Noel Night
Saturday, December 2, 2006
5:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
FREE
http://detroitmidtown.com/05/culevents.php?msub=3
Noel Night is produced by the University Cultural Center Association and sponsored by the Masco Corporation and Target. Call 313-577-5088 for more information. More words on this in our arts section and arts calendar.

Second Life - Plug Detroit
Thursday November 30 @ The Magic Stick, and virtually everywhere!! www.seconddetroit.com

Satori Circus

http://www.myspace.com/satori_circus

MOSAIC’S YOUNG ARTISTS SPREAD HOLIDAY
CHEER TO THOSE WHO NEED IT MOST

Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit shares its gift of performance as they give back to the Detroit community on December 2, 2006. At daybreak over 100 of Mosaic’s young artists will gather in their bright red t-shirts as they head out for the 14th Annual Perform-A-Thon, sponsored by the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund. These talented young people will perform at more than 70 homeless and domestic abuse shelters, nursing homes, juvenile detention centers, hospitals and hospices, as well as Noel Night, in just twelve hours.

Mosaic’s Perform-A-Thon event has been a part of the organization since it was founded in 1992. Not only are these young artists trained to be exceptional performers, but they are also taught to take their responsibilities as community citizens seriously. “This day of service brings some much needed joy to the lives of those we perform for,” said Artistic Director Ken Anderson, “and it also changes our young artists, opening their eyes to those members of the community that need their help.”

Mosaic’s songs and skits bring smiles to the faces of those who need some holiday spirit, and sometimes tears of joy. Arielle Bennett, 16, remembers one experience with an elderly woman at a nursing home during last year’s Perform-A-Thon, “she came over to us and started to cry as she told us how she loved to hear people sing. She hadn’t had heard anyone sing for her in a long time because she had to stay in the nursing home. We all started to cry with her and hug her. She smiled at us and waved as we left. I hope we get to see her again this year.”

Perform-A-Thon will continue until late into the evening when all 100 young artists return to Mosaic to share their experiences. Ms. Bennett believes that the day is about more than performing for those less fortunate, its about “touching someone’s spirit and giving them hope.”

Mosaic’s young artists head out at 9am, Saturday, December 2, 2006 from the General Motors Mosaic Theatre.

MIDTOWN DEVELOPMENT CONVERSATION @ Detroit Yacht Club

Please Join us on Friday, December 1 at 8AM for December's installment of Model D's speaker series, at the Detroit Yacht Club on Belle Isle and will focus on the boom of development in Midtown. Seating is limited, and an RSVP is required. Click here to sign up. http://www.elabs3.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=izr,rvlq,2jlv,3zp4,6qyy,f632,a3xe

The series is co-sponsored by the DYC, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and LaSalle Bank. The free event starts with registration at 8 a.m., the speakers start at 8:30 a.m., and the program will last about an hour.

Midtown's boom

Anchored by a different big three — major learning institutions, the medical complex and the city's cultural district — Detroit's Midtown has grown into one of the most vibrant, cohesive, walkable neighborhoods in the city.

Bounded by four freeways — the Ford, Chrysler, Fisher and Lodge — the area attracts over 2 million visitors each year, many for events like Noel Night (coming Dec. 2) and the Detroit Festival of the Arts in the summer.

With growing public and private investment in the area's institutions, infrastructure and housing stock, this neighborhood has seen new restaurants, lofts and most recently a new contemporary art museum.

Speakers will include:

• Sue Mosey: As president of the University Cultural Center Association, a community development organization in Midtown, Mosey has helped bring in more than $400 million in new residential investment— with about 3,000 housing units planned or completed since 2000. The association has developed the Inn on Ferry Street, has plans for a two-mile greenway and has raised millions for streetscaping projects along Woodward Avenue.

• Jon Rosenthal: A project manager for Ram Development, Rosenthal helped create The Ellington, a $35 million urban, mixed-use development at the corner of Mack Avenue and Woodward. The 4.5-acre site includes 13,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 55 loft-style condos, as well as a six-story parking garage. It's the home of the city's newest Starbucks, as well as a FedEx Kinkos and LaSalle Bank Branch.

Seating is limited, and an RSVP is required. Click here to sign up. http://www.elabs3.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=izr,rvlq,2jlv,3zp4,6qyy,f632,a3xe

CITYSCAPE DETROIT PRESENTS “AL TAUBMAN, UNPLUGGED”

Cityscape Detroit is pleased to announce that Alfred Taubman, one of the nation’s leading real estate developers, will speak at its annual meeting, Friday, December 1, 2006, at 6:30 p.m. No fancy speeches. No scripted answers. In a new unplugged format, join Cityscape for an intimate evening to hear Alfred Taubman entertain us with stories from his illustrious career. You ask the questions. Alfred Taubman has the answers.

Previous Cityscape Detroit annual meeting keynote speakers have included: Tom Barwin, City Manager of Ferndale; Tim Thorland, Director of the Southwest Detroit Nonprofit Housing Corporation (SDNHC); and just last year, Faye Alexander Nelson, President of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. The Cityscape Annual Meeting is just one of many events that the organization coordinates, along with its yearly restaurant crawl and Tigers Game outing, in addition to a successful and well-attended lecture series which just recently explored the issue, “How Retailers Choose Where They Will Build Stores.”

The Cityscape Detroit Annual Meeting will be held at the Wendell Anderson Jr. Auditorium in the Walter Ford II Building, located on the campus of the College for Creative Studies at 201 E. Kirby in Midtown Detroit. This meeting is open to the public. Cityscape members are free. $8 admission for others. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served after the meeting. RSVP is recommended, but walk-ups the night of are welcome. Please RSVP at rsvp@cityscapedetroit.org.

