Authors - Detroit Metro Times

City Slang: Battlecross post-Orion news
Following their triumphant appearance at OrionFest, local metal heads Battlecross has announced that drummer Kevin Talley (formerly of Six Feet Under, Chimaira and Dying Fetus) will be staying on with the band for its forthcoming tour. See Battlecross performing Slayer’s “War Ensemble” at OrionFest here. The new album, War of Will, will be released via Metal Blade on July 9, and the first single will be “Force Fed Lies”. Battlecross will be on the Mayhem Festival with Rob Zombie throughout the summer. Follow @City_Slang
DIA ‘Courts’ New Diners
Who says the Detroit Institute of Arts is only for art admirers? The addition of a Friday night music schedule has found some new converts. And now food lovers can rejoice as the museum unveils a new go-to place for visitors to eat, drink, relax and socialize. It’s the newly revamped Kresge Court. Combining an elegant atmosphere with competitive prices, visitors can enjoy an array of gourmet snacks, sandwiches, salads and desserts that use regional ingredients. Befitting a hip hangout, the dishes skew creative. If you’re stopping by for a quick lunch, you’ve got to try the fine ficelle salad. The stars of this show are prosciutto, black mission fig jam, wild arugula and European-style thin sourdough baguette. The green goddess salad features local greens, carrot ribbons, marinated summer squash, sunflower seeds and currants. Other offerings include DIA deviled eggs and wasabi tobiko caviar; artichokes, radish, black olive aioli and flatbread; toasted farro salad with shaved fennel; surryano dry-cured ham with hot pepper pickles and more. Desserts include Italian pudding with bittersweet chocolate, seasonal fruit croustade, and an alcoholic spin on a Detroit classic, a Boston rum cooler with Vernor’s ginger ale, French vanilla ice cream, Captain Morgan spiced rum, [...]
The 1943 Detroit Race Riot, 70 years later
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 1943 don’t neatly dovetail with our conventional narratives about the Greatest Generation, and they provide ugly examples of white racism that most area residents, if they remember them, would rather forget. And that’s a shame, because the 1943 riot offers a chance to look beyond simplistic sociological assumptions about ’60s civil disorder and the ensuing urban disintegration. This is especially interesting at a time when historians such as Thomas Sugrue are re-examining Detroit and the roles played by whites and their institutions, often uncovering sweeping antecedents that transcend a passive white exodus. And for those whites who think the ramifications of institutional racism are overstated, those old photographs of white mobs rampaging up and down Woodward Avenue, beating and stabbing black Detroiters, might change a mind or two. And 1943 is also worth another look because it helps define the early civil rights movement. It saw African-Americans effectively [...]
Oh Criminals, Where Art Thou?
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with my Detroit experience so far. In the past 8 months, I have no gunshot wounds, stabbing scars, or even a stolen vehicle to show for it. I don’t even have a lower credit score! When I told everyone I was moving here, I got a wave of backlash and pleas to reconsider. It reminded me of the time I traveled to the Middle East and, as I was boarding my flight, received a hundred text messages and calls saying, “If you go, you are going to DIE!” Well, my time in the Middle East was just as disappointing and uneventful as my time here in Motown. Where have all the criminals gone? With a nice bout of insomnia, I used to walk to the YMCA at 5 a.m. to work out in total darkness. My Dad freaked out when I told him. What my father can’t understand is that, unless you live right downtown, and once the sun sets, the streets of Detroit are deserted. No cars. No homeless people. Even the pimps seem to take the night off. I could streak down Woodward (my apologies for the [...]
