Detroit On Tap

Coach Insignia

2011-09-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

View of Downtown Detroit & Belle Isle

Jumbo Shrimp

I have been to this restaurant twice and I am in love with it. The view from the 71st & 72nd floor of this place is incredible. Coach Insignia is the place to be and I encourage everyone to experience this place because it is truly an magnificent place to experience not only during Happy Hour but also as a place to take a young lady for a romantic and intimate meal. So experience one of the highlights of Detroit and enjoy it.

This contemporary steak house offers breathtaking views from the top of the GM Global Renaissance Center. Coach Insignia features Corporate Executive Chef Eric Ward's elegantly delicious cuisine and a world-class wine list (one of Michigan's largest) to accompany the panoramic view of Detroit and Windsor.

View of Downtown Detroit & Windsor

You'll bask in the personalized service provided by General Manager Patrick Floch and Sommelier Scott Wallace. Coach has been awarded the highest rating of four stars by both the Detroit News & the Detroit Free Press, as well as the Wine Spectator's coveted "Best of" Award of Excellence.

For great dining, special events or private parties, Coach Insignia is the place to be in Detroit. Join us at the highest hotel restaurant in the Western Hemisphere. Coach Insignia is simply magical.

So make arrangements to go to Coach Insignia

71st & 72nd Floor

GM Global Renaissance Center

Detroit, MI 48243

Ph. (313) 567-2622

Union Street Restaurant

2010-10-28T04:36:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a good place to eat that will give you a taste of southern cooking with elegance than this is the place for you. The portions are fulfilling from appetizers to the main course plus the drink specials doesn't hurt either. Union Street Restaurant motto is "Best Place to Be Seen" and it is truly a place that I would love to be seen at based off of the food. Also the pleasant waitresses and hosts are additional place because it is hard to find good places to eat with good service these days. Nonetheless, Union Street is truly another gem in the City of Detroit that Detroiters and visitors should visit. Take my word for it, I was full half way through my meal and on top of that, you will enjoy the attic feel of the place as well as some of the signs posted at the bar that you can't help but remember such as:

If your purpose is to get drink to forget than pay your tab in advance. I am paraphrasing but that is the meaning of the message on the sign.

So be sure to check it out the website--http://unionstreetdetroit.com/04/

Union Street4145 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 831-3965 | (313) 831-2553 fax
union@unionstreetdetroit.com

The Whitney

2010-10-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Whitney Restaurant is a great place to take a date to eat as well mingle. Its a house turned into a restaurant but it has some delicious deserts that are to die for. So if you are looking for place to impress a special someone for Sweetest Day or any holiday than I highly recommend me this way. Below is the address and contact information directly from its website.

The Whitney restaurant is on Woodward Avenue in the heart of Detroit's cultural center.

The Whitney
4421 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 832-5700

You can email The Whitney at info@thewhitney.com
You can also view a virtual map of The Whitney here. The Whitney is within a mile of most
Metro-Detroit cultural and sporting venues.

Kingdom

2010-10-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a nice place to threw a birthday party or to just dance all night than Kingdom formerly known as the Zoo Bar is your place to be. It is located in Downtown Detroit at 415 E. Congress. They have go-go dancers as well as drink specials & are on the radio with 102.7 FM. It is truly great setting for singles but be prepared for it to be packed on the dance floor but come ready to have fun. This is not for the old though but it isn't for the too young either, it is for the middle agers who are just trying to mingle until they find that right person. So dress to impress people.

Detroit Sunday Night Freebies

2010-09-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

If you like free stuff like me than you need to check out Niki's Lounge because it reggae dancing and karoake every Sunday. It is truly a great place to mingle and it is located in the heart of Greektown at 735 Beaubian in Downtown Detroit, Michigan 48226. The men are on chill and the women are just looking to have fun as they dance to the reggae sounds. This is the new hang out spot in the city and I encourage everyone to enjoy the freebies during these tough economic times.

Website: www.nikislounge.com/

Niki's Pizza & Lounge

2010-09-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a great place to eat and than a fun place to dance to the old school & new school music than Nicki's is your place to be. It is located in Downtown Detroit in Greektown near Greektown Casino. They threw free birthday parties and if you like reggae music than you have to visit this place on Sunday's because admission is free and it is banging. Don't believe my word but check it out for yourself.

For more information visit--http://nikispizza.com :
Located in the heart of beautiful downtown Detroit, one block from Greektown Casino, Niki's Greektown Pizza is Detroit's Best Square Deep Dish Pizza. Served alongside Authentic Greek Cuisine, with a wide variety of Greek and Traditional Toppings to choose from, you can see why Niki's Pizza has been voted one of America's top 25 pizzas by GQ Magazine. Whether your looking to dine outside on a nice summer day, or hang out and watch the game on one of our flatscreen televisions with a drink from our full service bar, Niki's is sure to end up on your list of Detroit's best. Take home a bottle of our own fresh bottled Greek Dressing, and don't forget to order the saganaki, Opa! Just See What People are Saying.

Niki's Lounge is a top of the line venue with a beautiful view, equipped with a full bar, full service kitchen, sound stage, and dance floor. Able to hold up to 350 patrons, Loco's can cater your next event from 10 people up to capacity. Our menu includes buffet style starting at $10 a person where you pick items off the Loco's menu including taco, burrito, or appetizer buffets to individual plates starting at $20 per person. We can also accommodate your tastes and customize a menu specifically for you. You can provide your own music or let us recommend a DJ or live band to best equip your parties needs. We have low drink prices and a fun and friendly wait staff. We also accommodate bottle service requests.

To book your party today contact Tracy Thibodeaux at 313.363.9648

Arts, Beats & Eats Festival

2010-09-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

This event is not in Detroit but it is another signature event that takes place in Metro Detroit and its in its 13th year. I attended for the first time this year and despite having to pay an admission fee of $3, the music, the people, the art and the food was all pleasant. Nothing at the festival is free but the music once you are admitted in. Still, it is a wonderful place to take the family and it is a great place to take a date who wants to experience new things from music to culture to scenery.

Here is more information from the Arts, Beats & Eats 2010 website--www.artsbeatseats.com/ :
Oakland County’s Favorite Summer Festival Celebrating Art, Music, Cuisine and Humanity returns September 3-6, 2010. Now in its 13th year Ford Arts, Beats & Eats Presented by Citizens Bank will take place in Downtown Royal Oak for the very first time. The festival will offer more than 200 performances on ten stages, a highly ranked Juried Fine Arts Show, local restaurants with some of the finest cuisine in metro Detroit and international, regional and local attractions that will make the city of Royal Oak the premier destination for Labor Day weekend 2010.

Detroit International Jazz Festival

2010-09-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

It only happens once a year but it is truly an incredible signature event in the City of Detroit for Labor Day Weekend. Four days of non-stop jazz from all over the world. It is a must see event that I highly encourage all Detroiters to partake in at least once in their lifetime. So be sure to check it out especially if you are a music and/or jazz lover. Three stages of smooth melodies that cling to the soul and heart which makes one feel like they are at the Essence Festival in New Orleans if you didn't know any better.

More information from the DJF website--www.detroitjazzfest.com/ :

The Detroit International Jazz Festival (DJF) is a major cultural institution, providing year-round concerts and educational programming that culminates in one of the world’s premier jazz festivals on Labor Day Weekend.

Now in its 31st year, the festival takes place over several city blocks in downtown Detroit – from Hart Plaza to Campus Martius – with five stages and 100 acts over four days. It also offers educational activities for adults and children, giant puppets, fireworks, late-night jam sessions, rare opportunities to meet the artists and much more. And it’s all FREE.

Our mission is to:

Foster the history and nurture the development of jazz
Perpetuate Detroit’s significant jazz legacy through educational and collaborative opportunities accessible to all
Present a world-class signature event that makes Detroit a tourist destination

DJF is managed and produced by the Detroit International Jazz Festival Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2006. Through the generosity of Detroit philanthropist and Mack Avenue Records Chairman Gretchen C. Valade, the Foundation also established a $10 million endowment to support festival operations. The festival staff and advisory committee work throughout the year to raise the balance of operating costs through corporate partnerships, contributions, and earned-income opportunities.

History

The Detroit International Jazz Festival was founded in 1980 by Robert McCabe and the Detroit Renaissance. Along with the Detroit Grand Prix and the International Freedom Festival, Jazz Fest was intended to bring people into the city and to provide all segments of the population with world-class entertainment. It quickly became a Labor Day Weekend tradition at Hart Plaza, a city park along the Detroit River designed by Isamu Noguchi and Shuji Sadao.

From 1980 to 1991, the festival flourished through a partnership with the highly regarded international jazz festival in Montreux, Switzerland, sharing performers and commissioned poster art. In 1991, the festival merged with Detroit’s Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, where it resided until September 2005.

In March 2005, Detroit philanthropist and Mack Avenue Records Chairman Gretchen Carhartt Valade emerged as a major sponsor of the festival. With additional support from the Knight Foundation, the festival expanded programmatically and physically. The new footprint, covering three blocks of Woodward Avenue north to the newly developed Campus Martius Park, provided two additional stages and more space for food vendors and other activities. The result was record-breaking attendance and revitalization of the festival.

In January 2006, Valade founded the Detroit International Jazz Festival Foundation, which took over production and management of the festival. Valade also committed $10 million to establish an endowment that would provide much-needed seed money for festival operations.

Signature Grill

2010-09-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for karaoke, all you can eat food for $10 and drinks while looking at the Detroit River than the Signature Grill is yet another place for you. Its a great place to catch all the local sporting games on television while sitting at the bar and it is a great place to just mingle while meeting new people. I highly encourage all Detroiters to visit it and everyone who stays at the Riverfront Apartments to go there to really have a good time while having good meals.

Signature Grill @ Riverfront Apartments
100 Riverfront Drive
Detroit, MI 48226
www.signaturedetroit.com/

An Ecumenical Walk for Peace (to end violence): Tribute to the Black Madonna

2010-08-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

Detroit has tons of walks but a walk to end violence is very necessary and that is why I hope people attend this event because I definitely plan to attend.

Sunday 12 September 2010 ~ Detroit, Michigan USA

Details:

When: This walk is now being planned and will take place on Sunday, 12 September 2010 beginning at 8:00 a.m. in Detroit, Michigan U.S.

Where: Beginning at Central High School on Tuxedo St., down Linwood St. to the Shrine of the Black Madonna.

Who: Mothers (and all who support Mothers) and others who have lost a child(ren) to violence (or whose child is incarcerated).

Why: Because in as much as each human living survived the birth process, we all have a right to life and because the violence must end. Mary (the mother of Jesus of Nazareth) was only a teenager when Jesus was born. We do not know for certain, but she was likely not even 50 at the time of his brutal murder. She is the model strength for suffering mothers everywhere. She is especially an outstanding beacon for young women around the world to emulate. She is is also a powerful example of one who knows the process of spiritual healing to overcome the effects of despair. She is a reminder of the pain a woman bears who has lost her child(ren) to violence. Yet, she is also a symbol of courage one can carry inside while working to end the violence. The Black Madonna crosses religious lines in that Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Hindus and others can identify with her and will support the cause and purpose of this Walk. Each step along the route will be a renewed commitment to our voice against violence and proclamation to stop it everywhere..

Other Activities: A special Friday night forum and Sunday ecumenical program and a participatory ceremony are being planned. This is a process on the Path to Peace. To participate in this Walk, email us with your contact information.

Background: Two of the women on the organizing committee for this Ecumenical Walk have experienced and survived violence within their own families. One has lost a son (Osakwe Jahi) and the other a father (George Washington Crocheron). But whoever death claims unjustly leaves behind a Mother or loved one who is permanently scared. This Ecumenical Walk is a tribute to all Mothers who have mourned then found the strength to live on.

Who is The Black Madonna? The simplest answer is ~ she is the Mother of Jesus the Christ of Nazareth. The Black Madonna is revered by worshipers around the world. All together there have been 450 or more statues and paintings of Mary around the world that are/were renown in which she is depicted with dark or black/brown skin and the majority of these can still be found in Europe. Wikipedia and other websites have fascinating articles about this topic. One website in particular has the interesting title Black Madonnas:
Still Black and Still Venerated.

Below is just a brief description of the Black Madonna

When reporting Pope John Paul II’s visit to Egypt in February of 2000, the Papal News Service stated: "Christianity and the world’s culture owe much to the Church of Egypt.”
"The Black Madonna cult is central to the Priory [of Sion]. . .To them at least, there is no doubt about the significance of the Black Madonna. Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair writes explicitly, 'The Black Virgin is Isis and her name is Notre Dame de Lumiere [Our Lady of the Lights]." An informative exposition of Jeremiah 7:18 demonstrates that the Papal worship of the Virgin Mary is in essence the worship of the Babylonian Queen of Heaven, who is worshiped today as the Black Madonna by approximately 75% of the world's population!

In 2006, the Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox wrote an intriguing article entitled The Return of the Black Madonna: A Sign of Our Times or How the Black Madonna Is Shaking Us Up for the Twenty-First Century. Below are just a few of the points from his paper:

Every archetype has its seasons. They come and go according to the deepest, often unconscious, needs of the psyche both personal and collective. Today the Black Madonna is returning.[1] She is coming, not going, and she is calling us to something new (and very ancient as well).