Bohemian House
3009 Tillman (22nd)
Detroit 48216
313 737 6606

Thursday, Nov.30th: Henry Grimes, Roy Campbell, Chad Taylor
Henry Grimes, the human interest story that shook the music world a couple years back. In the middle of an amazing career- playing with traditional heavy-weights like Sonny Rollins, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus and leaders of the avant-garde like Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, Pharoh Sanders- Grimes disappeared in the mid-60's and was largely presumed dead by the jazz world. But a couple years ago the doublebassist was discovered alive, given a new bass, and he's triumphantly returned to music. His trio consists of trumpeter Roy Campbell (best known for his work with William Parker and Jemeel Moondoc) and drummer Chad Taylor, who plays with many groups in rock and jazz- including Isotope 217, Chicago Underground Orchestra, Tortoise and others. Doors at 8 pm; sliding scale $10-20.

Also, 12/2 Peter Walker/Jack Rose/Nick Schillace

Saturday, December 2 - The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit

Ghostly International and CAID presents...
9pm - Aarniow - DJ*
10pm - Benoit Pioulard
11pm - PostPrior
11:45pm - Willits (live band w/ visuals)
12:45am - Roger O' Donnell (w/ visuals)
*Aarnio DJ sets between sets as well
$8 | 9PM | All Ages
+ 1st 30 people receive FREE Griffin Accessories at the door

The Friends of Belle Isle’s Third Annual Holiday Bazaar

Sunday, December 3, 2006

11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

At the historic Belle Isle Casino
There will be a $2.00 donation charge at the door (children are free). Refreshments will be available. Do some shopping for the upcoming holiday! Over 30 vendors from all over the Metro Detroit Area will display their unique gifts that will surprise and thrill your friends and family.
Gospel singing will be performed by the Nativity of Our Lord Choir and St. Charles Borromeo Choir.
For additional information contact The Friends of Belle Isle Office at 313-331-7760

Episode 8 – InZer0 - Reality Style
Detroit’s Indie sci-fi cult series, at the Mitten Movie Project

The Mitten Movie Project premieres Episode 8 a gritty reality style episode of InZerO, the acclaimed science fiction series, Thought Collide Productions’ latest project shot entirely in Detroit, on Tuesday, December 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak. Prepare for a full evening of InZer0 as episodes 6 & 7 will be screened immediately preceding the premiere of episode 8.

InZer0 continues with Episode 8. We see a view further out into the world of InZero. The Cameras follow Bryce Carter, the world’s youngest human being, during the filming of his reality shown "Bryce Carter, Younger than You" Bryce is documenting a day in the life of a courier, unfortunatly for Thames. Secrets are spilled throughout this gritty episode. InZerO is set in the near future as Thames, an ambitious courier, weaves his way through a dangerous city in a post-apocalyptic world full of guilds and visitors. A decimated population unable to bear children now sees the human race facing its own mortality.

InZer0 includes mild sexual themes, mild violence and drug references.
In addition to the screening, there will be a free Directors Reception in the lobby of the Main Art Theatre from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to meet the directors, stars, cast and crew or learn about casting opportunities for upcoming episodes of InZer0.

After the screening, the evening continues with an afterglow party at Bastone (419 S. Main Street – four blocks south of the Main Art Theatre). There is a suggested door donation of $5. 21+ welcome. DJ sets by the InZer0 cast and crew.

The Mitten Movie Project is a festival based in Detroit that is dedicated to exhibiting the work of digital filmmakers in Michigan and beyond with monthly screenings on the first Tuesday of each month at the Main Art Theatre, located at 118 N. Main St. in Royal Oak.
Pre-sale tickets are $10 at the Main Art Theatre the day of the showing or $11 via Pay Pal at www.myspace.com/inzero.

Thanksgiving Parade (New Route)

Experience the fun and excitement of this cherished holiday tradition on the new Parade route, modeled after the original route in 1924. The Parade steps-off in Midtown at Woodward and Mack Avenues on Thursday, November 23 at 9:20 a.m. and ends in downtown Detroit at Woodward Avenue and Congress Street.

This year marks the 80th birthday of America's Thanksgiving Parade®. To celebrate this milestone, this year's Parade will have crowd favorites and new surprises with more than 75 units including floats, balloons, award-winning marching bands, clowns, specialty acts, celebrities, and The Parade Company's own Distinguished Clown Corps.

The new route highlights some of the City's architectural treasures, such as the Fox Theatre, and some of downtown's latest developments including Merchants Row, Compuware World Headquarters, and Campus Martius Park. Mayor Kilpatrick will present the Key to the City to Santa Claus at Santa's Castle, located on Woodward Avenue right across the street from the original Hudson's Department Store, the originators of our Parade.

Hundreds of thousands of people will make their way to downtown Detroit this Thanksgiving, to enjoy The Parade. Make sure you have one of the best seats on the route! A variety of Grandstand Seats are available. You will see live and up close more than 75 units of your favorite floats, balloons, marching bands and specialty acts from the finest seats in downtown Detroit. Reserve you seat today!

http://www.theparade.org/store/store.aspx?id=2

You can make a difference! Support The Parade Company with your financial gift and help bring the magic to Detroiters, and hundreds of thousands of people for years to come. The Parade Company thanks all those whose generosity keeps the tradition alive.

http://www.theparade.org/store/store.aspx?id=3
More details here http://theparade.org/
Don't miss the Turkey Trot too!!!

Majestic Thanksgiving Breakfast!!

Although the Parade officially starts south of the Majestic – come see the staging of the Parade in front of the Majestic and get a behind the scenes look at the parade..…and enjoy their wonderful breakfast….and….don’t forget that the proceeds benefit a Midtown group – Cass Community Social Services.

The Majestic Cafe will be open at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day offering up our traditional breakfast buffet. Scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, French toast, hash browns, fruit, cheese, hummous, pita bread, assorted pastries, coffee, hot chocolate, milk and orange juice, all for only $16 per adult, $8 for children 12 & under. Seating for these general admission tickets is in the Majestic Theatre, no reentry. A very limited number of VIP tickets are available for $30 per person and include our fabulous buffet in the Majestic Cafe or Garden Bowl, both venues offering a view onto Woodward Avenue. These seats are reserved and are yours for the entire day. Tickets are available by phoning Louise at 313.833.9700 ext 202.

check our arts calendar for art events this weekend.

Satori Circus

http://www.myspace.com/satori_circus

Motown's Downtowns - this Friday 11/24

The cities of Ferndale, Royal Oak, Hamtramck and Detroit have teamed up to encourage holiday shoppers to shop local this "black Friday" - the big shopping day after Thanksgiving. Giving shoppers a chance to leave their car behind, these cities are providing transit shuttles between each downtown area, running every 20 minutes or so, from 11am until 6pm this Friday. Shoppers will also receive coupons for local businesses in each downtown area. Stops include:
- The southwest corner of Fifth and Main Streets in Royal Oak
- The southern corners of Nine Mile and Woodward in Ferndale
- The southwest corner of Holbrook and Jos. Campau in Hamtramck
- Farmer between Gratiot and Monroe in downtown Detroit (just east of the Compuware building)
Volunteers will be at every stop to assist shoppers.
More info at http://www.downtownferndale.com/DDA/Motown_D_link.asp.
Reservations encouraged - contact City Connect Detroit at 313-887-6510 or marissa@cityconnectdetroit.org.

Shop Detroit - next Saturday, 12/2
Detroit Synergy is also encouraging people to shop local, exploring unique boutiques and picking up one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones, with a one-day shopping event in downtown Detroit and the New Center area on Saturday, Dec. 2 from 10am until 5pm, providing shoppers with:
- A shopping map of the area, with a list of more than 70 participating shops
- A free People Mover pass for the day
- A free Shuttle to New Center Shopping District
- An "Urban Living Tour" by City Living
- Listing of discounts and promotions
- Listing of restaurants available for breakfast and lunch
- "Stepping Out in Motown” giveaway (one night getaway in the D, $1000 value)
- Ice Skating at Campus Martius Park
- A toy collection for COTS Shelter: bring new unwrapped gifts for ages new born to 17
Start in the Compuware Atrium.
More info from Nicole at shopdetroit@detroitsynergy.org.

Also remember that both DDOT and SMART are available to get you to and from these shopping destinations!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Megan Owens
Executive Director, Transportation Riders United
500 Griswold, Suite 1650 MOwens@DetroitTransit.org
Detroit, Michigan 48226 www.DetroitTransit.org
Phone: 313-963-8872 Fax: 313-963-8876

Our mission is to improve transportation access and mobility in Greater Detroit.

Wednesday November 15, Stacy Pullen Spins Live in 2nd Life Detroit!!
Check out http://www.seconddetroit.com/ for more details about this virtual event.

CORNERBOY FILMS DEBUT - Thursday November 16.

Newly minted independent Film Company, CornerBoy Films, LLC announces the premeire of it's debut feature film "Top Ten Things I Love/Hate About The Hood." Equal parts French New Wave, film noir and 70's era Blaxploitation, this entertaining 'dramedy' was filmed entirely in the city of Detroit, MI. "Top Ten Things I Love/Hate About The Hood" takes a multi-faceted look at the people and characters that populate our "beautiful metropolis". Helmed by writer/director Lee Martin II, the CornerBoy Films staff faced numerous challenges, chiefly filming on a "bare-bones" budget.

Noted writer Shabazz Clark coined CornerBoy's "Top Ten Things" as the "New Black Aesthetic". Shot on digital video in five frenzied weeks, "Top Ten Things" ensemble cast included some of Detroit's most noted emerging acting talent. Notable names include Blood Holiday, Lawanda Nance, Rachel Kiner, and neo-Germanic film sensation Sir Austin Kaliber. The movie focuses on an erstwile, disbarred Detroit attorney, Nicholas Skobey, and his trials and travails through the city.

"I'm happy my people like it, but I consider Top Ten Things to be a
universal story, "Don't let the title fool you." says Martin, a Detroit
product and Wayne State Law graduate who has been hailed as one of Detroit's most promising writer/directors in recent years.

This independent premeire will take place from 6:15-10:30pm on Thursday
November 16, 2006 at the E. Grand Blvd. Conference Center on Detroit's
historic East Side. The address is 497 E. Grand Boulevard. A special media screening will begin at 6:15pm. Please RSVP at info@cornerboyfilms.com.
www.cornerboyfilms.com

Third Thursday Community Happy Hour @ The Bronx Bar

Come to The Bronx Bar this Thursday! Join us at this neighborhood establishment located three blocks from Wayne State University in Midtown. Meet people who share an interest in the D.
Bring your OLD CELL PHONES in for recycling!

While you're there... stop by the Shop Detroit team meeting if you are interested in helping out with the event. Team meeting begins an hour after the happy hour starts (at 7pm).

Where: The Bronx Bar
4476 2nd Avenue, Detroit MI 48201
(313) 832-8464

Map: http://tinyurl.com/yk4q9c
When: This Thursday, November 16th, 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Parking: Street Parking.
Contact: Paula PR@DetroitSynergy.org
http://detroitsynergy.org/

Cell phones are for The Collective Good, a company that generates funds for charities through cell phone recycling. Not only will this benefit our organization, but also, donated cell phones are recycled for reuse primarily in the developing world.

BOHEMIAN NATIONAL HOME - Week's Events

This Thursday, Nov. 16th: Qbico Unite VI label showcase with Muruga
Booker's Global Village Ceremonial Band featuring Perry Robinson, Faruq Z
Bey with The Northwoods Improvisers, Odu Afrobeat Orchestra Qbico is an Italian record label that does small runs of home-made LPs. The impressive roster includes rock related music like The Sunburned Hand of the Man, solo works by Acid Mother Temple's Makoto Kawabata and Conrad
Schnitzler, of Kluster and the first Tangerine Dream record. Free
jazz/improvsed music releases include Arthur Doyle, Daniel Carter, Hamid
Drake, Evan Parker- and a fair amount of Detroit related stuff, like Faruq Z Bey and the Northwoods Improvisers, Muruga Booker (veteran of Weather Report and Babatunde Olatunji ) with Belita Woods (a local P-Funk member) and clarinetist Perry Robinson, who's played with Henry Grimes, Gerry Mulligan, William Parker, Dave Brubeck and many others. The Detroiters with releases on Qbico will be joined by Odu Afrobeat Orchestra, a group that embodies many aspects of what Qbico is about. Members of all the groups will be sitting in with each other throughout the night, making Qbico Unite earn its name. The concert is one of two in the US that will be released as a double live album, the sixth in a series for the label. Doors at 8 pm; Sliding scale-$10 min.

