Buzz

Highland Park Music Fest sets up on grounds of historic McGregor Library

Highland Park Business Association Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Highland Park Business Association (HPBA) this week announced that the third annual Highland Park Music Festival will be held July 20-22 on the grounds of the historic McGregor Library.

Many of Metro Detroit’s leading musicians will be among the 30 acts who will perform including the Theatrics, featuring Arthur "Haas" Phillips (formerly of the Dramatics), legendary Motown guitarist, Dennis Coffey, the Marion Hayden Quartet, The Real Deal, Deblon Jackson & the Jazz Kids, the P-Funk Mob, Marissa Rose (featured on Kem’s latest hit single "If It’s Love") and saxophonist Duane Parham.

The Highland Park Music Festival is free to the public and will offer activities for the entire community to enjoy. Families can spend an entire day enjoying quality music in the park, great food, and activities for children.

Corktown gets front page love in the News

Detroit News Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Nice to see a major feature on one of our neighborhood gems -- Corktown -- in one of the Detroit dailies. So what if we were there first -- about seven years and a month or two earlier. But who's bragging? Love the deep(ish) dive and the awesome quotes. Kudos.

An excerpt:

Among the new business owners are Jason Yates and Deveri Gifford, who opened a breakfast spot, the Brooklyn Street Local.
The Canadian couple chose Corktown after staying at Hostel Detroit and realizing the neighborhood was "the perfect spot" for their restaurant.

Fellow business owners have been overwhelmingly supportive.

"It's a collaborative effort, rather than competitive," Yates said. "It's fun because we're all doing this at the same time."

Read on here.

Transcontinental interplanetary neighborhood bicycle dude

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 10, 2012

When a guy named Mars hit town, suddenly things got down to earth in the Detroit neighborhood just east of Palmer Park. That's where he fixes up and gives away bikes to kids in the community. We read all about it in HuffPost Detroit.

An excerpt:

"I owned my own business. I was making plenty of money. I had all my needs met," he told The Huffington Post.

However, that way of living didn't feel right to (Mars) Symons. He learned of an intentional community movement in Detroit called Fireweed Universe City, after meeting a psychedelic trance DJ who had become involved with the group. Symons decided to bike to the Motor City to check it out.

Read the rest of the story here.

Lou Glazer: Key to Michigan prosperity is high density of talent

LSJ.com Tuesday, July 10, 2012

When we met Lou Glazer several years ago we knew he had his head wrapped around what Detroit and the state needs to prosper. Not surprisingly the president of Michigan Future Inc. still has his finger on the pulse of what should be next.

An exerpt from LSJ.com:

The evidence is clear: The most prosperous places in America are those with the highest talent concentrations. In 2010 of the top 15 states in the proportion of adults with a four-year degree or more 12 are also in the top 15 in per capita income. All are in the top 20. Michigan’s fundamental challenge is that we are 36th in college attainment.

Read on to see what the state needs to do to change that here.

Recovery Park goal includes indoor urban ag, horse stables, neighborhood employment

The Hub Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Gary Wozniak sees himself as a food systems developer and a job creator. And no, he's not running for president but rather looking to redevelop a 3-square-mile area on Detroit's East Side into self-sustaining farms with their own production and distribution systems. Ambitious enough, we think.

An excerpt from The Hub:

Recovery Park started as leaders from SHAR (Self Help Addiction Rehabilitation) were looking to create jobs for people with barriers to employment. Looking at the talent pool and the physical resources Detroit abundantly has--land, road infrastructure, access to fresh water--the natural conclusion was urban farming and food system development.

The difference between Recovery Park and other urban farming/ urban redevelopment programs is in both size and scale. While most community farming produces few jobs that are often dependent on grant funding, Recovery Park’s model aims toward something more self-sustainable.

"We’re taking a look more at commercial indoor agriculture so that the jobs are year round," Wozniak says. "We can get three, maybe four, growing seasons working indoors."

Intriguing stuff, yes? Read more here.

Indie film titan Jim Jarmusch shooting vampire flick in Brush Park

Deadline Detroit Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Stop the virtual presses: the perpetual silver fox of independent film, Jim Jarmusch, has been spotted walking around downtown Detroit. A few years ago, during a weekend in New York, we spotted Jim walking in Union Square. He likes cities and he likes walking. He's never a stranger to paradise. Welcome to Detroit.

He's here to make a vampire flick, provisionally titles "Only Lovers Left Alive." We like it.

An exerct from Deadline Detroit:

The movie, a centuries-long romantic drama about two vampires, has an impressive cast, including Mia Wasikowska (the star of "Alice in Wonderland"), Tom Hiddleston (Loki in "The Avengers"), Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton"), John Hurt ("Alien") and the just-announced Anton Yelchin ("Fright Night").

