- Hi, I'm Satori Shakoor, and here's what's coming up on One Detroit Arts and Culture.

A celebration of garage rock punk, a look at Detroit's fashion industry, a traveling Ukrainian multi-instrumentalist and get ready to groove.

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(upbeat music) - Hi, and welcome to One Detroit Arts and Culture.

I'm your host Satori Shakoor.

Thanks for joining me here at Janice Charach gallery.

This gallery is located inside the Jewish Cultural Center in west Bloomfield.

They curate exhibitions to promote works of fine art created by Jewish, and non-Jewish artists.

Coming up on the show, how Detroit's fashion industry has the potential to flourish.

A Ukrainian musician traveling around the country to spread the word about Ukrainian culture.

And we'll end with a performance by Aaron Lewys.

But first the Detroit All Star Garage Rock Punk review started in 2017.

It was a celebration of Detroit's rich history of independent punk rock from the late '70s and '80s to now.

The review is back for its fourth year after missing two years due to COVID.

And this time it has expanded into a two day music festival taking place at the Cadieux Cafe.

The festival features a wide selection of bands from across four decades of Detroit punk, indie and garage rock.

Iconic radio DJ Michael Halloran will host the show.

One Detroit's Chris Jordan caught up with the show's organizer Smitt E. Smitty, as well as Michael Halloron and musician Gary Richrath of suicide, to talk about the Fest.

(rock guitar music playing) - ♪ Hey - [Chris] The Detroit All Star Garage Rock Punk review.

A celebration of the underground side of Detroit music.

After two years off due to COVID, the event is back and bigger than ever.

As a weekend festival at the Cadieux Cafe.

The event is organized by musicians Smitt E. Smitty of Detroit's Figures on a Beach and will be hosted by radio icon and former WDET radios and motion host Michael Halloron.

- There is no music scene that even comes close to what the Detroit music scene is.

It's like, you know, and I've been around the world and visited every city, Detroit without any question is the number one music scene on the planet.

Everybody else is fighting for second place.

I am so lucky and fortunate to have been raised in Detroit during that, you know, late '50's all through the '60's, '70's, '80's.

The Detroit scene was like off the charts.

- Detroit was always on the map because of its music scene but the Detroit bands that were existing at the time were completely radically different.

I think, than what was happening in Cleveland with the Dead Boys in Chicago.

- Detroit has kind of a brand on it.

We can be raw, hard compelling rock and roll, over the top sometimes.

And that punk rock scene then was was surely all of that, but it was even more.

- I was listening to an interview that Barry Gordy gave when he was talking about why Motown songs sounded the way they did.

And it's because when he was working in the factories there was something about the stamping, you know, the big machines that were doing all this work that had a rhythm that got stuck in his head.

Which basically became that whole boxer beat four on the floor.

You know, pat, pat, and pat, pat, pat.

Richie our drummer in the plugs worked at Gear and Axle.

So as the drummer and hearing, you know, 'kong, kong, kong' you have this a rhythmic thing.

So when you form a band, you're going to have a a thing that is in your life that basically drives your soul.

And with Richie, it was that factory type thing.

And I don't wanna say it's industrial but it was really just hard hitting.

- Industry, blue collar, hard working it's that kind of energy.

And I don't know, just sort of the, the rock and roll ethic.

The MC5 and the Stooges anywhere but Michigan and they're not happening.

- And that's in essence, why Radios in Motion was born.

A lot of these bands from back in the day I tried to play on the radio as much as possible.

They were the people that were making Detroit cool and different.

It was a point of pride with me that Detroit had not stopped when Motown moved.

(Rock music playing - the Vertical Pillows) - [Chris] It is this underground music history that will be celebrated on August 19th and 20th on the outdoor stage at the Cadieux Cafe with a lineup of bands spanning four decades of Detroit punk rock and Indie music.

- The first one was really was a celebration.

I didn't really have anything in mind other than getting a bunch of old school friends of mine from back in the punk days, late '70's, '80's and the moment we decided we were gonna do a second one it was kind of like, okay, well we did the one where we had mostly the old guard.

Now I really want to go after some of the new and young bands that are happening in the Detroit music scene.

- You kind of realize that that thread that started in the early scene, you know Mutants, Coldcock, R.U.R., Sin Acidez were kind of like the beginning of a thread to me that we were able to attach ourselves on and then slowly moved out.

And then other bands came along, Vertical Pillows, but that thread just keeps going.

Sometimes it gets super thin.

Sometimes it gets fattened up.

- There's always, you know, somebody stepping up and going, Hey, I've got something to say too.

And I think Smitty and I know myself, we're of the mind, And it's like, yeah, let's hear what you have to say.

