Cover Story
Metro Times 420 Issue
It’s April 20, which may not mean that much to you if you don’t partake. But if you do partake — of the sticky-icky bud, that is — then you know that it’s time for an in-depth exploration of a certain plant. Attitudes about it are changing, and editor Bryan Gottlieb looked into that. We’ve…
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Remember – if you send it, it will get reviewed. That’s the City Slang promise. It doesn’t matter what genre the music is – as long as it has a Metro Detroit connection, it’ll get in. Preferably, we’d like to concentrate on new releases but, while we’re getting warmed up here, feel free to send…
Black Jake and the Carnies’ EP Release Show (4/25)
Black Jake & the Carnies Possessed by Paul James (Texas) Rickett Pass Stretched Across the Tracks April 25th —7pm, $6 – at the Trumbullplex in Detroit (down Trumbull street in Woodbridge) Been watching and waiting for the metro-area’s preeminent punk-frayed bluegrass folk-brawlers to come back around? Black Jake & The Carnies have conjured…
City Slang: Honky Tonk Throwdown
The Deadstring Brothers will play the Honky Tonk Throwdown, an event taking place at PJ’s Lager House on May 10-12. This is the festival’s fourth year, and it has a great lineup on hand to celebrate. Day 1 features: Deadstring Brothers The Sights Katie Grace Horse Cave Trio If Birds Could Fly Captain Ivory Day…
Phantom Cats’ Ray of the Moon (Playing the Library for Blowout)
The Phantom Cats might be taking a bit of a long-afternoon nap for the next few weeks after Blowout so I should probably write about this now. You should probably listen to this now. Those multi-tracked harmonies kaleidoscope with sunspot brilliance over these sparking guitars that effect this giddy jogging, a half-jumping kind of a run…a burst,…
City Slang: Boldy James video interview
A new video interview featuring rising hip-hop star Boldy James is online. The interview, conducted by Lily Mercer of SBTV, can be seen here. Click here to join the City Slang Turntable community!!! Follow @City_Slang
City Slang: Detroit Music Awards highlights
The 2013 Detroit Music Awards, as ever, provided some tremendous musical performances this year. Unfortunately, we missed Sweet Crystal’s set with David Winans, as well as Blackbyrd Revue. The first act we caught was folkie Mike Ridley, whose tune “Michigan Man” was elegant, witty and hair-raising. Ife Mora put in a good shift, her highly…
Bootsey X Celebration at Mario’s Tomorrow, 4/20
Despite being a hectic day with Record Store Day, I hope you have the time to stop into Mario’s 1477 Grille tomorrow, April 20th, for the Bootsey X celebration. Bootsey has been fighting medical issues for a few years, and your donation of $7 at the door goes directly to Bootsey to help cover his…
Film Review: Disconnect
Disconnect | C- So, it looks like multi-strand, interconnected melodramas are now a thing. … Yippee. Why buy a ticket to one movie when you can see three? It’s not that these thematically interrelated compendiums can’t make for a good movie-going experience. It’s just that you’d better be a damn savvy storyteller to pull…
Film Review: Oblivion
Oblivion| C Tom Cruise portrays an extremely lifelike replica of a human in Oblivion, or at least what Cruise may imagine a regular human to act like, based on his careful observations. Still showing traces of boyishness at 50, the remarkably well-preserved star continues to play the role of heroic everyman, even though his…
City Slang: Concert of Colors news
First of all, by our reckoning, this is City Slang Blog Number 666. We’re not sure what that means, but it sure sounds awesome. Anyway, the Concert of Colors will take place over Independence Weekend this year, on July 4-7. According to a press release, “The Concert of Colors has the whole world in its…
City Slang: All American Boy revisited
Congrats to my MT colleagues past and present Curt Guyette, Brian Smith, ML Liebler, John Carlisle, Jack Lessenberry, Justin Rose and W. Kim Heron for such a strong showing at the SPJ Awards last night. I was proud to help represent our newspaper and, just for the hell of it, here’s the piece that won…
Detroit’s ‘Hardcore Pawn’ Celebrates 100 Episodes
Hardcore Pawn, the made-in-Detroit reality series that sparks love-it-or-hate-it reactions from Detroiters like no other, achieved a coveted television milestone this week on truTV: the airing of the show’s 100th original episode. The landmark half-hour, which aired at 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, on the cable network, also merited a special invitation-only screening Tuesday evening…
Film Review: To the Wonder
To the Wonder| B- As a fan of director Terrence Malick’s work it might seem odd to criticize his latest film, To the Wonder, for its lack of specificity. After all, anyone versed in Malick’s recent movies would be hard-pressed to describe efforts like The Thin Red Line, The New World, and Tree of…
The Marijuana Two-Step
The 42nd Annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor was the highlight of a flurry of activities around marijuana the past few weeks. A reported 3,000 people were at the University of Michigan Quadrangle for the Bash — part pep rally, part political effort and part toke-down. State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, was one of…
