Suing the ‘railroad’
You may recall the case of Walter Swift, who ended up on the cover of this rag last year ("Swift’s justice," Nov. 18, 2009) when we wrote about the 26 years he spent in prison for a crime he did not commit, and the difficult time he was having adjusting to the outside world following…
Forced exposure
Your home movies: Mostly relatives looking stiff as if having trouble making the transition from still photos, waving weakly, waiting for a cue to walk into the shot as unnaturally as possible. Ivan Kral’s home movies: Debbie Harry of Blondie on a roof posing for her first publicity shots, the Ramones in their first weeks…
Tailing Matty
The Build the DRIC Now! coalition, which wants a public-private partnership to construct a new bridge across the Detroit River, is keeping close tabs on Manuel "Matty" Moroun and his Detroit International Bridge Co., which is fighting fiercely to keep any competition from cutting into the profits reaped by its privately owned Ambassador Bridge. As…
Soldiering on
His office smells like horse manure. But James Buchanan doesn’t mind at all. He’s standing behind his small desk on a sweltering July afternoon, putting on a heavy wool uniform worn by soldiers long ago. Buchanan is in charge here at the Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Center, which lies at the edge of Rouge Park, on…
Right side of the tracks
Sidetrack’s specialty is interesting beers: 16 drafts, including nine Michigan craft brews on tap, the highlight being Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale. Others are Bell’s Oberon, the biggest seller, Hacker Pschorr’s Weisse, Great Lakes’ Edmunds Fitzgerald (“best porter in the Midwest”), Huma-Lupa-Licious from Short’s up in Antrim County, Woodchuck Amber hard cider from Vermont, and the only…
Without reservations
Erin Cummings is playing a medical examiner in Detroit, which should ensure her plenty of screen time. When the actress arrives on ABC (Channel 7) Sept. 21 — as Dr. Abbey Ward in our very own prime-time cop series, Detroit 1-8-7, which began shooting in and around the city last week — she should instantly…
Motor City Five
Some people dance. Some don’t. Some people get Chromeo, others won’t. Montreal’s electro-funk brothers Dave 1 and P-Thugg — Chromeo — expose these contingents through late ’80s sounding talk-box jams topped with just the right amount of cheese. The band debuted in ’04 with "Needy Girl" — the duo’s best song. But ’07’s Fancy Footwork…
Teenage wasteland
Why Be Something That You’re Not: Detroit Hardcore 1979-1985 by Tony Rettman Revelation Records Publishing Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ’79-’83 by Tesco Vee & Dave Stimson edited by Steve Miller Bazillion Points Books Ah, sweet validation. In the last decade, we’ve seen a slew of attractive magazines and splashy docs about…
Saltlick
Salt is proof positive that Angelina Jolie is as much a movie star as she is an actress. Her bee-stung lips and comic-book bad-girl sultriness aside, Jolie has a ferocious charisma that consumes everything in its path. So all-encompassing is her persona that even Leiv Streiber, who stands twice her size, fights to be noticed…
Metro Retro
21 years ago in Metro Times: "Nintendo and Atari plan to do for video games what the Sony Walkman did for music," writes MT, concerning the upcoming release of the Nintendo Game Boy and the Atari Portable Entertainment System, which mark a new phase in the evolution of video games: the handheld system. These AA-battery-powered…
The City of Your Final Destination
James Ivory proves he’s lost without his partner Ismail Merchant (who died in 2005) with this tasteful adaptation of a well-heeled novel. Sure, there’s sultry cinematography, a wealthy family struggling with quiet dysfunction, even Anthony Hopkins, but this directionless, uninvolving affair suffers from too much taste and too little drama. Omar Metwally is Omar, a…
Slices of heaven
Amar Pizza 11608 Conant St., Hamtramck; 313-366-0980; $: Hamtramck’s Bangladeshi strip is heating up with all sorts of interesting food choices. There’s even a Bangladeshi pizzeria. Yes, it’s true, and they serve it up round, square, even deep-dish-style. They even have a naga sauce they’ll put on the pizza, reminiscent of jalapeño but spicier and…
All hail the pint
The film casts a knowing squint on a particular breed of Belgian rowdies, a grungy European equivalent of rednecks; loutish, hard-drinking party animals, convinced that the finer things in life come in a pint glass, or at least as the result of draining a few dozen of them. The protagonist is young Gunther Strobbe (Kenneth…
Porn for all!