Within his essay, Dr. Fox interjects what he calls "a personal story": ...my first encounter with the Black Madonna. That encounter occurred in the Spring of 1968 when I was a student in Paris and took a brief trip—my first—to Chartres Cathedral located about thirty five miles from Paris. While all of Chartres was an amazing eye-opener for me, its sense of cosmology and humor and human dignity and inclusion of all of life, I stood before the statue of the black Madonna and was quite mesmerized. “What is this? Who is this?” I asked myself....

Before this Catholic priest goes on to list 11 reasons why the Black Madonna is so relevant in today's world, he makes this statement: She comes to shake us up which, as we shall see, is an ancient work of Isis, the Black Madonna

You may find it interesting to read the entire article, just to see the wide range of thinking about this phenomenal woman.

Below, at the end of this page you will find some extraordinary artistic attempts to portray the Black Madonna from around the world across the Internet.

Future: A Memorial Park

Flood's Bar & Grille

2010-08-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went to another nice place in the City of Detroit that I have been before but I wanted to share with the world. Flood's Bar & Grille is a great place to go on Sunday nights for Karaoke but it is a wonderful place to eat and listening to live jazz and even rap music. With two bars for people to order from drinks and tables all around to seat for those who don't want to stand. I strongly suggest this place as a great place for others to eat at.

For over 20 years, Flood's Bar & Grille has been Detroit's most celebrated restaurant and bar. Located in the heart of downtown Detroit, Flood's is the city's best place for great cocktails, soul food, outdoor dining and live music.

Stop by to see why Flood's is Detroit's favorite afterwork and late-night scene if you don't believe my word.

Contact Information:

Flood's Bar & Grille

731 St. Antione

Detroit, MI 48226

313 -963-1090

http://www.floodsdetroit.com/

info@floodsdetroit.com

Z's Villa--A Nice Remote Eatery

2010-08-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I ate at one of the best places to eat in Detroit and it was Z's Villa. It is a quite and remote place to eat on Detroit's east side near Woodward. A great place to get lunch and a afternoon meal. Also it is a place that is great to patronize on the weekend as well. While the upstairs is larger than the downstairs, it also has a great outside patio with umbrellas that shade you from the sun. So this nice place is a hidden treasure in the City of Detroit and yet another reason why Detroit is on its way back.

Now if you like to eat meat and salads than Z's Villa is the place for you because they give you more than enough to eat. They give you tons to eat and the atmosphere is just so friendly. They even give you free freshly popped popcorn. So if you don't trust my word for it than I encourage you to visit Z's Villa and find out for yourself how good they really are.

Here's some information:
Z's Villa
42 Piquette
Detroit, MI 48202
(313) 874-2680
http://www.zsvilladet.com/

Gifted Hands That Heal: Benjamin Solomon Carson Biography

2009-01-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

September 18, 1951 • Detroit, Michigan
Neurosurgeon, motivational speaker, philanthropist, author

Ben Carson is one of the most famous and respected doctors in the world. Since the 1980s, his surgeries to separate conjoined twins have made international headlines, and his pioneering techniques have revolutionized the field of neurosurgery. Almost as important is that Carson has become a role model for people of all ages, especially children. Although he works thirteen-hour days and performs hundreds of operations a year, Carson makes time to spread his message that anything in life is possible, regardless of what color a person is or where he is from. Carson speaks from experience. He went from the inner-city streets of Detroit, Michigan, to the halls of Yale University, to director of pediatric neurosurgery at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the United States. In 2004 Carson was awarded the Healthcare Humanitarian Award because he has "enhanced the quality of human lives ... and has influenced the course of history through ongoing contributions to healthcare and medicine."

The "dumbest kid in the world"
Carson's mother, Sonya Copeland, was only thirteen years old when she married a much older Baptist minister from Tennessee named Robert Solomon Carson. After the couple moved to Detroit, Michigan, they had two boys, Curtis, born in 1949, and Benjamin Solomon, born on September 18, 1951. When young Ben was only eight years old, his parents divorced, and Sonya Carson was left to raise her two sons alone. Sonya moved the boys to Boston, Massachusetts, to be near family, but less than a year later the Carsons returned to Detroit. Sonya took on two, sometimes three, cleaning jobs at a time to support her children. In his writings, Carson has commented that even during the hardest times, his mother was the family's rock.

He was never a good student, but when Carson returned to his Michigan elementary school he realized that he was far behind the other fifth graders. In fact, in an Oracle interview with Andrew Pina, Carson recalled being laughed at by his classmates who, one day at recess, decided he was not only the dumbest kid in the fifth grade, but maybe the dumbest kid in the whole world. Life at Higgens Elementary was also not easy because it was a predominantly white school, and Carson, one of the few African American students, was taunted by his schoolmates and ignored by teachers.

"One of the things that really has inspired me and pushed me on is learning about the human brain and recognizing the incredible potential that lies there—but also recognizing how few people use it."

Sonya Carson decided to take matters into her own hands by switching off the television. Ben and Curtis were allowed to watch only two programs a week, and their mother made them read two books each week from the Detroit Public Library. The boys were also required to write book reports, which Sonya would underline and mark up. Only later did Ben Carson realize his mother, who had left school after the third grade, was barely able to read. "She pulled a fast one on us," Carson told David Gergen of PBS, "but after a while, something happened. I began to actually enjoy reading the books.... I could go anywhere in the world, be anybody, do anything. You know my imagination began to run wild." Within a year-and-a-half Carson went from the bottom of his class to the top of his class.

Carson Scholars
In 1994 Ben Carson and his wife, Candy, established the Carson Scholars Fund. Carson noticed that schools honored athletes with trophies and pep rallies, but that academic achievement often went unnoticed. He also wanted to encourage students to explore the fields of science and technology. According to the fund's Web site (http://www.carsonscholars.org), the goal of the nonprofit organization is to "to help our children stay competitive in science, math, and technology, as well as balance academic achievement with the high esteem our society gives to sports and entertainment.

Each year, scholarships of $1,000 are awarded to students in grades four through twelve who achieve a grade point average of at least 3.75, and who show a true commitment to their community. Scholarships are presented at an awards banquet where winners are also given certificates and medals. Currently, the program exists in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. Certain cities in several other states, including Battle Creek, Michigan, also participate. The ultimate goal of Dr. Carson, "is to have a Carson scholar in every school in the United States."

Proceeds from the sale of Carson's books help support the scholarship program, but in 2003 Carson found a different funding source. Directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly approached the famous physician about playing himself in their movie, Stuck on You, about conjoined adult twins who are separated. The movie was a comedy, and at first Carson was doubtful about becoming involved. However, when he read the script he actually liked it and realized the film was going to be tastefully done. As Carson told U.S. News & World Report, "they do give you some insights on what that must be like to be connected to someone 24-7." The rest of the Carsons also appeared in the movie: Candy was a nurse, and Carson's children played extras in the hospital waiting room. When the movie premiered in Baltimore, Maryland, home of Johns Hopkins, all the proceeds went to the Carson Scholars Fund and to the BEN Fund, which provides financial aid to children who cannot afford necessary surgeries.

Another obstacle that threatened to defeat Carson was his violent temper. Sometimes his anger was provoked, like when he was teased. Other times he lashed out over insignificant things. When he was fourteen, for example, Carson stabbed a friend because the boy had changed the radio station. This incident terrified Carson, who realized, as he told Current Science, that he was headed for "jail, reform school, or the grave." Carson turned to prayer, and learned to make peace with himself and others. Even today, the physician relies on his Christian faith, and prays before and after each surgery.

Brain power
By the time he graduated from Southwestern High School in 1969, Carson was earning all A's, and his classmates, who only a few years before called him the dumbest kid in school, voted him the most likely to succeed. He received a full scholarship to attend Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where, in 1973, he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. From there, he headed back to Michigan to attend medical school. Carson had wanted to become a doctor since he was a boy, after hearing about medical missionaries in sermons at church. He originally planned to become a psychiatrist, but during his first year in medical school he was intrigued by the field of neurosurgery (surgery of the brain, nerves, and spinal cord).

After earning a medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1977, the young physician was accepted into the residency program in general surgery at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Carson was the hospital's first African American neurosurgical resident, and by 1982, he was the chief resident of neurosurgery. In 1983 Carson and his wife, Lacena "Candy" Rustin (whom he had met at Yale), moved to Perth, Australia, because Carson had been invited to be the chief neurosurgical resident at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, one of Australia's leading centers for brain surgery. Because there were few neurosurgeons in the country, Carson gained a great deal of experience in a short time. As he wrote in his book Gifted Hands, "In my one year there I got so much surgical experience that my skills were honed tremendously, and I felt remarkably capable and comfortable working on the brain."

In 1984 Carson returned to the United States, and to Johns Hopkins, where at age thirty-three he was named director of pediatric (child) neurosurgery. He was the youngest doctor ever to hold the position, and Carson remains head of pediatric neurosurgery to this day. Carson quickly gained a reputation as a skillful surgeon; he also became known as someone who would take on cases that other doctors thought were risky or hopeless. In addition, Carson was eager to combine his own surgical skills and knowledge of the workings of the brain, with technology. As a result, he became a pioneer in advanced surgical methods.

Some of Carson's most difficult cases involved patients who suffered from chronic seizures (uncontrollable attacks that come from abnormal electrical discharges in the brain). In some cases, patients were having more than one hundred seizures a day. Carson revived a surgical procedure that had been abandoned because it was considered too dangerous. Called a hemispherectomy, the surgery involves removing half of a patient's brain. Carson performed his first successful hemispherectomy in 1985, and since then the operation has helped many patients lead healthy, normal lives.

Separating conjoined twins
Carson made numerous other advancements in neurosurgery. For example, he developed a new method to treat brain-stem tumors and was the first doctor to perform surgery on a fetus inside the womb. However, by the late 1980s, Carson became known as an expert in one of the most difficult types of surgeries: separating conjoined twins (identical twins born with connected body parts). Conjoined twins occur once in every seventy thousand to one hundred thousand births. Separating conjoined twins is difficult because they sometimes share internal organs or major blood vessels.

In 1987 Carson was called upon to separate two babies from Ulm, Germany, named Patrick and Benjamin Binder. The boys were craniopagus twins, which means they were joined at the head. Craniopagal joining is among the rarest forms of conjoined twins, occurring about once in every two million births. Because the condition is so rare and because one, or both, children usually die in surgery, most doctors were skeptical of the case. Carson, however, agreed to perform the surgery. Because the boys were joined at the back of the head, and because they had separate brains, he felt the operation could be performed successfully. Plus, as Carson told Current Science, "In my field, you take all comers."

Carson and his team of more than seventy people prepared for five months before the surgery, which included performing several dress rehearsals. On September 5, 1987, after twenty-two hours in the operating room, the boys were successfully separated. Part of the success was because Carson had developed a method to stop the flow of blood while he and other surgeons performed the delicate task of untangling, dividing, and repairing shared blood vessels. Although the twins suffered brain damage, both survived the operation and became the first craniopagus twins to successfully be separated.

In the 1990s Carson surgically separated two sets of craniopagus twins. The 1994 separation of the Makwaeba twins in South Africa was not successful; both girls died from complications of the surgery. In 1997, however, Carson and his team were able to separate Luka and Joseph Banda, infant boys from Zambia, in South Central Africa. Both boys survived, and neither one suffered severe brain damage. The Bandas were the first set of twins joined at the tops of their heads to be successfully surgically separated.

Adult separation
In 2003 Carson faced perhaps his biggest challenge: separating two adult conjoined twins. Ladan and Laleh Bijani, who were joined at the head, were twenty-nine years old when they decided to be separated. The separation of adult craniopagus twins had never been attempted because the outcome was almost certain to be death for both patients. Even Carson, ever the optimist, was not sure what the results would be. He tried to talk the two women out of the surgery, but after many discussions with them, he agreed to move forward. Ladan and Laleh had law degrees, were extremely bright and, according to Carson, they knew exactly what was in store for them. As Carson recounted to Andrew Pina, more than anything the women wanted to live independent lives: "They said, 'We would rather die than spend another day together.'"

Carson and a team of more than one hundred surgeons, specialists, and assistants conducted the fifty-two-hour operation on July 8, 2003, in Singapore (Southeast Asia). They used a 3-D imaging technique that Carson had developed for the Banda operation. The computerized images allowed the team to practice "virtually" before the operation and allowed them to follow a computerized reconstruction of the twins' brains during surgery. Midway through the operation, however, complications set in, and Ladan and Laleh both died because of severe blood loss. As devastating as the loss was, Carson told the press, as reported in the Observer, "What they have contributed to science will live far beyond them."

Medical superstar
People around the world were intrigued by conjoined twins, and Carson's surgeries generated a lot of press. At first, the soft-spoken doctor was known in the media only as a hospital spokesperson who explained complicated operations in terms that everyone could understand. Eventually, Carson's own story began to pique the interest of the public. Everyone was fascinated that such a "miracle worker" had come from such humble beginnings, and soon Carson became a motivational speaker, much in demand at schools, hospitals, and businesses. He traveled across the United States, explaining that if he was able to overcome such obstacles as poverty and racism, anyone could. On his Web site, Carson outlined what he believes to be the keys to success: "One's ability to discover his or her potential for excellence; the acquisition of knowledge to develop it; and a willingness to help others." The biggest key is education, which according to Carson, "leads to liberation."

