http://www.metroties.com/ Recent Metro Times Content. en-us Copyright 2010 Metro Times http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14897 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14897 News Hits by News Hits staff: Asian carp, climate change and clean energy are among the priorities for Nick Schroeck, the new executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. The Detroit-based nonprofit center is affiliated with the Wayne State University Law School's new environmental law clinic, which started l... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14896 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14896 News Hits by News Hits staff: The infidels here at News Hits were heartened a few weeks ago when news broke that a group called the Detroit Area Coalition for Reason placed ads on the outside of SMART buses that read: "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." Given the influence of the religious right in this country... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14895 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14895 by Sandra Svoboda: In what legal experts say is a highly unusual move, a Wayne County prosecutor wants University of Michigan Law School students to testify against a man they've been working to exonerate. Innocence Clinic co-director David Moran is asking Wayne County Circuit Judge Tim Kenny to strike the students f... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14894 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14894 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: Village voice In your Feb. 24 article reviewing the taqueria Los Altos ("Mexican high"), you describe it as being in "Mexicantown's second downtown, near Springwells." The area that you visited is called Springwells Village. Mexicantown is really only the district located east o... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14893 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14893 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: John Joseph Henry Schwarz grew up a Republican. He supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Earlier, he served in Vietnam, and, afterward, went back to Indochina — with the CIA. He supported his friend John McCain for president two years ago, and twice was endorsed for Congress by George W... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14892 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14892 by Travis R. Wright: For any cognizant creative whose finger is on the pulse of this ailing city, the news of one relocating to New York is a cliché. And other places too. Want to move to Los Angeles? Best of luck, see you in the valley, babe. You'll be back broke with smog-filled lungs, a runny nose and an uneve... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14891 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14891 by Michael Jackman: The Whitney, that grand old former residence, shines on a sunny afternoon in midtown Detroit. With its 52 rooms, 10 bathrooms and 20 fireplaces, the three-story pink-granite edifice is in great condition, and pots of forced lilies decorate the front garden. It seems the manse-turned-restaurant is pr... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14890 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14890 by Norene Smith: When I was a kid, I remember my mom taking me to a Wonka-ish shop that sold fake pill bottles filled with candy.  It wasn't the sugary contents that made me decide I had to have one. It was the packaging. After all, who could resist candy "pills" labeled super rich, beautiful and brainy? ... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14889 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14889 HereSay by W. Kim Heron: Emilio Castillo spends about 175 days a year on the road with Tower of Power, a 42-year-old musical institution based in the Bay Area, where Castillo grew up after leaving Detroit as a kid. We caught up with him by phone at an airport, en route to a New Orleans gig where he'd no doubt play "Wha... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14888 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14888 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: My husband and I have been married for one year, but we had been dating for 10 years before that. I thought we had a very understanding relationship. In the last couple of days, I have found out that he has a serious obsession with females wearing running shoes. He had in the past hinted at the f... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14887 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14887 Cheat Code by Bryant Franks: Bioshock 2 2K Games Xbox 360, PS3, PC It was its setting that separated the original Bioshock from other first-person shooters.  The undersea dystopia of Rapture was spooky, unpredictable and, most importantly, new. Problem is, you can never go back somewhere for the first time, so Bioshock 2... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14886 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14886 by Metro Times food staff: Vegetarian-Friendly Aut Bar 315 Braun Court, Ann Arbor; 734-994-3677; $: In the warmer months, historic Kerrytown's Aut Bar spills out onto a quiet courtyard it has nearly all to itself. Functioning as a restaurant and a bar for 21 years (the second level is 21 and older only), there's a popular Su... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14885 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14885 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 27 years ago in Metro Times: A cover story finds MT writers gearing up for Tiger baseball 1983. Michael Betzold hazards a prediction: "Under manager Sparky Anderson, the Tigers have been a perfect mathematical regression leading inexorably to the pinnacle of mediocrity, .500 ball, which they wi... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14884 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14884 by Amy Elliott: In a quiet office plaza off the I-696 corridor in Warren, John Castiglione sells accordions. The showroom's small and sort of corporate; there are no flashy displays, diamond-encrusted instruments or autographed posters for show, no polka music piped through the speakers. There aren't even that many... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14883 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14883 by Michael Jackman: The Ginger Garlic Eggplant $7.95 for one, $14.95 for two Mon Jin Lau 1515 E. Maple Rd., Troy; 248-689-2332; monjinlau.com This popular vegetarian side has an unusual origin: It was inspired by Italian cuisine. Co-owner Brandon Chin says, "We like going to Italian restaurants and we always... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14882 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14882 by Brett Callwood: On paper, it's a tired concept. Get four or five musicians or rock 'n' roll stars who've been gigging under various names with various bands for decades and throw them in a bar band together. Have them play songs from their combined pasts ... and claim that they're not, in fact, a bar band at all. ... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14880 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14880 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14879 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14879 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: THURSDAY MARCH 18 Sarah Jones KARMA CHAMELEON An elderly Russian man, a Jewish grandmother, a young African-American rapper, a Pakistani immigrant — Tony Award-winning actress, playwright and spoken-word poet Sarah Jones has played them all. Jones' multicharacter, multicultural one-woman sh... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26123 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26123 Review by Bill Holdship: Well, thankfully, at least he hasn't given us Journey Through the Past again. But Trunk Show is another Neil Young live performance filmed by Jonathan Demme, (who also shot 2006's Nashville-based Heart of Gold), this one taken from the Chrome Dreams II tour's stop at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26120 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26120 Review by Jeff Meyers: "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." —Friedrich Nietzsche The goal of any film is to successfully transport you to another time and place, to immerse you so completely in its story, characters and visual... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26106 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26106 Review by Jeff Meyers: It's only been 90 minutes since I saw She's Out of My League and I'm already struggling to remember what happened. The movie isn't an entirely unpleasant experience, but whatever goodwill it engenders while you watch it — there are a few laughs, a few sweet moments — evaporates after lea... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26105 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26105 Review by Corey Hall: With sunken cheeks, ashen complexion and sulky demeanor, Robert Pattinson has become the millennium's first real matinee idol, the skinny-jeans-wearing totem for all things moody and oh-so-goth. Remember Me is his first earnest attempt to grab the mantle of bygone icons, from Johnny Depp to Paul New... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26104 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26104 Review by Corey Hall: Welcome to the new post-racial America, where at long last African-Americans and Latinos can star together in a major studio movie every bit as crappy as anything white people have ever done. Our Family Wedding is a minor milestone in the march of cultural progress, and a huge regression in the art... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26103 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26103 Review by Jeff Meyers: Five years ago with a tighter, more paranoid script and better-drawn hero, Paul Greengrass' Green Zone could've been a contender. With its Bush-war shadiness, convincing on-the-ground Iraq setting, truth-seeking hero and Call of Duty-style pyrotechnics, the movie has good bones. Unfortunately, as de... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26102 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26102 Review by Jeff Meyers: Lou Reed once said his shit was better than other people's diamonds. So it is with filmmaker Roman Polanski, who brings such a masterly touch to whatever he does that even a low-key thriller like The Ghost Writer shines more brightly than it should. If only the predictable story and timid cast lived... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26122 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26122 Review by Aaron Shaul: This far into her career, the work produced by England's Scout Niblett has become synonymous with the genre of stripped-down grrl rock put forth by PJ Harvey and Cat Power. For the most part, it's been an apt comparison; there's definitely a lonesome, searching sound and melancholy feeling pervading... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26121 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26121 Review by Bill Holdship: Gimme Shelter is way too dark; Woodstock and Monterey Pop too hippie-dippy in retrospect. The Last Waltz might be a contender. But no matter the competition, when it comes to rock 'n' roll concert films, 1964's The T.A.M.I. Show is the granddaddy and, quite simply, the greatest of them all. It's al... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14878 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14878 by Sandra Svoboda: Thirteen years ago, the strip of Willis Street just west of Cass Avenue in Detroit was nearly vacant. Not much retail, dining or bar business went on in the area at all, and the businesses that were there went largely unnoticed by those who traveled nearby Woodward or Warren avenues.  The few estab... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14877 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14877 News Hits by News Hits staff: The old aphorism that a lie can make it halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on came to mind last week when News Hits found a little-noted story about the group ACORN, which we've been keeping an eye on since this rag recently wrote abut the right-wing attack machine's at... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14876 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14876 News Hits by News Hits staff: The case of Dwayne Provience keeps getting more and more bizarre. Convicted in 2001 of gunning down an alleged drug dealer named Rene Hunter at an intersection on Detroit's northwest side, Provience was sentenced to serve as much as 62 years in prison for a crime he says he never committed. That c... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14875 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14875 by Bill Holdship: Man, we are so burned-out at the moment that it's hard to even type, let alone make sense of what it is we're typing. After all, if you do Blowout "right," it generally takes a week to recover. But it's well worth the effort. And Blowout 13 — despite its unlucky number this year &md... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14874 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14874 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: Tiger by the tail "For the money, I will dance," Richard Burton reputedly said in exasperation to the director of one of his more inane movies during the '60s. What Jack Lessenberry saw as a coerced confession by Tiger Woods ("Tiger, meet Mao," Feb. 24) I saw instead as Woods' p... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14873 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14873 Stir It Up by Larry Gabriel: When I was a kid, my mother used to make a big jar of honey and fresh-squeezed lemon juice every winter. The thick, bittersweet concoction was our cough medicine, and we would gladly line up for a spoon of that rather than cod liver oil or castor oil — both of which were also freely passed out... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14872 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14872 by Travis R. Wright: It's been about a year since we launched Motor City Seen (the Metro Times Flickr group featured on our website) and, since then, we've watched it grow into something bigger than we imagined. The idea is for you to show us and our online readers how you see our city and the outlying communities. All... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14871 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14871 Wonder Twins by D'Anne & Laura Witkowski: Every party has to start somewhere. And Blowout 2010 got warmed up on opening Wednesday night, March 3, at the Majestic Complex in Detroit, as a swarm of bands took over Hamtramck for three wild 'n' crazy nights. And the Wonder Twins were there, of course, to witness the Blowout unfolding. D'Anne... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14870 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14870 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Easy as pi — You may have heard pi described as an irrational number. Well, here's something that makes sense: In celebration of "Pi day," which celebrates the mathematical constant, Pi Restaurant & Lounge will have daylong specials on Sunday, March 14. Brunch (11 a.m.-2 p.m.) wi... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14869 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14869 by Metro Times music staff: Paxahau Event Productions, producers of the Movement Electronic Music Festival, has announced a partial listing of performers and headliners, as well as ticket info for this year's festival — one of the largest in the world — which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this spring and will... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14868 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14868 Cheat Code by Bryant Franks: Mass Effect 2 EA Games Xbox 360, PC Think cinema science fiction and your first thought is likely Star Wars. Since George Lucas' trilogy is such a cultural phenomenon, try finding someone who hasn't seen them. Conversely, science fiction in video gaming is a murky mix, but EA's RPG space opera, a... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14867 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14867 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: Twenty-five years ago, when my hair was still dark and "hypertext" was something you banged out after too many cups of coffee, I was in Poland, reporting about life under communism's last repressive phase. One day, a bitter young man at the University of Warsaw put things this way: "C... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14866 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14866 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 6 years ago in Metro Times: News Hits went to court as White Stripes frontman Jack White found himself in front of a judge after being charged with aggravated assault on Von Bondies' singer Jason Stollsteimer. White told the judge after Stollsteimer had "dissed" him in the press, and when... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14865 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14865 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: I am a girl who sabotaged my relationship. I was angry; I had complaints. But my real issue was a store of repressed childhood trauma, and I was working it out on the closest person to me, my BF. We had something magical, and I destroyed it. I am now willing to give 110 percent to fix it. We no... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14864 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14864 Idiot Boxing by Jim McFarlin: It's an intriguing question, one certain to evoke vivid remembrances and intense emotions: If you could, and you both were currently unattached, would you want to rekindle relations with your "first love"? I posed the question on my Facebook page last week and, perhaps not surprisingly, t... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14863 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14863 Short Order by Metro Times food staff: St. Patrick's Day, when it falls on a Sunday, results in one big blast of revelry. But when that big day falls — as it does this year — smack in the middle of the week, St. Patrick's Day becomes a bender that stretches for days, starting with weekend revelry (often dubbed "St. Pract... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14862 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14862 by Lee DeVito: It's a quiet night in downtown Plymouth, where blankets of snow and warm lit windows give the impression of a sleepy village. What's going on inside the neighborhood church is a different story altogether, though. That's where the band Inkface is soundchecking, making a racket that betrays the tranq... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14861 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14861 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14860 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14860 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: THURSDAY MARCH 11 Vivian Girls DROWNED IN SOUND With the release of their self-titled debut in 2008, Vivian Girls became something of an indie-rock sensation, winning over jaded critics and fans alike with noisy two-minute punk ditties performed with reckless abandon and a complete disregard for... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14837 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14837 by Detroitblogger John: Louie Pacini's business is as fragile as the brittle creations he makes. He's a craftsman whose plaster statues have been crowded out of the marketplace by cheap imitations from China. His health is faltering, tormented by persistent cancer. His customers have moved away, taking with them their pat... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26099 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26099 Review by Corey Hall: Local rock star Troy Gregory has always wanted to make a movie; of course, he wants to do so many things: sing, write, paint, teach, act, conduct a symphony of ghosts, chase down a dragon, become emperor of the talking gorilla army, etc. If you don't personally know the brilliant and slightly mad Mr... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26096 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26096 Review by Jeff Meyers: It's only half of a great movie but, wow, what a half! Philipp Stölzl takes a documentary-style approach to his period drama about German mountain climbers confronting the northern peak of the Eiger (dubbed "the death wall") during the Third Reich, creating an experience that's as bru... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26095 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26095 Review by Corey Hall: If movies can be seen as the stories a society tells not about what it is but what it wishes to be, then Nollywood Babylon is a wonderful document of cinema as a mantra of affirmation. Unbeknownst to Western audiences, the Nigerian film biz cranks out nearly 2,500 pictures a year, most made for less... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26082 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26082 Review by Corey Hall: Rumor has it that it's hard out there on the streets, and you'd need a fire hose to blast all the dirt off the blacktop of this intense, downbeat and-too-familiar thriller. It's the latest from director Antoine Fuqua, who specializes in building corrupt urban hellscapes filled with compromised crook... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26081 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26081 Review by Jeff Meyers: "You're mad, bonkers ... but I'll tell you a secret — all the best people are." —The Mad Hatter As an exercise in delightfully deranged, comically monstrous visuals, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is everything you hoped it would be. Plants with human faces, checkerboard lan... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26098 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26098 Review by Aaron Shaul: During the George Dubya Bush presidency, there were a lot of prime targets for liberal-minded songwriters — of varying degrees of talent — to take political potshots at or simply to make political statements about. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were reliably one on the bands at the very to... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26097 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26097 Review by Brett Callwood: Back in November of 2005, Metro Times' annual "Music Issue" named Waterford's Black Dahlia Murder the "best metal band nobody cares about." Fast forward more than four years ... and little has changed. OK, they've signed a deal with the legendary Metal Blade label, and they've pl... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26094 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26094 Dining by Jane Slaughter: It's odd that Royal Oak had no Indian restaurant for years, but that hardship, forcing ROers to travel as far afield as Berkley or Ferndale for their biryanis and puris, is ended with the return of an old favorite. Bangladesh native Abdul Ullah ran a Moti Mahal on Main Street for 10 years, beginning... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14859 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14859 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: WEDNESDAY MARCH 3 Lyman Woodard Organization Orchestra BIG BAND REVIVAL Here's lost treasure being rediscovered: The late organist Lyman Woodard has a monumental rep as the leader of high-octane combos, but even most buffs who can chant "Don't stop the groove" as a mantra aren't a... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14858 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14858 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14857 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14857 by Bill Holdship: Wow! So we've reached the lucky 13th of the largest and best all-local music festival in the country. Wonder if Chris Handyside ever envisioned how big the shebang would become when he kicked off this whole Blowout thing 12 years ago this month. As always, special thanks and much love to Eve Doster... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14856 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14856 News Hits by News Hits staff: As the U.S. House of Representatives last week was considering a resolution to help protect people in Iraq, Sister Beth Murphy was receiving tragic news pointing to the measure's need. Murphy, the volunteer services coordinator at the Archdiocese of Detroit, learned that relatives of one of her Ira... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14855 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14855 News Hits by News Hits staff: Although the debate wasn't supposed to be about him specifically, Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb was frequently the focal point Monday, when a Michigan House subcommittee on school district academic emergencies held a public hearing at City Hall. The question being c... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14854 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14854 News Hits by News Hits staff: As octogenarians, Ann Arbor residents Jean and John King are, not surprisingly, giving some thought to what will be done with their remains after they pass. But, because they live in Michigan, their options are limited. Jean King says they know they want to be cremated and have their ashes deliver... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14853 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14853 by Brian Smith: Kenny Tudrick sits in the bar drinking a Pabst. Wisps of his cigarette smoke twist leisurely around his face, and, for a split-second, in the ashy evening light coming through the window, he looks sullen as all hell. He's wearing a tightly fitted blue-jean jacket over a black T-shirt that reads, in... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14852 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14852 Motor City Cribs and Rides by Doug Coombe: Much like the Zombies and Odyssey and Oracle, when Pas/Cal released its brilliant pop gem of a record I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura in 2008, the band had already imploded at the peak of its creative powers. Pas/Cal's Belle and Sebastian-inspired, immaculate pop was largely the visi... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14851 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14851 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: Heroes of the hood Regarding Detroitblogger John's "Street Fightin' Man" (Feb. 17): These are real, live heroes and they don't bounce basketballs or have multimillion-dollar endorsements. This is the kind of black history I will tell my children. This story reads like an episode from Law... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14850 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14850 by Bill Holdship: Sometimes a lot of it just boils down to attitude. And it would appear that Don Duprie, aka Doop — the soft-spoken singer-songwriter-guitarist who fronts a band at the forefront of Detroit's thriving Americana music scene — has a great one.  To wit, this writer first saw Doop & the... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14849 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14849 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: Imagine this, if you can. You and your friends are out at an art gallery — the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, or CAID — for something called "Funk Night," basically an all-night dance party. The party, open only to members, happens once a month. So there you are, reeli... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14848 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14848 by Travis R. Wright: Computer Perfection  We Wish You Well on Your Way to Hell Le Grand Magistery Computer Perfectionists and Pas/Cal-inites Gene Corduroy and Bem were living in Brooklyn when they met commercial illustrator Andy Taray (ohioboy.com), the man responsible for the art found on the cover and throughout th... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14847 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14847 by Corey Hall: Since opening last fall in a former Cass Corridor school building, the incredibly ballsy Burton Theatre has become a boon for the film-starved downtown landscape, and this week's inaugural Detroit Independent Film Festival is further proof that cinema obsessives finally have something new to freak o... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14846 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14846 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Whiskey! Neat! — This month, Ann Arbor's Blue Tractor Brewery has put together a bevy of Bourbon-inspired specials, including bourbon-cured salmon, smoked pork chop, with a Jack-and-Coke barbecue sauce, a hanger steak sandwich with bourbon-and-brown-sugar-cured bacon and bourbon-molasses sauce... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14845 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14845 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: OK: Female, married 15 years, one young child. No sex with husband over last five years. Have tried therapy, talking, not talking, confrontation — you name it, Dan, I tried it. Lingerie, kink, porn. Seriously, everything. A year and a half ago, I got into a relationship with a married guy,... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14844 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14844 by Chris Handyside: You can't mention Ann Arbor-area songwriter Tim Monger's name without also invoking the name of the band for which he's best-known, the acclaimed Northern folk-pop quintet, Great Lakes Myth Society. His plaintive, finely detailed, pop-leaning contributions to that band perfectly complement the work... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14843 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14843 by Travis R. Wright: When this cat Charles Vann stepped onto Detroit's rap scene last winter, newly dubbed as SelfSays, he arrived as a new face and a fresh voice. For some vet local emcees, DJs, promoters and hip-hop heads who've kept track of important and upcoming names and faces over the years, Vann's move to Detroi... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14842 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14842 Motor City Five by Metro Times music staff: AUGIE VISOCCI OF THE HARD LESSONS 1. What musical accomplishment of yours are you most proud of? Initially, our goal was to put out a 45 and maybe play the Magic Stick if we were lucky. I would have never imagined playing on a boat in Paris or getting lost on Highway 61 en route to Mobile, Ala.... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14841 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14841 by Metro Times music staff: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3 (PRE-PARTY) AT THE MAJESTIC COMPLEX Garden Bowl 9 p.m.-close  Keep on Trash Dance Party Three-one-three superstars Dave Buick (Italy Records) and John Hentch (Hentchmen/the Paybacks) will be spinning punk and rock 'n' roll classics as well as lost nuggets throughout th... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14840 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14840 by Brett Callwood: Wrong Numbers guitarist Matt Thibodeau is gleefully reliving the time when members of his band were robbed at gunpoint in front of his house. "We had a gig at Northern Lights and, afterward, we had a little party," recalls Thibodeau, before adding a surprising laugh. "There were some... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14839 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14839 by Sandra Svoboda: Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and his younger brother, Terry "Southwest T," started as street-level cocaine dealers working out of their family home on Detroit's southwest side in the early 1990s. With business genius, luck and the unquestioned loyalty of associates, they morphed... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14838 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14838 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 25 years ago in Metro Times: In "Bringing up Super Baby," Leah Rosch investigates how Baby Boomers are raising their hyper-intelligent babies. Several psychologists are interviewed, saying that these children may be a generation of "hurried children," who are so pumped full of in... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14836 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14836 Short Order by Metro Times food staff: $=$5-10; $$=$10-25; $$$=$25-50; $$$$=$50+ Because of this week's Blowout, we're presenting this handy shortlist of Hamtramck's humble culinary destinations. They're uncommonly cheap, sometimes open late, and are often off the beaten path. But at any given hour of the day, these joints are there to... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26080 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26080 Review by Corey Hall: An extraordinary little movie, Fish Tank is a fresh take on the sort of intimate, bleak "kitchen sink" dramas Brits are famous for, a worm's eye view of desperation shot with such immediacy and truth you nearly forget the camera is there. It's blazingly alive, a devastating portrait of a b... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26079 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26079 Review by Corey Hall: Believed to be a divine entity, no less than the living heir of the sun goddess Ameratsu, his royal highness, Emperor Hirohito, (Issei Ogata) was, in actuality, an odd, inward-gazing eccentric, uncomfortable in his own skin, his lips quivering like a carp flopping around on dry land. Hirohito was Ja... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26065 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26065 Review by Corey Hall: Nihilistic to the very last shot, The Crazies still manages to deliver an adrenaline-packed jolt of good old-fashioned, if not somewhat obscure, terror. Based on a 1973 George A. Romero shocker, this slick, efficient and highly effective remake matches the original's level of mayhem and often exceed... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26064 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26064 Review by Corey Hall: Kevin Smith has become infamous lately, as much for what enters his mouth as what seeps out. And his latest feeble film effort suggests too many Cheetos have gone to his head and blocked an artery. Before he got "too fat to fly," Smith spent lots of the last decade patrolling the talk-show... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26078 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26078 Dining by Todd Abrams: There is cheap food and there is inexpensive food. Cheap food is produced on assembly lines, filled with strange, unpronounceable ingredients concocted in laboratories, and generally tastes like a cardboard-backed photograph of the food it is alleged to be. Inexpensive food merely costs less than av... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14835 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14835 by Erin Sullivan: No matter how strongly we may feel about the health-care debate — and no matter which side of the debate we're on — most of us stay safely out of it. Aside from a few boisterous town-hall meetings, we monitor the dealings in Congress from couches, desks, and smartphones, where we can... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14834 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14834 by Charles L. Latimer: It's Wednesday night at Cliff Bell's jazz club. Drummer RJ Spangler's regular organ-jazz jam session is under way. Spangler sits behind his drums flanked by guitarist Paul Carey and a nervous young trombone player. Spangler calls a post-bop tune, and he wants the young buck to take the first solo. T... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14833 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14833 News Hits by News Hits staff: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14832 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14832 News Hits by News Hits staff: Scientists, lawyers and the hosting politician had the to-be-expected informative and persuasive presentations at a forum Monday, Feb. 22, about what it would mean for Lake St. Clair and the Great Lakes if Asian carp breach barriers to rivers and canals in Indiana and Illinois and enter Lake Michiga... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14831 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14831 by Sandra Svoboda: The two-year-old lawsuit brought against cable television giant Comcast by a handful of Michigan towns and their community-access television stations ended quietly earlier this year. There was a federal judge's order dismissing the case after Comcast agreed to the communities' terms, a cursory joint... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14830 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14830 by Travis R. Wright: Dave Graw and Derek Swanson are a couple of solid dudes. Living evidence that age 35 is the new 21 (which is the new 15), they drink beer faster and tell dick jokes better than sports bar swillers, and though these total BFFs are heterosexually hot for each other's guffaws, they're also husbands wi... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14829 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14829 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: Robert's Rules I'm a Detroit Public School (DPS) educator and a member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), and I read with interest the article, "Schoolhouse divided," (Feb. 17). I attend the DFT meetings and I've been asked to act as sergeant-at-arms, which I accept. The meeting... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14828 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14828 Motor City Cribs and Rides by Doug Coombe: Architecturally speaking, Palmer Woods might be Detroit's greatest neighborhood. Tucked in the northwest corner of Woodward and Seven Mile, the neighborhood was built up largely in the 1920s, with grand Tudor and Colonial Revival homes nestled along winding roads. With every house unique — inc... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14827 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14827 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Go slow — Slow Food Detroit, the local group leading the fight for "slow food," is having a beer dinner at Sherwood Brewing Company. The evening of slow fare and suds will feature plenty of Michigan produce, meat and fish. The fun starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, at Sherwood Brewin... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14826 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14826 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: Back in the late 1960s, China was undergoing the last terrible madness of the Mao era, the so-called "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution." The general idea was that pretty much everything civilization had accomplished needed to be destroyed. Temples were looted. Accomplished persons we... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14825 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14825 Idiot Boxing by Jim McFarlin: After the ratings glory from its Winter Olympics coverage ends next week — beating American Idol head-to-head on Wednesday Feb. 17, something no other network has been able to do for six years — NBC will come schussing out of the gate in March and head straight downhill. The programming... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14824 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14824 Stir It Up by Larry Gabriel: Well, it looks like we still have Sam Riddle to kick around. Somehow, the government case against the political operative (should that be former?) didn't impress one Angela Woods, the lone black juror hearing the Riddle trial. Since then, Riddle has sneaked off to Birmingham to meet girlfriend, form... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14823 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14823 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: I'm writing to you to settle a dispute between my husband and me. We have been married for six years. We're not terribly adventurous, but we're not totally vanilla, either. However, there is one issue that is driving me insane: My husband constantly pesters me to have anal sex. We have tried it i... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14822 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14822 The Subterraneans by Walter Wasacz: It's not just anywhere that one can start the work day hanging out in the vinyl-cluttered home studio of techno trailblazer Anthony "Shake" Shakir, bump into an electro theorist-practitioner (that would be Brendan M Gillen of Ectomorph, who unexpectedly dropped by), and then end it dancing... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14821 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14821 by Brett Callwood: The nature of the working relationship between the four members of Luder became apparent when this interview was being arranged. A simple request for a day, time and location was met with a barrage of contrasting e-mails containing all manner of snipes and digs — some amusing and some, frankly... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14820 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14820 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 25 years ago in Metro Times: George Corsetti interviews a young (and quite svelte) Michael Moore. Moore had been working as the editor-publisher of the Michigan Voice. Corsetti talks with Moore about the alternative weekly paper switching to color and covering statewide content, all with more subscr... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14819 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14819 Cheat Code by Bryant Franks: The Saboteur EA Xbox 360, PS3 World War II is probably tied with alien invasions as the most overused video game setting. Sure, Normandy can be stormed, and Japan bombed, but only so many times. What often isn't told, though, is how France got stomped and surrendered to Germany in record time.... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14818 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14818 Short Order by Metro Times food staff: Aladdin Sweets & Café 11945 Conant St., Hamtramck; 313-891-8050; $: This is a small, neighborhood place, quite unlike Gandhi just down the street, lacking that restaurant's cloth doilies and polished steel cutlery. In fact, at Aladdin, you'll eat on plastic plates and drink from polystyre... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14817 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14817 Couch Trip by Metro Times film writers: Staten Island E1 Entertainment This bungled-crime drama marks the directorial debut of Negotiator screenwriter James DeMonaco, and though it received a microscopic theatrical release, it's better than the majority of 2009 films that opened on hundreds of screens. Surprisingly original characters,... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14816 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14816 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14815 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14815 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: THURSDAY FEBRUARY 25 John Legend NEO-SOUL WARRIOR He has released three commercially and critically successful albums, collaborated with high-profile artists such as Kanye West, and earned a truckload of awards, including six Grammys, but R&B crooner John Legend's most important work may have... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14804 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14804 Sketches in Grit by Travis R. Wright: Before getting into the charred thickets of east Detroit, you'll pass the old train yard. In certain areas you'll see stray dogs, vagabonds, curious shutterbugs, countless pounds of broken glass and gnarly graffiti art. It's been that way for decades. For taggers, burners and bombers with a blunt an... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26063 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26063 Review by Jeff Meyers: In case you haven't yet heard, men are pigs. Even in the Czech Republic.  Case in point: TV weatherman Oskar (Jirí Machácek), who one morning wakes up and notices that his wife Zuzana (Simona Babcáková) has a helluva big schnoz. And so he leaves her, in search of ... well, it's not quite clear what... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26062 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26062 Review by Greg Baise: In the early '90s, back when "going viral" meant you had to hook up two VCRs to dub 8th generation copies of cult classics, a curious piece of Americana brought a little heaven and hell in the tape-trading underground. The shot-on-video documentary short Dancing Outlaw allowed Jesco White,... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26061 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26061 Review by Corey Hall: If showbiz is tough at the top, it's sheer agony at the bottom, a shadow realm explored in this doc, a probing, often maddening slice of gritty vérité. The subject is a tormented dime-store Hercules named Stanley Pleskun, who performs uncanny feats of strength under the stage name &qu... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26059 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26059 Review by Jeff Meyers: Even Nazis were children once. David Cronenberg once said to me that he admired the work of Austrian director Michael Haneke because it was so uncompromising in its tone and vision. And there's certainly something to be said about an artist who demands that an audience engage his work on his terms.... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26042 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26042 Review by Jeff Meyers: Both a student and master of cinema, Martin Scorsese's latest, Shutter Island, couldn't serve as a better example of the two sides of the director's persona. On the one hand, this genre exercise is further evidence that the celebrated director has committed himself to formalism. The film is a movie... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26041 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26041 Review by Corey Hall: Though he took the movement to the mountaintop, the civil rights struggle didn't begin and end with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a point this grinding, earnest little picture works overtime to illustrate. If the title makes it sound like a chitlin-circuit comedy, the solidly bland direction by Jeb St... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26058 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26058 Dining by Jane Slaughter: Located just west of where Dix splits off from Vernor, in Mexicantown's second downtown, near Springwells, Los Altos is designed to cater to owner Adan Lopez's fellow immigrants from Jalisco; Los Altos ("the heights") is a region in the eastern part of that state. The menu notes that the f... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14814 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14814 by Charles L. Latimer: Tenor saxophonist Scott "E-Dog" Petersen is a glass half-full, not-half-empty, kind of guy, but the optimist's outlook was hard to maintain last year. A double-lung transplant may have saved his life — after cystic fibrosis had devastated the lungs he was born with — but he... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14813 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14813 Motor City Cribs and Rides by Doug Coombe: Former Saturday Looks Good to Me keyboard player Scott Sellwood and his wife, Laurie, now live in New York City. But they return to Ann Arbor frequently — it's where Laurie works for the University of Michigan's School of Education, and where Scott's veritable supergroup Drunken Barn Dance is... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14812 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14812 by Sandra Svoboda: Forget about irrelevant classes, students who never use their degrees and faculty who sit isolated in their ivory towers. A five-year-old master's program in social justice at Detroit's Marygrove College is more like guerrilla academics. "The program encourages each student to get out there a... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14811 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14811 News Hits by News Hits staff: Freelance contributor Corey Hall, who usually does movie reviews for this rag, volunteered to join the News Hits team this week to do a little venting over a Super Bowl commercial he found particularly irritating. Here is Hall's pithy report: Super Bowl viewers statewide were served an unusual sid... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14810 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14810 News Hits by News Hits staff: During the last two monthly meetings of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, News Hits has hovered nearby, trying to keep tabs on what's happening behind closed doors. We can tell you with certainty this much: Things are getting really ugly inside the New Center headquarters, and besieged union pres... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14809 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14809 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: Where were you then? I'd like to applaud Curt Guyette on his well-researched article, "Smashing ACORN" (Feb. 3). It's not often I read an accurate story about ACORN. The criticism I have is that Guyette attempts to paint a picture that portrays the unjust attacks on ACORN as successful d... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14808 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14808 Wonder Twins by D'Anne and Laura Witkowski: Valentine's Day is a holiday for women. Obviously! V = vagina. Red = vagina. Hearts = vaginas somehow too. So it was fitting that on Valentine's Day eve, the Wonder Twins attended "Women: A Celebration of Art and Culture" at the Crofoot where people with XX chromosomes were celebrated for... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14807 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14807 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14806 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14806 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: THURSDAY FEBRUARY 18 Saskia Olde Wolber TRANSFIXING STARES Drawing inspiration from news stories, TV shows and snatches of overheard conversations, Saskia Olde Wolber creates entrancing narrative films that combine the styles of documentaries and news reports with fantastical sets and surreal voi... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14805 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14805 by Corey Hall: Though he created the '90s cable cult smash Mystery Science Theater 3000, an innovative show that finally gave millions of fans an open excuse to heckle the movie screen, Joel Hodgson remains a humble Midwestern kid, just some dude named Joel, not too different from you or me. After a brief flash of... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14803 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14803 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Hot dog — Somebody brought to our attention Zack's, a hot dog stop with locations in Macomb and Clinton townships. We've never been, but some of their specialty dogs look pretty extreme. (Like a bacon slaw dog? For real?) Have a peek, at 18427 Hall Rd., Macomb Twp.; 586-329-3798; and 40097 Gro... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14802 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14802 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: Gov. Jennifer Granholm finally moved toward real leadership last week, seven years and six weeks after taking office. With state government facing its most dangerous financial crisis ever, she moved to try to save education, our hope for a better future, from being crippled or destroyed by the poli... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14801 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14801 by Bill Holdship: Love relationships between great artists have inspired some fine literature throughout history, be it works the artists created for each other during their own lifetimes or as fodder for novels, memoirs or even motion pictures and plays after the fact. Surely one of the greatest such love affairs of... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14800 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14800 by Jeff Meyers: There are two things that stand out about this year's crop of short-subject Oscar nominees: 1) There isn't a clunker in the bunch. In recent years there have always been one or two head-scatchers, films that were clearly outclassed by their competitors. Heck, one — 2005's West Bank Story &mdas... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14799 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14799 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: My boyfriend and I have agreed to abide by whatever decision you make. We've been together for nine months. We are gay. We live in a college town. We both found jobs here after we graduated, so we stayed. Since his sophomore year, my boyfriend has had an "arrangement" with an older man,... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14798 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14798 Short Order by Metro Times food staff: Akasaka 37152 6 Mile Rd., Livonia; 734-462-2630; $$$: The sushi bar is the heart of Tomiko DeMeere's serene restaurant. The full array of Japanese dishes includes teriyakis, tempuras, noodles in broth and yakitori, with a gourmet dinner for two ($46) offering a chance to sample many dishes economica... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14797 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14797 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 26 years ago in Metro Times: Bill Rowe examines the "Rock and Roll Comic Book" that CREEM magazine allegedly had become over the years post-Lester Bangs. Rowe talks with current editors Dave DiMartino and (our current MT music editor) Bill Holdship about the changing of the guard between t... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14796 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14796 by Jim McFarlin: She does not see dead people, so get that Haley Joel Osment image from The Sixth Sense out of your head. When little Becky Rosen from Omaha goes to work, transforming herself into Rebecca Rosen, nationally renowned psychic medium, she says she's more likely to see "balls of energy, or waves, li... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14795 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14795 by Detroitblogger John: The guy was coming to shoot up Jack Rabbit's house in the middle of the night.  He'd already fired on other homes in the old east side neighborhood to scare residents he'd suspected of calling the cops on him.  It turned out the gunman was a drug dealer, and when neighbors had called the cops on h... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26022 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26022 Review by Jeff Meyers: It's been nearly 30 years since we've gotten decent werewolf film. Back in 1981, Joe Dante's clever and creepy The Howling (penned by John Sayles) slipped in and out of theaters, while John Landis' snarky scarefest, An American Werewolf In London, hit big at the box office. Both found a contemporary... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26021 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26021 Review by Corey Hall: Valentine's Day is a rom-com designed for mass appeal, and it'd be totally flavorless if not for a layer of cloying sweetness strong enough to rot out your teeth. Featuring a cast of thousands, the picture is like one of those massive supermarket candy samplers, if you don't like a storyline, ther... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26038 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26038 Review by William E. Ketchum III: Plagued by death, in-house drama and label politics, the backdrop to Slum Village's incredible discography reads more like that of an old R&B group than a rap trio. A brief catch-up for those unfamiliar: The trio's second album, Fantastic Vol. 2, helped build their cult following. But founding m... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26037 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=26037 Review by Hobey Echlin: Solider of Love, Sade's first album since 2000's genteelly soulful Lover's Rock, finds her trademark Quiet Storm sound maturing and transforming into a scorched-earth Desert Storm of the heart. And wearing her purple heart on her sleeve, the first lady of neo-soul wanders shell-shocked and love-is-a... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26024 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=26024 Dining by Mel Small: For the past 14 years, Dick O'Dow's has been Birmingham's most popular unpretentious watering hole. Created by the late Dick O'Connor, Peter Dow and Mitch Black in the central shopping district on Maple, the dimly lit pub, graced with simple wooden tables and chairs, faded wall murals from the Book... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26023 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26023 Review by Jeff Meyers: It's pretty safe to say that director Chris Columbus had little to do with the success of the first two Harry Potter films. And if Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is any indication, we should all be thankful he didn't screw them up more. Instead of learning from the directors who helmed the la... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14794 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14794 by Metro Times readers: We had a few questions for our third annual Live and Lust Poll. More than a hundred of you let us into some nooks and crannies of your lives and imaginations. The Contours sang, "First I look at the purse." What do you look at first? He's got to be taller then me. I'm only 5'1. • H... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14793 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14793 Couch Trip by Paul Knoll and David Paul: In this special "Valentine's Day" edition of Couch Trip, we asked MT contributor Paul Knoll and his partner to provide commentary on a handful of recently released gay "erotica" titles. That was all we asked. Here's the conversation: David Paul: I would assume that not much o... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14792 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14792 Cheat Code by Bryant Franks: Ah, Valentine's Day, a day for lovers. Cupid unloads on your ass with heart-shaped arrows, and then it's flowers and chocolates and all that jazz. Well hoobidy-hoo-blah on that; life isn't a Twilight movie, and romance is never simple. Nine times out of ten, true romance starts with physical attract... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14791 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14791 News Hits by News Hits staff: If you've got somebody to love, or are just in a serious "like" mode, we suggest you do your Valentine's Day sweet-treat shopping at Detroit's Avalon International Breads at 422 W. Willis St. Why the promo? Sadly, its not because the Hits has been well-bribed with any Avalon goodies. No,... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14790 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14790 News Hits by News Hits staff: The Detroit International Bridge Co. and its billionaire owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun took a major hit in court last week, when Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Prentiss Edwards ordered the removal of a duty free shop and fuel pumps constructed atop of 23rd Street in southwest Detroit. The... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14789 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14789 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: ACORN nuts Re: "Smashing ACORN" (Feb. 3): I don't know why the GOP was so concerned about ACORN registering cartoon characters to vote. While Mickey and Minnie would have likely voted Democratic, Scrooge McDuck and Elmer Fudd surely would have voted Republican, and Goofy's vote could have... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14788 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14788 by Brian Smith: He's been called a sexist pig and a trash merchant. He's also been called a visionary armed with a heightened sense of irony. Either way he's Jerry Vile (aka Jerry Peterson), storied organizer and mouthpiece of The Dirty Show, now one of the biggest erotic art shows in the world. He's also the forme... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14787 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14787 by Bill Holdship: Steve Albini and Big Black titled their final album Songs About Fucking. It was, in part, a tongue-in-cheek move, but a case could be made that every song — especially since the advent of rock 'n' roll (the term originated as a euphemism for fucking) is basically about sex. Rickie Lee Jones re... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14785 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14785 by Bill Holdship: There was a time when one needed a parental permission slip to check The Catcher in the Rye out of the Bad Axe junior high school library due to its "graphic" nature. J.D. Salinger's recent death brought to mind that no matter how much things stay the same, things do change with time ... e... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14784 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14784 by Travis R. Wright: If the world's oldest profession is prostitution, our oldest pastime is masturbation. We get ourselves off with evolved efficiency. We do it with ease, we do it often, and no matter what we tell our lovers, we know there's no hand like our own. I'm not saying it's the most thrilling or rewarding met... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14783 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14783 Stir It Up by Larry Gabriel: Times were so giddy in the winter of 2009. Barack Obama, the first black president, a liberal Democrat, had taken office after a campaign about change. Along with his Democratic majority in Congress, he seemed poised to sweep away the very odor of right-wing malfeasance left behind by the Bush admin... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14782 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14782 by Kahn Santori Davison: M-1 has a University of Michigan assembly hall of 400 students, artists and faculty hanging on every syllable that leaps off his tongue. It's little wonder. Sporting a black shirt, jeans and sneakers, he's charismatic, firm and earnest. But the emcee — mostly known for politically charged lyri... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14780 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14780 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: Last week was a sad one at the immense, robin's-egg-blue bookstore that looms over the Lodge Freeway, right off the Howard Street exit. That's because Winky, the store's straw boss, the world's only Maltese terrier mix to survive a dozen years with cerebral palsy, departed to chase woodchucks in the... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14779 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14779 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: A few years before my wife and I met, she made porn with her boyfriend at the time. He intended to start a pay-per-view website but never launched it. I was a bit upset when she told me, but then I remembered that I enjoy porn, and the idea of seeing the hottest woman I've ever met — and am... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14778 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14778 by Norene Smith: If your Valentine's Day plans include romance and seduction, or just plain seduction, you want to get your lips in top condition. Here are a few products that promise to prime your pout.   Kiss Me Exfoliating Lip Scrub  Philosophy The beginning of a true lip-pampering ritual, this scrub moi... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14777 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14777 by Sean Bieri: From chicks in chainmail bikinis to musclemen in tights, from the Tijuana bibles of old to the latest in panty-flashing fan service from Japan, sex and comics go together like a complete lack of social skills and comics. So here's a brief roundup of some notable comic book hotties — according... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14776 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14776 by Laura Witkowski: "This, honestly, is the first time I've ever wanted to be in something truly collaborative," says Christian Doble, guitarist in the new Detroit trio that has dubbed itself FAWN. "We really wanted to create something together — sit down in the living room, start playing, and writ... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14775 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14775 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 23 years ago in Metro Times: Chuck Wilbur interviews University of California-Berkley professor and media critic Todd Gitlin about ABC's Cold War propaganda miniseries "Amerika." It is the future, 1996, and the Russians have taken over through their peacekeeping front ... The United Nation... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14774 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14774 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Linked up — What Eastern Market restaurant has the tastiest sausages? For us, it's Farmer's Restaurant, hands-down. If you've been open since November 1977, you must be doing something right. And Farmer's links are made just for them, by a vendor whose name they keep top-secret. Yeah, it's tha... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14773 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14773 Idiot Boxing by Jim McFarlin: Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the esteemed Harvard historian, received the call on his cell phone from President Barack Obama to arrange last summer's now-infamous White House "beer summit" while sitting in the American Airlines lounge at JFK. He was waiting for his flight to interview Eva Lo... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14772 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14772 Short Order by Metro Times food staff: Amadeus Cafe & Patisserie 122 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor; 734-665-8767; $$$: Amadeus is a unique restaurant designed after the old-world cafes of Vienna. A variety of traditional dishes from Central Europe are offered, as well as desserts and a unique list of wines and beers. Enjoy candlelit d... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14771 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14771 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14770 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14770 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: WEDNESDAY, SATURDAY-SUNDAY FEBRUARY 10, 13-14 Luis Resto THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN Since bringing soulful life to the synthesizer in Was (Not Was), Luis Resto has been a behind-the-scenes mainstay in the music biz, collaborating as a keyboardist, synth maestro and producer with everyone... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26018 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26018 Review by Corey Hall: No Impact Man is the name of a project undertaken by Manhattan writer Colin Bevan, an experiment, blog, performance piece and prospective book pitch, to take himself and his family off the grid, to live for one year with as little negative environmental impact as possible. This means no eating out,... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26017 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26017 Review by Jeff Meyers: Neorealism is never an easy sell. American filmgoers are unaccustomed to the lived-in everydayness of the genre, the focus on small gestures and improvisation. And yet, with the right amount of patience and attentiveness, films that trade in naturalism and the ordinary rhythms of life can be both tr... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26003 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=26003 Review by Jeff Meyers: Though the formula hasn't been perfected, the historic biopic has recently mutated into an interesting concoction of art-house affectation, actor showcase and blatant commercial interest. Consider last fall's Me and Orson Welles and this week's release of The Last Station. Both films take compelling... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25997 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25997 Review by Jeff Meyers: John Travolta is back in wacky-insane-guy mode, acting for the cool movie in his head rather than the crap that's on the screen. After his outlandish bad-guy performance in last summer's The Taking of Pelham 123, Travolta has switched sides but sharpened his incisors for a little more celluloid chew... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25996 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25996 Review by Corey Hall: With rays of golden sunset streaking through willows, and palmettos gently rustling in the breeze, Dear John is the latest adaptation of cheese-master Nicholas Sparks' beach reading in a rustic setting; his affinity for soggy Southern beach scenes matches Stephen King's love of Maine's deep, haunted... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25999 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25999 Dining by Todd Abrams: 2244 Junction St. knows the strip of Bagley Street where the majority of Mexicantown establishments are concentrated. You could easily dine, pound margaritas by the pitcher, get hot and sweaty on the dance floor with your girlfriends or boyfriends, and even do a bit of grocery shopping without leavi... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14769 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14769 News Hits by News Hits staff: Seeing as how the hale and hearty crew here at News Hits hasn't yet found a way to qualify for a state-issued medical marijuana card, we made a beeline for the Marriott Hotel bar in Ypsilanti and ordered ourselves two or three (or was that four?) white Russians in honor of Jeff "The Dude"... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14768 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14768 News Hits by News Hits staff: Whether they're suffering as relatives pilfer money from their Social Security checks or experiencing outright physical beatings, Mary Cay Sengstock knows the state could do more to protect its elderly citizens from abuse and neglect. The state even said so, says Sengstock, a Wayne State University... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14767 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14767 by Curt Guyette: You haven't seen Carrie Guzman on the television shows hosted by archconservatives Bill O'Reilly or Glenn Beck. Her name hasn't appeared on the op-ed page of The Wall Street Journal. And she hasn't shown up in any surreptitiously videotaped sting operations conducted by youthful right-wing zealots. ... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14766 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14766 Motor City Cribs and Rides by Doug Coombe: It seems fitting that the roar from the Hounds Below should be a stone's throw from Ferndale's Alcoholics for Christ meetings. The band is, you'll note, Von Bondies' frontman Jason Stollsteimer's new band, and they rehearse in the attic of the bungalow he just moved into a couple of months ago. Stil... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14765 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14765 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: Strike a pose I appalud Mr. Gabriel for wishing to practice his tai chi in public spaces. This gentle and useful art is practiced around the globe by countless millions of people and has health benefits too numerous to mention here. Whatever the reasons the security guards had for stopping him, it... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14764 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14764 Visiting view by Leslie Savan: You know how you can tell the Age of Reagan has ended? Because at his State of the Union address, Barack Obama didn't do any of those ordinary-folks-who-make-a-difference shout-outs to the gallery, as every POTUS (that is, Populist of the United States) has since the Gipper's first SOTU in 1982. But... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14763 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14763 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: Last week Gov. Jennifer Granholm actually did blow me away for the first time since she took office more than seven years ago. What's more, she did so in a positive way — twice. First, she came out strongly in favor of holding a convention to rewrite Michigan's now-broken Constitution. More t... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14762 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14762 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Tuscan son — At 6:30 p.m. Feb. 11, winemaker Michele Scienza, from the Podere Guado al Melo estate in Italy, will host a winemaker's dinner at Modern Food & Spirits. The small, 42-acre vineyard is in a hilly, stream-crossed part of Tuscany, under grape cultivation for centuries. Have a tas... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14761 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14761 Wonder Twins by D'Anne and Laura Witkowski: When faced with Michigan's bitter winter nights, you basically have two choices — down a bottle of Wild Turkey and clutch its empty husk to your chest while curled up in a snow drift, or head somewhere warm where you can rock with good bands and good beer. On a recent Thursday, the Wonder Twin... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14760 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14760 by Detroitblogger John: Her grandfather was a slave.  So was her grandmother, who had white features she inherited from the man who'd raped her mother. When Bettie Birch was growing up in Jim Crow Mississippi, these were the kinds of stories the family would tell the children. For her, as it was for many others, black hi... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14759 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14759 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: Let's say, theoretically, I'm a pedophile. I'm not stupid or evil, so I'm not gonna do anything. I'm not even gonna look at porn, because the production of it involves child exploitation. Hell, even porn that's just drawn pictures — perverts drawing smut for perverts with no kids or anyone... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14758 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14758 Art Bar by Travis R. Wright: Two weeks ago we looked at four metro-Detroit organizations competing for a cool million, thanks to an innovative, Facebook-fueled grant giveaway ("Chasing the buck," Jan. 13). Facebook votes propelled Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, Friendship Circle and Sikhcess, both from West Bloomfie... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14757 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14757 Lit Up by Michael Corbin: Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men by John A. Rich Johns Hopkins University Press, $24.95, 232 pp. Tayvon pulls his shirt back down after showing me the scar that extends below his waistband to his groin and up to his sternum. About an inch wide, raised,... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14756 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14756 by Brett Callwood: The word "duende," often used by flamenco musicians, describes that soulful time when, after hours of jamming, the music becomes less together — more instinctive and loose. It's the joy to be found in formlessness. A duende is also a Latin-American goblin or elf. When considering the... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14755 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14755 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 22 years ago in Metro Times: Almost the entire week's paper was devoted to talking about "Detroit's Strategic Plan." City council members, professors from three different Michigan colleges, a pastor and several journalists are all asked for their take on the city's $750,000 plan to rejuven... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14754 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14754 Short Order by Metro Times food staff: Al-Ajami 14633 W. Warren, Dearborn; 313-846-9330; $: Al-Ajami is comparable to a slew of other Middle Eastern restaurants in the area, but is much less expensive than most of them. Chef and co-owner Stephan Ajami offers 15 seafood dishes. Also good are the chicken lemon, which combines grilled chick... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14753 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14753 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14752 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14752 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4 Earl Lloyd Reception BASKETBALL JONES In 1950, the four-year-old National Basketball League saw the first of its teams drop the bar on African American players. Of the season's three integrating pioneers, Earl Lloyd of the Washington Capitols gets a special place in hi... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14735 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14735 Cheat Code by Bryant Franks: Tony Hawk: Ride Activision Xbox 360, PS3, Wii For much of the late '90s into the early '00s, the Tony Hawk: Pro Skater series was pretty much the only skateboard videogame ticket in town. Soon EA's Skate series gained ground and the Hawk franchise needed a jump start.  Tony Hawk: Ride gets you... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25985 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25985 Review by Jeff Meyers: Is there anyone who has worked harder than Luc Besson to make the French look badass? Since his explosive debut with La Femme Nikita, the action stylist has built a cottage industry of high-octane, Euro-influenced flicks. By far, The Transporter series has been his most successful endeavor to date.... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25984 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25984 Review by Corey Hall: Phantom Vibrations is very much a student film, with all the attendant charm and baggage that this implies, so, before sitting down to view it, please consider your personal level of patience with shakily framed cam shots that meander, wander and then die a slow death by boredom. But, sometimes, a h... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25966 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25966 Review by Corey Hall: Mel Gibson's anger issues handily boil over in Edge of Darkness, a taut thriller crammed full of omni-directional rage directed straight at society. The source material is 25 years old, but the seething contempt for soulless corporations, amoral politicians and reckless activists makes it feel rippe... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25988 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25988 Review by Bill Holdship: As much as popular music and various music scenes seem to be so genre-specific in modern times — so do the many genres often blend, bleed and blur. Detroit's Fifth Way, a hard rockin' quintet featuring Michiganders from locales as distant and exotic as Essexville and Port Huron, is a classic c... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25987 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25987 Review by Bill Holdship: Back in the '80s, the Uptown Horns — which included former Michigander Crispin Cioe — first became a sensation in New York City. Primarily a rock 'n' roll brass section, the group, over the years, went on to play with everyone from James Brown, Ray Charles and B.B. King to Tom Waits, Lou... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25986 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25986 Review by Brett Callwood: While they've been critically lauded and adored by their cult-ish fan base for the majority of the last decade, the Deadstring Brothers had been treading water for some time now. An early spell with the ill-fated Times Beach Records didn't help, and while their 2003 self-titled debut album on that l... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25983 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25983 Dining by Todd Abrams: Gim Ling has served dine-in and carryout at the same St. Clair Shores strip mall location for decades. Only relatively recently has it been transformed into a "Modern Asian restaurant." In this case, the term "modern" mostly serves as a stand-in for "better." New diners... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25968 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25968 Review by Corey Hall: Hot on the heels of Amy Adam's soggy Irish travelogue (Leap Year) comes yet another pre-programmed rom-com with young photogenic actors struggling to overcome hack direction, shoddy writing and a cheesy fantasy premise right out of a '60s episode of Love American Style.  The pride of Huntington Woo... Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25967 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25967 Review by Jeff Meyers: The underlying concept is everything in A Town Called Panic. To try to ascribe motives any deeper than child-like glee to Belgian animators Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar would be an exercise in folly. Inspired by Chuck Jones and channeling the logic and perspective of kids noisily playi... Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14751 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14751 by Brian Smith: His fans know it's astounding what he can ring off inside four minutes. Besides pop hooks and tender epistles, you get literary gibes and folk-derived strolls through suburban dreams, slacker ennui and barstool tragedies that can simultaneously take the piss out of hipster totems and yupster self-gr... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14750 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14750 The Toilet Reader by Metro Times staff: How Many Licks? (or, How to Estimate Damn Near Everything) by Aaron Santos, Ph.D. Running Press; 175 pp. In your entire life, how many times will you poop? And if you collected it all, how much would it weigh? Would it all fit in a train car? What about an Olympic-size swimming pool? I think abou... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14749 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14749 News Hits by News Hits staff: News Hits went to court Tuesday morning to continue covering the case of Diane Bukowski, a freelance reporter for The Michigan Citizen convicted last year on two felony counts involving charges that she either resisted arrest, obstructed justice or endangered an officer. Bukowski was arrested on El... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14748 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14748 by Sandra Svoboda: Editor's Note: When staff writer Sandra Svoboda said the clashes over public education were a Shakespearian-level drama unfolding, we said, "go forth, our muse, and tell the tale in the bard's vernacular." The result unfolds before thee, dear reader. Miss Juliet and Mr. Romeo are fictional... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14747 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14747 by Chris Handyside: You wouldn't know it to scan the room, but the four dudes gathered in the living room of a rented Woodbridge house on a recent Sunday evening are the core of one of the most productive, dynamic and vibrant gangs of sound and vision this city has birthed in the last few years. They operate under the... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14746 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14746 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: Sierra Club on Moroun's plan Whoa, Jack! Before you do the whack job on the Canadian Sierra Club ("Unstoppable Matty," Jan. 20), you should know that the Sierra Club on this side of the border also doesn't support the new bridge. Along with other eco-whackos — such as Michigan Envir... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14745 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14745 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 21 years ago this week in Metro Times ... Frank Provenzano investigates the incinerator after employee Bernie Labowitch scooped an empty coffee can of ash out of the incinerator. Later test results showed high levels of lead, cadmium, nickel and mercury, all in the face of the city's refusal to analyz... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14744 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14744 Motor City Cribs and Rides by Doug Coombe: Even futuristic techno isn't immune to the march of time — Juan Atkins' pioneering Metroplex label is having its 25th anniversary this year. And the (tongue-in-cheek) "janitor" of Metroplex, Anthony "Shake" Shakir, is celebrating the 15-year anniversary of his own Frictiona... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14743 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14743 Idiot Boxing by Jim McFarlin: Think being the centerpiece of a TV reality series sounds like a ton of fun? Having a gaggle of cameras recording your every move as if you were some kind of Kardashian appeal to your fantasies of fame? Consider the other side of the picture, as presented by vinegar-tongued comedian Eddie Griffin. ... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14742 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14742 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Winter warmers — At Royal Oak's Bastone, chef Robert Young has dreamed up a new winter menu to help shake off winter's chills. Enjoy steaming-hot pasta paired with a favorite award-winning craft brew. Still hedging? Everything on the menu costs less than $15. Drop in at 419 S. Main St., Royal... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14741 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14741 The Subterraneans by Walter Wasacz: Five years might as well be an eternity in the here today, gone tomorrow underworld of dance music culture. Raise your hands, clubbers and ravers — who can remember what made you sweat 'n' shout during the dark winter of '05? Well, if you were in Cologne, Berlin or Detroit, it was probably som... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14740 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14740 Stir It Up by Larry Gabriel: I stopped in at the office of Project BAIT the other day. No, I wasn't looking for worms or minnows. BAIT stands for Black Awareness in Technology. At least that's what it stands for today. In 1970, when BAIT's For My People black public affairs television show first aired on Channel 50, it stood fo... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14739 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14739 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: It's now clear that Adolf Hitler might easily have won World War II if cable TV had existed in America at the beginning of the New Deal. I am dead serious about this. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, the United States economy was in a state of near-collapse, with the nation's... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14738 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14738 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: I'm a single (mostly) gay guy who is curious about women. A hot bisexual mate is interested in a friends-with-benefits arrangement. I'm not looking for an LTR just now, so regular, no-strings sex sounds great. However, his girlfriend doesn't know he's bisexual, and I'd feel uncomfortable having s... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14737 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14737 Short Order by Metro Times food staff: Atlas Global Bistro 3111 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-831-2241; atlasglobalbistro.com: Voted by our readers as the best affordably expensive restaurant (under $50 per diner), Atlas has the vibe of a hip city eatery thanks to its striking interiors, knowledgeable service and international cuisine. In... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14736 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14736 Couch Trip by Paul Knoll: Direct-to-video has become more than the final resting spot for movie studio bombs, sad-sack sequels and low-rent actioners fronted by bloated former tough-guys. It's also where you can find quality film and festival faves that either barely made a ripple at the box office or never got released thea... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14734 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14734 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14733 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14733 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: THURSDAY JANUARY 28 Nouvelle Vague MEET THE NEW BOSSA! While dreamy bossa nova renditions of new wave and post-punk classics may reek of schtick, if not downright sacrilege, Nouvelle Vague pulls it off with aplomb. French producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux employ a rotating cast of Fr... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25962 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25962 Review by Jeff Meyers: Hoop Dreams started the trend but the documentary Spellbound really opened the floodgates for films about rarefied competition and the personalities behind them. Whether it's Scrabble (Word Wars), barbershop quartets (American Harmony), Donkey Kong (The King of Kong) or ballroom dancing (Mad Hot Bal... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25965 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25965 Review by William E. Ketchum III: With songs like "The Well Known Asshole" and "Give Me My Dat Back," Obie Trice's no frills flow and everyman sensibilities built a buzz and earned a deal with Eminem's Shady Records. But after two discs with the label — the gold-selling Cheers and Second Round's On Me &mdas... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25964 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25964 Review by Bill Holdship: The Crooks have musical influences way beyond their teenage years. The band's early live performances and demo tapes drew comparisons to Led Zeppelin, instrumentally speaking. But with producer Matthew Smith behind the boards, the trio's debut album sounds more like Cream than anything else upon fir... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25963 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25963 Review by Bill Holdship: One thing's for certain, especially now that history has demonstrated it decade after decade: Good pop-punk, or punk-pop, always sounds pretty good when it's executed correctly. And Gorvette — a collaboration between Nikki Corvette and Amy Gore, two of Detroit's best-known female rockers &mdas... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25961 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25961 Dining by Jane Slaughter: The word "café" in the Music Hall Jazz Café doesn't mean it's mostly a food destination. The focus is on the sounds, of course. Still, while you're taking advantage of a fabulous nightspot — a recent gig was the Cookers, which one jazz wag declared before it even happen... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25947 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25947 Review by Corey Hall: Processed by a half dozen screenwriters, and helmed by the maestro behind the last two Santa Clause movies, The Tooth Fairy is the latest shoddy product to roll off the fantasy comedy matinee assembly line. The elaborate, high-concept premise is a flimsy excuse to see the buff lead squeezed into a t... Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25946 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25946 Review by Jeff Meyers: Why use a paintbrush when a sledgehammer will do? Inspired by the same kind of true stories that endlessly loop on Lifetime and Hallmark TV, Extraordinary Measures is a compelling tale told in the most conventional way. You've got your kids with a rare terminal disease, your loyal and loving dad who... Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14732 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14732 News Hits by News Hits staff: With hundreds of millions of dollars of federal money available for school improvement in Michigan, educators and school districts should be clamoring for their shares, right? Not necessarily. The state's application for the "Race to the Top" grants went to Washington, D.C., this week, s... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14731 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14731 News Hits by News Hits staff: Fed up with alleged abuses and the restaurant owners' reported refusal to meet with them in an attempt to address grievances, eight current and former workers at Andiamo in Dearborn have turned to the court and two federal agencies for help. Since November, workers at the eatery have been staging w... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14730 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14730 Comics: The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14729 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14729 Night and Day by Megan O'Neil: THURSDAY-SUNDAY JANUARY 21-24 A Song for Coretta REMAINS OF A LEGACY Playwright and native Detroiter Pearl Cleage's A Song for Coretta examines the legacy of the Civil Rights era and how it still resonates — or doesn't — with contemporary African American women. The play brings togeth... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14728 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14728 Letters to the Editor by Metro Times readers: No on 24 In claiming that 24 is "the finest action series in television history" (Idiot Boxing, Jan. 13), Jim McFarlin appears to have been so swept up in its adrenalin rush that he failed to think about its poor quality, thereby acting more like a fan than a critic. When I watched a full... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14727 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14727 Sketches in Grit by Travis R. Wright: 1:30 p.m. We're headed east on West Grand Boulevard, passing by Hitsville, USA, a living relic of better days. Looking farther down the boulevard, there's the deserted Lee Plaza apartment building. Not a single pane of glass remains. It looks like a nightly news scene from Kosovo in the '90s. Toget... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14726 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14726 Wonder Twins by D'Anne and Laura Witkowski: Think you've been to every music venue in the Detroit area? Think again. There could actually be a show going on in your neighbor's basement right now that you don't even know about. The Wonder Twins recently went underground, to some girl's house, to check out a couple of bands without a stage to c... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14725 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14725 Politics and Prejudices by Jack Lessenberry: You have to have a certain amount of grudging admiration for Matty Moroun, sort of like you do for crabgrass or those zombies in the low-budget horror flicks we used to watch as kids, when we should have been running around getting fresh air and exercise. Matty takes a licking; has holes blown thro... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14724 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14724 Savage Love by Dan Savage: Q: I have a problem. A key part of my problem, I feel, is that I'm a recovering anorexic and I am still struggling a great deal to eat normal and healthy portions of food. A friend and I have recently become "friends with benefits." He lives very far away, so we primarily indulge through I... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14723 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14723 Food Stuff by Metro Times food staff: Bid for kids — Children's artwork has taken over Inn Season Café until the end of the month. Art from the students at Detroit's Waldorf School is on silent auction, and proceeds will help fund school programs. Auction concludes Monday, Feb. 1, with refreshments at 7 p.m., all bids final at 8 p... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14722 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/story.asp?id=14722 by Corey Hall: Scott Cooper's life is changing every second, but you could hardly tell. He's facing the press at a swank metro Detroit hotel suite and he's calm, leaning to casual. After years slogging it out as a working actor, he made his directorial feature debut with Crazy Heart, featuring a stunning Jeff Brid... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14721 http://www.metrotimes.com/culture/story.asp?id=14721 by Detroitblogger John: LeRoi Haskins is a man of many words.  When he speaks, they come out in elaborate sentences that spin out into tangents and then loop back around again. So many of them swirl in his head they've spilled out over the years into dozens of essays and books. "I got four or five books coming up in... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14720 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14720 by Amy Elliott: At a loud, dimly-lit bar, Katie Barkel rolls up her sleeve to show me a small tattoo: In signature, the name Elvis. "I find him really fascinating, for being a huge success, and then a huge failure," she says. "He's a symbol of the American Dream, and how it collapses. Which is somet... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14719 http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/story.asp?id=14719 by John Cohassey: In 1944 "a very strange screw of events began to turn," Jack Kerouac later reflected about the life-changing paths among rebellious writer friends. That year, Kerouac lived briefly with his first wife, Detroit-born Frankie Edie Parker. While in New York, Edie's network of friends helped to... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14718 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14718 Grilled by Jeff Broder: Cliff Bell's opened in 1935, operating as a supper club until the late '60s. The space experienced a few different incarnations, one of which ended when a dead body was found in the since-replaced walk-in cooler. Today the name has been revived — and the club along with it. The Detroit landmar... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14717 http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14717 Metro Retro by Metro Times staff: 9 years ago this week in Metro Times: Curt Guyette ventured to the North American International Auto show to see a myriad of "hybrid" vehicles that were going to represent a bridge to a cleaner future. "For years those who hoped for greener automotive future were perpetually waiting f... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25933 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25933 Review by Corey Hall: Big Money Rustlas may be the year's best clown-related sci-fi, revenge thriller, hillbilly kung-fu western action comedy, featuring the epic showdown between low-down crime baron Big Baby Chips (Violent J) and the baddest gunslinger in the west, Sheriff Sugar Wolf (Shaggy 2 Dope). If the above sente... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25932 http://www.metrotimes.com/screens/review.asp?rid=25932 Review by Greg Baise: The infamous poster-child of Amos Vogel's seminal Film as a Subversive Art, Yugoslav director Dusan Makavejev's WR stands as an audacious and unique artifact. Part documentary, part narrative, part found film, its many disparate parts add up to a humorous and engaging political critique of sexual re... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25931 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25931 Review by Michael Hurtt: As the Beatles and Rolling Stones invaded American shores in the early '60s, an odd musical scenario was unfolding over the Pittsburgh airwaves. Disc jockeys on low-watt AM stations were blasting a strange combination of mystery music that took the form of undiluted rockabilly, exotic doo-wop, booze... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25930 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25930 Review by Tim Grierson: Some artists captivate us with their unique persona, their distinctive essence — your Bob Dylans, your Madonnas. Others succeed precisely because they don't forcibly project their own personality into their music, thereby letting us fill the songs with our own hopes and fears. It's hard to thi... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25929 http://www.metrotimes.com/music/review.asp?rid=25929 Review by Chris Parker: Drawing inspiration from the hazy, shimmering magic of the Velvet Underground, Yo La Tengo has been blending the yin and yang of noise and beauty for more than a quarter century. Sometimes they'll mix these twin impulses on the same album, but mostly they tend to alternate between low-key understate... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25928 http://www.metrotimes.com/food/review.asp?rid=25928 Dining by Mel Small: It was another sign of the times when Mark and Sue Larco closed their upscale Italian chophouse after 19 years on Big Beaver in Troy west of Rochester Road. The Larco family had been involved in Italian restaurants in our area since the '50s.  However, they quickly reopened last July as the Big Bea... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST