There is help.

A very useful service for those of you with little ones around the house! 

And by little ones I mean either gaybies OR inappropriately young boyfriends.

Do it in denim.

Well in keeping with the theme of leather & levis for the weekend, there is one more event I want to give you a heads-up about! It is Design for Life: Denim, a benefit for the Michigan AIDS Coalition Saturday night at MoCAD.

"Design for Life: Denim, what's that about?" I can hear you asking. Well, the Michigan AIDS Coalition has put together an event that is a fashion and art experience. 100 creative individuals (designers, chefs, artists, architects, musicians ... you get the idea) were given Carhartt denim jackets as raw material and instructed to make custom designs with them. It could be fashion. It could be art. It could be fashionable art. It could be artistic fashion.

It might just be easier to post some images that will give you an idea of the evening. It looks actually tremendously fabulous!

Your emcee: Ongina from RuPaul's Drag Race!

Aural ambience provided by DethLab.

Detroit Flyhouse might drop in.

Jacket design by David McNight of Emerald City Designs.

Jacket design by graffiti artiste Tony "Shades" Agee.

Weathered red denim bag by Barrett Streu.

Popart Monkey Pillow by Megan Oxley.

FIERCE ART #1: Rusty Bird Cage with Wings, by Bill Bowen of Octane Design.

FIERCE ART #2: Reliquary of C. Hartt. It contains the ashes of the jacket. Awesome.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 25, 2009 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MoCAD). Hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar are involved. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased by contacting Robert Thomas, 248-545-1435, ext. 105 or rthomas@aidsprevention.org. Still waiting to hear if they can be purchased at the door, although I can't imagine you'd be turned away!

Drag Queen Workshop

Aloha, Chin Tiki

The Ilitch family ramped up their Detroit demolition spree this past week, taking down a couple more viable but not "contributing" historic structures in the area behind the Fox Theater. For a group of gajillionaires who love to squawk about "saving" the historic Fox they sure do love to tear down old buildings (with city/state money) and pave them over for surface parking. Or to build the ugliest new buildings in the world (do a google image search for Motor City Casino, I dare you).

One we lost this time around was the Chin Tiki, the old Polynesian restaurant on Cass Avenue. I knew it was coming - once the Ilitches buy a building you can pretty much guarantee it's coming down at some point, but also I saw workers emptying out the building about two weeks ago. Instead of just shaking my head at the waste of it all, this one hit a little closer to home.

Photo the unwitting compliments of Andy over at HotFudgeDetroit.

See, back in the day, when hipster meant swing dancing and Combustible Edison instead of skinny jeans and Franz Ferdinand, I was a full retro tiki nut. I was super into collecting tiki mugs, as well as researching the history of American tiki culture. I would do the pilgrimage to extant tiki bars whenever I traveled, including a fantastic birthday at Chicago Trader Vic's. This is ... almost 15 years ago now? Wow. When I moved back to Detroit I used to enjoy driving by the Chin Tiki and imagining how amazing it would be to open a tiki bar (or a gay tiki bar!) in there.

This was also the advent of the internet age, and on one of my first personal websites (nerd alert) I transcribed a piece that originally ran in Left Bank, the awesome Detroit-centric magazine that Pure Detroit's Shawn Santo published in the 90s (an all-too-rare resource back in the days before you could just google any Detroit history you wanted). After I saw it the building coming down this week I went onto an old backup and pulled it up, so we can all remember the glory days of the Chin Tiki.

---

[In 1996 The Left Bank Publication published an interview with Dee Dee, one of the female impersonators who used to perform at the old Gold Dollar on Cass Ave. back in the '60's and '70's. In this excerpt, Dee Dee reminisces about the Chin Tiki, right down the street...]

Can I ask you about Chin Tiki? Do you remember anything about Chin Tiki?


Ummm. I was there quite a few times... it was a beauuutiful bar. They used to have a river coming right through the table...it was just beautiful ... and the Polynesian dancers ... none of them were Polynesian - they were all neighborhood girls - but it was a good show. AND THE DRINKS...they used to have this one drink - I can't remember what it was called - but it was served in a conch shell ... with 7 straws and an orchid floating in it. And it cost like, seven bucks ... and honey, four people could suck on this drink all night and get GOONED. I have no idea what was in it but you had to order NO MORE ... it was wonderful and very relaxing, and the food was EXCELLENT ... that was a real bad thing when that place closed down. It's a shame ... I would love to see the inside now, it's been closed for years...

