One of my most treasured former colleagues is Bill McGraw, who spent his career — virtually all of it — at the Detroit Free Press, and now, in retirement, contributes weekly flashback stories for readers who either never knew, or forgot them. This week’s was a corker:
He was an outgoing guy. He introduced himself as Tony Jones.
But Detroit police found him suspicious, with his fancy cameras, British accent and habit of jumping out of a rented orange car to shoot close-up photos of cops arresting suspected criminals. He had no current ID.
It was January 1974. Crime was a big problem in Detroit. Cops were jumpy. So they hauled him off to the old 1st (Central) Precinct, and there they discovered the truth.
His full name was Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, the Right Honourable 1st Earl of Snowdon. He was a global celebrity, the husband of Princess Margaret, the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth.
Yes, the very same. Tony Jones wasn’t really arrested, more like detained. He was in Detroit taking pictures for a Times of London assignment on the American “urban crisis.” We know Lord Snowdon as a portraitist, especially of the royal family. He did a set of Princess Diana late in her life that was really smashing, and I can’t find it now; I seem to recall her hair was wet and slicked back, and she looked amazing, but oh well. But he was also a good photojournalist, with the right instincts to get in close and be fearless.
He tried to stay Tony Jones, but the secret got out, and it got a little silly:
The Free Press saw an opportunity. It assigned a young female reporter, Detroiter Toni Jones, to take Londoner Tony Jones out for a night on the town. Toni Jones brought a friend, and Aris came along, too. Jones, err, Snowdon, was a good sport. Toni Jones described him in her story as modest, easygoing and witty.
They hit several long-gone night spots. At Lafayette Orleans in Lafayette Park, Snowdon met Kenneth Cockrel, the famous attorney, and appeared not to notice when a patron began heckling the band. At Watts Club Mozambique on Fenkell, Snowdon was introduced to Pistons forward Don Adams.
It’s Watts Club Mozambique that kills me. The long-gone, but spectacularly named spot burned to the ground a few years back, after appearing in an Elmore Leonard novel (“Unknown Man #89”) and playing a major role in black Detroit’s street culture. I’d love to know who came up with the name, and how they settled on it, and let’s ask the internet, and whaddaya know:
The Watts Club Mozambique was established in 1969 by Detroiter Cornelius Watts. Since the early 1960s, the African country of Mozambique had been fighting for independence, Mr. Watt fell in love with the exotic sounding name. By the late 60s, African consciousness had swept to the forefront of American culture and Mr. Watt named his latest venture Watt’s Club Mozambique. He carried the theme on and decorated the interior with bamboo wallpaper and had banana leaves draped around the ceiling. It was a hit from day one.
Never mind whether the guy’s name was Watt or Watts. I think we can all agree that “Mozambique” is a very cool-sounding name, and entirely appropriate for Detroit; the country had an AK-47 on its actual flag for a time, since removed.
The club started with jazz, but it couldn’t turn a profit, so it eventually switched to sort of a black Chippendale’s, with hot-dude dancing for women. There was a legendary dancer named Hawk, who was very popular but decided he could make a lot more money in Vegas, and bought a one-way ticket.
So many crazy stories in this crazy town. This is only one of them.
It was a good Tuesday. The centerpiece was being the guest speaker at my ex-colleague Julia’s class on feature/biographica/memoir writing at Notre Dame. I did not go to South Bend, alas — it was all via Zoom. And although I was dreading spending an hour looking into my webcam, the time flew by and it was a great class. For me, anyway.
And now I’m looking at the results of the Ohio primary, and? Ugh. We’re doomed. Ohio is, anyway.
Sherri said on March 19, 2024 at 9:12 pm
Oh, let’s just put Jared in charge of everything. His idea for the Gaza situation? Just bulldoze part of the Negev, move the Palestinians there, and then Israel has some great waterfront property to develop in Gaza once they clean it up!
Truly, a man born on third base who thinks he hit a home run.
