Setting the standard
Ignoring whatever expectations (critical, audience, enemy) have been draped upon it, on Standards, Tortoise continues ahead, making state-of-the-art sound. The group’s instrumental exercises in studio manipulation and contemporary band-think will continue to earn Tortoise its place in the underground. Just in case you’re worried, the “standards” have more to do with those that this band…
Stung
Questionable arrests rake in over $1 million in impound fees….
Now that’s news
It’s time now for the “6 o’clock Nudes!” Not the 6 o’clock news, but nudes, though you also get the news thrown in. Nakednews.com is a Web site that literally fleshes out the news for you in its daily Internet reports, delivered on-line by three, buck-naked ladies. A Washington Post article reveals that in just…
Symbiosis
Jazz styles are known as much by the way that they change the sounds of instruments as by the harmonic transformations they propose. The trumpet tones of the hard-bop ’50s — burnished by Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan et al — set a standard for high-octane lyricism. But along came Don Cherry, Bill Dixon,…
Pants on fire
Energy Secretary Spence Abraham caught telling a whopper….
DMA Performers
Proof, Kon Artis, Swift, Kuniva and Bizarre founded the Dirty Dozen nearly a decade ago. Now Eminem is part of the crew and D12 is ready to spread their love of “Tha D” with “Devil’s Night,” expected to drop in June. The 14-track CD features production work by Eminem, Dr. Dre and Rockwilder. Legendary Motown…
Time to heal
Posthumous collections always have precarious leanings. Is Jeff Buckley rolling in his grave after hearing the pasted together (though beautiful) works in progress of Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk? Does Tupac Shakur mind that his Mom’s cashing in on the grief of a dedicated fan base? Every once in a while, though, you can’t…
Green peace or food truce
Atom’s Juice Cafe settles lawsuit, but still needs to pay legal fees….
Chemical reaction
Moyers investigation seen as a potential catalyst….
Flashy flashbacks
Given the recent retro-pop proliferation of the Prima Donnas, Baxendale, Future Bible Heroes and Stars, it’s not totally ludicrous to claim that some of the best ’80s music is being made almost two dozen years after video killed the radio star. And after this winter’s presidential inauguration of yet another bumbling, brain-dead idiot named Bush,…
Ralph on
Ralph Nader stays true to his ideals….
Making the census count
Well, the census figures prove that the people of Detroit have moved outside of the jurisdictional boundaries of “Detroit.” What’s wrong with the city and the whole area is largely due to our failure to admit this — and do something about it.
Warrior unleashed
Your eyes bleed. Your stomach churns. Your soul — battered by the claws of a rampant demon — demands rescue. Gripping your katana, you spur hard and precisely. Only “Onimusha” offers such unique convergence of blood-yielding action and horror show, the first PlayStation 2 disc to prove that a $300 scavenger hunt is well worth…
Breaking barriers
Confronting HIV where it rages….
Punching, funding, Spacing
Cobo’s Fight Night bloody but a little boring … WDET fundraiser concerts feature His Name Is Alive and other local greats … & late-night crowds and a whole floor of beds for snogging at Space.
Stories of love
Based on a true story about an impoverished woman living in the Brazilian countryside, much of this film’s charm comes from its sunbaked Sergio Leone-esque landscapes and the erotic charisma of its lead actress, Regina Casé, who radiates an earthy beauty not much seen on screen of late.
Political ramifications
Now that Dubya’s administration is settled in, some zinesters are rekindling anti-establishment ideals.
Slo-town
An open letter to metro-Detroit Internet service providers, begging for help with the high-speed hookup. (Will it ever be available in Detroit proper?)
Pola X
Pierre, or the Ambiguities is perfect grist for French director Léos Carax who stays fairly close to Herman Melville’s narrative while transposing the perverse story to contemporary France — with Guillaume Depardieu (son of Gérard), Catherine Deneuve and Katerina Golubeva.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): What wicked fun you have ahead of you, Aries. The cosmos, in all its loving wisdom, is inviting you to divest yourself of your old taboos and dream up a host of new ones. True, you may have an initial resistance to downgrading the symbols that have provided you with so…
Memento
Clever, intriguing and heartless, Memento is a twisted film noir, a fractured puzzle of a movie which forces the audience to piece together the fragments of its narrative told backward — a brave, bold move for director Christopher Nolan.
Bareback riding
Q: I am a 28-year-old gay man with a serious dilemma. About five months ago I contracted genital herpes after receiving a blow job at a local bathhouse. Is the herpes virus now in my semen 24/7? Am I never supposed to have unsafe oral sex, ever? When bathhouse partners ask to remove my condom,…
Someone Like You
Screenwriter Elizabeth Chandler and director Tony Goldwyn (A Walk on the Moon) haven’t so much defanged the angry humor of Laura Zigman’s scathing novel as humanized it, while too often falling into simplistic romantic clichés — with Ashley Judd, Greg Kinnear and Hugh Jackman.
