Detroit, MI

Mac Saturn, shocked but resolute after member’s arrest, summons good vibes at Fillmore Detroit

Published

2 years ago

January 27, 2024

Mac Saturn, shocked but resolute after member’s arrest, summons good vibes at Fillmore Detroit

For Mac Saturn, Friday night’s show at the Fillmore Detroit had been intended as a celebratory hometown occasion. And when all was said and done, despite a sudden unwelcome backdrop, that’s exactly what it was.

Hours before the biggest and most meaningful concert of the young rock band’s career, members learned along with the public that keyboardist Evan Mercer had been arrested by the FBI on child pornography charges. Mercer now sits in a Detroit federal jail ahead of a Monday detention hearing.

Mac Saturn acted quickly, announcing on social media that Mercer was booted from the band. The post noted he’d been a recent arrival to the group, which is helmed by the founding duo of singer Carson Macc and guitarist Nick Barone and rounded out by guitarist Mike Moody, drummer Angelo Coppola and bassist Ian Lukas.

And so Mac Saturn — now abruptly a five-piece — was off to the Fillmore for its big night marking the release of the debut album “Hard to Sell.” Buzz on the band has been positive and growing in Michigan and beyond, and Friday’s tour-launching concert was to go on undeterred.

While mutual Detroit love was the theme of the night, the show drew concertgoers from places such as Texas, Tennessee, Alabama and Pennsylvania — diehard fans the band has collected along its recent road travels. Some had queued up outside the Fillmore as early as noon, and the disturbing Mercer news that arrived midafternoon hit with a wallop.

But Friday evening inside the theater, where music was to take center stage and anticipation was humming, Mercer’s arrest was the elephant that wasn’t in the room. If anything, fans seemed duty-bound to reinforce their support for a band whose name had been unwittingly attached to a mess. This crowd wasn’t going to let this night be a downer.

One twentysomething identifying herself only as Jenna summed it up: “Right now, that’s all out there, and in here,” she said, patting her cell phone.

More: Detroit rock-meets-R&B band Mac Saturn is turning the heads of music biz heavyweights

Backstage, according to those on the scene, the mood was upbeat as band members’ family and friends swung by to deliver well-wishes.

Before the group hit the stage, vocalist Macc walked out to address the topic.

“The news of today has been shocking and horrifying,” he said. “We came here tonight to see you guys face to face and play this music we have worked so hard on for you.”

And that’s what they did: After the Four Tops’ “Reach Out I’ll Be There” boomed over the PA for a poignant hometown Motown introduction, Mac Saturn lit into a rollicking hour-plus set of glam-spiked rock with a soul pulse.

Following the frisky “Diamonds” and stylized swagger of “Persian Rugs,” nine songs from the new album lined the set, with touches of back-alley blues (“Get on the Phone”), insta-hooks (“Mr. Cadillac”), atmospheric turns (“Box Cutter”) and endearing fan faves (“Mint Julep,” “Ain’t Like You”).

Album closer “Plain Clothes Gentleman” was also Friday’s show finale, building from swampy slide-guitar wistfulness into a wiry stomp and scorching outro.

It was all delivered with energetic, tried-and-true Detroit showmanship, with Macc’s slinky, Jagger-inspired presence up front bolstered by assorted scarves, furs and leopard-pattern jackets. The rest of the band offered its own punch, with Moody serving up nimble, R&B-infused leads and backing vocals alongside Barone and Coppola.

The crowd gave as well as it got, singing along in full voice for much of the show, including the brand-new stuff.

It capped a day that was already destined to be etched in Mac Saturn’s minds. For bands on the rise, this is the career phase that happens only once, no matter how things build from here: It’s that ripe chapter when momentum is surging but the stages are still small, the crowds organic, the production sparse — like the basic “MAC SATURN” backdrop that accompanied the group Friday night.

The Mercer situation may be a tough reality Mac Saturn is saddled with for a while, a public-relations headache for a likable band that was clearly finding its groove and feeling the wind at its back.

But in the end, it may be no more than a road bump. And the group’s feel-good vibes certainly don’t hurt the cause as it embarks on a 35-city headlining tour in support of “Hard to Sell.”

“We’re going to leave tomorrow morning and play around the country,” Macc told the crowd during the show’s closing stretch. “And we’re going to make Detroit proud — I promise you that.”

