Secrets Unveiled – December 9, 2025

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Learn more at springhillsuites.marriott.com. Ready, set, hut! After a season I want to go to the college football playoffs with Notre Dame. Chasing a stupid dream. causes nothing but you and everyone around you heartache. What are you doing? That is not painful by them. That is painful by the people of Detroit. You might be qualified in there. I'm not qualified for this job.

Let me tell you something. You want to go right now? Okay? You want to go right now? Hey, kids, it's your old pal, Amel Elric, here with the soul of Detroit and Mark Valhauer, who put together that lovely piece of production because we're going to talk about... The CFP and Notre Dame taking their ball and going home. Not the only college team that's not happy about the way things shook out this season and who was refusing to play in a bowl game.

We'll get into that in a minute. Big event this weekend. What a surprise. Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield ties the knot in a secret... And when I say secret, like people who attended were told, do not bring your phone. You cannot take pictures. We heard that people who worked at the hotel where the wedding took place were.

Signing NDAs who were told you can't bring your phone between this hour. Very, very secretive. Of course, Deadline Detroit broke the story that this was happening. And the Free Press had our team there on Sunday. and was able to document the blessed event. And that's not the only controversial nuptials that were in the free press over the last couple weeks.

In my latest On Guard column, I wrote about, or I should say not my latest, but my second to latest, whatever that would be, On Guard column, I wrote about one of our top 25 takers. That's one of the lawmakers in Lansing. who took more freebies from lobbyists over the last 25 years than any other that was exposed by Ion Michigan, my student investigative reporting team. Well, guess what? She's getting married. And Mark? All right. Do you know who threw...

The happy couple and engagement party? Well, considering it's part of your On Guard column, I'm going to say somebody that's very questionable. Some Lansing lobbyists. So they threw the party at a very nice venue in Lansing.

And so we'll talk a little bit about that before we go. But we want to tell you about Luke Nowacki. He's the reason. We're here because he's our presenting sponsor. Without Luke, we don't come back because, you know, we got other hobbies that don't pay us, that don't involve getting up early in the morning and working in a basement with a bunch of other dudes, which... I guess actually now I think about it sounds kind of sexy, but...

But it's really not. Especially with this lighting. Yeah, this glamour. It's all fake. It's all smoke and mirrors. But Luke will help you plan for a better tomorrow. So we'll tell you how to engage Luke's services a little later. Kadger Cafe, if you've got a big party coming up for the holidays,

Great place to have your corporate party. Or, as I suggested to Teresa, why don't we have our annual holiday gathering at the Kaju Cafe and rent the feather bowling lanes and let them do everything. She said, no, we're doing it at the house. If you made better choices in life than me, call the Kadju Cafe because they can take that burden.

off of your shoulders. So give them a shout. And of course, our most important sponsor is also the reason we're here. That's you. Those of you who are soulmates who have donated as little as $5 a month so you can watch the show so you can get it before everybody else.

can avoid the annoying insertion ads that bring in a little bit of revenue to us and so that you get our bonus episode and we just posted our latest bonus episode uh i thought it was pretty good one oh that was fun yeah it was a lot of fun matt riley was here He was... Lover of Hallmark Christmas movies. Did he say he's watched 44? No, he said Hallmark makes 44 movies a year? A year, yeah. And I swear, didn't he say he has a database of everything?

That happens in the movies? I think he said he could. They're very formulatic. People are concerned about whether the Geneva Convention was violated by killing these two Venezuelan guys in a boat. You can do both. I would say making 44 Hallmark movies seems like it's got to violate some sort of international treaty. People love them, man. Netflix makes their own now, too.

I guess they do. And any time you see a preview and it looks like somebody's put Vaseline on the lens, it's like, that must be a Hallmark movie. Yeah. And you should avoid it. at all costs. But we don't need to get into that. Anyway, Matt was on our bonus episode and we talked about some of our favorite holiday movies.

And these are not the movies, for the most part, that you think of when you think of holiday movies. So check that out. If you are not one of our soulmates, you will not get it for free. You will not get it automatically. But you can purchase it a la carte. by going to mlsoulofdetroit.com, going to Patreon, and they'll tell you how to check that out. So please do that. And before we're done, talk about Matt Riley, who is a fascinating, big-hearted fella.

To those of you who came out and saw us at the Killer Cares event on Friday, it was great to see you. Thank you for coming out. And Mark, I saw that it raised at least $168,000, but maybe as much as $176,000. Yeah, I was trying to look it up. What's the latest? I thought it was $176,000, close to $180,000, which is remarkable for a local franchise.

Not little, but a local, what am I trying to say? A local fundraiser. A fundraiser, that's the word I was looking for. A fundraiser. This supports four charities, some dealing with... Illnesses. All with kids. And one dealing with anti-bullying, which is huge. And people sponsor it. Luke is one of the most generous sponsors. The Lodge, they put up some money. It's a fun night.

If you missed it, make sure you come. Hey, if you missed it, Sean and Erica. Both. Who are also missing this show, too. No, I think they're both. Ill. Sean was sick of working on Friday, but now he's actually sick. I could have told you a month ago that guy was getting worn down, man. Yeah. Worried about him. In the pool, I had him dead. He was in your death pool? He's doing okay, yeah. Murder doesn't count, though. Erica was not feeling well.

And would be with us today, except the weather went south on us. And so she's got to get to work on time to break some big stories. at Channel 4. But it was great to see you guys. And of course, one of the big fundraisers is not just the sponsors and the donors. it's those of you making generous tips that go in the buckets where we ring the bell and all that cash goes to a good cause and i once again

Oh, I was thinking about you. What did you do? Despite my best efforts, as we talked about last week, I always bid on too much stuff. I ended up winning five bids. I didn't know that. What did you get? I got some Red Wing tickets. That's cool. Nice. I got some... Can I ask you what you paid for the Red Wing tickets? I just wondered how it compares. $400 or $500 for... Oh, okay.