Girlcore
Either you’re for or against the “good ol’ days” of rock ’n’ roll’s boys club. Indigo Girl-gone-solo Amy Ray and the queerpunk trio The Butchies take on the challenge.
The Day I Became A Woman
An Iranian allegory, this debut feature by Marziyeh Meshkini is divided into three stories — the central story having an impact both visually, in its depiction of the loneliness of a long-distance woman bicycle racer, and viscerally, with its view of her fate — well worth seeing.
A date with deception
The hidden cameras of photographer Nicola Kuperus capture crimes of glamour and espionage.
Flashy flashbacks
Given the recent retro-pop proliferation of the Prima Donnas, Baxendale, Future Bible Heroes and Stars, it’s not totally ludicrous to claim that some of the best ’80s music is being made almost two dozen years after video killed the radio star. And after this winter’s presidential inauguration of yet another bumbling, brain-dead idiot named Bush,…
Laughing at love
The durability of romance and the single white girl….
Message from the President
Right off the bat, my thanks to the 100-plus bands, to Anthony Morrow and to the Metro Times for staging this years’ annual Hamtramck Blowout. This was by far the strongest and most successful event yet, an especially incredible feat because of the volunteer nature of the showcase, increased competition from other worthy organizations and…
DEMF 2001
The lineup for the Detroit Electronic Music Festival 2001 is announced — with only one repeating act from last year, the lineup is incredibly well-rounded, representing much of what is great and current in electronic music.
Dirty D-tour
The debut full-length recording from Eminem’s hometown crew is among the most eagerly anticipated of the summer, but for Detroit Music Awards headliners D12, roots are thicker than hype.
Long way out
A gay Latino describes the emotional journey from being a closeted youth in Texas to an openly gay activist at a Catholic college in Detroit — and how he’s helping others with the same issues.
Blanche
Torridly tangible banjo and Dan Miller’s twisted twang juxtaposed with ethereal female backing vocals and a possessed pedal steel combine to mold one soporific provocation – like watching a classic horror film before bed. Your whole body’s asleep, but there’s no way you’re closing your eyes. Blanche crafts some of the most impressive music coming…
THE PRESENTERS
Presenters at this year’s Detroit Music Awards include: Kiff Vanden Heuvel — MC Linda Lexie Martin Davidson Caryn Mathes Ron James Mark Pasman Pam Rossi Christina Fuoco Dave Feeney Howard Abrams Joann Korczynska Martin Bandyke Scott Forbes Dennis Forbes Kenny Olsen Scott Randall Howard Hertz Marilyn Wheaton Karen Savelly Aimee Spencer Sonny Andre Mitch Albom…
2001 Detroit Music Awards nominees
2001 Detroit Music Awards nominees GENERAL CATEGORIES Outstanding National Album Robert Bradley “Time to Discover” Eminem “The Marshall Mathers LP” Kid Rock “History of Rock” Madonna “Music” Suicide Machines "The Suicide Machines” Uncle Kracker “Double Wide” Outstanding National Single Kid Rock “American Badass” Eminem “The Real Slim Shady” Robert Bradley “Higher” Workhorse Movement “Keep the…
Soft batch
The Disco Biscuits have gone soft. This is not a criticism. It is simply an observation of a new direction, an expansion of an idea. They Missed the Perfume is an unconventional album, which might be due to the unconventional method in which it was recorded, among the vast turbines and generators of an abandoned…
Thank You!
The executive board of the Motor City Music Foundation would like to thank: Our sponsors, patrons and members whose financial support make the Detroit Music Awards possible; the 2001 presenters; D12, Barrett Strong, Mahindi Masai and Detroit Drum Warriors, Johnnie Bassett, the Butler Twins, Thornetta Davis, Valerie Barrymore, Atomic Numbers, the Brothers Groove, Lisa Hunter,…
MA Lifetime Achievement
Barrett Strong A legendary songwriter with Motown Records, Barrett Strong has reached the absolute peaks of artistic and commercial success penning some of America’s most well-loved soul anthems. His Grammy Award-winning “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Psychedelic Shack” and “Just My Imagination” are but a few of the timeless songs he has written. Regardless…
Disco to Disco
John Acquaviva’s latest mix is inextricably connected to Detroit. Recorded at Motor at noon on New Year’s Day — just hours after playing to a champagne-buzzed New Year’s Eve audience there — our favorite Lionel Richie-playin’ Canadian fearlessly crafted his newest mix in the company of a select few fellow insomniacs. To us mortals, this…
Payoff
Why widen I-94 when we could have several commuter rail lines?
Letters to the Editor
Whose blues? I read with amusement Jack Lessenberry’s column, “Daily news blues” (MT, March 28-April 3). Is it because he is running out of things to talk about that he is beating up on his competitors? I never see the Detroit News or the Detroit Free Press picking on the Metro Times. So, who is…
