OCTOBER 6 • 2022 | 51

BeepBeep.
” 
“I practice guitar daily, play-
ing jazz standards, classical and 
American fingerstyle,
” he says. 
“I love digging for and sharing 
records. I DJ these records any 
chance I can. I try my best to 
honor and build in the spirit of 
Detroit music and specifically 
Detroit Techno through all of 
these musical endeavors.
”
There’s also a family con-
nection. His grandmother, 
Elaine Silverstein, was born in 
the Dexter-Linwood area and 
attended Central High School. 
Her father’s last name was 
Madorsky and her mother’s last 
name was Korash. There is still 
a flower shop, Korash Florist, 
on Gratiot Avenue that bears 
the family name.
“The family also lived and 
worked on the east side by 
Belle Isle off Kercheval. I often 
bike by the empty lot that the 
family house was on,
” Raduns-
Silverstein says. “One side of the 
family operated a schvitz hotel 
in Mount Clemens at the sulfur 
hot springs. Detroit Jews would 
come for time to sweat, eat, 
walk and repeat. They ultimate-
ly took the hospitality business 
down to Florida.
”
Raduns-Silverstein had pre-
cious few memories of Detroit 

before he moved here six years 
ago after graduating from 
Pomona College in LA and 
moving to Miami where his 
extended family lives. He just 
recalls the “frigid winter air with 
snow all over the place” when 
he once attended a friend’s 
bar mitzvah. But he has made 
Detroit his home. It’s the music 
and the people that keep him 
here.
“Detroit is a gem of the 
world, and that brilliance shines 
through our music,
” he says. 
“The immense range and depth 
of music styles here is constant-
ly inspiring both as a musician 
and a listener and dancer. And 
in this city, this incredible cul-
ture is just what it is here. It’s 
special and commonplace. It’s in 
the mind, body and soul of the 
people. It’s intergenerational and 
fearless. The music speaks from 
a sacred place of deep listening 
and liberated dancing.
”
Jonah is a member of 
Congregation T’
chiyah in 
Ferndale and Detroit Jews for 
Justice.

BUOYING THE BIRD 
Back to The Blue Bird where 
Jonah will be spending a great 
deal of time over the next 
few years. The Detroit Sound 

Conservancy website says 
African American migrant, 
laborer, grocer, machine oper-
ator and entrepreneur William 
Dubois and his wife, Pinkie 
Dubois, first opened a bar and 
restaurant that featured live 
music there in 1937. In the 
1950s, Thad Jones, Tommy 
Flanagan, Barry Harris and 
Elvin Jones are among those 
who played at “the hippest 
modern jazz nightspot in 
Detroit.
”
Future plans are to return it 
to a neighborhood hangout, 
listening and learning space 
with a music archive, café, bar, 
the return of the original stage 
and live music, a DJ booth and 
outdoor seating. A live jazz and 
community barbecue recently 
took place on the sidewalk out-
side.
“It started out as a neigh-
borhood gathering place; we’re 
hoping it will return to that 
gathering place,
” Michelle Jahra 
McKinney is quoted as say-
ing. She is the Detroit Sound 
Conservancy’s director. “Our 
children will learn new ways of 
being in a community, connect 
with Detroit artist mentors, 
access archival collections and 
hear great live music in our 
neighborhood.
”

“[The renovation project] is 
uplifting because it brings back 
good memories,
” adds Blue Bird 
Inn neighbor Ronald Cannon. 
“The Blue Bird Inn belongs to 
the neighborhood as well as the 
entire city.
”
Funds for the ongoing con-
struction project are still being 
raised. Amazon is among the 
most recent contributors to the 
project, along with the African 
American Cultural Heritage 
Action Fund from the National 
Trust for Historic Preservation, 
The Kresge Foundation, 
General Motors and the 
Detroit Regional Chamber’s 
NeighborHub grant program, 
Mellon Foundation and others.
“
Any dollar that goes to this 
project gets us one step closer to 
serving the neighborhood and 
the community in a real tan-
gible way,
” Raduns-Silverstein 
said.
When the next chapter of 
The Blue Bird’s history is writ-
ten, a young Jewish musician 
with a passion for preservation 
and a love of Detroit’s music 
and its people will be among 
those noted for bringing The 
Blue Bird back. 

To support Detroit Sound Conservancy 

and The Blue Bird Inn renovation 

project, visit: detroitsound.org/give.

“THE BLUE BIRD IS ONE OF 
THE MOST IMPORTANT MUSIC 
VENUES IN THE CITY OF DETROIT, 
WHICH IN OUR MIND, MAKES IT 
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT 
MUSIC VENUES IN THE WORLD”

— JONAH RADUNS-SILVERSTEIN
Jonah Raduns-
Silverstein outside 
The Blue Bird Inn