Lezzie les bons temps roulez!

In the interest of the recap, let me just say that Menergy was the funnest, gayest dance party I've been to in forever.  It was so fun to see so many friends and SO MANY new faces.  It's always nice to get an influx of new gay folks to meet.  And check out.

It was also great because it was really, really a gay night.  I love a gay dance party when it's just the gays and the cool kids because it reminds of what a trip to the gay bar used to be like.  There have always been straight women, and sometimes straight men, but they were always there as part of the party, not to co-opt the party.  One of the trade-offs with gay mainstreaming is now the gay world is more accessible to more straight people, so you sometimes get a phenomenon like Boystown in Chicago, the bachelorette party capital of the Midwest.  Where it isn't about having fun in the context of a gay scene, it's about the novelty of the gay scene.  No, really, I'm not super-fun and I DON'T want to do body shots off the bride-to-be, I just want to check out the gay eye candy. Plus seriously, until gay people can get married don't you find it a little cavalier bringing drunk wedding hijinx into a gay bar?

Or to frame it locally - one of the first times I went to Macho City I heard a couple straight folks talk a bit incredulously that there was a guy giving another guy oral pleasure against the pool table.  It's a gay leather bar, you were expecting hopscotch?  One of the last times I went there were two hipster-glam straight girls making out on that same pool table, which just struck me as a terribly desperate cry for attention. You're at a gay bar, ladies, so for once, it isn't about you.  Hang out, be cool and just have fun, mkay?

Of course Temple Bar isn't technically a gay bar, so I probably feel less defensive about any and all sorts showing up.  As long as Mike Trombley is spinning awesome music and Robert is running around the dancefloor offering poppers to everyone, I'm good.  And I can't wait for next time!

In other news, the Doggy Style countdown has begun!  We're about six weeks out from Opening Day, so crawl out of your hole one of these Tuesdays and enjoy Detroit's best gay-er night before it's gone for the season.  Tonight will be extra fun because a whole slew of unsuspecting Guns 'n' Roses fans will stumble in after the show and enjoy some Abba or Limahl or Angela Lansbury with their nightcap.

So, perhaps we will see you tonight at the Park Bar for some Mardis Gras fun?  And don't worry, we are respectful and all about having fun in the context of the straight scene, because really, what novelty is left?  Kidding!

"Kramer" vs Kramer

As you are probably aware, Huffington Post has started a Detroit section, featuring opinion pieces from every variety of Detroiter, and because we are ultimately a small town it has of course become a little bit of a shitstorm already.

Toby Barlow wrote a piece called "Detroit," Meet Detroit which was a strong argument for the idea that as much as people from the 'burbs want to say they are Detroit, they really are ultimately still the suburbs. Maybe not his strongest idea piece ever - this is the man who broke the $100 house story (much to Ryan  Cooley's chagrin) and who proposed the idea that became Dan Gilbert's business model - but a strong assertion to actually make in public. Naturally, a strongly worded response arrived from the Northwest Territories saying "Hey!  Whose money is fixing up your damn town anyway??"  It's a tale as old as time, revisiting itself in a new iteration: City vs. Suburb: the Blog Wars.

I'm not going to belabor this in a lengthy way, and I'm going to paint in relatively broad strokes, so take this all with a grain of salt.  But the fact is, if you don't live in the city, if you don't put up with the bullshit along with the glory, then you ARE a suburbanite.  The biggest lesson I learned when I moved to Detroit was that living in Detroit was a completely different experience than just hanging out in Detroit.  And you can't fake it and you can't learn it from the outside and it is almost impossible to create authentic, meaningful, non-douchebaggy change unless you live here.

I was having a drink with an old acquaintance a while back. someone who knew me from my store back in the Ann Arbor days and who now lives in Royal Oak.  He was doing what I call the Suburban Shuffle ... getting in on the street cred of Detroit while trying to rationalize staying in the 'burbs.  The old, "I'd move to Detroit except ..." And I said listen, nobody who lives in Detroit has any superpowers.  But they did make that leap, and they take the bad with the good.  So don't expect a pat on the back because you tool down I-75 for the fun stuff and then tsk-tsk from the comfort of your fake loft when the latest calamity strikes.

There's a lot of cool stuff going on in Detroit right now, and it hasn't always been this way.  And suddenly it's cool to say you're a Detroiter.  I do believe there are Detroiters "in spirit," but at the end of the day you don't get to use Detroit to validate yourself without fully committing.

So what IS the status of the suburbanite who loves Detroit but won't or can't move to the city?  Or who just loves where they live (because frankly our suburbs are pretty great if you're into that kind of thing)? Well, I think you are "A Suburbanite Who Loves Detroit."  Or a "Detroiter in Spirit." It's not an aspersion, it's just a fact. I know a TON of people who fit that description. Please, do stuff in the city, work to make it better if that's what you believe in, say good things about it.  And be honest and unapologetic about your level of involvement.  I think you'll find everyone appreciates that.