Penguins tickets. They're good seats, though, too. I mean, in fact, I think if they had told us more about what comes with those seats, how good they are, my... bid made to drive up bids would have been left in the dark a long time i did bid one dollar for the michigan national championship football that was um mccarthy one somebody crossed it went for what 800 bucks

Yeah, I tried to overbid with a dollar, and they closed it. What else did you get? I got a couple gift cards, so Trace and I will be going to some fine restaurants in Oakland County. A little bit of a road trip for us, but probably worth it. And then I got two baskets. Yeah. And I got a third thing that's going to be somebody's Christmas present. Any of them very effeminate? Like last time?

I would say no, but the margarita maker kit does feel a little precious. Why did you buy a margarita maker kit? Or were you just bidding up? Yeah, I was just bidding up. I'm like, you know. So that was a mistake. Marriott Bonvoy is the official hotel partner of US soccer. Join Marriott Bonvoy today to get closer to the game with exclusive perks, unforgettable experiences and benefits that go beyond the pitch.

Spring Hill Suites, part of Marriott Bonvoy, offers complimentary hot breakfast and spacious all-suite accommodations, perfect for the whole team, with room for up to six guests. Make your next getaway a win.

Learn more at springhillsweets.marriott.com. Well, you should have gifted it to Mary Sheffield. Could have been a wedding present. Not invited. What? I was not invited. It was, yeah. There's so many weird things about... uh mayoral elect sheffield's wedding but i think the weirdest is like why so secretive well and and why even she was engaged who knew she was dating the ring on well so and there's been rumors of who she was i mean

I don't think I'm saying anything out of school. There have been multiple rumors of different people. Nobody really knew. who the guy was. Yeah, well, she's a young, single, very attractive, very successful person. You don't expect somebody like that to be unadorned by a romantic... I think it's logical to think that. She's very active on social media, so you see her out and about with people.

And, you know, hugging them, which, of course, there's nothing inappropriate about that. But the speculation is, oh, is that her boyfriend? Is that who she's with, you know? And then, you know, throughout the campaign, we didn't see any companion.

We did see Violet Ikonimova, my colleague, when she wrote a profile of Mary Sheffield, asked her about the ring on her finger, and she said there'll be news about that later. And I kind of thought... that on election night mary sheffield would say thank you for your support this is a wonderful day

I'm so excited to be your mayor. I can't wait to start working. And I want to introduce you to somebody very special to me. That's what I wanted to ask you. Do you remember, so her husband now is Ricky Jackson, Ricky Jackson Jr. Was he ever on the campaign trail? And then the night she won, was he there celebrating? So I didn't spend a lot of time at campaign events. I went to some debates. I did go to some news conferences.

Wouldn't have expected to see him at the news conferences. Might have seen him at the debates because people bring supporters and friends and family. That's pretty common. But I do not remember seeing him on stage on election night. Now...

I didn't know who he was. I couldn't pick him out of a crowd, so maybe he was on stage, but certainly he had no prominence at that event, which was curious. But last week... started in fact uh started getting tips last monday so more than a week ago it said mary sheffield's going to tie the knot it's going to be saturday at the godfrey which is a new hotel luxury hotel in cork town Over the week, we started working our sources. Then we found out it's going to be Sunday. Very limited guest list.

And we found out there's going to be a musical guest, a prominent musical guest, and there may be special security there, which happens when you have a big star. It turns out it was Kem, who is a big R&B artist. And went to Cast Tech. Kind of a feel-good success story. Before he became a big star, he had some difficulty in his life. I think he was homeless for a while. But he was kind of a peer of Kwame Kilpatrick's because where's Sean? Get the bell ready.

I was sitting with Kwame Kilpatrick back in 2002 in the mayor's office. Normally there's a story about the first hundred days, right? That's pretty typical for politicians. i think going back to fdr but trump made a big deal of it biden made a big deal of it this is a common thing My editor is like, we need to do something on Kilpatrick's first 30 days. Like 30 days. Let's give the guy time to settle in for Pete's sake.

But my editor was insistent. So at that time, Kilpatrick and I were pretty good terms. So we're sitting in the mayor's suite. Now I wish I'd done a blacklight check before I sat on that couch. Anyways, I'm in there. He's sitting there in his suit. He's wearing flip-flops. It's all very casual. And I'm like, thanks for agreeing to meet with me. We need to talk about the first 30 days. And he's like...

first 30 days, dude. I'm like, I know, I know it's ridiculous, but we got to do it. I mean, so thank you. And while we're sitting there, he gets a text that says, you know, Kim, Kim wants to I want you to come to the show or come into town. We'd like to catch up with you. So my interaction with Kem indirectly goes back to many, many mayors. Yeah. And he was supposed to perform.

We had a couple of reporter photographers on the scene. Tons of questions, yeah. Was the free press like staking out the Godfrey? I would say that we were present to report on a news event. No, that's fine. And we asked people with the campaign, by the way, and with the transition team throughout the week, hey, we're hearing that the mayor-elect is getting mayor.

Married on this weekend. Can you tell us about it? Is there going to be any official announcement? Because when Duggan got married for a second time, apparently... He may have given some news organization photos. I heard maybe the Michigan Chronicle or something. But after the nuptials were, and I hate it when we always have to look up how to spell nuptials.

At Duggan's wedding? Yeah. Oh, was he? Okay. His second wedding. Was White Boy Rick there, too? No, I don't know. I think it was just White Boy Mike. But afterwards, they put out a statement that said, hey, we've been married.

who's uh you know here's who's the the new first lady is and i think they may have sent a picture out so we were asking are you guys going to do that too crickets nobody responded okay nothing this is why very strange this is why it's a news story is i have no problem someone wants to keep their private life private but you're a public official right do you how much of a private life do you have especially when you were dating a guy in um

What's his name? Guyanga. Oh, yeah. Brian McKinney. Brian McKinney, who not the greatest guy and a little bit of a fraudster. And I think there's a general public interest in who she's dating and marrying. So why? Just politically, it just seems really weird to keep this such a secret. I mean, a wedding is something to be celebrated, right?

