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Vol. 37 | Issue 33 | May 24-30, 2017
News & Views News............................................. 10 Politics & Prejudices.................... 20
What’s Going On........................ 26
Feature Live sets at Movement...................30 Movement’s can’t miss acts...........34 Photos from Movements past........38 Movement afterparties...................40
Food Review: Ajishin........................... 44 DPS lunch program........................48 Bites.............................................. 50
Publisher - Chris Keating Associate Publisher - Jim Cohen Editor-In-Chief - Lee DeVito
EDITORIAL Managing Editor - Alysa Zavala-Offman Senior Editor - Michael Jackman Music Editor - Mike McGonigal Staff Writer - Violet Ikonomova Dining Editor - Tom Perkins Web Editor - Jack Roskopp Contributing Editors - Larry Gabriel, Jack Lessenberry Copy Editor - Esther Gim Editorial Interns - Kayla Cockrel, Joseph Cooke, Isabella Hinojosa, Emily Lovasz, Skyler Murry, Faith Riggs Contributors - Sean Bieri, Stephanie Brothers, Doug Coombe, Kahn Santori Davison, Aaron Egan, Mike Ferdinande, Cal Garrison, Curt Guyette, Mike Pfeiffer, Sarah Rahal, Dontae Rockymore, Shelley Salant, Dan Savage, Sarah Rose Sharp, Rai Skotarczyk, Jane Slaughter
ADVERTISING Associate Publisher - Jim Cohen Regional Sales Directors - Danielle Smith-Elliott, Vinny Fontana Senior Multimedia Account Executive Jeff Nutter Multimedia Account Executives Drew Franklin, Jessica Frey, Cierra Wood Account Manager, Classifieds - Josh Cohen
BUSINESS/OPERATIONS Business Office Supervisor - Holly Rhodes Controller - Kristy Dotson Staff Accountant - Margaret Manzo
CREATIVE SERVICES
Music Conor Oberst.................................. 54 Street drumming............................ 60 Livewire........................................ 64
Arts & Culture Art: 1010....................................... 66 Retail: Boro................................... 68 Higher Ground............................. 70 Savage Love................................. 74 Horoscopes with Cal Garrison...... 82
Cover design: Robert “Nix” Nixon
Graphic Designers - Paul Martinez, Haimanti Germain, Christine Hahn
CIRCULATION Circulation Manager - Annie O’Brien
EUCLID MEDIA GROUP Chief Executive Officer – Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers – Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Human Resources Director – Lisa Beilstein Digital Operations Coordinator – Jaime Monzon www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising Voice Media Group 1-888-278-9866, voicemediagroup.com Detroit Metro Times 1200 Woodward Heights Ferndale, MI 48220-1427 www.metrotimes.com Editorial - (313) 202-8022 Advertising - (313) 961-4060 Fax - (313) 964-4849 The Detroit Metro Times is published every week by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member
Cover photo: Katie Laskowska
Printed on recycled paper Printed By
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EUCLID MEDIA • Copyright - The entire contents of the Detroit Metro Times are copyright 2015 by Euclid Media Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above. Prior written permission must be granted to Metro Times for additional copies. Metro Times may be distributed only by Metro Times’ authorized distributors and independent contractors. Subscriptions are available by mail inside the U.S. for six months at $80 and a yearly subscription for $150. Include check or money order payable to - Metro Times Subscriptions, 1200 Woodward Heights, Ferndale, MI 48220-1427. (Please note - Third Class subscription copies are usually received 3-5 days after publication date in the Detroit area.) Most back issues obtainable for $5 at Metro Times offices or $7 prepaid by mail.
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NEWS & VIEWS ‘D’ for dandy
Michigan’s 2017 infrastructure report card is in, and it isn’t good by Michael Jackman
We’re not huge fans of commemorative designations, as in the unusual, confusing, and, yes, bizarre earmarking of days, weeks, and months to issues, diseases, and hobbies. It does get silly when you consider the month of May is National Correct Posture Month and International Internal Audit Awareness Month! But sometimes they do give us occasion to consider the important issues just a bit too everyday to get the attention they deserve. For instance, May 27 marked the last day of National Infrastructure Week. What’s “infrastructure”? Why it’s all those bridges, ports, dams, those tens of thousands of miles of railroad, and those millions of miles of road. The week has become associated with the annual report card of the nation’s infrastructure, released by the American Society of Civil Engineers. In the 2017 report card’s Michigan Infrastructure Overview, the problems of Michigan’s infrastructure get pointed out unsparingly. “Drinking water needs in Michigan are an estimated $13.8 billion, and wastewater needs total $2.07 billion,” the report says. “Eighty-eight dams are considered to be high-hazard potential. The state’s schools have an estimated capital expenditure gap of $1.3 billion. ... Delaying these investments only escalates the cost and risks of an aging infrastructure system.” And that’s just water, sewerage, and schools, leaving out one issue that Michiganians have been vocal about: roads. According to the report, out of Michigan’s 122,286 miles of public roads, 21 percent in poor condition. And of the state’s 11,156 bridges, 1,234 — or 11.1 percent — are “structurally deficient.” What is a “structurally deficient” bridge? Think back to Nov. 2, 2015, when that tire-destroying 3-by-5-foot crater opened up on the now-closed southbound deck spanning the Rouge River. That bridge was rated “structurally deficient.” In other words, it means “falling
apart.” But it’s not just an embarrassment to us when people visit our region — it’s a very real hardship for the people of the state. For every tire destroyed, for every axle broken, there’s a family that has another bill to pay. To put it in terms of dollars and cents, the ASCE study determines: “driving on roads in need of repair in Michigan costs each driver $540 per year.” That may not sound like a lot, but consider this: The Michigan Association of United Ways found that 40 percent of Michigan households do not have sufficient income to pay for the necessities: primarily housing, childcare, food, health care and transportation. This privation, as the report underlines, is a problem across the state, in every county, rural and urban, black and white, old and young. What’s more, consider a study last year that found: “63 percent of Americans say they’re unable to handle a $500 car repair.” But it’s OK, right? Worrying about not making the mortgage payment or the rent because of a car repair bill is only a problem for the little people ... ... which is to say — the majority of us.
Crackdown on Detroit tax evaders who live in the city, use suburban address by Alysa Zavala-Offman Detroit residents who use a suburban address to avoid paying income tax and high insurance costs are under fire. The city of Detroit is targeting 33 properties where people live or work in an aggressive effort to collect millions of dollars in unpaid income tax. The buildings include the Penobscot Building, Cadillac Square Apartments, and Broderick Tower. At least 7,000 possible tax evaders have been identified. The city identified tax evaders by filing lawsuits to ascertain residents’
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Potholes.
personal information (including addresses and social security numbers) from building management. Through the records they were able to obtain, they discovered that less than 15 percent of residents at all 33 properties filed income taxes in 2014. At four of the properties none of the residents filed income tax returns the same year. Some residents owe as little as $350, others are responsible for $400,000 in back taxes. Last year the city collected a whooping $5.3 million to back taxes. Tax evaders can be slapped with a $500 fine or serve up to 90 days in jail if found guilty, but the city is attempting to work things out outside of the courtroom. They sent out mailings to each of the 7,000 alleged tax evaders, notifying them they owed back income tax. Detroit, which filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2013 needs to submit three consecutive years of balanced budget sheets in order to be released from state supervision. City representatives believe this tax collection could help them achieve that goal.
Ballot group clears hurdle in effort to legalize pot in Michigan by Violet Ikonomova Let the signature-collecting begin. The Michigan State Board of Canvassers has approved language of a marijuana legalization initiative that would go before voters in November of 2018. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (RMLA) now has 180 days to collect 252,523 valid signatures from people who’d like to
SHUTTERSTOCK
see the proposal on the ballot. If passed, the RMLA proposal would legalize personal possession, cultivation and use of limited amounts of cannabis for adults 21 and older. It would also tax marijuana at retail levels with a 10 percent excise tax and 6 percent sales tax. The ballot language came out of a collaboration between grassroots organizations and key stakeholders in Michigan’s soon-to-be commercialized medical marijuana industry. They include the ACLU of Michigan, the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Patients Rights Association, Michigan NORML, and MI Legalize. All the organizations appear supportive of the finalized ballot language, despite some infighting that went on during the drafting process. Some stakeholders in March told Metro Times they thought the rules that would govern the legalized industry gave middlemen an outsized role. Also at issue was a micro-grow component that would allow people cultivating 150 plants to enter the commercial market. Right now, caregivers are able to grow up to 72 plans for themselves and five other patients. Rules going into effect at the end of this year will allow commercial grows of 500, 1,000, and 1,500 plants. The RMLA effort is backed by the Marijuana Policy Project — the group responsible for the legalization of marijuana in a number of states. A separate group, MI Legalize, was behind a failed legalization effort in the state in 2016. Petitioners were unable to get the issue on the ballot because they did not collect the appropriate number of signatures within the requisite 180 days.
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NEWS & VIEWS
The QLine makes its debut in Detroit on May 12.
QLine extends free rides through June by Lee DeVito QLine operator M-1 Rail announced that Detroit’s new streetcar will continue giving free rides through the month of June, with fare going into effect starting July 1. What started as a launch weekend promotion was extended to another week, and now an additional six weeks. According to a statement from M-1 Rail, the promotion extension is due to popular demand: The nonprofit reported higher than expected ridership, averaging approximately 8,300 riders per day over the launch weekend and 5,120 per day during the week. In all, M-1 Rail reports nearly 50,000 riders during its first week, including fans during the Detroit Tigers home series. M-1 Rail says it will use the extension to help familiarize Detroiters with the streetcar and work in additional rider feedback. Based on the previous week, M-1 Rail says it will add an additional streetcar during peak hours. “As we refine operations to accommodate demand, it’s also clear a public education campaign to help transit users is needed in SE Michigan,” M-1 Rail Vice President for External Affairs Sommer Woods says in a statement. “Over the next six weeks, we will deploy street teams at station stops to assist riders in navigating the system and connecting to the destinations throughout the Woodward Corridor.” The $180 million, partially federally funded QLine debuted May 12. While M-1 Rail maintains that the 3.3-mile streetcar system could be the start of a larger regional transit system,
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COURTESY M-1 RAIL
that would depend on the passage of a Regional Transit Authority millage to fund such a project. A measure on November’s ballot narrowly failed. Public transportation advocates are calling on leaders to support a new RTA measure for 2018.
