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ILLiversary
The first-anniversary performance of the monthly poetry series, A Man Can Change, will be held Friday at the Jazz Café in the Music Hall.
A Man Can Change is a showcase of male poets who talk about topics ranging from love to religion to politics. Every month is a new topic, and Illplaybill founder Joel Greene says the popularity of the event has “been growing rapidly since our first show last December. The night always includes monologues, music, art and Detroit-based vendors.” The showcase is the hip-hop theater’s first production.
“This is a way I can showcase poetry, hip hop and the arts in a theatrical manner,” says Greene who worked for four years as the program director for Words and Rhythms of the D, a Music Hall youth poetry program that saw artists including Saul Williams, Talib Kweli, Jessica Care Moore, Currency and Big Sean take the stage. Greene also hosted Café Mahogany for three years and saw greats like Common Erykah Badu, the Roots, Black Eyed Peas and Dwele perform.
“After doing poetry events in the city for over 15 years, this is an opportunity to challenge myself and members of the poetry community to present their work in a cool and unique way,” says Greene, who is writing his first hip-hop theater production set to premier in spring 2013.
Andrew Barnhill, Ju Hall, Will Copeland, Shaun Moore-Bey, Lucky Lefty and Mic Phelps will perform during the anniversary event. There will also be performances by the Dreaded Poets Society and Sheefy Mcfly, art on display by Ashley McFadden, local vendors and music by DJ LaJedi.
Drink specials will be available all night.
Illplaybill’s next event, a poetry slam with a $500 first-place prize, will be held Dec. 27 at the Music Hall.
9 p.m. Friday, Jazz Cafe at the Music Hall, 350 Madison, Detroit, 313-887-8500. $10.
All Basses Covered
Josh Davis is a 28-year veteran of the electronic music scene, and he credits his staying power to knowing when to adapt.
“Things have changed in every conceivable way,” says Davis, who is perhaps better known by his stage name DJ Shadow. “The way people listen to music, even in the mid-’90s, there were no laptops or MP3 players. It was still 100% vinyl. When vinyl fell by the wayside, it affected music profoundly.”
Davis began DJing in 1984. Three years later, he performed for the first time in front of an audience, and in 1991, he began releasing records.
“Throughout the ’90s onward, before people knew my records and the music I made, I was just a DJ,” says the 40-year-old California resident. “Once people started to know my music, I stopped being able to just DJ. It really wasn’t until July of this year that I put a set together, and it was so much fun doing it. It’s been about 15 years since I’ve ever really DJed like that.”
Davis, who will perform Saturday at the Majestic along with DJ Minnesota (Christian Bauhofer), says the show will be a reminder to both himself and the audience that before he earned fame making music, he was a DJ.
“Now, when I DJ, I don’t expect an audience of 20-year-olds to be familiar with the records that I’ve made,” he says. “My mentality is that I’m basically starting from scratch. I don’t go in and expect people to know 100% of what I’m about or what I’ve achieved.”
Before rising to the top in the electronic music scene, Davis noticed in the late ’80s that DJs and producers were attempting to “step out of the shadows.… I liked the idea of being sort of unseen and working the magic, not having to deal with being in the limelight.” And so, DJ Shadow was born.
He recalled first performing in Detroit about 15 years ago. “The thing I remember about Detroit was there was somebody playing some sort of updated version of Detroit techno. That sort of thing would never have flown in New York or LA,” Davis says. “It was at a time where real hip hop shows were common place and kind of at their peak.”
Though he’s made appearances in and around Detroit over the last few years, Davis says “it’s been a while” and “I’m looking forward to playing Detroit. I think it’s going to be fun.”
Saturday’s set will be filled with “a lot of contemporary music,” he warned. “Hopefully, I’m exposing people to things they’ve never heard before. When I put my sets together, sometimes I worry. ‘Is this going to be too obscure for people? Is it going to go over their heads?’” But remembering why he got into the game erases all doubts from his mind. “I became a DJ because I wanted to expose people to music that I think is worthwhile.”
9 p.m. Saturday, Majestic Theater, 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit, 313-833-9700. $20 presale. 18+.
The Walk Fashion Show
For the first time since the Walk Fashion Show launched in 2009, organizers are hosting two shows in one day.
“Two shows were necessary to give opportunity to as many models and designers as possible,” says Daishawn Franklin who cofounded the Walk with Crystal Bailey. “There is such a huge talent base in our area. It is difficult to narrow it down into one event.”
Nearly 36 designers, including Tutu Icey, AYV, Pink Apple Sauce and Johnny Bomber, will showcase their designs as Detroit native Naima Mora, who won Cycle 4 of “America’s Next Top Model,” hosts the sixth edition of the Walk Fashion Show on Saturday at the Charles H. Wright Museum. Past shows have been held at the Detroit Opera House and the Roostertail with host Dominique Reighard of Cycle 10 of “Top Model.”
Doors open an hour before the show begins. Tickets are available on neptix.com. A museum membership drive will be held during the Walk.
An after party will follow the show at Elysium Lounge, 625 Shelby St., Detroit.
For more information, visit www.walkfashionshow.com.
4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Charles H. Wright Museum, 315 E. Warren, Detroit, 313.494.5800. 4 p.m. show $25; $40 all-day pass; $50 runway seating; $75 all-day runway seating. 7:30 p.m. show $20; $40 all-day pass; $40 runway seating; $75 all-day runway seating.
Tashmoo and the Historic Hubbard Winter Market
Tashmoo, a seasonal, pop-up biergarten that launched in 2011, will team up for the first time with the Historic Hubbard Winter Market Sunday to host a holiday event.
The family-friendly affair will include a mix of crafts from local artists, food from People’s Pierogi Collective, Porktown Sausage, Green Dot Stables and music from the Detroit Children’s Choir, the Men of Grace Choir, Mariachi Juvenil, Alfredo Riojas and rock band Zone 17. Board games will also be available. Beer will be provided by Michigan brewers.
Guests must show ID to purchase tickets for beer. Bring cash to buy food.
Noon-8 p.m. Sunday, Detroit Farm and Garden/555 Gallery, 1759 Twentieth St., Detroit, 313-655-2344. Free.
