This week on MI Local, I received another visit by a local artist/musician, so that they could personally share a new song with our listeners! R&B singer-songwriter C3 stopped by to premiere his latest song, “The Other Man,” which he spoke about during our interview.

“I really just wanted to write a record for the good guys,” C3 said. It’s about finding “a good-hearted individual” who can “protect you and love you, forever.”

It’s also a song that’s quite danceable, while also showcasing C3’s vocal talents.

Along with this premiere, we heard brand new music from Detroit rock trio Shadow Show, and Ypsilanti-based singer-songwriter Kylee Phillips. We also previewed WDET’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Horror Show II, hosted by Jon Moshier next weekend at the Cadieux Cafe.

Stream the whole show and you’ll also hear some great local tracks that capture a quintessentially autumnal vibe, including Kalamazoo-based artist Jordan Hamilton and Detroit’s own Zilched.

• “The Good Parts” – Kylee Phillips
• “Baba Yaga” – Shadow Show
• “The Other Man” – C3 (In-Studio Guest)
• “Graveyard Rockin'” – The 3-D Invisibles
• “The Morning After (The Monster Mash)” – Norcos Y Horchata
• “Dark Dance” – Detroit Riddim Crew
• “Mezcal” – Duende
• “Sun” – Windy & Carl
• “Like The Dead” – Carmel Liburdi
• “Halloween” – Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful
• “Believe In” – Jordan Hamilton
• “Radio Tower Blues” – Raw Honey
• “Loveless” – Zilched

Tejano music, or Tex-Mex music, is a blend of different sounds and instruments from Mexico and other countries — like Poland and the Czech Republic. 

Martin Solis helped make Tejano music popular in Detroit with his band Los Primos. 

As a self-taught musician, he started playing the Bajo Sexto, a Mexican 12-string instrument from the guitar family, and developed his own unique musical style.

Solis wasn’t born here, but Detroit was his home. And the history of Southwest Detroit can’t be told properly without the inclusion of Martin Solis and Los Primos. Solis is the first person from Michigan to be inducted into the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame in San Benito, Texas, and the Tejano Roots Hall of Fame in Alice, Texas.

Martin Solis’ son, Frank Solis, is a local historian who’s preserving Tejano music in Detroit. He joined The Metro to discuss his father’s legacy.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

There were few recordings of Los Primos, but Frank found some lost treasures while cleaning out his father’s attic. He uncovered a bag of cassettes, filled with rehearsal recordings of the band.  

“(Jack White), he’d hear these Mexican bands, and that was my dad,” Frank said. “So he assigned his brother to clean them up with an engineer. They cleaned up the tapes, and the album came — his first and last album.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Frank Solis about Tejano music in Detroit.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 10, 2024: 

• A local author wants to spread the joy of reading, writing and stretching imagination. Mianne Adufutse is a graduate of Columbia College of Chicago where she studied fiction writing and poetry. Adufutse joined the show to discuss her new book, “Garbage Dump” – a dystopian fictional story set in Detroit. 
• The Tigers are red hot. They beat the Houston Astros in the wild card round and now lead the Cleveland Guardians 2-to-1 in the American League Division Series. The Tigers could win the series and move on to the next round if they win today at Comerica Park. Detroit Free Press Sports Columnist Shawn Windsor joined the show to talk about the team’s unpredictable run. 
• The holiest day of the year for the Jewish people starts tomorrow night. Yom Kippur goes from sunset to sunset and is marked by fasting, prayer and atonement. For Jews observing the holiday, that means apologizing directly to those they’ve wronged over the year. Professor and writer Susan Shapiro joined the show to talk about apology, forgiveness and why those two things are important to everyone, everywhere. Shapiro’s most recent book is titled “The Forgiveness Tour: How To Find the Perfect Apology.”

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The fourth annual Woodbridge Porch Concerts are set to take place this Saturday, featuring live music from local artists with connections to the neighborhood. 

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every year the event grows with more businesses participating. One of the features is Woodbridge Ale, a beer made by Brew Detroit with hops from Woodbridge gardens. 