Flint council imposes moratorium to spare residents with unpaid water bills from foreclosure by Michael Jackman The Flint City Council has voted to stop issuing tax liens to residents for unpaid water bills after 8,000 households faced foreclosure for failing to pay the poison — er, water bills. The vote came after the ACLU and the legal defense fund of the NAACP stepped in and urged councilmembers to suspend local efforts to impose the property liens on Flint homeowners for “failing to pay delinquent bills for contaminated municipal water — which has been unsafe to drink for more than three years.” Kary Moss, the executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, described the water bills as exorbitant and unjust, and told the council, “The city has the power to put a moratorium on home foreclosures which is the only equitable solution resulting from this tragedy. The suffering of Flint residents should not be compounded by the loss of their homes.” According to Chief Interim Financial Officer David Sabuda, who spoke with the The Flint Journal, the liens amounted to $5.8 million, but about $400,000 has been paid off. letters@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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NEWS & VIEWS Remembering Richard C. Walls by Bill Holdship Detroit-based writer Richard C. Walls died in hospice care over the weekend. Walls was a longtime writer for Creem, and reviewed films as recently as 12 years ago for Metro Times. Onetime MT music editor Bill Holdship wrote these words of remembrance. VIA FACEBOOK
On my very first day of em-
ployment at Creem magazine, Susan Whitall and Dave DiMartino sent me on a journey to deliver a review album to Richard C. Walls’ house. I’d read his byline for years — I do believe (at least I was frequently told) that he was the only writer to appear in both the first and the final issue of the magazine — and so he was the first Creem freelancer I met in person after becoming part of the magazine’s editorial staff. I loved Richard’s writing. The man could write about anything, almost any subject — he was brilliant and so well-read — and make it jump off the page. He could write equally well (and with authority) about all rock ‘n’ roll and jazz, not to mention movies (which he later primarily reviewed for Metro Times) and TV (he had a column, Prime Time, about the latter in Creem). After I inherited the record reviews section from Billy Altman in the ‘80s following Arnold Levitt’s costcutting changes, I couldn’t wait to give RCW various albums to review every month. It was always a treat to talk to him on the phone, discussing everything from SCTV to politics to the latest punk rock releases. He never turned down any assignment and I always knew that whatever it was, his words would be great. I remember I was so excited when he agreed to take on the Replacements’ Pleased To Meet Me album — which we made the lead review that month (with the headline “...And The Gods Made Love”) — and he wrote a rave. As I said, the guy was always on the money, although maybe that’s just because we agreed on most things. Richard suffered from agoraphobia so he didn’t get out much. (I do know that he would make an exception when Lester Bangs was in town visiting and he’d get together with Lester and the late Rob Tyner; Sue would
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always tell me that Lester felt very protective of Richard.) But I did visit him at his home several times over the years. (He eventually moved from the all-black Detroit neighborhood where I’d delivered the album to the slightly more upscale Ferndale.) And I also remember one afternoon when we were able to coax him out of the house and out to lunch with us. We even got him to go to the old Ferndale book, news, and magazine shop with us after eating. It was a very fun afternoon and a blast to hang out with him. Every word that Richard spoke was of interest. I talked to him a few times after returning to Detroit in 2007 and tried to get him to do some writing for us at Metro Times. But there were some problems due to his disability status and it never came to pass. It was sure good to talk to him again, though. Years later, a renegade version of Creem was being published out of New York City (it didn’t last long) and the editor commissioned old Creem writers to write a remembrance of the original magazine in every issue. The one that Richard wrote was arguably the very best — like I said, he was there from the beginning through the end — and I’ll always remember his description of me in his article as “the most optimistic and happy severely depressed person” he’d ever known. Some would say that might be the best description of me ever recorded on paper. I’m feeling neither optimistic or happy at the moment, though. Quite sad, actually, even though it wasn’t unexpected. He’s been in hospice care for a few weeks now. I’ll simply say that Richard C. Walls’ work mattered and I’m a smarter person for having had his influence in my earlier life. letters@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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on sale now:
coming soon:
coming soon concert calendar: 5/26 – dreamcar w/ superet 5/28 – com truise & clark @ the shelter 5/30 – marian hill w/ opia limited tickets remain
5/31 – dr. octagon live experience feat. kool keith & dan the automator
6/1 – urban cone & nightly july 1
the shelter
daniel skye
june 2
jackyl
st. andrew’s w/ dead in 5
@ the shelter
6/3 – mike stud @ the shelter w/ matt citron limited tickets remain
6/14 – the wailers w/ leaving lifted 6/15 – saliva w/ the everyday losers 6/19 – barns courtney @ the shelter w/ foxtraxx
6/23 – grunge night feat. tributes to nirvana, alice in chains, stone temple pilots
july 7
the shelter
6/25 – bleachers 7/7 – king lil g @ the shelter
myles parrish june 8
st. andrew’s
aaron carter
on sale friday:
7/12 – the color morale @ the shelter
w/ the plot in you, dayseeker, picturesque, a war within, as we divide
7/13 – mother mother @ the shelter 7/14 – this wild life @ the shelter w/ dryjacket, a will away
7/16 – caravan palace 7/18 – cane hill @ the shelter w/ my enemies & i sept. 15
st. andrew’s
dead cross
ft. mike patton, dave lombardo, justin pearson, mike crain
7/20 – why don’t we @ the shelter june 13 chon
st. andrew’s w/ tera melos, covet, little tybee
7/23 – jaymes young @ the shelter w/ matt maeson
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NEWS & VIEWS Politics & Prejudices
The Student loan scam, and other tales from the crypt by Jack Lessenberry
Writing anything about
Donald Trump, the apparently unhinged and possibly treasonous occupant of the White House, is essentially impossible to do in a weekly column. Nobody, probably including the man himself, knows what he will do next — any more than you can predict the behavior of a barrel of nitroglycerin in a bumpy train car. More than a week ago, it became perfectly clear that Trump had not only obstructed justice, but had quite possibly committed the equivalent of treason by giving classified secrets to Russian emissaries right after he fired the FBI director. James Comey was sacked, of course, apparently for investigating his administration’s ties — you guessed it — to Russia. That’s the situation as I am writing these words. Of course, by the time you read these words, Trump may have declared war on Paraguay, announced he is the world’s largest lemon drop, or offered to give Alaska back to the Russians if they let him open a Trump hotel in St. Petersburg. We cannot know, but the collapse of our nation’s democracy is entertaining, as long as you don’t think too much about the long-term consequences for mankind. Meanwhile back in the old U.S. of A., we are working hard to make sure the long-term consequences for our kids are worse than they were for us. Apart from home mortgages, what do you think is the biggest single source of consumer debt? Auto loans? Credit cards? Not even close. It is student higher education loan debt, which is now nearly $1.5 trillion. Thanks to steadily declining government support for higher education, students — some of whom never graduate — run up obscenely bloated tabs, which many will never be able to repay. Others, even those who get the jobs
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they wanted, will stagger along under this burden for decades, postponing, possibly forever, buying homes and having children. You might call them the “student loan serfs.” Even as higher education in some form is more important to our students and the future of our society than ever, we’re making it steadily harder to get. But the banks are getting rich. The full dimensions of this swindle, which is becoming a crisis, are laid out in a new book with a clumsy academic title, The Neoliberal Agenda and the Student Debt Crisis in U.S. Higher Education, co-edited by Brandon Hensley, one of my colleagues at Wayne State University. Sadly, much of the book is a little too academic for mainstream audiences. The authors also annoyingly blame this on “neoliberalism” by which they mean an ideology that thinks free market capitalism is the greatest good. This is an entirely artificial definition; nobody ever calls themselves a neoliberal. But they really do zero in on the heart of the problem, which is that we have been brainwashed into believing that higher education is a personal luxury, like a Rolls-Royce, that anyone wanting it should have to pay for.
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NEWS & VIEWS Actually, higher education is as or more necessary to our national security than the U.S. Armed Forces. We, or at least our government, was smarter back then. Education, not just technical education, was recognized as a national good. The government paid the lion’s share of the costs, and scholarship money was abundant. But now the Great Satan of Communism has fallen, and we are neglecting our future. What we need, as this book concludes, is an ideological shift to a place where we recognize that we should have a public right to the higher education each of us needs — and a personal responsibility to use it in some way for the public good. Until we do, the bankers will continue to get rich off people who can scarcely afford it, and the unsustainable pyramid of debt will come that much closer to crashing down. Why not the best? The Democratic Party has long consisted of a number of very different groups who may not much like each other, but who dislike the Republicans even more. Fair enough. But one of the stupider things Michigan Democrats do is insist on an “ethnically balanced ticket.” That means, unofficially but practically, that at least one of the four major nominees — governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and attorney general — has to be black, and at least one a woman. Though voters select the gubernatorial nominee in next August’s primary, the others are all picked in traditional smoke-filled room style at a statewide party convention around Labor Day. You’d think that tokenism would be a relic of the past in a state and nation that twice elected Barack Obama — but then, some would say relics of the past is another term for Michigan Democrats. This has often caused the party to throw away races it might otherwise have won. The worst recent example came in 2006, when Scott Bowen, a charismatic former judge from the Grand Rapids area, campaigned hard for the nomination for attorney general. There’s every reason to believe he could have defeated Mike Cox, the Republican incumbent. But Democrats wanted a black face on the ticket, so they instead nomi-
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nated Amos Williams, a little-known Detroit attorney, to whom they gave little support and less money. He lost badly, but tokenism had been served. Three years ago, they did much the same, nominating black lawyer Godfrey Dillard for secretary of state, then leaving his candidacy out there to wither and die. Dillard, who had really wanted to run for attorney general but was shunted into secretary of state instead, reportedly complained bitterly in internal party councils about tokenism, but kept quiet in public like a good boy. Like Williams before him, Dillard lost in a landslide and hasn’t been seen since. Next year the ticket may feature at least two strong women; Gretchen Whitmer, now the frontrunning candidate for governor, and Jocelyn Benson, the former Wayne State law school dean, who badly wants to be secretary of state. One logical, if unconventional, possibility for attorney general would be Dana Nessel, the witty, passionate, and sometimes caustic 48-year-old attorney who played a major role in making both same-sex adoption and same-sex marriage legal in this state through her work in the precedentsetting case DeBoer v. Snyder, in which she and her legal team beat the pants off Bill Schuette in federal court. That case was later consolidated with others, and resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2015 decision that same-sex marriage is constitutionally protected. Nessel, who now is managing partner of her own firm, also has a long record of experience as an Wayne County assistant prosecutor, going after everything from auto theft to police misconduct before specializing in child abuse cases. She might well be the first attorney general since Frank Kelley to actually want to do the job and look out for Michigan’s citizens. She is gay, and has a lovely wife and twin sons by a previous relationship. They are about as normal and attractive a family as you’ll find anywhere, and are really a poster family for the values Democrats, and most Americans, say they believe in. It will be interesting to see if Michigan Democrats would be willing to give an unconventional choice a chance. letters@metrotimes.com @gumbogabe
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The “Vari-Tips� bracelet in silver and 18k gold with interchangeable gemstones. Perfect for color coordinating your wardrobe and jewelry for a great fashion look.
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UP FRONT What’s Going On: A week’s worth of things to do and places to do them by MT staff
THURSDAY, MAY 25 Suicide Girls @ El Club
The collective of alt-babes known as Suicide Girls now travels the world performing their Blackheart Burlesque repertoire. Manwe-Sauls Addison, the choreographer who has worked with the likes of Beyonce and Lady Gaga, created the show that’s full of references to all things geek (think: Donnie Darko, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones) mixed with erotic sexuality. Vice described the performance as “comicon meets burlesque nerd orgy.” Trust this will be like no burlesque show you’ve ever seen.
Doors open at 8 p.m.; show starts at 9 p.m.; 4114 Vernor Hwy., Detroit; 313-436-1793 ticketfly.com tickets are $25. The Suicide Girls.
COURTESY PHOTO
WEDNESDAY, 5/24
WEDNESDAY, 5/24
FRI, 5/26-MON, 5/29
SAT, 5/27-MON, 5/29
Cinema Novo
André Leon Talley in conversation with Ruben and Isabel Toledo
St. Mary’s Polish Country Fair
Civil War Remembrance
@ Trinosophes
A genre and movement in filmmaking focused on social equality and intellectualism, Cinema Novo rose to prominence in Brazil in the 1960s and ’70s. Eryk Rocha, the son of a famed filmmaker, crafted this doc about the era as a sort of love letter. Rocha used archival interviews in the filmmaking process to pay homage to those who challenged the “understandings of art in the face of dictatorship." Cinema Novo won the L'Œil d'Or documentary award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The movie is in Portuguese with English subtitles. This screening is part of a series at Trinosophes that will include a July screening of The Cinema Travelers and a Moroccan film called Mimosas in August.
Doors at 7:30 p.m.; Gratiot Ave., Detroit; 313-737-6606; cinemalamont.com; tickets are $8.
@ Detroit Film Theatre
Husband-and-wife duo Ruben and Isabel Toledo will join fashion icon Andre Leon Talley to publicly discuss a collaboration with the Detroit Film Theatre. Talley, who will lead the conversation, will probe the couple’s lifelong relationship as well as their partnership in art and design. The conversation will offer entry into the Toledos lives as two of the world’s most talented artists who work synergistically with one another. For example, Isabel is the muse to her husband’s work as a sculptor, while Ruben’s surreal work brings life and unconventionality to his wife’s more industrial work.
Starts at 6 p.m.; 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-3237; dia.org; free.
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@ Greenfield Village
@ St. Mary’s Prep
Summer in Michigan means churches everywhere are throwing booze-fueled, yet family-friendly festivals that include gambling, carnival rides, live music, and more. Yearly, the fair attracts upwards of 100,000 visitors who flock to Orchard Lake to nosh on pierogi, and take their chances in a Las Vegas-style casino tent. This year there will be a new interactive sports tent that will offer playable sports as well as large flat screen TVs playing the weekend’s biggest games.
Runs 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday; 3535 Commerce Rd., Orchard Lake; 248-706- 6775; stmaryspolishcountryfair.com; tickets are $6 per person and $12 for families up to six, children three and younger are free.
Spend the day inspecting Daggat Farms, Firestone Farmhouse, shops, riding the carousel, and perusing other historical features in the village. This special weekend you’ll have the chance to look on as Union and Confederate soldiers take part in cavalry, artillery firing, and tactical demonstrations at Walnut Grove. Guests can also take part in special presentations from historians, see an exhibit of fashions from that time period, and look through military history from original Army and Navy artifacts.
Open 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday; 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn; 313-982-6001; thehenryford.org; general admission is $27 for adults, $24.50 for seniors, $20.25 for youth, and free for kids two and younger.
FRIDAY, MAY 26 Lucky Garden @ Inner State Gallery
You may have noticed the largerthan-life floral murals of Detroit artist Ouizi cropping up around town. For her new exhibition, the artist has scaled down somewhat, creating an installation of more than 40 new works, which incorproate colored pencil and gouache. According to a press release, the title of the show (lifted from a common name for Chinese restaraunts in the United States) is an homage to her Chinese-American heritage, which she further explores through her use of imagery. The show runs alongside an exhibition of Movement's visual artist in residence 1010's work (see our art feature this week for more info).