Friday, Nov. 17: Dave Shettler and Josh Dunn
An all Electro dance set from these DJs who have made their names playing a wide variety of grooves, past and present. They're going to show us how deep their crates are while they fill a too often empty space in the dance party scene. Doors at 12 pm; $5.

Wed. Nov. 22 Human Eye, Cuckcold, Troy Gregory and The Stepsisters, BB
Gun For the biggest bar night of the year we're having the biggest rock show in town! The art damaged punk of Human Eye returns with Bohemian buddy Bill Hafer back in town to rock the drumkit and Bohemian buddy Brad Hales newly on bass. Hafer's old band mate, Mike Walker, leads Cuckcold through murky, anti-lovesongs with guitar that at times seems to reference blues, at other times No Wave. The many projects of Troy Gregory have varied widely in direction; The Stepsisters plays dark, skewed pop music- currently Gregory's most active group locally. BB Gun is the current name of the group that reunites the principle forces behind one of the most important bands in Detroit's garage rock revival, Rocket 455.
Doors at 9 pm; $7.

Bohemian National Home
3009 Tillman (22nd)
Detroit 48216
313 737 6606

LIGHTING OF DETROIT'S HOLIDAY TREE AND OPENING OF THE RINK AT CAMPUS MARTIUS PARK

NOVEMBER 17, 2006
SPONSORED BY DTE ENERGY AND GREEKTOWN CASINO

CHANNEL 7’s "NIGHT OF LIGHTS" WILL BROADCAST THE EVENT LIVE

Brighton Film Fest - 2 Nights!!

November 17 @ The Brighton Center for the Performing
Arts 7878 Brighton Rd, Brighton, Michigan.
Doors open at 5:00PM. Best of DAFT Feature Film:“Haley and Madonna” By Tim Nagae starts at 8:00PM
________________________
November 18 @ Mt Brighton 4141 Bauer Rd, Brighton,Michigan.

Doors open at 3:30 for the UofM /Ohio State
game on the biggest screen in Livingston County.
Film Fest and Taste Fest start at 7:00 PM.
Microcinema International
Feature Film: “Honeyboy” By Scott Taradash
starts @ 9:00PM

After Party in the Bauery Restaurant Featuring the
Boss Sounds of the Hardcore Troubadours!

QUEEN of the UNDERGROUND - Saturday November 18

Gone are the days of swimsuit competitions and wishes for world peace, starting last year Thought Collide brought you the beauty pageant that celebrates the subcultures of Detroit , the known, the barely known and the unknown. Detroit demands a new queen – A new Queen of the Underground. Come to her coronation beginning at 9 pm on Saturday November 18 at the Hastings Street Ballroom, 715 E. Milwaukee , Detroit MI , 48202 .

You might ask what “Underground” is. It is defined so well by each contestant that there is no one definition. In the broad range, it is someone who lives life both in and beyond the mainstream, reaching beyond the surface to embrace all that Detroit has to offer, in its people as well as its world.

Evening Wear and Talent Competitions will not be the fare for this evening. Categories like Elegant, Lingerie and Anything Goes help catapult this competition to the next level. Decadence and Debauchery will rule the court as the queen is chosen by a jury of her peers, celebrity underground judges include Jamie Sonderman of Thought Collide, Nick Sousanis of TheDetroiter.com, Karen Neal of Queen Bee, Lisa From Noir Leather, Anthony Palacio of Dark Visions Studios and Jim Diamond, former bass player for The Dirtbombs and music producer for the famed Ghetto Recorders

Wednesday, November 8 at 7:00 p.m. at MOCAD
"REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF EMERGENCY"
A lecture by Michael Stone-Richards, Associate Professor of
Comparative Literature, Critical Theory, and Art History at the College
for Creative Studies.

The lecture is presented in conjunction with MOCAD's premier exhibition
"Meditations In An Emergency," curated by Klaus Kertess and
featuring works by Mark Bradford, Christopher Fachini, Barry McGee, Roxy
Paine, Paul Pfeiffer, Jon Pylypchuk, Tabaimo, Kara Walker, and Nari
Ward.

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART DETROIT
4454 Woodward Ave, Detroit MI 48201
313.832.6622 phone

AWARD-WINNING WRITERS JOIN THE POETS FOLLIES AT GROSSE POINTE ARTISTS ASSOCIATION NOV. 10

A gathering of award-winning writers and champions of the arts will read and speak at the Poets Follies at the Grosse Pointe Artists Association Art Center from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10.

Mariela Griffor, director of the Poets Follies, GPAA poet-in-residence and Grosse Pointe Park resident, will read from her book, “Exiliana,” which will soon be released by Toronto-based Luna Publications. In her collection of poetry, Griffor, a native of Chile, expresses her innermost thoughts in words of not her mother tongue in rich, beautiful, passionate verse unlike any other documentary or memoir produced that reflects upon the devastation, loss and casualties – both mortally and emotionally -- of civil unrest after the assassination of her fiancé and her subsequent exile to Sweden.

James La Croix, of Detroit, is a poet and short story writer, who has also written for publications as diverse as the recording industry technical journal, Music, Computers & Software and the Metro Times. He is currently writing and playing guitar, bass and drums in local bands while working as a paramedic for the EMS division of the Detroit Fire Department.

