I Love Detroit Michigan

New Detroit Graffiti @ Dubois & Hendricks

Dale Carlson — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:45:37 +0000

Southeast Michigan’s Summer of Spray Paint heats up with this stellar installation of new Detroit graffiti on the lengthy west side of a long-abandoned garage at Dubois & Hendricks, wedged right between the city’s Eastern Market district and Elmwood Park neighborhood. Endorsed by the notorious “Mad Society Kings” crew, this beautifully rendered, expansive piece of Detroit street art features the masterful stylings of “Revok”, “Rime”, “Nekst” and two more signatories with whom we have yet to be familiarized: “Wanes” and “1xRUN”. Other endorsers and possible co-creators of this face-melting tour de force include “Emjay”, “Alex”, “Meca”, “Naah”, “Ayo”, “Gawk” and “Beck”. Find one more respectable sig by “Nekst” on the building’s north garage door. Click here to see another recent, stunning full-wall work by “Revok” and “Rime”; click here to see a very recent work by “Nekst” in the Eastern Market district; and finally, click here to see an amazing, recent full-wall installation in Windsor, Ontario by “Meca”. ~I♥DM

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New Detroit Graffiti @ Dubois & Hendricks

New Detroit Graffiti @ Van Dyke & Dubay

Dale Carlson — Sun, 19 May 2013 02:49:22 +0000

It’s that time of year again, when new Detroit graffiti begins to appear in nearly every part of the city. Find this quartet of new works by “Pursue”, “Chaos”, “Trav” and “Rime” at the northeast corner of Van Dyke Avenue and Dubay, upon the north wall of a long abandoned structure just across the street from Woodlawn Cemetery. Click here and here to see more recent work by “Chaos”, currently one of the D’s most prolific graffiti artists. After you’ve had your look, head about a quarter-mile up Van Dyke to Mt. Olivet Cemetery, one of Detroit’s most historic burial grounds, and seek out the Mendelson mausoleum in section 39, designed by Detroit’s most prolific architect, Albert Kahn, around 1921. Most, most, most. ~I♥DM

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New Detroit Graffiti @ Van Dyke & Dubay

New Detroit Graffiti in Eastern Market at Riopelle & Division

Dale Carlson — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:30:36 +0000

When you see a spray painted work like this new(ish) piece by “Revok”, “Rime”, “Stori” and “Malt” on the corner of Riopelle & Division in Detroit’s Eastern Market District you realize with a certainty that our generation has elevated graffiti to high art. Eastern Market and its environs have long been a hotbed for Detroit graffiti artists, but it’s only within the last two years that it has become a site of national renown. Last Spring’s unveiling of the Detroit Beautification Project‘s massive collaborative works “Jukebox Cowboys” & “The Seventh Letter”, at the corner of Orleans and the Fisher Freeway’s northbound service drive, first established the District as a destination for the best spray paintists in the city and the world. At nearly the same time, the Red Bull House of Art at 1515 Winder first opened its doors further cementing the District’s current uber-Bohemian reputation. This latest addition to Eastern Market’s sterling outdoor gallery, completed in October of 2012, makes Detroit graffiti in the District an official addiction. ~I♥DM

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New Detroit Graffiti in Eastern Market at Riopelle & Division

New Detroit Graffiti near Orleans & Napoleon Street

Dale Carlson — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:30:18 +0000

Find these new works of Detroit graffiti in the immediate vicinity of Orleans and Napoleon Street in the city’s Eastern Market District. Tags #1, #2 and #3, by “Nekst” and a couple of other artists whose names we cant read, can be found on the building that runs along the north side of Napoleon Street west of Orleans, just down the way from the mammoth collaborative works “Jukebox Cowboys” and “The Seventh Letter” which were unveiled last Summer as part of the Detroit Beautification Project. Wander into the alley that runs north off Napoleon between Orleans & Riopelle to find tags #4, #5 and #6, by “Stori” and yes, yet another couple of artists whose names we can’t decipher. Head all the way through the alley to Winder Street and take a right to see the last work in this grouping, tag #7, a stunning twenty footer that appears to be either by “Revok”, or perhaps a collaboration of Mad Society Kings members. We can’t say for sure. Finally, walk north up Orleans to the corner of Division, to see the last three works in this post on the north wall of Cutters Bar and Grille. Worthy pieces by capable locals, for sure, but slightly limited by their mono-chromaticism. ~I♥DM

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New Detroit Graffiti near Orleans & Napoleon Street