Starts at 7 p.m.; 1410 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; 313-744-6505; innerstategallery.com; free. Painting by Ouizi.
COURTESY PHOTO
SUNDAY, MAY 28
SUNDAY, MAY 28
TUESDAY, MAY 30
THURSDAY, MAY 31
WALK Fashion Show
Artlab J Spring Dance Concert
My Friend’s Comedy Show with Whitmer Thomas
Business in the Black premier
@ Eastern Market
@ Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit might not be a city known for a thriving fashion industry, but some players are working to change that. The folks behind WALK have worked to put on 14 successful fashion shows in Detroit (their 15th will take place on Sunday) and have expanded to host fashion shows around the country in cities such as Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and many more. This show will feature a number of local designers as well as celebrity designer Steve Boi who is known for his inventive sunglasses. The day begins with a children’s fashion showcase followed by an emerging designer showcase, and concluding with an independent designer showcase.
Starts at 1 p.m.; 2934 Russell St. Detroit; 313-799-2556; walkfashionshow.com; tickets are $30-$75.
@ Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
@ El Club
Sunday brunch and a performance by some of the city’s most inventive dancers? Sounds like a great combo. Also, it’s free which makes this event pretty much unmissable. The dance concert promises to provide an intimate experience with Artlab J dance companies, including pieces by all three dance companies and a short film.
Starts at 11 a.m.; 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7900; dia. org; free with entry.
Southwest Detroit music venue El Club just secured more than $50,000 via a crowdfunding campaign to renovate an adjacent building, turning it into a coffee shop and practice space for local musicians. They’re probably doing a little giggling in relief right now, but there will be a lot more laughter at this comedy show featuring Whitmer Thomas, who apparently does a killer Tom DeLonge impression. Wonder if we’ll see his alter ego come out during this show.
Starts at 8 p.m.; 4114 Verner Hwy., Detroit; 313-436-1793; ticketfly. com; tickets are $10-$15.
This 80-minute film produced by Anthony Brogdon traverses the rise of black-owned businesses in America from the 1800s through the 1960s. Broken down into three sections — how do slaves go to college, what racists did to destroy black business districts, and how black-owned businesses help foster the business community, organizations, and more. After its premiere, the film will be shown at the Detroit Historical Museum before leaving to be screened in Harlem on June 5 and 6, and in Los Angeles from June 20 to the 24.
Starts at 6 p.m.; 315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit; 313-494-5800; businessintheblack.net; tickets are $20.
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FEATURE Liver than you’ve ever been Why Movement Electronic Music Festival 2017 has more live music than ever by Michaelangelo Matos
Is it live? This weekend at Hart
Plaza, the answer will be yes, about one-quarter of the time. This year, Detroit’s electronic music festival is dominated, as ever, by DJs. But of the 114 scheduled sets at this year’s festival (we won’t count Movement Yoga, which opens the Made in Detroit stage early Monday afternoon), the word “live” is on 22 — 23, if you count the performance by Rebekah (Made in Detroit, Monday, 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.), who’s billed as playing a “hybrid set” combining live performance and DJing. Of course, there are other live performers at the festival as well: rappers like Danny Brown (RBMA, Monday, 11 p.m.-midnight) and Earl Sweatshirt (RBMA, Saturday, 11-midnight) and player-bandleaders like bassist Thundercat (RBMA, Monday, 8 p.m.-9 p.m.), who hardly need the
qualifier. But “live” takes on added heft when applied to performers who typically work a crowd by spinning records, at least nominally. As the “hybrid” tag suggests, the line separating DJing from live performance in electronic music has grown so slim over time that even a recent fan might well wonder why anyone attempts to mark it at all. Obviously, plenty of DJs still hew to vinyl — some outspokenly so, such as Derrick May (shocking, right?) — and Movement’s deeply rooted musical ethos tips heavily in their favor.
Audion aka Matthew Dear performing live.
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Even so, it’s not unfair to guess that many of this weekend’s performers will be working off of laptops, which alone makes clear markers dicey. Movement has never been short of live performances, of course. But it’s notable that last year’s schedule featured only 16 artists, two-thirds of the number this year. There are as many reasons for playing live rather than DJing as there are people doing it. But as with the sharp rise in 2015 (generally, not at Movement) of back-to-back DJ sets, numbers tell. What they tell, for one thing, is that there’s a larger market for live electronic-music performers than ever. EDM — meaning the big shiny commercial stuff, not lazy shorthand for all of dance music — has moved from a selfcontained phenomenon in the early 2000s to domination of the rock-festival biz in the decade’s middle, because promoters would really like people under 30 to show up to their events. There’s money to be made outside the dance bubble, even if, maddeningly, many rock people still can’t wrap their
heads around dancers not giving much of a fuck whether the music they love comes from DJs playing others’ records, musicians playing fully live, or the vast and often hybrid space between. That creates opportunity even for musicians, like most at Movement, whose work barely overlaps with EDM’s big dogs. Of course, many of Movement’s big draws have been playing live for years, even decades, particularly those from Detroit: Richie Hawtin (Main Stage, Saturday, 10:45 p.m.-midnight), Octave One (Star Gate, Saturday, 6:30 p.m.7:30 p.m.), Robert Hood (Pyramid Stage, Saturday, 11 p.m.-midnight), Audion (a.k.a. Matthew Dear; Star Gate, Sunday, 6 p.m.-7 p.m.), Kevin Saunderson as E-Dancer (Star Gate, Sunday, 10 p.m.-11 p.m.), and Carl Craig Presents Versus Synthesizer Ensemble (Movement Main Stage, Monday, 8:55 p.m.9:55 p.m.) all regularly toggle between DJing and playing live with hard- and software alike, as well as instruments. Both Amp Fiddler (featured with Soul Clap; Movement Main Stage, Monday, 6:35 p.m.-7:35 p.m.) and the crucial Chicago house architect Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers (RBMA, Saturday, 6:45 p.m.-8:35 p.m.) are renowned as players as much as producers. Many of these acts are equally ambitious as DJs and live performers, but in very different ways. Hawtin in particular has done much to make stage-set gizmos and retina-peeling light shows de rigueur in dance music, aiming for a fully controlled Sensurround stage environment years before Daft Punk unveiled their pyramid at Coachella. That’s another difference: It’s just plain easier to control stage and lighting cues with a live performance than with a DJ set, unless you pre-program your records. That’s anathema to the kind of DJs Movement books, who place a pre-
mium on responding to the moment. Playing live also enables a veteran artist to switch things up creatively. Just this month, Carl Craig released Versus, an ambitious melding of techno and classical music that reimagines several of his renowned tracks with the aid of French conductor FrançoisXavier Roth’s Les Siècles’ orchestra. It’s not his first time doing so — in 2008 he released the Moritz von Oswald collaboration Recomposed — and his jazz-infused 1999 Innerzone Orchestra album Programmed and its subsequent tour were similarly ambitious. This year, Craig is leading the Versus Synthesizer Ensemble —“six synthesizers and a piano,” per festival PR. Try to imagine something similar occurring at Desert Trip, last year’s Boomer-rock festival that was widely re-dubbed “Oldchella,” without the AARP crowd grousing in their Airstream trailers about it. At Movement, that kind of left turn from a legacy artist isn’t merely tolerated but encouraged. But playing live also implies additional energy on the performers’ part. One of this year’s most promising bookings is Factory Floor (RBMA, Saturday, 9:45 p.m.-10:45 p.m.), initially a trio and now a duo of Gabriel Gurnsey and vocalist Nik Void. Their last album, 25 25, which DFA released last year, was polarizing — I found its minimalism invigorating, while a critic for Resident Advisor thought it “[lost] sight of the difference between absence and substance.” But the album’s serrated edges are rooted in post-punk as much as techno, thus tailor-made for a live setting. Even those of us who love dancing to records sometimes crave that just a little bit more. letters@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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FEATURE Can’t miss acts 11 to catch at Movement this year by Andy Beta
Now in its 11th year, Movement Electronic Music Festival (OK, 18th if you count its previous iterations) retains its position as the United States’ best. Sure, there may be some more big tent festivals scattered across California deserts and Northeastern forests, but those festivals lamentably often boast cookie-cutter programming at best, a chance to see the same array of DJs against different natural backdrops. Not so with Movement, where the festival draws both on the city’s decades-deep legacy and its position at the cutting edge of where the music will go next. There are dozens of great sets to catch — not to mention even more underground parties thrown at the fringes during this weekend — but here are 11 must-see artists, both old and new. Kai Alcé
Kai Alcé.
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Hip-hop and trap music still dominate Atlanta music culture, but thanks to the tireless efforts and sensuous house productions emanating from producer and DJ Kai Alcé, he’s putting Dogwood City on the map for dance music now. He brings Detroit and New York City luminaries to town and his NDATL label puts out some of the sweatiest tracks. Their annual NDATL special edition 12-inch for Movement always packs some serious heat, and Alcé’s set will do the same. COURTESY PHOTO
Adult. with Shannon Funchess
minimal techno tracks have been some of the most exhilarating in the 21st century. He’s rooted in the city’s grand tradition, but he also shoves things forward in unexpected ways.
It’s been four long years since we’ve heard from Detroit natives Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller and their hard-edged yet hook-filled electro. Turns out they had lots of out-oftown folks staying with them, as their return album Detroit House Guests makes clear. Thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation, the couple invited an array of guests to live and work with them: Swans’ Michael Gira, Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas J. McCarthy and Light Asylum’s Shannon Funchess. The group’s analog electronics will jostle with Funchess’ powerful voice live.
London’s Factory Floor began life a post-industrial trio that took in postpunk, acid, and minimal techno to make a potent blend of electronic and rock sounds. The trio now pared down to just a duo of Gabriel Gurnsey and Nik Void has carefully reduced their noise to an even more blunt yet precise sound (check out last year’s spartan 25 25), though dance music remains at the core of Factory Floor.
Belleville Three
DJ Harvey
Without the Belleville Three, there would be no Movement Festival, the sound of techno would not have engulfed the world, and tens of thousands of music fans wouldn’t descend upon Detroit each Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the vibrancy of electronic music culture. But thanks to the visionary work that Derrick
Factory Floor
A punk drummer-turned-DJ in the early 1980s, DJ Harvey has carved out a singular path for himself. He was a prime mover on London’s mid-90s house scene before dropping out. When he emerged again with 2001’s Sarcastic Study Masters Vol. 2 mix, he had found the secret disco pulse in everyone from the Beach Boys to Holger
Honey Dijon.
music can come from such machines, provided they bear the human touch.
Robert Hood
The sacred and profane mixes in the music of Detroiter Robert Hood, a techno master who is also an ordained minister. His status as a dance music legend is already solidified since his days with Underground Resistance, but his profound work as Floorplan continues to chase the holy spirit. Hood continues to find the divine in the smallest details of minimal techno, and he’s capable of turning any club into a church.
Honey Dijon
DJ Harvey.
May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson — three African-American teens stuck out in rural Michigan — imagined, techno moved from their bedrooms to become a worldwide force. Since then, all three have become legends in their own right, but together, they still represent the power that such music has on our heads and hearts.
Terrence Dixon
Some aspect of Movement pays tribute to the pioneers who created techno music in the 1980s, but the present and future gets revealed here as well. Thanks to the tireless efforts of producer Terrence Dixon, he safeguards that Detroit techno will remain relevant in the years to come. Dark, dirty, futuristic, and gritty, Dixon’s
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Czukay to Severed Heads. Sometimes deemed “a DJ’s DJ,” Harvey can be eclectic — and sarcastic, perhaps — but behind the decks he’s definitely a master.
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From Honey Dijon’s vantage point, she came up in Chicago seeing the likes of Ron Hardy and Derrick Carter play before striking out on her own in New York City. That sense of adventurousness — with a firm sense of command — informs her own cross-genre DJ sets as well. Whether she’s spinning for high fashion fetes or at Berlin’s Berghain, Honey Dijon is one of the underground’s singular voices.
Paranoid London
Paranoid London is a no-frills acid house project helmed by the duo of Gerardo Delgado and Quinn Whalley. Sure, they are deeply indebted to the sound of early Chicago acid and on their 2015 self-titled album even recruited Sterling Void and Joe Smooth collaborator Paris Brightledge as vocalist, but live the group have an edge that brings to mind punk rock. They make their 303s pummel like boxer’s fists and have their synths go right for the jugular.
Waajeed
Detroit’s own Waajeed is the tendon that connects the city’s many musical legacies: soul, house, R&B, and hip-hop. A founding member of hip-hop luminaries Slum Village and Platinum Pied Pipers, Waajeed also worked with singers like Dwele and Tiombe Lockhart and recently teamed up with the legendary Theo Parrish. Rather than fret about genre, Waajeed’s focus is on the heart that pulses at the core of modern music.