And they had a stage show?

OH YEAH. Oh yeah, they had Polynesian dancers every 1/2 hour - I mean it was just HULA girls and none of them really knew ... I guess if you were really Hawaiian or if you'd ever been to Hawaii, you'd probably laugh ... but when you're sitting there and you're half in the bag ... if was fun ... it was entertaining. You know - it was something to do and most people went there for the food anyways, not for the dancers ... but it was like Greektown and the belly dancers, it was on the same order as that. It was not some elaborate show - I guess the 'Dollar show was a whole lot better than that - but it was a lot of fun ... I really miss it ... I knew everyone who worked there, I guess that's what I miss ... all the girls from the 'Dollar would go down there in between shows ...

Back then too -- half the buildings are gone now -- there used to be a great big Chinatown ... GREAT BIG CHINATOWN .. and there were like, five Chinese restaurants, and the Chinese restaurant that was right next to the 'Dollar - the building's still there, but it's all gutted and everything ... Oh it was wonderful! They had all individual party-like booths, and they were open until ... whenever the people left. The Gold Dollar would close at 2:30, and everyone would go from the Gold Dollar right next door. It would be one great big party booth and everyone would sit in there and order food and just have a great time ... The ladies were all real friendly and they knew us ... it was nice. Mmmm, excellent. And then Chinese New Year - they'd block off the whole street and the dragon would run through and everything...

They did that in Detroit?
Oh yeah, for YEARS! Five or six years, before it started fading out, but oh yeah ... Chinese New Year is a big thing - they'd block off the whole street and bring in a big bandshell down there...

It was wonderful ...

---

You can see some more pictures and read about the history of the Chin Tiki in this Metro Times article from 2003 (only seven years after the peak of the trend, way to be ahead of the curve MT). And Dee Dee is still a denizen of the Cass Corridor - if you go to Canine to Five you can get your dog groomed by her!

As an aside, the Ilitch demolition of the Chin Tiki as well as this building a block away on Grand River is a perfect example of why there has been no progress in reviving a street level experience in Detroit. How in the world is a small business owner or developer going to open a business if viable spaces don't exist? Chin Tiki may not have been a whiteboxed space, but it was intact and could have been dusted off and reopened, a la D'Mongo's.

Instead all we are left with are spaces that are so blown out that nothing can be done short of a total rehab, or parking lots. That, ultimately, is what discourages me about the possibilities of an organic Detroit revival. If everything has to be built from scratch, it's going to look like the suburbs and cost as much (or more). And then all the interesting businesses that grow out of risk and inexpensive space can never happen. And then I have to move to another city because the douchebaggery makes me nauseous. And then nobody wins.
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Guest Blogger: Backintheday

The winter weather horror continues unabated, there's continuing bad news about the economy, and my car is still in the shop. So if you're wondering why I haven't been blogging lately, there are a few reasons. Fortunately our friend Backintheday has stepped in with another tale of Detroit Gay Days Past! This time we get to hear about long-defunct drag bar Gagen's. Your gay education continues now ...


Gagen's: Wiggin' Out in the 70s

Imagine if you will, the world of a questioning youth nervously venturing out to see what tender mercies might await him beyond the walls of his beige bedroom in beige Harper Woods on a fall evening in 1973. Join him on his quest for the attentions of a quiet man who might resemble Gonzo from Trapper John M.D. or – dare one hope – be half as handsome as Adam West.

The only place this boy had heard of where an assignation of this type might have even the slightest chance of taking place was in a far-away land called Palmer Park. Specifically in a place called Gagen’s. ‘Round and ‘round the block he circled in his mother’s Dodge Dart, summoning the courage to enter this strange new world. ‘Round and ‘round his head spun visualizing the intimate setting he would encounter as he passed through the doors and into the arms of Ryan O’Neal, or at the very least Bobby Sherman.

Okay. So this “tender youth” was me. I said it was 1973.