In 2002 Carson was forced to cut back on his public appearances a bit when he faced a medical problem of his own. In June he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but fortunately the cancer was caught in time. Carson the surgeon became Carson the patient, but that did not stop him from taking an active role in his own case. The feisty doctor reviewed his own X-rays and quizzed the team of surgeons who operated on him. Carson fully recovered from his surgery and came away with a clean bill of health.

Because of his brush with death, however, Carson made a few life changes. Although he was always interested in cancer, Carson told Ebony, now he is "looking more at root causes of cancer and how it can be prevented." He still operates on more than three hundred children a year, but he has been trying to shorten his days: prior to his cancer he used to work from 7:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. Now, he tries to leave the hospital at 6:15 P.M. This gives him more time to spend with his wife and three children, Murray, Benjamin Jr., and Rhoeyce, and to indulge in his other passion, playing pool.

Carson still keeps up a busy speaking schedule, but children also visit him at Johns Hopkins to see their role model in person. In addition, Carson has written several books that recount his life story and encourage people everywhere to strive for excellence. Because of his unflagging commitment to children and his many medical breakthroughs, Carson has received countless awards and honorary degrees. In 2004 there was even talk of a Hollywood movie that would tell the world more about the man Ebony magazine called a "medical superstar."

In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Carson is in constant demand as a public speaker, and devotes much of his time to meeting with groups of young people. In 2008, the White House announced that Benjamin Carson would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

For More Information
Books
Carson, Ben, with Cecil Murphey. Gifted Hands. Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1990.

Carson, Ben, with Cecil Murphey. Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992.

Carson, Ben, with Gregg Lewis. The Big Picture: Getting Perspective on What's Really Important in Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999.

Periodicals
"Dr. Ben Carson: Top Surgeon's Life-and-Death Struggle with Prostate Cancer." Ebony (January 2003): p. 38.

Hallett, Vicky. "He Split Up Matt and Greg." U.S. News & World Report (December 15, 2003): p. 16.

McLaughlin, Sabrina. "Split Decisions: Surgeon Ben Carson Is a Master at Separating Conjoined Twins." Current Science (April 16, 2004).

Pina, Andrew. "A Look at 'The Big Picture.'" The Oracle (April 12, 2004).

Vaira, Douglas. "The Good Doctor: Dr. Benjamin Carson Proves That with Determination and Confidence, Anything Is Possible." Association Management (October 2003): pp. 56–61.

Web Sites
Dr. Ben Carson Web site. http://www.drbencarson.com/ (accessed on June 27, 2004).

Gergen, David. "The Big Picture: Interview with Dr. Ben Carson." PBS Online NewsHour (September 7, 1999). http://www.pbs.org/newshour/gergen/july-dec99/carson_9-7.html (accessed June 27, 2004).

McKie, Robin. "Doctors 'Begged' Twins to Call Off Surgery." Observer (July 13, 2003). http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,997302,00.html (accessed on June 26, 2004).

"Pediatric Neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson, M.D. to Separate Adult Conjoined Twins in Singapore." Johns Hopkins Press Release (June 12, 2003). http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/2003/June/030612.htm (accessed on June 27, 2004.

Ben Carson Story

2009-01-17T08:15:00.000-08:00

Ben Carson Story

It's So Cold in the D

2009-01-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

I don’t condone cursing but the truth is, it is so cold in the D so how can anyone keep peace there. Its so cold in the D not just in terms of the weather but in terms of its education system, economy and public safety. Nothing in Detroit right now is right but all of that can change if we work to improve it. Detroit needs our help and those of us who love Detroit need to get up to improve the conditions of Detroit so it is no long cold in the D. We can warm the D but we must be willing to do it together as one. We must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to improve Detroit once and for all so future Generations can raise their families in one of America’s greatest cities. Detroit is that beckon of hope that we all can believe that our dreams can come true but we all must work to make those dreams a reality by improving Detroit each and every day—socially, spiritually, culturally and economically.

Jerome Bettis: The Bus Ride to Victory

2008-10-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

Jerome Abram Bettis, nicknamed "The Bus" (born February 16, 1972), is a former American football halfback for the NFL's Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers. Bettis is considered one of the best big backs ever due to his amazing footwork and sheer power, and is fifth on the National Football League's all-time rushing list. Bettis weighed at a solid 275lbs at 5-10. He retired in 2006 after a Super Bowl victory. Bettis attended Mackenzie High School in Detroit, and the University of Notre Dame.

Bettis was picked in the first round (10th overall) of the 1993 NFL draft by the then Los Angeles Rams. A star even in his rookie year, he rushed for 1,429 yards in 1993, and was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. He quickly earned the nickname "The Battering Ram." He rushed for over 1,000 in his second season with the Rams.

The Rams moved to St. Louis for the 1995 season, and coach Chuck Knox was forced out in favor of Rich Brooks. Brooks favored a more pass-oriented attack as opposed to Knox' ground-based game, and Bettis all but vanished from the offense. When the Rams let it be known that they wanted to draft oft-troubled running back Lawrence Phillips, it was obvious Bettis' days in St. Louis were numbered.

Meanwhile, the Steelers needed a running back: Bam Morris, their featured back in the 1995 season, had pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and was cut by the team in June 1996. Bettis was traded to Pittsburgh on draft day (immediately after the Rams drafted Phillips) with a third round draft pick in exchange for a second round pick in 1996 and a fourth round pick in 1997. While Bettis became the Steelers' rock at running back for almost a decade, Phillips' off-field problems led to the Rams cutting him in the middle of the following season. The Rams wouldn't have another featured back until trading for Marshall Faulk in 1999.

Bettis rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of his first six seasons with the Steelers between 1996 and 2001. Included in that run were three campaigns of over 1,300 yards. In 1997, Bettis rushed for a career-best 1,665 yards in the team's first 15 games. However, because the team had already wrapped up its playoff position, he was rested for the regular season finale and finished 25 yards short of the team's single-season record.

Bettis was leading the league with 1,072 rushing yards in 2001 when he suffered an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the regular season. Injuries would also cost him part of the 2002 season and he then began the 2003 season as a backup to Amos Zereoue. Despite regaining his starting role midway through the 2003 season, Bettis again found himself a backup to start the 2004 season, this time to Duce Staley. But when an injury took Staley out of action mid-way through the year, Bettis stepped in and gained 100+ yards in six of the next eight games and would have likely topped 1,000 yards for the season if not for the decision to rest him in the Steelers' meaningless final regular season game. The remarkable late season effort led to the sixth Pro-Bowl berth of his career.

Bettis spent the 2005 season as a full-time short yardage running back, but managed two memorable games along the way: First, a 101 yard, two touchdown effort in a pivotal week 14 win over Chicago (his second-to-last game in Pittsburgh) that is often remembered for a play in which he ran over Bears' linebacker Brian Urlacher on the goal line during a heavy snow squall. And then second, his three touchdowns in a win over Detroit to clinch a playoff berth on the last day of the season (his last game in Pittsburgh). He would finish the season and his career as the NFL's 5th leading all-time rusher.

Bettis was also at the center of one of the most controversial calls in NFL history. During a Thanksgiving Day game with the Detroit Lions on November 26, 1998, Bettis was sent out as the Steelers representative for the overtime coin toss. Bettis called "tails" while the coin was in the air but referee Phil Luckett declared that Bettis called "heads" and awarded possession to Detroit, who would go on to win the game before Pittsburgh had the chance to have possession. After reviewing the incident, the NFL changed the rule and declared that the call of "heads" or "tails” would be made before the coin was tossed rather than during the coin toss and that at least two officials would be present during the coin toss. Some have jokingly referred to the new procedure as the "Jerome Bettis Rule". The readers of ESPN voted the incident as the #7 on its list of the top ten worst sports officiating calls of all time.

In another unique occurrence, Bettis later put together one of the most bizarre single game stat lines in NFL history. In the 2004 season opener, he carried the ball five times for a total of only one yard, a 0.2 yards per carry average. However, he scored 18 points on those carries with three touchdowns.

During that 2004 season, Bettis and New York Jets running back Curtis Martin dueled for position on the all-time rushing yards leaderboard. Bettis entered the season in 6th place all-time and 684 yards ahead of Martin in 9th place. Because Bettis was the backup in Pittsburgh for the start of the season, Martin was able to pass Bettis in week 13 until the Steelers played their game later in the day and Bettis retook the lead by 6 yards. When the Jets traveled to Martin's home town of Pittsburgh to play the Steelers the following week, both backs would cross the 13,000-yard mark, making this the first time two players crossed the 13,000 yard mark (or other similarly high yardage milestones) in the same game. Their combined career totals were also one of the biggest combined career totals for opposing running backs in history. At the end of the game, Martin would lead Bettis by 9 yards. Two weeks later in week 16, Bettis would again pass Martin and establish himself with a lead of 81 yards. In doing so, Bettis passed Eric Dickerson for 4th place on the all-time list. Bettis sat out the final week of the season, and when Martin rushed for 153 yards that week he passed Dickerson and Bettis for the final time.

After the Steelers' defeat in the 2004 AFC Championship Game on January 23, 2005, Bettis announced that he was considering retirement, but would not make a final decision for several months to prevent the sting of the defeat from clouding his judgment. Later, Bettis agreed to stay with the Steelers for another season. He stated he would love to play in the Super Bowl in 2006 since it was to be played in his hometown of Detroit. His wish came true as the Steelers played in, and won, Super Bowl XL (40) against the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 on February 5th, 2006.

Bettis finished his 13 NFL seasons as the NFL's 5th all-time leading rusher with 13,662 yards and 91 touchdowns. He also caught 200 passes for 1,449 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, and 2004. Bettis won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 1996, and in 2002 he was the recipient of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. While Bettis finished with 1,542 more yards than Franco Harris on the NFL's all-time rushing list, Harris remains the Steelers all-time leading rusher on account of 3,091 of those yards coming while Bettis was with the Rams, which do not count towards the Steelers' all-time totals with the team.

Most people think Bettis acquired the nickname The Bus from legendary Steelers radio color commentator Myron Cope; but Myron only popularized the nickname after hearing a brother of a fellow Notre Dame alumni call Jerome "Bussy" in Green Bay. Although some would think otherwise, the nickname had no association with wearing a black and gold uniform; it actually comes from his ability to carry multiple defenders on his back, like a bus ride, during his carries. It was during the Green Bay broadcast that Cope starting using the nickname "The Bus." Jerome credits someone at the Notre Dame school newspaper with first using the now famous nickname.

Another lesser known nickname for Bettis was "the closer". He was given this nickname by former Steeler head coach Bill Cowher because whenever Pittsburgh was ahead and was ready to close out the game Cowher would send in Bettis to run out the clock. This was due to Bettis' very low fumbling percentage and the fact that he was difficult to tackle.

The road to Super Bowl XL
Shortly after the Steelers lost the 2004-2005 AFC Championship game to the eventual Super Bowl XXXIX champion New England Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger approached Bettis. He promised Bettis that if he came back for one last season, he would get him to the Super Bowl. Apparently, it was this promise that got Jerome Bettis to play one last season. In 12 NFL seasons, Bettis had reached the playoffs 5 times, but had never been in the Super Bowl.

In week 17 of the 2005 NFL season, Bettis rushed for 41 yards and three touchdowns against the Detroit Lions. The Steelers won 35-21, and thanks to Bettis's three touchdowns, they clinched a playoff berth. When Bill Cowher pulled Bettis from the game late in the fourth quarter, he was given a standing ovation from the Steeler fans. This game would be the last home game (not including the neutral-site Super Bowl) for Jerome Bettis.

Bettis contributed 52 yards and a touchdown in the Steelers' wildcard playoff victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on January 8. After their wildcard win, Ben Roethlisberger revealed to the team that he promised to Bettis that he would get him to the Super Bowl, in order to get him to come back for the 2005 season.

On January 15, 2006, Bettis was the center of one of football's most memorable endings in a divisional playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. While the Steelers offensive attack was mostly pass driven during the game, Bettis ran well, taking in 46 yards on 17 rushes, including one touchdown. When the Steelers took possession of the ball on the Indianapolis 2 yard line with 1:20 remaining in the game, leading 21-18, the outcome seemed almost certain. The first play from scrimmage went to the surehanded Bettis, who had not fumbled once the entire year. As Bettis ran towards the end zone, Colts linebacker Gary Brackett popped the ball out of Jerome's hands, where it was picked up by cornerback Nick Harper, (seemingly another sign of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx) who was stopped from returning the fumble all the way for a touchdown by Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Ultimately, however, Bettis's mistake did not result in a Steelers loss, as Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed a 46-yard game-tying field goal, ending the game with a 21-18 Steelers victory.

The next week, the Steelers were set to face off against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game. Bettis, who had never been to a Super Bowl in his storied career, delivered a rousing speech to his teammates the day before the game, asking them to "Just get me to Detroit," his hometown, where Super Bowl XL was to be played. Bettis's wish was granted, as he and the Steelers advanced to Super Bowl XL with a 34-17 win over the Broncos, led by Ben Roethlisberger's arm and Bettis's 39 yards on 15 carries, including a touchdown. After the game was over, Bettis found his parents in the crowd and mouthed the words "We're going home" to them.

