Justin Tiemeyer Presents 'Film Tourism'

Opportunities to Help Struggling Michigan Cities by Visiting the Places Where Your Favorite Movies Were Filmed

In 2014, Transformers 4 - AKA Untitled Transformers Sequel - will be heading into theaters, and if the success of Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) is any indicator the fourth film in the series will be a box office hit. Residents of Michigan may be proud to find out that there is a piece of our state in this upcoming film, a former ferry named the Ste. Claire which is currently docked in Ecorse. The Ste. Claire is often referred to as a Boblo boat because it was created in order to transport Detroiters to and from the Boblo Island Amusement Park, which they viewed as their own version of New York's Coney Island. Boblo Island was closed down in 1993.

According to ship keeper Sam Buchanan, the Ste. Claire will play an important role in one scene of Transformers 4, not a grand shout out to Ecorse and the former amusement park but certainly not the type of thing that you will miss if you blink. It is clear that the municipality of Ecorse, which is currently understood to be in a state of financial emergency, was able to capitalize on the filming. The production crew for the film worked on the set for three weeks and filming took place over three days. Whether or not any of these workers were local is unclear, but it is a reasonable assumption that they acquired local food and lodging, not to mention the money that the people of Ecorse must have leveraged from Paramount pictures in order to have the film shot in their town.

On the tail of this announcement was an even larger announcement, that the Michigan Film Office has offered $35 million in incentives to Warner Bros. in order that the upcoming Batman vs. Superman film will be shot "in metro Detroit and elsewhere in Michigan," a decision that is expected to bring an extra $131 million into the Michigan economy. While many of the geeks of the world are unhappy at the announcement that Ben Affleck will play Batman, the geek in me is excited at the possibility of being an extra in a comic book movie much like my good friend Chad was in Green Lantern. But that is beside the point. This project will bring capital into the struggling city of Detroit and hopefully some of the other nearby emergency managed cities such as River Rouge and Allen Park.

It would be easy to sit back and hope that the struggling cities of Michigan will continue to get money through movie contracts, but sitting back and letting other people fix the problems simply does not work. I could go on a rant about activism and the importance of maintaining funding to the Michigan Film Office despite the complaints of many lawmakers in Lansing that it is an unnecessary expenditure, but I'd like to take this time and this space to discuss another possibility: Michigan film tourism.

Sure, when Amy and I ate here we knew it wasn't the
White Castle of Harold & Kumar fame, but did you
know that scenes from A Very Harold & Kumar
Christmas were shot in Detroit?

The Michigan Film Office has a list of the myriad films made in Michigan on their site which ranges from the This Time For Keeps to the 2013 film Black Sky. While you'll still have to drive to Dallas in order to see the future Detroit of Robocop, you can see the cabin from The Evil Dead in Gladwin or the factory from the opening shots of Beverly Hills Cop in Dearborn. When I lived in New York City, you could walk down the street on any given day and you might accidentally become an unpaid extra in a film. I remember walking behind comedian Jason Sudeikis as he walked from his trailer to the set of some film I never took the time to get the name of. We always talked about going out to visit the Amityville Horror house on Long Island or to do a Home Alone 2: Lost in New York tour of the city. There is no reason someone couldn't do a Detroit Rock City or 8 Mile tour of Detroit.
1946 film

The next time you plan your family vacation or birthday excursion, think about visiting Detroit. You can see the backdrops for some of your favorite films and help a struggling link in the chain of Michigan economics. Maybe you can get a hotdog at American Coney Island or see a Tigers game down in Foxtown while you're there - you don't have to make it about film. I believe that if enough of us find something interesting to do in Detroit or Flint or Pontiac as opposed to some other city in some other state or in some other country, the people of Michigan might not have to complain about financial woes for much longer and the children of Michigan won't have to move to other places on account of the fact that those places actually have a strong, functioning economy.

As for me, I just found out that Mark Wahlberg - one of the four actors whose movies I will watch despite of terrible reviews and trailers - was in Michigan for the shooting of the 2005 film Four Brothers. I think I might dedicate some time to seeing the places in Detroit where those four brothers drove around contemplating revenge. Hopefully, I'll come back with some dining recommendations.

Skill Vs. Will

Why Detroit Has to Do More Than Just Want a Revival

The only thing more beautiful than Detroit
in the winter will be future Detroit in the
winter.

Op-ed contributor Stephan G. Richter did an opinion piece titled "What Really Ails Detroit" for the New York Times recently in which he argued that Detroit's collapse into bankruptcy was caused by other factors than those we are actively discussing at the moment. For Richter, Detroit's financial troubles are indicative of an "overall decline of America's manufacturing centers," caused not by globalization, outsourcing, and recession, but by the lack of a highly skilled labor force. He describes the traditional narrative on the subject as "at best ... a convenient half-truth."