So why keep it a secret? We're expecting to have her father, Horace Sheffield III, on our show next week. I went on his show, which was an interesting experience during the campaign. But we have a good relationship. I would say it's... Lively, let's put it that way. But he's agreed to come on the show next week. So we'll ask him some of that. But you're absolutely right, Mark. This is, most people consider, the most important or the most wonderful day.

of their life and it's what they want to celebrate and i understand they don't want gawkers and hangers on and people butting in i don't i'm not comfortable with like a jeff bezos wedding where people are flown in and it's a week-long event like that's just egotistical but to keep something like this secret when you know you're not like okay Britney Spears gets married right she tried to keep that

as quiet as i mean these big celebrities do try to keep it quiet but you know it's happening you know they're dating somebody a public official like this i just think it's politically it's a winner to be like hey i'm getting married because people would be happy for you so why keep it a secret Well, so I want to give the mayor-elect credit for not turning it into some sort of publicity grab. But why go the opposite way so hard? Well, so there's the other issue.

if she had gotten married anywhere but Detroit, uh, I don't think we would have gone. Um, if, uh, if, um, They had put out an announcement and just a statement saying this is going to happen. We wouldn't have had anybody there. But there are reasons why. I mean, we do have this story. Charlie LaDuff broke that said that she was dating a contractor. And while they were dating, she was voting for contracts for him. I don't know if Charlie reported that.

that she was voting for contracts for him but just that she was dating a contractor And was getting free things like a trip to the Four Seasons of Miami. That would be a blatant red line violation of the city's ethics policy that says there's a zero... gift policy. You can't take anything from someone doing business with the city, somebody who wants to do business with the city, or someone who might be affected by your actions as a city official. So dating a contractor...

Taking anything from a—dating a contractor, I think, is okay. Taking something from a contractor, not okay. Well, voting, too. And the free press, via Ikenimova, again, did some in-depth reporting. And while— Mary Sheffield's chief of staff told LaDuff and the Free Press and anybody who would listen that she did not vote for any contracts involving Brian McKinney and Guyanga. She, in fact, voted for...

millions of dollars worth of contract. Absolutely and utterly untrue that she did not vote for a contract for this guy while they were dating. So... To your point, Mark, who is she marrying? Are they a contractor? That is very much a question. Especially when you're this secretive about it. It's like, okay, who's this guy? What relationship have you had with him in the past?

to get married after the election. You're begging for people to ask these questions, and when you keep this secret, it's like, okay, what else are you keeping secret? You're keeping the happiest day of your life this quiet and this much of a surprise. Why? What is going on? And so who is this guy? What is Project Play? And when you've been untruthful. So I just want to hit one more point before we move on. The other reason why that this is news.

is city resources are being expended on this. No doubt it's news. Now you're like, well, what is it? Well, I mean, she has her security team. We spotted multiple city vehicles around the Godfrey that are normally not there. We believe they're probably police vehicles for people who are providing.

extra security. So there's city money being spent for this event. I'm not saying that Mary Sheffield isn't entitled to security, but there is a cost to the city. We should know that. And the other thing is this is a... elected official who, in an apparent violation of the city's ethics policy, requested free tickets to a concert from a bank that does business in Detroit. Are there going to be...

businesses and city contractors that sponsor the wedding? Is the bar sponsored by so-and-so? Were the flowers paid for by such and such? These are questions that we have. They're legitimate questions. And if the answer is no,

Give us that answer. Tell us. I mean, now you've been untruthable about some things, but we're willing to take things at face value. And let me just tell you about roses. One of our people who was there said, loads loads like like a staggering number of red roses again that's a wonderful beautiful thing it's appropriate but you know we have questions like who paid for them and if you if you're up front about all of this

Nobody's waiting outside the hotel because we already know. It doesn't become an issue at all. It's just like, okay, Mayor-elect is getting married, okay. Yeah, go with God, congratulations, and could you send us some photos afterwards? It's weird to keep it quiet. It's weird to keep even... her fiance is or was quiet fancy now husband quiet that's weird does she not does she not understand the cloud that guyanga has created over her and that there's so many questions about that already does she

Is she oblivious to that? She's way smarter than that. I would love to ask her that, but she does not like to engage with the media. She has begun, I mean, as a candidate and now as mayor-elect, seems to have taken a somewhat...

view towards how she has to engage with people to explain things. She doesn't feel... She doesn't seem to feel that we're owed an explanation. And frankly, I'm not surprised, and I'll say this, you can disagree or not, but as a consumer of news in this city, TV, papers, all of it, I feel like she's gotten a real free pass on a lot of things.

And you don't have to stand up for your paper or not, but I thought the headline with It's Official, and I don't know why this bothered me, but the exclamation point of It's Official kind of bothered me. i mean it's a happy thing fine that's great but when the paper had it's official it seems like it i don't want i want i don't want my news organization to be cheerleaders for these people i want to ask them the questions and i know you do i know you try

But I just feel like she's gotten this big free pass from everybody in the city, and I don't get it. Well, you know, I can't speak to the celebratory headline, but as far as a free pass, I mean. I know you're not trying to. I didn't mean to.

No, no, no, that's fine. Say you were giving her a free press because Lord knows you have tried to talk to her. Hey, listen, when the free press is wrong or when the media falls down, I'm not here to apologize for them. I may be here to explain, but I'm not here to apologize.

But am I wrong for thinking that? I mean, take the free press out of it. The TV stations? Well, the TV stations, they've been out to lunch on the whole election. Other than sponsoring a few things, there's very little coverage. There's very little coverage that...

that involved, you know, scrutinizing even proposals that the candidates made. But let me tell you what the free press did during this election. And I'll be the first to tell you, we have not scrutinized mayors of Detroit as closely as we did Kwame Kilpatrick because... When Kilpatrick was mayor, we had 300 reporters or 300 journalists working for the free press. Now we have less than 100. But we did scrutinize Bing. We did scrutinize Kenny Cockrell when he was there.

Mayor Duggan, the free press, was more aggressive on the make-your-date controversy. That's where his... Mistress, who later became his wife, ran a prenatal care program that the city ran and that was run by Wayne State and got some... Some tax dollars. I don't think they got any from the city. But anyway, the free press was very aggressive on that. Frankly, to my mind, they made a bigger deal out of it than it was worth.