In front of a crowd that was estimated by NFL analysts in attendance to be "80% - 90% Steeler fans" (as evident by the influx of "Terrible Towels" seen waving in the crowd), Pittsburgh would go on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL, 21-10. Bettis rushed for 43 yards on 14 carries; an average of 3.1 yards per carry.

Asked about the possibility of retirement, Bettis announced, "It's been an incredible ride. I played this game to win a championship. I'm a champion [now], and I think the Bus' last stop is here in Detroit." Thus, Jerome Bettis officially announced his retirement standing on the champions' podium, holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Hines Ward, the MVP of the game, said during the Super Bowl commercial; "I'm going to Disney World and I'm taking The Bus!"

After retirement
On 31 January 2006, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the City Council presented the key to the city to Bettis and declared the week "Jerome Bettis Week" for being "a shining example of what a kid with a dream from Detroit can accomplish with hard work and determination."

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm of the State of Michigan declared 1 February 2006 to be Jerome Bettis Day.

In February 2006, at the 2006 Winter Olympics, NBC Sports announced that Bettis had been signed as a studio commentator for NBC's new Football Night in America Sunday night pregame show.

Pittsburgh's Bettis to work as NBC studio analyst

On Tuesday, April 18, 2006, Bettis and his parents teamed up with Don Barden, chairman and chief executive officer of PITG Gaming LLC, in order to get a casino called the Majestic Star, on Pittsburgh's North Side. Their plan would aid the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins with funding for a new ice arena. Barden said that he would give $7.5 million a year for 30 years to help build a new arena.

Bettis opened a restaurant called "Jerome Bettis' Grille 36" on June 5, 2007 on Pittsburgh's Northside.

On May 21st, 2006 Bettis received an honorary Doctoral degree from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan for providing remarkable benefits to young people. He will be awarded the Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, recognizing his leadership in founding the innovative “Cyber Bus” program that to date has enabled some 120 Detroit middle and high school students to both build and use the latest computer technology.

Before the Steelers' home opener of the 2006 NFL season, a large school bus drove onto the field, and Bettis stepped out to a massive crowd ovation. He was one of several Steelers players being honored as part of the celebration of their five Super Bowl victories; Lynn Swann and Franco Harris were also present.

Bettis makes a cameo as himself in season 3 of the NBC comedy series The Office. Signing autographs at a paper convention, Michael Scott tries to invite him to a room party, which Bettis declines. Later, Michael claims Bettis is nicknamed "The Bus" because he is afraid of flying.

Bettis also appeared in a commercial for Sunday Night Football, where he's handed the keys to a bus that happens to belong to John Madden.

He lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Roswell, Georgia. He and his family also maintain a home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In July 2006, Bettis married his long time girlfriend, Trameka Boykin, in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The couple has a daughter, Jada, and a son Jerome Jr., together.

Bettis had made political donations to both Democratic and Republican candidates; specifically the Congressional campaigns of Democratic U.S. Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Republican President George W. Bush. On March 29, 2008, Bettis accompanied Barack Obama on a campaign visit to the United States Steel plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

Off the field

--Bettis is currently the host of The Jerome Bettis Show on WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, airing Saturdays at 7:00 PM and 1:00 AM.
--He used to reside in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania during the off season
--He began a charity called the Bus Stops Here Foundation to aid underprivileged children in 1997. --He did a commercial that was a remake of Joe Greene's famous commercial where Jerome shows an asthmatic boy that Jerome also is asthmatic yet he is able to play professional sports and so can the boy with proper treatment for his asthma. Or as Bettis says at the end, "Asthma doesn't stop the Bus, and it doesn't have to stop you."
--His book, Driving Home: My Unforgettable Super Bowl Run, came out in September 2006, published by Triumph Books.
--He is now a commentator for the NFL Network and an NBC studio analyst for Football Night in America.
--He owns a restaurant on the Northshore of Pittsburgh called Jerome Bettis Grille 36.
--He has achieved a "Perfect 300" in bowling and was considered one of the best bowlers in the National Football League and even got inducted into the celebrity bowling hall of fame. On Sundays growing up, Bettis and his family were not watching the one o'clock football games. His family of bowlers was out at the lanes each Sunday in Detroit.
--He is part-owner of several minor league baseball teams - the Altoona Curve, State College Spikes, and Myrtle Beach Pelicans.
--Named his son Jerome Jr.
--He shares the distinct honor of being the recipient of the key to the city of Detroit, MI

Fact of the Week: 10/5/08--10/11/08

2008-10-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

Frederick Law Olmstead, the famous landscape architect who designed Central Park, also designed Belle Isle. The city paid $200 for Belle Isle in 1879, which many at the time thought was too expensive.

Fox Theatre Detroit

2008-09-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

Built for William Fox (1879-1952) and the Fox Theatre chain, the Detroit Fox is the largest and most exotic eclectic Hindu-Siamese-Byzantine theater of the golden age of the movie palace (1925-1930). The Fox stands today, along with its 1929 twin, the Saint Louis Fox Theatre, as one of the relatively few remaining movie palaces in the country. It epitomizes the opulence and grandeur that characterized the era.

Designed by C. Howard Crane and built in 1928, the Detroit Fox Theatre is the culmination of flamboyant movie palace architectural design. Crane, who had designed over 250 theaters by 1928, considered the Fox his best effort. In its size, ornate decoration and mechanical systems it was the premier example of what a movie palace could be. A 1928 Detroit Free Press article stated, "Detroit's Fox Theater has the largest clear span balcony in the world. The stage proper is larger than the Roxy Theater in New York, and has the largest and finest projection room and equipment of any theater in the world." Today, the Fox holds the distinction of being the largest continually operating theater in the country.

The Fox Theatre near Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit, Michigan was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989. From the Roaring Twenties, it is one of the first theatres to feature live sound. Located within the Theatre in Detroit, this ornate performance center has 5,048 seats, (5,174 seats if removable seats placed in the raised orchestra pit are included). It is the second largest theatre in the country after the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Fox was fully restored in 1988.

History
The Detroit Fox is the largest of the Fox Theaters. Built in 1928 for William Fox, founder of 20th Century Fox, it was the first movie palace to have live sound. The architect, C. Howard Crane, designed a lavish interior blend of Burmese, Chinese, Indian and Persian motifs. There are three levels of seating, the Main Floor above the orchestra pit, the Mezzanine, and the Gallery (balcony). The exterior of the attached 10-story building features an Art Deco facade, which at night is illuminated and can be seen for several blocks. The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri is its architectural twin with about 500 fewer seats.

The Fox remained Detroit's premier movie destination for decades. By the 1970s the theatre was a grimy venue reduced to showing horror and Kung fu movies. Unlike other downtown theatres in the 70s like the Michigan, United Artist and Capitol the Fox managed to remain open. The 1980s brought new hope for the Fox when in 1984 Chuck Forbes, owner of State and Gem theaters, brought the prospect for renovation; however, he didn't complete his plans.

In 1988, the theatre's new owners, Mike and Marian Ilitch, fully restored the Fox at a cost of $12 million. Ilitch Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in the Fox Theater Office Building. The area of downtown near Grand Circus Park which encompasses Fox Theatre is some referred to as Foxtown after the theater . In 2000 Comerica Park opened and helped to revitalize the area along with Ford Field in 2002. The Fox is Detroit’s top venue for Broadway shows.

Productions
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular was an annual favorite from 1997 through 2005. The theatre was host to the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on March 31, 2007, the night before WrestleMania 23, being held at nearby Ford Field. As well as The Condemned World Premiere the night before on March 30, 2007. Other live productions have included Sesame Street Live: Let's Be Friends, David Copperfield, Blue's Clues' Live! as well as show tours, such as Donny Osmond, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Dora The Explorer! Live, and in April 2007, Go! Diego! Live! with Liz Coscia, after Sesame Street Live productions, in 1998-2008.

Detroit Fact of the Week: 9/29/08--10/4/08

2008-09-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Marriott at the Renaissance Center is the tallest hotel in North America. When it was built in 1977, it was the tallest hotel in the world.

Ford Auditorium and Black history

2008-09-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

An open letter to Detroit

By Paul Lee

The following is excerpted from a proposal submitted to Detroit City Council member Jo Ann Watson and president Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr., on Sept. 12, 2008.

I learned from Mayor Kilpatrick’s resignation speech last week that the Henry and Edsel Ford Auditorium is scheduled to be demolished next month.

I was deeply grieved to hear this because, as you know, Ford Auditorium has played an important role in the history of Detroit. However, few Detroiters, and particularly our youth, are aware that it also played a special role in the history of African Americans.

A few examples among many follow:

Black History @ Ford Auditorium

1) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed 2,500 persons on “the new Negro of the South” as a guest speaker at the Delta Sigma Theta sorority’s annual national convention on Dec. 28, 1956.

This was exactly one week after the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the legal victory of the historic bus boycott at Montgomery, AL, led by Dr. King, which catapulted him to international fame.

2) Malcolm X addressed the First Annual Dignity Projection and Scholarship Awards ceremony at Ford Auditorium on Feb. 14, 1965, sponsored by the Afro-American Broadcasting and Recording Co., which was founded and headed by our dearly departed mentor, attorney and later Rev. Milton R. Henry.

Early that morning, Malcolm X’s home at Queens, NY, was firebombed by Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam (NOI), an attack that just missed incinerating Malcolm X, his wife and their six young daughters, including a six-month-old baby.

Nevertheless, Malcolm X decided to fulfill his commitment to his dear friend and traveled to Detroit. Unbeknownst to Malcolm X and Henry, the FBI was so concerned about this program appealing to African Americans that it initiated a “counterintelligence” (COINTEL) action to discourage the ceremony’s sponsors, which included the Hudson’s department store and the Chrysler and Ford motor companies, from supporting it.

The bureau’s efforts might have been partly responsible for the low turnout that evening, which Malcolm X commented on in his historic “Last Message” to Detroit, which Henry later released as a popular long-playing record.

A week later, Malcolm X was assassinated at Washington Heights, NY, by a NOI “special squad” from Newark, NJ.

3) The Citywide Citizens Action Committee (CCAC), a militant coalition of local black organizations that was formed in the wake of the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, hosted “African-Soul ‘68” at Ford Auditorium on Dec. 10, 1967.

The chairman of CCAC was Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman, then known as the Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr., the founder and pastor of Central United Church of Christ, soon to be renamed Shrine of the Black Madonna #1.

The program was organized by bookstore owner, griot and mwalimu Ed Vaughn, who advertised it as “A Mammoth Variety Show to Launch the Black Cultural Revolution.”

It featured many local artists, including the Jazz Nationalists with Michael Abbott; the Concept East Theatre, which included actors David Rambeau and James E. Wheeler, the nation’s leading authority on blacks in film, television and theatre; Motown saxophonist Thomas (Beans) Bowles; popular poet “Slick” Campbell (later Abdul Jalil); and the Central Church choir.

(Indeed, it was Vaughn, a member of Central Church and the chairman of its Black Heritage committee, who conceived of arranged for the painting of the 18-foot mural of a Black Madonna and child by Glanton Dowdell, which still graces the church’s chancel.)

“The Culture of Black people predates that of any other people,” Vaughn wrote in the handsome printed program. “Needless to say, our History and our Culture have been stolen from us, but we are regaining them. We must now increase this momentum with revolutionary Zest and Zeal.”

Sadly, black people in this city, like black people thruout the nation, seem to have little regard for our history.

This is graphically demonstrated in Detroit by the number of historic structures, including businesses, churches, auditoriums, theatres, etc., which are razed every week — with no regard to the possibility of memorializing the great and tragic story of black people in Detroit or they might be used to teach our youth about this — their — precious heritage.

I suppose that it’s too late to do anything about Ford Auditorium, but I would be privileged if you could arrange for me to address the Detroit City Council to speak about its history in reference to our people, using it as a “teachable moment” that might save other properties in future.

Connexions
If granted this opportunity, I would also like to highlight some interesting connexions re Malcolm X’s appearance, such as the following:

1) Malcolm X was picked up at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport by Milton and Richard B. Henry. Three years later, as Abiodun Gaidi and Imari Obadele, the brothers co-founded the Republic of New Africa (later Afrika, RNA).

2) Backstage in the green room with Malcolm X was Jaramogi Abebe.

3) Two carloads of NOI members drove down from Chicago to assassinate Malcolm X at Ford Auditorium. After the program’s organizer’s alerted the police to this threat, they asked the NOI members to sit in the balcony, where they could be monitored. When Malcolm X failed to appear on time (he was sleeping backstage after a doctor administered a sedative), the Muslims left.

4) The physician who gave Malcolm X a sedative was Dr. E. Warren Evans, the father of Wayne County Sheriff Warren C. Evans. Dr. Evans was a brother-in-law of Jaramogi Abebe, married to the latter’s sister Gladys.

5) Dr. Evans was advised as to the appropriate sedative and dosage by Dr. Louis J. Cleage, one of Jarmaogi Abebe’s brothers, who did so by phone from Idlewild, MI.

6) After Malcolm X’s talk, he was greeted by Mother Rosa Parks — their first and last meeting. I have her account of this, in which she states that she agreed with his position on self-defense.

