Brian Rozman

Longtime Detroit music journalist Jeff Milo’s byline appears in publications locally and globally. He’s been plugging ears into the Detroit scene for years with his prolific Deep Cutz blog and his YouTube series, The Milo Show.

Each week, Milo gives us a rundown of can’t-miss shows in and around the Detroit area. This week, even though Milo is vegan you can catch him at Pig & Whiskey for the local music. See more shows below.

Friday, July 19

Michigan Glass Project 

The Michigan Glass Project is a three-day festival starting this Friday hosted at the Russell Industrial Center, featuring live demonstrations of the fascinating and meticulous art of glass blowing and a lineup of live local music artists.

Their annual festival brings in artists from all around the world, like Hailu Mergia, an Ethiopian jazz artist, Sheefy McFly, Frankie Banks and Sheila Soundsystem, Dawg Love, Night Moves and many more. 

Here’s the song “JL” by a keyboardist and young jazz virtuoso Ian Fink, whose performing on Saturday.

Vazum album release party

Vazum has been around for almost two years now, putting out their debut album, “Void,” not too long ago. Now, the group is debuting “Variant.”

Vazum create propulsive, fuzz-heavy music, but there’s always a focus on keeping the often-catchy, if bitter-sweetly sung, vocals soaring up at the top of the mix with the gnarly guitars and heavy bass and drums. Vazum are joined by Gold Crayon, another hard-driving, crunchy kind of rock group, and VSTRS, who lean into the ambient side of things but also keep it pretty thunderous with a psych-metal blend.

Saturday, July 20

Pig & Whiskey

Pig & Whiskey is an outdoor mega-barbecue, bringing in the state’s best meat maestros and lots of whiskey distillers to pour some strong shots for you. I’m a vegan, personally, so I’m going for the live local music performances throughout the day.

Here’s “Don’t Wanna Work” by John Kay & Who’s To Say, who is performing early Saturday. 

Also playing are Michigan Rattlers, Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers, Electric Six and more. 

Crash Detroit

Crash Detroit is a community-focused initiative that curates and celebrates ensembles that create un-amplified, drum-based street music, put on by the local Detroit Party Marching Band. This is the 6th annual Crash Detroit, going on from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Clark Park on Saturday along with discreet pop-up shows around the city Friday evening.

Groups include Jefferson St. Parade Band, Post Imperial Jazz Band, Motor City Soul Street and many more. This will be one of the more exhilarating live music experiences you can find around town.

Here’s “Summertime” by Detroit Party Marching Band, a cover of the Lana Del Rey song.