Hey Detroiters, welcome back to Culture Canvas!
Before becoming a children’s and young adult author, Jean Alicia Elster spent several years practicing law. But after she got married and had children, the Detroiter wanted a career that would allow her to work from home. That led her to editing books and, eventually, the Christian publishing house Judson Press approached her about writing a children’s book series, she said.
Elster has since written several books, including a trilogy based on her family’s history– “Who’s Jim Hines?” “The Colored Car,” and “How It Happens.” The author will share excerpts from the trilogy at an upcoming event for the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival: “Tasting Notes at 333 Midland: Up South: Reflections of the Great Migration.” Taking place at 7 p.m. Thursday at 333 Midland, an art center in Highland Park. The concert will feature performances by Detroit musicians Alvin Waddles, A. Spencer Barefield, Marion Hayden and Tariq Gardner. Elster will serve as narrator.
The event will be a family affair — Hayden and Gardner are Elster’s cousins. As guests enjoy a curated tasting of wine and cheese, the concert will feature prose and original music and arrangements for quartet with harmonica, celebrating the spirit of African American migrants through the lens of Hayden’s family. General admission is $61.
BridgeDetroit: Since the event is about celebrating the Great Migration, what is your family’s migration story to Detroit?
Elster: As the narrator, I’m going to be reading from two of my books that I have written, historical fiction based on my family’s history. My grandfather came from New Orleans and my grandmother from Clarksville, Tennessee, and they married and came here to Detroit, and it was part of the Black migration. But their story is a little different because my grandfather did not come up here to work in the factories as many of the folks who migrated from the South did. He was a businessman and he started the Douglas Ford Wood Company. He started that in 1922, the year they came up. He (her grandfather) built a house on Halleck Street, and half of the lot is still there. I-75 took the half of the lot where the house was, but the other half, where his wood yard was, is still there. And he had a very successful business up until World War II.
After that, people started transitioning to gas heat and due to the racial realities of the era, he could not get a bank loan to expand his business. He tried and even had references because he delivered all over Detroit and the suburbs, but he could not get a loan to expand his business to become an oil delivery business. The Douglas Ford Wood Company died a natural death because people just were not using wood-burning stoves.
BridgeDetroit: Did you know a lot about your family history before working on your books?
Elster: Yes. In my first book, I talk about listening to these stories when I was a little girl sitting out in the backyard, where the wood yard used to be. My grandparents planted fruit trees and we’d be sitting under the peach trees or the apple trees, and they would be telling me these stories. So, even as a young child, I heard oral histories about the wood business and about one of their drivers, Jim Hines, and how they came from the south and started this business, and how my grandmother was a partner in the business. She handled the books, she answered the phone. They had the only telephone in the neighborhood and it was for their business. I grew up hearing these stories and then as I got older, I sat down with various relatives and took oral histories from them about our family’s history. In my books, “Who’s Jim Hines,” “The Colored Car,” and “How It Happens,” it’s all historical fiction based on actual events in my family’s history.
BridgeDetroit: Why did you decide to do it that way instead of a nonfiction book?
Elster: Well, with fiction, you can expand upon certain events, because if I were to do a memoir, I would be limited to what they told me. With fiction, you can expand more and pique the reader’s interest more. Because many people, if it’s a history book or even if it’s a memoir, it doesn’t quite grab them. But when you fictionalize it, you can add things that grab the reader more and make things come alive more in a way that they may not connect with in a memoir or a history book.
BridgeDetroit: What is something that you’re looking forward to with the concert?
Elster: I just enjoy connecting with audiences during the performance and afterwards, and so I’m just looking forward to sharing the evening, not only with my cousin and the other musicians, but with all the folks that will be there. The last performance we did was very well attended, and I just look forward to seeing another enthusiastic group there.
As always, have a great week!
