http://www.metrotimes.com/ Recent Metro Times Content. en-us Copyright 2009 Metor Times http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14561 by News Hits staff. News Hits has been pondering last week's testimony by Mike Stefani, the attorney for whistle-blowing cops who played a pivotal role in forcing former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office. Stefani now faces professional misconduct charges brought by the Attorney Greivance Commission* for his r... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14560 by Sandra Svoboda. After spending years in Bosnia working with international aid groups using DNA to identify victims in mass graves, Lola Vollen retuned to the United States in 2000. Soon after coming back, the physician helped organize a conference to discuss the use of DNA technology in human rights issues, and she... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14559 by Sandra Svoboda. Early one afternoon last May, Walter Swift walked out of a pot-smoking session at a friend's house in Detroit and stepped straight into trouble: Two men forced him at gunpoint into an SUV. Swift owed one of the guys $100 for drugs, and the time to pay up had come. The man now wanted at least $400. ... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14558 by Metro Times readers. Did we read the same article? Dear Metro Times: What was the point of the article regarding the White Grove Restaurant ("Land of the lost," Oct. 28)? The owner's hateful attitude? The fact that Cass Corridor has issues? And why is Detroitblogger John so angry with that area? This is his s... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14557 by Travis R. Wright. When we talk of jaded indie rockers, shiny-shirt clubbers, bearded beer snobs, weekend gallery voyagers and quirky alterna-crafter chicks, the "S" word gets tossed around like Canadian change. Yep, many are obsessed with the word "scene." It's efficient enough a phrase because a... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14556 by D'Anne and Laura Witkowski. Last Wednesday the Wonder Twins found themselves at the Magic Bag in Ferndale watching and listening to Dent May (from Mississippi), Cryptacize (California), and Fiery Furnaces (New York). Three national indie acts in a smoke-free venue? Laura: I think this is the first time we've been to the Magic... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14555 by Jack Lessenberry. For weeks, we've been waiting for President Obama to decide whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, and, if so, how many. This ought to give Americans a worried feeling in the deepest levels of their guts. Afghanistan has been wearing down, chewing up and defeating invading armies for centuries... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14554 by Dan Savage. Q: I am a happily married, happily nonmonogamous male. We are not wild swinger types. For us it's more about the fact that monogamy does not work than about nailing everything that walks by. Anyway, I have encountered an odd situation a few times now, and again last night, where I'll be flirting wit... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14553 by Larry Gabriel. Boom, boom, boom, boom, gonna shoot you right down.  —John Lee Hooker I was taking a brisk health walk on Belle Isle, avoiding the goose dung that seems to be everywhere, when a van with tinted windows pulled up next to me. The window rolled down and my pal Mulenga Harangua waved from behind... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14552 by Bill Holdship. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra I Hear a Symphony: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Perform The Classic Hits of Motown Silva Screen Records Ray Davies & the Crouch End Festival Chorus The Kinks Choral Collection  Decca In the '60s, at the height of pop's British Invasion, a symphony orc... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14551 by Metro Times food staff. Ham it up — A few months ago, patrons of the delightfully crowded downtown Detroit greasy spoon known as the Ham Shoppe got an awful surprise. As part of a deal to allegedly redevelop the old New Hellas, owner Sal's adjoining little diner was asked to vacate the premises. What happened next is... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14550 by Michael Hurtt. When disc jockeys dropped the needle on L.J. Reynolds' first solo single, "Key to the World," back in 1981, they found that the former lead singer of the Dramatics — and previously, Chocolate Syrup — needed no introduction. It wasn't that people recognized his name; the problem... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14549 by Metro Times food staff. 24 Grille 204 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 313-964-3821: This place is a beige-and-brown oasis decked out in leather and wood, with cushioned stools and benches all set off with low-key lighting from creative fixtures. The mood is set by the artistic illumination, which includes ribbons of Swarovski crys... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14548 The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14547 by Megan O'Neil. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 18 Stephen Burks ECO-FAB! An internationally renowned designer, Stephen Burks has earned a rep not just for the creative and forward-thinking design projects, from retail interiors to lighting and home accessories, that spill forth from his Readymade Projects studio, but also f... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14546 The Boiling Point - by Mikhaela Reid ... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14545 by News Hits staff. Two months ago Belva Davis looked at 125 or so neighbors, activists and others outside of her endangered house and said she felt like David against Goliath. Goliath, in this case, was the tag team of Wachovia Bank (which had written her subprime mortgage in 2003) and Ocwen Financial (the mortgage se... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14544 by News Hits staff. News Hits doesn't usually run announcements about upcoming TV shows, but we're making an exception this week because there's an exceptional documentary set to make its U.S. broadcast debut on Detroit's public television station. We're talking about The Water Front, a deeply moving and incisive film... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14543 by Metro Times readers. Saving a city from developers Re: Your recent News Hit, "The Royal 'E'" (Nov. 4), Election Day was a sad day for democracy in Royal Oak. A third-term mayor ran unopposed, and, depending upon the precinct, from a low of 5 percent to a high of 14 percent of registered voters exercised their... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14542 by Jack Lessenberry. Suddenly, there's a chance to do something to prevent many of our state's school districts from being utterly ruined this year.  Last week, I wrote an open letter to the governor, criticizing her for, among other things, making massive cuts to the schools. Her cuts mean that every Michigan school d... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14541 by Travis R. Wright. Imitation can be unabashed or slickly hid, either way it's flattery. That's tired.  What's more gripping than a solid rip-off (of idea or design) is some conceptual take on duplication, an approach concocted to bastardize the source to the point that it can't be (easily) recognized. Make art. And m... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14540 by Curt Guyette and W. Kim Heron. A history professor at the University of Michigan, Juan Cole's notoriety as a scholar focusing on Islam was largely confined to academic circles until 2002, when he began writing his Informed Comment blog. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq by the Un... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14539 by William E. Ketchum III. As a member of one of Michigan's most storied hip-hop crews, Roland "Ro Spit" Coit, 30, has been working on music for nearly a decade. But within the past two years, Coit and business partner Rick Williams have also established Burn Rubber, the most reputable sneaker boutique in the state,... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14538 by Metro Times music staff. When we first began discussion of this year's music issue, the original idea was to do something like "the state of the union, 2009." A lot has changed over the course of a decade. It's been almost that long since the White Stripes exploded out of Detroit and hit international superstardom... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14537 by Eddie Baranek. The Beatles Revolver — It has everything: songs, songs and songs. Stevie Wonder Talking Book — Got this cassette the summer I was 16 and instantly became humbled like the little white dorky dude I was.  Compulsive Gamblers Crystal Gazing Luck Amazing — Real music played with energy by fou... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14536 by Brian Smith. Eddie Baranek shouts suddenly from inside the house: "Did you read it?" He hops up from the couch, steps through the open door and points with his Miller beer to a pumpkin that's presiding over the front yard from its elevated perch on the porch. The singer is freshly shaved and Paul Welle... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14535 by Megan O'Neil. THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12 Brad Felt Nu Quartet Plus LITTLE AND BIG HORNS One of the sublime treats of Brad Felt's new disc is "Explode the Modular," which juxtaposes Steve Wood's spry soprano lines against the weight of Felt's euphonium lines, in a sort of Laurel and-Hardy dance of the horns... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14534 by Doug Coombe. Technically, Black Milk's home is in Wixom. But if you factor out sleep, the prolific hip-hop producer and emcee practically lives in Tommy Hoffman's Studio 1 in Livonia. About a stone's throw from the roar of I-96, tucked in a nondescript cinderblock industrial park, Milk's beat lab strikes a perfe... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14533 by Dan Savage. Q: I am a 30-year-old woman, married for five years to a man eight years my senior. Lately I have become more aware that I am turned on by the idea of bondage, specifically men locked up in chastity devices. I am ashamed of myself because it seems, well, pretty perverse and disturbed. My husband is... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14532 by Paul Knoll. Bad Lieutenant  Lionsgate  Call them what you want — 5-0, fuzz, pigs or po-po — but the police get a bad rap. It's an honorable calling that gets little respect and comes with a built-in set of jokes — usually involving donuts. And don't look to Hollywood to dispel any stereotype... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST