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Two amazing award winning singer-songwriters Antje Duvekot of Boston, MA and Barb Barton of Lansing, MI use their voices and platforms to help keep us from forgetting the  poisoned children of Flint, Michigan.

The Flint Water Crisis has captured the attention of songwriters across America. Many songwriters have written about the government's failures in creating the drinking water tragedy in Flint.

The Flint water crisis has resulted in dozens of deaths as well as the poisoning of children an adults.  The water crisis was was discovered in 2015 and still not fully resolved. People in the Flint area express distrust of both their government and the drinking water.

Antje Duvekot wrote and performs her song Flint, Michigan. This beautiful folk song speaks to the gaslighting of the government in failing to take immediate action when the foul water was first discovered by Flint residents.

Antje is a German born Folk singer who lives in the Boston area. She is a highly accomplished songwriter and has performed at the Newport Folk Festival, one of the world’s most renown folk festivals. Antje has won top songwriting awards for her craft including:

• Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition,
• The prestigious, Kerrville (TX) "Best New Folk Award" and in one of the nation's top music markets,
• The Boston Music Award for "Outstanding Folk Act", three of the top prizes in the singer songwriter world.

Duvekot's latest album, Toward the Thunder, is her fourth full-length studio album featuring 11 tracks. In 2007, Duvekot's song "Merry-Go-Round" was featured a large-scale marketing campaign for Bank of America. The song was included in a high-profile spot during Super Bowl XLI.

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Barb Barton is a Lansing-based folk singer-songwriter.  The recording of her song “Water” was captured on video and is the focus of this podcast episode.  Barb arranged for a Flint community choir, Cho’zen, directed by Albert Strickland to participate in recording the song. The result is a magnificent and moving testament to the unity that only a community emergency brings about.

The filming of  the song “Water” was then followed by the production of a documentary movie by the same name. The movie focused on the efforts to help the victims of this horrible crisis.

Barb Barton founded “Love From Lansing”, a charitable group in Lansing, Michigan. Love from Lansing, sent volunteers to help distribute water and diapers to the people of the City of Flint during the Flint Water Crisis.

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Kate Garns is a national motivational & leadership speaker, Disney Performer and author. Kate works with student government leaders across the nation about self talk and leadership using motivational themes.

Garns has Flint roots as her family is from the Flint area.  She discusses the pursuit of her career in entertainment and public speaking.

Kate's message to young people of America is inspiring and convincing.  More importantly she speaks to values based lessons that are not just good medicine for the younger generation but for all generations.

More specifically Kate  specializes in self- talk. She helps show teens how to find their worth and value when nobody shows up to tell them that they are worthy or valuable.

Garns shares her own story of being told she was not good enough to be a performer at one of the worlds top tourist destinations where she eventually became a gladiator.

Kate shows teens how to overcome obstacles and have personal success, not because anyone saved her, but because she chose to save herself.  In her recent book, "Mix Tape: How To Stop Listening To The Recordings Of Your Past,"  Kate also discusses her speaking themes during this podcast interview.

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• You can find a copy of her book Mix Tape: How to Stop Listening to the Recordings of Your Past" at Amazon Books:
• For more information about Kate Garns and her work visit her website: http://www.kategarnes.com/
• View a sample the motivational talks of Kate by visiting YouTube:  https://youtu.be/lHyAmfU5mUA   #kategarns #motivationalspeaker #disneyperformer

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

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The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Marty Embry is a legendary basketball player, whose teams at Flint Central High School won two Class A Michigan High School basketball titles.

Marty Embry played at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. His teams played in three NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments, as well as an NIT college post-season tournament.

Marty was an NBA 3rd-round draft pick of the Utah Jazz and went on to play 13 seasons of professional basketball.

Notably, Marty has published 13 books.  His works include 8 cookbooks, a self-help book (Diary of a Depressive), 2 books of quotes, 3 poetry books, and several novels that are amazing!

Embry describes himself as a serial entrepreneur.  He credits his upbringing in Flint, Michigan for the grit and determination, and will to win that made him a success in basketball and life.  His story is nothing short of inspiring.

Flint, Michigan has a reputation for fabulous basketball players and Marty Embry is one of the reasons why.

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See the list of 13 books Marty Embry authored by visiting:

• Amazon Books
• The Author's Den

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#flintcentralbasketball #flintstones #depaulbasketball

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Gregory Fournier, author of The Purple Gang: Detroit’s Kosher Nostra, joins the podcast to explore the rise and fall of one of America’s most notorious Prohibition-era crime syndicates.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Detroit’s Purple Gang—led by the Bernstein brothers—sat atop Michigan’s criminal underworld, controlling bootlegging, rackets, and labor intimidation while doing business with figures like Al Capone. Though later eclipsed by the Mafia in Detroit, the Purple Gang left an outsized mark on American crime history and popular culture, appearing in books, films, and even Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.”

This episode traces the gang’s meteoric ascent, their operations throughout northern Michigan—including hideouts in Lupton, Clare, and Roscommon—and their ultimate collapse under the weight of internal violence and unchecked ambition. It is a concise historical examination of power, mythmaking, and self-destruction in America’s criminal past.

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Visit author Gregory Fournier's website and find all of his true crime books.
Order The Elusive Purple Gang by author Gregory Fournier. #purplegang #jailhouserock #alcapone

Join us on The Mitten Channel on Substack.

Subscribe at the Free tier for regular investigative essays and updates.

Or choose the Premium tier for deeper analysis, forensic breakdowns, and exclusive content for paid subscribers.

Visit TheMittenChannel.Substack.com and choose your tier today.

The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Flint, Michigan's Buick City brownfield site does not have just a little bit of toxic chemicals left behind by GM, there appears to be a massive amount of environmental damage.

As the Flint water crisis, the real story is not out there just yet about the Buick City brownfield site. More is learned each year about the extent of the damage. The Buick City site appears to be a crime scene.

Remember there have already been millions and millions of EPA Super Fund dollars spent to clean the site up. While General Motors (GM) can claim bankruptcy and walk away from Flint without financial liabilities, the criminal laws do not afford the same protections from those who poisoned the environment in the City of Flint.

In 2018,  according to the Flint Journal, testing at the Buick City site revealed PFAS in the City of Flint storm water drain system.  That drain system feeds into the Flint River. PFAS is a chemical known to cause cancer.

Efforts to repurpose the massive brownfield have been evolving at a snail's pace.  There have been some companies willing to take a chance on the massive industrial site.  Time will tell exactly what price the community will pay for the massive recklessness of GM in the handling of substances that affect human health.  But it is a reasonable bet that the groundwater around that industrial site will never be used as drinking water.

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For more on the GM Buick City brownfield pollution story please visit our website's Featured Blog Post " GM's Legacy to Flint: A Toxic Brownfield & Polluted Flint River"

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• Special Thanks to Colton Ort who provided the song, The Flint River Blues.  Colton is a singer-songwriter who wrote this song to help keep the poisoned children of Flint from being forgotten.
• Watch a YouTube video interview with Colton Ort with Radio Free Flint

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#flintwatercrisis #radiofreeflint. #pfas

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/radiofreeflint/message  

  #flintwatercrisis #radiofreeflint. #pfas

The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

The Flint River Blues is one of many songs written about the Flint Water Crisis.

Colton Ort, a singer-songwriter documents for history the lead-tainted water of Flint. He discussed his song and the message he is trying to send. lead-tainted

• Special Thanks to Colton Ort who provided the song, The Flint River Blues.  Colton is a singer-songwriter who wrote this song to help keep the poisoned children of Flint from being forgotten.
• Watch a YouTube video interview with Colton Ort with Radio Free Flint
• To learn more about Colton Ort and his music visit his Facebook Page

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#radiofreeflint #flintwatercrisis #coltonort

The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

A true crime story about fratricide.  The killing involves fraternal twins.  One twin, David Melfi along with a friend helped kill the other twin by stabbing him 45 times.  It is a shocking crime.  The Prosecutor in the case, Arthur A. Busch narrates the case from his vantage point.  This is a riveting story.  It remained in the local news for nearly two years from the time of the crime in 1995 until the sentencing in 1997.

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Read the news article about the resentencing of David Melfi:

The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Singer-Songwriter Justin Townes Earle was a Nashville, Tennessee native who understood Flint, Michigan perfectly.

Justin never played a gig in Flint, but he was eager to find his way to a stage in the Flint area. He died before he had his opportunity.

