Cover Story
New Photo Book Takes a Look at Detroit’s Past
Given a seemingly ravenous appetite in recent years for images fetishizing Detroit’s decline, ruin porn continues to be one of the city’s biggest cultural exports. Photos of hulking, decayed symbols such as Michigan Central Station and the Packard Plant are so well-circulated that, at this point, it’s a wonder the well hasn’t dried up. By…
Fresh Beat Band at the Fox
Being a music-loving parent can often lead to some strange places. There will be plenty of parents out there who know exactly what I’m talking about. There are many occasions when the taste-filter has to be switched off, because young children like to dance to anything that is catchy and fun, and we want to…
10 things to do on the biggest bar night of the year
Whether you’re using it as an excuse to have a reunion with your old hometown gang or simply coping with alcohol before you have to deal with your crazy relatives the next day, the night before Thanksgiving is historically the biggest bar night of the year. Of course, you should go somewhere local, and make…
City Slang: Two brunettes and a Blondie
Blaire Alise & the Bombshells is the sort of band that can make a jaded old fuck get excited about new rock ’n’ roll. I wrote a City Slang feature about the band this week, but let’s insert some opinion here following an awesome triple bill at the New Dodge. While the rhythm section sits…
Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas – ‘Demons’
Demons Dead Owl Music Jessica Hernandez has a beautiful voice and here, it’s the strongest counter agent to some of the angst and bitterness stirred into this E.P.’s five songs. The Deltas are known for a bit of classy, big-band revivalism, trombones and organs inevitably conjure that old school jazz style, only augmented by the Detroit-raised…
3FT (11.30.13) Immediate Moments and Perpetual Motion
Nov 30th – 3FT Album Release – Tangent Gallery with: Frustrations and Wasabi Dream http://3ftdetroit.bandcamp.com/ Hey… Come inside… 3FT want to get to know you better, but they’ve got to know themselves, first. So go the cool, cryptic lyrics leading you into the meditatively thrashing opening track of their debut full length. Who…
Lunchtime Links: Another fire at Heidelberg project, pop-up shops open on Woodward, and more.
From flickr user Dan Czarsy. 1) The Heidelburg art project loses yet another building to arson. (CBS Detroit) 2) Sephora, Lego, Gap, Gucci, and more are opening pop-up shops on Woodward this holiday season. (Crain’s Detroit) 3) “Chances are, if you’re in your mid-to-late twenties, your Facebook Newsfeed is probably starting to look like the picture frame…
JFK – We saw our hero die
It has been fifty years since an assassin’s bullet took the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, our most popular president. No other president has every enjoyed a 70 percent approval rating. Many people forget the many Michigan connections. It was during the campaign itself, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, that Kennedy proposed…
City Slang: Jeff German and the Blankety Blanks CD release party
Native Detroiter Jeff German and his Columbus, Ohio-based band the Blankety Blanks will host a CD release party at the Corktown Tavern on Friday, December 6. Locals may remember German for his work with bands like the Flyin’ Saucers and the Curdogs, as well as his work with Lydia Loveless. Also on the bill is…
12th Man Report: Bye-Bye Prince
In what came in very surprising fashion, Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski appears to have dealt Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers for Ian Kinsler. Fielder, who despite being a fan favorite and terrific power hitter, has struggled every post-season since arriving in Detroit. His 168 million dollars left on his contract was one of…
City Slang: Movement confirms dates
Following this morning’s DEMF announcement, Paxahau, the group behind the Movement Electronic Music Festival, has moved fast to confirm dates at Hart Plaza on Memorial Day Weekend. A statement reads, “Paxahau is pleased to announce the return of Movement Electronic Music Festival, taking place Memorial Day weekend (May 24-26) inside Detroit’s Hart Plaza.” “The [Paxahau]…
City Slang: There’s a new DEMF in town
Carol Marvin, an organizer of the original Detroit Electronic Music Festival, held a press conference at Ford Field on Wednesday morning to announce that there will be a new DEMF festival at Campus Martius Park in Detroit over the July 4th weekend. The event will be free, as was the original DEMF. As far as…
Call It What You Will: Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (11.23.13)
Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr are like a yin and a yang. One step at a time: Josh Epstein (left) and Daniel Zott (right) of Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr At least, that’s how Daniel Zott describes he and fellow singer/songwriter Josh Epstein, the two main components of the Detroit pop outfit. They’re still melding, still shifting,…
The Parade Company
Detroit holds all sorts of surprises. Though many of its buildings look nondescript and unassuming from the street, their inner lives can be full of fascinating secrets. Such is the case with the warehouse and headquarters of the Parade Company. From the outside it looks like any other hulking structure in a ramshackle neighborhood. Those who…
City Slang: Mexican Knives and Bad Indians at the Loving Touch
So British band Temples is in town tonight, the group that both Johnny Marr and Noel Gallagher have described as the “best new band in Britain.” How much weight you put on that depends on how much love you have for those two men, I suppose. You can be pretty sure Temples is the best…
Is Eastern Conference the right choice for Wings?
