Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Due to a confluence of unusual astrological influences, you’ve been temporarily authorized to act as if you are the love child of comedians Chris Rock and Margaret Cho. Here’s some of the behavior you have a cosmic license to express: 1. Expose hypocrisy with uproarious honesty. 2. Lay yourself bare as…
People’s choice
Fans eye their favorite bands suspiciously when they broaden the scope of their sound and seek to expand their audience. Dilated Peoples’ DJ Babu acknowledges as much, admitting, “We’re in a weird position. We walk that fine line of keep it filthy and raw but at the same time, trying to push them units.” The…
No pat answer
Patton Park on the Detroit-Dearborn border is about to get a facelift. Though southwest Detroit residents are thrilled that more than $10 million is to be spent renovating the park recreation center, other plans are snagged in debate. On the west end of the 93-acre park sit massive mounds of soil, dug up last fall…
After the Diamond rush
For once, judge the book by its cover. The back cover. The back cover of Nash Kato’s solo album, Debutante, presents a portrait of an immaculate rock ’n’ roll idol. It’s partly the angle — what would be called a “hero shot” in advertising. The camera is placed at Kato’s knees and his body stretches…
Valley of the Doll Rods
It’s a March Thursday afternoon at an Austin, Texas, club called Beerland, a place that smells like strange meat and stale beer. Danny Kroha, lead guitarist and vocalist for Detroit’s Demolition Doll Rods, is visibly tired, slumped on a pile of gear just off the stage. He blinks and yawns between words, and scratches his…
Authentic Mexican delights
Many people think Mexican cuisine is solely chimichangas, burritos, refried beans and rice, served with globs of cheese. In fact, Mexican cuisine is vast and far different from the American version, commonly consisting of marinated seafood, beef or pork prepared with sauces made from chilies, fruits and vegetables indigenous to Mexico and the U.S. Southwest.…
Chair worship
Sit on me. Curl up on my fine lines. Take a load off. Or just sprawl out and admire me. Forget the no-touch policy you are accustomed to at most galleries. This art — chair art — practically begs you to get physical with it, from a modified grocery cart titled “Manager’s Special” to a…
A primer on gender blenders
Q: I am a twentysomething legal female. For the longest time, I thought I was transgendered, as my build and tastes made me feel like a bisexual man in a woman’s body. (I’m 6’1” and pass for male with ease.) Just recently I had it confirmed that I was actually born intersexed and “fixed” to…
Breathe in
That the French duo Air find themselves so comfortable in the dialectical confines of Austin, Texas — a place where SXSW-loving indie punks share the sidewalk with ten-gallon hat-doffin’ oilmen — hardly seems surprising. Over the course of three albums and a sound track, Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin have embraced the hypothetical meetings of…
N&D Center
15 THU • MUSIC Mary J. Blige — Since she busted into this scene with 1992’s What’s the 411?, awe-inspiring soul singer, Mary J. Blige has been on the proverbial roll. Hell, with the stacks of multi-platinum records in her wake (such as Not Gon’ Cry and the coming-of-age No More Drama) this Bronx girl…
Matters of fact
Like it or not, we are witnessing a presidential campaign that is kicking into high gear earlier than any seen before. Which means that attack ads are already finding their way onto the airwaves. If you are at all like News Hits, each new ad brings with it an implicit question: How much of this…
Judgment day
Ten years ago it would have been ridiculous to think that a fleet of limousines would converge upon the back-alley entrance of the Shelter for a Monday night hip-hop awards ceremony. It would have been more ridiculous to think that people from around the world would be huddled around their Internet machines waiting on a…
Harlem heartaches
Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky begins with trouble and disappointment. Angel Allen (Mayowa Lisa Reynolds), a vampy lounge singer, has just lost her job and her man on the same night. But her best friend, Guy (Mark Young), a young costume designer, assures her that she can depend on him to pay the…
Trash talkin’
It was a weighty question. Should the City of Detroit collect bulk trash (aka broken appliances and furniture, tree limbs, and other major refuse) every other month instead of monthly? It took little time for 20 or so seniors gathered at a southwest Detroit neighborhood city hall to make up their minds. Absolutely not, they…
