Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

Forget what the calendar says, in my book summer starts with Memorial Day Weekend. Let’s kick off summer in Detroit in a fantastic fashion with warm weather, sunshine, and plenty of things to do!

Have a fabulous weekend! Be safe and don't forget the sunscreen.

Weekend Roundup

1. Movement Electronic Music Festival - Head down to Hart Plaza and celebrate techno music! Electronic music will be performed by top artists from around the world. Check out this breakdown of some of the afterparties. May 29-31.

2. Orchard Lake St. Mary's Polish Country Fair - A Memorial Weekend tradition for 39 years, the St. Mary's Fair features authentic Polish food, carnival rides, entertainment, bingo & vegas tents, and more. This is the largest high school fair in the country! Read about our visit to the Polish fair last year and learn about the campus. May 28-31.

3. Belle Isle Botanical Society Plant Sale - This annual fundraiser takes place in the Belle Isle Greenhouses and offers a large selection of perennials, annuals, mini-roses, and over 80 varieties of heirloom & hybrid tomatoes. May 29th.

4. Greater Rochester Heritage Days - In its first year, this event at Municipal Park includes an art fair with over 100 artists, a car show, climbing wall, Civil War and World War Two re-enactors, pony rides, plow horses, and more. May 29-30.

5. World Steam Expo - The premier Steampunk event of the Midwest happens in Dearborn. What is steampunk? A genre of science fiction set in the Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power (definition from dictionary.com).  May 28-31.

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

I Love Detroit Video Contest: Live Rent-Free!

As you all know, I love Detroit! There are a million reasons why this city has stole my heart. Now it’s your chance to show the world why you love Detroit and you could live rent-free in Detroit for a year!

Garden Court Condominiums just launched an amazing “I Love Detroit” video contest. They are asking the community to use their creative spirit and share their reasons for loving Detroit.

What are your favorite places in Detroit? What do you love doing in the city? Sports, food, art, music, enterprise, spirit, grit; Detroit has it all. Capture it on video and yes, you could live rent-free at Garden Court Condominiums for one year.

As of today, participants can upload their 2-minute video submission to www.gardencourtvideocontest.com. The contest will conclude on Monday, June 21, with the winner of the contest being announced at a “Wrap Party” happening from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29 at the luxury rooftop at Garden Court Condominiums overlooking the Detroit River.

Designed by famed architect Albert Kahn in 1915, Garden Court Condominiums is a mid-rise condominium complex located in the East RiverWalk District of Detroit with spectacular views of the City and the River. It features 65 superbly renovated residences that seamlessly blend the beauty of the historic architecture with today’s modern amenities.

At the event, the winner will be announced and awarded the grand prize to live rent-free at Garden Court Condominiums for one year. During the year, this individual will subsequently chronicle their day-to-day experiences participating in Detroit’s culture, dining and sporting events through a blog.

FOX 2 News is serving as the “I Love Detroit!” video contest’s promotional partner and will showcase video submissions on-air during the duration of the contest.  

I would LOVE to live in the Garden Court Condominiums rent-free for a year! Then where’s my video, you ask? I’m excited to announce that I’ll be taking part as a judge; A panel of southeastern Michigan-based bloggers and personalities will select the winning video. 

So get out there and start filming! I can’t wait to watch the videos.

Enter the contest here.

Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

According to this site, some interesting things have happened in Detroit in the month of May.

• May 5, 1701 marked the first time Europeans married in Detroit. (Well, I married a European.)

• The first Little Caesars opened on May 8, 1959 in Garden City. (I love pizza!)

• King Louis XIV gave permission to lease farms in the Detroit area on May 14, 1728. (Urban farms could help build the new Detroit.)

That is all.

Weekend Roundup

1. Hands-On Local Tech Event 2010 - The whole family can get their geek on at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum featuring entertainment, a family scavenger hunt, and hands-on fun. May 22nd.

2. Icon of Loss; The Art of Samuel Bak - The exhibit features 60 paintings, studies, and sketches by the surrealist artist and Vilna ghetto survivor. May 23rd through August 15th.

The Holocaust Memorial Center exhibits the work of Samuel Bak.

3. Boats & Blazes - Take a pontoon boat ride on Crooked Lake while a naturalist explains the plants and animals living in an around the lake and finish the evening around the campfire. May 22nd.

