This is your last chance to vote Detroit, to give your city the recognition it deserves as TitleTown, USA from ESPN.  At 6pm Monday, July 28th, on ESPN SportsCenter the winner will be announced.  Vote here, vote often, and watch to see us win!

With ESPN making it official, Detroit has been named one of the top 20 sports cities in the US vying for the official tag of TitleTown, USA.  All Creative Class activists are encouraged to head for Comerica Park this Sunday, July 13 at 11am to be a part of the filming of the finalist episode for ESPN Sportscenter.  You have a chance to celebrate one of the D’s many strengths, along with fellow sports enthusiasts.  For more info, check this Detroiter Online article.

The Detroit Windsor International Film Festival is kicking off tomorrow afternoon with some excellent films being shown in eight separate venues including a feature film debut at the DIA and continuing on through the weekend on both sides of the river.  Take a look at Tom Hendrickson’s video highlights or go directly to the festival website to purchase tickets and attend.  Support the successful and rapidly growing film industry in Michigan and have fun while you do it!  Where is the down side here?  Thanks ModelD!

Just when you think the hype on this event can’t get bigger - it does!  My list of the huge number of online resources for this year’s Detroit Electronic Music Festival is the tip, but this is a big iceberg!  Wikipedia does the ‘Fest justice, giving the history and current stats, Paxahau is a big promoter this year, along with Synthtopia, get the details at the official DEMF BLOG and of course the DEMF site itself.  Videos and attendee info can be found on MySpace, last.fm and afterparty action at detroitluv.  One more reason the ‘D’ owns the music world!  Don’t miss this party!  $40 for a early purchase weekend pass, $25 per day, $50 weekend at the gate, $175 VIP!

No, we are not talking about rappers - this is film baby!  Michael Moore discusses his latest project, a sequel to Fahrenheit 911, brought to us courtesy of a QIK stream from a cell phone!  Go figure!  Click here to see the clip.

Yea, when Richard Florida talks Creative Class, his presentations are on Technology, Tolerance and Talent.  But having witnessed his pre and post presentation activities, what is practiced but not preached is the big ‘P’ - Party!  While it has been a while since Maxim made the call ranking Detroit number 7 on its top 10 party cities, The Detroit Regional Chamber reminded the development community in their e-newsletter today that there are more reasons to come to Detroit than just our engineering and design brilliance - you can party like Kid Rock too!

Only in Detroit will you see the likes of the The Stooges, White Stripes and Kid Rock relegated to the category ‘Outstanding National Single’.  That leaves plenty of nominations open for the tons of local talent showcased at this year’s Detroit Music Awards!  The range of music and categories being celebrated Friday night at the Fillmore are only surpassed by the talent themselves!  Check nominees for 2008 awards, determined by nominations from local musicians and music industry professionals and voted for over the web.

The DMA has featured performances and guest appearances by Eminem, Kid Rock, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent and many others.  Tickets for this year’s event are $20, and you can either get tickets through ticketmaster or at the door.  Thanks to Detroitcity.com for the heads up!

The Downtown Detroit Partnership is making a video tomorrow, February 29th, to be shown at it’s annual meeting on March 17th and for the general promotion and excitement of everyone. The intent of the video is to characterize life in the ‘D’ for the 21 to 34 year old denizen of the Detroit Urban Jungle. The video will be a ‘day in the life’ that shows the fun work, the after hours events, and the cool loft lifestyle available to those willing to try downtown on for size. You can download the PDF that explains the concept Lets Meet Downtown, and you can contact Bob Rossback, the guy spearheading this project, bob@rossbach.tv or call him at 313-402-9831.

Thanks to Fusion Detroit for the heads up.

Detroit Renaissance wants to know what you think and where you live - if you are creative.  They have asked New Economy Strategies LLC to conduct a survey to gauge obstacles to build a creative environment and Crain’s Detroit to survey the community to create a map of all the creative sector businesses in our Metro area.

For the Creative Business Climate survey (which they will email you the results of) click here.

For the asset map survey (which they won’t send you results of), you can read Mary Kramer’s intro to the survey, or jump to the survey.  If you even remotely suspect that you or someone you may work with can loosely be defined as creative - take this survey.  This survey is aimed at business, not individual, so fill it out for your company, even if you are a company of one!

There are few options (1) if you are in the music industry, and there may be others that are not completely represented.  Go ahead and pick the ‘other’ checkbox - don’t be intimidated to explain how you don’t fit into any of the pigeon holes!  What is most important is to stand up and be counted!

Another celebration of urban living is happening again this Friday at Willy’s Lofts, 444 West Willis in Midtown. Illuminate highlights recent urban residential developments in Detroit. Starts at 7, lasts till at least Midnight, and showcases food, music and art - what more do you need?

Making it happen: Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Slow’s BBQ, Majestic Cafe, R. Hirt Jr., Cost Plus wines and music courtesy of Detour Magazine.

$10 at the door helps StandUp for Kids and CAID. If you can’t afford the ten bucks, volunteer - Detroit Synergy can still use help on the day of the event.