7) Among those who reportedly volunteered to protect Malcolm X was General Baker, Jr., a member of UHURU, the radical Wayne State student group; the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), headed by Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford); and the Fox and Wolf Hunt Club.

The latter group took its name from a metaphor used by Malcolm X in his famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech delivered at King Solomon Baptist church on 14th Street on April 12, 1964. This speech was also recorded by Milton Henry and released as a LP.

Paul Lee is the director of Best Efforts, Inc. (BEI), a professional research and consulting service that specializes in the recovery, preservation and promotion of global black history and culture. He could be contacted at .

Hotel St. Regis Detroit

2008-09-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of having lunch at the Hotel St. Regis in a restaurant called La Musiq and I must say the food was good. However the Hotel St. Regis is a diamond or a gold mine within the city of Detroit because it has so many attractions and on Thursday it has a live jazz concert from 5p.m.-9p.m. with drink specials within the restaurant. However with La Musiq within the St. Regis and the rooms of the St. Regis as well as the gorgeous, radiant and beautiful woman on staff. This is a premiere hotel with tons to offer to visitors and guests who patron the Hotel St. Regis . Now don't take my word for me but here are a couple of other things that the Hotel St. Regis website says about itself. (http://www.hotelstregisdetroit.com/)

Welcome to one of southeast Michigan's top hotels. In fact, few Detroit hotels can rightfully boast of a history as rich as ours. The Hotel St. Regis has played host to such diverse and notable travelers as Martin Luther King and Mick Jagger. Today that heritage of unequaled hospitality, comfort and privacy is newly burnished. Located in Detroit's New Center area, the Hotel is surrounded by prominent buildings including the Albert Kahn-designed Fisher Building, home of the Fisher Theatre; Cadillac Place, home to State of Michigan government offices; and the world-class medical facilities at Henry Ford Hospital.

Hotel St. Regis is just minutes from all the major downtown attractions including sports stadiums, casinos, COBO Convention Center, museums, theatres, nightlife and the busiest international border crossing for commerce in the world—to Canada.

125 stylish guestrooms and suites are located on five floors. Each room has been newly remodeled and features inviting color schemes, marble vanities and superior bedding.

Our signature restaurant, La Musique, a Cajun restaurant, serves an inspired menu in a hip and elegant room that features stage costumes and memorabilia from past Motown hit makers. The adjacent Lounge is a perfect place for cocktails and entertainment.

Through an exclusive arrangement, guests of Hotel St. Regis may also dine at some of Detroit's top restaurants and charge the meal to their room. With prior arrangement, you can dine at Sweet Georgia Brown, Seldom Blues, The Woodward Restaurant and Grill, The Cuisine Restaurant and Detroit Breakfast House.

Need a car? Our exclusive Stay and Drive program with Enterprise Car Rental saves our guests the hassle of charging their credit card countless times while traveling.

To make your stay at Hotel St. Regis memorable and complete, we offer concierge service, a library and business center as well as complimentary membership to a full-service fitness center just one block away. Dry cleaning services and full-service car wash are always available. Guests can also take advantage of complimentary high-speed wireless Internet service in throughout the hotel.

The Hotel is just three miles north of the Renaissance Center on the Detroit River, home to General Motors’ global headquarters, which is also Detroit's tallest building. Also nearby are the city's entertainment districts, sports stadiums and convention center. This is where you'll find Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers; Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions; Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings; plus three casinos—the MGM Grand, the MotorCity and Greektown casinos—and COBO Convention Center. Our Chief Concierge can secure the best available seating to any major sporting or musical event in the city.

Our immediate neighbors include a nationally renowned healthcare institute, Henry Ford Hospital, and all major state government offices are located across the street in Cadillac Place. We're connected by skywalk to the Fisher Theatre, Detroit's premier theatre for touring Broadway productions. Just a few blocks west of the hotel is where Motown was born. Visit Hitsville USA and the Motown Museum to see where it all began for such stars as Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and so many others.

The University Cultural District—Located just ½ mile from the Hotel is where you can tour world-famous institutions all within walking distance of one another including the Detroit Institute of Arts—the nation’s fifth-largest fine arts museum, The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History—the largest of its kind in the world, the Detroit Historical Museum and the New Detroit Science Center.

Detroit Fact of the Week

2008-09-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

When Michigan became a state in 1837, Detroit was its capitol. The first state capitol buidling was located in what is today Capitol Park.

New Center Detroit

2008-09-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

The New Center is a commercial district located in Detroit, Michigan, approximately three miles (5 km) north of the city's downtown, and one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center. The area is centered just west of the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard, and is approximately bounded by Virginia Park Historic District on the north, the Ford Freeway on the south, John R. on the east and the Lodge Freeway on the west.

The heart of the New Center was developed in the 1920s as a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories. Some historians believe that the New Center may be the original edge city—a sub-center remote from, but related to, a main urban core. The descriptor "New Center" derived its name from the New Center News, an automotive-focused free newspaper begun in 1933 that continues to operate under the name Detroit Auto Scene. From 1923 to 1996, General Motors maintained its world headquarters in the New Center (in what is now Cadillac Place) before relocating downtown to the Renaissance Center; before becoming a division of GM, Fisher Body was headquartered in the Fisher Building. Both Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building are National Historic Landmarks. In addition to the business/commercial district along Woodward and Grand Boulevard, the New Center includes mixed industrial and commercial areas in the southern section, and primarily residential areas to the north.

In 1891, Detroit mayor Hazen Pingree broke ground on the construction of Grand Boulevard, a ring road that wrapped around the city of Detroit. The Boulevard ran for 12 miles, curving from the Detroit River on the west to the river on the east and crossing Woodward Avenue at a point approximately 3 miles from downtown. The Boulevard was originally thought to represent the absolute limit of the city's expansion, although tremendous growth at the beginning of the 20th century quickly pushed the city limits far beyond Grand Boulevard.

In the 1890s, major railroad infrastructure known as the Milwaukee Junction was built just south of Grand Boulevard to facilitate industrial expansion in the city of Detroit. To take advantage of the rail line, industrial plants were built in this area on both sides of Woodward Avenue, with the automotive indistry prominently involved. Part of this area east of Woodward is now the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District, while the area west of Woodward and south of the railroad tracks is the New Amsterdam Historic District. Most notably, in 1904, Burroughs Adding Machine Company built a large factory on Third, and the following year Cadillac built an assembly plant just to the east of Burroughs.

Grand Boulevard, along its entire extent, was an attractive residential address at the beginning of the 20th century. This was also true in the area that was to become the New Center. At the turn of the century, a number of private homes were built along Grand Boulevard and in the neighborhoods to the north, notably including what is now the Virginia Park Historic District on the northern edge of the New Center. Interspersed in the area were small apartment buildings. Larger apartment buildings were constructed in the area in the 1920s to serve the population of workers and visitors to the area after larger office buildings had been built on Grand Boulevard.

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, the automobile industry in Detroit grew rapidly. The economic surge made land in downtown Detroit difficult to obtain. The lack of suitable parcels frustrated William C. Durant in his search for the optimum location for his planned General Motors headquarters. Durant looked to the north, and settled on a location just west of Woodward Avenue on Grand Boulevard. A the time, the area was a residential district of private homes and small apartment buildings.

Durant hired Albert Kahn (architect) to design his building, and ground was broken in 1919. The building was originally to be called the "Durant Building," but Durant left the company before the building was completed, so when it opened in 1922, the building was called the "General Motors Building." As General Motors continued to grow, the company required more space. In the later 1920s, they built a second building, the General Motors Resarch Laboratory (also known as the Argonaut Building), also designed by Kahn, directly south of their headquarters. THe building was built in two phases, and was completed in 1930.

Around the same time, the Fisher Brothers of Fisher Body followed General Motors to the area. They broke ground on their eponymous Fisher Building in 1927, located across Grand Boulevard from the General Motors Building. The Fisher Brothers also hired Kahn, and spared no expense to construct their headquarters building. The followed this up with the construction of New Center Building (now the Albert Kahn Building), completed in 1932. The Great Depression, however, forced the Fishers to break off their plans to construct a complex of buildings in the New Center, including a grandiose three-towered version of the Fisher building.

The New Center has had a strong retail section, primarily along the Woodward and Grand Boulevard corridors. Retail along Grand Boulevard developed with the construction of the General Motors and Fisher buildings. While these buildings were being built, there was a thriving retail presence along Woodward. A retail strip still exists south of Grand Boulevard along Woodward; some businesses in the district have existed at their current location since the 1920s.

Henry Ford Hospital has continued to expand. The hospital has built numberous additions to their campus since its inception by Henry Ford, from the Clara Ford Nursing Home in 1925 to their high-rise clinic in 1955 to hospital apartments in 1976. In 1992, Henry Ford purchased the old Burroughs headquarters to the south and renamed it One Ford Place. The building is now the Henry Ford Hospital corporate headquarters.

In 1967, the Hotel St. Regis was built on the north side of Grand Boulevard near General Motors' headquarters. In 1988, the hotel was doubled in size. In 1980, General Motors built another addition to the heart of the New Center, New Center One, located across Grand Boulevard from their headquarters. The new eight-story building housed retail stores, offices, and some divisions of General Motors.

In 1977, General Motors began refurbishing some of the residential neighborhoods north of Grand Boulevard. The result was the "New Center Commons," a collection of refurbished single-family homes on the north side of the New Center. With the revitalization of Virginia Park, the New Center has two distinct historic residential neighborhhods within its boundaries. General Motors also facilitated the rehabilitation of some multi-family dwellings. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, new townhomes and condominiums were constructed in what had been empty areas of the New Center, including a section along Woodward just north of Grand Boulevard. Additional loft renovation (as well as the TechTown research incubator) took place at the same time within the New Amsterdam Historic District.

The New Center served as a kind of corporate campus for GM for 70 years. However, the company left the area in the 1990s, moving their headquarters to the Renaissance Center downtown. The old General Motors Building -- Now Cadillac Place -- is occupied by the state of Michigan.

Currently, the New Center hosts the CityFest, a five-day street festival held around Independence Day.

The Guardian Building

2008-09-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

The Guardian Building, designated a National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989, is a skyscraper in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Today, the building is owned by Wayne County, Michigan and serves as its headquarters. Built in 1928 and finished in 1929, the building was originally called the Union Trust Building and is a bold example of Art Deco architecture, including art moderne designs. At the top of the Guardian Building's spire, is a large American Flag, complementing the four smaller flags atop nearby 150 West Jefferson. The building has undergone recent award-winning renovations.

The main frame of the skyscraper rises 36 stories, capped by two asymmetric spires, one extending for four additional stories. The roof height is of the building is 496 ft (151 m), the top floor is 489 feet (149 m), and the spire reaches 632 ft (192.6 m). The exterior blends brickwork with tile, limestone, and terra cotta. The building's interior is lavishly decorated with mosaic and Pewabic and Rookwood tile. The semi-circular exterior domes are filled with Pewabic Pottery; Mary Chase Perry Stratton worked closely with the architect in the design of the symbolic decorations. (See Savage, infra.) Its nickname, Cathedral of Finance, alludes both to the building's resemblance to a cathedral, with its tower over the main entrance and octagonal apse at the opposite end and to New York City's Woolworth Building, which had earlier been dubbed the Cathedral of Commerce. Native American themes are common inside and outside the building. Wirt C. Rowland, of the Smith Hinchman & Grylls firm, was the building's architect while Corrado Parducci created the two sculptures flanking the Griswold Street entrance. The building includes works by muralist Ezra Winter. Roland's attention to detail was meticulous. He supervised the creation of bricks to achieve the desired color for the exterior and designed furniture for the bank's offices. His attention went as far as designing tableware, linens and waitress uniforms for a restaurant in the building.

Col. Frank Hecker and Michigan Senator James McMillan were both founders of the Union Trust which built the Guardian, nicknamed the Cathedral of Finance. During World War II, the Guardian Building served as the U.S Army Command Center for war time production with Detroit being called the Arsenal of Democracy. The Guardian served various tenants as an office building in downtown and was restored in 1986.

On July 18, 2007, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced it has entered into an agreement with current owners to purchase the Guardian Building to relocate its offices from the Wayne County Building. The deal is reportedly part of a larger deal worth $33.5 million in real estate purchases in downtown Detroit.

The Fisher Building

2008-09-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

The Fisher Building (1928) is an ornate skyscraper in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan constructed of limestone, granite, and marble. Its roof was once adorned in gold which was removed for the air raid black outs during World War II. Designated a National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989, the building was designed to house the automotive company Fisher Body of the Fisher brothers (Frederick, Charles, William, Lawrence, Edward, Alfred and Howard).

Standing on the corner of West Grand Boulevard and Second Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, the Art Deco skyscraper lies in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit. The office building rises 30-stories with a roof height of 428 ft (130.5 m), a top floor height of 339 ft (103.6 m), and the spire reaching 444 ft (135 m). The building has 21 elevators. Designed by Albert Kahn and Associates with Joseph Nathaniel French as chief architect, it has been called Detroit's largest art object. and is widely considered Kahn's greatest achievement. The year of its construction, the Fisher building was honored by the Architectural League of New York as the year's most beautiful commercial structure. The opulent three-story barrel vaulted lobby is constructed with forty different kinds of marble, decorated by Hungarian artist Géza Maróti, and is highly regarded by architects.