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Julie Robinson said on March 19, 2024 at 10:09 pm
56 voters in our precinct today, voting only in the Republican Presidential primary. For that, the county had to pay four workers for both training and today, rent the building, print the ballots, check over all the equipment and deliver it, etc. 56 nasty Republicans voting for Trump probably cost $5000 when you add it all up. The Democrats canceled their primary, why didn’t the party of small government do the same? Rhetorical question.
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Peter said on March 19, 2024 at 10:17 pm
We had 226 same day voters at our precinct, only 29 Republican ballots.
If I’m not mistaken Bob Dylan did a song about Mozambique.
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Deborah said on March 19, 2024 at 10:58 pm
Mozambique is indeed a fabulous name.
When my husband and I were dating in St. Louis we used to go to this club on the north side (black) that was called Studio something (a number) and they had amazing shows like BB King and Albert Collins we would be the only white people in the audience for those shows. Other times we would go for the regular music they had and dancing. Many of the ladies wanted to dance with my husband because he’s a pretty good dancer for a white guy. I have no idea if that club is still there. Our white friends couldn’t believe we went there unafraid.
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LAMary said on March 19, 2024 at 10:58 pm
Dylan did have a song about Mozambique. I think there was a female vocalist on the record too. Time to ask Google.c
Emmy Lou Harris. I’ve had this song stuck in my head this week. The line “the sunny sky is aqua blue..” came to mind when the sky here was very aqua blue Sunday morning. Amazing blue skies and clouds this week.
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Gretchen said on March 20, 2024 at 1:55 am
I wonder if the fabulous dancer Hawk was the inspiration for Spence’s colleague Hawk in the Robert Parker novels. Hawk was a very in-shape black man who helped Spence in his investigations.
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Gretchen said on March 20, 2024 at 1:58 am
Here in Kansas a Republican primary voter was heard wondering why there were only Republicans on her Republican primary ballot. Her husband responded that the Democrats vote somewhere else (reported by a Democrat behind them in line). Their votes count as much as everyone else’s.
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Brandon said on March 20, 2024 at 2:07 am
Food & Wine: Why Americans Don’t Get to Eat Delicious Raw-Milk Cheese
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Dorothy said on March 20, 2024 at 8:11 am
What a fun story that was! Thanks for sharing it with us.
I forgot to ask at 7:30 last night what our final voter count was. At 7:00 I think we were at 166, but 2 or 3 people did come in before 7:25. My fellow Paper Ballot Judge and I were done with our responsibilities at 7:44, that’s how organized we were. Of course the fact we only had ONE voter all day had a lot to do with that.
Gretchen your story made me sigh and feel almost helpless. With clueless people like that around the country, we really are fu**ed as a nation, aren’t we? I used to think that smart people outnumbered the dumbbells but I don’t feel that way anymore. I plan to work the election in November but I might need to be on some kind of tranquilizer as the day progresses so I don’t become anxious and loud and blurt out anything embarrassing. I really want to stay positive and believe that there is no way in hell that he can be President again, but every day that positivity gets weaker, I swear.
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Mark P said on March 20, 2024 at 9:49 am
I look at the upcoming election like people in an airplane headed straight down must look at the ground. I simply cannot believe this is happening.
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Jeff Gill said on March 20, 2024 at 10:14 am
“South Bend! It sounds like dancing, doesn’t it? You must have had a most happy childhood there.”
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FDChief said on March 20, 2024 at 10:34 am
Dorothy: per the statistical definition of “average intelligence” half the human race is BELOW average. It’s only my personal prejudice that assumes that Republican voters overlap with the below population.
The Lawyers/Guns/Money blog has a post up discussing how, despite “crime” stats dropping steadily since the 70’s, most Americans are completely opposite in assumption. The post links to FAUX, but it’s much broader than that; my “local” news – both the digital newspaper and all the local TV news – are eaten up with “crime” stories. If you don’t stop and think (“how many murders are in the news versus how many people in the Portland metro area..?) you’d think the joint was a dystopian hellscape. It’s ridiculous; yesterday morning the “local” Channel 6 news chyron had shootings from LA and D.C. How is that “local”? Or even “news” (other than for the friends and families of the poor devils who were shot)?
We’re drowning in an ocean of infotainment and the press is throwing us an anvil.
