of my followers on Instagram. s . —D an
Q: In the mountain climbing com
munity there is a backlash against a route at a particular climbing site t t s me . ritics s it re ers to o co se s l se ct. o r thoughts?
A: Missionary position in the ab-
sence of consent is not sex, it’s rape; a gangbang with consent is not rape, it’s sex. That said, most representations of gangbangs in film, porn, literature, etc., portray non-consensual scenarios with women as the victims, and it’s understandable why some would want the name of that route changed. o, change it.
Q: W
hat do you do when you’ve told someone who is supposed to be a rie to sto m i se l comme ts t t e ee s i se ll c r e things?
A: You reali e this person isn’t a
friend and hang out with your actual friends instead.
Q:
ritis ere. me cis is mi si t e . . m li i i erm . estio : o ritis c ller li i i t e o the Savage L ovecast a few episodes back and he said his accent alone unbuckled belts there. Is it true? G erman guys do ot m cce t se . t i mo e to the States would I be drowning in cock?
A:
i
ock is a solid ideally , not a liquid although with a powerful enough
B y D an Savage
blender, anything is possible , so you would be choking on cock over here, not drowning in it. And, yes, a British accent is a plus in the A because unlike uropeans, Americans don’t have to put up with mobs of nglish tourists hopping on cheap ights, terrori ing our city centers with their drunken bachelor bachelorette parties, and puking on our doorsteps.
boyfriend in the on-dick circle. That is a baseball pun ust for my older brother. ey there, illy
Q: M
y S.O. is good friends with a m er o t eir e es. o it s ro l oo si t t t e re m t re but it makes me j ealous and paranoid. How to get over that?
A: Keep telling yourself that being
Q: How do I tell my friends and family that I’m poly now?
A:
se your words. JOE NEWTON
Q: B
est way to tell your hubby his armpits have started to smell? ( He’s e er ee e eo or t e ore
A:
se your words
Q: How do I tell my boyfriend nicely
that he needs to brush his teeth more often? He’s very sensitive to this kind of ee c t o t t im to e stinky breath in a work meeting!
A:
Y D hen my breath stinks or I need to take a shower or use some deodorant, I’m grateful when my partner says something to me because I’m a grownup. If your partner can’t handle this kind of feedback, you need to ask yourself why you’re wasting your time on someone who isn’t a grownup.
Q:
m e r ol om . s se ti it o st rte se i me e se ics i cl i ce s ots o ot er om e ee it it o t er co se t. e t o t it s se t s re lse . Teachable moment or trash him?
A: If you ghost him, he’s likely to
assume the photos he shared and the massive consent violation they represent weren’t the issue or even an issue. e needs to know. o, teach then trash.
Q:
nothing of redefining old definitions as hate speech — that there’s no point in attempting to answer this question. ecause by the time this column is published, odds are good that whatever I write today will be out of date and or a cancelable o ense. ut so far as I know right now all transse ual people are transgender but not all transgender people are transse ual. I hope that clears things up.
Q: D
o you think we will keep seeing si i c t c es i se l orie t tio sel l eli i t e t re
A: In the future everyone will have
their own niche se ual orientation for 5 minutes and their own neopronoun and their own pride ag. And it’s going to be even more confusing than it is now, and everybody is going to get everybody else’s orientations, pronouns, and ags wrong all the time, and absolutely everybody is going to be upset with absolutely everyone else, all the time. The oceans will rise and the planet will bake and we will be arguing about whether cake can be a pronoun as the meteor hurtles toward earth.
Q: How much time do bottoms really douche?
A:
You can douche all of the bottoms some of the time, and some of the bottoms all of the time, but you can’t douche all of the bottoms all of the time. Abraham incoln
o le se e l i t e iffer e ce et ee tr s e er tr sse l lot o r me ts e o li e about the semantics of these founda tio l e itio s so some cl rit o l be appreciated. Thank you!
Q: W
A: Definitions and redefinitions
A: I will not
come at us so fast these days
36 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
to say
ill you marry me?
while I am sure you’re lovely, I already have a husband, and a
friends with e es is a good sign about your . ., and then carry that thought to its logical conclusion being ealous and paranoid about your current being friends with his e es is a bad sign about you not a fatal sign for this relationship, but definitely something you should work through with a shrink.
Q:
m t t r re t i : t e o e mi woman. How do I delay orgasms?
te
A:
very time this sub ect comes up, someone recommends low-dose Is. Ask your doctor if they’re right for you.
Q: I’m on antidepressants and my li i o s ee storm se time se
e
o
o to r i o t eel
A: Talk with your doctor about
ad usting your meds that’s the first step. hile you work on finding the right dosage, e.g., the dosage that alleviates your depression without killing your libido, a little going-through-themotions with your partner will keep you in the groove and may even help you catch a groove.