Cheri L.R. Taylor, of Canton, is a poet, poetry Performance teacher and tutor of poetry. She received her MFA in Writing from Vermont College January of 2005, and is currently working as a writer-in-residence with the Inside Out Literary Arts Project, where she conducts poetry workshops in the Detroit public schools. She has four chapbooks of poetry and has been published in Rattle, Awakenings Review, The Café Review, Reintigration Today, Clean Sheets, Current Magazine, Poetic Resonance Imaging and others. She is on the advisory board of the Springfed Arts Metro Detroit Writers as director of community outreach; the director of Blushing Sky, an organization that conducts writing workshops and events; and is founder of the Projection of Soul Poetry Workshop Program for Holy Cross Children’s Services (Boysville) in Clinton Township.

Nick Sousanis, editor-in-chief and co-founder of thedetroiter.com, will be the special speaker for the evening. In addition to managing the daily operations of thedetroiter.com since its founding October 2002, Sousanis, of Detroit, authors art reviews and editorials, and is responsible for editing all content and updating the site. He also contributes arts coverage for the Detroit Metro Times. He is currently under contract to produce a biography of legendary Detroit artist Charles McGee, forthcoming from Wayne State University Press. His artwork has appeared in a number of shows in the Detroit area, including a billboard for the Ferndale Public Art Project. He is a board member of the non-profit arts organization Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID), and has served as chairman since 2005. In recognition of his various accomplishments, Sousanis was recently selected as one of Crain’s Detroit Business’ 40 under 40 for 2006.

Because of the upcoming holidays, this month’s Poets Follies will not be held on the fourth Friday. The Poets Follies will return to its regular fourth Friday schedule in January 2007.

Admission to the Poets Follies is $5.

The GPAA Art Center is located at 1005 Maryland in Grosse Pointe Park.

For more information, call (313) 821-1848, write gpaa1@sbcglobal.net, or visit www.myspace.com/grossepointeartcenter.

The Essence of Motown Literary Conference
November 10th – 12th, 2006
http://geocites.com/essenceofmotown

Friday, November 10
1st official Northern Soul all-nighter at CAID
Doors at midnight, $5, all ages
A benefit for CAID, to upgrade & repair the P.A. system.
Northern Soul returns to one of it's spiritual homes, Detroit, Michigan. [Read More]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbEuq54FcBg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDutEilWwMU
Featuring:
Jorg Brenner, (Dj Puresoulie - Munich, Germany),
Breck T. Bunce and Brad Hales (Detroit),
and RS Wells (Kansas City, Mo. / Ann Arbor Soul Club).
Rare 60's northern classics, Motown and R&B obscurities, Sweet Soul dancers,
and 70's/80's Crossover/Modern sounds abound.

Paris 68, Saturdays at the Majestic Cafe!!

Compuware Presents - Noontime Concerts at the Detroit Public Library
Skillman Branch - 121 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, 48226

Attention Music Aficionados: If you like great music, you will love what we have to offer you this fall. Break-a-way from that ordinary lunchtime routine and relax to the soothing sounds of the free Noontime Concert Series sponsored by the Compuware Corporation. The concert series takes place at the Detroit Public Library’s Skillman branch located in downtown Detroit beginning October 18, 2006. So bring your lunch and enjoy local artists that represent a full range of musical genres.

Wednesday, November 15
Thornetta Davis
Singer, Songwriter, Actress, and Recording Artist. Her voice is strong, commanding, melodic and smooth. She tells her stories with incredible delivery and leaves her audiences wanting more.

Upcoming Performances:
December 20 - Lydia Cleaver and Friends
January 17 - The Lyrical Librarians
February 21 - Blackman & Arnold
March 21 - Penny Wells

"No applause please...just throw money!!"

Words and pictures
by Danielle Kaltz

Sure I admit the two words "Candy" and "Burlesque" brought this show to my attention. I love candy, I am a confessed junky! And burlesque? Who doesn't enjoy watching a good show of T&A?

If that is your mindset, you are in for a lesson to be sure. Though born in the Big Easy (notorious for decadent entertainment of all vices including many strip clubs), this show is not to be equated, as it often is, with modern day stripping so prevalent on Bourbon Street and in our culture. Most people think of burlesque as female strippers prancing on runways bumping and grinding to music, but that only defines it in its declining years.

Producer Kevin Lupine, who will soon have an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the quickest hypnosis of 20 people, is a native suburbanite recently relocated back to the Big D is the director with the assistance of choreographer and director Christopher Leadbitter of Causing A Scene Productions, have designed a collection of burlesque, vaudeville, variety show all wrapped into one.

Burlesque has been going on since before the Common Era, the first recorded time was of Athenian women rebelling against war (Lysistrata) by using sexual blackmail against their husbands...hmm not a bad way to protest if you ask me! (But I have a feeling those up tight Republicans are too far sexually repressed for it to actually work this time around (but that is another subject all together.))

If you’re a dude who is sex-starved and whose only interaction with women results in staring blankly and concentrating on body parts that you will never experience, this may not really be the show for you!

Yes, neo-burlesque is still about women scantily clad, but it is also about bringing back the art form of suggestion with a serving of saucy on the side. These performers were not stripping; they were playing coy and titillating the audience in their disrobing which never went beyond pasties and panties, the classic burlesque costume. This is theatre far above the clubs this city is dripping in and even the Windsor 'ballet'!

Now don't get me wrong I fully understand that theatrical burlesque is about female sexuality, and even though the Candy Pants Burlesque are not exactly angelic... they are definitely not bawdy!

Vaudeville was aimed at middle class sensibilities to cater and amuse them with an air of respectability. Well this is where the Candy Pants definitely differs, especially if you consider the hilarious stuffed comic duo variety act, Frankie and Marty. Think of the grumpy hecklers, Sattler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show. Now imagine if they were allowed to cuss like sailors and do monologues on vaginas and you start to see what I mean!

This variety act has historically been intermixed between set changes to distract the audience until the next act. These acts often would steal the show but in this case all the acts were top notch, funny as hell and ultimately as entertaining as the act it followed or came before.

