DWELE'S TRIBUTE TO "THE KING"
by: on 6/30/2009
An off-the-cuff tribute from one of Detroit's current heavyweights. As Dwele posted on youtube: "june 25th, at home washing clothes for upcoming tour. . .had 45 minutes to set up the camera and have some fun in tribute to mike, mistakes and all, all in fun. R.I.P. mike!! " ... [MORE]

MOTOWN'S CANDLELIGHT VIGIL IN PHOTOS
by: Bill Holdship on 6/29/2009
The Motown Museum played host to one of the three "official" or authorized candlelight vigils to Michael Jackson last night, Sunday, June 29th. The other two were in Jackson's native Gary, Indiana as well as his adopted home of L.A. Not quite a thousand people showed up but there were certainly hund ... [MORE]

OUTSIDE THE MOTOWN MUSEUM TODAY
by: Bill Holdship on 6/26/2009
ALL PHOTOS BY W. KIM HERON There will be a candlelight vigil for Michael Jackson in front of the Motown Museum this Sunday, June 28th, at 8 p.m. ... [MORE]

THOUGHTS ON THE PASSING OF THE KING OF POP
by: W. Kim Heron on 6/26/2009
Thoughts on the passing of Michael Jackson: 1) When my teenage son told me the news on Thursday, my first comment was about what a sad, unenviable life he’d led, even among the ranks of sad, unenviable star lives. Son proceeded to tell me that it was too early to start making jokes. No, no, I sai ... [MORE]

MICHAEL JACKSON DEAD AT AGE 50
by: Bill Holdship on 6/25/2009
The mainstream press is reporting he was rushed to the hospital, not breathing and in total cardiac arrest...but TMZ is reporting that the former Motown Records child star and self-appointed "King of Pop" has died. Hate to say it 'cause we think Harvey Levin is the devil these days, but much like th ... [MORE]

INCINERATOR UPDATE: DEAL COULD END UP IN COURT
by: Curt Guyette on 7/2/2009
Earlier today I was at the studios of WDET, where I listened to an interview with Charlie Beckham, the chief administrative officer for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. Beckham, speaking earlier in the day to Detroit Today host Craig Fahle, said it looks like the city is locked in to using the massive incin ... [MORE]

BRIDGE BATTLE — MORE SKIRMISHES
by: Sandra Svoboda on 6/25/2009
First Ambassador Bridge officials complained that a dirt pile was slowing work on their Gateway Project. Then the Michigan Department of Transportation filed a lawsuit claiming breach of contract by the bridge company.MDOT, according to published reports, says the Detroit International Bridge Co., o ... [MORE]

23 YEARS AFTER CRIME, QUESTIONS ABOUT CONVICTION
by: Sandra Svoboda on 6/25/2009
After spending nearly half his life in prison for the rape of a 9-year-old Detroit girl, a 54-year-old inmate is asking a Wayne County judge to release him because new lab tests purportedly show he could not have been the attacker.Karl Vinson’s attorneys this week filed a motion in Wayne County Circ ... [MORE]

INCINERATOR DECISION: STILL UP IN THE AIR
by: on 6/18/2009
This was supposed to be decision day regarding Detroit’s municipal waste incinerator. Instead, the situation is more confusing than ever. It didn’t help that John Prymack, manager of the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority, denied writing a letter to the City Council informing them that ... [MORE]

FOLKS ON THE STREET: TIGER STADIUM, LOW-BUDGET SUMMER
by: on 6/17/2009
We armed an intern with a tape recorder and set him loose on downtown Detroit the other day with two questions: 1) What do people think about the loss of Tiger Stadium? 2) What is the tight economy doing to summer plans. Here’s some of what he heard.  Steve, 24, marketing and public relationsMe ... [MORE]

MCG HEARTS THE MITTEN.
by: Corey Hall on 5/21/2009
A few hundred eager area moviegoers were treated to a nice bonus on Monday night, when an advance screening of Terminator Salvation turned into a meet and greet with the film's director, the man know as McG.  Kalamazoo born and bred Joseph McGinty Nichol has made a splash in Hollywood with his ... [MORE]

ALL HAIL JACKIE EARLE HALEY
by: Brian Smith on 3/10/2009
I was a pup when I first saw Bad News Bears; developed a heady childhood crush on Tatum O’ Neal, as a matter of fact. Be that as it may, what really got me was the anti-heroics of 14-year-old Jackie Earle Haley — as Kelly Leak— the smirk-y, cigarette-pack-in-sleeve badass whose manner bucked all kid ... [MORE]