Thanks, you bastards.
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Jason T. said on March 20, 2024 at 11:15 am
FDChief: Crime stories are easy to cover. And they make good video — flashing lights, people sobbing, suspects being perp-walked.
Even the stingiest TV news operation (that’s redundant, they’re all stingy) has someone (or multiple someones) detailed to listen to the police scanner and send videographers out to cover shootings, stabbings, robberies and car accidents. You don’t even need to send a reporter, just the camera person.
Plus, the cops and the D.A. are eager to let you know about their triumphs. (Not so much, their slip-ups.) They’ll let you know when they’ve made a big drug bust, so that your camera person can take lots of pictures of tables full of narcotics and weapons.
Fill up the first six minutes of your newscast with cops, car crashes ‘n fires, then it’s onto sports and weather.
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nancy said on March 20, 2024 at 11:50 am
You’re leaving out the most important factor — social media. The same people who will argue the George Floyd murder video was somehow misleading will eagerly swallow videos of organized gangs looting a CVS, or a Nordstrom, and assume it’s mayhem in every large city, all day every day.
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Suzanne said on March 20, 2024 at 12:23 pm
People who want to believe in crime ridden cities will believe it no matter what you say. My kids live in large metro areas and when people start ranting about the crime there and I say that my kids haven’t had any issues, there is always an excuse like “Well, they know which areas to avoid” or something similar. Last year, I listened to an acquaintance go on and on about how terrible things were in Chicago and that she had friends in the suburbs that would not go into the city any more because it’s so bad. When I mentioned that we have 2 nieces and 1 nephew who chose to move there in the past couple of years and love it, she had nothing to say other than that her friend says it’s a hellhole.
Facts don’t matter any longer, do they?
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Jeff Borden said on March 20, 2024 at 12:30 pm
Living in Chicago–we mark 35 years in 2024– means being bedeviled by jerks who’ve never visited the city. Or, probably, any other city. I’ve learned to tune it out. As Suzanne notes above, it’s a waste of time to argue. I have an obscene T-shirt that basically says to f*ck off if you’re not from here, but it’s a bit too incendiary to wear in public.
City life isn’t for everyone, but neither is suburban, small town or rural life. I don’t begrudge anyone for living where they’re most comfortable. Why must non-urbanites belittle my choice?
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Icarus said on March 20, 2024 at 1:04 pm
The Democrats canceled their primary, why didn’t the party of small government do the same? Rhetorical question.
I’m not politically savvy and don’t know what this means, but Ed of Gin and Tacos shared a post that some Florida mayorships have flipped Republican because the Democrats canceled the primary.
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FDChief said on March 20, 2024 at 2:54 pm
Re: socials…my guess is they’re more of an accelerant than a source. That CVS video usually originates from CNN or FAUX, then gets Facebooked or reXheeted or Nextdoored (and don’t EVEN get me started on THAT toxic shithole…) and away we go.
I wonder how most people’s education plays in, too. I don’t recall learning how to be critical of “news” until I was old enough to have come across enough misleading (or just wrong) stories about things I had firsthand knowledge of to begin being skeptical of the way they were being told.
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Julie Robinson said on March 20, 2024 at 2:56 pm
Good point. No other races in Orlando, so it didn’t cross my mind.
You know how you take your car to the shop after weeks of an annoying noise? And then it doesn’t make the noise for the mechanic? We just had the same thing happen with mom’s mobility scooter, which was slower than molasses. They took it out, put it together, and zoom, off it went. Only thing they could figure out was we didn’t have the battery all the way attached.
So, the day is still young and I’ve already had two opportunities for humility!
Edit: the waiting room has Fox news on the TV, and I picked up the remote and changed it. It felt good.
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Deborah said on March 20, 2024 at 3:19 pm
Ditto the comments about Chicago that drive me crazy. But I have to admit I felt uncomfortable walking on Market Street in San Francisco a few weeks ago. No one bothered us, it was the middle of the day, so it was probably more perception than reality. I’ve walked down some sketchy streets in my day, one time in Paris but I’ve never been in actual danger. I walk by myself at night in Chicago and never felt uneasy. Maybe you’ll read about my demise at the hands of some Chicago lowlifes but I doubt it.