4. Imogen Heap - The UK born, Grammy nominated artist takes the stage at The Fillmore. May 22

5. Planetarium Shows at Cranbrook Institute of Science - Explore our galaxy in IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System or check out our local skies in Michigan Sky Tonight. May 21st.

Bonus: Inside Detroit has two fantastic tours this weekend: an Eastern Market Bar tour and a Greater Downtown Community Bus Tour. May 22nd.

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

Who the Heck is this Becks Davis Chick?

There are a few posts that I’ve been meaning to write for a while now. These aren’t posts about Detroit; they are just bits and pieces that will let you get to know me better. They range from the very basic facts to the essence of my being. I mean, who the heck is Becks Davis?

My hyper obsession with Detroit and my English husband aren’t the only things that have influenced my life. Odd, I know, but there is actually more to me than that.

These posts can be the hardest to write and the easiest to put off.

So, because I’ll keep procrastinating and you may never find out my true thoughts on broccoli, I’m giving myself a deadline. I’m also giving you a choice and you can keep me accountable.

I’m going to give you two topics with very vague titles and you can decide which one I’ll write about. Why the vague titles? Well, because I can. And, because I haven’t written these posts yet and am not sure which direction they’ll take. I do know what they are about, though.

All I will say is that they will give you more insight into who I am. Oh, and that one of them will give you more insight than the other.

Without further ado, the two topics are:

Bent Out of Shape

Or

Walking on Sunshine

Bent Out of Shape vs. Walking on SunshineLet me know in the comments which you would like me to write about and I’ll post it by the end of next week. I promise that the title will make sense once you read the post. The songs and/or albums or artists have absolutely nothing to do with the eventual content.

Oh, and if you happen to be my parents, my BFF, my college roommate, or my favorite cousin and have figured out where I’m going with this, please don’t give it away. That would suck.

P.S. The title may change when I publish the post.

What's it going to be? Bent Out of Shape or Walking on Sunshine?

Read Bent out of Shape or Walking on Sunshine.

Banksy in Detroit: The Debate Continues

Diamond Girl by BanksyFamed street artist Banksy tagged Detroit and 3 of the 4 known pieces are now gone. Well, at least they’re not in their native habitat where Banksy intended them to be. Intense debates are going on online and in the real world on whether this was an act of preservation or unadulterated theft.

“I remember when all this was trees” was excavated/stolen from the Packard Plant by the 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios. This moron, claiming to be a fan, started Diamond Girl’s removal, I'd like to know the rest of the story. The Boy on the Beach at Canfield and Cass was quickly painted over. Only Tightrope Rat remains.

The Craig Fahle Show on WDET talked about the Banksy piece taken by the 555 Gallery today. They invited to the 555 Gallery to participate or comment and this is the statement they received:

"Thank you for inviting us to participate in the discussion. We are excited that there is such a lively debate regarding the excavation of the Banksy piece from the Packard plant. At this time we are in talks with the owner of the Packard Plant regarding the status of the piece and are not free to participate in public discussion at this time. We look forward to continuing the conversation and dialogue around the piece into the future. We welcome all opinions and hope that all those interested will visit us at our current location…"

Banksy’s work gets stolen, removed, or painted over all the time. A quick search led me to pieces in L.A. and New Orleans that were removed. Some idiots are trying to make a profit and others are attempting to making a statement.

This is street art, people! Let it live (and die) on the street.

Through all this fervor I was reminded of a quote I found while researching Graffiti Alley. Katherine Tombeau Cost painted the original mural under Graffiti Alley that was whitewashed. In an article in the Ann Arbor Chronicle she said,

"The thing about public art it is an exercise in letting go. You put it out there and you know it is not forever. I have to remind myself this isn’t my family room. That is the element of public art. It will be great and it will be gone."

The folks over at Perfect Laughter suggest we celebrate the artists we have here in Detroit instead of just getting all hyped up about Banksy. Banksy showing up in Detroit, or any city, is big news but let’s not forget about the abundance of creativity and talent of our resident artists.

OK, I’m done. I know I’ve been talking about graffiti and Banksy quite a bit in the last few weeks. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. Unless, of course, another Banksy appears in Detroit.