Revisiting Coleman – May 16, 2023

Learn about the Coleman Young most folks never knew when legendary Free Press reporter Bill McGraw schools ML, Marc and Shawn, while Joey studies The Little Red Book.

STRAIGHT DOPE: After a stellar intro, ML surrenders and gives listener John Anderson what he wants. Some of Detroit’s best journalists were honored last night by the Detroit Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. Spoiler alert: ML was not one of them.Listen and learn whether you can be buried standing up in Detroit — and why that might not be such a good idea.

Fifty years ago, Coleman Young Sr. had to fight for a place on the ballot when he ran for mayor in 1973. Bill McGraw tells us how Young won in court – and at the polls.

Forget what you thought you knew about the 1973 election. Yes, race was an issue. But neither candidate worked to exploit racial tensions.

Bill and the crew agree the civility was something that couldn’t happen today.  

Bill compiled “The Quotations of Mayor Coleman A. Young,” also known as “The Little Red Book.” It was an inspiration for ML’s “The Kwame Sutra: Musings on Lust, Life and Leadership from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.” Bill shares some of his favorite passages.

If you’d like a copy of ML’s book, just make a donation on our website, www.mlsoulofdetroit.com   Young’s demeanor changed dramatically over his 20 years in office. Bill talks about what may have contributed to that evolution.  

Bill’s weekly “Free Press Flashback” has covered everything from (this week) Young’s first election to 100-year-old unsolved cult murders. He talks about how the finds his stories – and how graphic old-tyme journalism used to be.  

ML and Bill use a French word that makes Shawn and Marc … or are they just jealous of the polyglots among them?   ML takes his fight to restore the press room in city hall to the Detroit-Wayne Building Authority.  Read all about and watch him testify by using this link.: 

Support Bill’s work and investigative journalism and get a $5 Amazon gift card for subscribing to the Free Press by using this link.

GEEK OF THE WEEK: ML tries to be upbeat by honoring the Geck family, whose son was last week’s geek for breaking a window at Café DeMongo.

Then Marc and Shawn conspire to make him break bad and name a geek.

ROOM 7609: ML’s charm campaign includes a deeper dive into the Sisters of Mercy and Andrew Eldritch’s collaboration with Ofra Haza on “The Temple of Love.” Marc and Shawn are not impressed. FEEDBACK: Duggan, Do It in Detroit and a Bill McGraw fan checks in.

DONATE OR SPONSOR US: Make a donation at mlsoulofdetroit.com or drop us a line at [email protected] to find out how cheap and easy it is to advertise on our show!

LISTEN AND LEARN: Find out more about the podcast at <a ...