On Hand

The Palisades nuclear plant is in Michigan, right on the shore of Lake Michigan, just south of South Haven. It stopped operations in 2022. The company that was in charge of decommissioning Palisades has decided instead to try to reopen it. The goal is to reopen sometime this fall. But after a meeting last week with the nuclear regulatory commission, that timeline is a little bit in question.

GUEST:

Dustin Dwyer, reporter, Michigan Public

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Do you feel like you're emotionally frozen this month? Are the endless Michigan gray days weighing on you? Or maybe your misgivings about true love, success and renewal are coming out again.

Whatever the gloomy feeling, it means it's probably time to put on Frontier Ruckus' On the Northline (released in Feb. 2024). 

Today, we're revisiting the in-studio conversation and performance with Michigan’s own Frontier Ruckus.

Matthew Milia, lead vocalist, says the key to art is making it specific.

"It's seen in the best literature in filmmaking," Milia said. "Like the more specific you can be, somehow people out there can do their own like interior translation, and it actually makes the universal amplified within those specifics."

The band isn't always in a hurry to release more albums. That's because they see themselves as friends first. But, as Milia points out, their albums provide both a light into their lives at the time and the music industry of the time.

"[The music industry has] unrecognizably changed, especially post-pandemic," Milia said. "But, like looking back at every record, it came out in a different music industry climate."

GUESTS:

• Matthew Milia, lead vocals and multi-instrumentalist
• David W. Jones, banjo player and vocals

• Zachary Nichols, multi-instrumentalist

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fans all over the world have been following the Detroit Lions as they make history. That includes viewers from the UK, including Matthew Turner and Anthony Fitzpatrick.

The two fans, along with five other UK-based co-hosts, produce Roar of the Lions UK, a podcast featuring seven Detroit Lions fans from the UK. They joined Stateside to share how they became fans of American football, and their thoughts on the team's historic season.

GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:

• Matthew Turner, co-host of the Roar of the Lions UK podcast

• Anthony Fitzpatrick, co-host of the Roar of the Lions UK podcast

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a series of increases in minimum wages coming for tipped workers in Michigan. Some restaurant owners are worried what will happen to their businesses if they have to raise prices on the menu to cover the increase for their staff.

GUEST:

Gricelda Mata, owner of Lindo Mexico Restaurante in Grand Rapids

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We walk the showroom floor at the Detroit Auto Show, and catch up with the City of Detroit's official historian, Jamon Jordan, about the history of the Auto Show dating back to 1899.

GUEST:

Jamon Jordan, official historian, City of Detroit

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What a time to be a Detroit sports fan! The Lions are on their way in the playoffs. The Pistons just cleared .500. And the Red Wings? It’s been a long time since the team was swigging from the Stanley Cup. But things seem to be looking up, after some changes in the Wings’ coaching staff, and the team has shown much-needed new energy. We talked to Helene St. James, who covers the Red Wings for the Detroit Free Press, about how the team's new coach Todd McClelland seems to be turning things around. 

GUEST: 

Helene St. James, journalist covering the Red Wings for the Detroit Free Press 

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you love "The Moth" you'll want to listen to this hour of storytelling from Detroit's StoryFest, recorded at the Detroit Film Theater last Fall. Thanks to StoryFest producers and organizers - Tay Glass, McArdle Hankin, and Ellison Libiran.

STORYTELLERS (in order):

- Laura Weber Davis
- Bryce Huffman
- Samuel L. Jackson with "The Pelican" (Produced in collaboration with KALW's Uncuffed. Edited by Ryan Pagan)
- Shannon Cason
- Dame Wilburn

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In the fervent years of the 1970s, a group of Latino and Latina students formed a collective of makers and artists at the University of Michigan. This community-minded group, La Raza, was about everything, from art to history and movement.

Dave Choberka, curator for University Learning at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and Félix Zamora Gómez, program coordinator with the university’s Arts Initiative, display these works in an exhibition titled La Raza Art and Media Collective, 1975 – Today.

The contents of the display, which runs until July 20, 2025, include poems, artwork, gallery proofs and journal editions that discuss Chicano and Latino representation in the media and contain experimental visual art. According to Choberka, these editions marked the evolution and history of the organization.

GUESTS:

• Dave Choberka, Mellon Foundation curator for university learning at the University of Michigan Museum of Arts

• Félix Zamora-Gómez, program coordinator for engagement, U-M Arts Initiative

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Detroit Auto show, and the auto industry overall, has seen a lot of change since the pandemic. This year, the show has returned to its original January schedule after a few slow years when the event was held in late summer.

Longtime autos reporter Phoebe Wall Howard provided some inside perspective on the 2025 Detroit Auto Show, what it means to generations of folks who have attended, and what companies and dealers anticipate in the coming year. 

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The cabins scattered throughout the Porcupine Mountains each holds a logbook for guests to complete. Since the 1940s, parks staff have collected about 200 completed books full of decades of stories.

Special thanks to John Carlisle and Ryan Garza of The Detroit Free Press for their coverage of the Porcupine Mountains' logbooks.

GUEST:

Katie Urban, Park Interpreter for the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way.

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.