Or, why don't you move to Detroit?  THAT is how you really make a difference, and you can finally be a Detroiter!  Now wouldn't that be awesome?

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

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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.

Imported from Hollywood

Let's get this out of the way first, it appears that we will get the cherished desire of the masses, a RoboCop statue.  The people have spoken.  Very specifically, some guy who owns an energy drink company in San Francisco named after Omni Consumer Products (they would be the giant corporation that built Robocop in the movie) kicked in $25,000, which pushed the project over the funding level.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the previous post.  There are really some great thoughts in there and I encourage everyone to take a moment to glance over them.

This has been a really fascinating debate.  And I do want to emphasize that - at least for those of us here in Detroit - it's been a discussion, not a battle.  Some of you in the comments section there really got a little carried away, and I think you should have a drink (nothing involving energy drinks though).  Maybe a valium. Maybe both.  I had a long chat with Jerry Paffendorf of the Imagination Station the other day that was fully casual and friendly, and what I really got out of it is that - at least from my perspective - this is about different priorities.

First off, at the end of the day it's just a Robocop statue.  It's not going to save Detroit and it's not going to ruin Detroit.  I still personally feel it is one of the dumbest ideas I've heard in a long time, but that's just me. I will be annoyed when I see it and that's the extent of it.

The things that rankle me the most are the permanence and the placement. A cast metal statue isn't easily removed when people get tired of the joke (unless it it scrapped, of course).  And there is something about taking a joke to a $50,000 extreme that really speaks to the question of priorities.  I am aware that the Imagination Station folks are open to placing the statue someplace else but as of this moment, the proposed location is still on the edge of Roosevelt Park.  I have a very hard time with the idea that any neighborhood in Detroit should have to be home to a RoboCop statue.  I guess that's what you get when you let in hipsters. Cue gentrification arguments in three ... two ... one ...

And other issues lay where they always have with this blog - about lowered standards, and trying to raise expectations.  I think the "it's art" argument is spurious, it is at best a monument to a Hollywood movie, and quite frankly for a much more appropriate location consider the Hard Rock Cafe or a shopping mall.  You can call me an elitist but I've been called worse.

From Jerry's perspective, however, this is a fantastic way to put crowd funding on the map.  They have worked very hard to raise money for local projects in the past, and they feel with the success of the RoboCop statue project they will be able to firmly establish this method of fundraising as legitimate, and it will hopefully lead to more and easier success in the future.

I am actually very pleased for them on their success in this regard.  It's hard to make something go in this town.  I just wish the vehicle for this success hadn't been something quite as polarizing as RoboCop. What's next, Kwame?

And I wish it hadn't been driven almost entirely by people outside the Detroit area.

There is no way for me to precisely track where the money is coming from, but I took a look at the list of backers this morning to do a little math.  Some people have their location listed with their names, and I do know a reasonable number of people here in Detroit.  What I discovered was that out of 1500 backers, there were 10 whose location was listed as Detroit, MI.  Additionally there were 10 people whose names I recognized, including folks affiliated with Imagination Station.  And while I didn't count specifically, there were maybe 10 others from the metro Detroit area.  So that's 2%.  Even if you take into account that many people have no location listed, what could we possibly be talking about, 10% of the backers were from the Detroit area?  I think that says a lot, and not just that we are poor.

So the question remains, will this lead to success in future projects that are not tied to some national enthusiasm over a joke?  Most Detroiters I know are not fans of this idea, will they support future Imagination Station projects?  Or has IS sacrificed some local goodwill in an effort to put themselves on the national map?

We can really only wait and see. A lot will pivot on the execution of the statue, but at the end of the day Detroit just got a present from the rest of America, and it's a gag gift.

10 Reasons Why a Robocop Statue is a Bad Idea

Someone Tweeted Mayor Bing, his office replied, and a sensation was born. In case you haven't caught wind of it yet, a movement is afoot to build a statue of Robocop in Detroit. Primarily growing through social media, there seems to be a lot of support for this “awesome” idea.  All I can say is, wow.

I don't have strong feelings about the film "Robocop," and I was as charmed as anyone when Sweet Juniper posted the pics of his son's Robocop Halloween costume. I am sure for younger folks, most of whom are newer residents to the city, a statue of this film icon from their youth seems like a really fun idea.

But building a monument to this particular character in Detroit stirs up a very deep well. So before everyone gets carried away, I just want to share with you my 10 reasons why I think the Robocop statue is a bad idea.

1. It is insulting to Detroit and to Detroiters who have lived here through the worst. The reason Detroit is the setting for Robocop is because the city is considered a hellhole. Robocop may be a man/machine who overcomes injustice, but the Detroit in that movie is no compliment. The statue would serve as a perpetual reminder that Detroit holds the distinction of being the most believable dystopia in America.

