Centaur Style!

For our first Doggy Style of 2012 we're going on a little road trip!  And by little I mean very little ... Doggy Style is moving up Park Avenue for one extra fancy night at Centaur!  So everyone come out for a whole new audio/visual/homosexual experience tomorrow night!

Why the switch-up?  Well, I have been friends with Centaur owner Sean Harrington for what seems like forever.  It has to be 15 years now.  He is a great guy, and we have worked together on many projects together over the years, most significantly my temporary (and soon to be permanent) store Hugh, where he served as very accommodating landlord.

When I came up with the idea of the Pride Project last year, Sean was one of the first people I called and was the very first one to commit to a sponsorship - for both Centaur and Town Pump - so I guess you could say he is the one who really gave me the assurance I needed that I would be able to pull together a reasonable amount of support.  And obviously, that turned out great.

So as a thank you, I told him we'd do a Doggy Style "uptown" and hopefully spend a little of that alleged gay dollar up his way.

Those of you who have been hanging around the Detroit scene for a while will remember the Guerrilla Queer Bar events that were held at Centaur (there were two), and they were always great fun.  So to kick off 2012 we're going to give a little love back to Sean, since really a big reason anything I've done in the past few years was remotely successful was because of his help.

Centaur is going to hook us up with special prices on drinks for the night!  House pours are usually $7, but they will be $5 for the night (and their house pours are not junk).  And if you've been meaning to check out the new Hot Taco in the old Hugh space, you can do that cuz they're open 'til 2!  So come out to Centaur, the original home of the gay straight guy, and have some fun, Centaur Style!

Doggy Style Is Back

Yo guess what?  It's time to start up Doggy Style again.  Yep, now that the blight of baseball crowds is gone we can return to our own weekly takeover of the Park Bar for downtown's only and therefore by default best gay night!

The fifth season kicks off next Tuesday, November 8, around 9 o'clock.  Come and enjoy the music, videos and camaraderie that has given gay doggy style a whole new meaning!

Now very quickly, I need to ask you a favor.  As I've mentioned, Hugh, the pop-up shop I opened back in 2009 and 2010, is in the Hatch Detroit competition, and I could win $50,000 to open the store permanently.  It's big time.  If you could do me a solid and vote for Hugh today, tomorrow and Wednesday I'd be REALLY grateful!

You have to register using your e-mail address, which I know is a tiny pain.  But I'll spend 8 hours a week for the next six months taking care of your gay socializing needs if you'll just spend two minutes a day for three days taking care of my voting needs!  It's a fair trade!  Go here to vote for Hugh!

Transforming Spaces, Transforming Places

[This is a blog post I wrote for my store Hugh, which I've written about briefly on here before. Hugh is currently a semi-finalist in the Hatch Detroit competition, which will ultimately award a $50,000 prize to the business with the most votes. I don't usually mix the business of Supergay Detroit with the business of Joe Posch, but it's all becoming a blurred line anyway, so I'd really appreciate your support in this contest! You can vote here once every 24 hours per IP address - so once from home, once from work and once from your phone. Enlist some friends if you can - every vote helps!]

When I was interviewed on the Craig Fahle Show on WDET last week, Craig asked me why I am so bullish on retail in Detroit.  I gave my two cents on why I think Detroit is a great place to undertake a retail endeavor, but I didn't talk at all about why I think independent retail in general is a great idea right now.

The first thing that is so great about independent retail is the emphasis on the unique retail experience, and this has always been my favorite thing about retail and why I'll never stop loving bricks-and-mortar.  When you open a store you aren't just creating a space, you are engaging the imagination of your customers. There's an opportunity to inspire.  It's always primarily about the products you sell, but in the two spaces I've had in Detroit I think the thing that gives me the most pride is the way I created something that really exceeded people's expectations. Here are a few before and after shots:

Hugh - Before

Hugh - After

The second Hugh - Hugh for the Holidays

Mezzanine - Before

Mezzanine - After

------------------ 

With the shift over the past twenty years toward big chain retail and internet commerce, we've lost sight of the ways that independent stores define our neighborhoods and our cultures, provide a singular point-of-view, and allow us to connect and build community.

I found a copy of a 1983 book called simply Detroit Guide at an estate sale this week.  It's a highly-opinionated take on everything the metro area had to offer at the time, and I was looking at the record stores reviewed: Sam's Jams, Village Records, The Record Collector and of course Harmony House. They were places music lovers could gather to hang out and talk, explore new music, and sometimes even get a job. And while the internet has made access to music easier than ever and taken the conversation global, that local community all but died with the neighborhood record shop.

Likewise, Netflix and on-demand video have taken away many of the meeting (and working) places for film buffs. And bookstores look like the next endangered species.

What is so great about this moment for independent retail is that a well-executed endeavor can help define and transform a neighborhood, and can still build a community. Sure, it's got to be special if it is going to compete with the chains or the web, but that ensures that a shop's personality is strong and enduring. We have dozens of examples of this working in Detroit right now, changing our neighborhoods. And the best thing about it is we just think we're having fun.

That's why a competition like Hatch Detroit is so much more than simply a pot of loot for the winner. It endorses the idea that independent retail is not only alive but more important than ever, and that even though the powers-that-be may focus on bigger, corporate commercial development, there ain't nothing like the real thing. Baby.