Detroit's problem - and America's, if we're following Richter's logic - did not begin in the last decade. Richter traces it back to 1950s post-war America, a period he refers to as the "heyday" of America's manufacturing strength. Since the two major fronts of World War II were in Europe and Asia, America was able to bounce back much faster than most of the economic power centers on those other continents. As a result, top corporate managers paid their workers higher wages based on market dominance and the enormous revenues that resulted rather than elevating pay as employees became more skilled. Richter blames these managers and their descriptive wage raises (based on results and current dominance) in the place of prescriptive wage raises (based on skills and capability for future dominance) for bringing about the current state of urgency in the American city.

In short, Detroit is failing because America is no longer competitive in terms of manufacturing. What we once saw as causes - globalization, outsourcing, and recession - should have been seen as warning signs that municipal economies would collapse, one by one. Silent, but underlying Richter's opinion piece, is a sense of American arrogance, the idea that radical independence will triumph over communal engagement. Richter's solution to the Detroit problem is a long-term decade-spanning plan for skill development, requiring cooperation between national, regional and local entities such as businesses, government agencies, associations, and schools.

While Richter did not directly reference large public works projects as a means to success in Detroit, this does not preclude public investment in renewal such as the proposed new Red Wings stadium from being part of the solution. However, Richter would likely offer a similar argument to Marvin Surkin, the subject of a previous blog post, namely that the jobs created by construction of the new hockey home will be largely low skill, low pay positions. For a public works project like this to have a positive, lasting effect in terms of public interest, it would have to be the beginning of a larger cooperative effort to train the local labor force, elevating them from grunts to foremen to designers and finally innovators. You should read that previous sentence with an emphasis on "beginning." The ultimate goal would be to continue on, to create a city of the future, for the people and by the people, that employs the smartest, most impressive labor from people who have never been expected to do more than punch the clock.

We have to do more than show that a strong Detroit is what we are seeking. We need to lay the groundwork to make it happen.

Detroit's Magic Bullet

A Critique of the New Red Wings Stadium as an Economic Stimulus for Detroit

My first time at the Joe Louis arena for the record-breaking victory against the Dallas Stars
last February may have also been my last time if the Red Wings move to Foxtown.

On the August 14th edition of Stateside on Michigan Radio, host Cynthia Canty interviewed Marvin Surkin, a specialist in comparative urban politics and co-author of Detroit: I Do Mind Dying regarding the private/public joint venture to regenerate the highly indebted city of Detroit by replacing the Joe Louis arena with a new Red Wings stadium. According to a plan endorsed by Governor Snyder, the Wings would join the Lions and Tigers in the Foxtown district, bringing 8300 jobs and 1.8 billion dollars to the struggling city. Surkin's response: "Gee, I wish it were true."

"Magic" is the only word Surkin can conjure for a deal that has been promised, in some form or another, time and time again for years. As if the examples of Detroit's new baseball and football stadiums weren't enough to prove that this sort of corporate logic doesn't work, Surkin provided a further example in the classic 1927 Yankee Stadium which was refurbished and more recently demolished all in the name of resuscitating the Bronx. It didn't work for the Bronx, and it won't work for Detroit.

Surkin's argument is that this project will certainly bring jobs to Detroit, but these jobs won't necessarily benefit Detroit. While the developers will be required to contract a percentage of their labor locally, a serious question to ponder is whether erecting this colossal entertainment hall will actually take funds outside of the city. As for the persisting jobs - the parking attendants, beer servers, hot dog slingers - it is clear that these are not the highly skilled, highly paid jobs that are needed to make Detroit strong. Surkin suspects that the Foxtown businesses will go the way of Chrysler, providing jobs but in the process actually lowering the mean income of those involved.

Surkin asks an important question: "Are we going to see the city further abandoned or are we going to see the city supported?" Some other important questions follow. What would happen to the people if the Red Wings had to leave Detroit because they are no longer profitable due to an investment that went bust? Do the voices of big name supporters like Governor Snyder and Little Caesar's Mike Ilitch deserve to be heard over the voices of the people? Will fancy sky boxes and special kickbacks for corporate sponsors lead to a profitable enterprise that is socially relevant to Detroit? Surkin may be "a voice crying in the wilderness," but what he says should give you pause. The future of this deal is "run down," "second rate," "torn down."