2. It's disrespectful to the police. As if there is any better symbol of a dysfunctional police force than Robocop. Good luck with your 911 response times with that statue in your front yard.

A vision of the future.

3. It's hypocritical. A major plot point in the movie is that the new “Delta City” would be built over the crime-ridden “Old Detroit.” The movie's plot does pivot on the actions of corrupt corporate overlords, but Robocop remains a tool of the corporate powers at the end. The need for a new Delta City is never in doubt.

The fact that the Imagination Station is involved is of particular interest, since co-founder and president Jeff DeBruyn has been so very vocal in the recent gentrification fear-mongering in the Corktown area (a notion that was nicely debunked by the Free Press editorial page and mlive.com's Jeff Wattrick last month). Apparently it's ok to celebrate a movie that takes for granted the need for a most severe kind of gentrification in Detroit, but it's problematic when middle-class people move into a middle-class neighborhood.

Incidentally, the Detroit Works project posted “Love that Robocop trended out yesterday” on their Facebook fan page. They need to think really hard about the decision to enter into this discussion, since they are teetering on the perception of being Omni Consumer Products, the corporation responsible for making the New Detroit in the movie, themselves.

4. It proves Martha Reeves was right. When she was elected to office a major part of her agenda was to have statues of Motown stars placed around town. She said it would make people feel good. She was rightly ridiculed for this, because what Detroit needs is substantive change, not feel-good gestures, even if it is statues of actual Detroiters who made significant cultural contributions.

Of course a statue of a fictional character, conceived and created 2000 miles away from Detroit, is a great idea and if you don't like it then you should prepare yourself to be labeled a buzzkill.

5. It's the outsider's answer to the Joe Louis fist. There is a vocal group of people who can never move past the notion that the Joe Louis fist statue is a defiant gesture aimed at the suburbs, a constant reminder in the heart of downtown that they think they were told to “hit 8 Mile Road” by a Detroit mayor.

A Robocop statue, with money that will no doubt be raised primarily from outside the city limits, can be seen as the constant reminder (potentially right in the middle of one of our more vibrant neighborhoods) that Detroit will never move past its reputation as hopelessly corrupt and crime-ridden. And will be celebrated by many more non-residents than residents, for sure. Way to put a city in its place.

6. It's derivative. Public art can be hit or miss, but even when it doesn't quite work it demonstrates the creativity of a community and the openness of a population to those creative endeavors.

Placing a statue of a movie character shows little creativity, and it actually flagrantly uses somebody else's intellectual property, whether or not this particular use is legally copyrighted. It may be clever, or even ironic, in its placement, but at the end of the day it's not art.

7. It's a waste of money and manpower. The Kickstarter project seeks to raise $50,000 to make this statue. I don't doubt that is a reasonable estimate of costs for materials and manpower, and possibly administrative costs. But in a city like Detroit where $50k can make such a difference, is this really the best way to use that kind of cash? And doesn't it really squander the talents of people who could be involved in better, more creative pursuits?

Or what about projects to help the destitute in Corktown so they can get real help instead of feeling displaced from a public park?

8. It's low culture. Sure, Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky, and Milwaukee has the Bronze Fonz. But honestly, is that what we are going for? Stupid tourist attractions that appeal to connoisseurs of lowest culture? I'd argue that this is one “us too!” moment we can live without.

9. It's opportunist. The initial Tweet to the Mayor's office was a joke, and possibly the biggest error in this whole thing was the fact that someone in the Mayor's office actually deigned to reply to it (props again to Jeff Wattrick for that observation). But now it's become the movement of the moment, and it just seems a bit opportunist to take ownership of the idea.

It certainly will be plenty of publicity for the Imagination Station whether this gets funded or not – heck, they're already on Detroit Public Radio today to talk about it. Then again, maybe that's the idea? In which case Jerry Paffendorf (whom I like very much personally, by the way) continues to prove himself one of the savviest marketers in the Detroit area.

10. It will add an entirely new dimension to train station ruin porn. Tired of pictures of the Michigan Central Station? If this goes up in front of the Imagination Station, located across the street from the train station, you can expect to be seeing a lot more MCS ruin porn in the years to come.

At the end of the day, if this project gets funded, it's a private project on private property and of course people will do what they want. And that's their right. I just think that this particular idea is too rife with negative connotations.

I guess all I can say is I gave to the Kickstarter Hygienic Dress League “No Vacancy” Project, and I gave to the Save the Downtown Synagogue project, but I'm hanging on to my money for this one. I think we are better than this.

Surprise! No one's surprised.

Well, no one with any sense is surprised that Charles Pugh won a seat on the City Council, and really no one who pays attention to Detroit politics should be surprised he took the top spot, despite his mortgage troubles. The man is a bona fide local celeb, after all.

