By Walter Wasacz
For fans of music, or fans of vibrant community life or fans of unseasonably warm late winter weather, they all had one thing in common last weekend: the Hamtramck Blowout, a mega-fest held in the city for the past 13 years in various bars, clubs and social halls.
In terms of overall quality, this four-day party was arguably one of the best — and that’s saying something considering previous events sponsored by alternative weekly the Metro Times featured performances by Eminem, White Stripes, Brendan Benson, The Go, Enemy Squad, the Detroit Grand Pubahs, Von Bondies, Matthew Dear and hundreds of others ambitious and obscure since 1998.
It wasn’t just spotty quality here and there; it was consistently solid across the board, with few misses at the 15 venues in the city and at the Majestic Theatre Center in Detroit, where the pre-party was held on two floors last Wednesday. There was something for almost anybody into a Detroit music vibe. Octopus, Detroit Cobras, the Sights, Cannon for heavy garage blues; Timmy’s Organism, the Friendly Foes, Black Lodge, Zoos of Berlin, the Cold Wave and Silverghost for punchy art rock jams; Dial 81, Jamie Register & the Glendales and Invincible for more urban rhythms and sounds; Detroit Threads for techno, house and all else electronic (special guests included the Detroit Techno Militia crew and Docile Records’ Andy Garcia).
It was easy to get nostalgic and misty-eyed about the past just by standing in front of the Painted Lady, the same building where Lili Karwowski once graced the punk rock nation by just being herself, no matter who were her guests: Iggy Pop, Wayne Kramer, Joe Strummer or the rest of the Clash. This modified Hamtramck vertical duplex operated as a speakeasy during prohibition, later evolving into Sam’s Cafe, the Columbia Bar and, most famously, Lili’s 21. The venue pre-dated the Blowout by two decades, and had an incredible run from the late 1970s to 2002, when Lili’s surviving sons (she died almost three years before) decided to close the business.
In its place Painted Lady has acquired an identity of its own. The paint on the walls, the lighting, the details in the back bar may be different, but something of the essence of Lili’s remains.
Last Friday, the Blueflowers were in full alt-country-psych-shoegaze form, getting rapt attention from fans leaning on the bar, against the wall in the corner near the front, seated around tables. So were the Swamp Sisters, featuring bassist-Small’s Bar co-owner and Detroit News scribe Melody Baetens (who lives in Hamtramck, by the way, and is one of the city’s biggest advocates in print and news media).
Baker’s Streetcar Bar — a name which celebrates the transit line that once connected Hamtramck and downtown Detroit by rail — hosted Bloodbird, a band featuring the talents of Michael Segal, who played guitar with the under-appreciated Majesty Crush a solid 20 years ago, and has since been active as a graphics artist of local and national renown. It should also be noted that Segal lived in Hamtramck at the time as did two of his bandmates (Odell Nails and David Stroughter).
At the Gates of Columbus, Black Lodge entertained by borrowing styles from an earlier era. Glammy traces of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie were blended with darker tones, musical and verbal, of Manchester groups like the Fall and Joy Division. The band played lean, mean and grim, but was still evidently having lots of fun: the singer engaging the crowd by jumping into it, dancing with the girls up front then inviting friends like Troy Gregory (the Witches, Dirtbombs) to join the writhing mass of bodies onstage.
Final attendance numbers weren’t available nearly a week after the event, but who’s counting? People got what they came for, crowds were well behaved inside and outside (according to police, no arrests or serious incidents were reported) and Hamtramck came away looking great once again, ready to blow it all out for a 14th time come next March. That’s consistency. Sounds like fun already.

Who she is: Deb Nevinski, recently retired Administrative Assistant for Community & Economic Development for the City of Hamtramck

You recently retired from working for the City of Hamtramck. What was your last day? And do you remember your first day worked?
Well, my last day worked was Jan. 29. I started work with the City on Oct. 29 of 1973 — 36 years ago.

You ended up as the Secretary for the Economic Development Department. What other position(s) did you previously hold?
I started off in an entry-level position in the Housing Code Department in ‘73. From there, I went to the Controller’s Office as clerical and reception. After that, I went over to the Hamtramck Public Library, again in a clerical capacity. There were actually two of us doing more or less the same job.

What types of work did you do at the library?
In addition to the usual clerical work, I worked the information desk, and regularly cataloged books. I even did some in-depth research for patrons.

And from there?
Back to the Controller’s Office a second time. This was in the late 70s, and working with a 70s computer system. We had four keypunch machines and two verifying machines between a staff of four total. After that, I was on to the Department of Public Works, where I did payroll for the 80- to 90-person DPW staff. This is when the DPW was located on Buffalo Street, in a building that’s now a charter school.

That’s a lot of bouncing around!
Well, then came the layoffs, and I was off from between 1979 and ‘82. In the interim, I worked for HELM in Highland Park. When I was called back to Hamtramck, it was for the library again, and in the exact same capacity as before. I then moved to the Treasurer’s Office as a cashier; the Assessor’s Office; and on to Payroll, which was a promotion. By this time, there was a more advanced computer system than when I did payroll back at the DPW.

Where are we at timeline-wise by now?
This was now around 1988-89. In 1990, I became the Junior Accountant for the Community & Economic Development Department, which later became titled Administrative Assistant.

So, having been with the City for so long a time, you’ve seen a few changes of the past administrations in Hamtramck?
When I first came in, it was near the end of (Mayor) Raymond Wojtowicz’s term. Then there was (Mayor) Albert J. Zak’s second term — he died in office. Kozerski, Kozaren; things moved pretty smoothly during these years; Mr. Kozaren was in office for 18 years altogether. Then on down through (Mayor) Gary Zych, (Mayor) Tom Jankowski and on to (Mayor) Karen Majewski.

From 2000 to 2007, the City was in receivership. Louis Schimmel was sent down by Lansing to help sort out the budget. What do you recall about this recent time?
Before Mr. Schimmel came in, I worked primarily with a single boss — first Jerry Dettloff for eight years, and then Bill Cheff. Mr. Schimmel then put a different director in place.

Any interesting tidbits or odd general recollections?
In the 70s, I worked on one of those old-time switchboards over in City Hall — just like the Lily Tomlin character from Laugh In! Later on, at the Library, the Director Bea Adamski had all the student help call me “Mrs. Debbie.” I was only in my 20s myself, but it made me feel old at the time! (laughs). Also, in the later years, I got to feeling like the city’s historian — with so many new faces around, people sometimes looked to me for that, as someone who had been around for that long.

What are you doing with yourself these days?
I haven’t really made any grand future plans. To tell you the truth, I wish I’d have had a bit longer to stay — I had enough time in to retire several years before this, actually, with 27 vetted years in — but they added a couple more years to the severance package and it was just time. I could’ve used a small U-Haul truck to have cleaned out my office, so much stuff had accumulated, knick knacks and plants and so forth. Now I’m just plotting out some house projects.

So would you do it all over again?
Oh, my, yes. I enjoyed it, I really did. I do want to also say, in closing, that I especially miss all my coworkers, and the many acquaintances I’ve met down through the years.

Click on this link to see a fabulous set of videos by Carleton Gholz.

Here are some photo highlights from The 2010 Metrotimes Blowout by Walter Wasacz, Charles Sercombe and Ian Perrotta.