Vaudeville and variety shows came about because of the Industrial Revolution when the population had a little spare cash and weekly leisure time. This resurgence and rebirth in the Candy Pants Burlesque is an interesting juxtaposition in our Post Industrial economy where we now have little cash to spare and weak leisure time. My point is that this form of entertainment is very refreshing. Initially created back when film, radio and TV didn’t exist this was a new way to fill the gap of time and now in a time when most film, radio and TV suck this is exactly what is needed to fill the gap.

Now enough history let’s get onto the show!!

Before I even made it into the theatre the ticket seller was handing out candy and there was even a ‘candy boy’ in the theatre giving candy to the audience. Remember what I said about being a junky? Well needless to say I was jacked on sugar before the show even began.

The shows MC was Thom Britton who did a fire act to start the show and you knew it was a D-troit audience because there were plenty of carnies egging him on to catch himself on fire! As Kevin told me he knows Detroit is a tough crowd. Often times, shows will either make Detroit there first stop to find out what is wrong with the performance (if they are brave) or they will make it there last stop because by then they know the show is so tight!!

There were many acts and one of them was a Harry Houdini like escape and quick change act, where “Bit O’ Honey” (Sarah Cole) was locked in a box and “Sugar Baby” (Jen Ratelle) draped herself onto top only to magically reveal “Bit O’ Honey” once the drape was removed and somehow “Sugar Baby” got in that box. This is why magic fucks with my head! No matter how many times I see a trick performed, I just don't get it. And these candies did a fine job of tricking me yet again. Maybe I should check out the new Magic: The Science of Illusion exhibit at the New Detroit Science Center.

Kevin, the maniac, performed this insane piece of Razor Blade Illusion. Imagine if you will an audience participant brought to the stage to confirm the sharpness of like four or five blades by holding playing cards that are then sliced in half by Kevin. Then imagine said razor blades put into Kevin’s mouth with a length of thread and then amazingly pulled from his mouth (after he warns us through mumbles that even if looks like it is part of the show if we see any blood we really are supposed to call 911) all strung on the thread!

Ah and there was the pole dance! Pole dancing, a pagan fertility dance dating back to the 12th century, rebranded then those lovely and chaste Victorians into the May pole dancing only to be re-appropriated by the Canadians in strip clubs in the 1980's. Oh so many reasons to love our neighbors!

Here “Lemon Drop” (Lindsey Kastelan), swaggered onto the stage dressed in man’s suit and tie and went on to do a strip tease around that pole culminated in her climbing said pole and dangling in a most seductive manner upside down from her legs! Lemon Drop who teaches pole dancing demonstrated what any pole dancer knows, (and no I am not suggesting that I know) that you must have endurance and be coordinated, as the activity requires not only dance skills but a bit of gymnastics as well to pull of looking sensual as you strip tease, climb, twist and seduce.

“Bit O’ Honey” (did you catching the candy name theme?) did an adorable dance while popping strategically placed balloons she was wearing revealing with each pop more and more but no more than pasties and cute lace cut boy pants! Dancer “Tootsie Pop” did a “blue” striptease piece of tap dance.

Kevin also does a straightjacket escape piece which is evidence of not only physical strength but also goes back to the part I mentioned earlier questioning this guys mental health! Sure many people have a sadistic fascination with bondage but, I mean ‘those’ people put themselves into a canvas device with strapped restraints! Then to make things even more interesting while Kevin tried to escape this Thom races him in a battle to see who could finish first. So what was Thom’s part of the race? Reading “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr Seuss! It was a great race! (Houdini died in Detroit at Grace Hospital on Halloween in 1926. Complications from a ruptured appendix are the official cause of death - though new theories continue to emerge to this day.)

A fan dance is often an erotic dance performance dances while moving two large fans, typically constructed from ostrich feathers made famous by Sally Rand. During this show “Sparkly Devil” did a stimulating piece accompanied by two male dancers. I wait for the day to see her do a “Bubble Dance”

Ah you can’t have variety show without a Benny Hill-seque banana skin joke complete with a monkey and scantily clad women running around the stage with amorous intentions, I won’t spoil who has the crush!

And who can forget the “10 second freak show” done by “Sugar Baby”, which is something I can not explain because you really have to see that one in person but I can tell you it is surely a lesson in how to set someone’s thighs on fire!!

With a nod and wink!

~Bubblicious

For more information on the show, including show dates and times please visit www.candypantsgirls.com but you better hurray show is only open until November 18th!!

"No applause please...just throw money!!"

Words and pictures
by Danielle Kaltz

Sure I admit the two words "Candy" and "Burlesque" brought this show to my attention. I love candy, I am a confessed junky! And burlesque? Who doesn't enjoy watching a good show of T&A?

If that is your mindset, you are in for a lesson to be sure. Though born in the Big Easy (notorious for decadent entertainment of all vices including many strip clubs), this show is not to be equated, as it often is, with modern day stripping so prevalent on Bourbon Street and in our culture. Most people think of burlesque as female strippers prancing on runways bumping and grinding to music, but that only defines it in its declining years.

Producer Kevin Lupine, who will soon have an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the quickest hypnosis of 20 people, is a native suburbanite recently relocated back to the Big D is the director with the assistance of choreographer and director Christopher Leadbitter of Causing A Scene Productions, have designed a collection of burlesque, vaudeville, variety show all wrapped into one.

Burlesque has been going on since before the Common Era, the first recorded time was of Athenian women rebelling against war (Lysistrata) by using sexual blackmail against their husbands...hmm not a bad way to protest if you ask me! (But I have a feeling those up tight Republicans are too far sexually repressed for it to actually work this time around (but that is another subject all together.))

If you’re a dude who is sex-starved and whose only interaction with women results in staring blankly and concentrating on body parts that you will never experience, this may not really be the show for you!

Yes, neo-burlesque is still about women scantily clad, but it is also about bringing back the art form of suggestion with a serving of saucy on the side. These performers were not stripping; they were playing coy and titillating the audience in their disrobing which never went beyond pasties and panties, the classic burlesque costume. This is theatre far above the clubs this city is dripping in and even the Windsor 'ballet'!