Nationally the fact that an openly gay man won the Council President spot looks great, though. Nothing wrong with that. And I think he will be a decent President. I don't think he's brimming with ideas that will really take the city forward in a meaningful way, but I think he is the kind of person who is open to the ideas of others. And people like him so there's that kind of goodwill. I've been wrong before though.

Detroit News columnist Laura Berman commented today on Pugh's star status trumping the homophobia of the black churches, and opines that because Detroit needs to be open to more kinds of people, including gays, "his election signals that the city's getting more savvy and open and serious about its survival." I certainly hope that is the case.

I think Pugh's celebrity really did have something to do with his winning, but I don't think he was elected because of his star power. Pugh has been on tv and radio and part of the lives of people in the city of Detroit for so long that people really feel like they know him. And as happens so often, people who normally are anti-gay make exceptions for their neighbors, or relatives, or co-workers. And so they did in this election what they do with those gay or lesbian people in their lives: they overlooked it.

There's no way you are going to see a significant softening of the homophobia in the black religious community of Detroit, but what this election highlights is that Detroiters as a whole are actually very open to gay people as neighbors or friends. I've said before that Detroit needs to make an overture to the gay people of southeastern Michigan that the city welcomes them. Maybe this will help accomplish that.

All I know is that I certainly did not think I'd see a day this soon where not only was the mayor of Ferndale gay but the president of the Detroit City Council as well. There may be underlying factors but that's some kind of progress.

Favorite Macho City Moments

There certainly were a lot of colorful Macho City moments in our ticket giveaway contest! Thank you to everyone who entered for sharing their real or imagined experiences.

My favorite Macho City moment (of many highlights) is probably the Nancy Fortune night. Mike and Scott had been playing an unusually amazing selection of underground disco that I had not heard before, but that was so immediately likeable that it felt like a series of forgotten favorites. It had such a consistent good disco vibe you could not help but feel elevated.

The crowd was eclectic that night, including a good number of leathermen, some super cool straight folks, and a broad range of ages of us regular gay folks. The visuals were ultra-cool. As an added bonus there were no serious smokers on the dancefloor. It was all just so ... happy.

[As an aside: Not to pick on one group in particular, but there has been a serious rash of girls smoking on the dancefloor at Macho City that is giving me a serious rash. Ladies please, look around. Do you see the gay boys smoking on the dancefloor? No, they do it in the bar area like God intended. Even my friend Chris who can only breathe through a cigarette when he is at the bar abstains. Take note.]

So all is well at Macho City that night, and about 1am Nancy Fortune comes on. The transition to her music was, frankly, jarring, and I was like, "oh well, it was fun while it lasted." But then she got things really rolling (or more likely, my brain adjusted) and suddently there was this fantastic electro/dance/house mix of music - one that rivaled the mastery of the earlier disco mix - that took me back to my after-hours clubbing heyday. You know that feeling you get when you are standing there and the whole world around you is so perfect and you are brimming with joy? Yeah, that. That night wasn't just a Macho City highlight, it was a highlight of my summer.

Now back to the contest. Before I announce the winners I want to address some of the comments.

First of all, to the comments saying people posting about lurid activity at the R&R are missing the point of Macho City (some were deleted by their author), I feel compelled to say ... do we need to be this way in 2009? First off, Macho City can be about so many things. Maybe it is about the music, maybe it is about the people, and maybe it's about the setting. In my opinion having Macho City at the R&R - a place that is a safe space for a niche in the gay community (I sound like a lesbian feminist with that language) - sets a tone that you are free to enjoy the night however you want. Maybe Macho City provides a more comfortable way for attendees to get a little dirty in their lives, I see nothing wrong with that.

It's important to remember that we are guests there, and Macho City is supposed to be enhanced by its setting, and in turn enhance the R&R for one night a month. It's the combination that really makes Macho City so special. Arriving at the R&R and then judging the activity (or people's appreciation of activity) is perhaps an unfair approach. I hope that the regulars at the R&R like having the Macho City crowd once a month and continue to show up, and I hope MC attendees can be chill about anything besides dancing and drinking that may or may not go on.

Taking that one step further, as a community we make no progress if we cannot embrace all colors of the gay rainbow. We don't need to be mainstream to deserve marriage equality or protection from discrimination. It's the non-mainstream parts of the gay world that have been on the front lines, and who make being gay so very interesting! You don't need to partake, just accept.

Secondly, there was a comment about Buju Banton being booked at the Majestic and how we should boycott anything there. I am not a huge fan of boycotting locally-owned businesses or gay-led cultural phenomena, particularly in a recession, because often people just need to be educated about their offenses. But in this instance I think the Majestic has paid attention to concerns. Another comment addresses those:

For the record, the Majestic cancelled the Buju Banto show more than a week ago. They will have to eat the $8,500 guarantee. They are the only independent booker in the country that has flat out refused his performance. The Majestic had no clue about Buju's homophobic song (that he wrote 20 years ago at the age of 16 which he has since apologized for) and once they were aware of said song they immediately cancelled the show. The Majestic are very much accepting of all lifestyles. I am gay and have worked for the Majestic many times over the years. They currently have at least 5 gay employees that I personally know of.