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

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Detroit, MI

Red Wings photographer given special moment after tragic loss

Published

48 minutes ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Red Wings photographer given special moment after tragic loss

Dave Reginek’s voice broke as he spoke about a letter he had just found from his daughter. In it, she spoke of never wanting to hurt him. He saw that part when he tried to mop up a tear that had fallen on the paper.

It is a letter that is almost heartbreaking now, as the Reginek family copes with the loss of Danielle “Reggie” Reginek, who passed away Dec. 8 due to heart failure. She was 41.

Reginek and Reggie used to bond over photography. His interest in the field began when he was 11 years old and got a Yashica camera from his mom, who got it from a bar patron in lieu of paying his tab. Reginek turned an early hobby into the job of a lifetime when in 2002-03, he was hired as the team photographer by the Detroit Red Wings. It was a passion he cherished sharing with his daughter.

“She was a huge, huge sports fan,” Reginek said. “She could go toe to toe with just about anybody. And it was just something that her and I always had together. Sports and taking pictures. She was great at taking pictures.”

From Thanksgiving to tragedy

Reginek is part of the photo team that shoots the Detroit Lions’ annual Thanksgiving Day game, which means celebrating the holiday with family − his wife, Colleen, Reggie, son David and his wife and their children − means postponing it a day or two. This year, they celebrated on Nov. 29.

“We were playing cards with her aunt and my daughter-in-law, some other games, laughing and having fun and it was all good,” Colleen said. “She was here for a couple, three hours.

“It was nice that we did get that.”

The next day, they got a phone call, the start of a nightmare.

“Sunday morning, my son called me and said that her boyfriend had called, something was wrong,” Reginek said. “They’re giving her CPR and taking her to Trinity Health in Livonia. We got over there as quick as we could. They were working on her for almost two hours. They finally got a pulse, but after four minutes of no oxygen to your brain, your brain starts to die.”

Reginek describes that Sunday, Nov. 30, as the day “we lost her beautiful soul.”

Five days later, they took her off life support. They tried to honor Reggie’s generous spirit and wish to be an organ donor by working with the Gift of Life program. Having never gotten to walk Reggie down the aisle for a wedding, the Regineks instead walked her down two corridors at the hospital, to the operating room.

“He thought this was his last chance for him to walk with her,” Colleen said. “So as much as he doesn’t like wearing suits, he got all dressed up in a suit and I was in a dress and we were all dressed up to walk down that path. And he held her hand the whole way.”

Hundreds of people lined the hallways. The Regineks stopped to thank every one of them.

“That was very tough,” Reginek said. “They had two floors and we had to take an elevator down and both floors were lined up. It was very emotional. As I walked by every one of them, I looked at them and I said, thank you, and there had to be 150, 200 people. I told them, you are all living angels.“

There were complications with the internal organs, but her skin and her eyes were harvested.

Reginek describes Monday, Dec. 8, as the day “we lost her body.”

Unimaginable grief

The Regineks are determined to go forward with a pre-planned holiday party. It’s what Reggie would have wanted.

“We have grandchildren and this is Christmas time,” Colleen said. “We have our Christmas party at my son’s house, and he’s like, do we cancel? Should we not have it?

“And it’s like, no. Reggie taught us more than anything that family is what is important and we have to move on for the kids. She would have wanted us to have it.”

As they try to figure out how to move forward, the Regineks are dealing with the other pain that can come with losing a loved one: Sorting out their affairs. Reggie did not have a will, and they don’t have her passwords to her phone, credit cards, and other accounts. On top of the grief, there is so much paperwork.

And there is going through her belongings, which can bring both overpowering sadness − and gratitude.

It was while sorting through her desk that the family found a letter Reggie had written two years ago, after a disagreement with her dad over something she did that he didn’t like.

“My son found it and brought it to us the other day,” Reginek said, emotion breaking his voice. “It’s so sweet. It’s so touching. She felt like she needed to write it down and she did. It was hard to read. It was so heartfelt. And while I was reading it, a tear fell from my face and it hit a part, the part where she said, I don’t ever want to hurt you and mom.

“That’s where that tear landed. I didn’t even read down that far. I couldn’t. But that’s how I saw it. My tear.”

The Red Wings family

Reginek is used to having great access to the team, but he usually only gets called into the locker room after a game if a player is celebrating a milestone.

Tuesday was different. Early in the day, he received a phone call from a staff member asking him to come to the locker room after the game, regardless of outcome. The Wings were blasting music to celebrate their 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders, but as soon as Reginek entered, the music was turned off, and captain Dylan Larkin stood up.

