Black Milk & Danny Brown - Black and Brown Official Video

Serious heat from Detroit's own Danny Brown and Black Milk. The entire album is awesome. 
You should buy it off their SoundCloud

R.I.P. Gerard Smith of TV On The Radio Dies

I was literally getting ready to head downtown to meet friends for drinks and walk over to legendary Detroit club St. Andrews what promised to be another amazing set by Brooklyn kings TV On The Radio...

Then, in my Facebook feed I see an announcement from the venue's page telling me that Gerard Smith, bassist in the group, has passed away and that the show has been canceled.

Smith (pictured below) has reportedly lost his battle with lung cancer this morning.  Our condolences to the band and Smith's family and friends.  Hopefully, these events will inspire this amazing act to take their careers to the highest of levels...

Gerard Smith

 TV On The Radio (Smith is second from the left)

 

Click HERE for the band's website

Kanye Coachella Full Set

Earl Sweatshirt - EARL

Go on, suck it up 

But hurry, I got nuts to bust

And butts to fuck 

And ups to shut 

And sluts to fuckin' uppercut

New Pistons Owner, Tom Gores

 

This is the new face of our Piston's organization. Seems like an ambitious type probably along the lines of a Dan Gilbert, but hopefully without the shameless publicity shams.

Go get em, Tom. You have your work cut out for you.

oh... and...

the man can can't dance

 

Here's an interview with Gores from Channel 7 here in Detroit

Sport/Comedy: Von Wafer Embarassment

When I read the Yahoo! headline for this video, "Von Wafer Screws Up Everything", I thought to myself:

"Come on now, that's a little over the top. I mean, EVERYTHING?? It takes a whole dump truck's worth of shitiness to screw up EVERYTHING! This is just another case of our desensitized culture that just throws words around like 'epic' and 'best ever' like mini tootsie rolls in Afghanistan."

But then I watched the video...

COMEDY! Keep Him Interested!!!

How To Get A Guy To Notice You While You're Having Sex With Him

New Kings of Leon Documentary

Can't say I care much about these guys anymore. New album didn't break any new ground, in my opinion.  Though I know it is unfair to expect the same feelings you got when you first heard Only by the Night or Because of the Times.  Anyway, this should be interesting and is probably worth the viewing when it comes out.

The KILL Team Photos: Soldiers in Afghanistan Commiting Unspeakable Acts on Innocent People

Utterly disturbing behavior from some of our troops abroad.  This is clearly not a fair representation of all our troops.  But like we've read of the atrocities that occurred during Vietnam, one can only imagine the heightened level of unspeakable things happening to innocent people in this modern era.  This is what happens when inadequate soldiers (one's that would likely be passed up by the army if enlistment numbers were higher) are frustrated by failure to a point where their racist, psychotic, and savage selves come spilling out.

THESE IMAGES ARE BEYOND GRAPHIC. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

THIS IS THE WORK OF AMERICAN TROOPS ON INNOCENT CIVILIANS.  IT IS TIME TO STOP LIVING IN DENIAL.

 

A 15 year old boy senselessly gunned down by trained savages. One of the barbarians poses with the body as if its wild game.

 

These were human beings...

 

Presumably, and most likely, innocent as indicated by the interviews conducted by army investigators of the soldiers who committed these acts as well as the brave whistle blowers

 

The same 15 year old boy from above...

 

Here he is again... his name was Gul Mudin. He was an innocent farmer in a small remote village of straw and mud homes. He posed absolutely no threat to the soldiers. He was unarmed. An elderly man in the village was escorted to the field to identify the boy.. the man turned out to be the boys father.

 

Yet another murderer poses with the body of Gul Mudin.  Again, he isn't even old enough to drive a car in our country.

 

A ghastly photo of a severed head being toyed with by soldiers.  Innocent or guilty this treatment is unacceptable

 

"At one point, soldiers in 3rd Platoon talked about throwing candy out of a Stryker vehicle as they drove through a village and shooting the children who came running to pick up the sweets." - Rolling Stone

 

"Another photo of Afghan children. According to one soldier, members of 3rd Platoon also talked about a scenario in which they 'would throw candy out in front and in the rear of the Stryker; the Stryker would then run the children over.'" - Rolling Stone

 

An unidentified person's legs

 

Another photo of the pair of men from above. Soldiers would hack off small body parts like fingers as souvenirs or trophies. One even kept the skull fragment of a man's head exploded by close range fire... the man was unarmed. 

All images obtained by RollingStone and can be found alongside even more images including the full story (which you most certainly NEED to read) here

Big Sean - Hometown

A Homage To Detroit

Beautiful film by Stephen McGee

A Homage to Detroit from Stephen McGee on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/stephenmcgee

Where the trail ends...

I love documentaries or anything that deserves the title "reality tv"

...unlike the unsavory crap that is called reality tv...