That first night at Gagen's … after several beers I finally calmed down. And after a few more beers I went home with the man of my dreams. Who knew at the time that this Adonis was actually a hairdresser from Clawson with absolutely no finesse when it came to penetrating a nervous virgin - whose dream of tenderness in the arms of another man was shattered with a couple of extremely painful thrusts? Coming out lesson #1: true love and tricking are not the same thing. But, I digress…

Gagen’s was a drag bar that started out life as a straight supper club called Frank Gagen’s. And make no mistake about it, it was swanky! One big room with a bar along the right wall, and a raised dance floor at the rear with a stage behind it. The bulk of the space was filled with circular red leather banquettes; the ceiling over each was a concave circular depression covered in gold leaf and lit indirectly. Very moderne and very plush. By the time it had ceded to the reign of the queens, it was a little worn around the edges. A closer inspection of those red leather banquets revealed a fair amount of red carpet tape enlisted to keep it all together.


But the decor was only part of the magic. When you filter the experience through the lens of a terrified boy who had only lately been attempting what David Bowie had been urging (“Turn and face the strange." Ch-ch-changes indeed), it was like the club scenes in Baz Lurmann’s Moulin Rouge complete with whip pans, manic editing and breakneck sensory overload. A red and gold explosion of music, dance and theater.

And Sunday nights were smokin’ hot. The line-up included the likes of Buttons La Walker, Jennifer Foxx and Betty Clarke. Miss Clarke could be seen donning a forties style swimsuit and sipping a huge Cuba Libra while singing (well, lip-synching) “Rum and Coca Cola” by the Andrews Sisters – all the while roller skating through a crowd gone wild with the spectacle of it all. Hummin’ Helen “sang” Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” in a nightgown as she dragged out an ironing board, set it up, plugged into a head-full of curlers and proceeded to iron the very rag she wore.

Miss Betty Clark, an artist's remembrance.

One major show-stopper was Sharene Dennis “singing” a wicked version of “It Should Have Been Me” by Yvonne Fair, a wrathful, ghetto screed about watching your man walk down the aisle with another woman. As the song reached a fever pitch, Sharene moved into the audience, pulled a knife out of her purse and brandished it at the imaginary couple.

One night she got so worked up she tore the wig off her head and threw it on the floor. This unheard-of act of improvisation was too much for the aging emcee for whom illusion was paramount. With microphone in hand, he fired her on the spot. The rest of the girls recognized Miss Dennis’ actions for what they were – an uncontrollable act of passion fully in line with the sentiment of the song – and tore their wigs off in a show of solidarity. After all the screaming and crying was over the emcee was forced to apologize. Hell hath no fury..!

I worked with Hummin’ Helen (a.k.a. Bill) at the Roostertail while I was in college. He was a sly and amusing guy out of drag but a real handful in character. Through this connection I found myself escorting him to an awards show for female impersonators. The affair was every bit as elegant as its location would have you believe: The United Dairy Workers Hall in Highland Park. I was a bit embarrassed by it all. Watching drag behind closed doors at Gagen’s was one thing, but escorting a six foot tall glamour-puss with impressive deltoids and a fearsome baritone to a sold-out extravaganza in a cinderblock building alongside the railroad tracks was a bit much for my closeted suburban sensibilities.

True to form, Helen got loaded, fought with the other girls, and passed out in my car on the way back to her apartment. Much to my horror, I realized my tank was on empty. At two in the morning I found myself coasting into a service station somewhere in the vicinity of Hamilton and Grand Boulevard. I could only pray that my date would remain comatose in the passenger seat – bouffant bobbing, dress up around her knees, bucket between her legs.

The attendant, a polite African American gentleman of a certain age, couldn’t help but notice my stylish powder blue tuxedo (I forgot to mention that?) and the uncertain mess slumped next to me and said, in an embarrassed attempt to make sense of the scene, “My, my. That sure is a pretty lady you got with you.” To which the “pretty lady” lifting her head up in a sudden burst of consciousness replied basso profondo, “FAAAAAAAACKYOU!!” before collapsing once again into a swarm of organza. All in all, a lovely evening.

It’s no secret what killed drag. In a word: disco. I remember the night we decamped from Gagen’s and walked a few doors west to check out the opening of a new place called Menjo’s. Menjo’s would go on to have a few drag shows now and then to spice things up but it was definitely not about drag. Eventually Gagen’s went on to gain greater fame as Bookie’s Club 870, the premier punk club in Detroit. But by then the place had been stripped out and painted black. I guess all that deco decay had no place in a new wave world.