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Larry Heard
A drummer who worked for Social Security by day and gigged in Yes cover bands by night, Chicago’s Larry Heard seems an unlikely candidate to alter the trajectory of dance music, but that’s just what he did. Losing the band members and holing up in his apartment with new-fangled components like the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesizer and TR-707 drum machine, in one night Heard created soulful deep house classics like “Mystery of Love” and “Washing Machine.” He’s since shown that emotionally resonant
Waajeed.
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FEATURE
Movin’ on up
Photos of Movement from years past from the MT files
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FEATURE
Can’t stop, won’t stop
Dance ‘round the clock during Movement with these festival afterparties by Violet Ikonomova
OK, Cool. COURTESY PHOTO
SATURDAY, MAY 27 Soul Clap’s House of EFunk
TV Lounge kicks off 14 hours of “dance music futurism” as festival revelers wrap up their first day at Hart Plaza. It’s the fourth iteration of the party curated by DJ duo Soul Clap. This year’s lineup includes Stacey Pullen, Kyle Hall, Josh Wink, Jay Daniel, and about a dozen other track-spinners. Dancing doesn’t stop til the following day, when festival gates re-open downtown. 11 p.m.-12 p.m.; 2548 Grand River Ave., Detroit; 21+; Tickets $30
The Belleville Three & Richie Hawtin
Three Detroit techno legends and a legendary Canadian with Detroit ties team up for this official Movement afterparty at the Masonic Temple. Derek Plaslaiko, another highly-regarded DJ from Detroit, provides support. 11 p.m.-4 a.m.; 500 Temple St., Detroit, 18+; Tickets $25 advance, $35 day of show
Detroit Love
Carl Craig’s party concept that shares the sounds of the city with the world makes its annual homecoming for this event at the Magic Stick. This year’s lineup includes Craig and Detroit veterans Moodymann and Andres, aka
DJ Dez. Detroit producer Waajeed is also on the list, and likely to add some hip-hop and R&B flavor. 11 p.m.-4 a.m.; 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 21+; Tickets $20
Texture
A newcomer to the Movement afterparty scene, Texture will aim to bring more than just music to Marble Bar with this event — promoters say they’ll combine spatial curation and music programming to curate an “idea.” The 14-hour party offers a dense lineup of more than the usual names; underground talents to be featured include Fred P, Lena Willikens, Mike Dunn, and DJ Qu. 10 p.m.-12 p.m.; 1501 Holden St., Detroit; 21+; Tickets $30
SUNDAY, MAY 28 Dixon b2b Seth Troxler
Michigan-made Troxler, who is ranked among the world’s top DJs, hits the decks with Berlin’s Dixon for a back-to-back set in the Leland Hotel’s City Club. The pairing has made this one of the most sought-after ancillary Movement affairs. The event has already sold out, but you can check Facebook for a chance to scoop up some re-sale tix. 10 p.m.-6 a.m. ; 400 Bagley St., Detroit; 18+; Sold out
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OK, COOL
It’s the five-year anniversary for this Movement afterparty showcase at TV Lounge, but the lineup is anything but typical. The long list of DJs for the multi-stage, 15-hour afterparty include John Tejada, Honey Dijon, Danny Daze, and Doc Martin. Party mainstays will be featured too, with Eddie C on the lineup and (we hope) slotted to spin his annual sunrise set. 9 p.m.-12 p.m.; 2548 Grand River Ave. Detroit; 21+; Tickets $30
Dirtybird Players Detroit
Claude VonStroke headlines this after party at the Fillmore with support from San Francisco DJs Justin Martin, J. Phlip, and other members of his Dirtybird Records roster. 10 p.m.- 4 a.m.; 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 18+; Tickets $25 and up
Adam Beyer presents: Drumcode
Swedish DJ Adam Beyer brings his take on techno to the Masonic Temple for this official Movement after party. 11 p.m.-4 a.m.; 500 Temple St. Detroit; 18+; Tickets $30
MONDAY, MAY 29 Repopulate Mars
The Magic Stick hosts a bunch of
big-name DJs on stages throughout the complex during this five-hour Movement closing party. The lineup includes Lee Foss, Shiba San, Kenny Glasgow, and Golf Clap. 10 p.m.-4 a.m.; 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 18+; Tickets $15
Carl Cox B2B Joseph Capriati The legendary techno and acid house DJ from the U.K. teams up with the Italian Capriati to close out the festival weekend. The event at the Masonic Temple is another one of the hottest tickets in town and has already sold out. You can check Facebook for a chance to scoop up some re-sale tix. 11 p.m.-4 a.m.; 500 Temple St., Detroit; 18+; Sold out
The Blu Party Curated by Sydney Blu, this rooftop party features DJ Sneak, Dirtybird executive Christian Martin, Gene Farris, the Saunderson Brothers, Dopekatz, Soul Goodman, Derek Specs, Miz Megs, Blu 9, Sonya Alvares, and Marletta. 9 p.m.-4 a.m.; 529 Monroe St., Detroit; 21+; Tickets $20 news@metrotimes.com @violetikon
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FOOD
True East by Jane Slaughter
No matter how multicultural
our dining-out habits have become, the old marker of how to trust a non-American restaurant still stands: We want to know whether Indian people go to the Indian restaurant, whether those who choose to eat at Pablo’s are from Pablo’s home country. More than 13,000 Japanese nationals live in Michigan, a majority connected to the auto industry, and they gotta eat somewhere. When a friend reported a long line of Japanese people waiting outside Ajishin in Novi, I felt confident about getting the real deal. When I went on Mother’s Day, families took up the tables. The man next to me in line — it appears there’s always a line — was wearing a Toyota shirt. He affirmed that Ajishin (“flavor from the heart”) is one of the authentic Japanese restaurants in the area. The place is also remarkably affordable. This same gentlemen said he’d remarked to an Ajishin employee that the flavors were always the same. The reply: Our prices have been the same, too, for 10 years. The place is small and basic, with backless chairs and the usual weak green tea brought in a plastic tumbler. You can get water, but you have to ask. Small prints on the walls are the only décor; they’re for sale. A few choice
seats at the sushi bar give you a view of the chefs’ work, but if you sit on the wrong side, your view is blocked by stacks of kitchenware. The menu is divided into sushi, nigiri, and sashimi; hot and cold noodle dishes; and kyo-chirashi, which is Kyoto-style sashimi over rice (the owner learned cooking in Kyoto). The latter two categories are brightly pictured, so the Amerika-jin clients (of which there are plenty) don’t have to fly blind. Bilingual servers are patient too. Hot bowls of udon or soba ($5-$7.50) are perhaps not quite meal-size. Each is fish broth with seaweed, green onions, and “imitated crab made out of fish meat,” and you choose which other main ingredient you want: poached or scrambled egg, mountain plants, fried tofu, or shrimp. I liked the duck and spinach option, which I ordered with soba (gray buckwheat noodles), but I adored the Ajishin, which piles on chewy shrimp tempura, tempura-fried vegetables, fried tofu, and slices of hard-boiled egg. You won’t get me to say anything good about limp, soaked fried tofu — kind of like you’d dropped a piece of toast in your soup — but overall the flavors were magical: a fatty, glistening broth with the long, thick, round ropes of udon imparting a mouth feels like no
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other. I wish I’d measured their length before slurping them all up. Although in general I prefer pasta with some flavor (like buckwheat), I will always make an exception for udon. Equally delicious was tetsugaku (“philosophy”), a thicker soup — the menu forthrightly proclaims “cornstarch” as an ingredient. It uses curry and manages to taste both Indian and Japanese at once. A fun way to order kyo-chirashi is to get the $15 sampler, gojyu-no-toh (fivestory pagoda). It’s a tower of five small brick-colored bowls, each containing a different bite of raw seafood over sticky rice and bright shreds of vegetables. Pink-red tuna, mellow river eel, shrimp, sea urchin, and salmon roe are the toppings. Sea urchin is actually the creature’s gonads, and can be a great delicacy. But the mavens’ websites warn that it’s either terrific — the foie gras of the sea — or terrible if you get a sub-par piece. I’d think twice or thrice before ordering it again. Perhaps at a place closer to the sea. The sushi-nigiri-sashimi list is not as long as some. It includes both river and sea eel, a big recommendation in my book, along with the usual tuna, salmon, and mackerel. We liked the crunchy soft-shell crab
Sushi from Ajishin. TONY LOWE
Ajishin
42270 Grand River Ave., Novi 48375 248-380-9850 Wheelchair accessible Noodle bowls $5-$9, sushi rolls $2.50-$4.90, rice dishes 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Wednesday-Monday
roll and the spicy California, as well as the natto, which we ordered because we didn’t know what it was. It’s fermented soybeans and works just fine. Other vegetable rolls are gourd, plum and cucumber, and burdock — a prickly plant you may know as the inspiration for Velcro. A frequent visitor seated next to me said a good bet at Ajishin is the grilled catch of the day, particularly cod, salmon, or hamachi kama, the “collar” of the yellowtail just behind the head. When they have it, it sells out quickly. Ajishin serves no alcohol and takes no reservations, so you will likely have to wait. Use the opportunity to strike up a conversation with a steady customer and find out why Ajishin is in its 20th year. eat@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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FOOD
DPS students pick radishes insides one of the district’s hoop houses.
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The fight to save lunch in Detroit’s public schools
Food activists are working to keep the district’s world-class school lunch program in place by Tom Perkins
The scene on school lunch trays across the country is usually pretty grim. Fluorescent gray gravy is slopped over processed meat that’s all plopped next to a glob of no-name brand instant mash potatoes holding the health and flavor profile of wet construction paper. Weird chicken nuggets are washed down with low-grade, sugar-packed chocolate milk, and pizza is a generous description for what passes as such. That is, unless you’re lucky enough to eat lunch in Detroit Public Schools’
cafeterias. There you’ll find whole, lean muscle meat that’s served with vegetables like yellow squash pulled from small gardens outside the district’s schools, or from local Michigan growers. The pizza is made with a whole grain crust, and the menu is varied and interesting. With all that’s wrong with DPS, it’s surprising to learn that the district’s school lunch program is among the nation’s most progressive and nutritious. Its cafeterias are considered the
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standard for large public schools, and DPS received worldwide recognition for its nutrition program. Among its accolades are the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association’s 2017 Silver Plate Award; inclusion in the School Nutrition Foundation’s 2017 class of School Nutrition Heroes; the 2017 FAME Golden School FoodService Director of the Year award; and FoodService Director magazine’s 2017 Foodservice Director of the Year. However, the DPS lunch program
could be in jeopardy. Its former executive director of the Office of School Nutrition, Betti Wiggins, built up the program over the last 10 years, but recently left for a position with the Houston Independent School District. With Wiggins gone, local food activists are doing what they can to ensure that her progress and the district’s nutrition program continue. “While there are so many things going wrong with the schools, we have this award winning — not just nation-
ally, but internationally — wonderful program, assembled with a great staff that didn’t get a lot of attention,” says Winona Bynum, executive director of the Detroit Food Policy Council. “So we want to make sure the district doesn’t abandon it.” It’s known that decent, nutritious meals play an important role in kids’ development, and it’s up to DPS’ kitchens to ensure that’s happening in Detroit. District cooks prepare more than 80,000 meals across 121 schools daily, including those that are part of the year-round universal free breakfast and lunch programs, as well as a few dinners. For many kids, the majority of their daily calorie count comes from DPS-prepared meals. Aside from making sure that means kids get whole ingredients, Wiggins also worked to remove what nutritionists refer to as “The Harmful Seven” from DPS’ kitchens: Trans fat and hydrogenated oils; processed and artificial sweeteners; high fructose corn syrup; hormones and antibiotics; artificial colors and flavors; artificial preservatives; and bleached flours. A common lunch children ate in March included roasted chicken with maple sweet potatoes, a harvest salad, mini waffles, an apple, and, for those who don’t eat meat or need a halal meal, lentils and rice. Breakfast options include yogurt, granola, fresh fruit, real eggs, Eggo waffles, or breakfast burritos. Meatless Mondays and Fridays are a chance for kids to get acquainted with dishes like hummus, vegetarian chili, or pasta alfredo. Wiggins built the program out of the requirements of the Healthy, HungerFree Kids Act of 2010, which dictated health and nutrition guidelines for school kids. (Congress failed to reauthorize it in 2015.) While nutrition is an important part of the equation, Wiggins also implemented the program in what Bynum describes as “a culturally responsible” way. “She looked at the background of the kids in the district and tried to make sure some of the things they were used to eating at home were reflected in a healthy way in the lunches,” Bynum says. “An example: We have some kids whose family background may be Middle Eastern, so she included hummus as one of the options she offered. It was inclusive while being a new exposure for some kids, but a healthy option for all.” Wiggins also tied the lunch program to the district’s STEM curriculum. Most of the district’s schools hold a garden in which fresh veggies like zucchini and tomatoes are grown, and kids learn about the science of agriculture as they
take part in planting and growing the food. The 32-square-foot beds are made by students with physical and cognitive disabilities at the Drew Transition Center. Altogether, there a 76 gardens and two hoop houses on DPS campuses, larger farms at Drew and Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School, and the vegetables are washed and processed in DPS. “Children get to see how science plays into it and make that connection,” Bynum says. “They … get a real life example and they really live what they’re learning.” Of course, certain politicians will squeal about the horrors of children eating anything more than dirt if it costs much extra, but the efficiency of Wiggins’ streamlined program is part of its success. Bynum says the improved meals haven’t come at much — if any — extra cost to the district when looked at on a cost-per-dish basis. Wiggins was savvy enough to seek philanthropic support through partners like Lifetime Fitness, for example, and find grant funding to build the hoop houses. “She really always talks about how she’s able to run the program efficiently and always had it in the black,” Bynum says. “She was always looking for ways to work it on a tight budget and to figure out how to run it to where it paid for itself. She negotiated with farmers (like Keep Growing Detroit) and did a lot of hard work and made an effort to make sure it was well run.” Those in the food community describe Wiggins as an asset, but, as such, she is in demand, and Houston’s district recently poached her. Though Bynum said the district seems interested in keeping the nutrition program in place, and an interim director was installed to cover the transition, it takes the right kind of person with the drive and knowledge to keep the program running right. The Food Policy Council and other groups like the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network are working with the district and community to ensure that person is found. “The main thing I want people to know is what has been going on for the last 10 years in the school system,” she tells MT. “Even in all the turmoil, (Wiggins) has been able to keep the progress going and keep providing good food for our kids … and that’s something the children deserve. “This has been going so well that we can’t go back. That’s not fair to the kids, and that’s not fair to the community.” eat@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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Atwater’s Rivertown rooftop biergarten.