Now don't get me wrong I fully understand that theatrical burlesque is about female sexuality, and even though the Candy Pants Burlesque are not exactly angelic... they are definitely not bawdy!

Vaudeville was aimed at middle class sensibilities to cater and amuse them with an air of respectability. Well this is where the Candy Pants definitely differs, especially if you consider the hilarious stuffed comic duo variety act, Frankie and Marty. Think of the grumpy hecklers, Sattler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show. Now imagine if they were allowed to cuss like sailors and do monologues on vaginas and you start to see what I mean!

This variety act has historically been intermixed between set changes to distract the audience until the next act. These acts often would steal the show but in this case all the acts were top notch, funny as hell and ultimately as entertaining as the act it followed or came before.

Vaudeville and variety shows came about because of the Industrial Revolution when the population had a little spare cash and weekly leisure time. This resurgence and rebirth in the Candy Pants Burlesque is an interesting juxtaposition in our Post Industrial economy where we now have little cash to spare and weak leisure time. My point is that this form of entertainment is very refreshing. Initially created back when film, radio and TV didn’t exist this was a new way to fill the gap of time and now in a time when most film, radio and TV suck this is exactly what is needed to fill the gap.

Now enough history let’s get onto the show!!

Before I even made it into the theatre the ticket seller was handing out candy and there was even a ‘candy boy’ in the theatre giving candy to the audience. Remember what I said about being a junky? Well needless to say I was jacked on sugar before the show even began.

The shows MC was Thom Britton who did a fire act to start the show and you knew it was a D-troit audience because there were plenty of carnies egging him on to catch himself on fire! As Kevin told me he knows Detroit is a tough crowd. Often times, shows will either make Detroit there first stop to find out what is wrong with the performance (if they are brave) or they will make it there last stop because by then they know the show is so tight!!

There were many acts and one of them was a Harry Houdini like escape and quick change act, where “Bit O’ Honey” (Sarah Cole) was locked in a box and “Sugar Baby” (Jen Ratelle) draped herself onto top only to magically reveal “Bit O’ Honey” once the drape was removed and somehow “Sugar Baby” got in that box. This is why magic fucks with my head! No matter how many times I see a trick performed, I just don't get it. And these candies did a fine job of tricking me yet again. Maybe I should check out the new Magic: The Science of Illusion exhibit at the New Detroit Science Center.

Kevin, the maniac, performed this insane piece of Razor Blade Illusion. Imagine if you will an audience participant brought to the stage to confirm the sharpness of like four or five blades by holding playing cards that are then sliced in half by Kevin. Then imagine said razor blades put into Kevin’s mouth with a length of thread and then amazingly pulled from his mouth (after he warns us through mumbles that even if looks like it is part of the show if we see any blood we really are supposed to call 911) all strung on the thread!

Ah and there was the pole dance! Pole dancing, a pagan fertility dance dating back to the 12th century, rebranded then those lovely and chaste Victorians into the May pole dancing only to be re-appropriated by the Canadians in strip clubs in the 1980's. Oh so many reasons to love our neighbors!

Here “Lemon Drop” (Lindsey Kastelan), swaggered onto the stage dressed in man’s suit and tie and went on to do a strip tease around that pole culminated in her climbing said pole and dangling in a most seductive manner upside down from her legs! Lemon Drop who teaches pole dancing demonstrated what any pole dancer knows, (and no I am not suggesting that I know) that you must have endurance and be coordinated, as the activity requires not only dance skills but a bit of gymnastics as well to pull of looking sensual as you strip tease, climb, twist and seduce.

“Bit O’ Honey” (did you catching the candy name theme?) did an adorable dance while popping strategically placed balloons she was wearing revealing with each pop more and more but no more than pasties and cute lace cut boy pants! Dancer “Tootsie Pop” did a “blue” striptease piece of tap dance.

Kevin also does a straightjacket escape piece which is evidence of not only physical strength but also goes back to the part I mentioned earlier questioning this guys mental health! Sure many people have a sadistic fascination with bondage but, I mean ‘those’ people put themselves into a canvas device with strapped restraints! Then to make things even more interesting while Kevin tried to escape this Thom races him in a battle to see who could finish first. So what was Thom’s part of the race? Reading “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr Seuss! It was a great race! (Houdini died in Detroit at Grace Hospital on Halloween in 1926. Complications from a ruptured appendix are the official cause of death - though new theories continue to emerge to this day.)

A fan dance is often an erotic dance performance dances while moving two large fans, typically constructed from ostrich feathers made famous by Sally Rand. During this show “Sparkly Devil” did a stimulating piece accompanied by two male dancers. I wait for the day to see her do a “Bubble Dance”

Ah you can’t have variety show without a Benny Hill-seque banana skin joke complete with a monkey and scantily clad women running around the stage with amorous intentions, I won’t spoil who has the crush!

And who can forget the “10 second freak show” done by “Sugar Baby”, which is something I can not explain because you really have to see that one in person but I can tell you it is surely a lesson in how to set someone’s thighs on fire!!

With a nod and wink!

~Bubblicious

For more information on the show, including show dates and times please visit www.candypantsgirls.com but you better hurray show is only open until November 18th!!

Bohemian House

Wednesday, Nov. 1st: Josephine Foster with Commonwealth
Here's what THE WIRE has to say about Josephine: With her idiosyncratic
vocal style and impressive range, Josephine Foster has already established herself as an alternative folk mainstay.. "All the Leaves Are Gone" however is a departure into more strident acid folk territory... Foster noisily invokes the spirits of Jefferson Airplane and Fairport Convention (in their west coast phase), but does so with an edgy, freestyle approach which suggests the opaque meta-rock of Royal Trux applied to a different idiom. Opening the show is Commonwealth, a duo that prominently features banjo and fiddle music in their sets of acoustic Americana. Doors at 8 pm;
$5

"Picture Pages": A guest lecture by Harvey Pekar & Joyce Brabner presented by Artcite Inc., Visitors in the Arts (VITA) and BookFest Windsor 2006

(Saturday, November 4, 2:00 - 4:00 pm) Book signing will follow until 4:30 pm -- everyone who attends will have the opportunity for signatures . Books will be available to purchase for signing.