And, of course, with Duggan, I scrutinized him when I was at Fox, too. All the Kilpatrick people he had on his campaign, all the corporate money that was propping him up in 2013, his attempts to use Todd Flood to try and... silence bob carmack you know when mike duggins made a mistake i've been there

To call it out, he tends to have made fewer mistakes than other mayors. That's partly because he's experienced and because he knows what he's doing. Pretty damn sharp. And, of course, Ledef has been all over the city and particularly dug in for demolition for years. But let me tell you what we did in the mayor's race. When Solomon Kinloch, when we found out that he was charged with assault and convicted of assault for beating his first wife, we reported that.

Sontil Jenkins, when we found out that she'd been admonished by the ethics board. We reported that. She had some questionable people on her campaign. Christine Beattie, William Phillips from the Kilpatrick administration. We reported that. Mary Sheffield reported that she was using the city's mailing privileges to send out mail that really supported her as a candidate. Reported that she had some very sketchy people financially supporting her and helping her campaign.

uh... reported that uh... uh... i mean it just go look at on guard there lots of columns reported that she said, I don't take money from billionaires or corporate PACs, when in fact she did. There was a lot of watchdog reporting in the Detroit Free Press on all the mayoral candidates. Should there have been more? Do I wish there had been more? Hell yeah. If you're not a subscriber, don't complain to me because we don't work for free.

And it takes a lot of time and money to do these stories. But we tried to hold her feet to the fire. It's one of the reasons why she, I don't want to say she hates me, but she sure as hell doesn't like me and doesn't want to see me anywhere. Or wear that as a badge of honor, right? Any politician. And frankly, it's one of the reasons why.

wasn't there at the godfrey on sunday because we wanted to be very respectful we didn't want to do anything that was going to be provocative or that might upset the incoming mayor and so we had other talented reporters from the free press and photographers who are working that day. But all this goes away if you're just acknowledge it and say, you know,

you know, this is a very special private event. Would you please respect the parties and not be there? That's a really easy thing to say. We wouldn't have been there. There's just one other thought on this that I think is worth reflecting on for the mayor-elect. If you think you can stage a major event in the heart of your city and people aren't going to know about it or aren't going to talk about it, this should be exhibit A.

that you need to think again. I'm not saying that you should not celebrate big events in your city. I'm not saying that you should go out of town or, you know, anything like that. But people say it all the time, particularly in politics. Detroit is the biggest small town in the world. Everybody knows everybody's business. And whatever kind of secret this was meant to be, by the time Sunday rolled around, everyone knew. Everybody knew.

And in fact, on Saturday, Deadline Detroit reported it. So it didn't even keep a secret until the day of the event. So it just, it's...

Lots of questions. Would love to have some answers. Maybe we'll talk to Horace about it a little bit. I want to talk to Horace about a bunch of other things, including the perception that the media is out to get his daughter and everybody. We talked about that when I was on Horace's show.

There's a lot to discuss there. But yeah, I mean, was Mary Sheffield scrutinized in the way other candidates have been in the past? No. And I think it's not because anybody was out to give Mary Sheffield a break. Even though the free press endorsed her, that doesn't direct how the reporters work. It's because we just don't have enough reporters anymore, and it's because we don't have enough subscribers. So let me ask you this. Keeping the event secret is one thing.

Keeping your fiancé Ricky Jackson Jr. private is another weird thing. What do you know about him? What have we learned about him? What does he do? I know he works for a non-profit, which, you know. I only know what's been reported in the free press, and it's not a lot. We just don't know who he is. He seems like this enigma, right? Nobody knew of him before.

Yeah, I mean... Or have you heard of them before? Enigma makes me feel like there's something nefarious here. I don't think there's anything nefarious here. It's just like... But when you hide it... I've covered Detroit politics for 25 years. I wouldn't say that I know everybody who's gone in or out of City Hall. I wouldn't say that I know everybody who's involved in politics. I've never heard of him. And if I've never heard of him...

He's probably not a major player in Detroit politics or government. Well, that's a good thing. Which is fine. You know, some people, you know, you have cops who get married and you have journalists who get married and they tend to get divorced. Sometimes having somebody in the same business as you can help.

When I get stuck at work, Teresa knows because she gets stuck at work. But sometimes it's nice to have somebody who does something different so that you don't become like Bill and Hillary Clinton where everything's politics, politics, politics, politics, politics. You could be like Trump and Melania where I think...

I think she probably likes being first lady, but I think a lot of what goes with first lady, she's like, I don't want to be involved in this. I don't think she's living in the White House for Pete's sake. I mean, there's so many nonprofits that it's hard to keep them all straight. Do you know what the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan or Project Play, have you heard of them? So I don't know about Project Play, but the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is one of the largest...

um non-profits in the country that's a community foundation it's like well what does that mean it's like you're defining the word with the word you know what is what is alacrity to act with alacra i don't even know if that's a word i don't know what that means yeah but um But community foundations have been around for a while. What they are is they become sort of clearing houses.

for people who want to be involved in civic life. So a community foundation, for example, will administer a lot of trust funds like Kresge, Skillman, Mott Foundation. They're big. They have a staff. They do all of this stuff. A community foundation is almost like a... Like a concierge where somebody says, hey, I got a trust fund for my family. I don't want to run it. Here's the money. We want you to give money to left-handed violin players who...

who are forced to play right-handed. Did you know that? That's something I learned. Oh, dear. Having a left-handed daughter who's playing violin, they all have to play, you know. I don't know. This is my tangent. This is my angry tangent of the day, being a lefty myself. I hate the fact that you are 40. You brought up left-handed violinists. Sounds like we hit a nerve there. That explains all those sour notes.

Schroeder. I had no idea that they forced lefties to still do things the way the right man wants it done. That is weird, too. Thanks a lot, righty. Guitar players flip them, so why would violin players? I don't know.

