Hello world!

We’d like to take a moment to thank the people who have read and commented on our blog. We really appreciate your time and attention; it means a lot. We only hope that you gain a new perspective on a city with a heart of gold whose name has been dragged through the dirt for the last 60 years.

Today we did very little evangelizing, but stumbled into a treasure trove of info on underground/smaller theater companies in the city.

But all in good time; let’s start from the top. 

Ryan woke up at about 10 am; Rory woke up at about 1 pm…when Ryan woke him up. 

I had a very productive morning while Rory was indulging in sleep. I emailed everyone who I have met so far with a link to the blog, made a few phone calls, and conducted some research for today’s itinerary.

We got ourselves together and made our way over to a barber shop called the Social Club Grooming Company. Now, you may think “okay, you’re getting your hair cut, not really a fact-finding mission.” Well, think again, baby, cuz this place ain’t just any barber shop; it’s what one might call an ethnically diverse, environmentally friendly barber shop. Let us explain: 

The Social Club is located on the campus of Wayne State University, not far from downtown. Owner Sebastian Jackson, who grew up on Detroit’s westside and the suburbs of Kalamazoo, approached Wayne State with three business plans before they acquiesced to letting him an lease unused, street level space in one their campus housing buildings. He had worked in the salon that previously occupied the space and had a new vision for it. He describes the vision in a local news interview: “we’re going to be racially diverse, we’re going to be gender diverse, sexual orientation diverse. We’re going to be the most diverse barbershop in the city and one of the ways we’re going to do that is by hiring people that look different from each other.” He went on to say, “I’ve seen sort of both sides of the track and I have friends from both sides. We (had to) create a shop that can show these people from these two different worlds and lifestyles that they are the same.” Not only that, but you know the hair that most barber shops sweep up and throw away? Well, these guys save it and send it to people who can use it to soak up oil from the ocean or fertilize a grove of trees. 

We knew that going in. Here’s what we learned inside:

Sebastian is observant (he’s the guy in denim on the left). When we walked in, Ryan started snapping pictures and, while still cutting a guy’s hair, asked “what’s that for?” So we did our spiel, popped the question (“Should a young artist move to Detroit?). He had this to say:

“I think so. There’s a lot of opportunity here. Living expenses are lower so it’s easier to enter the potential market. The barriers of entry are a little lower. If you’re doing something authentic the city will really embrace you. And that’d be adding value to the city and there’s so much value to be added, you know what I mean? If you’re willing to come in and take the calculated risk to add that value I think it’d be a pretty welcoming city.”

Pretty positive feedback, we’d say.

We found out that the projection on the wall (at that point showing their Instagram page) often runs documentaries, movies, shows — whatever they feel like watching. They also curate and sell original art; all profit goes back to the artist.

We continued asking about his business. One thing that we can really take away from our conversation is the need for a clear vision and financial model when we approach backers — those were the things that were missing from his initial proposals. He was also working against the fact that the salon he’d worked in had failed — they needed assurance that this time would be different. Celebrity endorsements help, too.

We also learned that even though they’ve been open “three years” it’s still considered a startup; basically an experiment. Opening and profiting from the third franchise proves the business model works. It goes like this: the first shop establishes the model; the second shop establishes the model can work in a different location; the third shop establishes that the model works in different locations under new management. (They’re thinking about opening a shop in Europe; how’s that for a different location?).

“We want an array of people to belong here.” We became curious and asked “what do most of your customers do for a living?” to which he said “let’s find out”. He then turned to the guy in his chair and asked “what do you do?”

That particular guy works for Microsoft.

The next girl was a PhD student at Wayne State; this is her favorite barbershop.

We continued until I (Rory) approached another student at Wayne State who also worked for Ford (not sure in what capacity). When asked the question he said “Yes. It’s good to have perspective from outside the city so you have a clear lens and you’re an unbiased viewpoint.” His barber started nodding at this point, and he continued saying “and I’m not from here, so that’s unbiased.” I asked the barber, who seemed really eager to speak. He said “I don’t know. What do you think?”

Well, I was speechless…for a nanosecond. I recovered saying “I’m trying to figure it out, man.”

He responded saying “Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. It’s easier to enter [the industry] at all different levels because there’s not as much competition as other places.”

So, after that we got some great haircuts. Ryan had his hair cut by an Italian guy, Vincenzo Tocco; Rory got to chat up a cute blonde from the suburbs of Detroit (and a shampoo), Hillary Lytle.

As you can tell by the photo above, Rory’s hair looks exactly like the before picture…except he only needed a trim because he keeps his hair well-maintained.

After leaving the barbershop, we saw a ticket on the car. Ryan ran after the ticket guy who was driving away; Rory walked.

The ticket guy said that, even though the meter was broken (apparently a pandemic in the city) you still can’t park there for more than an hour. What? Plus, he clocked us at an hour and five minutes: so our haircut ran a little over. Give us a break!

Well, he didn’t; but he did expertly diffuse the situation saying “but you’re lookin’ good with those haircuts”…thanks Gary.

Thumbs up for traffic tickets!

Anyway, we got to talking and this guy apparently has a son that does theater and media work in the city, having just graduated from Wayne State. When we asked for his son’s contact info, he spent five minutes pretending to fiddle with his phone then said “let me just get your info”.

Will Gary’s son call? Stay tuned to find out.