Speaking of Chicago, we will be back there tomorrow. Meanwhile going through all the anxiety of getting everything done in NM before we leave.
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Mark P said on March 20, 2024 at 4:34 pm
Years ago I was talking to a friend from my newspaper days and her friend, who I did not know. My friend’s friend said you can get away with murder in my little home town of Rome, Ga. I asked how she figured that. She said she was in a bar in Rome and someone told her. I said I don’t usually get my news from strangers hanging out in bars. I’m afraid it did not go well.
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Julie Robinson said on March 20, 2024 at 4:42 pm
And speaking of Covid, our neighbor seems to be better, but a friend we saw Saturday night was diagnosed Monday. Yesterday Dennis felt worse and worse through the day at the polls, came home and immediately took his temperature and a Covid test. Both were normal and it seems to be just a lousy cold, but we’ll continue to monitor him.
Just the day before we were discussing getting new vaccinations, as is recommended for our age. Somehow I missed the announcement at the end of February.
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Sherri said on March 20, 2024 at 6:19 pm
I’m grumpy today. City council was supposed to swear in my replacement on planning commission last night, but didn’t, because the meeting got hijacked by endless public comment by a bunch of people unhappy that Redmond is going to have a very low income housing project. And that there might be people other than the appropriately deserving poor, for their definition of deserving poor, might live there, in our downtown.
In particular, they’re unhappy about a Housing First model, rather than a Treatment First model. They really want to help people, they insist, but letting people use drugs in their apartments is really bad and means they’ll never stop and crime and drug dealers will come and drugs will be everywhere! They never get around to explaining how not housing drug users produces better outcomes, but they really want to help. Just like the gun nuts who blame mass shootings on mental illness.
Backing these protesters are the fine folks at the Discovery Institute, Seattle’s own crackpot think tank, which has previously brought us Intelligent Design and Christopher Rufo.
I do believe that our current council has enough members to hold the line against these protests, and won’t fold like the previous city where this project was slated. And my replacement should get sworn in in time. I still have one more meeting before my term ends. I feel sorry for staff if the next council business meeting gets hijacked, though, because the first meeting after my term is up has a public hearing, and if my replacement doesn’t get sworn in, there won’t be a quorum.
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Brandon said on March 20, 2024 at 7:19 pm
The video of the Redmond City Council meeting from yesterday.
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alex said on March 21, 2024 at 5:26 am
Some interesting oppo on Bernie Moreno.
He claims someone else used his e-mail address to solicit gay sex on an adult web site. Someone just pulling a prank. Sure.
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Dexter Friend said on March 21, 2024 at 5:48 am
I’m just a country bumpkin but I have seen both superstars mentioned here today.
I saw BB King at The Academy of Music in Brooklyn in 1972 and I saw Bob Dylan at the arena on-campus at Uni-Toledo (Ohio).
The BB show was ruined by the worst goddam rock fans ever, the J Geils Band followers. This was when BB was at his nadir, before his stellar comeback. Those idiots booed BB off the stage. BB was the warm-up act for J Geils. We paid good money to see BB, not the rockers. I never saw so many overdoses either…I saw at least 8 kids being carried out of the arena, not by paramedics, but by their buddies. 714s? Helifino.
Dylan, also in Toledo, same venue. It was 1978 and the sound was awful. He played all-new music and I only recognized a few tunes.
But I did see Dylan live. I guess that makes me special? No? His merch shirts featured a polka-dotted giraffe and other animals, just a giraffe and pals. I bought one. People laughed at me. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2F324252236951&psig=AOvVaw1PsfP_v06V-_eNpk4Oee26&ust=1711100972395000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjRxqFwoTCOi7opCKhYUDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAK
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Jeff Gill said on March 21, 2024 at 7:05 am
JANE
I was going to talk about other trends but…
(mumbling)
…the magazine shows, news and profit, influence of Entertainment Tonight, the danger, the hope, the dream, the question…Oh, I was going to show you a tape — a story that was carried by all networks on the same night — the same night — not one network noted a major policy change in Salt Two nuclear disarmament talks…
Here’s what they ran instead…Go ahead. Show the tape.