COURTESY PHOTO
Soak up sun and suds
Atwater’s Rivertown rooftop biergarten is now open by Alysa Zavala-Offman
Nothing says summer
in Michigan quite like sipping an ice cold brew on a shady patio. Now, Atwater beer lovers will be able to do just that on the brewery’s brand new rooftop patio found atop their Rivertown location. The patio opened for business last week. Patrons will be able to sip a “rotating selection of Atwater beers with a special emphasis on its signature Dirty Blonde and Whango Mango Wheat, plus the brewer’s wines and spirits.” The deck features communal, bench-style seating to aid in that traditional biergarten feel. It also offers views of the river and the historic neighborhood in which the brewery is found. “We’ve always said we want to take Detroit everywhere and we’re delivering on the promise,” Atwater owner Mark Rieth said in a press release. “With our new rooftop biergarten, our guests can just take it upstairs and enjoy the incredible ambiance and views of our exciting and fast changing city and the river while en-
joying some of Atwater’s hometown refreshments.” The deck will open at 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday through Sunday with happy hour daily from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. featuring bar snacks and $1 off draft beers. Atwater is located at 237 Joseph Campau St., Detroit.
New poutinerie in the works for the Cass Corridor by Tom Perkins We’re weeks away from the area’s first Smoke’s Poutinerie opening in Ann Arbor, but a Detroit location could already be in the works. Crain’s Detroit Business first reported that a Smoke’s franchise is planned for the new “District Detroit” area around Little Caesars Arena. A franchisee tells Crain’s he is “in negotiations right now to be part of the new arena district.” The company has 81 franchises in
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North America and is making a push into the Midwest. For the uninitiated, poutine is essentially a jumbled mound of fries, gravy and cheese curds that’s heavy and unhealthy — but well-loved — Canadian grub. Although Smoke’s offers a range of options that has everything from Korean to Polish influences, the menu in Ann Arbor will include dishes like the Smashed Traditional with Smoke’s signature gravy, and Quebec cheese curd.
Detroit Tigers announce new Miguel Cabrera candy by Alysa Zavala-Offman At a press event at Comerica Park last week, the Detroit Tigers organization and baseball icon Miguel Cabrera announced the launch of a new candy called Bitbits produced by Cabrera-owned Miggy Foods. “This great project is the result
of the hard work and dedication of many people. I am very excited for my family, business partners, and colleagues seeing Miggy Foods come to life, especially launching here in Detroit. This dream is for everyone,” the first baseman said in a press release. Made with a base of crispy rice and covered in creamy milk chocolate, strawberry cheesecake, or white chocolate, Bitbits are promised to be composed of natural ingredients and fresh products. Miggy Foods chairman Daniel Satine promised the candy will have “a huge impact in the hearts of American consumers.” A multi-year agreement between the Tigers and Miggy Foods will see “signage displayed on the outfield wall, on the walls of both team dugouts, and on the LED ribbon boards at Comerica Park.” Bitbits will be sold nationwide starting in Michigan, then Florida, Texas, New York, and other locations. A 1.41 ounce bag will be available for $1.09. Larger sizes will also be available.
Gather, Eastern Market’s new campfire concept, to open by Tom Perkins The long awaited opening of Gather is upon us as the restaurant will start service this week in the Eastern Market. Partners Nate Vogeli, Lea Hunt and Kyle Hunt buck the small plates trend by trading in “large plates” that are prepared over open flame and intended to be shared with your dining partners at Gather’s communal tables. Their 34-seat, 2,200-square-foot space (including the basement prep area) sits across Gratiot Avenue from the Eastern Market on one of Detroit’s most architecturally beautiful blocks. Prior to opening the restaurant, Vogeli worked as an executive chef on a dude ranch in Montana, where the concepts of simple cooking and big, warm hospitality helped shape the idea behind Gather. Lea Hunt worked in coffee shops, at Quicken Loans, and the Detroit Institute of Bagels. Her husband, Kyle Hunt, spent the last several years in the sustainability field with a firm that turns warehouses into landfill-free operations. eat@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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MUSIC
Conor Oberst. COURTESY PHOTO
On second thought
Conor Oberst revisits and revises his Ruminations by Chris Parker
As we age, the average number
of fucks given declines precipitously. Frustrating as this can be for friends and family, it has tremendous benefits for musicians increasingly willing to say, “why the hell not?” In this case, it’s Conor Oberst throwing his hands in the air like he just don’t care with his new album, Salutations, the more fleshed-out version of his austere October release, Ruminations. “It is a bit of a déjà vu I guess,” Oberst admits by phone from a tour stop in El Paso. “But it was sort of intended that way.” Oberst was halfway through recording Salutations when the head of
his label Nonesuch fell hard for the album’s demos. The songs’ spare accompaniment amplified the bare-wire emotions making every vocal creak, lyrical hesitation and anguished acoustic downstroke feel like a knife to the ribs. Then there’s the tone of betrayal, world-weary ache, and references to Stockholm Syndrome which evoke the very public rape accusation against Oberst three years ago, and the woman’s subsequent retraction, confessing she did it for attention. Recorded back home in Omaha, Neb., where Oberst retreated after more than a decade in New York, Ruminations recalls the unvarnished
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power of Springsteen’s Nebraska, with a similarly striking simplicity and depth. While Oberst always intended to record the full band album — with buddies the Felice Brothers and renowned session drummer Jim Keltner (who has worked with Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson, Neil Young, Brian Wilson) — the idea of releasing the demos first intrigued him. “It seemed like an interesting thing for people to kind of hear the songs in their most base form… [because] usually you put out a record and later down the road there’s the demos,” Oberst says, explaining he’s secure enough in himself to abide the criticism.
“I gave up on trying to please people or make anybody happy with my music a long time ago,” he continues. “So I was prepared for people to compare the two and for people to like one more than the other, but I feel like someone is going to have a different opinion on everything, but if you’re a fan of my music, like, why not?” That blithe indifference wasn’t something he could easily manage in his youth. “It’s not like I don’t want to make the best music I can and I’ve always put my whole self into whatever I’m doing, but I guess it’s more like the realization when I was younger everything I did,
whether it was a record I made or liked — ‘Ohmigosh the stakes are very high. I’ve got to prove myself to the world, or this industry or these people,’” Oberst says. “And all those feelings are so far gone from my head, where now I really just want to do things that interest me and make things I’m inspired to make.” As such, it’s probably for the best he never attained Nirvana-size fame. Even back in 2005, around the releases of I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn — when Oberst was on every magazine cover — he was a bit too devil-may-care for that level of acclaim to sit easily. “I never felt like I had to stay there, and even when we were doing that, it was already weird. I remember doing the two tours back-to-back and the Wide Awake tour felt like the Beatles or something. Everywhere I went, people were so stoked and screaming,” he recalls. “We came back to the same towns literally six months later. I’d thrown all my clothes into a Tupperware thing and dyed them all black, went out and played with my friends the Faint, the weird dance-punk band, and didn’t play a single song they showed up to hear. They were fucking pissed and wanted their money back. Fortunately or unfortunately, I was never really in that position for very long where I felt like I had to be the same guy.” His new album Salutations has its work cut out, to be sure, as Ruminations is Oberst’s finest release since the halcyon days in the mid-aughts. It’s disconsolate but never bitter, beat but not beaten. Oberst regards his halfbroken subjects not with sadness so much as sympathy, replacing pity with a grudging kind of respect. He may be world-wary, but not yet wearied. His affection for the damned stretches from the dissipated rocker (“rings round his eyes, tracks down his arm”) and worried wife (who “counts every skirt in his new entourage”) of “Gossamer Thin” to the café worker in “Tachycardia” with a sudden burst of anomie (thinking “life’s an odd job that she don’t got the nerve to quit”) and the mug-raising “Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out,” an echo of the Replacements’ disconsolate alcoholic ode, “Here Comes a Regular.” Oberst has allegedly faced down his own self-medicating demons and there have been suggestions the intervention referenced in “A Little Uncanny” — “I’ll be man enough to keep myself in check/ ‘Cause all my friends that flew to town said that’s what they expect” — might have been his own. Certainly he could sympathize with the plight of Chris Cornell, who died by his own hand the night before we spoke. “Everyone obviously goes through
things in their life. I will say, there is a compounding effect when your life is traveling, and getting on stage in front of strangers, and, like now, talking with strangers about your life,” Oberst says. “There is a tough quality to having this occupation and there is obviously a downside. It actually blows my mind how people are and how much being famous seems to be, like, really be a driving factor with a lot of young kids.” “My celebrity is like on C-list, or Dlist celebrity at that, and I have friends that are like A-List ones. And while I may envy their creativity or their talents, I do not envy the being famous part of it. It’s not fun, a lot of times,” he continues. “For writers and musicians [sigh], or just creative people in general — and I don’t mean to be like everyone needs to be a suffering artist, because I don’t believe that either, I think people can find ways to be happy — but I think you can objectively look through history and be like, if you have that kind of mind you might also suffer from these other thoughts. “I mean I’ve had pretty crazy anxiety issues all my life, but it’s definitely compounded in certain social situations, or like when I really have to be in the public ‘fair’ a lot,” he adds. “I think that’s why people turn to self-medication and that kind of stuff because it’s a way to get through the day, and get through the show, and get to the next place, and yeah you’ve got to try to be careful because it helps, for sure, to a point, but then it can also get away from you.” Oberst knows that many confessional-style songwriters often welcome the idea that their songs aren’t about themselves. He doesn’t deny his material is inspired from his experiences — how could anything honest be otherwise? But that doesn’t mean the scenes are ripped straight from his life. “There’s a bit of a safeguard when it comes to songwriters that have a more autobiographical bent to their music, where you want to say, ‘It’s just a story, it’s just characters,’ and that is true to some degree. Everything that happened in a song is certainly not me,” he says. “It’s not a diary entry. It’s not a memoir. But it is obviously completely tied to at least portions of my life experience, the way I lead my life, and my worldview in general, and it kind of gets blended with other experience or observations.” “That’s the mysterious part of songwriting that is still exciting to me: I can’t explain to you how exactly it happens,” he continues. “But I know those things all blend together and kind of cloud in a song, and I kind of have to watt for that moment when something strikes me. After that there is a craft
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MUSIC to it. Obviously I’ve done this so long that once I’ve had the initial inspiration I can get from point A to point B, because I’ve written a lot of songs. But waiting for that point A or that initial thing is still kind of mysterious to me. I just try to keep my eyes open and pay attention to what’s around me as much as I can.” It’s hard not to feel the bigger, more produced Salutations sacrifices some of its power with the loss of intimacy, like a grenade tossed in a basement room versus a ballfield, even if the richer detail adds nuance. Oberst compensates by adding seven new songs bringing the total to 17, which perhaps overstretch the album’s length but also add new emotional layers. Salutations’ prized additions include the rollicking Dylan-esque rave-up and ode to America, “Napalm,” which references Apocalypse Now, Breakfast of Champions, Stone Mountain, and Sam Peckinpah, the album-closing title track paean to disappointment (“swore off temptation but what if it’s what I really wanna do?”), and the woozy Celtic-inflected “Afterthought” with its edict in favor of idealism over opportunism: “Always choose hunger over despair and what’s possible over what’s there.” For Oberst, there was the additional joy of having a chance to play and experience the songs live for a while before recording them (again). It’s as though his songs graduated college, went out into the real world, and then returned home for some seasoning before returning to the unforgiving pavement. “I’ve always thought of songs as existing in three stages — there’s the song in my head, and the way I think of the song, the melody and the lyrics, however I attach to it to the way I wrote it — and then there’s like the document you make in the studio, which is the one most people hear,” he says. “But then there’s the third, like neverending version of the song, which is every time you play and with different players, in my case mostly with different people.” This last form has received a good workout of late at the hands of Oberst’s backing band, the Felice Brothers. “They, like, Felice-ify all my songs, even my old ones,” he says. “That’s fun for me because they’re one of my favorite bands and sometimes playing an old song, it makes it feel new again to have a different arrangement, and gets me excited about a song that maybe I hadn’t thought about for a while.” Salutations also features “Empty Ho-