I hope this news assuages any concerns people have about going tonight, because Black Devil Disco Club Macho City will be epic! And congratulations to randomly-selected winners Sparky, Darren, b, Phil, Thomas and Joseph, y'all are getting in free tonight! Your names will be at the door!

Have a great Macho City!

[Hey Sparky, email me at supergaydetroit@gmail.com to confirm your ticket!]
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Election

In an ideal world I would be doing a post about the Reese Witherspoon movie and not the third of four elections in Detroit this year. Normally I don't like to get into the whole political thing here because I am pretty much an idiot. I leave political analysis to people who know, like Woodward's Friend over at Dyspathy. Plus if my secret identity is ever compromised then I will be held accountable for anything I've said on here and what if I have become BFF's with, say, Martha-Rose Reeves by then? Embarrassing.

This election is pretty significant because of the absolute insanity that has been coming out of city hall over the past few years. It's a real chance to get some agents of change in charge, as uphill a battle as that seems; Detroit is a city that really does seem invested in maintaining the status quo. From a gay blogger perspective, it is also significant because we have the first openly gay city council candidate running, local media celebutante Charles Pugh.

So I am just going to weigh in with a few thoughts and Detroit voters, you can take it from there.

Charles Pugh
Clearly it is significant that an openly-gay man is not only running for City Council in Detroit, but appears to be in the lead in the polls. Detroit is notorious for its culture of homophobia in the African-American churches. And those churches really drive a large portion of the voting electorate here. It just goes to show how strong the celebrity/name recognition effect is in Detroit elections.


Pugh's platform seems relatively innocuous, and hits some of the right notes. I think he is right that crime needs to be addressed as Detroit's single biggest issue and the rest will follow. And I am heartened to see him talk about the need for regionalism in creating a plan for public transportation - I hope that transfers to other efforts as well.

Neighborhood services, parks, community pride - everyone mentions those with few specifics about how they will improve them - but I think someone with Pugh's popularity could be very effective at raising community morale about these things.

I don't see a lot about fiscal responsibility, economic development and making the city a better place for businesses, large and small (other than "I will allocate a portion of my budget to visit and work with store chains around the country and encourage them to invest inside the city of Detroit." Feh.) And he does not discuss the issue of right-sizing the city.

Anecdotally I can only throw in a few observations. On the plus side, I've heard he is incredibly nice and a good listener. And of course his life story is inspiring. And he really believes in this cause: I've heard he is convinced he can make Detroit better.

On the flip side, maybe we don't really need someone who has quite the kind of ego involved in thinking they can single-handedly make considerable improvements in Detroit. And judging from the short-lived Facebook post of an ex-lover a few weeks ago (it pays to have lots of Facebook friends), that narcissism seems to extend into the personal realm. Deja vu?

And I have no fewer than four reports from white Detroiters that he always seems to assume they must not live in the city when he encounters them. From a resident of Brush Park, this seems a bit ridiculous.

So does Charles Pugh get the Supergay endorsement? Sure .... why not.

I don't think he would be disaster by any means, he is charismatic and beloved by many. And I don't think we can underestimate the message that electing him sends to gays in the region about Detroit as a good place for living as a gay person (which pretty much any gay Detroiter will tell you, but this broadcast goes much further). But honestly I think there are a lot of other choices in this election who will be more effective in transforming Detroit.

Other options
I don't have a slate of 18 candidates for your reference. One friend says she is only voting for accountants, city planners or attorneys, which is a pretty good plan (although I pointed out Mon Con was in fact an attorney). There are some great candidates out there: incumbent Kenneth Cockrel and contenders Saunteel Jenkins, Lisa Howze (an accountant!) and Andre Spivey seems to get high marks from editorial boards as well as voters I have talked to. Other candidates that come highly recommended include James Tate, John Bennett, and Fred Elliot Hall.

And now, I want to take a second to put in a plug for my friend Matt Naimi.


Matt is the candidate I feel could help Detroit become the forward-looking city it needs to be. Matt is a business owner who is responsible for creating the city's RecycleHere! program, and has a strong and progressive "green" platform that I think hits the right notes and can make transformations other candidates aren't even considering.

Fighting blight, which he cites as a breeding ground for crime, with "smart" demolition; developing green technologies; encouraging urban agriculture; treating recycled material as a resource; right-sizing the city - these inititatives will not only address Detroit problems, they frame Detroit as a city looking to the future and the role of an industrial city in the 21st century. You can read more about his platform at vote4growth.com.