Somewhere along the way the place burned to the ground. Maybe it’s for the best. The building, like the entertainers it housed, might best be thought of as some great illusion the likes of which Detroit hasn’t seen since.

What the ... ?

OK, it's either bizarro Detroit or someone somewhere read a magazine article about the buying power of gays, because there are two random gay nights on the horizon here.

Firstly and most promising, there is a huge drag show at the Majestic tonight! The Majestic Divas Present A Winter Wonderland! It is a show featuring Detroit's finest drag queens in an evening of female impersonation, comedy, dancing and more! In other words, a full on drag extravaganza!


While I might be skeptical of an event like this at the Majestic, which is one of the straighter venues in town overall, the list of performers leads me to believe this will be a really great night. Electra Lites, DeAngela "Show" Shannon, S'myra Skye Banks, Hershae Chocolatae, Cece Daniels, Tianna Rumbous, Misty Harrington and Gayla Grace.

From the queens I am familiar with in here and the names of the rest, I am betting on a performance from Detroit's premiere black queens, and that means realness and talent! I will see you there - a $10 cover is a steal!

Now in an interesting alternate, um, universe, the Hard Rock Cafe is starting a gay night. There are so many things wrong with that I can't even being to recount them. But I will point out two.

First of all, it's the Hard Rock Cafe. I don't know if anyone noticed, but "rock and roll" and "gay" don't really go hand in hand. Rock people don't really like gay, and gays don't really like rock.

Secondly, the Guerrilla Gay Bar that was held at the Hard Rock was successful but the separation between the regular clientele of the Hard Rock and the gay guerrillas was distinct and glaring.



But ok, so here it is. Each Sunday there will be Rockin' Out Detroit, a differently-themed gay night at Hard Rock! And the cover is only $10 (which includes a drink ticket)! This week's theme, 80's night. Because white people love an 80's night. I am going out on a limb and presume they won't do it quite like hipster Fierce Hot Mess or Sass does 80's.

I guess, you know, good for them? All I know is between Doggy Style every week and a bi-monthly Fierce Hot Mess my gay ad-hoc social calendar is pretty exhausting.

So it may be weird that so many straight places are putting out feelers for the gay dollar, it is nice that it's all happening downtown! Too bad they don't know there are only 14 of us down here!

I love to try to do it all, but I'm realistic about my ability now that I'm getting so very old. But I'll tell you this: I can always make time for a drag show, so I hope to see you tonight!

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Don't Stop Believin'

This was another weekend of Halloween party awesomeness, this time with the MoCAD Believin' party!

Not to belabor details, but since it was on Halloween night the New Wave Committee thought they'd maybe get 500 people. Instead? 1000 people showed up (an exciting fact only mitigated by an overwhelmed bar). Only a handful of people didn't show up in costume, and the costumes were tremendous! You go hipsters!

The music was a great Dorkwave vibe, the decor so cool. Since I was the emcee for the evening (it's a living) I'll just give you some photographic super gay highlights instead of bogging things down with prose. Good job MoCAD!

The trash monster was awesome when he danced!

Big bats and bubbles.

Well, here's what happened to her.

Clearly inspired by this blog.

Have you a little fairy in your home?

It takes a village of dj's.

You have to admit, this is not a costume the hoi polloi would appreciate. Well done!

Something for the ladies.

It's not real. I checked. *sigh*

With a Z!

Making it work!

Nothing gay about this except how cute I thought this boy was.

Yay!!

Winners of Funniest Costume - the Ren Cen was amazing!

The view of an awesome party from the stage.

Drag Queen Massacre

Oh there was an extra-special gay party this past weekend, masquerading as a benefit for the Ruth Ellis Center. The "Drag Queen Massacre at the Mansion" took place at the Siegel mansion in Boston-Edison and I didn't see anyone get massacred but I sure did see people get obliterated.


It was all the right kinds of right - cool invite, gorgeous historic mansion, everyone in costume, lots of drag and lots of skin, a great housekeeper who screamed at you if you set your drink down on anything (that was hilarious once I got over the shock!), 400 gallons of booze, amazing music (seriously) and all for a good cause. And since it was also the Detroit Guerrilla Queer Bar event for October there is a whole photo gallery for your viewing pleasure! You will love it. My mom sure did!