Read more here.

MSU invests $1.5 million in Detroit farming project

HuffPost Detroit Tuesday, July 10, 2012

It's nice to see Detroit going green. Yes, we're talking about the accelerating urban agriculture scene, but we're also cool with the increased presence by Michigan State University in the city. Sparty and Detroit are collaborating on a massive $1.5 million farming project.

An exerpt from HuffPost Detroit:

As the earth's population continues to concentrate in cities and resources become more scarce, the university believes that the world will become increasingly dependent on urban farming to meet its food needs.

"By 2050, food production will need to double -- using less water and energy than today," MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said in a release. "We see great opportunity to do good locally and connect globally."

More here.

"Sharp" Eastern Market FC shirts available with a click

Etsy Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Fans of the Eastern Market Futbol Club will love this, limited edition T-Shirts with some cool design work. All others, this is what you need to know: the product is "actually made in Detroit" and have some serious edge. Fantastic. Get them while they're hot.

Find them here.

Concert of Colors celebrates 20 years this weekend in three locations

Concert of Colors Tuesday, July 10, 2012

There's so much to see and hear at this year's Concert of Colors -- the annual summer event's 20th anniversary -- that we'll let you decide where you want to go and who you want to see this long weekend (Thursday July 12 through Sunday July 15) at three venues (the Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Max M. Fisher Center) in the Cultural Center.

OK, maybe just a few recommendations: how about Don Was Detroit All Star Revue, Saturday at Orchestra Hall; or George Clinton and P-Funk on the same stage on Sunday night?

You can take the rest from here. There is plenty to dig into. It's all free, by the way. Have fun.

NYT gets a glimpse of Midtown's Green Garage

New York Times Tuesday, June 26, 2012

We know that the Green Garage is a different kind of incubator, as the New York Times headline writer says. But we like this bit even more.

An excerpt:

(Tom) Brennan says he believes that traditional incubator and accelerator programs extrude entrepreneurs through a mechanized, one-size-fits-all process, sometimes spurring founders to charge ahead without first finding clarity on what they want to do, or why. Instead of focusing on acceleration, he’s working to build a start-up culture that’s a rough analogue of the slow-food movement: intimate, deliberate, unhurried. It’s an organic approach he knows won’t be for everyone.

Read on here.

Kickstart the Hamtramck Festival, one of 313's premier street parties

Kickstarter Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Some of you might have first attended the Hamtramck Festival, three days of urban fun in the Labor Day weekend sun, since 1980. That's a good, long run we want to see continue for decades to come.

The festival is under threat because of cutbacks in the city's budget. A solution not available 32 years ago is the best option to raise funds: Kickstarter.

Go here and throw a few bucks in the pot to keep the street party alive and kicking.

Mode Shift links renderings of expanded D-Cut and Midtown Loop

Mode Shift Move Together Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Some of the best news we heard all last week was about the extention of the Dequindre Cut, from Gratiot to Mack Avenue, and the creation of the Midtown Loop, which will take the trail through the heart of Wayne State University and Brush Park. Also in the plans: a connector that will link Eastern Market with Hamtramck.

Pictures tell even a better story. Take a look at these accessed from the Mode Shift Move Together site.

Edgy Detroit Beautification Project explodes with color and controversy

Detroit News Tuesday, June 26, 2012

This story in the Detroit News confirms what we knew already -- that the street art that went up on Detroit and Hamtramck buildings this spring is radically beautiful and that the idea was hatched by a Hamtramck-based group called Contra Projects.

An excerpt:

Hamtramck officials and property owners were so accommodating to the Beautification Project that most of the murals went up there first. It's part of the city's plan to spotlight its artistic side, head off illegal graffiti, and, perhaps grab a little of the global cool Detroit has been enjoying on the international art stage.

Jason E. Friedmann, Hamtramck's director of economic and community development, said the town has long been an art haven for creative types, but that side hasn't always been visible to outsiders.

"We're trying to get our underground creative thing out in the open to underline that this is part of what Hamtramck is all about," he said.

Well said Jason, well said.

Read on here.

Detroit "digital revolution" gets video attention from NBC cable

MSNBC Tuesday, June 26, 2012

It's somehow gratifying to see and hear, on a national cable TV broadcast, that there are so many young, tech-savvy workers employed downtown that there is not enough places for them to live. Well, let's fix that. More residential construction and reconstruction, please.

Let's go to the video here.

Allied Media Conference gets tactical this weekend

Allied Media Conference Tuesday, June 26, 2012

We visited Allied Media Projects earlier this spring and came away mighty impressed. We also came away with this impressive story by Matt Piper. AMP's annual summer conference is this weekend. It's packed with serious fun. That's what we're talking about.

Get all you need to know here and go.