walk

The domed roof of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

So our walk happened.
It was based in the cultural center of Detroit, around the Detroit Institute of Arts, The Detroit Public Library, The Scarab Club, WDET 101.9 FM, Wayne State University, and the like.
I’ll link HERE TO THE PHOTOS of the walk. There’s a bunch, and they’re on Flickr.
I’ll put a link at the bottom of the page also.

Detroit Public Library, Second Floor, Panorama

We went forth on September 12th, 2009, and emerged into the U.S. with less than half of the official respondents to the Facebook group. 18 of us eventually got to our meeting place (Phog Lounge) and managed to get to Detroit. E-mails were sent to me while the group was waiting to travel explaining that hang-overs, lethargy, and scheduling conflicts were preventing some from attending.

Thank goodness we had enough drivers show up for the ones who were still too intoxicated from the night before to drive.

When we met Bob Goldsmith at the back entrance to the Detroit Public Library, we really didn’t know what we were going to be seeing. “Midtown” is a new place for us. Cass Corridor is a place we hear horror stories about from the saltier folks we know. Bob changed all that.

We started by visiting the Detroit Public Library’s innards, which were stunning and ornate beyond our expectations. I’ll post photos. From there we headed through a series of places previously undiscovered by the group including The African American Museum of History, The College of Creative Studies, The Detroit Science Center, Detroit Medical Center, neighbourhoods frozen in time (like Ferry Street, Canfield Ave.), Avalon Bakery, Cass Cafe, The Bronx Bar, and more.

Canfield Street. Frozen in time with old homes and cobblestone streets

We finished our illusion-shattering trip, which started at 11:15am, with a visit to Dally In The Alley, around 2pm. This festival takes place on and around a little block of Cass Corridor right near Bronx Bar. It travels, like water, into the most convenient caveats, into the alleys around the area in question.

We know how big the Detroit suburbs are, and how the general public of those spaces USE Detroit-proper as a playground to be left desolate each evening. But even with that truth, there are people LIVING and making LIFE happen in Detroit. Many of them make sure they attend Dally In The Alley.
I bumped into a few of them..friends of Phog. It was great to see some familiar Detroit faces. They were proud of their city, and they knew about our walk, and they were eager to know what the group thought. Most of us could only shake our heads, shrug, and make faces to show we were impressed.

I wound up buying two woodblock prints from Kevin O’Rourke (Crown Vic Productions)
and I’m absolutely thrilled with them in my possession rather than displayed in that alley.

This was another one of those events that was made exclusively by the people who went on the walk. The participators. That title should be said as if you’re announcing a comic book hero…PARTICIPATORS! Not enough is said about the people who choose to be a part of something. To show up. To make memories. To make connections. To be a part of the thing that makes the NEXT thing.

Thank you to David Ziriada who made the walk happen. And thank you to Bob Goldsmith who ran the tour. Mostly, I am thankful for the people who walked. You know who you are.

By the way, we have booked another walk, which will be free. This walk was a WHOPPING $10 U.S….hahaha…which was easily worth every red cent. The next walk will be dependent only on how many drivers we can secure, as it will be a drive/walk Walk. It is scheduled for Saturday, October 17th. Want in? E-mail me at phoglounge@gmail.com

Again, here’s the LINK TO THE PHOTOS of the first Phog Walks Detroit.

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I have put out a Facebook invite for an incredible walk taking place in Detroit.
Bob Goldsmith of Detroit Tour Connections is hosting the two-hour tour.
The tour will be in the area of Cass Corridor…a richly interesting space, which will lead us to the Dally in the Alley festival.

Here’s the details of the walk, according to Bob:
“I think we should meet at the main branch of theDetroit Public Library. The address is 5201 Woodward. Let’s meet at the rear (west) entrance, which is on Cass. People can park on Cass, or on Kirby. “Midtown” is a pretty large area of Detroit that includes the Cass Corridor, Brush Park, the Detroit Medical Center, the large campus of WSU, and the Cultural Center area.

We’re mostly going to tour the Cultural Center area. Our two hour tour will include: Hecker mansion and other homes from the late 1800s; the DPL, DIA, Park-Shelton and Maccabees Bldgs from the 1920s; the Historical Museum; the Detroit Science Center; the Charles H. Wright Museum; the Scarab Club; the College for Creative Studies; and a few of the buildings on WSU’s campus.