I don't know the string instruments. What about accordion players? Do they play it upside down? That's a good question. I have no idea. You must have to do that too. I just know about this one because I'm appalled that that's the way it is. Yeah. So at any rate. Anyway. Tangent ended. Those folks would say, can you give out the money? So Clark.

park we get money some of it comes from the community foundation because somebody says they administer they administer funds they do some of that but they also raise money and people will donate to them and they will have priorities like the community foundation came up with a lot of money

for the so-called grand bargain that helped take Detroit out of bankruptcy. So they become sort of a gathering place for people and for families and for funds and for corporations that want somebody to hold their money. and distribute it and along the way they invest it so let's say like so clark park for uh the charity hockey game now it's all about me

there's an endowment that we created that's administered by the Community Foundation. So what happened is some of the money we raise, we give to the Community Foundation. It's set aside for the benefit of Clark Park. And then they invest the money. And I think their annual return on investment is like six or eight percent because they have this massive, massive chunk of money, other people's money that they invest. And so Clark Park says.

Here's $5,000. Please protect it, invest it. And then the community foundation says, hey, we made $300 for you. from our investment pool. So now you have $5,300. And then next year that grows and that grows hopefully every year. So it's a very useful thing. It's a really, really important thing. Most people don't know about it, but it plays a key role.

in doing a lot of good things in the city of Detroit. And I should also say that they donated $12,500 to ION Michigan, my student investigative reporting. fund in a competitive grant that we won a couple years ago. But even then, it was money that the Knight Foundation that supports journalism and some other nonprofits said, Community Foundation, we want to do something to support journalism. Here's a bunch of money.

You figure out how to distribute it. So they do stuff like that. So this play thing, I presume, is a program that they've started. Because they must have determined. Well, it's part of a national program, it looks like. Okay. They have a Detroit, southeast Michigan area. So they must be the local fiduciary, which just means somebody said, here's some money.

Don't screw it up. Okay. So somebody must have said, here's a chunk of money, Community Foundation. And they must have hired this guy to say, we have grant money. Here's the program. Here's the objective. So they sound like good things. I just, naturally, because everything's so secretive, it's like, okay. What's the dark part of this? You know, and I hate that I'm thinking that way, right?

Well, I mean, there were rumors out there that Mary Sheffield's dating somebody who's involved in the Riverfront Conservancy or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, we don't print rumors. And the only reason I'm even mentioning it now is because this gentleman... appears to have nothing to do with that. So, you know, I mean, again, transparency takes care of all these rumors. And what we know about Mr. Jackson, Detroit's first ever first gentleman.

I think we'd like to know more about him. And I hope that the mayor-elect and her team will have a get-to-know-the-first-gentleman thing, because I think whatever you thought of Jennifer Granholm, people liked... Dan Mulhern, the first gentleman, and he became sort of an asset to her. I'm not sure that Whitmer's husband, trying to get that dock installed during COVID, could claim to be as much an asset to Governor Whitmer, but these partners...

can be, you know, they can take leading roles. And the fact that he's doing something in a nonprofit area to help kids makes me think. This is a good dude that people would like if they got to know more about him. Of course, it's up to the mayor-elect what she wants to tell us and whether he wants to be part of politics. Maybe he wants to stay in the background, which is fair too.

People are going to be curious. People are going to ask questions. And I suppose we'll try and do our best to answer them. And you mentioned the Riverfront Conservancy. Conservancy. Conservancy. You know, the rumors are that he is... good friends with William Smith, but you know, you're not responsible for the sins of your friends. So, you know, but, but it raises, this is my problem with the whole thing. The secrecy raises questions.

Yeah, and I haven't seen anything that would support that. But, I mean, who knows whose friends are. Well, that's one of those things. You have a sit-down with reporters. They ask all the questions. You get all the answers. Then it goes away. It goes away. Instead, this has been lingering like a fart in a car for months. Well, I'm happy for. But yeah, well, we wish him only the best. I mean, listen, running the city of Detroit, hard job.

running the city of Detroit with some of the economic challenges we're going to have, even harder job. And I'll tell you, whenever I've had a hard job, one of the things that keeps me sane and one of the things I'm most grateful for... is my wife and my family. So I hope that she has that kind of support too because she deserves it. It's going to be helpful and we'll all be better off for it. Marriott Bonvoy is the official hotel partner of U.S. Soccer.

Join Marriott Bonvoy today to get closer to the game with exclusive perks, unforgettable experiences and benefits that go beyond the pitch. Spring Hill Suites, part of Marriott Bonvoy, offers complimentary hot breakfast and spacious all-suite accommodations, perfect for the whole team, with room for up to six guests. Make your next getaway a win.

Learn more at springhillsuite.marriott.com. I want to talk about this thing in Lansing because this is a real, again, you know, Pauline Wenzel from Watervliet. I think that's how it's pronounced. And Greg Van Workum from Norton Shores, two Republican state reps, are getting married. Maybe they're already married. They had an engagement party thrown for them in Lansing, which is 100 miles.

From where they live, so I don't know how many friends and family made it. If they're politicians. Their fellow legislators. Yeah, sure. Probably know a lot of people in the Lansing area. Well, this engagement party, as I wrote on On Guard, and I'll have a link to this on... on our website. We'll also have a link to our coverage of Mary Sheffield's wedding on, on click on ML for Detroit.com. But, but this party was thrown by a lobbyist. That's a potential problem because lobbyists.

Can't give gifts to lawmakers that are worth more than $79. And renting a hall, has anybody ever rented a hall before? Got to be more than $79. The lobbyist won't tell us who paid for the hall. Representative Wenzel won't tell us who paid for the haul. Representative Van Workum won't... tell us who paid for the haul in fact they won't even respond to my queries about what's going on with this and we have this way too often in public life where we have people who get shit for free

only because of their position as a public official who will not answer questions about it. They think that they are above your scrutiny and your curiosity and just putting us at ease. That they're not getting over, that they're not taking advantage of their position for personal gain. Do you know who this lobbyist was lobbying for, or are they just a for-hire kind of firm?

Yeah, well, I mean, they're all for hire, but these are, they call them multi-client firms, which means they have a lobbying agency and they have a lot of different businesses and individuals who hire them. So one of the big clients for this firm, which is Kelly Cawthorn is the name of the firm. is DTE. And one of the lovebirds has a prominent role on a committee that deals with energy and matters that would be...