Make the Yuletide Gay

We're going to whoop it up tonight on Park Avenue downtown with a couple of parties to get you in the Christmas spirit!  That's right, whoop.

First of all, my pop-up shop Hugh for the Holidays will be hosting an Après-ski party to provide for a little relaxed socializing and last-minute shopping (for the holidays and for Hugh, since it pops-down on Thursday).  Come enjoy an adult beverage and relax by the fake fire as we warm up from that last run.  It starts about 6:30 and goes to about 9:30.

Then the activity moves down the street to the Park Bar for a Merry Christmas Doggy Style!  Enjoy more adult beverages and more relaxed socializing!

And to get you in the mood, here is one of the funniest Christmas YouTube videos ever. See you tonight!

My new store will give you wood

Teak, specifically.

As some of you know, I have dabbled in retail in the past.  My modern design store Mezzanine and retail happening Hugh were the major projects of my 30s, but I wrapped them up this spring - a victim of my wanderlust, not to mention my wandering attention.

Apparently I was not completely free of the retail bug, because I kept buying vintage (which at varying points was a large part of what I'd sold) with the intention of hoarding, or maybe selling on etsy, and when my friend and former landlord called me up to say the space that Hugh had occupied next to Centaur on Park Avenue was still available I figured "why not?" and opened up Hugh for the Holidays.

Hugh for the Holidays is a specially-themed version of Hugh - the idea is that Hugh goes on a swank ski holiday and classic bachelor pad style crosses paths with Scandinavian chic.  The store is all about affordable cool gifts, drinking well and entertaining with style.  It's a lot of vintage with a healthy dose of new merch - so think Mad Men glasses on teak serving trays, or stainless steel bar accessories from Denmark, or vintage metal Thermoses for sneaking hot toddies into the movie theater (right Stephan?)

If you live in the area and are moderately inclined, stop in for a little dose of hip shopping on Park Avenue, right behind the Fox Theater.  Open weekday evenings and weekend days until Christmas Eve.  Fan Hugh on Facebook, why don't you, to get all the details?  Or check out the website at lovehughlongtime.com!

Three Things

Number One

I'm going to take a break from not making any money off this blog to mention, just this once, that I'm clearing out a lot of merch from my retail endeavors in the Mezzanine clearance sale in the Hugh space.  Everything is really discounted, like 30-70% off!

 

It's mostly Mezzanine stuff, big and small, so if you like Saarinen dining or end tables, I've got 'em.  If you like ebony knife rests made in Paris, I've got 'em.  If you like Nelson bubble lamps, I've got 'em.  And quite a few great gift ideas for Mother's Day (it's next week, I know you forgot).

There's some Hugh overstocked stuff in there too, so even though I will be selling on the web there are a few things I've just got too much of.  There is decorative stuff, kitchen stuff, tabletop stuff, furnishing stuff, rug stuff ... essentially, if you like good design and good bargains, you should stop by.  And it's only in the store, not much is online.

This weekend is the final weekend, it's open 1-8 today and tomorrow and 1:30-5 on Sunday (do be cognizant of the Tigers' home game schedule).  It's located right behind the Fox Theater, next to Centaur, in the retail space formerly known as Hugh. 

Number Two 
Someone posted this game on Facebook today and I found it to be a more than entertaining timekiller, plus it features unicorns and Erasure!  Perfect!

I hope Mark Maynard and his intellectual property people are on the Adult Swim folks about the clear copyright infringement, however. 

Number Three
Smoke 'em while you've got 'em!  Mercifully, the smoking ban kicks in tomorrow.  I'm proud to be from a state that barely avoided being in the last ten states to take this step.

I'm sympathetic to my smoking friends, but this was a long time coming and I have paid a lot of dry cleaning bills because of your nasty habit.  I am pleased.

If you are looking to see out the smoking era right, the Ruth Ellis Center has a Ferndale-based bar crawl called "The Last Drag" going on tonight that should be fun.  It starts at Loving Touch and ends with a drag show at Club Nine.  With plenty of drinking and smoking in-between.  More details at the Facebook event page.

And with that, I leave you to your weekend.  Have a good one.
.

My One December Post

Life never gets less busy, so at this rate January will have 1/3 of a post.  So look forward to that.

This isn't even a full-fledged post! It's an announcement of some holiday cheer, though, that you could experience tonight on Park Avenue!

First off let's facilitate a little commerce, as Dyspathy likes to say.  There is a swell party thrown by Toby Barlow, intergalactic ambassador for Detroit, and Phil Cooley, BBQ ambassador and king of the hipsters, at Detroit's newest shop and only retail happening, Hugh.  I've, uh, been in the store many times and it sells very very cool gifts for men.  Get your last-minute holiday shopping done at the Dave Bing Party!

When you are done getting your shop on, head on down the street to the Park Bar for an all-new Doggy Style Holiday Celebration!  Things really get going about 9:30 when the videos start, so have a cocktail and mix & mingle to a jinglin' beat!

Have a wonderful Christmas, a terrific New Year, and maybe we'll talk more in 2010!

.