He has a radio program on WXOU out of Oakland University
Wild At Heart
This is a big weekend for having fun in Detroit and there are a couple of things I wanted to talk about before Monday so here is a special weekend edition for those of you still looking for something to do.
Starting off, last night I went down to the Century Theatre for the play "The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?" which was extremely funny (and will be reviewed on Monday's blog). However, before I went over, I stopped by Winterblast to check out what was going on. There were a number of people milling around taking in some of the performances by local artists such as the Tim Diaz Band. The biggest thing I noticed was the lack of the giant ice slide which seemed to be the big attraction in previous years. The ice sculptures were in good form this year including some ice chairs you can sit in and take your picture. I remember last year this was a warm weekend and some of the statues had melted which shouldn't be an issue this year. There is only one outdoor tent for music which will have a mixture of rock (The Reefermen, The Muggs), jaming (Macpodz) and Motown (Impact 7) for your listening pleasure. Inside the Compuware building which looks vacant with the bookstore closed, will have some local bands such as BandB but also the band One EskimO, four piece indie band from London who were last in town opening for Tori Amos last year. Here is one of their videos...
Besides music, there is a tent filled with things for the kids to do and some carnival rides outside. Their is also free ice skating and some skating demonstrations by local clubs which always tend to get a lot of people watching. Also returning this year is Marshmallow Roasting in the streets, so create some smores action when the sun goes down. While the blast seems to be geting smaller every year, it is still a nice distraction and there are some nice bands to see. While downtown, you can also take advantage of some of the restaurants and various other activities going on downtown Detroit. For more info on schedules for the blast, you can go to http://www.winterblast.com. I'll leave this thread with a favorite performance from the first Winter Blast when Question Mark & the Mysterians played their classic hit "96 Tears".
If you are still looking for something to do with your significant other, you might want to look into "Ballet Hispanica" which is taking place today at 7:30PM and Sunday at 2:30PM at the Detroit Opera House. Ballet Hispanico is an American dance company based in Manhattan which was founded by the Venezuelan American dancer and choreographer Tina Ramirez in 1970 and presents dances reflecting the experience of Hispanic and Latino Americans. With the popularity of TV shows like "Dancing With The Stars", dance has come back and is enjoying a new found popularity. I had dancer Vanessa Valeciollos on the show this morning and she told me they had around 50 people show up for a Latin Salsa class they taught last night. She mentioned that while the word ballet is in the title, the dances are more contempory. The dances use the structure of ballet to showcase the styles of Latin dance moves. As a sample, here is a bit of the piece "Club Havana" which incorporates the intoxicating rhythms of the Conga, Rumba, Mambo, and Cha Char as brought to Life by Pedro Ruiz, himself a native of Cuba, as he imagined his very own “Club Havana.”
The show should be exciting and is split into four performance pieces. There are still some tickets left, so you can go to http://www.motopera.org for ticket info and a special Valentine's package.
Also, don't forget that tonight at the Crofoot is "Woman: A Night Of Art & Culture". Jessica Hernandez was supposed to perform live on my show this morning but was up until 4AM preparing for the show so I will make sure to get her at a later date. The event will feature various local artists, commedians and musicians and some proceeds will go to the Michigan's Woman Foundation. The MWF has dedicated more than 20 years championing the causes of social justice for women and girls through public and grantee education, philanthropy and advocacy. If you would like to learn more about them, go to http://miwf.mediathree.net. Here are a couple of songs by some of the women performing tonight including Sisters Lucas and Silent Violet.
Also performing are Misty Lynn & the Big Beautiful, Jane of Arc, Kate Stelmanis and Lightning Love's whose song "Friends" appears in episode 4 of Ted Raimi's webisode "Playing Dead" which can be viewed at http://www.watchplayingdead.com. Hope to see you out somewhere this weekend and tune in on Monday for reviews of "Male Intellect: An Oxymoron" at the Century, "Mindgame" at Meadowbrook Theatre and some of the Go! Comedy shows happening. Enjoy the weekend!