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Send CDs, vinyl, cassettes, demos and 8-tracks to Brett Callwood, Metro Times, 733 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 46226. Email MP3s and streaming links to bcallwood@metrotimes.com. We had previously received a sampler CD from Funky D Records signees The Royal Blackbirds, and the full album Shot Down landed on our laps this week. Thanks to the presence of singer Rebecca Saad, there’s a cool, kinda Amy Gore-esque feel to the bluesy garage rock, perfectly highlighted by covers like “I Can Only Give You Everything” and the title track. The originals are cool too, and Tino Gross has dragged out the dust and grit from these youngsters. Great piece of work, all told. This week’s City Slang stars the Horse Cave Trio sent in the 2010 single “I Am the Sheik” (Funky D), and it’s worth another mention because it’s so damned gnarly, nasty and heavy. These guys are known for their rockabilly swagger, but they can let out an unholy roar when they want to. Detroit Frank DuMont loves his hometown so much, he put it in his name. His band is called the Drivin’ Wheels, and the logo was designed by Gary Grimshaw. Mind you, his new Let Me Be [...]
She Takes the Cake
Like many great business ideas, Cake Ambition started as a hobby. Owner and cake maker Jessica Bouren started out making baked goods for her friends, co-workers and family. Word spread, and requests came pouring in for her increasingly creative cakes. Bouren decided to leave her design job at a major firm in Louisville, Ky., and come back home to Michigan to pursue her cake-making career. When designing cakes, Bouren uses the skills acquired from her bachelors degree in fine art and design, and her experience as an interior designer, actually making sculptures in the medium of cake, which she learned all on her own with the aid of books and YouTube videos. Without any work lined up when she first came back to Michigan, Bouren started hustling cakes to make a living. One such hustled cake was for a wedding at the Whitney in 2012. A staff member sampled the cake and liked it enough to call her in for an interview. Jessica was hired as the assistant pastry chef, a position she held for 30 days before being promoted to executive pastry chef. She worked that position for a year before deciding to focus on Cake Ambition. Cake Ambition is currently renting space [...]

Curt Guyette Archives

Current Stories

Detroiter Hangs Loose Kiteboarding comes into Michigan’s summertime fore. | 6/19/2013
Orr Offers a Deal Will it even matter? | 6/19/2013
From Motown to Coketown? Is keeping the petroleum byproduct known as “petcoke” stored, in the open, on the bank of the Detroit River a wise decision? | 6/12/2013
Walk the Walk The Complete Streets initiative for Woodward | 6/12/2013
Detroit in the News Mainstream Media, Majors and Misperceptions | 5/29/2013
DIA Fire Sale Can a judge actually order the city to sell off its Picassos? | 6/5/2013
Colombian Labor Pains What is possibly happening in Detroit that would drive a man to have his lips sewn shut? | 6/5/2013
Former MT Culture Editor is Remembered Fondly A life well performed. | 6/5/2013
Former MT Cultural Editor Dies in Car Crash Sarah Klein, 36, dies on California highway south of San Francisco; her husband remains in critical condition. | 5/28/2013
The Art of the Deal Pecha Kucha brings the art of precise presentation to fashionable Ferndale. | 5/29/2013
News Hits Ditching the Defenders | 5/22/2013
Law & Order: Detroit There’s a new chief in town | 5/22/2013
The Orr-acle speaks! Divining the meaning of a report clouded in bureaucratic jargon. | 5/15/2013
Penrose Rising Changes are under way. | 5/15/2013
Banging the banksters The debt that keeps on taking | 5/8/2013
Another Day Approaches After more than 15 years of public service, including a stint as Detroit’s mayor, Ken Cockrel Jr. opines on his journey while the sun sets on his remaining time in office. | 5/8/2013
Snyder’s Skunky Smell Nauseated by the stench of secrecy | 5/1/2013
The Rubber Stamp Multimillion-dollar contract with Jones Day | 4/24/2013