With all the bitching and moaning about late games in Vancouver and Calgary over the years, you would think that Red Wings fans were being pushed to pull some extreme airline gymnastics themselves. That, instead of sitting on their couch past their bedtime with a Labatt in hand, the fans were being herded like cattle…
Al Fracassa’s Legacy
A little over a week ago there was a small birthday celebration of note. It was nothing extravagant, nor was it for a big-time celebrity … just a small crowd gathering in a cafeteria-sized room. Now, you’re likely wondering, “Who was it for?” or — more likely — “Who cares?” In fact, it was…
Basics, Bitches: Sex Advice From Savage
Q: I’m a heterosexual guy in my early 20s. I’ve been dating my girlfriend for about six months and we’ve been having some fights recently. The problem: I have a high sex drive in comparison to hers. I want to be intimate on a weekly basis (at least!), and she’s told me that she’s more of…
Film Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | B Luke Skywalker never suffered from PTSD. Well, we can presume he did. We can easily imagine that he woke up from nightmares drenched in sweat. We just never saw it onscreen. Depicting that sort of thing used to be the domain of angsty fan fiction. Nowadays, Tony Stark,…
Film Review: Kill Your Darlings
Kill Your Darlings | B Director John Krokidas and his screenwriting partner Austin Bunn made a savvy choice in their decision to bring the story of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs to the screen. Understanding that an appreciation and knowledge of the Beats can be self-limiting in terms of box office…
Film Review: The Book Thief
The Book Thief | C Sometimes you can tell that a film is far too respectful to its source, even if you haven’t read the novel. Take director Brian Percival’s bland adaptation of Markus Zusak’s best-selling The Book Thief. It’s handsomely shot, very well-acted and remarkably dull. As screenwriter Michael Petroni dutifully marches Liesel (an…
Blaire Alise & the Bombshells
Let’s get this out of the way at the very beginning — Blaire Alise has only just turned 17 years old. This is neither important nor really relevant, but we bring it up because Alise’s age seems to be the first thing mentioned in the press following her name. Since her band’s triumphant Blowout…
Q & A with Freddy Cole
Jazz vocalist Freddy Cole never had a sibling rivalry with his older brother Nat, one of the most renowned male vocalists of all time and one of the first African-American entertainers to have his own television show. The late crooner immortalized such songs as “Unforgettable” and “Mona Lisa.” Fact is, when the brothers got together…
Clem Burke
Clem Burke is best known for his work with New York CBGB’s-era punks Blondie, but he has also played with the Ramones (as Elvis Ramone), Detroit’s Romantics and even Iggy Pop. The man has seen and done just about everything, but that isn’t stopping him from hooking up with a garage-punk jam band, Split Squad,…
Reviews of Sepultura, Soulfly, and Motörhead
Sepultura The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart Nuclear Blast Soulfly Savages Nuclear Blast It’s been 16 years since Max Cavalera left Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura amid a whole heap of infighting and formed Soulfly; with American man-mountain Derrick Green joining the Seps. Debate still blazes about which band is better.…
Detroit Food This Week
SIDE DISH Gravity’s Constant — One of downtown Milford’s notable dining establishments is marking 10 years in business in the coming weeks. The joint is called Gravity, and owner Jim Eggl says his kitchen is busy preparing a 10th anniversary five-course meal at the casual upscale eatery that should be a highlight of the season.…
Mex in Bloomfield Hills
Mex 6675 Telegraph Rd., Bloomfield Hills 248-723-0800 mexbloomfield.com Handicap accessible Large plates: $13-$19 Two tacos: $11-$12 Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4-11 p.m. Friday, 4-11 p.m. Saturday, 4-10 p.m. Sunday. Mex is insanely inundated and why wouldn’t it be? Any young crowd would flock to a place that…
Feedback
The Reformer Dear Editor: re: “Flirting with Disaster”; [Politics and Prejudices, Oct. 23-29, 2013] I read the [article] mentioning Andy Dillon and me a couple weeks back. Thought you should know, for future reference, I am now working on criminal justice reform — still conservative — but spending my time explaining to the factions…