Until next time,
Micah
313 Scene
- The 2025 Bonnaroo Music & Art Festival came in with a Faygo-soaked bang and left with a damp whimper as severe weather and campground flooding forced the four-day music festival to shut down early. Detroit hip-hop legends the Insane Clown Posse took to the stage late Friday night and soaked the crowd in a wave of Faygo to end the night, thus accidentally headlining Bonnaroo. (Detroit Metro Times)
- A longtime fan of Detroit soul music from the United Kingdom, Jim O’Hara is searching for September Jones, an obscure but remarkable Detroit singer who released just two songs in 1966 before eventually disappearing from public view. More than half a century later, Jones’s stirring, mid-tempo “I’m Coming Home” remains beloved in the U.K., where ’60s soul music is played in underground Northern Soul venues. (Detroit Metro Times)
- Detroit’s Concert of Colors is coming home. Organizers announced the long-running annual world music festival is returning to The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, the riverside venue formerly known as Chene Park that hosted the event from its launch in 1993 until it moved to Midtown in 2006 due to funding. The festival, billed as the largest free global music festival in the Midwest, is set for July 15-20. (Detroit Metro Times)
- Michael Schneider has gone viral yet again — this time, direct from Detroit. Known around the world by his internet handle Blcksmth, he is known for his whimsical, witty and thought-provoking typographical art that writes out both fun and profound quotes using balloons, flowers, leaves and/or LED lights. Schneider’s most recent work was done right in the heart of the Motor City during his first visit. (Detroit Free Press)
- WWJ-AM reporter and anchor Mike Campbell died on June 8, according to the all-news radio station. According to WWJ, Campbell, 65, was a metro Detroit journalist for almost 30 years. (Detroit Free Press)
- The Jonas Brothers will no longer be performing at Comerica Park on Aug. 28, and will instead be playing Little Caesars Arena the same day, the group announced in a letter to fans. Refunds will be issued automatically for ticket holders to the Comerica Park concert, and tickets for the Little Caesars Arena show go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via Ticketmaster. (The Detroit News)
What’s Going on in the D?
- Indie artist Santigold is performing at Saint Andrew’s Hall at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The opener is Troy Baker Sound. Tickets are still available on Ticketmaster for $52.
- Hosted by the Planet Ant community, the theatre and performing arts nonprofit is bringing storytellers together for an event at 8 p.m. Wednesday at its Hamtramck headquarters, 2320 Caniff Street. Each storyteller will have 7-10 minutes to bring their unique story to life based on a theme chosen by the community of hosts. This month’s theme is “pickle.” Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $9.
- AfroFuture Detroit is teaming up with Hart of Detroit Summer Fest and Detroit Vs. Everybody to kick off the inaugural Hart of Detroit Summer Fest on Thursday. First, concertgoers can check out the Juneteenth block party from 12-5 p.m. at Hart Plaza, with the festival happening beginning at 6 p.m. Performers include Detroit rappers Icewear Vezzo, Peezy, Babyface Ray, Skilla Baby and more. Tickets are $17 for the block party and $44 for the festival on Eventbrite.
- The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers is hosting its event, “Remarkable Men,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Hosted by TSSOTS board director and DTE relationship manager Jacob Walker, the evening will explore the power, complexity, and courage of manhood through captivating storytelling and live performances. Tickets are $25.
- Juneteenth Jubilee Detroit and The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy are hosting the 7th annual “Roots, Rhythm, and Flow” Juneteenth event beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at Robert C. Valade Park. The family-friendly event will feature a liberation run, community and health vendor fair, field games and more. The event is free, but attendees must register at Eventbrite.
- The Senate Theater is hosting a screening of the 1997 David Lynch film, “Lost Highway,” at 8 p.m. Saturday. The movie features two separate but intersecting stories, one about a jazz musician (Bill Pullman), tortured by the notion that his wife is having an affair, who suddenly finds himself accused of her murder. The other is a young mechanic (Balthazar Getty) drawn into a web of deceit by a temptress who is cheating on her gangster boyfriend. The two tales are linked by the fact that the women in both are played by the same actress (Patricia Arquette). Tickets are $6.