It’s Good to be the King
King Kevyn the Good issued Orr-der No. 3 last week. The decree coincided with Mayor Dave Bing’s unveiling of his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year, and seemed intended to make clear to everyone that the scepter of city government is firmly gripped by the emergency manager — and no one else. Issued on…
Habib’s Cuisine
Habib’s Cuisine 14316 Michigan Ave., Dearborn 313-584-1515 Handicap accessible Entrées: $13-$24 Opens daily at 11 a.m. and closes at 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday and at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. For a lot of people there’s a contradiction built in to Habib’s concept. It’s a fancyish, white-tablecloth place, with attention to décor and prices on…
A Bridge to Somewhere
It looks like there will be a new bridge across the Detroit River after all. For years, one wretched, greedy billionaire has done everything he could to prevent this from happening. First he bought the finest lawyers; he then succeeded in “influencing” (which is “buying” in political parlance) enough corrupt and stupid Michigan legislators to…
Foreskin Foul-Up
Q: I am uncircumcised, and the opening at the end of my foreskin is not large enough for the head of my penis to pass through. This means my foreskin doesn’t pull back when I get an erection. The Internet says this is a condition called “phimosis,” and a lot of medical websites recommend circumcision.…
Rock and Roll Junior High School
OK, let’s get this out of the way at the very beginning — the girls that make up pop-rock band Electric Graffiti are 14 years old. FOURTEEN! Holy crap, most kids can barely get their homework done at 14. (This is likely due to the unholy inability to stop pining over a member of the…
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Patterns – EP Warner Bros.
This band’s name, like its music, is here to test you. Why so serious, you ask? They’re not here to impress with their coolness — so they certainly aren’t concerned if you scoff at their satirical title. Theirs is a quieter cool, a self-confidence that you’ll surrender to their bass and keep moving to the…
How ‘420’ Became the Stoner’s Call to Order
Warren Haynes, the Allman Brothers Band guitarist, routinely plays with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, now touring as “The Dead.” Having just finished a Dead show in Washington, D.C., the musician gets a pop quiz from this reporter: Where does “420” come from? He pauses and thinks, hands on his side. “I don’t…
Marching Toward Critical Mass
“Reform the draconian marijuana laws” has been a rallying cry of this newspaper since its inception, with groves felled and gallons of ink spent outlining a folly — at a plant with medicinal, psychosocial and economic benefits. While it’s only taken 33 years (Metro Times’ first edition was published in 1980), it seems as if…
Next Collective – Cover Art – Concord Records
The Jazz group Next Collective is aptly named, as “next” implies newness or something that is about to happen, and the ensemble truly has a collective sound. In addition to being a collective, they are also a collection of today’s hottest young jazz artists performing on the world stage. On their major label debut release,…
Pass the Popcorn
The Hash Bash, the Higher Ground column, John Sinclair, multitudinous “water pipe” shop sponsors and medical marijuana clinic ads; these are all totems of this illustrious rag’s long and proud history covering the many and varied movements, trends, setbacks and advances in the struggle for wider public acceptance of the sticky icky arts. Frankly, we…
Grabbed By the Balls
AS WE CELEBRATE 4/20 and everything that marijuana has given the world, I am reminded of Ricky Otto. That name will almost certainly mean nothing to you (to be fair, he is barely remembered in his native England), but, growing up, this professional soccer player had quite an impact on a young me. Otto played…
City Slang: Jamaican Queens at Trinosophes
Jamaican Queens will host a record release show at Trinosophes this coming Friday, April 12. They say, “They’ve been on tour through SXSW in support of Wormfood, which was deeemed “The Coolest Debut Album of 2013” by The L Magazine. Ryan Spencer and Adam Pressley (formerly of the band Prussia) teamed up to record last…
Raucous On
Protesters opposed to hiring the Jones Day law firm shut down the Detroit City Council meeting for about 90 minutes on Tuesday. The action began with a few people kneeling and refusing to leave the chamber, then grew to about 30 people locking arms and singing “We shall not be moved.” Eventually, one protestor crossed…
Food Stuff
SIDE DISH Get the jump — The hockey season may be winding down, but things are heating up at Cheli’s Chili Bar, which has added a new lunch menu. Expect a variety of new favorites, including wings, burgers, Rueben sandwiches and, of course, chili. As if you needed something more than the 62 draft…
Film Review: The Dirties
The Dirties | B+ Can an exuberantly creative social outcast also be a psychopathic narcissist? Unfortunately, yes. And Matt Johnson (the character, not the film’s director-co-writer-actor) is a terrific example. A pop culture-obsessed geek, he and best friend Owen (Owen Williams) are making a revenge-fantasy movie about exacting violent payback on the high school bullies…