Washington and Colorado Legalize Pot
What a waste of the state Legislature’s time. SB660 was passed by the Michigan Senate last week to much posturing and politicking by our lawmakers, and a fair amount of grousing by marijuana legalization activists. I’m not sure why any of them bothered. Senate Bill 660 says that if the federal government ever reschedules…
Senator Arlan Meekhof Amends Bill to Prevent Disclosure of Donors
By most standards, Arlan Meekhof isn’t highly educated. True, he did make it through Allendale High School. While in his mid-30s, he tried his hand at higher education by enrolling in Davenport College, but he never earned even a two-year degree. He did make a living, so far as I can tell, selling furniture parts,…
The Living- in-the-Basement Generation
With housing prices and job numbers rising, many commentators have begun to talk about the “recovery,” with the “crisis” relegated to the past. But the crisis remains for our nation’s 5.8 million “disconnected youth” — the one in seven Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither working nor enrolled in…
49 pictures previewing the Suicide Girls Detroit show (NSFW)
Amy Surdu: a boot fetishist’s dream. Detroit rockers are a very big deal in L.A. this week, with upcoming shows there by the Detroit Cobras and the Gore Gore Girls getting the lead headline, above both MF Doom and the reunited Squeeze, in the ROCK PICKS section of the L.A. Weekly. The respective shows –…
Detroit Public Schools No Longer ‘High Risk’
In the five years since Lansing installed its latest set of emergency managers to turn around the troubled Detroit Public Schools, a series of improvements in administrative and financial protocols has allowed the district to be removed from federal High Risk status by the Michigan Department of Education. On Nov. 18, the district released a…
Best Michigan job hunting locations
A report on NerdWallet.com has found that Livonia is the best place to look for a job in Michigan. NerdWallet, a consumer advocacy site, factored in median income, monthly homeowner costs, population growth, and unemployment rates. According to the report, “The city saw 4.6 percent growth in the working-age population between 2009 and 2011, and…
Lunchtime Links: Portland hipsters invade Detroit, Walmart organizes food drive for own employees, Zimmerman charged again, and more.
1) The hipsters are coming, the hipsters are coming! Portland Craigslist ad calls on Portlanders to migrate to Detroit and start a commune: “Are you fascinated by Detroit? Are you, like me, a young person (or young person at heart), who does not want to get stuck with some lame position working for table scraps for…
City Slang: Help get the MC5 in the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame
A petition has been set up to try to help the MC5 push into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame (and let’s fact it, it’s about time they were in there). The petition can be viewed, and signed, here. The band’s story is told at Change.org. “The MC5 was an American rock band from…
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Send CDs, vinyl, cassettes, demos and 8-tracks to Brett Callwood, Metro Times, 1200 Woodward Heights, Ferndale MI 48220. Email MP3s and streaming links to bcallwood@metrotimes.com. Coven 13’s Destiny of the Gods (Shadow Kingdom) is the climax to quite an interesting story. Back in the mid-‘80s, bass player Roger Cyrkeil had returned to Detroit from La-La…
Six and the Sevens + Blaire Alise & The Bombshells double-release party
November 27th…. You have a lot of options on Thanksgiving Eve…as you often do…in terms of choosing which venue’s line-up to soundtrack, for you, what is quite often the busiest bar night of the calendar year… …but only one venue provides you two album releases from respective outfits: Six & The Sevens and Blaire Alise & The Bombshells – and that’s the…
12th Man Report: How ‘bout those Spartans?
Michigan State earns No.1 ranking In the past two seasons, both Michigan and Michigan State have now been the nation’s top team — relatively speaking at least. The Spartans, who got enough votes when the polls came out yesterday to pass former-No. 1 Kentucky in both the AP and Coaches poll, are the most recent.…