After that, we headed back to the crib. On the drive home, though, we got a call from Ray at Inland Press. He said the business cards were done and we could pick them up FOR FREE either that night or the next day.

To Inland Press: you guys ROCK. Of course, Ray tried to downplay it saying “we help out local students from time to time. The word is if you need a project printed, Inland Press will help you out. Plus, this was a pretty small order for us.” Still, y’all are thebomb.com.

So we get to the place, Ryan rinses off and heads to pick up the promo swag from IP while Rory geared up for a run. When Kirk heard this he said “come get in the car, I’ll show you the route I take”. I (Rory) thought “Word. I’ll get dropped off and I’ll make it back myself.”

So, I got in the car with Kirk to go for a run.

Wrong. Kirk drove with me the entire way, calling out stuff like “you’re hitting a mile. Good pace, man.” I got in the car. He was very complementary of my running abilities, which was quite nice to hear. Likewise, I was very complementary of his: “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” He said “Yeah, I trained all of my boys”.

I later found out that Kirk is a body builder…in his 60’s! No crap, he’s gearing up for a bodybuilding competition and says he’ll be ready by February.

If we end up in Detroit I’m training with this guy, ‘nough said.

After the run, we headed downtown for a yoga class at the Yoga Shelter, whose motto is “Just showing up is the bravest thing you can do”.

The class was epic. The teacher was a very welcoming but forward strong individual named Matthew; he wore a shirt saying “DETROIT INHALES”. Before class he asked “do you have any injuries I should know about?” and “do you mind adjustments?” as if he knew from experience that one should ask these questions. We asked how long he’d done yoga, to which he responded “about ten years. At first it was on and off, more like a Tinder relationship. But now we’re pretty exclusive.” The tone changed when he said “and now I share it with others”.

We entered the studio to a Kanye West song. Okay, not your average yoga class, but still intriguing. We set up our mats and Matt gets started.

His Vinyasa flow class was intense and challenged us to our extremes. Rory and Ryan then enjoyed a sweaty, exhausted hug when it was over.

After class, we spoke to several people. First Rory talked to Leah, an alum from U of Michigan who recommended taking a look at Matrix (another “yes”, btw). Then a guy named Steve Carson overheard the conversation and suggested 8 things to check out in and around Detroit, including several theater companies: Green Garage, Pony Ride, Ringwald Theatre, Go Comedy Improv Theater, Open Book Theatre Company, and Abreact Theatre Collective. Come to find out he’s a theater person himself, having graduated from Wayne State with a degree in acting. He went to Cincinnati for a while but found himself back in the D where “things are really exciting”.

He gave us a lot of great pointers. For instance, he says that there are a lot of new theater companies popping up — much the same as businesses in general: we’ve walked into several businesses that have been open only several months (ex. Batch Brewing).

Steve then told us that he co-directed and fight choreographed an all-female version of Hamlet put up by Slipstream Theater Initiative.

We have tickets for Thursday’s show. Can’t. Freakin. Wait.

Even cooler, he has done the summer SAFD fight intensive at UNCSA (he remembered Dale Girard as “very intimidating”).

He also started a theater company called Nerve which does adaptations of classical works like Wuthering Heights (just closed); but interestingly enough, the audience influences the trajectory of the performance. Not totally sure what this means, but I’m intrigued, which is why I asked “you doing anything in the next month?” Unfotunately, he responded “No. We take several months to work up a piece”. Dang it! I was so pumped! Although this is pretty impressive, and from what I can see, needed: if you’re going to do a very well-known story and let the audience decide how the show goes you need to know that thing inside-out. Up next, they’re adapting Dracula.

After mourning the loss of an altogether unique theater experience, I asked him: “What’s it like opening a theater company in Detroit?” His main response was positive, that it’s doable and affordable but the hard part is attracting an audience. This obviously begged the question: “how do you get the butts in the seats?” to which he responded “you just have to get them interested; once you have people’s attention they will listen.”

This is so in line with all the things we’ve noticed: unlike other large cities, Detroiters are willing to stop and have a conversation. This is somewhat characteristic of the Midwest, however they do not go as far as the Minnesotans who will stand there listening to you ten minutes after they’ve totally lost interest. The toughness of Detroit has streamlined the conversation; these people know how to fight for what they need because they have had to. Thus, if you’re boring they’ll walk away.

That’s a good thing: it combines an altogether polite sensibility with a need for honesty due to circumstance.

After leaving the yoga place, we went to a great little restaurant called Falafill — which also opened very recently, about three months ago. Great food, cool people: we chatted up one of the workers who, although she’s not a theater person, said “yes” to our question. Good times. Good work done.

Then we hit up this small grocery store in Hamtramck (pronounced ham-tram-ick), the only one in the area open at 9:30 pm.

It was like walking into a Mediterranean deli; except it was 48 degrees outside.

We looked through this place and found authentic feta, shoulder of lamb, tongue of cow, and packages lamb’s heads with intact eyeball. When asked what people eat from the head the guy said “the brain, the tongue and the cheek.” Very interesting. (Also, the only place I’ve ever seen where you can get 33 fl oz of olive oil for under $4. Not even Trader Joes can beat that!). Groceries for the week: check.

So we’ve had two similarly serendipitous experiences two days in a row: we walked into a place for a service and were overwhelmed with information and opportunities to further our cause.

Guess we’re doing something right. Here’s hoping it continues!

Much love,

R&R

The beauty of construction. New things on the wind.