Congrats to the party organizers because that was one fabulous mess of a party!
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Welcome Metro Times Readers!

Well kids, we did it again! SupergayDetroit won the Metro Times Readers Poll for Best Local Pop Culture Blog! Here's what they had to say:

The site may have stacked the deck just a tad by soliciting its readers to vote — not that there there's anything wrong with campaigning — but the site is still a total hoot, even for the hetero among us. Self-described as "documenting one upwardly mobile, 30-something man's fight to find the kind of gay life every good homo deserves. In Detroit," Supergay totally rocks. (And we're bettin' Sarah Palin would not approve!)

Stacked the deck indeed! What, I should sit around and wait for good things to happen? No! We are not like the rest of Michigan here at SupergayDetroit - we actually go out and work for our success! But the otherwise kind words are greatly appeciated!

And I do rock! Richard Florida even wrote that when he signed my copy of Who's Your City yesterday at the Creative Cities Summit!

So for all of you first-time visitors - and especially for returning readers - here is a little video to give you an idea of what SGD is all about: pop-culture, humor, wasting time, drag and good production values. Oh, and the occasional NSFW (delicate ears may be offended).

Baby Got Front!

Oh and the Supergay Slate did pretty well - of 27 picks, 15 won. Better than the Tigers! (How do I even know that??) Check out the results here.

Thanks again everyone!
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Pearls of Wisdom

From Evie Harris. Or is it the Republican Party? It's a little unclear.

'Shack Attack

Getting your full freak on in Detroit is a decidedly underground affair. A perverse curiosity, an adventurous spirit and a tolerance for disappointment can yield tremendous results in a city where legendary scenes come and go in a flash, and by the time you discovered it, it's probably over.

San Francisco, on the other hand, is a magnet school for freaks. The freak flag flies with reassuring consistency here, and there is a critical mass of people who support the outrageous, outlandish or simply outre. And that is why they get to have nice things, like Trannyshack.

Briefly, Trannyshack is a weekly drag event held at a shithole gay bar (the kind I like to bitch about in Detroit) called The Stud located in the South of Market area of SF. Started by Heklina in 1996, the show is known for its cutting-edge performances and departure from regular ball-gown diva lip synch drag. I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia entry here, and watching this YouTube video with clips from an evening at The Stud. After twelve years, Heklina decided to put Trannyshack to rest with a huge Trannyshack Kiss Off party this past Saturday night.

It is a testament to the gay community in San Francisco that what was a popular, but fringe, event managed to pull a crowd of ... 1000? 1500? I mean, when was the last time anyone saw 1000 homos in one place in Detroit? And this was pretty solid gay, not an excessive amount of straight girl filler. And like 10% were in some kind of drag. It was, needless to say, thrilling.

What's your count?

It would be a waste of time for me to try and describe in detail every act in this tremendous evening, so I'll show you what I can. I took some crappy video clips with my cell phone, and since the show was a "best of Trannyshack" there are some original performances you can watch on YouTube.

Hoku Mama Swamp opened with a Queen Elizabeth number about absolute power corrupting absolutely (or whatever) to Abba's "Lay All Your Love on Me," with "Love is a Battlefield" Pat Benetar breakout choreography and a crowd-pleasing Madonna MTV Awards "Vogue" traveling posse of fabulous.



Raya Light provided a dramatic morality tale about the victimation, exploitation and ultimate empowerment of women (well, that's what I got from it) with a reprise of her Miss Trannyshack-winning Kate Bush/Kelly Clarkson number (original here).



Lady Miss Kier from Deee-Lite was there. And oh my. I mean, I'm by no means the inguenue I was in 1992, but then I didn't make my name prancing around in Pucci bodysuits either. Get a new stylist at the very least, Tammy Faye!

Why don't we, why don't we, whyyyy don't we whyyyy don't we ... change our look?

The House of More! (Juanita More! and Glamamore) performed the Flower Duet in dresses made entirely from paper. A flawless number.



Kimo performed "Ten Years of Madonna in Ten Minutes" (original peformance here) which was clever and fun, but the subsequent performance was one of two that really drove home the over-the-top nature of Trannyshack.

Kiddie performed a powerful rendition of Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain" that was pretty straightforward, focused on perfect make-up and lip synch ... until the hooded monk figures appeared to heat up pieces of metal with a blowtorch and BRAND HER BACK WITH THEM! And she didn't flinch! Unbelievable. This branding had the crowd's rapt attention - maybe Detroit Renaissance should consider something like this instead of a new slogan the next time around. (See a clip from Saturday here, and the entire original amazing performance here.)



Well, fortunately Lady Bunny was in town to lighten things up after that, and she did some of her patented routine (an example from Trannyshack earlier this year here). She is one fucked up bitch.

And then Fauxnique, a biological woman who is also a drag performer and Miss Trannyshack title winner (I told you Trannyshack was progressive) peformed a really beautiful number en pointe to Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life." I don't have my video editing software here on vacation but I put my clips together in a playlist, because I thought for those of you who like this stuff it was really worth getting a taste. Just really really great!

Justin Bond, famous as Kiki from Kiki & Herb in NYC, was on hand also, although sadly his brand of torch/vamp/camp singing didn't really translate well to the venue. I guess you have to be in row seven with him screaming at you to really fully enjoy it. But what came next definitely qualified as the most fucked up drag anything I've ever seen in my entire drag-loving life.

A queen named Precious Moments was up next and peformed "Gloria" by Patti Smith. Spinning on a communion rail with her dress hiked up (and showing the goods - click on the picture below for the very NSFW view of that) she was eventually banged by altar boys, priests, the pope, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ on the cross. And then the number ended with her flouncing across the stage and someone coming over and shoving a buttplug up her butt. For real.

Precious Moments indeed.

Click picture for the other view. You won't be sorry.
Or actually, maybe you will.

Did you know that Ana Matronic from the Scissor Sisters got her start in the SF Trannyshack scene? Me neither, but it's true. She was another celeb on hand to bid farewell, and she had lots of cute boys in her number too. Bravo.

Can someone get me the boy with the glasses?

The final performer of the night was Putanesca, who did a very dramatic performance to a Siouxsie Sioux number in the greatest drag gown since the last time I claimed something was the greatest drag gown. Really gorgeous, "gothic beauty of the highest order." Watch the original fabulous performance here.



And then ... and then that was it. Heklina came out to bid farewell ... not forever, but for now. And after proclaiming she didn't want to end Trannyshack in a predictable way, she burst into a performance of "I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" by Jennifer Holiday. And through the course of the song she was joined by throngs of drag queens on stage. You really don't need to see more than these 15 seconds to know how overwrought that was.

"Well, I guess we could do something predictable after all."

I loves me some good drag, and this was just the thing to get me back on the gay track. An inspiring evening and undoubtedly one of the high points of this summer!
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Getting it out of my system

Day 1 went well, I thought.

Valley of the Dolls on the big screen is like seeing it for the first time.




Walking around town you pass so many beautiful homes. And some other ones too.



The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence work hard for the money.

Bonus: here's a video of the opening of tonight's Disco Bingo. It was held at the Veteran's Memorial Building. Note the American Legion banner in the background. Sorry that guy next to me wouldn't stop clapping, I don't think he gets out much.

Sisters' Bingo is one hell of a good time. I didn't walk away with any money, but I felt like I won just by being there.

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Mother

With Mother's Day just a brunch away, I thought I would send you a few vids to get you in the mood.

Happy Mother's Day, moms!

"My son is gay"

"My Day"

Mommie Dearest vs. Mamma Mia

Oui, j t'aime, Espace Musique

As a homosexual man of sophistication and refinement I like many French things: French bulldogs, French twists, French active, French passive. So it was obviously with great excitement that I discovered the greatest radio station ever: CBJC 103.9 FM, the Windsor, Ontario outpost of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Espace Musique.

Say good-bye to annoying radio "personalities," vapid morning shows, earnest NPR soft-talkers and cheeseball evening hosts and say bonjour! to commercial-free radio with no pledge drives and all host-speak executed in the loveliest of foreign languages, French.

