Since my last post on Friday we’ve attended and posted photos and coverage of the Detroit Music Awards and Bordines Fiesta of Color Spring Exposition. Near opposites in event and attendee style, both of these were fun happenings and we took a lot of extremely colorful photos of the Detroit music scene, rock stars, and spring flowers. If you like vibrant photorealism and a rock fan with our business card in her mouth, you ought to go check out these two events; look in the Recent Events area on the home page or the “Events > Recent Events” drop-down menu.

We’ve also been busy adding upgrades to the website. We’ve successfully installed lightbox windowing capability for displaying press releases and similar types of content. In fact, two press releases have just been added for this Friday’s Detroit Area Art Deco Society's (DAADS) Michigan Modernism Exhibition Preview Party and for the 18th annual Michigan International Women’s Show, which begins May 2nd and runs through the 5th. The press releases can be viewed in the Upcoming Events area at the bottom of our home page or under the Events>Upcoming Events drop-down menu.

The DAADS Preview Party tickets are $65 in advance and can be purchased now at www.daads.org or by calling 248-582-3326. Attendees will be able to get early access to purchasing collectibles and fine arts as well as enjoying complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres. Proceeds from the preview party will benefit the DAADS scholarship. Since 2000, the DAADS has been able to provide Eastern Michigan University’s historic preservation students an opportunity to study 20th Century architects, building materials and architecture. Check out the press release for more information. On Saturday and Sunday the Modernism Exposition is open to the public.

The Michigan International Women’s show at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi features “realty show stars, shopping, cooking, fashion shows, makeovers and hundreds of exhibitors displaying cosmetics, fragrances, lingerie, purses, shoes, gifts, décor items, food, fashion, accessories, travel information, arts and crafts, and more.” There is a huge amount of show information in the press release to help you make plans for that weekend, so try out our new lightbox feature and read it!

We’ll keep upgrading the website, adding coverage, and improving your experience. We have quite a few things in the pipeline, both short-term and long-term, and I hope some of them prove both surprising and interesting to you. So keep checking back. 

Wow, it’s been an intense two weeks since my last blog post here at Detroit Metro Mashup. First, let me thank everyone who has come to detroitmm.com and checked out our coverage and all of you who have “liked” us on Facebook and told your friends. It’s been two weeks since my last post because we have covered so many events, and this is going to be a short one because we’re off to cover the Detroit Music Awards at the Fillmore Theater (formerly the State) in Detroit this evening.

During the past two weeks, in addition to refining the website, updating our techniques, getting some new equipment, and trying to find time to eat and sleep, we’ve photographed and reported on the Pontiac DIA Inside | Out, the Detroit Art Deco Society’s Peacock Room Bubble Bar, the Goldner Walsh William Cowger gallery exhibit, the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition Spring Flea Market, the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism, and Culture Lab Detroit! Everything is up on the website except the Culture Lab Conversation and we’ll get both this and the Music Awards coverage up during this weekend. So check back.

We haven’t been to the Detroit Music Awards in a few years and we are really stoked about getting to cover it for Detroit Metro Mashup. It is always a hugely intense event, frequented by the cream of metro Detroit’s crop of fabulous musicians. Motown made Detroit famous for music and the quality of the musicians since that time has not diminished. Rather the range of high quality music has expanded, with everything from R&B, rock, and pop at our roots to techno, hip-hop and rap, exploding in the Detroit culture and putting the D back on the musical map. The arts are vibrant and alive in Detroit and the music is no exception.

I’ve got to wrap this up and get to the Awards, but I’ll try to write more, sooner, as much as I can!

For more information about the Detroit Music Awards go to http://www.detroitmusicawards.com.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster via Live Nation. Prices for remaining tickets range from $29 to $35.

The Doors open at 6:00 PM and the show begins at 7:00 PM.