Raucous On Jones Day protestors temporarily shut down Detroit City Council. | 4/16/2013
It’s Good to be the King Punching bags | 4/17/2013
Race, Media and the EM People talking across the color lines that so often divide us. | 4/10/2013
Detroit Fairgrounds Debate New Board, New Game | 4/10/2013
EM law heads to court Public Act 436 establishes a new form of local government | 4/3/2013
All-star oddballs Brawling, clowning, kicking high and spacing out — here’s a look at 10 offbeat Tigers worth remembering | 4/2/2013
Cutting through the smoke Changes to Michigan’s medical marijuana law | 4/3/2013
DPS — a mess of conflict Board in exile | 4/3/2013
Giving the EM a fist? Or just the finger? Emergency Manager Backlash | 3/27/2013
Double vision Emergency Financial Manager | 3/20/2013
Snyder’s Detroit shuffle Emergency Manager or Emergency Financial Manager? | 3/13/2013
Kwamegate update GUILTY! | 3/13/2013
Fairground zero Against long odds, activists continue their fight for an alternative plan | 3/6/2013
Unlocking a movement Mass incarceration reaches epic proportions in ‘the land of the free’ | 2/27/2013
Foreclosures, fraud & the big fight Rallied neighborhoods, picketed banks, blocked Dumpsters, packed courtrooms | 2/20/2013
A fair chance ahead Negotiating a deal for the fairgrounds | 2/13/2013
Boiling blood and Arctic blasts Windy commentary belies globally important issue | 2/5/2013
King Speaks Metro Times asks, and the UAW president answers | 1/30/2013
Diggin’ that Duggan Detroit media fawn over Big Mike — and neglect those who've actually filed to run | 1/30/2013
Fighting the other terror Frontier Airlines suit puts spotlight on racial profiling | 1/30/2013
Bridge boom-doggle Regulatory change would allow hazmats on Ambassador | 1/23/2013
Detroit's vision and revision Framework for change looks promising, but watch who controls the reins | 1/16/2013
Crime and injustice Crime in Detroit made big headlines (again) last week. | 1/9/2013
Michigan's wrong direction | 1/9/2013
Union blues & Detroit's red ink Labor leaders say they can help, but that Bing won't listen | 12/26/2012
Humanity rising Habitat's ambitious projects give an east side neighborhood hope | 12/19/2012
How the Capitol exploded Last week, Lansing's cold war got hot | 12/12/2012
Prescient pension board Deeply moved by what he heard, board head reads prepared statement | 12/5/2012
Project Censored: Uncovering the most underreported news stories of 2012 On the cover of the most recent book produced by Project Censored is a photo of protesting college students in California getting pepper-sprayed by a cop... | 12/5/2012
On a roll? Legislative bills could be long-awaited game-changer for regional transit | 12/5/2012
Council's grape expectations Despite mischaracterizations, Detroit City Council mostly just is doing its job | 11/28/2012
Paramount's costly fallout Would-be homebuyers caught in crossfire of crooked dealings | 11/21/2012
Hello turmoil With voters rejecting emergency manager law, who the heck's in charge here? | 11/21/2012
Project Censored Uncovering the most underreported news stories of 2012 | 11/21/2012
Hurricane Sandy's wake-up call Climate change is becoming harder to ignore | 11/15/2012
Blackout Project Censored spotlights the news that’s most underreported, misrepresented or ignored by MSM | 11/14/2012
Justices for sale The trouble with 'dark money' and its effect on the state’s judicial elections | 11/14/2012
Climate chaos: Hurricane Sandy's wake-up call Leading up to the just-completed presidential election, President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney engaged in three prime-time debates that lasted... | 11/14/2012
Matty's money pit Now that the people have decided, the bridge baron balks | 11/14/2012
Election reflections Understanding why we voted on so many amendments this time around | 11/14/2012
Hurricane Sandy's wake-up call Climate chaos rears its head even as pols look away | 11/7/2012
The morning after Now that the election's over, heed calls to reform the next one | 11/7/2012
Labor pains revisited Remembering the Detroit newspaper strike of ’95 | 10/24/2012
Criminal injustice U.S. prison system dwarfs other nations', but what does it really cost us? | 10/24/2012