Townes-Earle penned the song “Flint City Shake” that encapsulates the history and importance of Flint, Michigan to America.  The people of the City of Flint lost a great advocate in Justin Townes Earle. He stood up for working-class America and for social and economic justice.

Townes-Earle understood what the people of Flint gave to America over the decades, and his words are a great tribute to Flint’s legacy. Justin Townes Earle was a singer, musician, entertainer, and music historian.

Below are a few of the lyrics to “Flint City Shake It” to demonstrate what Townes-Earle knew about the people of Flint.

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• Special thanks to singer-songwriter Rachel Cole of Nashville, TN for granting permission to use her song "Rugged Road".
• Read Radio Free Flint Blog Post about Justin Townes Earle
• Justin Earle's  music is available at his legacy website:
• Watch Justin Townes-Earle perform his song "Flint City Shake It"

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Lyrics Written by: Justin Townes Earle

Detroit rock, baby that's a fact

If anybody says different, better get back Jack

Well, you've gotta be tough but there's a good time to be had

I'd like to think everybody here knows that

So let's talk about a place that you might not know  Just a little further on up the road

Well you know about meat, baby, let's get down to the bones

Tell you 'bout a place that really made America roll

Flint City shake it (Flint City shake it) Flint City shake it (Flint City shake it)

Let 'em all know (let 'em all know) Let 'em all know (let 'em all know)

Detroit rock but Flint City roll

Now the truth is, we ain't what we used to be

Whole lotta trouble come to our streets

The only one to blame is GMC

If you don't know, baby, let me tell you how

I mean we built Buick cars, GM trucks Chevy engines, AC sparkplugs

Built planes for the war back in '41

Every piece straight from the ground on up

Then trouble comes in '86

With this son of a bitch named Roger Smith

Cut our throat with a stroke of a fountain pen

We're knocked down but we're gonna get up again

Flint City shake it (Flint City shake it) Flint City shake it (Flint City shake it)

Let 'em all know (let 'em all know) Let 'em all know (let 'em all know)

Detroit rock but Flint City roll (roll)

Well, there ain't no work, and everybody's hurtin'

It's been that way for a while

They ain't got us licked just yet

Flint City knows how to have a good time

Well, we might be poor and we might be rough

We're just good people down on our luck

And you know it seems nobody cares about us

We just ain't the kind to give up

Flint City shake it (Flint City shake it) Flint City shake it (Flint City shake it)

Let 'em all know (let 'em all know) Let 'em all know (let 'em all know)

Detroit rock but Flint City roll (roll)

Detroit rock but Flint City roll

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Safetyville, Flint Michigan has a very special place in the hearts of many baby boomers in the Flint Area.

This podcast narrative by Arthur Busch recalls the Safetyville of the 1960s in Flint, Michigan.

The podcast episode has a brief interview with powered car expert, Lee Exline, on the cars driven by Safetyville. He was the man who bought the cars we drove in our youth.

STOP-LOOK-LISTEN remember that lesson? Many Flint children growing up in Flint received their first driver's license at Safetyville-Flint.

Safetyville, USA Flint was located at Kearsley Park. The powered cars were actually vintage replicas of the Ford T-Bird and just for good measure, there were a few Corvettes.

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Listen to this Podcast Episode for more about Safetyville. There is also a second podcast episode about Safetyville on this website.

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More on Safetyville, Flint, Michigan at My City Magazine: http://www.mycitymag.com/safetyville-usa/

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 #flintmichigan #safetyville. #kearsleypark #schoolsafety #trafficsafety

The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Mark Parsells' stories of the history of radio and television advertising in Mid-Michigan are full of humor. Mark's late father, Vern Parsell, was a pioneering Flint area automobile dealer.

Mark Parsell got the grit and determination in Flint that he needed to launch a second career in the recording business in Memphis, TN.

Parsell, a Flint-area native, operates South Main Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. His studio attracts recording artists from across the globe. He is also known as the "Mayor" of South Main.

In the podcast interview, Mark reveals himself as a "chip off the old block," with his father's flair for promotion.   Entertaining, Mark Parsell provides insights into a side of television advertising the viewers never see.

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Learn more about South Main Sounds in Memphis, Tn by visiting Mark Parsell's website.

The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.