Blair
Blair was a Man. A free Man. A person with a gift to give.
A Man that came from New Jersey to Detroit to give. To explore. To learn. To be. Free.
Fly on Man. Fly.
Rest In Peace
You didn’t slip into David Blair’s orbit. You gravitated to it, and then you stayed there.
That’s how friends are remembering the Detroit poet, musician and teacher, who died July 23 at 43. They say his Sunday memorial service at Unitarian Universalist Church will be a celebration of a unique life and talent.
Word of Blair’s death spread quickly through the Detroit arts community last weekend, spawning an outpouring of tributes and support from across the world as his Facebook page filled with emotional remembrances.
Blair, a fixture on the Detroit arts scene and a National Poetry Slam champion, was found dead at the Corktown Inn in Detroit. Friends said Friday that he appears to have died of natural causes. Autopsy results are expected next week, said Dale Wilson, a friend and collaborator.
Blair’s first book of poetry, “Moonwalking,” was published last year. His poetry readings and musical performances are chronicled on video across the Internet.
“He literally could stop a room and make you cry,” Wilson said.
Blair taught poetry in Detroit Public Schools and the YMCA, and traveled the world to perform. He was an intellectual with a blue-collar past. He was a musician, mentor and activist who conveyed the grittiness of Detroit decay while believing that hope lay in the city’s art.
Raised in New Jersey, Blair moved to Detroit during the 1990s, working on the Chrysler line before emerging as a luminary on the local poetry scene. He was also a prolific musician, releasing several albums, hosting open-mic sessions and performing with the Urban Folk Collective.
Those close to Blair said he had a magnetic personality to go with potent talent.
“Everyone around him expanded and became grander,” said musician Audra Kubat, also a member of Urban Folk Collective. “He was brilliant but down to Earth. You were inspired to be a better person just by being around him.”
Wilson said there was a fierce independence and deep honesty to his friend’s work.
“Whether you knew him for 12 years or for two weeks, the relationship could be the same, because he was so open,” Wilson said. “Blair was black, gay and socialist. He was proud of that, and he was able to convey it in a way that was never threatening to people, never overreaching.”
Sunday’s service will start at 1 p.m. with a New Orleans-style funeral parade down Cass Avenue from Mack to the Unitarian Universalist Church at Forest Street. The church ceremony will begin at 2 p.m., followed by a potluck supper.
A memorial service will also be held in his hometown of Newton, N.J. Blair’s body will be cremated there, Wilson said.
Donations to help cover funeral costs are being taken at DBlair.org , which will also feature news updates, including information about an upcoming memorial concert in Detroit.
The creative community Blair built around himself will be his lasting Detroit legacy, Kubat said.
“All of these great people were able to meet and become close,” she said. “He brought us all together, and he left us all together, so we could all be what we were supposed to be.”
BY BRIAN MCCOLLUM
DETROIT FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER
- FILED UNDER
- Entertainment
- Music
- Detroit Public Schools
Blair’s performances
Blair recites his poem “Detroit While I Was Away” (contains some profanity).
Blair performs a Michael Jackson tribute at the Allied Music Conference.
This is a music performance with group Blair and the Boyfriends.
Blair describes this poem’s subject about “being black in America.”
kelseyvaughnthomas 
Blair seemed to be one phenominal Man, one that was able to take all of who he was and able to live his life the way he saw fit and was able to spread his talents.
He was a very special person, indeed.