“He made a comment about my daughter passing while they were on the road trip,” Reginek said. “He says, ‘you’re always taking our pictures. We want to do a team picture with you.’ So he gave me the game puck and I did the best I could, kind of thanked him and told him how grateful I was.

“The win was the biggest win of my life with the team. They dedicated it to her. That was overwhelming.”

Afterward, one by one, players hugged Reginek. Todd McLellan, the coach, offered his condolences. “He said if we need anything, to please reach out,” Reginek said. “They were all very sincere about it.”

In the hallway outside the locker room, general manager Steve Yzerman was waiting.

“I seen Stevie making a beeline towards me,” Reginek said. “We talked for like 10 minutes. He’s got three daughters and I know he felt my pain or could see it. I think he understands the devastation that we’re going through. Not that he could truly understand the pain, you can only imagine it, you can’t put it into words.”

Reggie’s legacy

As news spread of their loss, the Regineks were overwhelmed with messages of love and condolences. They knew Reggie was special, that her energy and smilie and infectious joy had touched so many. Now they saw it.

“My wife kind of made a list of things, bullet points of things, that people kept saying over and over again,” Reginek said.

There were so many.

“It was ‘her big, welcoming heart, her bright light, her big, beautiful smile,’” Colleen said. “‘A truly amazing person, loyal friend. What a kindhearted, beautiful person she was. How you could pick her laugh out of a hundred people in a room. A friend who would always be there for you. How genuine she was.’”

Now that joyful and loving person is gone from Reginek’s life, but never from their hearts. Never from their souls.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com.

Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her books: “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of Hockeytown,” and “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit family’s home damaged, Christmas gifts lost after fire spreads from vacant house

Published

13 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Detroit family’s home damaged, Christmas gifts lost after fire spreads from vacant house

DETROIT – Detroit fire officials are investigating multiple house fires that broke out Tuesday morning, including a blaze that destroyed two vacant homes and damaged one family’s home on Dwyer Street.

The fire started around 1 a.m. in a vacant house, leveling it before spreading to a neighboring vacant property and then damaging the home of Joel Whitner and his family.

Whitner described how his family woke up to the sound of neighbors pounding on their door.

“When we walked out the door, the wind gusts and the fire just kind of like blew us back,” Whitner said, describing the intensity of the blaze.

The family’s home has significant damage, including water damage throughout the interior and damage to the roof.

The family lost Christmas gifts, furniture, and clothing in the fire.

A GoFundMe has been started to help support the family.

In a separate incident around 3 a.m., firefighters responded to another residential fire on Ashland Street, where a family of 15 evacuated safely after a space heater caught fire in an upstairs bedroom and spread to the attic.

“I grabbed my fire extinguisher, and I started spraying it right there, and that made it go up more, so I ran to the attic and started spraying in the attic,” said Jerome Hill. “Keep a fire extinguisher by your bed because if I didn’t have that by my bed, there’s no telling what would’ve happened.”

It comes after a house fire that killed a 6-year-old girl on Sunday (Dec. 14) and another fire that killed three on Monday.

Fire officials say space heaters are responsible for four out of five home heating-related fire deaths.

The Detroit Fire Department is reminding families of home heating safety tips.

Captain Edward Davis emphasized the importance of having a safety plan in place in case of an emergency.

“You want to create a fire safety plan for your home in the event of an emergency,” Davis said. “What are two ways to get out of the room, out of the home – where are our families meeting up? How do we alert other members in the home?”

The department’s safety guidelines for space heaters include:

Place heaters on flat, stable surfaces
Keep heaters at least three feet away from combustible items
Plug heaters directly into wall outlets
Turn off heaters when leaving rooms or going to sleep
Keep heaters clear of walkways and exits

The department is also reminding families of important carbon monoxide safety tips:

Install carbon monoxide alarms low to the ground, near gas furnaces, dryers, or heaters.
Test CO detectors monthly and replace them every five to seven years.
Avoid using a stove, oven, or grill as a heat source.
Keep gas and charcoal grills outdoors only—never in garages or enclosed spaces.
Hire only qualified professionals to inspect or repair heating systems, fireplaces, and chimneys.

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Detroit, MI

4 dead, Detroit firefighter injured in slew of fires. What to know

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

4 dead, Detroit firefighter injured in slew of fires. What to know

In three days, two fatal fires and multiple other fires were reported in Detroit.
An electrical incident is believed to have caused one fatal fire.
Fire officials ask that residents make fire safety plans and take precautions with devices like space heaters.
Those facing housing and heating concerns can call the Detroit Housing Resource HelpLine at 866-313-2520.

A fire that claimed three lives in Detroit began with an electrical incident, officials say. Now, in the wake of that deadly blaze, another fatal fire and multiple other recent blazes – including one that injured a firefighter − Detroit fire officials are urging residents to take fire safety steps this holiday season.

Four people died across two fires on Sunday, Dec. 14, and Monday, Dec. 15, in the city, and firefighters tackled three housefires that displaced residents in the early morning hours on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

A cause was not yet available for the Dec. 14 fire that killed a 7-year-old boy, originally reported by officials as a 6-year-old girl. That fire took place in the 12000 block of Rutherford Street, near Greenfield Road, and also left a woman critical and a 4-year-old with smoke inhalation.

In the case of the Dec. 15 fire, more details were beginning to emerge.

A man, a woman and a teen girl all died after a house fire reported about 6 a.m. in the 19000 block of Wildemere Street, near Detroit’s Palmer Park and off 7 Mile Road. An elderly woman was also critical after the fire.

Clutter in the house slowed down rescue efforts, officials previously said.

And speaking to the media on Tuesday, Dec. 16, Fire Investigation Division Chief Dennis Richardson said an electrical event caused the fire, and combustibles in the house contributed to the blaze.

The specifics of the electrical event are still being looked at, but Richardson said the house already had electrical issues, and it’s believed wiring played a role in the fire.

Fire department team members “hate seeing this,” and are trying to convey messages around fire safety this time of year, Richardson said.

A spike in fires

That message is one the department works to share months ahead of the holiday season, said Detroit Fire Marshal Donald Thomas. Headed into next year, the department hopes to use data to work with specific neighborhoods with vulnerable structures that see home heating and electrical fires.

“We do notice that there is a spike in some of the fires that we have during our colder season,” Thomas said.

While the causes are still under investigation, the department also saw multiple houses in flames on Dec. 16:

A fire was reported about 12:45 a.m. in the 19100 block of Dwyer Street, said Corey McIsaac, Detroit Fire Department media relations director. Firefighters arrived to find fire in one home, but it extended into four homes nearby. One home was occupied, but no one was injured.
A house fire was also reported just before 3 a.m. in the 19600 block of Charest Street, McIsaac said. Firefighters arrived to find all residents and dogs outside. The fire was put out but rekindled a little after 6 a.m. and was doused again.
Additionally, a fire was reported just before 3:10 a.m. in the 2100 block of Ashland Street, McIsaac said. The upstairs flat in the two-family home was on fire, and all residents were out when firefighters arrived. One firefighter was injured during the response but was released later in the day.

All displaced residents were connected to the American Red Cross or Detroit Housing Services for housing assistance, McIsaac said.

Fighting time

Fire can double itself every 30 seconds, so residents and responders are “fighting against time” when flames break out, said Detroit Fire Capt. Edward Davis of the Public Instruction Unit.

Steps he suggested to avoid a fire in the first place include:

Plugging space heaters directly into wall outlets instead of extension cords.
Not leaving space heaters unattended while sleeping or leaving the home.
Keeping space heaters on a flat surface and three feet away from clothing, paper products or other combustibles.
Keeping space heaters away from children and pets, as the little ones can knock the heaters over or get burned.
Not using ovens or stoves to heat a house.

Steps he recommended to prepare for safety during a fire included:

Having working smoke detectors and checking them every week.
Creating a fire safety plan that includes two routes of escape, where to meet and how to alert others in the house without risking personal injury. That last part could be done with whistles or air horns. Additionally, having a plan on how to shelter if escape isn’t possible. Sheltering could include closing a door to slow a fire’s progress.
Possessing fire extinguishers and knowing how to use them.
Possessing a ladder, if a resident wants, but being sure where it is and how to use it because of how quickly fire doubles.

The fire department also released additional information on getting fireplaces and furnaces inspected and avoiding the dangers of carbon monoxide in the winter months. For more safety suggestions and details on those, go to detroitmi.gov/fire.

In addition, those facing housing concerns, without proper heat, or displaced from the fires can reach out to the Detroit Housing Resource HelpLine at 866-313-2520.

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