ON MONITORS
Showing the Japanese Domino Championships as broadcast by all networks in the Spring of 1985. It is quite spectacular — the dominoes falling into one another provoking waves, crossing tiny bridges, setting off little fireworks. JANE’S AUDIENCE applauds loudly and squeals with delight.
ON SCENE
Jane between the two monitors. She begins to speak loudly OVER the AUDIENCE NOISES of approval.
JANE
(loudly)
I know it’s good film. I know it’s fun. I like fun. It’s just not news.
(as they continue to applaud)
Well, you’re lucky you love it — you’re going to get a lot more just like it.
STRAY VOICE – SHOUT “GOOD”
[“Broadcast News,” 1987]
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Joe Kobiela said on March 21, 2024 at 9:08 am
Dexter,
The rugby team worked security at the Coliseum and J Geils was one of the best most fun show I worked those guys were great, saw B.B @ I.U with my wife and both daughters who were students at the time, it was a birthday present from them, B.B was in serious decline at the time and played sitting in a chair but still had the voice and could play but his back up band was carrying him for sure. There was a young girl sitting behind me who kept asking her date, “who is Lucille he keeps talking about?”
Sigh
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on March 21, 2024 at 6:49 pm
Some days….
Redmond’s trying to do Permanent Supportive Housing, in a Housing First model.
Protestors: This is bad! You’ll let drug users live there!
Me, trying to add light rather than heat: Here are links to five peer reviewed studies comparing Housing First vs Treatment First
Protestor: Don’t put up a canard! Nobody saying either or!
Me: That’s exactly what you’re saying. The project doesn’t require treatment for eligibility, and you want treatment for eligibility!
Protestor: Stop putting up a canard! We just want treatment required for eligibility for housing!
Me: Maybe look at the studies before saying I’m putting up a canard?
(I missed my chance. I should have said “you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”)
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Sherri said on March 21, 2024 at 7:37 pm
On a totally different topic…
Given that sports has latched onto gambling with both hands as a source of revenue to potentially offset declining TV money, it is inevitable that we will have a major scandal involving sports and gambling. We could be there.
Shohei Ohtani is quite possibly the best baseball player ever, not something I say lightly. He’s a top hitter and a top pitcher, not something that’s happened since early career Babe Ruth. He just signed a massive contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who fired his longtime friend and interpreter yesterday.
Ippei Mizuhara, said interpreter, first told the Dodgers and ESPN yesterday that he got massively in debt ($4.5 million) to a bookie, and his good buddy Ohtani paid off his bookie for him, paying the bookie directly because Ohtani didn’t trust Mizuhara not to gamble the money away. Mizuhara said he didn’t bet on baseball, and he didn’t realize that betting with a bookie was illegal.
But before ESPN could even publish, the story changed. Ohtani’s lawyers heard the story and said, oh fuck no. The new story is that Ohtani knew nothing, and instead there was a massive theft.
You see, our not very bright interpreter didn’t realize that his first story implicates his good buddy in federal crimes and runs afoul of MLB’s rules on illegal gambling. Even if Ohtani didn’t bet himself, paying off the bookie is illegal, and would force the commissioner to act, and the commissioner really doesn’t want to do that, since Ohtani is the best thing that happened to baseball in years.
Who knows what’s going to happen next, but of course, the stories don’t add up. It seems unlikely that the interpreter was able to $4.5 million in wire transfers to a bookie without any noticing, and seems pretty likely that at best, the first story is true. At worst, the interpreter was trying to take the fall to cover Ohtani actually doing the betting (the bookie is under federal investigation, which prompted the sudden act of contrition.) Currently, MLB is trying to do the whole “nothing to see here” routine.
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Deborah said on March 21, 2024 at 9:08 pm
Sherri, your comment reminded me that we met a Japanese businessman on our recent trip who talked about following MLB teams that had Japanese players and when I asked who he follows now he said the Dodgers. He had gone to the university of Denver and said he very much enjoyed American sports while there, he was maybe in his late 40s
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