Initially, Kahn planned for a complex of three buildings, with two 30-story structures flanking a third tower twice that height. However, the Great Depression kept the project at one tower.
The Fisher brothers constructed the building across from the General Motors Building (Now Cadillac Place). General Motors had recently purchased the Fisher Body Company. The two massive buildings spurred the development of a New Center for the city, a business district north of its downtown area.

Radio
The top of the building was gilt and topped with a radio antenna. One of the building's oldest tenants is radio station WJR, whose broadcasters often mention that their signals are broadcast "from the golden tower of the Fisher Building." Two other radio stations, WDVD-FM and WDRQ-FM, also broadcast from the building. On St. Patrick's Day, the golden tower is lit up with green light to celebrate the holiday instead of the traditional orange color. In recent years, to celebrate the NHL playoffs, the tower is lit with red light in honor of the Detroit Red Wings.

Theatre
The building also is home to the Fisher Theatre, one of Detroit's oldest live theatre venues. The theatre originally featured a lavish Aztec-themed interior in the Mayan Revival style, and once had Mexican-Indian art and banana trees and live macaws that its patrons could feed. After the Depression, the theatre operated primarily as a movie house until 1961. Originally with 3,500 seats, the interior was renovated with a 2,089-seat theatre that allowed for more spacious seating for patrons. The decor was changed to a more simple mid-century design (which some feel is now far more "dated" in appearance than the grandiose art deco foyer). The Fisher Theatre is owned and operated by the Nederlander Organization and now primarily features travelling productions of Broadway shows.

Art
Befitting to the Fisher Building's history in association with art, there have been three nationally recognized Fine Art Galleries that have been located in the structure including the Gertrude Kasle Gallery and London Fine Arts Group.

Gertrude Kasle Gallery: Located in Suite 310 of the Fisher Building from 1965-1976 was a nationally recognized Fine Art Gallery hosting exhibits for some of the most highly respected artists of the second half of the 20th century including Willem de Kooning, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Goodnough, Adolph Gottlieb, Phillip Guston, Grace Hartigan, Ian Hornak, Ray Johnson, Robert Motherwell, Lowell Nesbitt, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and Jack Tworkov.

London Arts Group: Located in a large portion of the third floor of the Fisher Building during the 1970’s and 1980’s, London Fine Arts Group acted as an internationally recognized publishing company assisting in producing limited edition art works for many internationally recognized artists including Yaacov Agam, Karel Appel, Arman, Romare Bearden, Gene Davis, Don Eddy, Alberto Giacometti, Ian Hornak, Lester Johnson,Alex Katz, Richard Lindner, Roberto Matta, Lowell Nesbitt, Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Sultan, Victor Vasarely and Larry Zox.

Cadillac Tower, Cadillac Place, or Cadillac Building

2008-09-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

For the downtown Detroit, Michigan office tower known as "Cadillac Tower", see Cadillac Tower.
"General Motors Building" redirects here, for the office tower in New York City with that name, see General Motors Building (New York).

Cadillac Place is an ornate high-rise office building in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan constructed of limestone, granite, and marble. Originally the General Motors Building, it had housed the company's world headquarters from 1923 until 1996. In 1996, GM moved its world headquarters to the Renaissance Center and sold the magnificent building which is leased by the State of Michigan on a long term basis. The building was renamed Cadillac Place. The building takes its present name from Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, the founder of Detroit.

Cadillac Place rises 15 stories with the roof height at 220 ft (67.1 m), and the top floor at 187 ft (57 m). The building has 31 elevators. Originally constructed with 1,200,000 square feet (111,000 m2), and was expanded to 1,395,000 square feet (129,600 m2). Designated a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978 it is an exquisite example of Neo-Classical architecture.
Designed by noted architect Albert Kahn, each of the four parallel 15-story wings connects to a central perpendicular backbone. Kahn used this design to allow sunlight and natural ventilation to reach each of the building's hundreds of individual offices. The stately structure is crowned with Corinthian colonnades. In 1923, it opened as the second largest office building in the world (behind the Equitable Building in New York City).

In 2002, the building was thoroughly renovated for the State of Michigan and renamed it Cadillac Place. Architect Eric J. Hill participated in the 2002 redevelopment. Cadillac Place currently houses over 2,000 state employees including the Michigan Court of Appeals for District I. The building's executive office serves as the Detroit office for Michigan's governor. It houses State offices for the Detroit area and a State Court of Appeals. Directly across from the Fisher Building to which it is connected by an underground pedestrian tunnel. Cadillac Place constitutes a formidable complex. The Detroit St. Regis Hotel adjoins the Fisher Building across from Cadillac Place.

Detroit Fact of the Week: 8/31/08--9/6/08

2008-08-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

Campus Martius is Latin for "Field of Mars." Mars was the Roman god of war, so the military training ground, both in ancient Rome and here in Detroit, was called Campus Martius. The Point of Origin for the city of Detroit is located in Campus Maritius Park. If you've ever wondered where 8 Mile Road is 8 miles from, the answer is the center of Campus Martius Park.

Stevie Wonder: An American Icon

2008-08-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

Musician. Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. A premature baby, he was blinded by receiving too much oxygen in the incubator. He began playing the harmonica at an early age and was signed to a long-term contract with Motown Records in 1960. In 1963 he released his first album, Little Stevie Wonder: The 12 Year Old Genius, and its single release ‘Fingertips - Pt. 2’ became his first million seller.

During the 1960s, while attending the Michigan School for the Blind, he had many hit records in the classic Motown rhythm-and-blues style. On his 21st birthday, he renegotiated his contract and gained full artistic control over his work.

Throughout the 1970s he became proficient in the use of synthesizers and electronic keyboards, and he released a series of innovative, commercially successful albums featuring a fusion of progressive rock and soul, biting social commentary, and sentimental ballads. He signed a contract with Motown (1976) for $13 million, the largest negotiated in recording history at that date.

In the 1980s and 1990s he was increasingly engaged in children's and civil-rights causes, and he led the campaign to make Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. A Time to Love, Wonder's first new album in ten years, was released in 2005 and featured the hit single "So What the Fuss" with Prince and En Vogue.

Detroit Fact for the Week: 8/24/08-8/30/08

2008-08-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Detroit has the second largest theater district in the country with over 13,000 seats in just a two block radius. So if you like theater, plays, dramas, opera and the works than you might want to come to the city of Detroit and spend your next vacation here. If the theaters don't thrill you than there are 123 bars and restaurants within the one square mile of downtown Detroit. So don't believe the hype I'm giving but come to Detroit and see it yourself. Now if you are already from Detroit than go downtown and see all of this for yourself as you become marveled my the great downtown that our city has.

Resurfacing The Streets of Detroit

2008-08-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

City of Detroit Street Maintenance workers hard at work on a humid summer day.

Derrick Coleman--One fo Detroit's Best Athletes

2008-08-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

Derrick D. Coleman (born June 21, 1967, in Mobile, Alabama) is a retired American basketball player in the NBA. Coleman grew up and attended high school in Detroit, Michigan and attended college at Syracuse University. He was selected first overall in the 1990 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets.

Throughout his career, the left-handed Coleman has been an effective low post scorer with a reliable perimeter shooting touch, averaging 16.5 points and 9.3 rebounds through his career. He enjoyed his best years as a member of the New Jersey Nets, where he averaged 19.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. However, despite those impressive numbers, Coleman is often regarded as a poster boy for unrealized potential. When Coleman entered the NBA, he was compared to elite power forwards such as Karl Malone and Charles Barkley, and expected to put up similar numbers. Instead, his career was overshadowed by his questionable attitude (lack of work ethic resulting in excessive weight gain, plus alcohol abuse and general disruptive behavior), and his penchant for injury which saw him play 70 or more games in only four of his 15 NBA seasons. A Sports Illustrated reporter once remarked that "Coleman could have been the best power forward ever; instead he played just well enough to ensure his next paycheck."

Coleman was drafted in 1990 after a successful college career that was also fueled by controversy due to his reckless behavior. However, he had a solid rookie season and went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1991.

Coleman went on to improve during the 1991-1992 season, averaging close to 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. The Nets were an up and rising team as well, with young players like Coleman, Kenny Anderson, Chris Morris and Mookie Blaylock teaming up with solid veteran players like Sam Bowie, Chris Dudley, Terry Mills and Croatian Drazen Petrovic, the Nets top player who looked to be on his way to becoming an NBA legend. The addition of coach Chuck Daly, who took the Detroit Pistons to win two NBA championships, was enough to get the Nets a winning record and into the playoffs during the 1992-1993 season. The 1993-1994 season was the peak for Coleman and the Nets during his reign. The Nets made it to the playoffs for the third straight season, while Coleman averaged his second straight 20 points, 10 rebounds season and was selected to represent the Nets in the All-Star game along with teammate Kenny Anderson. It would be the only All-Star game that Coleman would ever play in during his NBA career. He played for the US national team in the 1994 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal.

The 1994-1995 season saw the Nets luck start turning downward. Daly left the team and new coach Butch Beard replaced him. Petrovic died in a terrible car accident during the summer of 1993, leaving a huge void in the leadership and shooting guard position for the Nets to fill. Many of the veteran players that were so essential to the Nets success either were traded away, left for other teams through free agency, or retired. Instead, the team was loaded with misfits and lazy players. Coleman was not much help in this department. Expected to step up as a leader and as the new leading scorer in place of Petrovic, Coleman had another 20 points, 10 rebounds season, but seemed to be gliding by in games and not giving a full effort. He had a turbulent relationship with Beard, who criticized Coleman for his lazy work ethic in practice and his ignorance of the conduct and team rules. At the start of training camp one year with the Nets, Beard advised his players to adhere to a dress code or be fined. Coleman outraged Beard by simply handing him a blank check to cover all the fines he promised to pile up. He also had a rocky relationship with teammate Anderson, who felt he wasn't getting enough scoring opportunities because of Coleman. His behavior caused him to be traded away to the Philadelphia 76ers at the beginning of the 1995-1996 season for center Shawn Bradley.

During a 1995 game featuring Coleman's Nets and rival Karl Malone's Utah Jazz, Coleman went so far as to call Malone an 'Uncle Tom'.

Coleman's numbers decreased more and more after his trade from the Nets, and while being a solid role player for the 76ers, the Hornets, and the Detroit Pistons, he was known more for his weight gain, lazy attitude, conduct problems and injury proneness. He also gained a reputation as a "clubhouse cancer", and during the 2000-01 season, when Coleman missed more than half the season through various injuries, the Hornets performed significantly better without Coleman in their lineup (12-22 with Coleman, 34-14 without him).

Coleman's career ended during the 2004-2005 season, when he was cut by the Pistons during the season. His Syracuse jersey number, 44, was retired on March 5, 2006. He is currently working as a developer and entrepreneur in Michigan.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Coleman

Steve Smith: Common Name, Uncommon Superstar

2008-08-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Steven Delano Smith was born in Highland Park, Michigan, on March 31, 1969. His parents are Donald and the late Clara Bell Smith, and his siblings are his brother Dennis and late sister Janice. Steve and his wife Millie have two sons, Brayden and Davis.

Steve attended my high school alma John J. Pershing High School--Home of the Doughboys and School of Winners from 1983-1987 in Detroit and Michigan State University from 1987-1991, where he became a First Team All American basketball player, and the Spartans’ all-time leading scorer, with 2,263 points. At that time he ranked 5th all-time in Big Ten history, and was also First Team All-Big Ten in his senior season.

Steve first entered the NBA as the Miami Heat’s First Round selection (5th player selected overall) in the 1991 NBA Draft, and since then has played with the Atlanta Hawks (1994-1999), the Portland Trail Blazers (1999-2001), and the San Antonio Spurs, where he earned a championship ring in 2003. Steve was also a member of the New Orleans Hornets (2003-2004), and competed with the Charlotte Bobcats and Miami Heat during the 2004-2005 season.

In 1994, Steve was chosen to represent the United States as a member of the gold medal winning ‘Dream Team II’ in the World Championships held in Toronto, and in 2000, Steve’s basketball ability was further recognized when he was chosen to represent the United States as a member of the gold medal winning United States Olympic Basketball Team in the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney, Australia.

Steve has always been an active member in his “community” by working with and for inner city youth organizations in Michigan, Miami, Atlanta, Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Charlotte. In 1997, Steve, who believes you can never give too much, donated $2.5 million dollars to Michigan State University. This donation helped construct the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center, in honor of his late mother, Clara Bell Smith, who died of cancer during Steve’s rookie NBA season. This remains the largest single donation ever made by a professional athlete to an alma mater. The building was formally dedicated on September 12, 1998, and it remains a state of the art facility in this country. At Steve’s insistence, a portion of this generous donation also funds The Steve Smith/Pershing High/MSU Scholarship for Academic Achievement. In 2001, Steve donated an additional $600,000.00 to fully endow the scholarship. This scholarship provides, on an annual basis, high-achieving students from Detroit Pershing High School the opportunity to attend Michigan State University. In honor of Steve’s generous gift to Pershing High School, Pershing paid tribute to the basketball star by holding “Steve Smith Day” in September 2001, where they renamed the school’s gym after the 1987 graduate.

