'80S REUNION FEVER...
by: Bill Holdship on 2/2/2010
Two bands that made quite a splash on the local scene in the '80s are planning reunion shows over the next two weekends. First, the Hysteric Narcotics -- a band at the forefront of the first Detroit garage rock revival (with some pyschedelia thrown in for good measure) -- will be presenting a reuni ... [MORE]

TUESDAY AFTERNOON FUN WITH THE STOOGES...
by: Bill Holdship on 1/26/2010
I guess this Swiftcover insurance commercial, which is currently running in Great Britain on the telly, means Iggy's really about as "mainstream" as you can get these days. Not as much fun or as genuinely funny as Johnny (Lydon) Rotten's British butter commercial from a year or s ... [MORE]

MORE HAITI BENEFITS SCHEDULED...
by: on 1/21/2010
Even more Detroit area Haitian benefits have been announced. Keep 'em coming, folks.   The Jazz Café at Music Hall will be presenting a music and spoken word benefit show for the cause next Friday night, January 29th, from 7 to 10 p.m. The sole purpose of the event is to raise monetary proc ... [MORE]

DETROIT ROCKS FOR HAITI...
by: Bill Holdship on 1/20/2010
Anthony Morrow over at the Majestic complex just wrote to inform us of a benefit show, Detroit Rocks For Haiti, that will take place at the end of this month on Friday, January 29th and Saturday, January 30th at the Magic Stick. More than 20 Detroit bands will come together to raise money for ... [MORE]

THE BLOOZE IN FERNDALE...& FIVE YEARS OF MOTOR CITY BLOG
by: Bill Holdship on 1/14/2010
We'd be lax if we didn't mention the 16th annual Anti-Freeze Blues Festival, which takes place this Friday and Saturday night, January, 15th and 16th, at the Magic Bag (22920 Woodward Ave) in Ferndale. (We actually had planned a Night & Day blurb on it....but things didn't go quite the way ... [MORE]

PROTESTERS BLAST COUNTY, SCHOOLS ON CUTS
by: Sandra Svoboda on 2/4/2010
Outside the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit on Thursday, a charged-up crowd of at least 150 pickets had no shortage of targets for its ire: Detroit Mayor Dave Bing,  Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb. “Hey hey, ho ... [MORE]

REMEMBERING HOWARD ZINN
by: on 1/28/2010
The word “hero” gets tossed around a lot, but we’ve just lost someone who was the real deal. Historian, author, playwright, teacher and social crusader Howard Zinn is dead at the age of 87.Best known for his groundbreaking book A People’s History of the United States, Zinn was both an academic and a ... [MORE]

POT EXPO IS STILL A GO, BUT CONTEST ON HOLD
by: Sandra Svoboda on 1/27/2010
The judges for this weekend’s canceled medicinal marijuana contest at the Caregivers Cup will wait until October to decide which Michigan grower produces the best “medicine” for their condition, says Anthony Freed, executive director of the Michigan Marijuana Chamber of Commerce.A second Caregivers ... [MORE]

JUDGE MAY GET TOUGH OVER MISSING POLICE FILES
by: Sandra Svoboda on 1/27/2010
Defense attorneys are asking for sanctions and a Wayne County Circuit Court judge says he may get tough with the Detroit Police Department over a set of missing files in a murder case. Calling it an act of “last resort,” Wayne County Circuit Judge Tim Kenny told defense attorneys Wednesday that if D ... [MORE]

NEW BOOK CALLS BONIOR ‘CLUELESS’ IN 08 CAMPAIGN
by: W. Kim Heron on 1/12/2010
Game Change, a behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 presidential campaign, has already made the news several times over in recent days:• For Sen. Harry Reid’s comments about then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama as electable because he’s “light-skinned” with “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to hav ... [MORE]

ART-DAMAGED
by: Corey Hall on 2/5/2010
Untitled Adam Goldberg, Marley Shelton, Vinnie Jones.Directed; by  Johnathan Parker Rated: R     Run Time: 96 Grade B+Untitled is a diamond-sharp and unsparing satire of pompous, New York gallery culture, so sharp in fact, it’s in constant danger of slicing clean through ... [MORE]

ANOTHER CRITIC, ANOTHER LIST....
by: Jeff Meyers on 12/21/2009
I guess I'm one of those haters Corey's talking about because while I found Up In The Air fine in a Jerry Maquire sort of way, I think it's a pretty superficial film that wants to pretend it actually has something to say. For me, the top films of this year were the ones that'll probably be forgotten ... [MORE]

BRITTANY MURPHY ESSENTIALS
by: Brian Smith on 12/21/2009
Two Brittany film essentials that went unnoticed: It’s a tragedy that Brittany Murphy’s dead. Maybe not only because she was young and beautiful and had a suitcase pimp of a hubby, but because she was a mighty skilled actress, a fact that’ll likely be overshadowed by her ditzy film personas. See, ... [MORE]

AND MY NOMINEES ARE...
by: Corey Hall on 12/11/2009
The Detroit Film Critics Society, of which I am a proud member, has announced its nominations for 2009, and just like the group, it's pretty eclectic. The full list can be found elsewhere, but just for giggles, I've included my personal picks, many of which made the final list, and some that didn't. ... [MORE]

G.I. JOE: SHOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE
by: Corey Hall on 8/5/2009
In perhaps the least shocking surprise of the year, Paramount has declined to pre-screen G.I Joe for reviewing press. This, of course, is the international symbol that a movie is not only lame or not good, but likely bad enough to cause severe birth defects for generations to come. G.I Joe has been ... [MORE]

TWO LOCAL GROUPS WIN CASH IN FACEBBOOK COMPETITION
by: on 1/28/2010
A few weeks back, we took a look at four metro-Detroit organizations competing for a cool million, thanks to an innovative, Facebook-fueled grant giveaway ("Chasing the buck," Jan. 13). Gathering votes from Facebook friends the world over, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, Friendship Circle and Sikhc ... [MORE]

WEDNESDAY NIGHT, DON'T MISS: DIA GALLERY TALK WITH ARTIST MATTHEW BARNEY (BJORK'S BRILLIANT HUBBY).
by: on 1/12/2010
He's back ...Boundary-pushing artist Matthew Barney is in the midst of producing a series of performances and music (with composer Jonathan Bepler) for his new project, which, we hear, is a seven act, seven location, opera that draws its inspiration from Norman Mailer's 1983 novel, Ancient Evening. ... [MORE]

PSST: MONEY FOR MUSICIANS WRITERS, PERFORMERS
by: W. Kim Heron on 1/7/2010
Last summer we featured the work of 18 visual artists who — from a field of more than 350 applicants — had been designated Kresge Artist Fellows, and honored with $25,000 fellowships to go along with the title. The grants are part of a program funded by the Kresge Foundation and administered by the ... [MORE]

METRO TIMES MAKES THE CONNECTION
by: on 1/6/2010
After we asked everybody to share their worst New Year’s Eve stories, we had a ball reading through them. One of the funniest came from former Metro Times staffer Jen Lumpkin, who shared this doozy:One New Year's Eve, I was a "Kiss Sandwich" — it's true and tragic! I thought a guy was coming up to g ... [MORE]

MOTOR CITY MOTORS PREMIERES TONIGHT @ 10
by: Travis R. Wright on 12/28/2009
From the people behind  The Deadliest Catch comes a brand-new Discovery Channel show, and it's set in Detroit. Motor City Motors follows custom-bike builders Dave and James Kaye, the dudes who run Detroit Bros. Custom Cycles in Ferndale, as they take on Jesse James' old gig and try to build mot ... [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]