LOOSE
LIPS
|
|
LOOSE
LIPS
|
|
A tree grows in mode-town by
Casey Coston
|
GINKGO BY YOKO Last Friday afternoon saw a curious ceremony take place at Times Square in downtown Detroit, where artist and world-famous widow Yoko Ono was on hand to dedicate one of her famed "wishing trees." Ono characterizes the trees as living, growing sculptures, and she has apparently planted many of them around our fair globe. Visitors are encouraged to whisper their wishes to the tree, which is of the ginkgo variety. On hand for the ceremony were Mayor Archer, city cultural affairs czarina Marilyn Wheaton, DIA Director Graham Beale and a smattering of suburban art collectors, curious onlookers, and several super-nerdy Beatles/Ono fans. I also spied Book Beat’s Cary Loren, doggedly yet unsuccessfully attempting to secure Yoko’s John Hancock on her 1995 Instruction Paintings book which Loren had brought down for the occasion. Just across Grand River Avenue and overlooking the Times Square park is the Parker Webb Building, the top floor of which holds local builder Gilbert "Buzz" Silverman’s world-renowned collection of Fluxus art, the loosely affiliated avant-garde group of post-dada 1960s-’70s artists of which Ono was a part. Silverman has quite a few Ono pieces in his collection, and the planting of the tree effectively gave him another, or at least a prime view of her "living sculpture." After the ceremony, a select group of dignitaries and art-collecting suburbanites were allowed access to the Parker Webb building for a reception. I joined up with Matthew Moore and Daniel Gillies, students who had motored down from the Center for Creative Studies for the occasion, as we attempted to drop in on the post-dedication reception. Our efforts were sharply rebuffed, however, by the detached intercom voice at the door, as he crisply rejected our entry, while simultaneously telling the woman in front of us the password code. Duh. Thanks for the key. Given the police presence right behind me, I decided to forgo the opportunity and spent a few moments avoiding the nervous superfan clutching Beatles memorabilia on the sidewalk. After the reception, everyone piled into their BMWs, Jags, Mercedes and SUVs and caravanned over to the Detroit Club for lunch, approximately three short blocks away. One can only hope the little ginkgo tree wasn’t choked by the exhaust fumes. By the way, the Detroit Club, once a bastion of overstuffed, old world, Commander McBragg-style pipe-puffing, has certainly shaken off the mothballs as well as its dress code, as Ono had no problem getting past the doorman in her tennis shoes (of course, they were of the Chanel variety). In other news, local squirrels, fauna and homeless folks were said to be rejoicing at the prospect of free ginkgo biloba in the Times Square neighborhood. MONDO MODE Scenesters, tattooed models, strippers and, of course, the men who love them converged on the Majestic Theatre last week for the inaugural Metro Times fashion and music phenomenon known as "mode." While another fashion gig this past weekend saw the need to attach the name of a relentlessly self-promoting mayoral offspring to its party, this particular pageant was different. Fueled by a rotating set of bands interspliced between the parades of models and fashion, it featured attractive ensembles by Julie Greene for Patti Smith, Incognito, Nicole Miller and others. A Somerset trunk show this was decidedly not. The sashaying models on the runway weaved their way around the band equipment while eliciting whoops and cheers from the well-lubricated crowd. Ann Arbor’s Six Clips started off the night’s exceptional musical offerings, marred ever so slightly by pigtailed frontman Drew Peters’ apparent bout with Tourette’s syndrome near the end of the set. Also showcasing their musical talents were deathgirl.com, the 19.5 Collective, Sweaty Suede Lips and the Trash Brats, the latter of whom were joined onstage by several Trumpp’s go-go dancers. Not surprisingly, the ladies of Trumpp’s had more clothing on than most of the, ahem, "gentlemen" of the Trash Brats. One of the more popular areas of the night was the entry door to the backstage/ changing area, as model-chasing spectators in the audience continually lined up to volunteer their services backstage. All were politely rebuffed, including one particularly gigantic side of beef who looked like he escaped from a WWF road show. FROST-FREE IN FERNDALE Cryogenically frozen since June 19, 1999, local rawk and roll group The Wildbunch were defrosted last Saturday night in time for a raucous gig at Ferndale’s Magic Bag. The joint was packed to the gills with a heady combination of hipsters too numerous to mention by name, mixing comfortably with some rather collegiate-looking 20-something thrillseekers, all in giddy anticipation of this momentous event. A fellow MT scribe, exercising the full panoply of his erudite rock crit clichés, once described their sound as "Black Sabbath meets Devo," an equation which, not unsurprisingly, still holds true today. TV weatherman-school dropout and Wildbunch lead singer Dick Valentine was in rare form, as the cryogenics did not appear to affect either his singing voice or his onstage calisthenics abilities. The band appeared re-energized in their live performance, and bassist Mark Dundon of Six Clips more than adequately filled in for the departed Disco (in keeping with the "look-we’re-wacky" stage names, I believe the band refers to Dundon as John Paul Bona-something-or-other. Whatever). While some local music snobs may look down their crooked noses at The Wildbunch’s inside jokester-ism cachet, there can be no denying the band members have clearly mastered their studies in 1980s Rock Anthropology 101.
Casey Coston writes here every other week. Keep those cards and letters coming to Metro Times, or call the tip line at 313-962-5281. Press * then dial 8056. |
[Home] [About us] [Contact us] [Events] [Restaurants] [Musicians] [Clubs & bars]