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tel by the Sea,” which Oberst described live as a true crime story featuring two brothers, one of whom is named Matthew, like Conor’s own brother. Matt Oberst, who used to play in a Chapel Hill band, Sorry About Dresden, died suddenly at the age of 42 last November. Like a phantom limb, his absence still hasn’t fully sunk in with the 37year old Conor. “Around Thanksgiving is when it went down, so in a weird way I feel like I haven’t fully absorbed it,” Oberst says. “There are definitely times when something will remind me he’s not alive anymore. I can definitely go days and think he’s still alive and then, ‘Oh wait, I’m not going to see that guy again,’ and it’s pretty rough.” In the meantime, Oberst is trying to stay positive and proactive. A portion of the proceeds from the tour are going to support Planned Parenthood. He expresses distaste for Trump and for what he represents, describing the president as “the lowest form of human kind.” “We have to have a society that chooses to acknowledge there are facts and truths in the world. I think it’s the biggest problem right now,” he says. “We’re living in an age where people often just throw up their hands, ‘I’ll never know if the Russians stole the election. I’ll never know if glaciers are melting. I’ll never know. I give up. Everyone is saying conflicting things.’ It’s just that when people are telling you opposite things, one of them is telling you the truth. Figure it out!” For Oberst, it’s equally important not just to be aware but to be active and make some kind of real difference in the real world. “Obviously it’s sort of a cliché but I do think it is true — get involved with local politics wherever you live, and care about stuff,” he says. “That’s where stuff really happens and that’s where most of the horrible developments began — because the side I don’t agree with has managed to secure most state legislatures and gerrymandered all the districts and basically cheated. So caring about that stuff wherever you live is a good thing to do, and a good start.” Conor Oberst performs on Wednesday, May 31 at Royal Oak Music Theatre; 318 W. 4th St., Royal Oak; royaloakmusictheatre.com; Doors at 7 p.m.; Tickets $28-$56
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The
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MUSIC
Street drummers in Detroit. NOWSHIN CHOWDHURY
Boom chakka-lakka-lakka boom The street drummers who soundtrack downtown by Anthony Spak
Three drummers are set up in the middle
of a closed-off road in front of Comerica Park, sitting on milk crates above plastic buckets, pots, pans, and old cracked cymbals of all sizes. Walking toward the park on any big event day, you can hear them from blocks away: the boom and crack of drumsticks on five-gallon buckets across Woodward Avenue. The drummers are Miles Hubbell, Phil Dage, and Deon Forrest, who goes by “Trap.” If the Tigers play, they are known as Heat, Sizzle, and Flame. Since 2010, these drummers have supplied the soundtrack
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to Detroit sports — their sounds are synonymous with a day at the ballpark. “We’re here to make the people dance,” Hubbell says. He also plays in the Vonneguts, a very fine Detroit garage band who combines the energy of the Black Lips with the psychedelic cynicism of Country Joe and the Fish. “What we try to do is get people to loosen up a little bit and be comfortable with being themselves around music.” Hubbell, Dage, and Trap have an undeniable internal cadence beneath all of their playing. Each
drummer plays a different pulse on their own buckets and pots, and they come together to form a collective polyrhythm. The drummers drop in and out of different patterns, change tempos at the drop of a dime, and cater to their hometown crowds with “Here we go, Ti-gers!” chants. Rarely do they miss a beat. On Thursday, April 13, the group meets in front of the big tiger statue in front of Comerica and begins to play around the fourth inning. Inside, the Tigers are getting shelled by the visiting Minnesota Twins in
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MUSIC the midst of a four-run Anibal Sanchez pitching meltdown, eventually losing 11-5. Outside, Heat, Sizzle, and Flame set out three buckets for tips and dive into their drum ditties. The sky is gray and the wind blows — the temperature reads 50 degrees, but it feels colder. Despite the chill, the bucket men continue to bang out in T-shirts and tank tops like the team has already made it into the dog days of summer. The cold doesn’t deter a Detroit bucket drummer. “[When the temperature drops] we go harder,” Trap says. In the middle of the fifth, a group of teenagers on a high school trip gather to watch the drummers. Many of them whip out their phones with haste, hoping to capture a quick Snapchat. A few dance but keep a safe distance from Heat, Sizzle, and Flame so as to not knock over any buckets. This quick burst of percussive street performance breathes life into a gray weekday, creating a momentary dance party in the midst of a Tigers blowout loss. “That is what keeps me going as a
performer,” Dage says. “It’s not about the weather or the team winning. When the [crowds] look at you, smile, and dance, it becomes a more global experience that people are sharing in.” After 10 minutes, the drummers end their segment. The teenagers clap, and some even throw their spare change into one of the tip buckets. They load into a school bus. Just like that, the crowd is gone. Dage says that asserting themselves into their spot below the giant tiger at the front entrance of Comerica Park is crucial to making money. “Every game, we try to be there,” he says. “We’ve been at that spot since the summer of 2010, playing in front of the tiger.” In order to balance their game day drumming around the Detroit sports calendar, the drummers work jobs with loose schedules — Dage as a substitute teacher and Hubbell as a contracted home improvement worker. “I’ve definitely lost a job from drumming,” Hubbell says. “I could go leave and make way more money in an hour than I would [washing dishes] in a whole day.”
Street drumming is not always an easy gig, and not all passersby are impressed. “You get heckled sometimes,” Hubbell says. “People will kick over your money bucket or yell, ‘Get a fucking job!’” But the good days are what keep the trio coming back to play. During a Friday night home game against a Central Division rival like the Chicago White Sox, the drummers can pull in upwards of $500 for a few hours of paradiddles and “Let’s Go Ti-gers!” chants. It’s not a bad gig for a side hustle with no boss, no dress clothes, and no early-morning meetings. The leniency of law for Detroit’s street artists also makes downtown a ripe spot for performance. Many other major cities require a formal permit, known as a busking license, to play for money. In Detroit, however, musicians do not need legal permission to perform in public places for tips. Their downtown drumming has also lead to more lucrative performance offers, including high-class bat mitzvahs and weddings. Hubbell said the hosts are willing to pay top dollar to have the “Sound of Detroit” at their events.
Dage does get a taste of the professional working world as a student teacher, but he uses his experiences drumming on the streets of Detroit to teach his students about pursuing their creative passions. He has even gone as far as showing high schoolers footage of him performing in the city to inspire them. “Bucket drums have become a part of the fabric of the Detroit experience,” Dage says. “If you have a talent, you can go out there and begin your craft. You don’t have to go to Hollywood to do what you love. If we’re able to do this, who knows what else is possible for someone who has a creative mind.” Dage, Hubbell, and Trap can be found in their usual spot at Comerica Park on any given game day; just outside of Eastern Market on the weekends; or at Campus Martius Park during the week around lunchtime, playing for the Quicken Loans lunch crowd. music@metrotimes.com @metrotimes
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MUSIC Livewire
This week’s suggested musical events by MT staff
FRI, 5/26 - SUN, 5/28 Trip Metal Fest
Kim Gordon and Bill Nace: Body/ Head. COURTESY PHOTO
@ El Club
It was hands-down our single favorite musical event of last year, and the Wolf Eyes-curated Trip Metal Fest returns to El Club for this Memorial Day weekend with a stellar lineup. Self-described as a celebration of “twisted and beguiling avant-garde music and performance, running congruent with Movement,” this year the fest is a super-smart mixture of local and international talent. Pharmakon, Body/Head, Container, Aaron Dilloway — wow, this is seriously so good. We’ve been waiting to see Body/Head (the duo of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and percussionist Bill Nace) for years, and Pharmakon is so crazily adored right now, and for great reason. The local bookings are just as crucial. After all, it’s members of Princess Dragonmom who helped to start Noise Camp and thus to usher in the golden age of Michigan noise music some 40 years ago, so kudos for including them.
Doors open at 6 p.m.; 4114 W. Vernor Hwy.; elclubdetroit.com; Tickets $20-$200.
THURSDAY, 5/25
FRIDAY, 5/26
FRIDAY, 5/26
George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic
Oddisee
Jermaine Dupri
@ The Arab American National Museum
@ The Fox Theatre
@ Sound Board at MotorCity Casino Hotel
As we all know by now, George Clinton and his Parliament Funkadelic crew have been exceptionally, extremely, and audaciously funky since 1968. Though they may have gotten started as a barbershop vocal act in New Jersey in the mid 1960s, it didn’t take long for Clinton and the band to realize where music was headed. Of all of the bands to gain momentum at the height of the 1970s, P-Funk created the best dance music with the most meaningful politically charged lyrics out of any of the rest. Never miss a chance to see Clinton with the mothership, never.
Doors open at 8 p.m.; 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; olympiaentertainment.com; Tickets are $35-$47.
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Amir Mohamed spent years as a visual artist before realizing that his true passion was hip-hop. Since then, there’s been no turning back. Beginning his career as a member of Washington D.C.’s Low Budget Crew, Mohamed — under the stage name, Oddisee — has blossomed into a true artist. He’s recorded with DJ Jazzy Jeff, and this show is a stop on his world tour to promote his album The Iceberg, which was just released in February. If you’re interested in more than his music, there will also be a meet and greet and Q&A after his performance.
Doors open at 8 p.m.; 13624 Michigan Ave., Dearborn; arabamericanmuseum.org; Tickets are $15.
Reality TV personality and Grammywinning musician, songwriter, and producer Jermaine Dupri will be joined by Bow Wow and Da Brat on Jermaine Dupri Presents: “SoSoSUMMER 2017 Tour.” Dupri, who introduced us all to the impracticality of wearing our pants backwards by producing Kris Kross’ “Jump” at age 19, has continued to influence hip-hop. He’s produced TLC, Usher, Xscape, and more, and he’s amassed a lot of fame thanks to the Lifetime competition show, The Rap Game. This tour is designed to be family friendly, and will introduce audiences to those who might be the next faces of hip-hop.
Doors open at 7 p.m.; 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit; olympiaentertainment.com; Tickets are $29.50-$55.
Kool Keith is Dr. Octagon. COURTESY PHOTO
WEDNESDAY, 5/31
SATURDAY, 5/27
SUNDAY, 5/28
SUNDAY, 5/28
Broods
Ho99o9
Bevlove’s Americana V
@ The Majestic Theatre
@ The Crofoot
@ El Club
Auckland, New Zealand’s best electronic pop brother and sister act, Broods, is definitely an up-and-comer. Singer Georgia Nott and her multiinstrumentalist older brother Caleb Nott are no strangers to playing music together, and have since childhood. Their adolescent band, the Peasants, won a few national contests that helped them gain recognition, and put them in touch with producer Joe Little, who helped Lorde skyrocket to fame. After the Peasants broke up, Little helped Broods create “Bridges,” which reached the Top 10 in New Zealand, and paved the way for the duo to sign to various major labels across territories.
As one of Rolling Stone’s 2014 “10 Artists You Need to Know,” Ho99o9 (pronounced “Horror”) is one of the best blends of hip-hop and punk rock. Influenced by Bone Thugs-nHarmony and the Death Set, this New Jersey duo keeps getting better and better. They’ve performed at Afropunk, SXSW, and even A Gathering of Juggalos. This show will be promoting this year’s United States of Horro9, its latest — and arguably best — album.
For years now, we’ve been telling you that Detroit indie R&B artist Bevlove is strong, talented, and a great live performer to boot. One of the coolest things she does, though, is host this Americana festival every year. Now in its fifth year, the lineup looks great: SG, Kamp Klutch, Martez, Manner, Chad Roto, Milfie, Dopehead, Kitty Kvsh, Sam Austins, DJ Stacye J, and Bevlove herself will grace the stage at El Club this year in what is set to be an entire day’s worth of fun.
Doors open at 8 p.m.; 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit; majesticdetroit.com; Tickets are $22 in advance and $25 the day of.