What’s more, The WB5 — a tribute band to MC5 — will be playing in honor of MC5’s 2023 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Vicky Bash, a member of the Board of Directors for Woodbridge Neighborhood Development, and Dave Nantais, a neighborhood resident and a performer at the Woodbridge Porch Concerts , joined The Metro on Wednesday to chat more about the event.

Use the media player above to hear the conversation with Bash and Nantais.

More stories from The Metro on Oct. 2, 2024:

• The Tigers are good, the Lions are good, but will the Pistons luck change? A lot of fans are wondering if the Pistons are going to be worth following this season.  Recently, the team hosted its media day, which gives everyone a good preview of the upcoming season. Pistons beat writer for the Detroit Free Press and co-host of The Pistons Pulse Podcast Omari Sankofa II joined the show to discuss.
• Detroit Public Theatre just kicked off its 10th anniversary with a new fresh take on Hamlet. WDET’s Ryan Patrick Hooper sat down with Detroit Public Theatre Co-founder Courtney Burkett to learn more about the show “Fat Ham.” 
• Vice President of the Center for Equity, Engagement and Research at Detroit Future City Ashley Williams Clark joined the show to discuss a new report looking at ways to grow the middle class in Detroit.  

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

• Alice Randall is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning songwriter, educator and food activist.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

This week, we listened to three artists with ties to a unique Detroit-based music collective/record label, known as Underflow Records, including Quells, Big Mess, and Of House.

Adam Fitzgerald records a blend of indie rock, shoegaze, and dream pop under the moniker of Quells, and we featured that band’s latest single, “Ice Temple,” on MI Local. It was Fitzgerald who, several years ago, first founded Underflow Records as a collective that could support and celebrate a variety of independent artists around the metro area music scene, but when he first relocated to Edinburgh for a few years — then later to Colorado — he began inviting more and more artists that he met along the way to join the Underflow family, turning into an international label.

Underflow Records’ raison d’être is ultimately to show “a love for under-appreciated artists who deserve more attention,” and that includes Big Mess, a five-piece band born out of the Livonia suburbs that’s been together for more than a decade, featuring longtime friends and musicians Scott Allen, Rob Carden, Pat Carden, and Mike Carden, with Scott’s father Brad joining earlier this year. Big Mess makes a cinematic composite of swooning, contemplative baroque-pop, and we heard “‘I Am Loved’ By The Losers” from their latest album …from Sheldon Hall to Wonderland Mall.

Underflow has several other artists who have recently released new music, or are on the cusp of doing so, including Pesky Kid, Almost and more.

Meanwhile, just about five minutes into this week’s show, we received a visit from the incomparable Detroit-based R&B artist known as Bevlove, aka Beverly Johnson, who stopped by the studio to chat with us and premiere, in person, her brand new single, “Remember Me.”

You never know what might happen during a live MI Local segment. And, along with that, you’ll also get a variety of genres from across the local music scene, including classic garage from the Gories, contemporary punk from 208, and even some dazzling indie pop from Ypsilanti-based quartet Tanager.

MI Local Playlist for Sept. 24, 2024

• “Stay Away” – Little Visits
• “Someday” – Rory Moon
• “Remember Me” – Bevlove (+ in-studio interview)
• “Haunted” – Tanager
• “Undead” – The Microplastics
• “Paris From Tokyo” – Late
• “DUDE” – Say Something Kind
• “Jim Roll” – For You
• “Gories” – Cry Girl
• “208” – Tantrum
• “Quells” – Ice Temple
• “Big Mess” – I’m Loved (By The Losers)
• “Of House” – Heart About To Give Out

We are more than halfway into our 2024 Fall Fundraiser, and a new day means new incentives to encourage WDET listeners to make an investment in Detroit Public Radio’s future.

Listeners who make a donation during In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper from 12-4 p.m. on Wednesday will be automatically entered into a drawing for two VIP tickets to all events or performances at Spot Lite Detroit for a full year.

Missed Hooper’s show? Tune in to The Boulevard with Waajeed from 8-10 p.m. Wednesday and make a donation of any amount and you will be entered in the Spot Lite drawing.

Those who donate during The Boulevard on Wednesday could also win an unreleased Waajeed vinyl titled Get in the Zone LP — set for release this November — and an Underground Music Academy snapback hat.