Q:
t t e o l o recomme I point my teenager to your column and your podcast?
A: I think 15 -16 is a good age to start
reading and listening but if you really want your teenager to read my column and listen to my podcast, don’t point them toward avage ove and the avage ovecast. Forbid them from listening and reading.
See metrotimes.com for the full version of this column. s : estio s@s elo e. et L isten to D an on the Savage L ovecast! ollo o itter @ e e ol m s o c sts oo s merc and more at savage.love!
metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
37
CULTURE ARIES: March 21 – April 19 In defining the essential elements at play in a typical Aries person’s agenda, I’m not inclined to invoke the words “sometimes” or “maybe.” Nor do I make frequent use of the words “periodically,” “if,” or “ordinarily.” Instead, my primary identifying term for many Aries characters is “NOW ” with three exclamation points. In referring to your sign’s experiences, I also rely heavily on the following descriptors pronto, presto, push, directly, why not , engage, declare, activate, venture into, enterprising, seize, deliver, and wield. You are authorized to fully activate and deploy these qualities in the next three weeks. TAURUS: April 20 – May 20 I like Joan Didion’s definitions of self-respect. As you enter a favorable phase for deepening and enhancing your self-respect, they may be helpful. Didion said selfrespect is a “sense of one’s intrinsic worth,” and added, “People who respect themselves are willing to accept the risk that the venture will go bankrupt, that the liaison may
Free Will Astrology By Rob Brezsny
not turn out to be one in which every day is a holiday. They are willing to invest something of themselves.” And maybe the most essential thing about self-respect, according to Didion, is that it is “a discipline, a habit of mind that can never be faked but can be developed, trained, coaxed forth.”
unleash all your ingenuity and hard work in quest of your beautiful goals. And in the hope of inspiring you to upgrade your ability to fulfill these sacred prospects, I offer you a tip from Sagittarian author Martha eck. She wrote, “To attract something that you want, become as joyful as you think that thing would make you.”
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20 “Reality is not simply there it does not simply exist,” claimed author Paul Celan. “It must be sought out and won.” I think that is excellent advice for you right now. ut what does it mean in practical terms How can you seek out and win reality My first suggestion is to put your personal stamp on every situation you encounter. Do something subtle or strong to make each event serve your specific interests and goals. My second suggestion is to discern the illusions that other people are projecting and avoid buying into those misunderstandings. My third suggestion is to act as if it’s always possible to make life richer, more vivid, and more meaningful. And then figure out how to do that.
VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22 Virgo-born Jocko Willink is a retired naval officer and author. In his book Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual, he lays down his manifesto “ ecome the discipline — embrace its cold and relentless power. And it will make you better and stronger and smarter and faster and healthier than anything else. And most important It will make you free.” While I don’t expect you to embrace Willink’s rigorous ethic with the same fanatical grip, I think you will benefit from doing the best you can. The cosmic rhythms will support you if you make a fun and earnest effort to cultivate liberation through discipline.
CANCER: June 21 – July 22 Wilma Mankiller was the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She said, “The cow runs away from the storm, while the buffalo charges directly toward it — and gets through it quicker.” Political analyst Donna razile expounded on Mankiller’s strategy “Whenever I’m confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment. I become the buffalo.” I recommend Mankiller’s and razile’s approach for you and me in the coming days, my fellow Cancerian. Now please excuse me as I race in the direction of the squall I see brewing in the distance.
LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22 “Some nights you are the lighthouse, some nights the sea,” writes ibran author Ocean Vuong. According to my astrological analysis, you are better suited to be the lighthouse than the sea in the coming days. ately, you have thoroughly embodied the sea, and that has prepared you well to provide illumination. You have learned new secrets about the tides and the waves. You are attuned to the rhythms of the undercurrents. So I hope you will now embrace your role as a beacon, ibra. I expect that people will look to your radiance to guide and inspire them.
LEO: July 23 – August 22 The New Yorker is an influential Pulitzer Prize-winning magazine that features witty writing and impeccable fact-checking. In 201 , its stories exposed the extensive sexual misconduct committed by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein — and helped lead to his prosecution. How did the magazine get its start It was cofounded in 192 by Harold Ross, who had dropped out of school at age 1 . He edited every issue for the next 26 years. I’m sensing the possibility of a comparable development in your life, eo. In the coming months, you may get involved in a project that seems to be beyond the reach of your official capacities or formal credentials. I urge you to proceed as if you can and will succeed.
SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21 “Movie people are possessed by demons, but a very low form of demons,” observes author Edna O’ rien. She should know. She has hung out with many big film stars. Since you’re probably not in the movie business yourself, your demons may be much higher quality than those of celebrity actors and directors. And I’m guessing that in the coming weeks, your demons will become even finer and more interesting than ever before — even to the point that they could become helpers and advisors. For the best results, treat them with respect and be willing to listen to their ideas.