NOTE: This is held at the Art Gallery of Windsor (studio, 2nd floor), 401 Riverside Dr. W., Windsor, ON

Marlene Dietrich: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2006
J. David Riva, grandson of film legend Marlene Dietrich, will discuss filmmaking and book editing and host a screening of his documentary film, "Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Story." Sponsored by WSU Press and the German and Slavic Studies Department.

10:00 a.m. Welcome reception/continental breakfast
10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Lecture/Q & A
11:30 a.m. Screening of "Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Story"

Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium
Wayne State University Law School
417 West Palmer, Detroit

This event is FREE and open to the public. No RSVP is needed, but please note that seating is limited in the auditorium. For more information, please contact (313) 577-4607 or ar9413@wayne.edu

Episode 7 of InZer0 @ the Michigan Mitten Movie Project
The Mitten Movie Project presents Episode 7 of the acclaimed science fiction series InZer0, Thought Collide Productions’ latest project shot entirely in Detroit on Tuesday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak.

InZer0 continues with Episode 7 as Thames looks back on his past with the wolves and his first day with the courier guild. Secrets from Marilee’s past are revealed. The series is set in the near future as Thames, an ambitious courier, weaves his way through a dangerous city in a post-apocalyptic world. The future of the human race is at stake as the decimated population is unable to have children. Locations in Episode 7 include the Hastings Street Ballroom. Cameo appearances by

In addition to the screening, there will be a free Directors Reception in the lobby of the Main Art Theatre from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to meet the directors, stars, cast, crew and learn about casting opportunities for upcoming episodes of InZer0.
After the screening, the evening continues with an afterglow party at Bastone (419 S. Main Street – four blocks south of the Main Art Theatre). There is a suggested door donation of $5. 21+ welcome. DJ sets by the InZer0 cast and crew.

The Mitten Movie Project is a festival based in Detroit that is dedicated to exhibiting the work of digital filmmakers in Michigan and beyond with monthly screenings on the first Tuesday of the month at the Main Art Theatre located at 118 N. Main St. in Royal Oak.
Pre-sale tickets are $10 at the Main Art Theatre the day of the showing or $11 via Pay Pal at www.myspace.com/inzero.

Boomtown 1925,
Hot jazz, cold drinks and five women on the verge of new lives, it all comes together in Boomtown 1925, Matrix Theatre Company’s play about Detroit roaring 20’s mix of money, industry and new immigrants. Matrix Theatre’s Boomtown 1925 starts October 19th at the Boll Family YMCA in downtown Detroit.

Boomtown 1925: YMCA Boll Family Theatre
October 19 – November 12, 2006: Boomtown 1925 an original play about Detroit’s Jazz Age, when it was inventing a whole new way of living. Matrix Theatre Company’s professional production of Boomtown 1925 will be performed at the YMCA Boll Family Theatre, 1401 Broadway on Thursdays – Saturdays at 8:00 pm, and Sundays at 4:00 pm. Call (313) 967-0599 for tickets and group sales information.

From 1922 to 1927, Detroit’s population grew from 250,000 to one million people. From all over the globe, people came together to create a new city and a new way of life. Boomtown 1925 is the story of five women from five cultures who come together at Gus’ All Night Diner across the street from the Ternstedt plant in Southwest Detroit. There, they share troubles, laughs, and food as they invent the city that created the 20th century. This original play, written by Matrix Collective Playwrights Workshop, is directed by Matrix Theatre Company Executive Director, Shaun S. Nethercott.

The play captures the excitement and transformation that marked the 1920’s in Detroit. The Great War was over, the Jazz Age had begun. Prohibition turned ordinary people into criminals. Women were on the forefront of change: suffragettes had just secured the right to vote, and women were in the factories in record numbers, but Flappers were the image of the modern woman. They painted their lips, drank in speakeasies, and danced the Charleston. Join us as we relive Boomtown 1925 through five women who chose Southwest Detroit to be their home.

This production of Boomtown 1925 is also part of Detroit Stories, a collaborative effort between Matrix Theatre Company, the Boll Family YMCA, InsideOut Literary Arts Project, Marygrove College, Wayne State University Honors Program and Wayne State University Press. Detroit Stories will take place from September- December 2006, and includes a lecture/discussion with Jeffrey Eugenides, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Middlesex, creation of new poetry and stories by high school students in InsideOut Literary Arts Project, and a Story Recording Booth at the YMCA.

2730 Bagley Street Detroit, MI 48216
www.matrixtheatre.org

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
presents
Music and Art Exhibition:
Music
Saturday, November 4
The Egyptian Lover Live w/
Jamie Jupiter (Egyptian Empire Records, Los Angeles)
DJ Stingray - AKA Urban Tribe (Replex/Planet E, Detroit)
BMG of Ectomorph (International Transmissions, Detroit)
DJ Konspiracy (Underground Resistance, Detroit)
November 4, 2006 • 10 p.m.
$10 cover
[Click here for a full press release]

Exhibitions
Last day for Shelter: Saturday, November 4 from 12pm to 6pm
Shelter
Exhibition runs: Sept 23—Nov 4, 2006
"The intent of this exhibit is to gather people working in a variety of media and disciplines to explore aspects of shelter, with the realization that truly creative solutions often come from unlikely sources and the synergistic effect of creative minds sharing different perspectives.
In the face of current natural disasters we have witnessed a deficiency in conventional approaches to providing shelter in emergency situations. There are also chronic shelter needs ranging from the experience of homelessness in our urban centers to inadequate shelter for the impoverished worldwide.
We understand that shelter is a basic human physical need. The complicated social, political, economic, emotional, aesthetic and spiritual aspects of providing it are what we need to explore."-Hugh Timlin, juror