Phillip Cooley, Slows maestro, neighborhood guy and community activist, got a nice writeup in the Detroit News. The article provides an illustration of the many things the guy is trying to push in the city, from candlelit dinners in abandoned buildings to meetings with Tony Hawk about putting a skate park outside of the train station. It’s exciting to see the state of Detroit through the eyes of Phillip, a consistent balance between fighting the good fight as the underdog but then doing the stuff on a large scale that blows people away. Detroit will succeed, and Phillip Cooley will be a part of it.

Shorpy threw up another photo. Are these still interesting? Christ, I think so.

Toby Barlow, the ace who was featured in The Farmer and the Philosopher, put together a real nice article for Under the Influence’s Detroit Issue. You can read it on Toby and Phil Cooley’s (Owner of Slow’s BBQ) blog site “Remains of the D.” They are doing some cool projects over there in the media-verse– some photography work and an upcoming fundraiser for Dai Hughes’ Astro Coffee project to go in to the Slow’s MegaMall on Michigan Avenue (the building with the star and the army’esque looking gal pointing a rifle).

They linked to a cool article from Model D about a distinguished French gentleman that thinks it is OH-SO-WISE to be investing greenbacks in Detroit. Beautiful.

Tonight! TONIGHT! TONIGHT! Ahhh, geez. Genesis always gets the best of me. But. What I was trying to say is that MOCAD is hosting a fantastic (FREE!) film screening tonight– a look at some rare arhival footage of Detroit from the Prelinger archives. The deets, my friends, are best located here.

As a little Post-Halloween celebration and segway in to November, check out this little film project. Titled “Lost in Detroit,” it shines a light on the thriving components of the city through discussions with small business owners and other people active in the community– like Phil Cooley, co-owner of Slow’s.

Speaking of film, the DL! production titled “The Farmer and the Philosopher” is finalized and the search is on for a venue to have a party. Well, a screening. Or a party. Some sort of celebration. It’ll be fun. Talks are currently underway to organize something. You should probably come. Stay tuned for more details. They will (obviously) be posted here.