38 May 25-31, 2022 | metrotimes.com
JAMES NOELLERT
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21 I’m all in favor of you getting what you yearn for. I have no inhibitions or caveats as I urge you to
CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19 According to author Caroline Myss, “You should see everything about your life as a lesson.” Whoa Really Each trip to the grocery store should be a learning opportunity Myss says yes For example, let’s say you’re in the snack foods aisle and you’re tempted to put Doritos Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips and ay’s arbecue Potato Chips in your cart. ut your gut is screaming at you, “That stuff isn’t healthy for you ” And yet you decide to ignore your gut’s advice. You buy and eat both bags. Myss would say you have squandered a learning opportunity “You’ve harmed yourself by blocking your intuitive voice,” she writes. Now, in accordance with astrological omens, Capricorn, here’s your homework assignment Regard every upcoming event as a chance to learn how to trust your intuition better. AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18 An Aquarian poet was disturbed when a suitor told her, “I’m really very fond of you.” She responded, “I don’t like fond. It sounds like something you would tell a dog. ive me love, or nothing. Throw your fond in a pond.” I don’t advise you to adopt a similar attitude anytime soon, Aquarius. In my oracular opinion, you should wholeheartedly welcome fondness. You should honor it and celebrate it. In itself, it is a rich, complex attitude. And it may also lead, if you welcome it, to even more complex and profound interweavings. PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20 “I need a playlist of all the songs I used to love but forgot about,” wrote Tumblr blogger Yuyuuyuyuu. I think you could use such a playlist, too, Pisces. In fact, I would love to see you receive a host of memos that remind you of all the things you love and need and are interested in — but have forgotten about or neglected. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to recover what has been lost. I hope you will reestablish connections and restore past glories that deserve to accompany you into the future. This week’s homework: Is there a postponed dream that you might be able to resume wor ing to ulfill? What is it?
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Switch To DIRECTV & Save + get a $100 visa gift card! Get More Channels For Less Money. Restrictions apply. Call Now! 877-693-0625 (AAN CAN)
TV/CABLE/INTERNET
HUGHESNET SATELLITE INTERNET
Finally, no hard data limits! Call Today for speeds up to 25mbps as low as $59.99/ mo! $75 gift card, terms apply. 1-844-416-7147 (AAN CAN)
TV/CABLE/INTERNET
4G LTE HOME INTERNET NOW AVAILABLE!
Your donation helps fund the search for missing children. Accepting Trucks, Motorcycles & RV’s , too! Fast Free Pickup – Running or Not - 24 Hour Response - Maximum Tax Donation – Call 877-266-0681 (AAN CAN)
Get GotW3 with lightning fast speeds plus take your service with you when you travel! As low as $109.99/mo! 1-888-519-0171 (AAN CAN)
HEALTH
HOME REPAIR
STILL PAYING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR MEDICATION?
BATH & SHOWER UPDATES
Save up to 90% on RX refill! Order today and receive free shipping on 1st order prescription required. Call 1-855-750-1612 (AAN CAN)
in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 1-877-6495043 (AAN CAN)
Complete Care Home Warranty COVERS ALL MAJOR SYSTEMS AND APPLIANCES. 30 DAY RISK FREE. $200.00 OFF + 2 FREE Months! 1-877-6730511. Hours Mon-Thu, Sun : 9:30 am to 8:00 pm Fri : 9:30 am to 2:00 pm (all times Eastern) (AAN CAN)
Hiring sexy women (& men). Highly Paid Magazine, Web, and Movie/TV work. no experience needed, all sizes accepted. 313-289-2008.
MOVING
LONG DISTANCE MOVING
Call today for a FREE QUOTE from America’s Most Trusted Interstate Movers. Let us take the stress out of moving! Speak to a Relocation Specialist, call 855-947-2919 (AAN CAN)
PUBLISHING
BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR! We edit, print and distribute your work internationally. We do the work… You reap the Rewards! Call for a FREE Author’s Submission Kit: 844-511-1836. (AAN CAN)
MASSAGE
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ONLY
(INDEPENDENT) DRAPING IS REQUIRED INTAKE FORM is given COVID -19 READY Enjoy a calm and soothing massage HEALTHY BENEFIT HEALTHY MASSAGE 734 447 7895 Early and late appointments are available must be left on Credit Card on file.
MASSAGE
RELAXING NURU MASSAGE
for the quarantine must not be sick. Must be clean and wear mask. Outcalls only incalls are at your cost Hey I’m here to help. This is Candy melt in your mouth so try my massages they’re sweet as can be!!! (734) 596-1376
TO ADVERTISE CALL (313)961-4060 metrotimes.com | May 25-31, 2022
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