Relevant to DTE. So, you know, these are all questions. It's so painfully obvious. Well, I mean, who knows? Again, this is... I know. Answer the questions. I said seems. It seems painfully obvious. If there's nothing for us to worry about... answer our questions, and put our minds at ease. And they won't, which is outrageous. Now, the lobbyists did hire a public relations firm to answer my questions.

And they wouldn't answer the questions about who paid for the rental hall. The lobbyist, when they put out the invitation, said, please don't bring gifts. Of course, bringing gifts could be a problem for lobbyists because now, you know, it's a freebie for a lawmaker. Craig Marger, the Detroit News, who broke the story. about the engagement party said that on social media it looked like most of the guests

We're lobbyists. Like I said, their families are 100 miles away. I'd love to know how many other engagement parties they had either thrown by lobbyists or I'm sure they had one for their families because this one seems to be simply for the lobbyists. Yeah, exactly. Probably did something. Well, like you said.

they have a lot of friends in lansing so maybe it was lobbyists and lawmakers and staff and stuff people you know i mean who doesn't love water vliet in the fall but um you know whatever but um but the uh The really only responsive thing that I got from the PR guy was, hey, you know, lobbyists and lawmakers have friends too, and these guys were friends for a long time. That's fine. They can attend. Sure. But the most on point thing was there's no limit on how much food.

and drink that lobbyists can provide to state officials as long as it's all consumed on the day that it's given so in other words so it's okay to throw a party We can throw a big-ass party and lavish you with everything but frankincense and mirror. The key is you've got to eat it and drink it while we're there. And I don't know whether that'll be a reporting requirement, but we'll be looking at that when those new forms come out. But, you know, again, these are two happy events.

that have been turned into big secrets, and it just doesn't seem to be smart. Marriott Bonvoy is the official hotel partner of U.S. soccer. Join Marriott Bonvoy today to get closer to the game with exclusive perks, unforgettable experiences and benefits that go beyond the pitch. Spring Hill Suites, part of Marriott Bonvoy, offers complimentary hot breakfast and spacious all-suite accommodations, perfect for the whole team, with room for up to six guests. Make your next getaway a win.

Learn more at springhillsuites.marriott.com or we're turning into cool guys. If you can't decide if a vocalist is a member of a group or not, or you believe that your glove box is the correct storage place for your birth certificate,

Should you really be trusted with something complex like preparing your investments to provide for you and the rest of your life? If you listen to the Drew and Mike show or the Drew Lane show, you know what I'm talking about. But the message is plain. When you sub... sober up enough for your phone to recognize your face and unlock, call or text Luke Nowacki at 248-663-4748. He did the math, and Led Zeppelin is clearly a four-piece.

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Mark and I and Sean often disagree about what college sports are all about now. And I continue.

to cling to this antiquated notion that we should be teaching people about life through sports, not necessarily that sports is life. It's entertainment. But one of the things, I'm curious to see if we're going to agree on this, is one of the things I think that we want... student athletes to have is some character coming out of this and the whole i'm going to take my ball and go home thing seems to be a bad bad lesson

Notre Dame, very disappointed not to be included in the 12 team college football playoff. I sympathize with them. I typically don't sympathize with Notre Dame. I typically think that Notre Dame. gets extra consideration and maybe gets breaks they don't deserve because they're Notre Dame. But this time they got bounced from the CFP and they seem to feel it's because...

Their Notre Dame. And their reaction was, well, guess what? Then we're not going to play in a bowl. They took all the goodwill and, I guess, sympathy that college football fans had for them because most felt. This is a good team. This is a team that could win the national championship. They should be in the playoffs. They thought they got screwed. I think choosing Miami over them was the right decision. I probably would have left Alabama out.

Because they just haven't been playing well the last couple weeks. The resumes are pretty equal for all three. That being said, take all this goodwill and now people are going, so you're not going to play a bowl game? That just seems like a pussy move. We seem like a bunch of babies.

I think... I mean, think of the smaller schools that are... Think of Central Michigan. They're probably excited as hell to play in the... whatever it's called bowl in detroit right against yeah they're they're playing in detroit which san diego credit union uh atm card bowl or whatever yeah people call michigan elitist which fair enough i'm not going to argue that but is there anything more elitist than this like if we don't make

And I don't like the bowl games, but if we don't make the playoffs, we're not going to go play in a bowl game? Well, so they're not the only ones not playing. It's a practice for next year. Iowa State is not playing. Iowa State and Kansas State are not playing. Two different situations because they lost their coaches. Right. And with the transfer portal, they may lose a bunch of players. And in the case of, I think, either Kansas State or Iowa State,

They said, we don't have enough players to safely practice, so we think it's probably not a good idea for us to play in a bowl game. And there's no reason for them to practice in preparation for next year because, once again, they're going to have a whole new coaching staff. New schemes, new players.

I know they're pretty senior heavy, but there's a lot of young guys that could have played. Marcus Freeman isn't going anywhere. Now, the only reason I'm not coming down harder on them is because apparently the players... took a vote but to me i would so so my nephew jacob went to grand valley state and at the last minute he got an offer from central michigan and he decided to go to grand valley thought it was the right fit for me liked everybody he was dealing with

But my whole thing was, geez, if you go to Central Michigan, you could go to a bowl. And, you know, sometimes like Western or Central will go to the Bahamas Bowl. They'll go someplace cool. Playing downtown Detroit and Ford Field is pretty cool, too. Yeah. But I would think if you're a college football player, having the chance to take that trip.

to get the swag, to get the attention, to be in a parade, to have one more game. And if you're a senior, to have your last game. Unless you're going to go into the combine and you're training for that. That seems like a big perk, kind of a reward for all the hard work. And that's...