Personally, I've heard both sides of this argument. The naysayers can't see the value in 284 million dollars in public funds going to a sports team when hard working people are going to face an impoverished retirement because their promised pensions are no longer funded. Everybody else seems to think that by pumping all this money into the Detroit entertainment scene, the newly established mecca will bring people from far and wide and those people will leave their money behind. I tend to agree with Surkin that there are some very wealthy people who are hoping we're dumb enough to forget history and trust that this time it will finally work out for the right. At the same time, I believe that there is likely a connection between the success of Detroit sports teams and the success of Detroit, but the connection is a subtle one that has not yet come to light. 

Detroit will not be saved in broad strokes, and the strokes don't get broader than million and billion dollar stadiums, but maybe the hubbub about the new home of the Red Wings will make it clear that we need more research into how a hockey team can bring a city out of bankruptcy.

Lost in Translation: Vernors

I have never been incredibly good at doing impressions. And even when I do them, I'm often not aiming for accuracy. I'm aiming for originality. For example, my De Niro impression involves opening my mouth and scratching my cheek. It doesn't make a lot of sense to anybody but me, but it is Justin Tiemeyer's De Niro impression. Mostly, I take one line and make it work. When I lived in Brooklyn, I must have annoyed the crap out of my roommate Fiona while I was practicing saying the vowel "o" the way I imagine Alan Rickman would. Of course, that's not a great example, because I also do impressions of him saying, "McClain," "Mr. Potter," and "What are you going to do with that fish?" I think my best impression is my stereotypical old Jewish woman impression. That's the one that gets the most laughs. But it's not very stereotypical, because there's no precedent for old Jewish women loving Yoohoo as much as I make them out to adore the chocolate substance. Every once in a while, however, I'll make fun of my girlfriend's (and my friend Adam's) love for ginger ale by saying, as the old Jewish woman, "Can somebody get me some Vernors?"

And, yep, you guessed it, Vernors is not exactly the best known product in the world. It should be, though, because it is America's oldest soft drink (that's another good word for carbonated beverage - I should have included it in the last post) that still remains. Certainly, there were ginger ales before Vernors, but you don't see Butler's or Delatour on the shelves anymore. Amy has recounted a couple of times the fact that people don't sell Vernors outside of Michigan. In my opinion, it's no big loss, because I've always thought that Vernors tastes gross. My mom used to always have a two-liter in our refrigerator and I liken the flavor to soft drinks from a machine where the syrup has run out. All you are tasting is water and carbon dioxide. But I can imagine that for a Vernors lover there might be a feeling of righteous indignation knowing that you are less likely to find Vernors in other states. After all, every superficial fact about Michigan - the weather, the economy, the political battles - scream that one ought to get away from the state as quickly as possible. And yet, it seems, the Vernors seems to pull some people back.

Regarding Faygo and the wet burrito, it was hard to find actual documentation to prove that the products are mostly indigenous to Michigan. Such is not the case with Vernors. For most of the beverage's history, it has been an entirely regional product. Created by a Detroit pharmacist, it was originally only distributed in Michigan and the surrounding areas. Even though Vernors was expanded to thirty-three of fifty states in the eighties and nineties, eighty percent of all Vernors sales still come from the state of Michigan alone. Strangely, Vernors has become a very popular beverage also in Florida, but this is actually because of the amount of retired or relocated former-Michigan-residents. I find this detail interesting for two reasons: 1. it confirms my suspicion that Vernors is the beloved drink of old people, and 2. that Michigan ships its elderly to the state of Florida at an alarming rate.

You know what happens now. Now, it's time for your Vernors experiences. Where do you live and have you ever seen Vernors there? Is it popular? Do you know anyone else with Vernors stories or the lack thereof? And also, as always, what kinds of products and places do you try to talk about where you are only to find that nobody knows what you're talking about?

Lost In Translation: Faygo

There is often a hubbub surrounding carbonated beverages when you travel from one place to another. The most familiar argument is whether you call it "soda" or "pop" or "soda pop." Here in the North, people claim that everyone here calls it "pop" and they make fun of you for saying "soda." In the South, people claim that everyone calls it "soda" and they make fun of you for saying "pop," especially if you have a Midwestern accent. They will say, "Paaaaaap." Like everyone's from Chicaaaago. I don't know who claims "soda pop." Perhaps that's more of a temporal thing than a spatial thing. Those jerks from the 1950s (Get it, jerks. Like soda jerks.) make fun of us for splitting the word into "soda" and "pop," while we make fun of them for thinking that the two words can exist peacefully side-by-side.

