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Entries by Becks Davis (546)

Thursday
Apr142011

Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

This has to be the best time of the year in Detroit. The Tigers are playing and the Detroit Red Wings are in the NHL playoffs for the 20th year in a row. Let’s go Red Wings!

My brother, husband, and myself with the awesome Gordie Howe.

Weekend Roundup

1. Craft Revival - Over 25 crafters and makers will have their goods on hand at The Loving Touch in Ferndale. They'll also have hands-on crafting stations for both children and adults. April 16th.

2. Detroit Music Awards - 2011 marks the 20th anniversary of Detroit's version of the Grammy's. The Fillmore will be rocking! The voting is over for the People's Choice Award but you can still download tracks here. April 15th.

3. Motor City Beard and Mustache Championships - Beards, mustaches, and live music are all going down at Small's Bar in Hamtramck to raise money for Youthville. The fake beard and casual Santa categories should be fun and outrageous. April 16th.

4. Earth Day at The Detroit Zoo - The Zoo's Green Team will be on hand with earth-friendly activities and tips to keep the planet healthy. Also, a scavenger hunt, a craft project, rock climbing wall and entertainment. April 16th.

5. Learn to paint the Cass Corridor way at MOCAD - This free workshop with Gilda Snowden is for both kids and adults. She'll demonstrate different textural methods of painting associated with her work and the Cass Corridor movement. April 17th.

Do you know of a great event going on in Metro Detroit this weekend? Add it to the comments and share it with us!

Wednesday
Apr132011

Hostel Detroit to bring new energy and travelers to the city

Emily Doerr in front of Hostel Detroit.Emily Doerr, originally from a one-traffic light town near Flint, is the force and passion behind the new Hostel Detroit, which opens this Friday in North Corktown. Doerr and I sat down last week in the hostel for a chat amidst the chaos of the last few days of renovation.

The idea for the hostel was sparked while Doerr was hosting travelers staying on her couch.

It started with couch surfing. I hosted 100 people over the course of 2009 and 2010 through CouchSurfing.org and a lot of them asked me, ‘why isn’t there a hostel in Detroit? There needs to be one.’ Foolishly, foolhardy, and very recklessly  I said, ‘I can do that.’  I first started serioulsy talking about it last May.

Originally she thought of doing a pilot program out of her own townhouse with 8 beds. However her friends told her, “Emily, go big! Do it for real. The community will support you.”

And the community has supported her! All of the furniture has been donated, teams of volunteers have worked at the hostel renovating and painting, and everything has been paid for by monetary donations. “The community made this happen,” said Doerr.

On Detroit

Hostel Detroit is located on the corner of Vermont and Spruce.“I think it’ll be a really cool access point for visitors. Detroit isn’t user friendly. There aren’t any maps, there isn’t a useable map for the bus system or really good signs,” states Doerr.

She continues, “It’ll be cool for people to know that they can come, they can have a place to stay that’s clean, safe, affordable, and that’s not going to break the bank, but also can be this access point to all this other stuff in the city. When you travel you don’t need to print a map of the city, you just need to get to the hostel and they’ll take care of you”

Doerr also says of Detroit, “People say that it's a city of hidden gems and that it’s an insider city. It’s time for us to be a little more accessible.”

“A city is a place where all these people can come together and collide and mix,” she says with that passion I spoke of earlier.

On North Corktown

Doerr isn’t trying to “save” the neighborhood, “The city at large has all this cool stuff, even North Corktown is already really cool. The hostel isn’t making it cool. Nancy Whiskey, Brother Nature Produce, Rachel's Vintage, Pink Flamingo, urban farms,” all those places are already in the neighborhood. "We just want to show off the assets,” adds Doerr.

But how will Hostel Detroit be different from other hostels around the country? “Just by existing,” exclaims Doerr, "There aren’t any hostels in other rust belt cities except for Chicago; Pittsburg and Milwaukee have been trying but they don’t have one yet.”

Doerr explained that currently hostels only exist where there is demand, tourist destinations that attract the masses. But people are coming to Detroit and she’s hoping that the hostel will bring more people. She says, “It’ll be more proactive than other hostels. Other hostels are reacting to market demand whereas we’re reacting on gut instinct, hoping to help influence market demand.”

One of the other things that will make Hostel Detroit different from other hostels is their ambassador program. The ambassadors will be organic tour guides, which is reminiscent of her couch surfing roots.

Doerr found that hosting the couch surfers benefitted her as much as she benefitted them, “they had a place to stay and they knew where to go, I took them around. It benefitted me because every time that I took them around the city I fell back in love with it. I got as much positive energy from them and their stay as they did with me.”

The hostel opens this Friday and is booked for the whole weekend except for one double bed on Friday night. Travelers from England, Australia, and Toronto have already made reservations and one of the upstairs apartments is booked for a month by documentary filmmakers from the Netherlands.

Finally, Doerr adds “I feel like the hostel will be new energy for the city, bringing new people in all the time.” And I have to agree with her.

But I had to ask the girl from Goodrich, outside of Flint, one last burning question. Does she prefer Flint's famed Angelo’s Coney Island from near her hometown or as has her allegiance switched to a real Detroit coney? “I’m a Lafayette person now,” she admits, “but I don’t like mustard so I’ll never be a true coney lover. I’ve been told if you adjust the coney at all it invalidates you.”

Mustard or no mustard, Doerr is a true Detroiter.