Listeners will have one last opportunity to win the Spot Lite passes this Saturday, Sept. 21, by making a gift to WDET during The Progressive Underground with Chris Campbell from 6-8 p.m. or during The New Music Show with Shigeto from 8-10 p.m.

Tune in to WDET at 101.9 FM to hear the latest incentives being offered before our Fall Fundraiser ends Sept. 22.

It’s a busy week for new releases when it comes to the Michigan music scene, particularly around the metro Detroit area!

Let’s start with the incomparable Flint-based musician/artist Tunde Olaniran, releasing their latest album, Chaotic Good, celebrated by a performance next Saturday, at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids!

Too Bad by Tunde Olaniran

Meanwhile, Detroit-based electronic art-pop auteur My Brightest Diamond, aka Shara Nova, have released three new singles from her forthcoming album, Fight the Real Terror, which is out today!

We heard this song, “Safe House,” last week on MI Local.

Fight The Real Terror by My Brightest Diamond

Next, let’s bend our ears towards Kalamazoo to listen to an interesting new album featuring the versatile instrumental hip-hop producer known as The Lasso (aka Andy Catlin), paired up with the boundary-pushing indie-rock quartet known as The Go Rounds.

Catlin is a former member of The Go Rounds, which made this a natural collaboration. This new album by The Lasso (& The Go Rounds), released just yesterday, is titled Pedal Steel, and our favorite track from it is “Goldwine.”

PETAL STEEL by The Lasso, The Go Rounds

Back here in Detroit, a ’90s-vibed indie-rock quartet known as The Microplastics have released a catchy and dreamy little ballad that has just the right amount of spookiness to help us settle into some autumnal vibes; it’s called “Undead.”

Undead – Single by The Microplastics

Listen to “MI Local” with Jeff Milo every Tuesday from 9-10 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET.

On this episode of the Detroit Evening Report, we cover the continued power outages across metro Detroit following this week’s severe storms; the upcoming Detroit Jazz Festival and more.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thousands still without power after storms

More than 60,000 metro Detroit residents are still without power on Thursday after severe storms hit the region Tuesday evening and continued into Wednesday. DTE Energy says crews are “continuing to work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to everyone impacted by the extreme weather.”

The company says it has restored power to more than 80% of its customers and expects to have 90% of customers restored by end of day Thursday, with remaining customers expected to be restored Friday.

Detroit market offers up fridge space during outages

Neighborhood Grocery in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood is offering refrigerator space to those who are still without power. The market posted on Facebook Wednesday offering up fridge space for medications or freezer space for perishables for those in need of temporary storage until power is restored. 

Corktown ranked top ‘up-and-coming’ neighborhood in US

Detroit’s historical Corktown neighborhood has been ranked a top “up-and-coming” neighborhood in the nation by Travel Mag. The magazine cited spots like Mercury Burger and Bar, Bobcat Bonnie’s and Brooklyn Street Local as hot spots to grab a bite, and also mentioned the reopening of Michigan Central as part of the neighborhood’s resurgence. The neighborhood was listed among 16 others in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami. 

Freedom Arts Festival continues

Programming for the Detroit Parks Coalition’s annual Freedom Arts Festival will continue throughout the fall season. The free festival series kicked off in June and will run through November with a variety of events hosted across nine parks and public spaces in the city.  Supported by the Knight Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the festival features live performances of music, dance, storytelling and art reflecting Detroit’s rich multicultural history, weaving together narratives of freedom, racial justice, connections to place and more. For more information on future programming, visit detroitparkscoalition.com/freedom-arts-festival.

Detroit Jazz Festival returns

The Detroit Jazz Festival kicks off at 6:40 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30 in Hart Plaza. with performances continuing in downtown Detroit through Labor Day weekend. Over 60 performances are scheduled to take place throughout the long weekend, including from The Bad Plus, Carmen Lundy, artist-in-residence Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band and more. The festival will have stages in Hart Plaza, Cadillac Square and after hour specials in Midtown at Wayne State’s Valade Jazz Center. For more information, visit detroitjazzfest.org.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.