Inbetween Lakes

I'm a Swede diving into Detroit through the Detroit Tigers. | Contact me.

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A nice view on what's happening in Detroit in present time. It shows the growing culture and peoples abilities and turns away from ruin tourism. With Johnny Knoxville. See all parts at Vice.

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Boom Town: Detroit in the 60s

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1910 Pakard limousine bodies being assembled by hand at the Packard plant. Each wooden auto body took months of work to bring to completion. One of these would have set you back $4,400 in 1910, or about$106,000 today.

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Told her that I came from Detroit City And I played guitar in a long haired rock and roll band She asked me why the singer's name was Alice I said Listen baby, you really wouldn't understand

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PERSPECTIVE

Justin Verlander signs up with Detroit Tigers.

The contract is worth 202 million dollars, and he's now the highest paid pitcher in MLB.

$ 202.000.000.

That's 1.3 billion Swedish kronor.

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ODAWA TRIBE HOSTS MICHIGAN'S FIRST LEGAL SAME–SEX MARRIAGE

Detroit Free Press reports that Michigan's first legal same-sex marriage has taken place.

It's the Indian Odawa (or Ottawa) tribe that makes Michigan history, and the first happy couple to be married is Tim LaCroix, 53, and Gene Barfield, 60.

Congratulations! Read more in John Carlisles' article.

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Fallout - Juggalette Concept by ~4bucks

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AMERICAN JUGGALO

Faygo.

The running hatchet man.

Family.

Whoop–Whoop!

Insane Clown Posse is a hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan, and American Juggalo is a documentary about the fans of ICP.

They call themselves Juggalos and Juggalettes, and once a year they meet up at The Gathering of the Juggalos.

This subculture seem to have members from all layers of society, Rich and poor, religious or not, all colors, all ages.

The documentary is made by Sean Dunne, and the set up is simple and straight forward: go to The Gathering of the Juggalos and let the Juggalos speak their minds.

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THE RUINS OF DETROIT

Piano, Saint Albertus School. © Marchand/Meffre.

The beautiful and melancholic photographs of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre makes what's going on in Detroit palpable for a guy in Stockholm.

The image of a class room or a theater in ruin rags tells us something about the impact of the crisis. It's serious and real.

There's a ruin tourism going on that suits as a warning—there's nothing pretty about seeking misfortune to gaze upon. The crossing line lies differently for different people.

Marchand and Meffre tells a story that need to be told, and there are surely other good examples too. They let us see the impact of the devastation—not just the devastation in itself. That's the important difference, I guess.

Th picture above (© Marchand/Meffre) and more can be seen on Yves Marchand and Romain Meffres' web site, and in book form by the title »The Ruins Of Detroit«.

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STREET ART #1

Detroit Deli

  Welcome to Woodbridge

  Detroit Alley Art in Woodbridge Historical District, Detroit, MI 48208

  Detroit Alley Art in Woodbridge Historical District, Detroit, MI 48208 

Free your mind and Detroit will follow

Detroit Alley Art in Woodbridge Historical District, Detroit, MI 48208

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BOBBY ROGERS ✝

In memory of Bobby Rogers (February 19, 1940 – March 3, 2013) of The Miracles.

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THE GEORGIA PEACH

Outfielder Ty Cobb (1886–1961), batted left and threw right, played Detroit Tigers 1905–1926 and was the manager 1921–1926.

During these days numbers weren't worn on jerseys.

As of 2013, Ty Cobb still holds the highest career batting average in MLB history (.366 or .367, depending on source).

Since he originated from The Narrows, Georgia, Ty Cobb got the nickname »The Georgia Peach«.

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LE DÉTROIT

Le détroit: French for strait. The name Detroit originates from the Detroit River (le détroit du Lac Érié, meaning the strait of Lake Erie), linking Lake Huron and Lake Erie; in the historical context, the strait included Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River.

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America's Most Miserable City

This Tuesday came the announcement that the city is on the verge of being taken over by the state. Today Forbes puts Detroit on top of the America's Most Miserable Cities list for 2013.

Violent crime in the Detroit metro was down 5% in 2011, but it remains the highest in the country with 1,052 violent crimes per 100,000 people, according to the FBI. Home prices were off 35% the past 3 years, which is the biggest drop in the U.S.

Mayor Dave Bing says to Forbes that »There is no question that Detroit has many challenges. [...] With all due respect to the data in this report, Detroit is in the midst of a transformation. That transformation is being driven by my restructuring plan, which is focused on four key areas: public safety; public lighting; public transportation; and neighborhood blight removal.«

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Follow the Kickstarter fundraised building of an actual RoboCop statue.

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ROBOCOP (1987)

So, it was go time and it just happened to be RoboCop that starts my Detroit odyssey.

The 1987 blockbuster about a »dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, where a terminally-wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg with submerged memories haunting him«, as IMDB states it.

As I was soon to discover, RoboCop was not a bad start at all.

I remember RoboCop being one of those 80s' movies that was awesome for a teenager. But, I haven't seen it since—which often is a grade of it's own. Now it's about to be remade with a pretty Swede boy as Murphy. I always thought that the original RoboCop—Peter Weller—was more uncanny as officer Alex Murphy than as the cyborg RoboCop.

Well, I watched RoboCop again, and I can't complain at all. There's the issues of morality and depravation, and some kind of an Anthony Burgessian take on crime fighting and the value of human beings.

The hero is perhaps supposed to be RoboCop, that deep behind the metal still has a will of its own, connected to a piece left of Alex Murphy. But the quality of heroes don't lie in the cold blooded revenge massacre of human beings—not even depraved ones. And even if RoboCop has a will, I doubt there's any heart.

My little helper on my way is Detroit City Is The Place To Be, by novelist and Rolling Stone contributing editor Mark Binelli. The book arrived a couple of days after I watched RoboCop. I opened and started reading:

Back when I was a boy, growing up just outside of Detroit, my friend and I beheld any mention of the city in popular culture with a special thrill. We loved how Detroit was deemed terrifying enough to be chosen as the dystopian locale of RoboCop, the science fiction film set in a coyly undated »near future,« when Detroit had become so dangerous that the outsourcing of law enforcement to an armored, heavily weaponized cyborg would seem a prudent and necessary move.