Q: Ever since hearing you say on your podcast that all men use porn, I have had a burning question: What about us women? If all men get a pass to have this whole other sex life, which is (mostly) external to their partnerships and is sexually satisfying, then I think all women should have…
Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky
This film attempts to understand the Coco Chanel’s artistry through the gauzy lens of fleeting romantic dalliance, in this case with fellow future-thinking provocateur Igor Stravinsky. The unlikely lovers meet at the disastrous 1913 premiere of Stravinsky’s radical avant-garde ballet The Rite of Spring, where enraged French patrons just about ripped out the seats out…
Food Stuff
Brain food — You shouldn’t need another reason to head to Cliff Bell’s on Tuesdays (happy hours, anyone?), but that’s exactly what the Park Avenue jazz club is giving you with its new deal on Great Lakes perch. The restaurant will serve light, flaky, beer-battered perch with French fries and cabbage cole slaw for only…
Gusts of grit
In a summer that has seen few strong local indie releases, Detroit four-piece I, Crime is juicing up the musical milieu. For its first big release, Spread Like Water/Block the Sun, the band spent roughly two years holed up with Grammy-nominated engineer Collin Dupuis, tinkering with a sound that’s equal parts garage rock ‘n’ roll…
Night and Day
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY JULY 28-31 Forth From Its Hinges EXPOSING ART’S FUTURE Housed in a large warehouse, Forth From Its Hinges is a yearly showcase of experimental art and music by young, local talent. Expect large-scale installations and unusual performances, thanks to the site’s roomy dimensions and the progressive eye of the curators, who want the show…
Sea of Cowards
The brooding, sometimes disorienting, psychoactive sex appeal permeating Sea of Cowards makes up for the lack of a single, and the band’s ability to make "dangerous" noise assures its place in rock ‘n’ roll. The Dead Weather had good ideas on last year’s debut, Horehound — an album that should’ve been a ferocious five-song EP…
Who for governor?
COPPER HARBOR — Go vote on Tuesday, damn it. There may be no more important election in Michigan history than this year’s. We — those of us who bother to vote, that is — will choose a new governor and a mostly new Legislature. That’s the case every few years. But this one comes at…
Night Work
Listening to Night Work, the third album from the New York disco-rock band Scissor Sisters, is a reminder of how hard it can be to make thoroughly shallow pop music. In the wake of their breakthrough 2004 self-titled debut, the Scissor Sisters stumbled badly on 2006’s strained Ta-Dah, which raised the possibility that the quintet’s…
Letters to the Editor
Three-minute warning I know from experience what the Vietnam veterans are going through in their many attempts to obtain their park ("Give vets their park," July 14). Politics are strong and well at City Hall. I volunteer with an inner-city youth choir, and we receive a yearly grant. You would be surprised at the hoops…
Cheat Code
Toy Story 3 Disney Interactive Studios Xbox 360 (Review copy), PS3, Wii It’s easy to write off a game catering to kids as a cash grab short on substance, difficulty and fun. It’s even easier to completely reject a children’s movie game. Well, you’ll have to hold off initial judgment here on Toy Story 3…
Raze one, raise one
The Imagination Station is exploding from the ashes of a firebombed flophouse standing — barely — in the shadow of Detroit’s abandoned, antique train station. Painted colors splash from a second story window, and people congregate on the lawn to plan the future. It’s the work of a racially and generationally diverse team of community…
Block out
A small group of people gathered on Detroit’s west side last week to celebrate what appeared to be a victory. It looked as if Marvin and Louise Morris, both in their late 70s, would be staying in the modest house they’ve lived in for 32 years. The problem, says attorney Jerome Goldberg of the Moratorium…
Midnight to midnight
It’s nearly 9 p.m. on a damp day’s night. The Eastpointe record store Melodies and Memories is all but empty, save for manager Gary, and he’s 15 mouthfuls deep into his ninth story of the evening, when this tall black dude steps in through the store’s double door. The manager’s face fixes on him. "Billy!" …
