Flint Artifacts: A.C. Spark Plug Tie Clip

Flintoids Travel to the Women's March on Washington

Lisa Ryan of New York Magazine interviews participants in the Women's March on Washington, including two from Flint.

We came to protest but we also came because we have a water crisis in Flint and we fight for clean water. It’s been going on for too long, and we’re tired of it and we need clean water. We caught a bus here — it was about ten hours. We hope people see this and realize we still are having a water crisis, and many people could speak out and we could get clean water.

Read all the interviews here.

Photo via New York Magazine.

Flint Photos: Coney from Starlite

Thanks to Flint Expatriate Brian McCall for the photo.

Two Buicks. One Block

An extremely rare siting of not one, but two Buicks parked on the same block. Jarboe Street near Anderson Street in Bernal Heights.

Flint Artifacts: WKMF AM 1470 Belt Buckle

Flint Photos: Maxine Kronick in "Roger & Me"

Flint Photos: The Palace Theatre

Vintage Flint Expatriates: Originally posted on 8/11/09.

Fred Gonzales passed along these shots of Flint in the fifties. "I am also a St Mike's graduate," he writes. "During the late sixties my sister and I worked downtown after school and weekends. I was an usher at the Palace Theater. I can still remember folks catching a Kewpee burger, fries, and a Vernor's right across the street from the Palace and then crossing the street and lining up for tickets."

Capitol Theatre Comeback

When's the last time Flint was mentioned on broadwayworld.com? Okay, when's the last time you read broadwayworld.com? Regardless, there's a nice overview of the Capitol Theatre restoration posted today:

The Capitol Theatre is being revitalized in downtown Flint, Michigan, serving as an economic and cultural engine for the city and region. Through the restoration of its ornate John Eberson design and upgrades to its facilities, the Theatre will once again be a focal point for the community, presenting national acts and providing platforms for local arts groups. Enriching and expanding the city's arts and cultural resources, the Capitol Theatre will reopen in late 2017 with refurbished theater facilities as well as restored office and retail spaces. The Re-Opening date, and related programming and activities will be announced in the coming months. 

Long a vital part of the city's social and cultural fabric, the Capitol Theatre originally opened in 1928 as a vaudeville house and movie palace, serving as a center of arts and entertainment in Flint. The most lavish of Michigan's chain of Butterfield Theatres, the Theatre began to host concerts in the late 1970s, including performances by a range of popular musicians including Ray Charles, AC/DC, John Mellencamp, Green Day, Black Sabbath and more. Closing its doors in 1996, the Theatre sat dormant for nearly two decades, until restoration began in July 2016. Programming at the restored Capitol will include a diverse mix of popular and classical music, comedy acts, film screenings, contemporary and modern dance, spoken word, and theater works that play to the strengths of its intimate auditorium and a new flexible space for small-scale performances. 

Read the full article here.

I'm Proud to be a Realty-Based American

There’s a long list of performers bailing on President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities. Garth Brooks, the B Street Band, Paul Anka, Andrea Bocelli, and any Rockette with more than $100 in her checking account, to name a few. But one certified superstar remains, country legend Lee Greenwood, a performer born in the epicenter of the “real America,” a sun-dappled little place filled with humble, hardworking patriots known as Los Angeles, California. What better time than now to reflect on Greenwood’s mega-hit “God Bless the USA,” which will be in heavy rotation at all Trump celebrations?

"If tomorrow all the things were gone I'd worked for all my life/
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife/
I'd thank my lucky stars to be livin' here today/
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away"

Just to clarify, Lee Greenwood has been married four times. Would all the wives start again with him, or just his current wife, a former Miss Tennessee USA, whom he married when he was 49 and she was 24? Regardless, since Lee was a blackjack dealer before his singing career took off, the whole gang could end up in Vegas, a great place to start over with plenty of underwater mortgages and cheap real estate.

And who is this mysterious “they” who appears to want to take things away from Lee? Big government? Or perhaps those catty music critics? Maybe even Lee can’t identify the forces conspiring against him. But blaming failures and setbacks on vague, hard to identify forces — rather than our own shortcomings — is as American as apple pie. Delusional? Perhaps, but I prefer to call it optimism.

"And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free/
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me/
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today/
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land/
God bless the USA"

Again, just to clarify, some ladies also died for our freedoms, but who's counting?

Lee proclaims he would gladly stand up and defend our country, but he’s never actually served in the military. He got a hardship deferment from Vietnam because he had a child when he was 17. (See info on marriages above.)

Does anyone else find the “at least I know I’m free" line troubling? It implies that sometimes all you can expect from the greatest nation on earth is a concept, an ideal, not something more immediate like health insurance, or a living wage, or the right to drive a car without getting pulled over all the time for no good reason. I’m all for freedom, but it’s nice to have something more tangible, like a Social Security check.

And because freedom is a concept, it’s pretty subjective. Many would argue that we aren’t as free as other countries, like those boringly prosperous, low-crime countries in Scandinavia. Or Canada. I mean how free can you be when your president actually lost the election by millions of votes? But we are definitely more free than a lot of countries, like Russia, or what’s left of the U.S. in “The Man in the High Castle.” I realize that “And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm pretty much free, more free than some countries run by dictators, but less free than some other Western European democracies” doesn’t exactly flow, but I’m sure Lee could make it sound better with his innovative phrasing.

"From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee/
Across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea/
From Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA/
Well, there's pride in every American heart/
And it's time we stand and say that"

Hey, name checking geographic locations is a venerated custom in the music business. Some people will buy a record simply because their hometown is mentioned. Can’t fault Lee for being a good businessman. But as a guy who grew up in Flint, Michigan and had family in the Motor City, I will go out on a limb and bet that no one in Detroit has ever willingly listened to this song. Except Kid Rock.

Flint Water Crisis: 1,000 Days Later

Brian Manzullo of the Detroit Free Press reports:

Though Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder touted the efforts made to heal Flint - "we've made progress, but our work is not done," he said Tuesday during his State of the State address in Lansing - city residents are still unable to drink tap water without a filter due to the lead contamination that began when the water supply was switched that day in 2014.

Read the full article here.