New Detroit Tigers Baseball Themed Graffiti by “Sintex” in Capitol Park

Dale Carlson — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:16:57 +0000

Find this stellar new group of Detroit Tigers Baseball-themed graffiti by “Sintex” in Capitol Park, on the northwest corner of State and Shelby Street, in the heart of downtown. How fitting that we discovered these beauties on the very day we came downtown to enjoy our first Tigers game of the season, a dominating 10-0 interleague victory over the Atlanta Braves, featuring an amazing new Tigers’ single-game record of 17 strikeouts for winning pitcher Anibal Sanchez! Coincidence?!? Probably. One sweet but slightly incongruous piece by an artist whose letterforms we recognize but name we don’t know fills out this spectacular new addition to the block’s already engrossing cityscape. ~I♥DM

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New Detroit Tigers Baseball Themed Graffiti by “Sintex” in Capitol Park

New Detroit Graffiti @ Southbound Lodge Freeway Service Drive & Clairmount Street

Dale Carlson — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:16:34 +0000

A couple of top Detroit graffiti artists have made good use of this abandoned convenience store at the corner of the southbound Lodge Freeway Service Drive & Clairmount Street in the city’s Virginia Park neighborhood. Sweet sigs by both “Chaos” and “Nychos”, plus a couple other marks undecipherable to us give a long-lost sense of purpose to this otherwise battered and blown-out structure. Click here to see another epic work by “Nychos”, a collaborative piece in the Eastern Market District entitled “Jukebox Cowboys”, unveiled last Summer, that most definitely rates among the best works of street art ever produced in Detroit. Click here and here to see more hot tags by “Chaos”, who, over the last couple of years, has established him(her?)self as one the D’s most talented and prolific spray painters. ~I♥DM

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New Detroit Graffiti @ Southbound Lodge Freeway Service Drive & Clairmount Street

10 Points of Interest in Lawton / Fort Sill, Oklahoma

Dale Carlson — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:54:21 +0000

If you ever find yourself in Lawton or Fort Sill, Oklahoma chances are it’s because you or someone in your family’s been stationed there to be trained in artillery by the United States Army. U.S. military roots run deep in this town named for the American Major-General that led the pursuit and capture of Geronimo. The neighboring base, founded by General Philip Henry Sheridan in 1869, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. In addition to U.S. military history, the region is also steeped in both Native American and cattle ranching culture. Though not widely regarded as a tourist destination, the area most certainly possesses a fair share of compelling points of interest, ten of which we share here with you.

1. Fort Sill National Historic Landmark & Museum - Founded in 1869, this historic U.S. Army base features numerous attractions, including a beautiful group of very well maintained, original 19th-century buildings centered around the base headquarters, trading post, and museum at 435 Quanah Rd. Other attractions on base include the post and Apache cemeteries, the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum, and the Air Defense Artillery Museum (recently relocated from Fort Bliss, Texas and currently under construction). Step inside the base museum and learn more about the U.S. Army’s earliest African-American enlistees, also known as “Buffalo Soldiers“, and West Point’s first African-American graduate, Henry O. Flipper, both of whom spent significant time stationed at Fort Sill in the late 19th to early 20th century.

2. Geronimo’s Guardhouse & grave site at Fort Sill – Learn more about the plight of Apache, Chiracahua, Warm Springs and Nedni Indians held captive at Fort Sill for 19 years, from 1894 to 1913, with informative historical markers located just outside of the base’s original Guardhouse building, more commonly known as the “Geronimo Guardhouse”, and just outside of the Beef Creek Apache Prisoner-of -War Cemetery far northwest of the base epicenter, on Elgin Road. Explore this sacred burial ground and discover the monumental grave site of Geronimo himself, and the nearby tombstones of his fifth wife, Zi-Yeh, as well as some of his sons, daughters and fellow Apache warriors.

3. United States Army Field Artillery Museum at Fort Sill – 238 Randolph Road. From the late fifteenth century up through the Second Gulf War, get a load of this stunning, expansive collection of intense military hardware that includes numerous small arms, uniforms, regimental flags, tanks, rocket launchers, computerized firing systems and missiles. Among many other artifacts, the well-developed south indoor gallery features colonial, Revolutionary and Civil War era weaponry, ranging from the 1700s to the 1900s, including an original Gatling gun. The north gallery starts with World War I and continues through the modern day with plenty of WWII, Korean and Vietnam War memorabilia. Our favorite piece: the “M12″; a mammoth, 155 millimeter, WWI era cannon mounted upon a modified M3 Grant tank chassis for service in the European theater during WWII, nicknamed “Adolph’s Assassin”.

4. Museum of the Great Plains – 601 N.W. Ferris Avenue. Outdoor exhibits at Lawton’s best off-base museum include the perfectly preserved Elgin Train Depot, built in 1902 by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, the 130-ton #1526 Baldwin Locomotive, built in 1926, and an excellent replica of a colonial-era fort complete with a prairie schoolhouse and trading post. Among the many interior highlights is another sweet replica: the leather and tool filled workshop of famed Southwest Oklahoma saddle maker, Howard Council. (Incidentally, you can visit Council’s local saddlery at 813 S.W. 2nd Street.) Make a point to visit the museum’s gift shop which boasts a fine array of literature focusing on the colonial era history of the region’s many Native American Tribes.