As for the soda vs. pop debate, I can vouch that most people in the North that I have encountered actually call it "pop" whereas most people in the South that I have encountered actually call it "soda." Since I have lived in both regions and sometimes wake up wondering where I am geographically located at that particular time, I usually go with "carbonated beverage" or "flavored liquid." Why? Because they're non-partisan.

It has also been told to me that people in the South call every kind of flavored liquid Coke. If it's Pepsi, it's a Coke. If it's Mountain Dew, it's yellow Coke. You see, Coca Cola was invented in Atlanta, Georgia, so the idea behind this urban legend is that everyone in the south calls carbonated beverages Coke because of Southern solidarity. A co-worker in Denton, Texas once told me that all Texans, himself included, call these beverages Coke. And yet, I never heard him refer to any drink other than Coca Cola Classic as Coke. If he ordered a Pepsi, he said, "Pepsi." If he ordered a Mountain Dew, he said, "Mountain Dew." As a matter of fact, after living in Texas for three years I can say that I've never even once encountered this nomenclature in practice. I know that it does happen, but I think it can be said that the statement, "Everyone calls it Coke" is decidedly false when only a couple people have ever done this. My brother Micah lived in Texas for quite some time and now lives in North Carolina. He might be of a different opinion, but one would think that after three years of experience I would have heard this at least once. And keep in mind, I worked at an establishment that served fast-food fried chicken in Texas. If anyone were to fit into this stereotype, don't you think it would have happened there?

Yes, I know that I've gone three paragraphs without addressing the actual topic of this installation of "Lost in Translation." While there are a variety of things you can and cannot say about carbonated beverages throughout the nation, there are many places, including most of the South and I would imagine much more, where if you say something about "Faygo" nobody will know what you're talking about. Of course, if they're avid ICP fans, your friends from various geographic regions will have some acquaintance with Faygo. ("Send yo' momma straight up to the sto.' Tell that [expletive deleted] to bring home a Faygo.") But I was baffled to find that one of my favorite childhood beverages was unknown in much of the United States.

Faygo was invented in Detroit, Michigan. And considering that it is also often referred to as Faygo Pop, you might imagine that it has something of a Midwestern following. While it is said that Faygo can be found throughout the United States and Canada, it just can't be found in a lot of places I've lived. It's like ordering a Shamrock Shake in March in New Mexico. They have never even heard of the phenomena. They don't know that there are other McDonalds' out there that carry it. Such is the case with Faygo. Many people cannot imagine a world where a soda pop company called Faygo exists. But the people of Michigan, we know what's up.

In 1987, Faygo Pop was sold to National Beverage Corporation. Of the many subsidiaries, the most popular is probably Shasta. I'm pretty sure that this is where the division lies. In the North, at least in the Midwest, Faygo has claimed superiority, possibly because of our connection with the Detroit-based original company. But in the South, and possibly in other regions, people drink Shasta. We're all drinking beverages made by the National Beverage Corporation, though there is a noticeable difference between Faygo and Shasta variations on the same drink. I remember they served Shasta drinks at Taco Cabana locations in Texas, and I used to drink it simply because it was something I never remembered seeing in restaurants in Michigan. Little did I know, but I was drinking Bizarro Faygo.

Now, this article is based on research, but also heavily on personal experience. Where do you drink? Do you have Faygo, Shasta, or both? If you order a Mountain Dew, do you call it soda, pop, soda pop, or something else? Do you call it by name or do you call it yellow Coke? Also, what other regional delicacies are you familiar with that you can't talk about with people of other regions because of their lack of experience? What did you once think was a world-wide thing only to find out that it is local? Drop me a line. Especially if your name is Micah Tiemeyer, because Micah is a little more of an Uncle Traveling Matt (Fraggle Rock, anybody?) than I am. But the rest of you can join in also.

Detroit Gun Shirt from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the most important source of fashion in today's world. If it's not Charlie's green jacket and silly t-shirts that one can only surmise came from Good Will or Salvation Army, it's Dennis's button-down shirts and sweaters. For me, however, it's Mac. I'm not talking about the t-shirts he fishes out of the trash and cuts the sleeves off of. I'm talking about those custom t-shirts that I have difficulty finding on-line. Though I still haven't found the That's Blowtorch t-shirt from early on, I was lucky enough to get a link to this, the Detroit Gun T-Shirt from this season. The t-shirt is available in several different colors here, through Spread Shirt.

Tears For Fears "Billie Jean" Live featuring Michael Wainwright

Travel Shots: Detroit, MI

American Coney Island

As soon as I realized that the food at American Coney Island in Detroit was blog-worthy, I began questioning what the purpose of such a blog post would be. (Yes, I use the word blog-worthy in conversation, and no, I don't think it makes me a loser.) American Coney Island and it's next-door neighbor Lafayette Coney Island have already been rated by just about everyone on the Food Network and the Travel Channel as a couple of the best restaurants in the nation. One blog post isn't going to do much good for this place compared to national television coverage.