Matt has worked extensively with city government and community groups and knows how the city's public works department works. He also knows the challenges business owners face. And as a resident he knows how important a cohesive community is. He also knows that that working on city council means harnessing the strengths of various members, and applying your best judgement to the result.

The attitudes and approaches of Detroit's government are seriously outdated: they barely worked when the city was flush and they are counterproductive with the city in its current state. I think everyone agrees drastic change is needed.

I am singling out Matt not just because he is my friend, but because I really strongly feel that if Detroit embraces a new way of thinking it will not only create solutions for current problems but change the image of Detroit in the country. And trust me, I normally hate the hippy green bullshit. But Detroit is a place of incredible opportunity - on a micro and macro level - and I think some of these ideas really do make sense in this context. Matt can really help Detroit become an exciting, new kind of city.

And a last thought about City Council primary voting - you don't have to vote for 18 candidates! Don't just pick random names to fill out the ballot, only vote for the candidates you know are comfortable with. And mostly ignore incumbents, mbien?

Speaking of drastic change
Finally - if you are a Detroit voter and have not signed the petition to create City Council by District, please do so immediately or sooner. Get more information HERE, you can probably sign a petition at the polls tomorrow. They need all the signatures they can get and tomorrow night is the deadline!


There's no guarantee that Council by District will eliminate corrupt politicians in Detroit government, but it will create more accountability and make a relatively insane primary election process a lot more manageable. It will also help underrepresented areas of the city get the voice they need on City Council. And there is no guarantee that the City Charter revision committee will instate council by district - they passed on it in the last revision in 1993.

OK, do what I just said above and then we can say we helped move Detroit forward!
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The Tinder Box

Wow, who knew the anger (well, irritation) that bubbled beneath the surface in Detroit's little indie gay scene? My off-hand quip about Fierce Hot Mess in my last post upset a lot of people! Check out the comments section if you don't believe me.

I would like to clarify a bit - that comment was intended as a joke about how old I am, not about how fun Fierce Hot Mess is not. That sentence was painting a picture of a very specific situation - me, hearing a song I've already lived through and whose charm is now lost on me, watching a bunch of kids half my age dance around to what is for them a golden oldie. As I've expressed to Adriel, the FHM organizer, a number of times, sometimes I just feel kind of old when I'm there. I do not feel that way at Macho City. That was my point.

What more ringing endorsement could a club night have than some 40-year old guy feels old when he's there? That should get the kids lined up 'round the block!

Man, nobody objected to me calling myself old and creepy, but God forbid I question a musical choice at Fierce Hot Mess. I'm tearing down Detroit's whole cool gay scene!

Lest anyone forget the love I have lavished on Fierce Hot Mess, let me remind you:

Announcing Fierce Hot Mess!

They're playing Sylvester at FHM this month.

I think Andy Warhol said it best ...

Back from San Fran and ready for more Mess

Fierce Hot Mess goes Bi

The upstart competition doesn't rate

A night out to revitalize the soul

I love my indie gay nights/introducting Macho City

Fierce Hot Mess in the Supergay Slate for 'Best of Detroit'


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Two Years

Hey here's something remarkable: this past week marks the two-year anniversary of Supergay Detroit. Two years, how about that? In the immortal words of Melissa Sue Anderson, Happy Birthday to Me.

If there is one thing I love it's a milestone. It gives you an excuse to stop to reflect and, essentially, think about yourself. And since I quit going to therapy I'm always looking for an excuse.

As a result of this reflecting I recently realized that I've become one of those gay people in Detroit I couldn't find when I moved here. I mean aside from having a gay blog and throwing a gay weekly thing, I'm no longer actively seeking a gay community in Detroit proper. I guess I just ran out of steam on that.

I am now one of those gay people in the city who goes out to all the regular places and meets up with gay friends as occasionally as he meets up with straight friends. I am now one of those gay people I used to see out at Union Street and wonder, "how can I connect with these people?"

The original goal of this blog was to find the gay community in Detroit, and provide a resource for other people out there who were having a hard time finding it too. Now I just don't think about it that much anymore. Apparently, I've been assimilated.

My problem is that I don't know if that's something to be happy about or not.
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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.

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[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 ...

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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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The closet wounds.

As I move through life I am continually a witness to the problems that arise from people who are in the closet about their homosexuality.

The fundamental problem with the closet, of course, is that it forces you to lie. And to lie about lies. Your life becomes a web of lies. And that's bad, mkay?

But the closet also affects the people around you. A wife and kids, perhaps. Family members. The real femmy guy you beat up in high school to prove you were not gay. That kind of thing.

But it can even affect the world around you, I got to thinking recently. For a completely hypothetical situation, let's say you are a man - maybe even an elected official - with a good name, and as a cover you married a woman who was a real choice piece of ghetto ass who subsequently coasted into elected office on your coattails?