Espace Musique plays a mix of classical, jazz, world and vocal. The classical includes opera, the jazz runs the gamut, and the vocalist selections skew French. The other morning we had some nice accordion Parisian cafe thing going on, followed by a little Gabriel Yared/Betty Blue type harmonica thing, and then later some hot Edith Piaf action. All of this followed by an hour of Franco-Afro-Beat. Amazing.

Since you can't even get away from annoying radio hosts on satellite radio that you have to pay for, it's nice to have this amazing option where all the talking just blurs into this pleasant background noise you can't understand, five years of French notwhithstanding.

The broadcast range for the station seems to be somewhat limited, the signal was sketchy when I was driving in Dearborn but it's strong downtown. Look, another perk to living in Detroit!

To get you in the spirit, enjoy this video from Doggy Style a few weeks ago featuring Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien.

Karaoke All-Stars

The Comet Bar is a one of downtown’s finest dive bars, with an interior decked out in an exhilarating mélange of veteran memorabilia, alcohol promo materials, Christmas decorations and dogs. It is located just over I-75 from the “Park Avenue entertainment district” in the last bastion of real old-time 1990’s Detroit, the Lower Cass Corridor. The clientele is a mixed bunch: blue collar/vet types, hipsters, frat guys and the girls who love to be date-raped by them, WSU theater types (they make it awesome), downtown condo types and old-time locals. The drinks are served in plastic cups and, in the grand tradition of the best Detroit dive bars, it’s cash only.

The absolute best reason to go to the Comet is for karaoke on Friday nights. What a surreal experience. You get the aforementioned mix of people, and nobody holds back.

My first trip to the Comet for karaoke was actually for the Guerrilla Queer Bar earlier this year. We really took over the place, but it was strangest mix of guerrillas I think I’d ever seen. A friend of mine said, “I thought that guy over there was looking at me because he wanted to beat me up, and then he winked at me.” (He meant that in the hottest rough trade kind of way, btw.) That sums that night up pretty well.

Subsequently there have been many Comet Karaoke Fridays, and while it’s never the same thing twice, there is a beautiful stable of regulars who give any Friday that characteristic Comet, well, freakishness. This is best exemplified in an evening there early this fall, a night I like to refer to as The Night of the Karaoke All-Stars.

It was a going-away party for a friend, another gay young‘un moving on to pinker pastures. He brought a great batch of his theater-type co-horts, which is exactly the type of catalyst the regular crowd needs to push the evening into the karaoke stratosphere. There were the following genius performances that night:

Domo Arigato, Mr. Vibrato:

The theater world presents “Dance Ten, Looks Three” from Chorus Line. You know it as the “Tits and Ass” song, we know it as DRAMAAAAAAAAAA. Love the laughing girls in front.

The Tranny Frank Sinatra:


Is there anything better than a transvestite who makes commentary on current events by changing the words to old standards? No. "Juice The Knife" coming up!

The biggest star of any karaoke night is Gail. She’s a regular, and words really can’t describe her. What can describe her is this YouTube video:

Her baby loves her the way that she is.

Our last trip was as genius at the first. The Friday of Veteran’s Day weekend was full of guys who seemed to be, well, veterans. Or at least solid, hard-working middle-class Americans, as described by the politicians of the world. Except hammered off their asses.

What was remarkable was the missing hipster/college element. It was very us, and them. And it was beautiful. There was Gail performing Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine.” There was the Vietnam vet performing “War.” There was a lesbian performing an awesome version of "Believe" by Cher, among other treasures. By the end of the night she seemed like our very own k d lang. There were those notorious downtown brothers performing “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a performance that actually changed how I think about karaoke forever.

And when it came to my turn, I put in one of my Cher standards, only Terry, the karaoke mistress, called my name and told me she didn’t have that cd with her. So I did what any gay former Boy Scout would do (“Be Prepared”): I opened up my man-bag, pulled out a tambourine, and performed my a capella version of “Ring Them Bells” by Liza Minelli.

All I can say is, it’s a show-stopper.

The Comet is about as gay as any other downtown dive bar, which is to say there’s a smattering. But it’s all part of a bigger picture when it comes to these places. You don’t go there to mingle with gay people; you go there to mingle with EVERYONE. I will say this – as a gay review – there are few places downtown that are as diverse in their clientele and as laissez-faire in their attitude about who’s there as the Comet. Head down some Friday, you will NOT be disappointed.