MORONS AT THE MOVIES.
by: Corey Hall on 2/11/2009
The president has been pushing for more civility lately, but it can't come soon enough to the multiplex. Last night I attended an advance screening for a hard R rated slasher movie, one held at a later time of night than usual. Exactly the sort of event where you wouldn't expect to hear the cries of ... [MORE]

MITTEN MOVIE NIGHT
by: on 1/29/2009
Every month for the last few years, the Mitten Movie Project has taken to the screen, showing some of the best short subject films from around the state and beyond. It happens the first Tuesday night of every month, half-screening, half-party, a way to showcase local talent and bring local movie fol ... [MORE]

OSCAR LIST: ROBERT DOWNEY, JR IS IN, DETROIT SNUBBED!
by: Rob St. Mary on 1/22/2009
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of nominated films, this morning.   On the list for the 81st Oscars are some obvious picks -- Sean Penn in "Milk", Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" and the numerous nods for "Benjamin Button".  One shocker is how wel ... [MORE]

AS THE WORLD TWEETS
by: Julia Fitzgerald on 6/29/2009
To those not paying attention to world news in the days leading up to the Iranian election, it appeared as if nothing was wrong, especially in the social-networking world. Twitter’s trending topics included Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon, the iPhone and PETA. We all went to bed, only to wake up the ... [MORE]

MÉNAGE À TWEET
by: Travis R. Wright on 6/23/2009
With Facebook, Skype, Youtube, BlogSpot/WordPress and now Twitter, the world is experiencing the most rapid, significant technological shift in post-millennium modern culture. High school and college students, businessmen and women, politicians, Hollywood starts and local poets are in constant tête- ... [MORE]

RUNWAY A LA VINTAGE
by: on 6/19/2009
by Sara AxelrodShopping sprees may not be an option right now — that’s just time and money we don’t have. Still, we’ll subject ourselves to a buying Bazaar to peek at the latest trends and essential pieces for fall. We melted at the hot Fall 2009 runway. Jean Paul Gaultier’s mode ... [MORE]

DAM GARDENS!
by: on 6/17/2009
Can you picture one of those immaculately unkempt gardens you see illustrated in children's books, the ones wrought with twisted branches and serpentine vines? They remind me of the minds of some artists I know — beautiful, dense and tangled. Navigating their headspace requires interpreting ... [MORE]

MIDTOWN IS THE PLACE
by: on 6/4/2009
Sad but true, the Detroit Festival of the Arts is not being produced this year. In a moment of creative re-birth, the University Cultural Center Association (UCCA) and Wayne State University (WSU) kick off their new summer series, Midsummer Nights in Midtown, tonight! The festivities continue every ... [MORE]

DAN DEMAGGIO: 100 PERCENT GENTLEMAN
by: Michael Jackman on 3/9/2009
After just barely getting to New Dodge Lounge in time to see the end of the Meltdowns, I got to catch Dan DeMaggio of his City Chicken Orchestra before he went onstage. Dan, quite rightly, gave me a hard time about the description I used of his group in the paper ("Boozy spoken-word blowhard Dan DeM ... [MORE]

STICK YOUR WOODSTOCK UP YOUR ASS.
by: Brett Callwood on 3/8/2009
Holy shit, I love the Blowout. I may have only just arrived home (at what I thought was 2 a.m. but what my computer clock is telling me is 3 a.m. – damn) and therefore still be enjoying the memories that are very fresh in my mind, but I think that this year's Blowout is the best festival ever put on ... [MORE]

WONDER TWINS BLOWOUT REPORT: FRIDAY
by: Laura Witkowski on 3/7/2009
Laura: We started off day three of Blowout right with pierogies at Polish Village.D'Anne: Those were some good pierogies. Definitely not on my diet.L: Diets are for housewives. Only a fool would go to a multi-day event in Hamtramck and NOT partake in good Polish food.D: I know. When in Rome, d ... [MORE]

THREE DOWN, ONE TO GO...
by: Bill Holdship on 3/7/2009
Man, I felt exhausted going into Blowout after putting all the editorial stuff together. and, today, finally, I'm an absolute zombie. But I figured I'd better scribble down a few random thoughts from these last three nights of my second-ever Blowout, which Brian Bowe once described to me on the phon ... [MORE]

THURSDAY NIGHT BLOWOUT HITS
by: Doug Coombe on 3/7/2009
Started out by checking out the amazing guitar heavy pop of Citizen Smile at Small's. Reminiscent of early Teenage Fanclub and bass player Adam Padden is arguably the Paul McCartney of Detroit. Besides, any band with a singer named James Brown is cool with me.Keeping the ridiculously good guitar po ... [MORE]