The week we lost the war
I train my son to kill Americans. That is one reason I am grateful to Saddam Hussein. All Iraqis know how to use weapons. —Abdul al-Muaimy, 32-year-old laborer, quoted in The New York Times The United States of America has lost the war for Iraq. We may not admit that to the rest of…
American epic
… You remember what we done here and what it cost, and you tell the people, Joshua! You tell ’em the story and don’t you leave nothing out! You make ’em remember! (Relenting) Sssshhhh, baby. I know, I know. But there ain’t no need to feel lonely, Joshua, not ever again! Just look around you,…
My kingdom for a GPS
Here’s a paradox if ever there was one: If Ahmed Hannan would simply stop fighting the charges against him and accept a guilty verdict handed down last year, he would be a free man. Instead, because he continues to maintain he’s innocent, the Moroccan immigrant remains behind bars. Even odder, perhaps, is that the federal…
The United States of Leland
A teenage boy murders his ex-girlfriend’s autistic younger brother, stabbing him 40 times. The killer, Leland Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling), a bright, sensitive kid, has no memory of the murder. The movie becomes a slow teasing out of Leland’s motive for his explosive act, with an unsatisfying, unconvincing payoff.
Letters to the Editor
Praise for hair piece I just wanted to write and say how much I loved Sarah Klein’s story (“Tressed to Kill,” Metro Times, April 7) about Hair Wars. I thought it was really well-written and showed a side of Detroit I had no idea existed. Keep the creative and interesting pieces coming! —Eileen Orzoff, Chicago,…
Los angeles del Delray
Once it was once a thriving community filled with restaurants, bars and cafés. Hungarians first settled in the area and opened arms to other immigrants, including Poles, Germans and Armenians. Blues musician John Lee Hooker used to traipse around the local haunts of what became a truly multicultural hub. But today, the Delray neighborhood —…
Surrounded by stars
Spring is here! Hoorah hoorah! I went and bought some model rockets this weekend. … It was sort of an impulse buy but what the hell, it will give me an excuse to stay off of the computer for a few hours a week. —Bryan Bickel writing one year ago in his blog, www.bryanbickel.com. …
East side treasure
The Kingdom Men’s Café, which opened in October 2002, is a project of the East Lake Baptist Church. The food is equal to many other soul food restaurants, but it costs less, your plate sits on linen tablecloths and the service is fastidious. The menu follows a standard formula among soul food restaurants: entrées, sides,…
Ella Enchanted
A babe is cursed at birth when bestowed with the gift of obedience, which may have been a quality applauded in Mother Goose days, but is today’s kiss of death for teen princesses. Ella has her own strong-minded, good-hearted ideas, but someone should tell the writers that updated doesn’t have to mean dumbed-down.
Snoozing with Nazis
Although The Statement begins promisingly and dramatically, it slows down permanently when two characters pursue a war criminal with endless expository lunches, exchanging plot points over poached fish, and dialog loaded with rhetorical interjections that needlessly emphasize the movie’s serious intent. Even Michael Caine, as the fugitive war criminal, cannot redeem this dreary tale.
Intermission
An emotionally damaged young girl is so bitter about life that she lets her mustache grow. A macho, fame-craving cop smacks around junkies and pees on the leg of a local hoodlum in a neighborhood pub. This is what passes for humor in this rancid Irish stew of a film directed by John Crowley.
The Alamo
This movie is just dying for someone to put a bayonet in its eye and leave it for the vultures, with its faux-macho speechifying and clownish symbolism so inane it’s embarrassing. With all that they had to work with, you’d think they could have crafted something slightly more engaging than this slobbering chunk of puffery.
James’ Journey to Jerusalem
James is a young African Christian making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, who is jailed by Israeli immigration, seen as an illegal looking for work. He gains freedom by working among Israel’s exploited day laborers. A mix of "small town boy comes to the big city" and exposé, the film has an appealing, light tone.