Yes, yes, yes.

More, more, more.

- There's a total, hold on to your seat.

A total of 21 bands.

- It is eclectic.

I mean, you've got folky influence like Audra Kubat or, you know, you have on the other end the Amino Acids, which is kind of like this kind of compelling punk surf band You've got the 3D Invisibles, you know, and then then flipping over, you've got Nikki Corvette.

- It's not an all star show if it doesn't have Sin Acidez.

And of course, everyone knows Mary Cobra from the Detroit Cobras and with the passing of Rachel Nagy it was kind of like, oh geez, you know, Mary people love you.

They wanna see you perform, you know, what are you doing?

And then she told me about her band Gigi and, you know Gigi, they may have only done like one, maybe two performances.

So they're like brand new.

And so she said, okay, Smitty, if Gigi's gonna do it I wanna see Sugar Tradition on this spill.

I wanna see Billy Swives & His Operatives on this spill.

I wanna see Warhorses, the Hourlies - Smitty's in a couple of the bands.

He's got Little Boy Lost and - Smitty E Smitty & the Feztones that leans more into my like the art school guy starting a bit.

And I probably have more in common with like Sparks and the B-52s and Devo.

Because there is definitely an art element.

- If you look at all of these, this list of bands, I think one of the most important things about it is the School of Rock in Farmington.

To me, I wanna see the new generation the Farmington Hill School of Rock band will produce one member.

We don't know who it is.

I don't know who it is.

Nobody knows who it is.

Who's gonna go on and revolutionize the way music is done?

And it's the new Prince.

It's the new, you know, St. Vincent, it's the, whatever it is, because that's what that's where it comes from the youth, the youth of America.

- This is like, Detroit's finest.

Whether they've been around forever or just, you know popped up within the last year or two.

If you don't, even if you don't know, 90%, oh, even if you don't know a 100% of the bands that are on the bill, it's going to blow you away.

I mean, this is like, oh, this came from Detroit.

You know, this, this isn't from LA.

This isn't from London.

This isn't from New York.

And it's like, no, this is all Detroit (Rock music playing) - ♪ Now I want, real, No.

Now I want, real, No.

Now I want, real, No.♪ - The Detroit All Star Garage Rock Punk review is being held this Friday and Saturday August 19th and 20th at Cadieux Cafe.

Next up, when we think of fashion hubs in the world New York, Milan and LA are all cities that come to mind.

But what about our city?

Detroit has the makings of being a top player in the fashion industry.

One Detroit's Will Glover, sat down with Detroit based fashion label, Deviate to discuss how Detroit can become a major focus in design.

(Indie music playing) - The word was fashion.

You said it has a bad connotation.

Why is that?

What frustrates you about it and what is being missed when people, you know, have that perspective on it?

- Yeah.

I think, I think in some settings it has a negative connotation where there isn't a level of seriousness that comes with the industry.

It's a giant industry, and design there's so many different avenues.

There's manufacturing, product design, retail.

There's the creative direction that goes into it.

I mean, there's just so many opportunities.

It's a giant industry.

And I think when people think of fashion, they, you know they think of the sensationalized portions that maybe don't necessarily scream business but fashion is a giant business.

And I think I think it would really benefit the city to take it seriously in terms of being the future of it of the city, where an industry can really develop and flourish and where we can push boundaries in the national global industry.

Detroit can be a major player.

It should be a major player.

We have the infrastructure here for manufacturing.

We have a skilled workforce, we have super creative talent.

We need to bring it all together and really take it seriously as a fashion industry hub.

- How, how is business going?

Are you doing well?

Is there anything that you guys currently need that could help you expand?

Is it a tough environment because you're here in Michigan?

What is, what is this outlook?

What kind of things are you navigating?

- The fashion industry specifically is an antiquated industry.

There's a lot of notorious characteristics in terms of exclusivity and not really being an industry that you know, the majority of the population can participate in.

Whether it's, you know, unaffordable prices or gatekeepers or whatever it may be.

It's an industry that is not easy to participate in.

And so I think being based in Detroit Michigan is our greatest strength and our greatest weakness at the same time.

So I think it's interesting that we're able to participate in it from a city that a lot of people don't in the external industry don't necessarily see Detroit as a fashion city.

Even though we know it here, it's been here we're a creative community, we're a hyper creative city but that perspective isn't necessarily shared outside of Michigan.

And so when we're able to say we're a Detroit based brand that gets people's attention and they wonder, you know, how are you operating there?

How is it different than the rest of the industry?

And that helps us a lot.

I think because it's, you know, an immediate icebreaker.

