Mention “Detroit” and “riot” to most metro Detroiters today, and most people will think of the year 1967. Some will call it a “riot” and some will call it a “rebellion,” but chances are that nobody will talk about Detroit’s forgotten riot, the 1943 Detroit race riot. Most likely, that’s because the events of...
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We are relieved to learn that Michigan’s outpost of hunting and gun culture, Cabela’s in Dundee, is back open after a small electrical fire on Wednesday, April 24. The incident caused the store to close for cleaning and restocking. After working around the clock for more than a week, the outfitter is back open and back in...
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Last week, we wrote about Tilted Axes Detroit,  the brainchild of Detroit native Patrick Grant, a New York-based guitarist and composer who has worked with some of the biggest names in avant-garde music. This week, he pulled off a homecoming of sorts , a way to honor the city that he feels has bestowed...
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This year, the organization dedicated to the memory of jazz man Lyman Woodard will bring out the drums. We’re talking serious trapsmen with penchant for pounding. The Lyman Woodard Organization for the Arts launches its inaugural season with an encore presentation of the Drummers’ Nite Out Dance Party, where aficionados of the rhythm section...
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Little noted today, it is the 200th anniversary of a seminal moment in Detroit history. On Aug. 16, 1812, British forces invaded the town of Detroit after the surrender of U.S. forces by Brig. Gen. William Hull. After a day of British and American forces exchanging cannon fire across the Detroit river on Aug....
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This evening, metro Detroiters will have a rare opportunity to meet with and see the work of one of the city’s more interesting artists — and residents — Carl A. Nielbock, head honcho at C.A.N. Art Handworks, Inc. Nielbock’s story is so unusual, and dovetails so neatly with the history of his adopted hometown, it...
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After 25 years downtown, Opus One is going to close at 11 p.m. this Saturday, though it’s apparently not closing for good. An announcement today said the management plans to make some changes, renovate the interior, and re-open in November under a slightly different name. The reasons cited include declining corporate accounts and changing...
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The Detroit Beautification Project continues in Hamtramck, with new murals seemingly going up every week. Last weekend, we were fortunate enough to meet artists Dabs and Myla, hard at work on the western wall of Composite Lodge on Caniff near Lumpkin, thanks to a heads-up from DBP co-organizer Matt Eaton. Their work was cartoonish...
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It all started with an innovative plan to bring more art to metro Detroit. A joint project of the Seventh Letter street art crew, with help from 1XRun (a division of Royal Oak’s 323East gallery), Contra Projects (headed up by Tom Thewes, the guy who directed CPOP Gallery in Detroit for 10 years) and...
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Normally, we object to any statement that declares Detroit to be a “blank canvas” ready to have new designs imposed on it. Generally, those who make such statements are prone to ignore the very real people, the centuries of heritage, the wealth of architecture that exist here in abundance. But when it comes to...
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