Not going to happen. Well, and usually the coach and ADs get bonuses for going to a bowl game. I don't know if they get them for declining a bowl game. Well, and I'm sure Notre Dame is going to go to, I mean, they were in the top 15. I'm sure they're going to go to bowl at like a five or six.

million dollar payout yeah so i mean there's money lost yeah now i know and since they're not in a conference well i think they don't get all that that bowl money i need i need to look at it but i think they Oh, boy, do they share a small portion of it with the ACC? Because they have that weird relationship with them. And it very well could be as vindictive as the athletic director of Notre Dame.

was on the Dan Patrick show, and he was basically saying, hey, we've heard that the ACC was lobbying for Miami over us because they're a full-fledged member. We're just kind of one foot in, one foot out member of the ACC. So I wondered, okay, do they get money

If they go to a bowl game, it's really kind of peanuts, though, isn't it? They're not going to get that big of a share for whatever the bowl is. And the other schools aren't going to get any of their share because they're not going. But I wondered if that's why they did it.

I could just be talking out of my ass per usual. Well, you know, I mean, some of my friends on our chat were like, this is why you need to get in a conference, Notre Dame. Go win your conference championship. And the conference would have lobbied for them. It's one more win.

You get all the other money from the other teams, and they're just so full of shit. We're independent. Oh, but you're in the ACC for basketball. Oh, you're in the Big Ten for hockey. You're not independent. You're arrogant asses. From South Bend. And now, no bowl title, but here's one you can put on your trophy shelf. You're our Geek of the Week. Marriott Bonvoy is the official hotel partner of U.S. soccer.

Join Marriott Bonvoy today to get closer to the game with exclusive perks, unforgettable experiences and benefits that go beyond the pitch. Spring Hill Suites, part of Marriott Bonvoy, offers complimentary hot breakfast and spacious all-suite accommodations, perfect for the whole team, with room for up to six guests. Make your next getaway a win. Learn more at springhillsuite.marriott.com Touchdown! Jesus!

Welcome to Room 7609, where we try and take obscure tunes and kind of elevate them. Maybe it's a B-side from your favorite band that shouldn't have been a B-side. Maybe it's a band that you love and other people don't love, but you think by getting them booked into room 7, 6, or 9, they will expand their reach. We're happy to help with all that. But really what we like to do is we like to play your songs and tell your stories.

Unfortunately, this week we don't have any songs nominated or any great stories to go with them. So in keeping with this week's theme, I'm taking it back to our new wave roots. And here's orchestral maneuvers in the dark with a song that I think is appropriate. It's called Secret. We've had some of our soulmates who get to watch the show say one of the best parts of being a soulmate is getting to watch the videos in room 7609.

I don't know if you know orchestral maneuvers in the dark known as OMD. They do a lot of music in John Hughes movies and they still pop up in commercials and stuff like that. So still, and they tour, so they're still kind of a relevant band. But that video, that hairdo, I mean, that's not even a 90-10. That's like party in the front, party in the back. No party on the sides, but a very... All I know is I don't know which one was worse, the song or the video.

They're real terrible. What? You don't like the song? Not one bit. Really? No. I could do without sort of the fake bagpipe in the background. Or pitch pipe or whatever the hell that is. But it's not a... Not a bad song. It's okay that you like it. I just don't. And very appropriate for today's show. So please, save yourself from me.

and send in your song suggestion, along with a great story about why it means something to you or just something fun about the band. Or like Don did, like, look at these guys performing on a roof in Detroit. Does anybody know what roof that is? Yeah, that was a good one. So that's a lot of fun. You know, I think Don also said something about a Canadian serial killer. I never thought we'd talk about it. That was awesome. That on this show, although, you know.

I guess with Mark and Erica here, we're going to talk about serial killers more often than I would like. But please get them to us at mlsolveddetroit at gmail.com. We love to hear from you. We love it when you take over the show so that Sean doesn't have to.

No, Sean? Okay, great. I guess I'm going to get away with this one. Can we wrap it up? Yeah, we're almost done, Sean. This reminds me of a time when I was in Champaign, Illinois. Okay, Sean, never mind. So we'll get back to that. And then I did something creepy.

By the way, if you ordered something from our merch shop, it's closed now. It should be arriving any day soon. So thank you very much. It's a great way to support the show. One person, and I'm dying to know who it is. Maybe you'll reach out to us. ordered Sean's green jacket. Oh, really? Yeah. It's probably Sean. No, because Sean always goes through us. He's like, where did this come from? Well, we got it in the merch shop.

When did we have that? Well, remember we told you about it? Yeah, I guess you did. And we asked you to share it with friends and family and maybe promote it. Yeah, I reckon you did. I'll wear something and be like, where'd you get that? Well, we did merch last time. I didn't get any. It's like, it's not because of us.

Can I ask a question? When do we start playing songs on the podcast? Even when he's not here, he's delaying the show. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry. I'm channeling Sean, who always is just like, nobody loves me. Everybody loves Sean. Yeah, no. People come back for Sean because you never know. He's like a box of chocolates. And somehow I always seem to...

bite into the vanilla cream. But anyway, Sean should be back next week. We hope Erica will be back soon. Horace Sheffield should be here next week. That should be a great show. Marriott Bonvoy is the official hotel partner of U.S. soccer. Join Marriott Bonvoy today to get closer to the game with exclusive perks, unforgettable experiences and benefits that go beyond the pitch.

Spring Hill Suites, part of Marriott Bonvoy, offers complimentary hot breakfast and spacious all-suite accommodations, perfect for the whole team, with room for up to six guests. Make your next getaway a win.

Learn more at springhillsuites.marriott.com. We have no sponsors to thank. There are no new soulmates. Nobody made a one-time donation to the show, which you can do by going to... mlsolvedetroit.com, hitting the PayPal or the Venmo button. Make a one-time donation. It's year-end. Perhaps you're looking for some tax-deductible items to help lower your taxable income. This is not it. There's no benefit to you whatsoever.

to making this donation other than it brings us back week after week, which now that I think about it is no benefit to you either. But, you know, there's a lot of people with bad judgment out there. We're hoping those of you who aren't thinking clearly We'll part with a few shekels to keep us coming back week after week. And, of course, you know we not only like your dough, we like to know what's on your mind, and we appreciate your feedback. This week we have one piece of feedback.