It actually gets us a lot of conversations we'll cold DM people on Instagram and they're interested because we're different in that way cuz we 'deviate' in that way.

- [Will] laughing - But I think it's also really difficult too.

It for sure comes with its challenges we're obviously removed from a lot of the larger industry, you know, hub like New York or LA.

(Indie music playing) - What about New York, Los Angeles makes these places able to be a fashion hub that we don't have here?

- I think that just the way that the mindset is of like you leave Detroit and you go to New York to like build your business like that's kind of what people think already is like, oh I can like get educated here or I'll go to school in New York, but I'm gonna stay there after and like build my network there.

And then one day come back and have a family here.

But if we had the resources and all these things that we've been talking about in this conversation and like there, there are so many people creatives who are, who are entrepreneurs.

Like they're like, you know, grinding and like living off of like, not enough money, you know, to live their dream.

But it's like without those resources and stuff here like we can all keep working towards these things.

But it's like without the glue to like connect everyone the resources, the pipeline, then it's like people are gonna leave and they're gonna go think that they need to do that in New York and then come back here eventually.

Whereas if we had that infrastructure they could do it here and stay here.

- Do you think, do you see your cohort coming here?

What would get them on board?

- Yeah, we actually say this to everyone we meet in New York.

We're always like you gotta come visit us come to Detroit, come to Michigan.

And actually a lot of people are interested by it or they'll say, oh, I've been there.

I haven't been there in a while.

I heard that there's a lot going on and like that's kind of, you know, but we actually are bringing people here and showing them around.

And I think that's another big thing that we should probably invest more time and effort in.

You know really if the fashion industry is something we wanna take seriously, I think, you know, we should.

But if that is decided I think we seriously need to think about the gatekeepers or those in the larger industry that can you know, help the city get to the next level and plug-in and bring them here and show them all these things that are going on.

You know, show them the industry club fashion design industry club, working with, you know, youth helping them get internships at Carhart and product design collaborations with fortune 500 brands.

And let's show them, you know the brands that are here making it and you know showcasing their work in New York fashion week.

Let's show them the the schools that are here, the workforce that's here all the infrastructure that's here.

And, and just ultimately the opportunity.

Fashion's looking to be, you know, more inclusive.

Fashion's looking to grow and be pushed in new boundaries just given the climate and everything that's happened over the last couple of years.

So let's be that solution.

Let's do it!

But we need to take us seriously make a deliberate decision to do so.

And then bring those people here, show off what we're doing in a really meaningful way.

- Traveling musician, Jurij Fedynskyj is an American born Ukrainian who recently left his war torn country with his family.

He made his way across the East Coast and Midwest explaining Ukraine's music culture, and his fight to keep both from becoming a casualty of the Russian Ukraine war.

One Detroit's Bill Kubota has his story from Hamtramck (Jurij playing music and singing in Ukranian) - [Bill] Jurij Fedynskyj on tour, a Ukrainian storyteller here from the Battlefront back in June, his one man show came to the Book Suey bookstore in Hamtramck.

(Jurij playing music and singing in Ukranian) - I take every invitation very seriously and try to make it out.

But these are all free events, right?

I don't charge anybody anything.

And I used to be Ukrainian American, but I'm not anymore.

Now I am a Ukrainian American Ukrainian (Jurij playing music and singing in Ukranian) - [Bill] Fedynskyj grew up in North Carolina, but immigrated to Ukraine years ago.

When the Russians attacked in February he sent his Ukrainian wife and poor kids to the U.S.

But he stayed as bombs fell carrying on with an old tradition as a Kobzar, a modern day version.

Traveling and singing with his custom stringed instruments giving moral support to fellow Ukrainians.

(Jurij speaking Ukrainian) - I'm doing what the Kobzar did.

Basically playing a specific repertoire, which was created to keep Ukraine Ukrainian, right, to save our nation, our nationality which represents our values, who we are on a musical level on an emotional level, basically a deal in cultural diplomacy, right?

To a wandering musician who can go everywhere (Jurij playing music and singing in Ukranian) - [Bill] Early this summer Fedynskyj came in to join his family, then began his American Kobzar tour.

(Jurij playing music and singing in Ukranian) - I'm basically talking about my experience during the war.

What I do during the war as a musician reviving the lost Kobzar tradition playing national instruments, the Kobzar, Bandura and Toban.

Seeing the positive results of practicing this tradition which was destroyed in 1933 by Stalin, basically to make Ukraine a slave nation - [Bill] Fedynskyj builds these instruments himself.

He says they're easier to make than to play.

The Bandura he likens that to what we know as a Zither.

- Because the Bandura is the instrument that you don't have to press anything.

You don't have to fret.

the Kobza, you do.

