Detroit group raising money for Hell

An artist and leader of a group that produces an art show around Halloween each year in Detroit wants to take his Damned ideas to Hell.

The organization known as Damned has launched an online Kickstarter campaign in the hopes of raising enough money to purchase John Colone's holdings in the Putnam Township hamlet of Hell.

Colone's businesses in Hell include Screams Ice Cream and Diner, a wedding chapel, a souvenir shop and a miniature golf course. The unofficial mayor of Hell announced this month — on Friday the 13th — that he was putting all of it, including the rights to merchandise and Hell-themed slogans, up for sale for the devilish price of $999,666.

Anthony DVS, as he is known, is the leader of Damned, which hopes to raise $1,333,666 to purchase Hell and build a performance art center where events could be held year-round.

"Our idea is to utilize the back land area to build an enclosed, temperature-controlled structure that will allow for more elaborate event productions in Hell," he said in an email to the Livingston Daily. "This would allow us to expand our productions to include an annual festival with performance, music and art. It will also allow for other productions to consider Hell for their events, such as small concerts, theater productions, wedding receptions, corporate parties and the like."

As of Tuesday evening, the Kickstarter campaign had pledges totaling $47,102 from 11 backers. It needs to raise the full amount by March 22.

For the past eight years around Halloween, Anthony DVS' group has organized the annual Damned Exhibition, which he said allows artists to "share a glimpse within their diverse shadows of id and ego." Damned produces a number of other events each year as well, including its Purgatory Film Exhibition coming March 13-14 to Detroit's Tangent Gallery.

Anthony DVS said he has not been in contact with Colone, but he is familiar with Hell.

"I have visited since I was a small child and still have a photo of 5-year-old me poking my head through a devil cutout," he said.

If the Kickstarter campaign falls short of its goal, Anthony DVS said the group will continue to do what it's done for the past eight years in Detroit, where it had been seeking an abandoned church to build a large art space for its events.

To contribute to the Kickstarter campaign, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/damned/help-us-create-hell-20-on-earth.

For more information about Damned, go to http://thatdamnedshow.com.

Contact Livingston Daily business editor Mike Lammi at 517-552-2854 or at mlammi@livingstondaily.com.