From listener Trey, who says, this is so weird, referring to Mary Sheffield's nuptials. Did I already say I hate that word because I have to look it up? I'm just like, where's the I go? It's like, it's always in a weird place. Yeah. It's like trying to spell sophomore or surgiant. Anyway, is this just another library? Okay.

this is just another is this just another fake political marriage for optics see also macomb county exec hackle congresswoman stevens senator slotkin um that's a good question I don't know. We presume that they're very much in love. And until we know otherwise, that's the story. Macomb County Executive Mark Hackle has been married for some time. I'm not sure what they're going for there.

I believe Congresswoman Stevens got divorced recently, as did Senator Slotkin. So if there was a fake marriage, it is over. So I don't know anything that would suggest that those things were not... entered into in good faith with hope for, uh, till death they part. I don't know. I think they say something like that. I got married in a civil ceremony, so it's hard to say. Did you really? I got married, Jason, I got married in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I didn't know that. At the registrar's office, which now is a virgin hotel, which is interesting because when we were there, there weren't too many virgins in line waiting to get married. In fact, some people were. Looking to get married because virginity had been long gone. Was that planned? You planned to do it that way? Or was it kind of somewhat spur of the moment? No, no. There's no international marriages that are spur of the moment. Really? Why? It's more of a Vegas thing.

Well, because so... Is it valid here? Are you still wondering? Trying to find a way to invalidate it. I was hoping nobody else thought of that until this moment. No, when we got married, I've been to a Greek wedding. Therese is 100% Greek. And it's... It's something else, okay? I mean, it is a spectacle. Is it too much for you? You didn't want that? And then it turns into a disco until four in the morning.

People who listen to this show will find this hard to believe, I think. But I do not like being the center of attention. I do not like being at, as Mark said, a spectacle. I don't believe it. I love getting in front of a crowd. I love talking about stuff. I love talking about things I know, maybe something we're doing. But just people staring at me because I'm getting married, not my jam. And Teresa, very gracious, agreed that we wouldn't.

go through something like that. You don't like being fetid? No, no. I prefer just to say thanks and move on. But we didn't have a lot of dough at the time, so we thought we're living in New Hampshire. Like, well, you know what?

I know the governor, maybe we'll do a civil ceremony at the state house. And we thought, okay, then all our friends from New Hampshire will go, but a lot of friends and family from elsewhere in the country won't, and they'll be mad. It's like, okay, so we don't want to do that. And then we thought, well, you know what? We both like to travel. We both enjoyed Amsterdam. Everything else is legal. Why don't we get married in Amsterdam? Turns out...

You can get blown by a canal while you're smoking weed, but you can't get married in Amsterdam. It's not legal. You have to be a citizen. So we thought, well, I'm a citizen of Ireland. Let's get married in Ireland. We both love Ireland. We'll go back there. They said, no, you have to be a citizen and a resident. We're like, okay. They said, try England. And maybe that's just because they don't like England. They want us to bother those guys. So we called in. They said, nope, you can't do it.

Try Scotland. We called Scotland. Greet, greet, come on over. Really? Yeah. Oh, that's wild. I had no idea. Are most countries like that? Where you can't, you have to be a resident? I think there are a lot of countries where there are some requirements where you can't just show up and say, hitch us. Scotland, for whatever reason, doesn't do that. So we got married at the registrar's office down the road from Edinburgh Castle.

And people think, oh, what is a castle? But it's also like a castle complex. If you go to Prague, you're like, where's Prague Castle? You're here. It's like, I don't see a castle. It's like, well, it's just kind of this area. Or a fort. It's like a compound. Right, exactly. So we got married. They're a couple of friends of ours. We picked them up along the way. They were there as witnesses.

We had our wedding cake came from Tesco, which is like the Kroger's of Scotland. And when we got married, there's a board up there. It says, you know, these guys are getting married at, you know, 1015. These guys at 1030. These guys at 1045. And it said where you're from. So we got married. There's some other people from America who got married. And our wedding pictures were taken at a roundabout by some random people from Virginia who were also visiting.

And I made a last minute decision to get a kilt. So when I got married, it was like hours before the ceremony, we found a kilt for hire place and I got the full kit and was a few minutes late. for the ceremony just because it took a while to get to the cat. That part will surprise nobody. I had no idea. That's wild.

So anyway, so I don't know. Marriage of convenience, not in my case. We're keeping it secret. It was entirely inconvenient for me as a single young guy. But it's worked out pretty well. So that's that. Please send us your thoughts, your comments, your letters, your feedback, your constructive criticism. We haven't asked you to do this in a while, folks, but please rate the show. We love it when you rate. We have over 600 ratings, which is pretty good, and they're all pretty high.

rate us even if you hate us you know give us five stars and say something shitty but you know please let us know what you're thinking and you can reach us at ml soul of detroit at gmail Big show coming up next week. We're looking forward to it. We appreciate you being there. If you're out there in Michigan this week, drive safely. It's getting kind of crazy. And, Mark, what's coming up with the Big Drew show? I don't know. I have no idea. Wow.

Lots of frivolity. When we wrap this show, I'll go upstairs. Drew will be at the kitchen island, cranking away on the back of some copy paper, writing longhand the show. The preparation that goes into that show, folks, if you're behind the scenes. I got a lot of reading to do. Yeah, you wouldn't. I think you would believe it, but it's pretty impressive.

So thanks for being here. We, of course, just fly by the seat of our pants. That's true. Probably readily abundant. But thanks for being here, folks. Until next week, we turn to our good friend Cyrus, who is here, actually, to take us out. Can you dig that? Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Sometimes a winner Is a dreamer who just won't quit. The soul of Detroit. Marriott Bonvoy is the official hotel partner of U.S. soccer.

Join Marriott Bonvoy today to get closer to the game with exclusive perks, unforgettable experiences and benefits that go beyond the pitch. Spring Hill Suites, part of Marriott Bonvoy, offers complimentary hot breakfast and spacious all-suite accommodations, perfect for the whole team, with room for up to six guests. Make your next getaway a win. Learn more at springhillsuite.marriott.com.