- [Bill] The Torband like the others but with another set of treble strings.

- But these are sacred national Ukrainian instruments which most two Ukrainians don't know.

And how can that be?

You know, can you imagine an American seeing a guitar and saying, what is this?

(Jurij speaking Ukrainian) - [Bill] With the war on, Fedynskyj dispatches went to Facebook.

Here he and his crew of performers sheltered in the Kharkiv's subway as the city was attacked.

(speaking Ukrainian) - When Putin is sending his forces to the east right on the third month of the war we decided that's the place for us to be.

So we got in the car with me and four of my students, and we played 100s of concerts during that month, mostly on the Eastern front.

This is the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol, Zaporizhia, Odessa but also all, all points in Ukraine.

(Singing and playing instruments) - As the Blues Brothers would say, it's a mission from God.

(Jurij laughing) They went with me, you know where I told them if you don't want to go, I understand, you know you might get killed.

(Singing and playing instruments) - At one point I told them, I feel you know mortal danger, we very well may die.

And if you wanna get out that this would be a good time.

It's good that not everybody evacuated.

There's still people in the cities.

Putin wants us all to flee to go to the west and he can very simply take Ukraine and, and conquer it.

So what do you do?

It's the spirit which defends the country.

- [Bill] Now it's August, Fedynskyj is going back to Ukraine with his family too, back to live to a safe place he says.

Then he's headed to the front to serve as a Kobzar again.

- I'm convinced that they can't kill me.

There's certain convictions I have.

And this, you might consider this craziness.

It might be completely crazy.

I dunno.

Music is very serious stuff is, I think Woody Guthrie had in his guitar this instrument kills fascist and it's true.

It's true.

(Jurij playing music and singing in Ukranian) (Jurij speaking Ukranian) Eternal memories Lloyd to the heroes, thanks for letting me play (audience clapping) - For more information on all of our arts and culture stories go to our website @ONEDETROITPBS.org.

Thank you for joining me and thank you to Janice Charach gallery for having us.

The shows here change every couple of months, so be sure to check their website and head to the gallery to experience the works of art.

That's gonna do it for tonight.

And I'm going to leave you with a performance by Aaron Lewys, from Detroit Performs Live from Marygrove.

Enjoy, and I'll see you next Monday.

(music playing) - ♪ Ooh ♪ duh duh duh, da da da da I wrote this song for you girl.

I hope you like it.

It goes like this.

♪ You know, you are wasting all my time ♪ ♪ with your word play on my mind.

♪ ♪ Instead on being all talk, ♪ I think you should pack up and walk.

♪ ♪ You know, I'm tired of your games.

♪ ♪ You think you have control of my brain.

♪ ♪ I'll give you my best advice.

♪ ♪ You don't wanna pick this by fight.

♪ ♪ No, no no, no, no, no ♪ -(all singing) You think I want your love.

♪ ♪ But you're nobody I can trust.

♪ ♪ So I'm warning you just go, ♪ - go, go, get out of my life, yeah ♪ ♪ - I think you had your fun, ♪ - (all singing) but now it's time to run ♪ ♪ Don't make me say it twice ♪ - (all singing) Stop wasting my time.

♪ ♪ Stop wasting my time ♪ - Now you want me to be nice ♪ - ou, oh ♪ - Too bad you didn't get it right ♪ ♪ I don't want you in my life ♪ - I don't want you in my life ♪ ♪ - I put up with you for too long.

♪ ♪ So I bid you a farewell with this song ♪ ♪ You did your dirt when I found you in his shirt ♪ ♪ And now I wound up hurt ♪ - (all singing) You think I want your love ♪ ♪ But you're nobody I can trust ♪ ♪ - So I'm warning you just go ♪ - go, go, get outta my life, yeah ♪ ♪ - I think you had your fun ♪ - (all signing) but now it's time to run ♪ ♪ - Don't make me say it twice ♪ - (All singing) Stop wasting my time ♪ ♪ Stop wasting my time ♪ - Now you want me to be nice ♪ Too bad you didn't get it right ♪ ♪ I don't want you in my life ♪ - I don't want you in my life ♪ - [Announcer] You can find more at OneDetroitPBS.org or subscribe to our social media channels and sign up for our One Detroit newsletter.

- [Ad 1] From Delta faucets to Behr paint Masco corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco serving Michigan communities since 1929.

- [Ad 2] Support for this program is provided by the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

The Kresge foundation - [Ad 3] The DTE foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV among the state's largest foundations, committed to Michigan focused giving.

We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state visit DTEFOUNDATION.com to learn more - [Ad 4] Nissan foundation and viewers like you.

(upbeat music) (piano music)