Hey, Detroiters, welcome back to Culture Canvas!
Michigan Central is launching Fridays at the Station, a new monthly music series that curates unexpected collaborations between emerging and established artists.
The first concert runs from 5-10 p.m. Friday and will feature Detroit jazz musician and 2025 Kresge Eminent Artist Marion Hayden and emerging DJ ameera haynes. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased on Michigan Central’s website.
This is the latest in a string of events the iconic train station has hosted since reopening its doors in June, which also included free walking tours, a star-studded concert, smaller live entertainment gatherings and holiday shopping experiences.
haynes began DJing last year and keeps to the tradition of using only vinyl records to mix during her sets. She incorporates several genres of music in performances, blending jazz, disco, funk and 2000s hip-hop and R&B.
Meanwhile, Hayden is a celebrated jazz bassist in Detroit. Mentored by trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, she began performing at the age of 15. She has gone on to perform with jazz artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen and Steve Turre.
In 1987, Hayden helped form an all-women jazz group called Straight Ahead. The group recorded three albums for Atlantic Records in the 90s and still performs today.
The bassist is also an educator, teaching music classes at the University of Michigan, and is a teaching artist for the Detroit Jazz Festival.
I talked to Hayden and haynes about the Michigan Central series, their collaboration and what it’s like being part of the train station’s rebirth.
Editor’s note: This transcript was lightly edited for length and clarity.
BridgeDetroit: How did you each connect with Michigan Central for this series?
haynes: They reached out to the record shop (Peoples Records) to see if there would be anybody that they think would fit well and the people who work at the record shop recommended me. The fact that so many people go to that record store and they thought to recommend me … it’s an assurance that I’m on the right path. Also, I’m very grateful to realize that I’m fostering community with people, which is the most important thing for me with music and how I play music to express myself.
Hayden: This has been a really extraordinary year for me because I received the honor of becoming the Kresge Foundation’s Eminent Artist. I got a call from the folks at Michigan Central about doing this. They said that they were interested in having ameera and I on together, and I thought it was a great idea. I’m always looking to push my creative practice a little further. I’m a jazz musician, I play bass, and a lot of my work tends to be more the practice of traditional jazz. A lot of my projects are narrative projects that are elevating different legacies here in Detroit. But I’m always looking for something different, but also still speaks to me. So when they suggested that ameera and I share an evening, I just thought that was an excellent idea.
BridgeDetroit: What does this collaboration look like? What sounds are each of you bringing to the table?
haynes: The way I DJ, I like to take a journey. I’ll start off with a slower build throughout the night to get to an apex and then I kind of slow it back down. You want people to get comfortable, so that way, when you’re playing other stuff later, they’re more receptive to it. Once you have them, try to introduce some things that they love, maybe some new things that you think they might like, and try to put people into an experience. I also think about when you’re leaving, I want them to feel like they had a good time, they met some new people, their mind opened up to a new experience so that they can travel safely. I feel like that’s what jazz is about too. We’re just working on how we’re gonna blend the music, so making it like a seamless transition from DJ to band, but also having that collaborative element.
Hayden: Jazz musicians are particularly well suited for collaboration because the whole point of what we do is being improvisational and being malleable for the moment. Luckily, there’s some good intersections in terms of the things that ameera digs and what I dig and I told her I was super open to something that she might bring to the table that I don’t know about.
BridgeDetroit: ameera, how did you get into DJing?
haynes: I discovered Paramita (Sound), which is a record store and bar downtown on Broadway, and they had this thing called open decks, which was basically an open mic for DJs. You could do digital or vinyl, but I do vinyl and it’s one of the few places that had record players and turntables, and I didn’t own any. Then one day, I just decided to do it. I couldn’t mix, I couldn’t do anything. But to see people react to the music that I was playing, music that I have such deep ties to emotionally and spiritually, was just like an eye-opening experience.
As a creative, I feel like I needed to be more of a producer in the space and less of a consumer. This is the perfect way to do that. Now things are picking up for me and I’m getting to play with somebody like Marion and her band. As a music lover and as a person who wants to have new experiences, it’s really nice to see this unfold the way that’s unfolding.
BridgeDetroit: Marion, you’ve been performing since you were a teenager. What has it been like working with the next generation of musicians?
Hayden: It’s been an exchange in so many ways. The kinds of things that I can bring to them are history of the town, history of musicians here, history of venues. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to expose them to some really great music, to give them opportunities to hear some things that they have not heard before. This may be music that I’ve heard for a number of years, but when someone hears the music with new ears, they’re interpreting the music differently, there’s a freshness of their approach that they bring when they play. Those are the things that I really enjoy.