But then I realized that there is a possibility that people exist who are loyal to this blog and not to the Food Network or the Travel Channel, people who would never have heard of this place without this very post, and I felt justified. It's like one of those episodes of Spider-Man where he's just about to hang up the mask until he meets a little girl who restores his faith in humanity and reminds him of why he's fighting the good fight. This blog post is me returning to the good fight.

If you're going to Detroit, put American Coney Island on your itinerary. I'm sure Lafayette is good for completely different reasons, but after a filling meal at American I wasn't about to wander next door and make myself sick. As I learned on the recent season of the hit television program Community, it's possible that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Amy and I had what the waiter called "The Special." It wasn't on the menu, but it's possible that it's the same as the Coney Island Hot Dog. It's a hot dog topped with ground beef, Coney Island chili sauce, onions and mustard. The dogs here have a slightly tougher outside than at most hotdog places, making them snap when you bite into them. It's a great taste.

The waiter also suckered us into ordering some Chili Cheese Fries to split. We were very happy with this subtle coercion, because they tasted amazing.

On the way out I was struck with the quality of food at this simple hot dog restaurant. How is it possible that food like this could taste so good? That's when it came to me. Like a sign.

I guess it wasn't like a sign. It was a sign. American Coney Island is Preferred By the Gods. Now, whether it's preferred by the gods because it's so good or it's so good because it's preferred by the gods is another matter. We'll leave that one to Euthyphro. Am I right? (Funny. Ancient Greek jokes never seem to go over very well. Maybe that's why I always feel so sick standing at the mic at amateur comedy night.) It's our job to find and devour good food.

I've found it. It's your turn to devour it.

American Coney Island

114 W. Lafayette

Detroit, MI 48226

Tears For Fears Tribute to Adam Friedli

My girlfriend and I were supposed to see Tears For Fears with good friend Adam Friedli at the Motor City Casino Hotel in Detroit, but when Adam's father was severely injured Adam's duty to family trumped his duty to fun and adventure with his friends as it rightly should. We went to the concert, however, and celebrated Adam Friedli. I even convinced Tears For Fears to sing "So Friedli" at the end of Woman in Chains instead of "So Free Her."

Well, not really, but that's what I heard in my head, and that's what you should hear when you watch this video. Adam, I celebrate you today, and so do Curt and Roland from Tears For Fears. They don't know who you are, but I've retconned the story to make it seem that way. For your sake, my lovely man!

Slows Bar- B-Q

For my beautiful girlfriend's birthday, we traveled across the state of Michigan in order to go to Slows Bar-B-Q in Detroit, a restaurant she'd seen on the Food Network. Having lived in Texas for two years, I was the self-proclaimed judge of whether or not this was real Barbecue.

Like I said, I've lived in Texas for two years. What I've learned while in Texas is that a measure of a Barbecue joint's authenticity is their brisket. A good brisket should be slow cooked, something that you can tell if you've had enough practice eating brisket. Slows Texas Style Beef Brisket was just that. The next thing a good Barbecue joint should have is good sides. The Mac-N-Cheese was magnificent, but the real test of their sides was the quality of Mom's Green Beans. I would have liked to try their Cornbread, but there was a shortage that day.

My verdict, in case you couldn't tell, is that you can definitely get authentic barbecue at Slows in Detroit. All y'all Northerners should consider heading over there, because it's certainly cheaper than driving all the way to Texas. (However, if you choose to drive to Texas for it, drop me a line: I might need a ride back to school in August.)

SLOWS BAR-B-Q

2138 Michigan Ave.

Detroit, MI 48216

If Juggalos Got Their Own News Channel

Lime Green Shirt

Lime Green Shirt is a promotional company oriented toward throwing shows, making music and creating social platforms for electronic music. Lime Green Shirt's roster includes Jon Phillips (DJ Aegis), Ken Jepsen (DJ Archangel), Elliot Mayo (DJ Elijah), and Matt Perrin (DJ Sylock).

These guys were some of the pioneers that helped spearhead electronic music in Grand Rapids, Michigan (my home town) from 2001-2007, and they're also a few of my closest friends. Currently, the group does shows in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Detroit and New York, runs a raunchy podcast known as the Shirtcast, and owns, manufactures and distributes Black Ice Slipmats for the benefit of DJs everywhere.

And now they have their own blog.