The Dally has a website — www.dallyinthealley.com. It includes a map and directions … but the best bet is probably to mapquest 5201 Woodward if we are going to meet at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. People can take I-75 north to Warren, and then take Warren west to Woodward or to Cass,
or they can just take Woodward from downtown Detroit to the Cultural Center area.”

We will meet initially at Phog Lounge at 9:45am. We will leave by 10am on our way to the Detroit Public Library. If you want to come, you must e-mail me at phoglounge@gmail.com or message me on Facebook (Tom Lucier). If you can drive…good…if you can’t, we still have room in some cars heading over. And you need your Passport to attend.

THIS SATURDAY!!! We already have over 20 people coming, so there will be tons of opportunities to make friends from Windsor along with the endless opportunities to meet your American reflections during the walk. I think it’s going to be an important first step in creating a very important community that is almost non-existent…the cross-border cultural community.

Personally, I feel that this is a KEY and CRUCIAL event for community leaders to be a part of, in order to initialize, strengthen, and solidify our relationships and understanding of our American brethren.
If you find yourself to be a leader here in Windsor, I really think it’s a good time to start thinking about sharing your strengths with people across the way, who know little or nothing about this community of artists, musicians, and doers.

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It was wonderful.

We joined on a gorgeous spring morning, my family and I, and the creative citizens of Windsor who wanted to send a positive message to Mayor Eddie Francis and City Council. A positive message of integration into City thinking, and to portray ourselves as a richly diverse group of thinkers, prepared to take the city into better times.

I was uber impressed by the turnout.
The representatives who usually wake up at noon (or later) because of their jobs, sleeping patterns, etc., were there with bells on!
The appreciation I felt for my fellow creative people was quite inspiring, and I want to give everyone who decided to come out Monday morning a HUGE thank you and tip of the cap. Classy move.

There’s been more talk about the OTHER group who seemed eager to get the Mayor’s ear, local union members of CUPE.
They stopped the walk twice, chanting, “Eddie’s gotta go!” while the creative folks patiently waited for their voices to be heard.

One thing that was especially obvious (and satisfying) was the total lack of bodies on the Mayor’s Walk prior to the Walk For A Creative City’s connection to it. I think roughly 25 people in all were waiting to get started when over 250 of us went to the spot where we were to JOIN the Mayor, and head toward the celebration (Windsor’s 117th birthday) in front of Caesars Windsor.

Some artists were bummed out that the “thunder” was stolen by CUPE from the artists’ attempt to stand out from the rest of the crowd. I disagree. Clearly, there are a lot of Windsor residents who have some issues with Mr. Francis. They are all allowed to voice those opinions…and demonstrate when the availability arises. It’s not like Eddie Francis is walking around (ANYWHERE) in this town where people can have a look and a word. People chose to find him exactly where we chose to find him…and they were entitled as much as we were.

One thing though, that many art folk were annoyed by was the commentary on AM800 by a CUPE representative who responded harshly to the question (I’m paraphrasing), “When the walk was stopped, the Mayor suggested that the creative walk people lead the walk, and he was denied. Why was that?”
The reply was something to the effect of, “this is OUR city, and WE will lead this walk,” or something thereabouts.
Well, one major disagreement I have is with this sentiment.
The problem, or one of many, with Windsor is that everyone, artists included, have a myopic view of WHO Windsor is.
I’m sorry Mr CUPE rep, but Windsor is NOT just people employed by the City.
And Mr. Artist, this city is NOT just people who are painters, poets, and filmmakers.

One of the big issues I see with our town is divisive thinking. Divided we fall.
This group thinks they’re separate from that group and so on, and so on…but we are inexorably linked.
Artists should care about workers, and workers should care about artists. Struggling to take ownership of an arts walk from artists is one step past the initial project of getting the Mayor’s attention. Again, everyone on-hand from CUPE was in good spirits, and some were even walking with us from the beginning. I really only speak to the statement made to the press that I have an issue with, which might be splitting hairs.

This city is everyone’s city. I don’t care who leads the walk to the celebration, as long as that group/person isn’t so full of themselves that they realize the party is for everyone, by everyone. That goes for artists, CUPE reps, and even our Mayor. This is OUR city? I’d like to know who he meant. Who is his “we”?

Here’s a bunch of videos of that walk experience…if you’d like to revisit them. They’re far more pleasant than the broken discourse about WHO’S city this is…geez.

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