The Steve Smith Scholarship Fund is supported by additional money raised from Steve’s three annual charity golf outings. Together with the MSU Alumni Club of Mid-Michigan, the MSU Alumni Club of West Michigan, and the MSU Detroit Area Development Council, approximately $500,000 has been raised to help support the Steve Smith Scholarship Fund, MSU, and local charities in the Detroit, Lansing, and Grand Rapids areas.

Steve's generosity has been recognized not only by the various charities, organizations, and institutions he donates to, but by the NBA as well. During 1997-1998 NBA season, Steve received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, and was later awarded the Joe Dumars Sportsmanship Award in 2002. His goodwill and compassion for others placed Steve into an elite group of athletes when he was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in 2006.

Steve served as a member of both the National Alumni Board and National Development Board of Michigan State University. In addition, Steve was a member of the National Board of Reading is Fundamental (RIF), a non-profit organization which was created to eradicate illiteracy in our nation's urban public schools.

On September 30, 2005, Steve returned to MSU to announce his retirement from the NBA after 14 seasons. He still remains involved with the NBA, however, as a TV color analyst for Fox Sports.

If anything else need be known about Steve, his character and/or his values, it can be easily found from his own words which he delivered at the January 1997 announcement of his donation to Michigan State University. His words, in part, were as follows:

“I have had great coaches, but none greater than my mother. I have had great role models, but none greater than my mom. I have had great teammates and fans, but none greater than Clara Bell Smith.” --Steve Smith

Sources: http://www.sssfund.com/about_steve/ and http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5316/is_200610/ai_n21399148

The Temptations

2008-08-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

The most successful group in black music history was formed in 1961 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, by former members of two local R&B outfits. Eddie Kendricks (b. 17 December 1939, Union Springs, Alabama, USA) and Paul Williams (b. 2 July 1939, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, d. 17 August 1973) both sang with the Primes ; Melvin Franklin (b. David English, 12 October 1942, Montgomery, Alabama, USA, d. 23 February 1995, Los Angeles, California, USA), Eldridge Bryant and Otis Williams (b. Otis Miles 30 October 1941, Texarkana, Texas, USA) came from the Distants.

Initially known as the Elgins, the quintet were renamed the Temptations by Berry Gordy when he signed them to Motown in 1961. After issuing three singles on the Motown subsidiary Miracle Records, one of them under the pseudonym of the Pirates, the group moved to the Gordy label. 'Dream Come Home' provided their first brief taste of chart status in 1962, although it was only when they were teamed with writer, producer and performer Smokey Robinson that the Temptations achieved consistent success.
The group's classic line-up was established in 1963, when Eldridge Bryant was replaced by David Ruffin (b. 18 January 1941, Meridian, Mississippi, USA). His gruff baritone provided the perfect counterpoint to Kendricks' wispy tenor and falsetto, a contrast that Smokey Robinson exploited to the full. Over the next two years, he fashioned a series of hits in both ballad and dance styles, carefully arranging complex vocal harmonies that hinted at the group's doo-wop heritage. 'The Way You Do The Things You Do' was the Temptations' first major hit, a stunningly simple rhythm number featuring a typically cunning series of lyrical images. 'My Girl' in 1965, the group's first US number 1, demonstrated Robinson's graceful command of the ballad idiom, and brought Ruffin's vocals to the fore for the first time. This track, featured in the movie 'My Girl', was reissued in 1992 and was once again a hit. 'It's Growing', 'Since I Lost My Baby', 'My Baby' and 'Get Ready' continued the run of success into 1966, establishing the Temptations as the leaders of the Motown sound. 'It's Growing' brought a fresh layer of subtlety into Robinson's lyric writing, while 'Get Ready' embodied all the excitement of the Motown rhythm factory, blending an irresistible melody with a stunning vocal arrangement.

Norman Whitfield succeeded Robinson as the Temptations' producer in 1966 - a role he continued to occupy for almost a decade. He introduced a new rawness into their sound, spotlighting David Ruffin as an impassioned lead vocalist, and creating a series of R&B records that rivalled the output of Stax and Atlantic for toughness and power. 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg' introduced the Whitfield approach, and while the Top 3 hit 'Beauty Is Only Skin Deep' represented a throwback to the Robinson era, 'I'm Losing You' and 'You're My Everything' confirmed the new direction. The peak of Whitfield's initial phase with the group was 'I Wish It Would Rain', a dramatic ballad that the producer heightened with delicate use of sound effects. The record was another major hit, and gave the Temptations their sixth R&B number 1 in three years. It also marked the end of an era, as David Ruffin first requested individual credit before the group's name, and when this was refused, elected to leave for a solo career. He was replaced by ex- Contour Dennis Edwards, whose strident vocals fit perfectly into the Temptations' harmonic blend. Whitfield chose this moment to inaugurate a new production style.

Conscious of the psychedelic shift in the rock mainstream, and the inventive soul music being created by Sly And The Family Stone, he joined forces with lyricist Barrett Strong to pull Motown brutally into the modern world. The result was 'Cloud Nine', a record that reflected the increasing use of illegal drugs among young people, and shocked some listeners with its lyrical ambiguity. Whitfield created the music to match, breaking down the traditional barriers between lead and backing singers and giving each of the Temptations a recognizable role in the group. Over the next four years, Whitfield and the Temptations pioneered the concept of psychedelic soul, stretching the Motown formula to the limit, introducing a new vein of social and political comment, and utilizing many of rock's experimental production techniques to hammer home the message. 'Runaway Child, Running Wild' examined the problems of teenage rebellion; 'I Can't Get Next To You' reflected the fragmentation of personal relationships (and topped the US charts with the group's second number 1 hit); and 'Ball Of Confusion' bemoaned the disintegrating fabric of American society. These lyrical tracks were set to harsh, uncompromising rhythm tracks, steeped in wah-wah guitar and soaked in layers of harmony and counterpoint.

The Temptations were greeted as representatives of the counter-culture, a trend that climaxed when they recorded Whitfield's outspoken protest against the Vietnam War, 'Stop The War Now'. The new direction alarmed Eddie Kendricks, who felt more at home on the series of collaborations with the Supremes that the group also taped in the late 60s. He left for a solo career in 1971, after recording another US number 1, the evocative ballad 'Just My Imagination'. He was replaced first by Richard Owens, then later in 1971 by Damon Harris. This line-up recorded the 1972 number 1, 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone', a production tour de force which remains one of Motown's finest achievements, belatedly winning the label its first Grammy award.

Source: http://classic.motown.com/artist.aspx?ob=ros&src=lb&aid=52

Aretha Franklin--The Queen Of Soul

2008-08-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records--"Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others--earned her the title "Lady Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since. Yet as much of an international institution as she's become, much of her work--outside of her recordings for Atlantic in the late '60s and early '70s--is erratic and only fitfully inspired, making discretion a necessity when collecting her records.

Franklin's roots in gospel ran extremely deep. With her sisters Carolyn and Erma (both of whom would also have recording careers), she sang at the Detroit church of her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, while growing up in the 1950s. In fact, she made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14. It has also been reported that Motown was interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny start-up. Ultimately, however, Franklin ended up with Columbia, to which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond.

Franklin would record for Columbia constantly throughout the first half of the '60s, notching occasional R&B hits (and one Top Forty single, "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody"), but never truly breaking out as a star. The Columbia period continues to generate considerable controversy among critics, many of whom feel that Aretha's true aspirations were being blunted by pop-oriented material and production. In fact there's a reasonable amount of fine items to be found on the Columbia sides, including the occasional song ("Lee Cross," "Soulville") where she belts out soul with real gusto. It's undeniably true, though, that her work at Columbia was considerably tamer than what was to follow, and suffered in general from a lack of direction and an apparent emphasis on trying to develop her as an all-around entertainer, rather than as an R&B/soul singer.

When Franklin left Columbia for Atlantic, producer Jerry Wexler was determined to bring out her most soulful, fiery traits. As part of that plan, he had her record her first single, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," at Muscle Shoals in Alabama with esteemed Southern R&B musicians. In fact, that was to be her only session actually at Muscle Shoals, but much of the remainder of her '60s work would be recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, although the sessions would actually take place in New York City. The combination was one of those magic instances of musical alchemy in pop: the backup musicians provided a much grittier, soulful, and R&B-based accompaniment for Aretha's voice, which soared with a passion and intensity suggesting a spirit that had been allowed to fly loose for the first time.

In the late '60s, Franklin became one of the biggest international recording stars in all of pop. Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of Black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other triumphs for he Black community. The chart statistics are impressive in and of themselves: ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span between early 1967 and late 1968, for instance, and a steady stream of solid mid-to-large-size hits for the next five years after that. Her Atlantic albums were also huge sellers, and far more consistent artistically than those of most soul stars of the era. Franklin was able to maintain creative momentum, in part, because of her eclectic choice of material, which encompassed first-class originals and gospel, blues, pop, and rock covers, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to Sam Cooke and the Drifters. She was also a fine, forceful, and somewhat underrated keyboardist.

Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early '70s, during which she landed more huge hits with "Spanish Harlem," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Day Dreaming." She also produced two of her most respected, and earthiest, album releases with Live at Fillmore West and Amazing Grace. The latter, a 1972 double LP, was a reinvestigation of her gospel roots, recorded with James Cleveland & the Southern California Community Choir. Remarkably, it made the Top Ten, counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of all time.

Franklin had a few more hits over the next few years--"Angel" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Until You Come Back to Me"--being the most notable--but generally her artistic inspiration seemed to be tapering off, and her focus drifting toward more pop-oriented material. Her Atlantic contract ended at the end of the 1970s, and since then she's managed to get intermittent hits -- "Who's Zooming Who" and "Jump to It" are among the most famous -- without remaining anything like the superstar she was at her peak. Many of her successes were duets, or crafted with the assistance of newer, glossier-minded contemporaries such as Luther Vandross. There was also another return to gospel in 1987 with One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.

Critically, as is the case with many '60s rock legends, there have been mixed responses to her later work. Some view it as little more than a magnificent voice wasted on mediocre material and production. Others seem to grasp for any excuse they can to praise her whenever there seems to be some kind of resurgence of her soul leanings. Most would agree that her post-mid-'70s recordings are fairly inconsequential when judged against her prime Atlantic era. The blame is often laid at the hands of unsuitable material, but it should also be remembered that -- like Elvis Presley and Ray Charles -- Franklin never thought of herself as confined to one genre. She always loved to sing straight pop songs, even if her early Atlantic records gave one the impression that her true home was earthy soul music. If for some reason she returned to straight soul shouting in the future, it's doubtful that the phase would last for more than an album or two. In the meantime, despite her lukewarm recent sales record, she's an institution, assured of the ability to draw live audiences and immense respect for the rest of her lifetime, regardless of whether there are any more triumphs on record in store. -- Richie Unterberger

Source: http://www.aretha-franklin.com/

History of the Detroit Princess Riverboat

2008-08-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Originally named Players Riverboat Casino II, the Detroit Princess Riverboat was built in Jennings Louisiana in 1993 for use as a gambling boat. Located on the Mississippi River in Metropolis, Illinois, the casino ran as a Merv Griffin establishment for a number of years.

Eventually, Harrah's purchased the boat and brought it to Lake Charles, Louisiana where after running as a casino for a few years, they built a larger boat and stripped all of the gaming equipment off. The boat sat idle for three years and was nearly scrapped for parts and then cut up into millions of pieces.

Shortly before Harrah's decided to scrap the boat in May of 2004, we purchased it and began the long arduous task of bringing it from Orange, Texas all the way to it's final destination, Detroit, Michigan. As the boat is too tall to travel through the upper areas of the Mississippi River, it had to be brought around Florida, up the inter coastal waterway, past Maine and Nova Scotia, through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and then through the St. Lawrence Seaway system.

After finally arriving in Toledo, Ohio on October 14th, 2004, a complete re-fit of the boat began to make it ready to operate as a restaurant. A full kitchen with eight convection ovens, ten steam cabinets, and ten movable heater cabinets, two walk-in coolers, a fully functional dish room, and serving kitchens on each level are only a sample of the many changes which were made to the vessel.

Now servicing as many as 1800 passengers on party cruises, the Detroit Princess calls the Detroit River home! We first opened our doors on June 18th, 2005 and have had many beautiful cruises since. Come out and take a ride with us and experience it for yourself!

General Information About the Detroit Princess
Built: 1993 - Leevac Shipyard in Jennings, LA
Overall Length: 222 feet
Breadth: 62 feet
Height: 88 feet
Top Speed: 10 knots (11 mph)
Gross Tonnage: 1430 tons

Guest Capacity:
1st Deck: 500 passengers
2nd Deck: 500 passengers
3rd Deck: 350 passengers
4th Deck: 150 passengers
Total Guest capacity: 1500 passengers
*in addition, the 4th and 5th decks have large outdoor viewing areas!

The Culture of Detroit

2008-08-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

The culture of Detroit, Michigan, has been closely associated with various forms of popular music in the 20th century, notably with Motown. The city's culture has also been associated with the automobile, as well as by the large role industry plays in the city's economy.