Photo credits: Karpov the Wrecked Train

Sunday
Apr102011

For the love of Detroit

Peter Kageyama signing his book at Rust Belt to Artist Belt III.Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Rust Belt to Artist Belt III conference at the A. Alfred Taubman Center in Detroit. The conference had a good vibe even though the “insider vs. outsider” debate that permeates every conversation about Detroit lived on.

The session that sparked my interest and started my mind spinning was For the Love of Cities author, Peter Kageyama. He spoke about love and attachment to cities and how that correlates with revitalization and community development.

Let’s talk about love!

“The things that we tend to love about cities are small. The cherry on top of the sundae,” Kageyama told us. “Nobody ever fell in love with a city because they fixed the potholes.”

Millennium Park in Chicago is one example on a huge scale but he also spoke of a mural project in Philadelphia and solving city problems in creative ways.

“We see the benefits of love in everything. When children, pets, plants and even objects are loved, they thrive. (Yes, even objects.  Compare the car owned by a car lover to the cars owned by the rest of us! ) The same is true of our places.  When we love our city, as when we love another person, we will go to extraordinary lengths for them.” ~ from For the Love of Cities

Kageyama spoke of the Soul of the Community survey that found that only 24% of us are “engaged” with our cities. I would guess that the number would be much lower in Detroit.

So, how do we help people fall in love with Detroit? How do we get more people engaged with the city? The creative class certainly plays a big role. Look at this last weekend. Detroit was packed with people attending Art X Detroit, the free DSO concerts and the Obscura Day events. There was a buzz around town.

Others have dismissed Kageyama’s idea of love changing Detroit because we have so many underlying problems. Yes, Detroit has big issues, infrastructure, education and city services to name a few.

To paraphrase Michael Douglas’ character in The American President, “Detroit has serious problems to solve and we need serious people to solve them.”

I don’t get why we can’t have both. Can’t we have serious people solving serious problems AND creative endeavors that spark a love of the city?

Personally, I can’t do much to solve the serious problems and I’m not that smart or serious. But I can foster the love of Detroit. The creatives and entrepreneurs can change Detroit. They already are.

Check out this interview that Peter Kageyama did with the Detroit Regional News Hub.

Thursday
Apr072011

Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

Batter up! The Detroit Tigers home opener at Comerica Park is tomorrow. This is a glorious time of year; baseball games, barbeques and fireworks are on the horizon. I just hope Mother Nature obliges and sends us warm weather and sunshine soon.

Weekend Roundup

1. Art X Detroit - This 5-day multidisciplinary art experience celebrates Kresge artists and fellows in many different venues. Get your art on! April 6-10

2. Now Hear This! - The Detroit Tap Repertory presents an evening of tap dancing like you haven't seen before! Special guests will be on hand to perform hip hop, swing, and a Michael Jackson tribute. April 8th.

3. Three Stooges Festival - Watch the antics of Larry, Curly and Moe on the big screen. Each showing includes a 30 minute concert featuring their Barton Theatre Pipe Organ. April 8th & 9th.

4. Group Tour De Hood ride - Jump on your bike and head out for a 25 mile ride through Detroit to celebrate International Obscura Day. Sites include Indian Village, The Heidelberg Project, St. Anne's Cathedral, and the old Michigan Theatre. April 9th.

5. Cocktails & Cameras Obscura at the Imagination Station - The Imagination Station, two blighted houses that sit across from Michigan Central Station, will be turned into a "camera obscura." This International Obscura Day event features time lapsed photography of the old train station. April 9th.

Don't forget! The Tigers home opener is Friday, April 8th and Fakes, Forgeries and Mysteries closes at the DIA on Sunday, April 10th.

Do you know of a great event going on in Metro Detroit this weekend? Add it to the comments and share it with us!

Wednesday
Apr062011

Mitten-made wines take center stage at Vinotecca

April is Michigan wine month and Vinotecca in Royal Oak is celebrating by featuring 8 wines made in the state. They are also debuting a brand new menu.

Bonafide Winery, M. Lawrence, Fenn Valley, Left Foot Charlie and B. Nektar Meadery of Ferndale are all represented on the wine list. The selections range in price from $6 to $9 a glass and they also offer a flight of 6 wines for $25.

Michigan wineries produce over 1 million gallons of wine a year and the wine industry adds $300 million to our states economy.  

After a preview tasting, the crowd favorites were the Peninsula Red from Bonafide Winery, the very quaffable Cabernet Franc from Fenn Valley, and the always-popular Sex from M. Lawrence.

When asked which dish was the star of the new menu, Executive Chef Robert Young singled out the Ty-Ku Tuna, “I went on an Asian kick and that was the one dish that really resonated.” It’s a perfect light dish for spring and summer.Ty-Ku Tuna from Vinotecca.

The dish is made with high-grade, sushi quality tuna with an herb crust, stir fried vegetables, linguini and an ty-ku dressing. Young, a Welshman, described the dressing more as a vinagrette with sweet and spicy flavors.

Other standouts on the new menu were the hazelnut seared scallops, wild mushroom risotto, and the chicken and artichoke pizza with herbed Boursin cheese. The scallops are served with a sauce that deceptively looks like a cocktail sauce. It’s actually a raspberry coulis that adds a delicate sweetness.

The Michigan wines will be featured all month and the new menu starts today. Young hopes to change the dinner menu up every 10 weeks or so. Keeping the favorites, of course.

Drink Michigan is having a happy hour event at Vinotecca on April 13th. Michigan wines by the glass are half off and they’re offering 25% on selected appetizers.