5. Comanche National Museum & Cultural Center – 701 N.W. Ferris Avenue. In addition to its comprehensive collection of Comanche fine art, “The museum (also) hosts national traveling exhibitions on loan from major metropolitan museums across the country such as the Smithsonian Institute, Michigan State University Museum and Chicago’s Field Museum. These exhibits concentrate on American Indian art and culture and each is augmented with Comanche cultural material.” Formerly on display through April 30th, as part of the temporary exhibition entitled “All Things Comanche: A Numunuu Trilogy” were “items on loan … from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and World War II relics from the personal collection of the last surviving Comanche Code Talker, Charles Chibitty…”, just as an example.

6. Lawton’s Vietnam & Korean War Memorials – After touring the Great Plains and Comanche Museums, head east on N.W. Ferris Avenue, to the far east side of Elmer Thomas Park, where you’ll find two compelling memorials, one honoring Comanche County veterans of the Korean War killed in action, and one honoring local soldiers who fought and died in Vietnam. Have a nice long look at the imposing, decommissioned tank named “The Veteran” while visiting this reverent site.

7. Historic Mattie Beal House and Local Architecture - Lawton’s fanciest and most historic residence is located at 1008 S.W. 5th Street near the corner of Summit Avenue. Other structures of note in Lawton include a very nice Carnegie Public Library building and the First Baptist Church, both at the corner of B Avenue and 5th Street, an attractive Federal Court House at E Avenue and 5th, a group of modest churches and the local fire station on D Avenue between 6th and 8th, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church at Gore Boulevard and 7th, and Old Lawton High School on S.W. 9th Street between B and C Avenue, recently renovated for adaptive re-use as the new City Hall. An interesting trio of Works Progress Administration structures, an arch, band shell and sundial, can be found at Union Park, bounded by I Avenue, 6th Street, J Avenue and 5th. While on base, be sure to check out the U.S. Marine Corps Artillery Detachment Barracks on Randolph near Quinette Road, Taylor Hall at Hamilton Road and Batson Avenue, and McNair Hall at the corner of Randolph and McNair Roads.

8. Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge - This scenic wildlife refuge offers easy-access, lengthy and very close-up looks at a variety of great plains varmints including free-range longhorn cattle, American bison and prairie dogs. More reclusive species occasionally spotted within the refuge include river otters, burrowing owls, white-tailed Deer and if you’re really lucky, Rocky Mountain elk. Click here to see a much more thorough listing of the refuge’s many documented species. On a clear day, enjoy stunning panoramic vistas of Lake Lewtonka and the surrounding wind-swept valley from high atop Mount Scott. Find the service drive to the peak of Mount Scott on the north side of Oklahoma Highway 49 approximately two miles west of the town of Medicine Park.

9. The Holy City of the Wichitas – Located within the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, accessible by the service drive running northwest off of Cache Meers Road approximately 1500 feet west of Meers Road. Outside of military obligations, there is one other attraction in the Lawton / Fort Sill region that consistently draws people from all over the world: the annual Easter passion play staged at The Holy City of the Wichitas, a miniature stage/city constructed by the Works Progress Administration in the mid 1930s. Located in the heart of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, this event draws thousands annually and, at its peak in the late 1930s, drew over 100,000. Hard to comprehend, in this day and age, how the U.S. Government’s money was once spent to build such things. Much easier to believe: this website‘s claim that, “In 1981 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit, demanding removal of religious items from federal land. A federal judge dismissed the case.”

10. Meers Restaurant & Store, 26005 Oklahoma State Highway 115 - Our favorite place to dine in all of the Lawton / Fort Sill area has been serving burgers since 1901. “Older than Oklahoma”, they tell you on the menu. It’s out in the sticks but well worth the extra transportational effort. Our favorite dish? The 16-ounce “Seismic Meers Burger”, featuring 97% lean longhorn cattle beef, cooked to perfection before being placed upon a gargantuan bun that dwarfs your hands, and then topped with jalepeño peppers, bacon, American cheese, sweet relish, mustard, dill pickles, tomatoes, purple onion and leaf lettuce. Share it with a friend or risk eternal damnation for your gluttony. ~I♥DM

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10 Points of Interest in Lawton / Fort Sill, Oklahoma

‘Dirty Bourbon River Show’ Live at Cliff Bell’s in Detroit, Michigan, 3-30-2013

Dale Carlson — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:25:50 +0000

“New Orleans Gypsy Brass Circus Rock Music” is how Dirty Bourbon River Show describe themselves on their website. Works for us. We also heard the influence of Tom Waits, Morphine, Harry Connick Jr., touches of Dixieland Jazz and Delta Blues, the prototypical melange of Zydeco, Creole and Cajun flavors one might expect to hear from a road-bound combo of New Orleans-based troubadors, and even a bit of Opera. A potent cocktail, for sure; fittingly imbibed at one of Detroit’s most unique live music venue’s, Cliff Bell’s, located just west of Grand Circus Park at 2030 Park Avenue, inside the Albert Kahn-designed Campau Realty Building. Without a doubt, the muraled and woodworked, Charles Agree-designed interior of Cliff Bell’s lends a timeless and intimate quality to just about any performance that takes place here, and this particular evening was no different in that respect. Click on our links to see and hear just a couple of the evening’s best numbers: a Dirty Bourbon River Show original (we think!) entitled either “Something” or “Somethin’”, and a cover of the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins standard, “I Put A Spell On You”. We highly recommend you refer to Cliff Bell’s calendar of events regularly, and add a show at this legendary venue to your ever-expanding palette of Detroit experiences. Furthermore, we also recommend y’all take full advantage of Dirty Bourbon River Show‘s aforementioned website and download both of the FREE, full-length albums contained therein. ~I♥DM

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‘Dirty Bourbon River Show’ Live at Cliff Bell’s in Detroit, Michigan, 3-30-2013

10 More Amazing Places to Dine and Drink in New Orleans

Dale Carlson — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:34:07 +0000

We can’t get enough of the Crescent City. Our love for The Big Easy has grown so deep we sometimes feel we’re cheating on Detroit. We’ve travelled the United States extensively and we feel that New Orleans is the ONLY place in America about which we can honestly say: “Walk into ANY bar or restaurant. It’ll probably be good.” Incidentally, if you have a mistress that you refer to as ”The Big Easy” we highly recommend you never let her find out. ~I♥DM

1. René Bistrot

700 Tchoupitoulas St., Central Business District

The best Croque-Madame we’ve ever tasted.

2. Schiro’s Café

2483 Royal St., Faubourg-Marigny

Yet another joint that serves a delectable version of our favorite dish to enjoy while vacationing in NOLA: the Catfish Po-Boy.

3. Royal House Oyster Bar

441 Royal St., French Quarter

This joint’s got their deep fryers working overtime.

4. Patrick’s Bar Vin

730 Bienville St., French Quarter

Enjoy an exquisite glass of red at this intimate hideaway before dining a block up the street at GW Fins.

5. GW Fins

808 Bienville St., French Quarter

Make a reservation. Don’t forget your fancy pants.

6. SoBou

310 Chartres St., French Quarter

Custom cocktails invented on request. A New Orleans necessity.

7. Ice House Bar at the Hotel Provincial

1024 Chartres St., French Quarter

One of the very few civilized places open on Mardi Gras 2013! A small miracle, for sure!

8. Sugar Park

3054 St. Claude Ave., Bywater

A heartier, crispier New Orleans take on the classic New York style thin crust pie.

9. Apple Barrel Bar

609 Frenchmen St., Faubourg-Marigny

Live music nearly every night, rendering nearly tolerable your otherwise painful wait for a table at Adolfo’s.

10. Adolfo’s Creole Italian Cuisine

611 Frenchmen St., Faubourg-Marigny

We heard the rumors, we read the reviews, we at long last endured the excruciating wait. It was all true: disturbingly dirty, divinely delicious.

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10 More Amazing Places to Dine and Drink in New Orleans

Taino Beach in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, The Bahamas

Dale Carlson — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:32:16 +0000

Relax the day away and get your tropic on at Taino Beach in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island in The Bahamas. Slip your shoes off and lazily stroll the beach’s fine, off-white sands as you enjoy lavish, picture perfect vistas that look as if they were cut and pasted from the pages of your favorite travel magazine. When you feel the inevitable sunburn intensifying upon your shoulders head to the shade of the Junkanoo Beach Club where you’ll find a nice selection of refreshing, ice-cold cocktails and beers including the questionably named local brew, “Bush Crack”. Be sure to sample the deep-fried Conch Fritters, a customary favorite served throughout the West Indies. Hang out long enough to experience what we considered to be the highlight of our day: an upbeat, brass and percussion-heavy live performance by a traditional Junkanoo band. If you travel by cruise ship like we here at I Love Detroit Michigan do, make a brief stop at Senor Frog’s in Freeport’s port area before returning to your mega-boat and get a brief, unexpurgated look at the more debaucherous yet pedestrian Spring Break-ish type activities in which the less cerebral (or just plain more inebriated) travellers on your boat partake while on the island. Fun for a second, but be sure to leave before your I.Q. starts dropping points. ~I♥DM

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Taino Beach in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, The Bahamas