BridgeDetroit: How does it feel to be part of the rebirth of Michigan Central?
Hayden: It’s fantastic, and it’s even more fantastic if it becomes a place where everyone is welcome. If this is a place where folks that look like what Detroit actually is made up of and they feel comfortable, then that’s a home run and they’ve done what they’re supposed to do.
haynes: I want people to come with open hearts and open minds to experience something new. I feel like people are always talking about revitalizing the city, but it needs to be revitalized with the people that are from here, the actual people in the community. I’m hoping that this is just my little part and a reminder to foster these types of environments and experiences here in Detroit.
As always, have a great week!
Cheers,
Micah
313 Scene
- Pensole Lewis College is set on becoming Detroit’s design hub, focusing on footwear and apparel design. PLC Detroit is a revamp of the Lewis College of Business, Michigan’s only historically Black college (HBCU), which operated for 75 years and served around 27,000 students before closing in 2013.
- BridgeDetroit reporter Nushrat Rahman writes on the new faces behind Pages Bookshop in the city’s Grandmont Rosedale neighborhood. A grand reopening is scheduled for later this month.
- New sitcom “Highly Favored” is the first original scripted TV series from the Impact Network, the faith-based cable channel launched and headquartered in Detroit. The show also debuted on Impact Network’s new streaming platform, Impact TV+, which went live last week. “Highly Favored” stars Michael Colyar as pastor Michael Crawley, the head of a congregation in Inglewood, California, who is trying to keep his church relevant in the contemporary world. (Detroit Free Press)
- Members of Team Edward and Team Jacob alike can put their differences aside and enjoy a screening of “Twilight,” accompanied by a 12-piece ensemble of rock and orchestral musicians, Nov. 6 at the Fisher Theater in Detroit. The candlelight showing is part of a 60-city tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Stephenie Meyer’s original “Twilight” novel. Available tickets start at $35. (The Detroit News)
- LCD Soundsystem will perform its first Detroit concert in eight years when the band performs at Detroit’s Masonic Temple on Aug. 21. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Presales start at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and registration is open on the band’s website. (The Detroit News)
Come and meet the BridgeDetroit team
What’s Going on in the D?
- The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is hosting, “Won’t You Celebrate With Me” at 7 p.m. Thursday. Inspired by Lucille Clifton’s poem, “Won’t You Celebrate With Me,” the program invites attendees to “reflect on the resilience, strength and creativity embedded within the African American experience and celebrate the everyday victories of survival and self-definition,” according to the museum. The event will include spoken word performances and art. The event is free, but registration is required.
- Speaking of the Wright Museum, The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers is kicking off its new season at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Hosted by founder Satori Shakoor, the evening will feature personal narratives and dancing. Tickets are $25.
- Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts is hosting “Dirty Mind 8,” a Prince tribute, beginning at 7 p.m. Friday. The dance party will feature Detroit artists Bruce Bailey, Ro Spit, Drake Phifer, Donna Gardner and more. Tickets start at $25.
- Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop is kicking off its public bike tour season 12 p.m. Saturday with a ride around Belle Isle. Bikers can see sights like the Flynn Memorial Recreation Pavilion, the boat and yacht clubs, the James Scott Memorial Fountain and the Belle Isle Casino. The ride will last about three hours and tickets are $45 or $55 with a bike rental.
- Playground Detroit is having a closing reception for its exhibit, “Female Gaze” from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, 2845 Gratiot. The display features paintings, sculpture, photography, figurative and abstract work by more than 30 women.
- WDET-FM is paying tribute to late radio station host Judy Adams with a celebration from 5-8 p.m. Saturday at the Garden Theater. Adams, 75, died in December after battling a years-long illness. Ismael Ahmed, host of WDET’s This Island Earth, will be DJing the event with music inspired by Judy Adams eclectic radio shows. The evening will feature light bites and a cash bar.
- Brix Wine is hosting a reception at 6-9 p.m. Saturday for the exhibit, “Design, Evolution, Impact: Visual Arts and Cultural Relevancy.” Featured Detroit artists include Chanel Beebe, Trae Isaac, Donna Jackson, Scott McDuffee and more.
- R&B singer Chris Brown is bringing his Typhoon Music Festival to Little Caesars Arena at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The lineup also includes Detroit rapper Skilla Baby, Wiz Khalifa, Gucci Mane and Fabolous. Tickets are still available, starting at $121 on Ticketmaster.
- If neo-soul is more of your thing, Chrisette Michele is coming to the Music Hall at 8 p.m. Saturday along with Kindred the Family Soul and comedian Bruce Bruce. Tickets start at $90 on Ticketmaster.
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