This film (will probably) be everything I love about documentaries.  
1. A subject I'm not well versed on
2. Beautiful cinematography and editing
3. Ability to ignite interest!

enjoy...

 

TIMEOUT

It's time to: Stop. Think. Embrace.

It is also important to realize the terrible conditions and lifestyles these people live in.  For instance, I love the use of only women in Africa, chiefly because the condition in which they are treated there is atrocious (see recent Women's rights material as well as subjects on "the virgin cure" and "honor killings")

This is a beautiful movement. I love it.

TED Prize Winner JR & INSIDE OUT from TED Prize on Vimeo.

Art: REALIZE

This is a tribute to one of the greatest Boxers of all time. Watch the video. Figure it out!

p.s. pause the video around the 19 sec mark and take in what Michael Kalish and the Oyler Wu Collaborative have created

Palmer Park Prep Innovation!

It is so good to see teachers getting their due.


I saw a recent issue of Education Week with a Detroit school on the cover and thought, "Here we go again."

To my surprise and delight, it was highlighting the innovative Palmer Park Preparatory Academy in Detroit.  The school's teachers in charge structure is what garnered the attention, and frankly, who knows how to run a school best than the people that run them?


Read the DET News story here: Teachers in charge at Detroit's Palmer Park Prep
And here is the ED Week article: Teacher-Led School Innovates With Student Regrouping

New Cobo Renovations Revealed!

This all looks great.  Glass facades, Dallas Cowboy sized exterior televisions, beautiful views that apparently were worthless in Cobo's original conception... 

But, wait.  What about the struggling city services?  The police, fire, emergency, garbage, snow removal and street sweeping services that make a city livable.  

Look at it like this: why would you live in a beautiful, historic, two story colonial when you can't even get your trash picked up on a regular basis, and when you called the police to report on a fight happening on your the street, they and the EMS sent to respond to the battered victim take over thirty minutes to respond?

I love what is being proposed here, and I think it will bring a lot of positives to our city.  However, I'm wondering why the REAL issues are not being addressed.  The kind of issues that keep good, law abiding, hard working, prideful people out of the city.  The quality of life issues that are the real deal breaker when it comes to settling in a new area - let alone taking the financial/health risk of moving into Detroit.

Look, I'm more of a Detroit slappy than anyone I know, however, its not hard to tell when things are going a little ass backwards.  I would be happy if Bing and the rest of the city government at least popped their heads into and addressed these quality of life issues while proceeding with the current plans at hand.  At least make some effort to curbing the MASSIVE and DOMINATING factors that are keeping good people out of the city:

1. Quality of life services

2. Schools

3. Emergency response systems

4. Police vigilance in tough areas 

And here's a novel thought: The city needs money, yes? Great, why don't we fine and fine and fine and fine the careless, self-centered and "speculating" property owners in the city that take no pride in ownership and allow their buildings, homes, and lots to be polluted, trashed and remain dilapidated.  Why don't we ticket and fine people disturbing the peace at all hours of the night, and ticket those who find it appropriate to walk the streets and impede traffic.

Where there is a feeling of lawlessness there will be lawless behavior.  We need to retrain citizens that do not know how to fall in line and do what is right.  And yes, I am aware of the fact that some will never come around, and yes I am in full support of sacrificing for the greater good.  We have to be able to make the hard decisions.  The time is now, people.

At any rate, here is the video and a bullet list from DET News on what is included in the renovations:

"The $221 million renovation project also includes:

• The creation of a new three-story glass atrium "signature space" for Cobo Center that links the main floor of Cobo with a new entrance. The glass atrium surrounds most of the building, allowing for a view of the Detroit River and linking the facility to the city's RiverWalk.
• Major renovation to Cobo's primary façade facing downtown, which will include a high-tech, computer-generated "media mesh" billboard announcing current and future conventions and other bookings.
• Reconfiguration of meeting and breakout rooms along Cobo's south side, the area facing the Detroit River. Most of the exterior walls of the meeting and breakout rooms will be replaced by high-efficiency glass walls.
• Twenty percent increase in parking spaces.
• Construction of an additional loading dock ramp to street level.
• Additional electrical provision capabilities in exhibition areas."

Midtown drives remaking of Detroit | detnews.com | The Detroit News

 Exciting things happening for Midtown Detroit. Great opportunities for these employees...

I wish there was some kind of an incentive program for those of us that don't work at these 3 companies... Check out the DET News article below!

Midtown drives remaking of Detroit | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Robocop Statue in Detroit

so the people of Metro-Detroit have raised $50,000+ for a RoboCop statue in six days... Is this a way to inspire others to create positive initiatives for Detroit or is it a mark of how sad we are as a society that we can dramatically supply funds for a whimsical statue and leave soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other community initiatives hanging?