And then what if this poor beard selection started systematically eliminating any shred of dignity her elected office previously held? And fought real progress in the name of favoritism and special interest? And shamelessly hit on other men in public, including prominent local business leaders? And continually embarrassed you and the entire region where she held office?

Now this is completely and totally hypothetical and is decidedly NOT about any real-life elected officials that I know of. But this nightmare scenario was just a place my mind ran this morning while catching up on the news, and I felt compelled to reiterate: if you are gay, coming out of the closet and ditching your shame will make your world - and possibly the world around you - a better place.
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And we're back

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine did not disappoint in any way, thank you very much.

Best part was the weekend, went back to Ann Arbor to see many of the friends that have trickled away over the years. Friday night was possibly the funnest night I've had all year (nothing personal to anyone I've dated who might be reading this). It was the full laughing until you couldn't breathe kind of party. Then heading out to the /aut/ bar which was, well, weird (one friend commented on the fact that all the upstairs bartenders were straight, after complaining his drink was really weak). And the Necto always seems to be a fun time, especially since I'm usually plastered by the time I get there. Necto is a great place to watch the guys you wanted to make out with in college make out with each other.

It was all so fun and so effortless, it was just like the old days, plus Ann Arbor is so pretty, Once again I found myself thinking about why I can't really find equilibrium here in Detroit, and I started to worry about the ways in which I think Detroit has changed me. When I'm in A2 with my friends it's a fun hanging out thing, but when I'm here I feel like it's all about how can we change our section of the world, there's a lot of trying hard and frustration along with the intermittent fun successes.

On the one hand, how can any imaginitive person not try and do stuff when presented with what is essentially a blank canvas? But on the other hand, sometimes it's just nice to hang out and booze up with your friends who all think they're comediennes (and kind of are) and enjoy the nice things in the world around you.

I was telling some friends about it the other night and the verdict was that this is pretty much my problem. Apparently I need to rebalance my priorities.

I just want fame and fortune like everyone else, is that so wrong? I just want a fun mellow home base too.

More changeover

Well, according to her Facebook status Triangle Foundation Interim Director Kate Runyon has taken the Executive Director job at Equality Maryland. That is a great gig, and I guess that explains why she put her pad in A2 up for sublet the other day.

Facebook is scary sometimes.

I wonder what will happen with Triangle now? There's really a bit of a gay leadership vacuum in this state (actually, a leadership vacuum period), so a little more turmoil there doesn't bode well for gay rights in this state.

I guess that's why I feel it's important that as individuals we make sure our voice is heard. We really can't afford to wait for new leadership to settle in. That's why things like the protest at CAY this weekend are important. We need to stay visible!
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A Bridge to Somewhere

My summertime emotional journey to heck and back turned out to be such good source material I used it for my most recent piece for Detroit Public Radio's Detroit Today program.

Enjoy my bitching about all the things I love to bitch about on here AND hear about the disco cocktail party I threw last month in this piece that aired on Election Day!

Obamarama?

The Obama win tonight was exciting.

I went to Ann Arbor to my friend Eve's house to watch the election because (a) I spent all the Bush years in Ann Arbor and thought it would be nice to celebrate a shift back to reason in that town, and (b) she owns the amazing restaurant Eve and I knew the food would be worth traveling for.

It was, of course, a lovely time, and so great to see an awesome collection of people I've known over the past ten-plus years. And even more exciting to see the Obama win! Yay America.

It wasn't until the way home, when I received a text response from CA friends to my inquiry about the status of the gay marriage ban that the whole night imploded. California was set to ban - and abolish - gay marriage.

Furious doesn't even begin to describe my reaction. I can't tell you the last time I pounded my steering wheel and screamed in rage, mostly because it has never happened before. It was only a stop by the Park Bar and touching base with some unaware but sympathetic friends that prevented this from being a post that consisted of the giant words "straight people, go fuck yourself." Sorry, but it's true.

You have a straight, white, wealthy, Mayflower-family, Yale-educated male to thank for talking me down.

So straight people, don't go fuck yourself. But please pay attention to what is happening. Michigan was disappointing. Arizona, Florida and Arkansas not surprising. But California was really unexcusable.

At least their "Stop Animal Cruelty" inititative passed by a 3-to-1 margin. Oh yeah, and Obama won.
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Pearls of Wisdom

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

Love me

Someone tried to steal my car again the first full day I was back in Detroit from SF, so that was really, um, bracing.

While I was gone I was telling friends about the things I missed about Detroit and how I was having a great time but was looking forward to getting back, but just before I left I remembered that every time I come back from a great trip something happens within the first 24 hours to remind me that I am Detroit's bitch. Getting called faggot by a Tiger fan fifteen minutes after returning from the Chicago Gay Games opening ceremonies was the first time, but since then there's been the smack in the face of Greektown ugliness while walking to work in January because my car is still in the shop from the most recent auto trauma, some work bullshit that is totally tied to the particular quirks of our very evolved regional population that I can't really go into ... or this. You know, for example. It's always something.

I think a lot of people who move away fall into this trap - you remember the great neighborhoods and architecture and people and the really special places like Belle Isle or the Detroit Institute of Arts and the great events like Dally in the Alley or the Electronic Music Festival, but you forget that sometimes livng here can be a big mouthful of feces.

I felt good for about a minute when Kwame resigned, but now I'm more worried about Monica Conyers and her ghetto ass being President of the City Council. I mean, she really is pure trash, about the worst we have to dish up as far as image and behavior go. I don't know why John Conyers keeps her around, he is a high-ranking Congressman, he could have anyone. She must be one freaky lay. So anyway, this led to looking at pictures of Kwame on the Detroit News website today and reminiscing about the good times. My civic self-esteem is in the gutter.

Well, enough Monday Moanin'. This is really just a roundabout way of saying I am not above playing the sympathy card to get you to vote for me in the Metro Times Best of Detroit reader's poll.

This overly-fabulous Kylie video below is serving as my official campaign song. It sends a positive but nearly subliminal message - plus it helps cheer you up when it all just seems too much.

So come on, love me! Vote the Supergay Slate today!

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OK, I'm back.

Well, I think I'm back.

In stark contrast to the wonderful wonder of last summer with its Woodbridge porch-sitting and bounty of friend-based good times, this summer has turned out to be a little, well, less wonderful.

It's a convergence of things. It started with that Michigan Supreme Court decision in May.

Then came Kwame. Certainly the debacle at city hall is not helping, although I try to remind myself that everything was just as fucked up last summer and I was fine.

There was also this building frustration with all these organizations thinking that branding is the answer to Detroit's problems (see link above). When I think of the money spent on marketing and branding efforts the only conclusion I can come to is that it's a way to prop up the "creative economy" that exists here already. It all seems like a bunch of fluff that won't do anything to solve the concrete issues that actually deter the creative class from landing - or staying - in Detroit.

But without a doubt the biggest thing was the fact that my three oldest and closest friends remaining in Michigan all moved away between April and June.

I wrote a bit about my personal brain drain last year, when six friends who'd moved away came back to visit the two of us from our old core gay group who remained. Well, in April the other one moved, to Gay Zion, San Francisco.

Then another friend decided to spend the summer in SF, before returning to teaching for the school year and then moving on to teach internationally. And then the one friend I just never thought would leave got a job in Chicago. And just like that, almost all that remained of my life from before my move to Detroit disappeared.

This isn't intended as an indictment of my newer friends, because I really adore them. But there is some security in having friends nearby who have been through your ups and downs and really understand you, and the loss of that impacted me dramatically.

Isn't one of the perceived disadvantages of relocating at an advanced age such as mine the fact that you have to uproot your life and start over with new friends? That seems to backfire around here, when by virtue of staying put you are continually starting over.

All this had me on edge, and then my mom forwarded some stupid Republican email that was not only sensationalist in its condemnation of Democrats as socialists but, it turns out, was also completely made up (as so many of them seem to turn out. Huh.) In my delicate emotional state I was forced to confront my mother about the homophobia of the Republican party and learned, to my dismay, that after being out of the closet twenty years I have to educate my mom about why a vote for the Republican party is a vote against gay people.

This is when I had to take a break. I was getting bummed whenever I heard of someone cool leaving the state, even if I barely knew them (and is it just me or is this happening a lot?). I was going from zero to rage over stupid slights (like the woman at the Chicago Skyway tollbooth insisting she had to give me $3 in quarters as my change, even though she had a pile of singles in front of her), and when I stopped to figure out where the rage originated - which turned out to be this kind of overwhelming feeling of isolation - I'd just get depressed. So I did what any normal person would do: I holed up and basked in nostalgia and disco. I spent an inordinant amount of time checking the Fabulon blog. I started re-reading The Warhol Diaries.

Self-portrait of me in June. Flawless, but tragic.

At some point here I randomly met this guy who moved from the West Coast with his partner to live in one of the Mies courtyard houses in Lafayette Park. I asked him what they've done so far in Detroit, what they think of this or that, and he responded that while they are still exploring, they basically just do their own home-based thing.

Something about that made me realize that taking a little break from trying too hard would be a good idea. Maybe focus on just having a nice time instead of always trying to effect change in a community that perhaps is not particularly interested in it. In other words, it's not you, it's me. The real issue is managing my expectations. So I've pulled back a little, reprioritized, made some changes, and I hope I'm pretty much back on track.

Everyone I know here has times when the bad things just get the best of them, and we all tend to pull out of our slumps. I still really love a lot of my life here - I love where I live, I love my job, I love the people I meet, I love the energy ... but this social component, that's got me stumped. For now.

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Georgy Girl

Shed those dowdy feathers and fly!

Do us that favor.

Could it be you just don't try? Or is it the clothes you wear?