Doors open at 7 p.m.; 1 S. Saginaw Rd., Pontiac; livenation. com; Tickets are $13.
Dr. Octagon
Doors open at 4 p.m.; 4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; elclubdetroit. com; Tickets are $15-$20.
@ Saint Andrew’s Hall
Dr. Octagon is one of those personas that musicians create, often with elaborate backstories — in this case it’s the sexy, sensual, inventive, and funny as fuck rapper Kool Keith. Dr. Octagon, a time-traveling gynecologist from Jupiter, was killed by Dr. Doom, then briefly revived, only to be killed again by Dr. Doom. Got it? Good. Since 1996, Keith has been using great internal rhymes, and before that he released two albums as part of the group Ultramagnetic MCs. Keith claims to have invented horrorcore rap, and while that can’t be definitively proven, he’s more than pretty good — you might even call him the George Clinton of whatever it is he does. Doors open at 8 p.m.; 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; saintandrewsdetroit.com; Tickets are $15-$36.
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ARTS
Hole in the wall
Look out for 1010, Movement’s visual artist in residence by Lee DeVito German-based artist 1010 surveys his Eastern Market mural, created in 2016.
Integrating Hart Plaza’s
pyramid-shaped amphitheater into the layout of Movement Electronic Music Festival has provided a bit of a logistical challenge in the past. While the top of the pyramid provides an awesome view of Movement’s riverfront stage, the structure’s original recessed bandshell design is underutilized — too small to host its own performance, it’s typically more of a place for festival-goers to chill out and take a break from dancing. For the past two years, the festival has teamed up with Eastern Market’s 1xRun for an artist-in-residence program to liven up the space. Last year, an Italian artist known as 2501 created a psychedelic black-and-white design while onlookers watched. This year continues the tradition of hiring an artist with a numerical name with the Poland-born, Germany-based 1010 (“tenten”), a street artist known for painting trompe l'oeil portal-like imagery on building walls. (It’s the artist’s second trip to Detroit: You may have noticed his work at 3554 Orleans St., painted during last year’s Murals in the Market festival.) Speaking from 1xRun’s loft studio, 1010 (who keeps his real name a secret, and refuses to have his face photographed) says he is excited for the festival. He’s a fan of Detroit techno, and it
shows in his work — 1010’s artwork creates a visual rhythm that emulates the beats and textures of electronic music. Despite the fact that he lived in Germany when Detroit techno hit there in the early 1990s, 1010 wasn’t a fan then. Instead, he was into hip-hop, "which basically brought me to graffiti, so that was good,” he says. “Maybe it's better this way.” 1010 says he started creating graffiti when he was 13. “I was just painting characters all the time, and backgrounds, until it got boring,” he says. But Germany’s tradition of precision, he says, influenced even the graffiti art world, and it provided a chance to hone his skills and handicraft. His world changed when street artists like Banksy cropped up and opened his mind to what street art could be. “They made really cool stuff with just minimal colors,” he says. Thus, his persona 1010 was born. “When I had this breakup with graffiti and started doing street art, I basically wanted to, like, leave all the cliches from the graffiti part and have no name,” he says. “1010” is a reference to binary code: “Like 1, 0 — on, off.” It’s a reflection of his philosophies about art, which he sprinkles throughout our conversation and sound like they could be drawn from Brian Eno’s
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EMAD RASHIDI
Oblique Strategies card deck. “If you want to experience something new, just try to do the opposite of what you're doing before,” he says. “Just try it. Usually there will be something relevant.” 1010 says he sees similar wave-like patterns everywhere. For example, he sees a current oscillation in underground graffiti and mainstream street art. “Graffiti gets more interesting now, because street art blew up so much, so now it's these big murals, and that's where the focus is on,” he says. The result is that graffiti culture is getting more artistic. “People just don't give a damn. So it's more arty now, it's super loose,” he says. “They don't care about the style so much anymore. But it's nice to look at. It's fun to see, like somebody went out there, just super fun, and didn't care about anything.” It’s the same with the Motor City, which he says is why he’s drawn to it. “Detroit's fucked up, but I think it's rising again,” he says. “This whole place, Detroit, is this special situation. I just see so much opportunity. And so much stuff happening. It's very creative, people are really using it.” For Movement, 1010 says he will paint the pyramid amphitheater installation ahead of time on a vinyl canvas: By the time the festival starts, it will be completed. The plan is to use video map-
ping projection technology to make the design appear to come alive at night, so the resting festival-goers will have something to engage with that relates to the music. Concurrently, 1xRun’s Inner State Gallery will host an exhibition of his work titled Fields that will also have an opening on Friday. Like many electronic musicians, 1010 says his process is a mix of digital and analogue methods. He creates a sketch using Adobe Illustrator software so he can quickly manipulate different layers and color patterns. But then he says he simply freehands the design on the wall. It’s a method that works well for 1010’s madness. "You do the fun part in the beginning, you map everything down, and then you can go party and the next day be like a zombie or a robot,” he says. “I try to be lazy,” he adds with a laugh. “My mom always told me you have to be smart if you want to be lazy.” Fields opens starting at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 26 at Inner State Gallery, 1410 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; 313-744-6505; innerstategallery.com; free. ldevito@metrotimes.com @leedevito
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CULTURE
Conscientious consignment Boro boutique opens in Eastern Market by Alysa Zavala-Offman Boro is located inside the Atlas Furniture building on Gratiot Avenue just outside Eastern Market. COURTESY PHOTO.
On an unseasonably warm
and windy day last week, we hauled it over to Eastern Market where Miriam Pranschke and a crew of friends were working diligently to get 1440 Gratiot Avenue ready for a Saturday grand opening. The space was filled with construction equipment, but the shop owner assured us the work was almost done. For the past year, Pranschke has been renovating the 500-square-foot space located on the ground floor of the old Atlas Furniture building, a structure on Gratiot Avenue that’s been around since the early 20th century. Friends and family helped them sand layers of paint off original hardwood floors, remove bits of crumbling ceiling, and construct one-of-a-kind steel shelving — all in pursuit of creating a space to sell curated consignment. Though the shelves were bare when we met with Pranschke, the stock she described to us is not the vintage fashions Detroiters have come to expect in resale settings. Instead, she’s focusing on current style trends, well-made items, and unique finds. She will sell some high-end labels here, but that’s not her main focus. She says price
points will be between $20 and $30, with some lower-priced items available and some unique, high-end items going for more than $100. Pranschke has been amassing a collection of gently used clothing and accessories for years, and much of that stock will fill Boro to start. After those items are gone, however, she says she’ll focus solely on goods consignors bring to the shop. “I want people to bring their stuff here,” she says, noting she’ll sort through items and select those she feels will sell. Consignors will get 40 percent of the item’s sale price, and they’ll be offered an opportunity to give back too. They can offer all or a portion of their sales to the concept, which Pranschke is calling Community Threads. Those proceeds will then go to a charity of her choosing. The charity will change as often as month-to-month or as rarely as twice a year, according to Pranschke. She says she’ll likely pick Alternatives for Girls as Community Threads’ first recipient. “I wanted to give back in a bigger way than just donating bags of clothing,” she says. While some resale shop owners
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have a passion for bygone trends, Pranschke’s focus is a little different. Coupled with a focus on contemporary styles, she’s hoping to curb the epidemic of clothing waste happening around the world. “We focus so much on what we put in our bodies and being healthy in that way,” she says. “But we should also care about what we’re putting on our bodies and how we are caring for the people who make these products.” It’s no secret that the sale of $10 skirts is only made possible by sweatshop workers who endure fetid conditions and long hours, only to be rewarded with a miniscule paycheck and the likelihood of developing a debilitating respiratory disease like silicosis ,which eventually leads to death. “Clothing costs more when people are paid well. We have to start caring about people involved in making clothes,” Pranschke says. This concept is reflected in the name, which comes from the Japanese term boroboro. The word, which translates to tattered or repaired, refers to a type of clothing that was created from scraps of old garments and pieces of leftover fabric. Pieces were patched and resown,
Boro Resale
1440 Gratiot Ave., Ste. 1A Detroit bororesale.com 10 a.m.-8 p.m Monday-Saturday
passed down through generations. “There is an inherent beauty in things that are old,” Pranschke says. “They have stories.” The sentiment rings true on a block that’s recently seen a revival. Just around the corner from the sheds of Eastern Market, the strip is home to Detroit Candle Co., Trinosophes, Antietam, Well Done Goods, Inner State Gallery, and others. This week Boro and a “campfire concept” called Gather join their ranks. As the world moves toward life via the internet, opening a brick-and-mortar shop can seem risky, but Pranschke feels differently. “There’s always going to be a place for local businesses,” she says. “And this type of business will thrive in good and bad economic times.” alysa@metrotimes.com @oh_miss_alysa
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CULTURE Higher Ground
Hopes are high for legal pot in Michigan by Larry Gabriel
It’s on.
Last week the Board of State Canvassers approved the language for a petition by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. That means if the CRMLA can gather 252,523 valid signatures in a six-month window by May 30, 2018, the question will be placed on next year’s November ballot for voters to decide. Wasting no time, a coalition press release announced that a “signature collection kickoff event will be held before the end of May.” “Prohibition didn’t work with alcohol and it has clearly failed with marijuana as well,” said CRMLA spokesman John Truscott in the release. “Our campaign will make Michigan a national leader by creating responsible regulations that will end the waste of law enforcement resources that goes into enforcing Michigan’s outdated prohibition laws while also creating jobs and generating much needed tax revenue for our state.” This is the moment that many have been waiting for and on the timetable that prudent prognosticators pointed to back in 2014. And it should be noted that Truscott is the spokesman for the campaign. He was the press secretary for former governor John Engler and is a principal in Truscott Rossman, probably the most powerhouse PR agency in the state. In addition to local and national organizations such as the ACLU of Michigan, the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Patients Rights Association, Michigan NORML, MI Legalize, the Michigan Cannabis Coalition, and the State Bar of Michigan Marijuana Law Section all contributed to the petition language. That looks a lot more powerful than the last effort was coming out of the gate. For instance, the campaign will pay signature collectors from the start. The MI Legalize campaign relied on volunteer signature gatherers at the outset. But hold your horses before you start celebrating. As we know from
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the last election, weird things can happen. There’s a lot of huffing and puffing about marijuana coming out of Washington, D.C., and you never know what an embattled and unpredictable President Donald Trump might do. When signing the federal spending bill, which says the Justice Department may not use federal funds to go after state compliant medical marijuana facilities, Trump included a signing statement objecting to that provision along with some others. He could instruct U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to go after these facilities. Sessions has outlined a tough-oncrime agenda that calls for adherence to mandatory minimum laws and making the toughest provable charges in a case. He’s promised to crack down on marijuana and laughs at the idea that it is medicine. There are still plenty of people getting arrested for marijuana offenses nationally and locally. Michigan State Police data shows arrests went up 17 percent from 2008 (when the medical marijuana act passed) to 2014. And that is despite city after city voting to decriminalize during that period. Many arrests came from crusading law enforcement looking for ways to get around the law. One tactic is to say the person arrested was somehow noncompliant with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act and there-
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CULTURE There are still plenty of people getting arrested for marijuana offenses nationally and locally. fore cannot use it as a defense. For instance, having a few more than the legally allowed 12 plants would forfeit your protections. And now we’re talking about recreational use? There are a number of industries that would like to see any kind of legal marijuana rolled back — including the pharmaceutical, alcohol, tobacco, and for-profit prison industries — and the prison guards unions, and almost every police force in the nation. And the way this president seems to love the corporate world, who’s to say what will happen if these guys catch his ear and he gets prodded by Sessions? Add to that the unpredictability that could come into play, especially if he feels like he’s being cornered and has to do something to make himself look tough. Ruining some lives along the way isn’t out of the question. As ominous as that sounds, there just may be a lot of bluster from the federal policy standpoint. After all, there are 29 states with substantial medical marijuana laws, and recreational use is legal in eight states plus the District of Columbia. Then, last week the Vermont state legislature sent an adult recreational use bill to the governor. If he signs the bill, or more likely lets it become law without signing it, it will be the first legislative recreational legalization in the country. So far all the other states legalized it with petition initiatives. Another interesting thing to note is the Vermont law allows adults to have two plants and possess up to an ounce. There’s no provision for commercial grows, stores, and taxes although the state is looking at states where that is going on for future developments. So while the feds huff and puff, unless something big changes — such as a Muslim dropping a marijuana bomb on Mar-a-Lago — the feds probably have neither the political will nor the budget to take on the burgeoning marijuana industry. Which brings us back here to the Great Lakes state. Things are look-
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ing pretty damn good if you support legalization. A February EPIC-MRA poll showed 57 percent support for legalization in Michigan. That number has been growing year by year and, if trends hold, by 2018 that number should be a little higher. CRMLA is better organized, better funded, and a little wiser for the experience than the last effort. The reason the 2016 initiative didn’t make the ballot was that the signatures weren’t all collected within the 180-day window. That’s not going to happen this time. In all likelihood this petition will make the ballot. There will probably be a spirited resistance to the legalization campaign, but if people vote as they have been telling pollsters, Michigan should be on track to legalize. The initiative’s provisions: · Legalize possession, cultivation, and use for adults · Legalize growing industrial hemp · License businesses to grow, process, test, transport, and sell marijuana · Call for testing and safety regulations for retail sales · Set up a 10 percent excise tax and six percent sales tax for education, roads, and local governments. This is the moment many activists have been waiting for. Legalizing marijuana will stop ruining families and lives through the legal system. It will take away an excuse for police to harass people. It will allow people to indulge in a mostly harmless leisure activity. And, if places like Colorado and Washington state are an indication, it will put some money into the coffers of the schools and fix the roads. Oh, did I mention that right across the border in Canada, legal recreational marijuana sales are scheduled to start on July 1, 2018? Oh, hell yeah, it’s on.
letters@metrotimes.com @gumbogabe
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CULTURE Savage Love
Breathless by Dan Savage
Q:
’I have two female sex partners who want to be breath-play dominated. I know the practice is dangerous, and I employ the rules of consent and communication a pro-Dom escort friend taught me. But is there a legal release document we could sign that protects consenting adults in the event of an accident or death? — Ruminating About Consensual Kinks
A:
Restricting someone’s air intake is always dangerous, RACK, and while we all too often hear about people dying during solo breath play, aka “autoerotic asphyxiation” (an activity no one should engage in ever), we rarely hear about someone dying during partnered breath play. (I recently discussed partnered breath play with Amp from Watts the Safeword, a kink-friendly sex-ed YouTube channel. Look up Episode 533 at savagelovecast.com.) That said, RACK, someone can’t consent to being strangled to death by accident. “The lawyers in my office discussed this, and we agree that there is no way to ‘waive’ or ‘consent to’ criminal negligence resulting in substantial bodily harm or death,” says Brad Meryhew, a criminal-defense attorney who practices in Seattle. “I don’t think you’ll find any lawyer who would draft such an agreement. Even if an agreement were executed, it is not going to constitute a complete defense if something goes wrong. There are principles of criminal liability for the consequences of our decisions, as well as public-policy concerns about people engaging in extremely dangerous behaviors, that make it impossible to just walk away if something goes wrong.” Another concern: Signing such a document could make breath play more dangerous, not less. “A person who had such a waiver might be tempted to push the boundaries even further,” says Meryhew. And now the pro-Dom perspective… “As consenting adults, we assume the risks involved in this type of kink,”
SHUTTERSTOCK
says Mistress Elena, a professional Dominant. “But if you harm your partner or they become scared, shamed, shocked, or, even worse, gravely injured, it’s the Dom’s problem. At any time, the submissive can change their mind. Some cases have been classified as ‘rape’ or ‘torture’ afterward, even though consent was initially given. It’s our job as Dominants/Tops/Leads to make sure everyone is safe, consenting, and capable.”
Q:
I’m a 32-year-old guy, my gal is 34, and we’ve been together for two years. Every time we get it on or she goes down on me (though not when I eat her out), my mind wanders to fantasies involving porno chicks, exes, or local baristas. A certain amount of this is normal, but I’m concerned that this now happens every time. When I’m about to come, I shift my mind back to my partner and we have a hot climax, but I feel guilty. Advice? — Guilty Over Nebulous Ecstasy
A:
I’ve been asked what biases advice columnists have. Do we favor questions from women? (No, women are just likelier to ask for advice.) Are we more sympathetic to women? (Most advice columnists are women, so…) Are we likelier to respond to a
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CULTURE question that opens with a compliment? (Of course.) But the solvable problem is our biggest bias. Some people write in with problems that they’ll need an exorcist, a special prosecutor, a time machine, or some combo of all three to solve. I could fill the column week after week with unsolvable problems, and my answers would all be variations on ¯\_(‘_‘)_/¯. Your letter, GONE, is a good example of the solvable problem — a letter likelier to make it into the column — and, as is often the case, the solution to your problem is right there in your letter. You’re able to “shift [your] mind” back to your partner when you’re about to come, and when you eat her out, your mind doesn’t wander at all. My advice: Make the shift earlier/often and engage in more activities that force you to focus (like eating her out). Problem solved. P.S. A lot of people allow their mind to wander a bit during sex — supplementing the present sensations with memories, fantasies, local baristas, etc. If it keeps you hard/wet/game and isn’t perceptible (if you don’t start mumbling coffee orders), your partner benefits from your wanderings.
Q:
My college girlfriend and I were together for four years. The relationship ended 10 years ago when she cheated on me. She did eventually marry the guy, so, hey, good for them. She recently gave birth to a boy. She gave her son my name as his middle name. Nobody in either family has this name and it isn’t an especially common name. I’ve asked dozens of people with kids, and nobody can think of a reason why a person would give their child a name anywhere close to an ex’s name. Thoughts? — Nobody’s Answers Make Effing Sense
A:
Maybe your college girlfriend remembers you a little too fondly. Maybe a family friend had the same name. Maybe she met someone else with your name in the last 10 years, and she and her husband had a few threesomes with that guy, and she remembers those fondly. Maybe you’ll run into her someday and she’ll tell you the real reason. Now here are a few definitelys to balance out all those maybes, NAMES: This is definitely none of your business and you definitely can’t do anything about it — people can definitely give their
76 May 24-30, 2017 | metrotimes.com
children whatever names they want — and there’s definitely no use in stressing out about it.
Q:
I’ve been reading your column forever — like “Hey Faggot!” forever — and your response to CLIF (the guy whose wife could no longer orgasm from PIV sex after having a child) is the first time I’ve felt the need to gripe about your advice. My wife was also the “Look, ma, no hands!” type, and it was amazing to be able to look into her eyes as we came together. But after a uterine cyst followed by a hysterectomy, something changed and that came to an end. It was a pretty hard hit for us sexually and emotionally. Toys, oral, etc. had always been on the table, but more as part of being GGG than as the main source of her coming. For a long time, it put her off sex as a source of her own pleasure. Things have gotten much better, but I’d be lying if I said we didn’t occasionally talk wistfully about that time in our relationship. I can empathize with what CLIF is going through. When we went through this, we did research and spoke with doctors wondering the same thing: Is there some way to reclaim that PIV-and-herorgasms connection. We even thought of writing you, the wise guru of all things sex, but am I glad we didn’t. In response to CLIF asking for some fairly simple advice, you bluntly said that it’s not a problem that she can’t come from PIV sex. You ignored the fact that up until fairly recently, she could. Then you suggest that, because he hasn’t mastered the subtle art of acronyms, he might be a shitty lover whose wife has been faking orgasms for years and is just tired of it. Dick move, Dan. — A Callous Response Only Negates Your Motivation
A:
You’re right, ACRONYM, my response to CLIF was too harsh. But as you discovered, there wasn’t a way for you and your wife to reclaim that PIVand-her-orgasms connection. So CLIF would do well to take Dr. Gunter’s advice and embrace how his wife’s body works now and not waste too much time grieving over how her body/PIV orgasms used to work then. On the Lovecast, Nathaniel Frank on the marriage-equality movement: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage
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coming early summer
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Horoscopes
CULTURE ARIES (March 21- April 20):
by Cal Garrison
LEO (July 21-Aug. 20):
Weeding out the dead wood makes you wonder if there are any loose ends left to cover. Plowing through the wreckage would make more sense if you weren’t so overwhelmed by what has come to pass in the last month or two. On top of everything else, random events are about to shift your focus away from what is already enough of a handful. When the dust settles at the end of the day, you’re well aware of the deeper issues. For now the only thing you can say is “time will tell” and trust that the moment will come when you can finally sit down next to your life and face the truth.
You’ve got the usual suspects hanging around driving you crazy. Along with that, there appears to be a collision of opportunities that you either don’t have time for, or that require an enormous expenditure of energy on your part. Who knows why it’s all happening at once, but here you are in the middle of it. This is either the eye of the needle or the eye of the hurricane. Are there any instructions in this neck of the woods? Do whatever it takes to stay centered, try to be amused by the fact that you are totally clueless, and remain 100 percent open to the need to change at the drop of a hat.
TAURUS (April 21 -May 20):
VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 20):
Wrapping things up seems to be a theme. You are leaving something behind and preparing to move on to the next thing. From the looks of it, getting all your ducks in a row will be easy because you’ve got a lot of support from the planets. At the same time, it would be wise to keep a clear eye on where you stand with the people in charge. There are times when we have to take them into consideration. At the moment most of them see you as “the sweetheart of the rodeo.” Before you take off on this hiatus, make sure that you are on excellent terms with all of them.
You are halfway between one thing and another, trying to figure out where you stand, and wondering what needs to happen next. Well aware of the fact that you have no clue, if you’re feeling a little shaky, more responsibility than you’ve had in a long time feels even weightier with so little certainty. The pressure to “know for sure” will keep raising your blood pressure until you see that the decisions that face you will unravel themselves. Those closest to you feel your pain. They empathize and want to help but they’ve got their own stuff, and can only do so much.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
It would be great if you could just move on and follow through with the things that really matter to you. For whatever reason, you’ve given others too much space. While I admire your willingness to adapt and cooperate with whoever it is that you’re connected to, all of us are here to learn how to keep our uniqueness alive no matter who we’re with. Maybe there’s a way to make this work for everyone. Look closely at the extent to which your pictures prevent you from seeing that if you can manage to shift a few things around, you’ll get to have what you want too. CANCER (June 21-July 20):
You can’t ignore what needs to be done, but none of it will get done if you’re out of touch with yourself — so how do you bridge the gap? There are times when life is about work and sleep. When things get like this, pouring your heart into whatever the task at hand involves has to be balanced with equal parts of self care. Keeping your sanity and keeping your nose to the grindstone isn’t that hard once you accept the fact that any extracurricular activities have to be put on hold — at least until you reach the point where the fruits of all your labor become ripe.
82 May 24-30, 2017 | metrotimes.com
LIBRA (Sept. 21-Oct. 20):
Those closest to you are not ready to hear it. Before you decide to read them the Riot Act, keep in mind that they are not on the same channel. In addition to that, the last thing they want to hear is the truth. In most situations, you do better when you wait till you’re asked before adding your thoughts to the pile. Be patient. As you busy yourself with better things to do, believe it or not others will find their way to the best conclusion on their own steam. In the end, it looks to me like what could have been a nightmare will come together exactly the way you wanted it to. SCORPIO (Oct. 21-Nov. 20):
The business of branching out is fraught with uncertainty. The idea that you are still alive and in one piece after all of this is amazing. Months of wondering whether you would make it have given way to the feeling that everything will be OK. As you reclaim your faith in the future, what you’ve learned in the meantime has taught you more about what’s important. An older, wiser you sees that everything has to fall apart before we even begin to understand what people, and even life itself, means to us. Filled with a deeper sense of trust, you are ready to move forward and love again.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 21-Dec. 20):
You think you know what’s best for you; unfortunately your blind spots make it impossible for you to know whether you’re making the best choice or feeding the same old denial mechanisms. You say that you need to have more space to get in touch with yourself. If that is truly the case, go for it. But if you’re using this as an excuse to avoid looking at the stuff that makes it so hard for you to get along with anyone who doesn’t see things your way, you’re going to wind up with the next version of the same old thing, and tests that call you to reckon with what you can’t see. CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 20):
You’ve been juggling so many variables, no wonder you’re feeling a little schizophrenic. Flipping back and forth between this and that, it becomes difficult to find yourself when life settles down at the end of the day. You don’t necessarily need a vacation because you thrive more on work than you do on play. But you definitely need to chill out because the bigger part of you is spiritually exhausted from burning the candle at both ends. Something needs to change. You could get the ball rolling by tuning in to whatever it takes to feel centered and whole again. AQUARIUS (Jan. 21-Feb. 20):
Life continues to show you how good it is. At the same time, you are as overwhelmed with responsibility as you’ve ever been, and the sense that it’s all up to you never seems to go away. This time you have a new set of variables to contend with, and there is enough change to suggest that you’re about to take a different approach to your work situation. Something is calling you to break off from the herd and develop your own way of doing things. It may take a while, but any decision that gives you a greater sense of autonomy and sovereignty will work out just fine. PISCES (Feb. 21-March 20):
There needs to be some sort of change. Even if you can’t figure out why it has to be this way, part of you knows that the momentum of things that you thought would support you forever has totally lost its steam. Whenever anything reaches this point, there are always external forces that challenge our weak spots and make it seem as if they pose some sort of threat to what we hold dear. You’ve got a choice. In my experience it’s always best to make the one you can live with, so get your fears, your ego, and your money trips out of the picture; let go and set yourself free.
metrotimes.com
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May 24-30, 2017
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