Last night I was lucky enough to be at the premier of the short film “The Secret of Jonny Strange” by Detroit artist Jon Strand at the Max Fisher Centre. The original score, by Judy Adams formerly of WDET, was performed last night on a grand piano to an audience of a few hundred. I very much want to get a copy of the score which is very Nightmare Before Christmasesque. The animated film features Strand’s signature ink point creations. Strand’s work is up at the Max Fisher Center till the end of July for appreciators to wonder how he has the patience to create with millions of dots. The film will be on loop during the DSO’s upcoming Eight Days in June Festival.

Wayne State University Press is teaming up with the Detroit Historical Museum on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 to celebrate the release of two new books of short stories in the Press’s Made in Michigan Writers series. This is a free event, open to the public, that will feature readings by Doreen O’Brien and Andy Mozina, as well as last year’s authors Jack Ridl and Vivee Francis. We all know that the creative live in and around the city, come out and celebrate this talent with a bit of champagne and dessert. RSVP soon so we make sure to have enough food for you. See you there.

My girlfriend pointed this out to me in the most recent WSU Police Watch email:

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT: Two incidents of aggravated assault were reported during April. Both occurred on April 13th. The first incident took place at a WSU Physician Group medical clinic at 50 E. Canfield when a 53 year old patient’s demand for a vicodin prescription was refused. The woman became irate and threatened to “blow the place up”. The patient then attempted the strike a physician with her cane. The patient was arrested and her case is pending in the Wayne County Prosecutors Office.

Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any better I found the microphone throwing footage on WXYZ’s website. Awesome. I’m pretty sure this is what yesterday’s article was about:

Raw Footage of Microphone Throwing

From the footage, it’s obvious that Kilpatrick is feeling a little stressed. His body language and the short roughing up he gave the reporter clearly show this. The reporter was being a douchebag though, just repeating the same question over and over again, like Kilpatrick is going to stop and have a candid conversation with him or something. It’s obviously sweeps.

About 75% of the way through, Kilpatrick turns to the cameraman, who I suspect is black, and talks to him in a “we’re in this together” tone, in a strange racially charged moment. Other than that, the video is pretty much what you’d expect – the reporter pestering the mayor and the mayor ignoring him, for the most part.

I get my oil changed at Goodrich Tire on Grand River at Woodward. In waiting for my car, I decided to take a look around the area. I had always wondered about the stores between the underpass and Grand River on both sides of Woodward that are covered in heavy grates. If Somerset is your shopping comfort level, I would not suggest this trip. However, if you don’t mind roughing it and enjoy finding diamonds in the rough, I would recommend the strip for inexpensive clothing, shoes, and home goods. Also, if you are into the flashier things you can find at Bizzare in the New Center One building, this is the place for you with hats and shoes dyed to any possible colour you can imagine. My favorite discovery was the Detroit Hardware Company. I am so angry now that I drove out to big box stores, when I could have gotten everything here at comparable prices and with a lot less aggravation. Everything is manageable, and you get everything from cookware, office supplies, gardening supplies, hardware, lumber, cleaning products, and anything else of use in and around the home.

A couple of my fellow bloggers and I attended Launch this past Friday. It was great to be able to tour the new lofts, check out some sweet cars, dine on food from Detroit restaurants, and witness fashions from the D and other major cities in North America. I am not a fashion connoisseur, but I appreciate that cities are great incubators for fashion creation. Detroit has the inspiration and the fashion appreciators to make Detroit – among other great cities – a city for fashion. I thank the minds behind Wound fashions for this great step toward uniting the fashion creators and the fashion appreciators in Detroit.

The Mayor’s Office, in an effort to keep the crazy in all branches of city government (council, school board, mayors office) has been working hard these last few days to do a little damage control. You can see a weird transcript of Kilpatrick’s interview with TV station WXYZ here:

Mayor Kilpatrick Throws Microphone

The article is really poorly written and full of sentences all in capital letters. In fact, it’s almost impossible to read and you can’t really tell whats going on. In then end though, Kilpatrick allegedly throws the interviewer’s microphone. Awesome.

There is a great article about my new favorite Detroit store, Bureau of Urban Living, in Model D. In the article, the owners mention the lack of small street level retail spaces. I think it is very clever using a converted condo as a retail space. I’m trying to rack my brain to think of any other possible street level condo spaces cropping up in the city. I think stores at the base of condo complexes really add to the quality of life for those within the complex and those outside. I thank the Bureau of Urban Living for showing Detroit entrepreneurs a creative way to get around the lack of retail rental spaces in the city.

As my friend Sarah and I drove home from the Launch party on Saturday night we witnessed a huge plume of smoke on Jefferson. Upon further inspection we arrived at a home that was completely consumed with flames. This was markedly sad because the house was clearly occupied. The fire department responded very quickly, but it was clear that nothing would be salvageable. As I was dialing 911, I realized that this was probably the fifteenth fire I have called on in five years. This got me thinking, just why are there so many fires in Detroit? As I write this there are six burned out houses on my street alone. A few years ago I was visiting a friend in Naperville Illinois and was very impressed by their fire safety program. Known as Safety Towns, these mock towns teach children fire safety, using realistic fire scenarios that include non-toxic smoke used to simulate a fire, ways to escape burning buildings, and smoke detectors. In a city that has so many house fires, and an average of fourty seven fire fatalities (mostly children) annually; I think it’s time we give the children of Detroit the same education.

The third in a series of six documentary film screeneings on the origins of jazz will be held at one of my favorite clubs. Cliff Bells on Park between W. Admas and Elizabeth is hosting the event this Thursday at 6 p.m. The evenings music is being held in conjunction with the Detroit Public Library and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Admission is free! I always like that work “free.” If you’ve never been to Cliffs’ this is your chance. It has been magnificently restored to its original 1940’s decor and some of the best jazz vocals and musicians are on hand every night but Monday. Usually a cover on weekends.