The smoke clouding Prop. 3 A look at DTE's coal connection | 10/17/2012
Labor pains and gains | 10/17/2012
Going rogue Why a federal judge had to rein in GOP Secretary of State Ruth Johnson | 10/10/2012
On the bus Push for a regional transit authority gains traction locally, but not with Lansing | 10/3/2012
Devils and details Where the heck did Proposal 5 come from, and who's in favor of it? | 10/3/2012
Flim-flammable New Gateway to the Ambassador Bridge — and why it’s opening years late | 9/26/2012
Are we better off? Mitt, are you kidding? The facts show things are better | 9/12/2012
Labor Day aftergloom The state's unemployment drop doesn't necessarily mean the good times have begun | 9/5/2012
Laugh till it hurts How Moroun's new mailer stretches the truth | 8/22/2012
Under orange skies The fallout of locating minority public schools in polluted areas | 8/22/2012
Not so smart, ALEC How a corporate bill mill writes many of our state laws | 8/15/2012
Hitting the pipe hard Enbridge's tar sands oil pipelines dodge oversight | 8/15/2012
Underwater Could bankruptcy be the answer? | 8/8/2012
Font affront Why the type size issue isn't the real point of the battle over the state’s emergency manager law. | 8/1/2012
Money-go-round Millions spent in issue campaigns means 'dark days for democracy' | 8/1/2012
Facing down Fannie Homeowner fights eviction that flies in the face of common sense | 7/25/2012
For art's sake Why the tiny millage to support the DIA makes sense for us all | 7/25/2012
Time to Mann up Scholars trace the rise of the wingnuts in new book | 7/18/2012
Skuzzy stuff Aftermath of pension scam leaves would-be homeowners in dire straits | 7/18/2012
Snyder says no The governor, it turns out, may have a mind of his own | 7/11/2012
Voting wrongs The impact of voter suppression laws in Michigan and beyond | 7/3/2012
Assault on democracy Why aren't more protesting the shenanigans holding up a referendum on the emergency manager law? | 7/3/2012
John Ganis' foul shots A photographer records an American landscape being consumed | 6/27/2012
Crude awakening The Marshall spill and dangers exposed | 6/27/2012
Ballot battles The shameful way supporters of the emergency manager law are trying to shut down a referendum on it | 6/27/2012
Bridge fight hardly over And stakeholders other than Moroun have chips on the table | 6/20/2012
Conventional thinking Alt-weekly convention brings grim news, but we look to Grace Lee Boggs for hope | 6/13/2012
Soldier of Misfortune Claims of a cover-up in the killing of a metro Detroit man in Iraq | 6/6/2012
Lying down to stand up While the state's movers and shakers are enjoying the high life up at the annual policy conference held on ritzy Mackinac Island this week, a state legislator from southwest Detroit and some of her constituents will be laying their concerns on the line. Act | 5/30/2012
Gavel-rousing For a while now, thanks to the nonprofit Michigan League of Conservation Voters, folks have been able to go to the Web and see how state legislators and even the governor rate when it comes to addressing issues of environmental concern. But the same wasn't | 5/30/2012
Earth to Nolan Usually Detroit News editorial page honcho and columnist Nolan Finley just irritates us with his Neanderthal mentality. But a column last week, decrying the way the liberal press has been beating up on the lovable Mitt "Mittens" Romney, had us wondering exa | 5/30/2012
Pointedly bogus Surprise: Big corporate players’ roles stalling the EM repeal referendum | 5/23/2012
Walking on Remembering Ethel Schwartz and honoring her legacy | 5/16/2012
Crash course Event shows Detroiters that there’s no painless path out of this mess | 5/16/2012
Mess of suppression Why voter ID laws are solutions to a problem that doesn’t exist | 5/9/2012
Detroit Police duck and cover DPD still not compliant with feds, as promised earlier | 5/2/2012
Detroit Public Schools: Suspensions of disbelief Students who protested quality of DPS education with walkout get suspensions | 5/2/2012
Freep flap Reporters firing raises questions | 4/25/2012

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