Music and performing arts
Music has been the dominant feature of Detroit's nightlife since the late 1940s. The metropolitan area boasts two of the top live music venues in the U.S. DTE Energy Music Theatre (formerly Pine Knob) was the most attended summer venue in the U.S. in 2005 for the fifteenth consecutive year, while The Palace of Auburn Hills ranked twelfth, according to music industry source Pollstar. Detroit's major performance centers include Orchestra Hall home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Opera House, the Fox Theatre, Masonic Temple Theatre, the Fisher Theatre, and the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Through the 1950s Detroit was a jazz center with stars of the era often came to Detroit's Black Bottom neighborhood to perform.One highlight of Detroit's musical history was Motown Records success during the 1960s and early 1970s, founded in Detroit by Berry Gordy, Jr. and home to popular recording acts including Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross & the Supremes. Also during the late 1960s, Detroiter Aretha Franklin became America's preeminent female soul artist, recording on the competing Atlantic Records label.

In the late 1960s, Metro Detroit was the epicenter for high-energy rock music with (MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges), the precursors of the punk rock movement. Rock acts from southeast Michigan that enjoyed success in the 1970s were Bob Seger, Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Alice Cooper, The Romantics and Grand Funk Railroad as well as more recent acts like Marshall Crenshaw, Kid Rock, The White Stripes, The Von Bondies and Madonna. The Detroit area is also generally accepted as the birthplace of the Techno movement, which has grown from local radio and clubs to dance venues worldwide. The three musicians most frequently credited with giving birth to Techno are Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson. Detroit hip hop rose to prominence in the late nineties with the emergence of Eminem. Other Detroit hip-hop artists include Insane Clown Posse, Aaliyah, D12, Royce Da 5'9" Teairra Mari, Obie Trice,Trick Trick, Rock Bottom, Street Lord'z and the late Blade Icewood, Slum Village.

Fashion
The Renaissance Center's Winter Garden is the site of the annual "Fash Bash", a major fashion event traditionally held in August. Coordinated by the Detroit Institute of Arts, the event features celebrities and models showcasing the latest fashion trends.

In 1991, a cultural phenomenon began among hair salons which evolved into the Detroit Hair Wars. A showcase of fantastical hair piece creations, often using human hair as the main content, has since become a national trend among African-American hair-styling tours.

Festivals and events
Detroit has three major events that are associated with the automobile industry: the North American International Auto Show (January), Society of Automotive Engineers world congress (April) and the Woodward Dream Cruise (August). Annual music events in the city include the DEMF/Movement/Fuse-In electronic music festival (May), Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival (September), and the Concert of Colors, a summer music festival. The Comerica CityFest is traditionally held in the New Center area around Independence Day.

The Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival features a fireworks display over the Detroit International Riverfront and coincides with U.S. Independence day (July 4) and Canada Day (July 1). The Tastefest and Detroit Thunder Fest hydroplane race take place in July. Detroit Fashion Week happens in August. The America's Thanksgiving Parade, originally the Hudson's Thanksgiving Day Parade, is one of the nation's largest and has been held continuously since 1924.

The day before Ash Wednesday, or the festival of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, is more frequently celebrated locally as "Paczki Day" by the large Polish population. Many Metro Detroiters join in the festivity by indulging in jelly-filled donuts called paczkis.

Founded in 1907 by two Russian immigrant brothers in Detroit, Faygo pop remains a Detroit tradition. Detroit was also the birthplace of Vernors ginger ale, the longest-surviving soft drink in the United States, Better Made potato chips and the Coney Island restaurant.

The Bayview Yacht Club sponsors the annual Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race as well as a number of other regional and local regattas.

Recently added events include the Motown Winter Blast in February and the Detroit River Days celebration in June.

Black culture
The City of Detroit has had a large and thriving black community since the 1920s, when many African Americans moved to northern cities to find work in the then-booming industrial sector. This Great Migration continued through the 1960s. Paradise Valley and Black Bottom were early centers of black culture in the city, which were later leveled to build a freeway and high income apartments. By the mid-1970s, African Americans formed more than half the city's population.

Many black churches are located in the city, including the historic Second Baptist Church, which assisted runaway slaves. A monument to the Underground Railroad was erected in 2001 at Hart Plaza downtown.

The Shrine of the Black Madonna of the Pan-African Orthodox Christian Church was founded in 1953 by the Rev. Albert B. Cleage. Rev. Cleage was an influential figure in the Black Power Movement both nationally and locally. One of the churches' institutions is the Shrine of the Black Madonna Cultural Center & Bookstore, one of the nation's oldest black-owned bookstores.
The Graystone International Jazz Museum documents jazz in Detroit.

In 1959, Berry Gordy founded Motown Records, one of the first black-owned record labels. Over the next decade, a number of top artists, including The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, signed with the label. The company relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, but the city has seen new movements develop since then, including disco, funk, and hip hop music.

Detroit has produced a large number of black athletes. Perhaps the most legendary is Joe Louis, heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. Louis is memorialized with a sculpture of a giant fist at the intersection of Jefferson and Woodward Avenues, as well as in the name of Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit has an emerging section of hip hop artists from the inner city, such as: Blade Icewood, the Street Lord'z, Tone-Tone, Y.B.I., Trick-Trick, Big Herk, and Rock Bottom
Detroit has a reputation as one of the finest centers of soul food in Michigan, with a number of highly-regarded establishments.

Detroit-- A City on the Rise History

2008-08-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

Detroit (pronounced /dɪˈtrɔɪt/) (French: Détroit, meaning "strait", pronounced [detʁwa] is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded in 1701 by the Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.

It is known as the world's traditional automotive center — "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry — and an important source of popular music, legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames emerged in the twentieth century, including Rock City, Arsenal of Democracy (during World War II), The D, D-Town, Hockeytown, and The 3-1-3 (its telephone area code).

In 2007, Detroit ranked as the United States' eleventh most populous city, with 916,952 residents. At its peak, the city was the fourth largest in the country, but since 1950 the city has seen a major shift in its population to the suburbs.

The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area, a sprawling region with a population of 4,467,592 for the Metropolitan Statistical Area, making it the nation's eleventh-largest, and a population of 5,405,918 for the nine-county Combined Statistical Area as of the 2007 Census Bureau estimates. The Detroit-Windsor area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canada-U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000.

The city name comes from the Detroit River (French: l'étroit du Lac Erie), meaning the strait of Lake Erie, linking Lake Huron and Lake Erie; in the historical context, the strait included Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River. Traveling up the Detroit River on the ship Le Griffon (owned by La Salle), Father Louis Hennepin noted the north bank of the river as an ideal location for a settlement. There, in 1701, the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, along with 51 additional French-Canadians, founded a settlement called Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit, naming it after the comte de Pontchartrain, Minister of Marine under Louis XIV. France offered free land to attract families to Detroit, which grew to 800 people in 1765, the largest city between Montreal and New Orleans. Francois Marie Picoté, sieur de Belestre (Montreal 1719–1793) was the last French military commander at Fort Detroit (1758–1760), surrendering the fort on November 29, 1760 to the British. Detroit's city flag reflects this French heritage. (See Flag of Detroit, Michigan.)

During the French and Indian War (1760), British troops gained control and shortened the name to Detroit. Several tribes led by Chief Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, launched Pontiac's Rebellion (1763), including a siege of Fort Detroit. Partially in response to this, the British Royal Proclamation of 1763 included restrictions on white settlement in unceded Indian territories. Detroit passed to the United States under the Jay Treaty (1796). In 1805, fire destroyed most of the settlement. A river warehouse and brick chimneys of the wooden homes were the sole structures to survive.

From 1805 to 1847, Detroit was the capital of Michigan. As the city expanded, the street layout followed a plan developed by Augustus B. Woodward, Chief Justice of the Michigan Territory. Detroit fell to British troops during the War of 1812 in the Siege of Detroit, was recaptured by the United States in 1813 and incorporated as a city in 1815.

Prior to the American Civil War, the city's access to the Canadian border made it a key stop along the underground railroad. Then a Lieutenant, the future president Ulysses S. Grant was stationed in the city. His dwelling is still at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Because of this local sentiment, many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the American Civil War, beginning with the Iron Brigade which defended Washington, D.C. early in the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying Thank God for Michigan! Following the death of President Abraham Lincoln, George Armstrong Custer delivered a eulogy to the thousands gathered near Campus Martius Park. Custer led the Michigan Brigade during the American Civil War and called them the Wolverines.

Detroit's many Gilded Age mansions and buildings arose during the late 1800s. The city was referred to as the Paris of the West for its architecture, and for Washington Boulevard, recently electrified by Thomas Edison. Strategically located along the Great Lakes waterway, Detroit emerged as a transportation hub. The city had grown steadily from the 1830s with the rise of shipping, shipbuilding, and manufacturing industries. In 1896, a thriving carriage trade prompted Henry Ford to build his first automobile in a rented workshop on Mack Avenue. In 1904 he founded the Ford Motor Company. Ford's manufacturing — and those of automotive pioneers William C. Durant, the Dodge brothers, Packard, and Walter Chrysler—reinforced Detroit's status as the world's automotive capital; it also served to encourage truck manufacturers such as Rapid and Grabowsky.

The industry spurred the city's spectacular growth during the first half of the twentieth century as it drew tens of thousands of new residents, particularly workers from the Southern United States, and became the fourth largest city in the nation. At the same time, thousands of immigrants from Europe poured into the city, adding to competition for jobs and housing. Social tensions rose with the rapid pace of growth and pressure on neighborhoods.

With the introduction of Prohibition, smugglers used the river as a major conduit for Canadian spirits, organized in large part by the notorious Purple Gang. Strained racial relations were evident in the 1920s trial of Dr. Ossian Sweet, a black Detroit physician acquitted of murder. A man died when shots were fired from Ossian's house into a threatening mob of whites who gathered to try to force him out of an all-white neighborhood.

Labor strife climaxed in the 1930s when the United Auto Workers became involved in bitter disputes with Detroit's auto manufacturers. The labor activism of those years brought notoriety to union leaders such as Jimmy Hoffa and Walter Reuther. The 1940s saw the construction of the world's first urban depressed freeway, the Davison and the industrial growth during World War II that led to Detroit's nickname as the Arsenal of Democracy.

The city faced major challenges during the war as tens of thousands of workers migrated to the city to work in the war industries. Many of these migrant workers were blacks and whites from the U.S. South. Housing was difficult to find. The color blind promotion policies of the auto plants resulted in racial tension that erupted into a full-scale riot in 1943.

Industrial consolidation during the 1950s, especially in the automobile sector, increased competition for jobs. An extensive freeway system constructed in the 1950s and 1960s had facilitated commuting. Suburban migration and racial tensions led to a textbook case of white flight, which resulted in a painful decline for many inner-city neighborhoods during the 1960s and 1970s. The Twelfth Street riot in 1967, as well as court-ordered busing accelerated white flight from the city. Commensurate with the shift of population and jobs to its suburbs, the city's tax base eroded. In the years following, Detroit's population fell from a peak of roughly 1.8 million in 1950 to about half that number today.

The gasoline crises of 1973 and 1979 impacted the U.S. auto industry as small cars from foreign makers made inroads. Heroin and crack cocaine use afflicted the city with the influence of Butch Jones, Maserati Rick, and the Chambers Brothers. Drug-related violence and property crimes rose, and abandoned homes were demolished to reduce havens for drug dealers. Sizable tracts have reverted to a form of urban prairie. Renaissance has been a perennial buzzword among city leaders, reinforced by the construction of the Renaissance Center in the late 1970s. This complex of skyscrapers, designed as a city within a city, slowed but was unable to reverse the trend of businesses leaving the city's downtown until the 1990s.

In 1980, Detroit hosted the Republican National Convention which nominated Ronald Reagan to a successful bid for President of the United States. By then, nearly three decades of white flight, crime, drug addiction, and inadequate policies had caused areas like the Elmhurst block to decay. During the 1980s, inspite of redevelopment efforts, the city's old crumbling buildings became abandoned and unsafe structures which, in turn, harbored vice and crime and encouraged those who remained to leave.

In the 1990s, the city began to enjoy a revival, much of it centered downtown. Comerica Tower at Detroit Center (1993) arose on the city skyline. In the ensuing years, three casinos opened in Detroit: MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino, which have now added permanent resorts and Greektown Casino which is scheduled to open its permanent resort at the end of 2009 . New downtown stadiums were constructed for the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions in 2000 and 2002, respectively; this put the Lions' home stadium in the city proper for the first time since 1974. The city hosted the 2005 MLB All-Star Game, 2006 Super Bowl XL, 2006 World Series and WrestleMania 23 in 2007, all which prompted many improvements to the downtown area. The city's riverfront is the focus of much development; in 2007, the first portions of the Detroit River Walk were laid, including miles of parks and fountains. This new urban development in Detroit is a mainstay in the city's earnest desire to reinvent its economic identity through tourism. Along the river, upscale million dollar condos are going up, such as Watermark Detroit, some of the most expensive the city has ever seen. Some city limit signs, particularly on the Dearborn border say "Welcome to Detroit, The Renaissance City Founded 1701."

I Have A Dream!

2008-08-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Would you believe that the very first place that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the famous "I Have A Dream" speech was in Detroit? Well its true. The famous speech that is symbolic with the civil rights was given in Detroit before it was given at the March on Washington in our nation's capital!