What comes after this war?
Detroit should, while there is still time, immediately secede from the state, the union and the continent for that matter, and pledge undying loyalty to the man to whom we once gave a key to the city, Saddam Hussein. Yes, that would get a few of us killed, but probably not very many. The Coleman…
Happy Go Lucky
It’s understandable, all the critical hoopla ’n’ hooey surrounding Elvis Costello’s “return to his ‘old’ sound” on last year’s When I Was Cruel. So is the advance buzz on Joe Jackson’s new Volume 4, which reunites him with his Look Sharp-era band cronies. But for the rest of us who don’t put all our faith…
Spirits of the slammer
In The Stranger by Albert Camus, a condemned man spends the night before his execution fighting off the entreaties of a priest who wants to save his soul. The man murdered an Arab on a beach for no good reason and now, with death staring him in the face, he realizes there is no God,…
Breakfast and beyond
Though co-owner and chef Tim Meeks describes Recipes as an upscale place for breakfast, the atmosphere is relaxed. The flawlessly served fare runs the gamut from the traditional (pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs in every variation imaginable) to the adventurous (California roll omlets with crabmeat, avocado, cucumber, cream cheese and bits of seaweed). Stay long…
Gore Gore lore
The Gore Gore Girls set their rock ’n’ roll plan in motion a long time ago. You can almost picture the teenagers lying belly-down on a pink duvet, headphones sur la tête and legs swaying in time with the music. The voice on the radio must have seemed a million miles away. But like many…
You Are Free
How’s that song go? Is it “I Hate Myself and Want To Die”? Or is it “I Hate Myself for Loving You”? —Chan Marshall at a recent San Francisco gig. Claiming that Chan “Cat Power” Marshall’s records even remotely resemble feel-good music is like holding up Hope Sandoval as a prototype of Richard Simmons-style pep.…
April 9-15, 2002
10-12 THU-SAT • THEATER Happy Birthday, Wanda June — In 1970, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. temporarily gave up writing fiction to explore playwriting. The result was a solitary quirky satire about the warped universe in which most of Vonnegut’s characters famously reside. In the play, lead character Harold Ryan (a missing war hero) and his sidekick…
100% of Dub
This compilation is a giving-credit-where-credit-is-way-way-overdue collection of the riddims that launched a generation of ’70s Jamaican singers and dub reggae as we know it. While most recent efforts to give props to early reggae artists either compile bygone hits from underappreciated vocalists (see any Blood & Fire reissue) or jock the eccentric knob-twiddling of more…
Letters to the Editor
Movie note In response to “The reelest thing,” about Detroit blues legend Uncle Jessie White, written by Mike Murphy (Metro Times, April 2-8), we would respectfully like to add the following: This documentary would not have been possible without the City of Detroit Cultural Affairs Department. James Hart and Marilyn Wheaton have been very instrumental…
Drive, she said
Conversation between an unnamed woman driver in her 30s and her passenger of the moment. It’s a testament to a director whose paring away of inessentials has reached a kind of maximum pitch, where little is shown and much is revealed.
Land bank triple play
Renewed efforts in Lansing to create a land bank in Detroit are under way and should again cause heightened anxiety for the City Council. Last year, City Council and Detroit nonprofits effectively lobbied to kill an attempt in the state Legislature to create the new agency, claiming it would crown Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick the king…
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Angélique (Audrey Tautou of Amélie fame) seems to embody the dreamy side of the game of love. But the veneer of perfection begins to peel away as soon as we find out that her great love is a married man. Soon, we see a not-so-sweet and very adult version of "he loves me, he loves…
Peaceniks on parade
News Hits checked out the several hundred protesters who braved bone-chilling cold last Saturday to march against the war in Iraq. The protest, organized by Rep. John Conyers’ office, began at Tiger Stadium and ended with a rally in Hart Plaza. The goal of the protest, said Alexia Smokler, Conyers’ field representative, was “to grow…
Phone Booth
Geezer: HHH / Weezer: HH
Paranoia strikes deep in Joel Schumacher’s thriller about a cocky, deceitful publicist (Colin Farrell) trapped in a midtown-Manhattan phone booth by a sniper, though its 90 minutes of screen time boil down to some inconclusive conclusions – with Forest Whitaker.
Wham, BAMN
“We who grew up attending high schools that we know were segregated, the schools we know were created to make sure we could not go to the best colleges …” shouted Cass Tech graduate Brandon Whitney to the cheers of an estimated 50,000 mostly college and high school students attending the BAMN rally in support…
Il Posto
Ermanno Olmi’s 1961 slice-of-life film is as endearing as it is slight. Filmed in black-and-white and on a low budget, it tells the story of a young man who comes from the provinces to the big city, in this case Milan, to seek his first job. Though it’s not quite a flat-out comedy, its tone…
Stray cat hideaway
This week’s ASS quest led us to 3914 18th St., on the corner of Selden near I-96. This home is by far the worst one the Abandoned Structure Squad has featured in a while. Forget about boarding the place up to keep squatters out, because most of the home’s backside is missing. Telltale signs of…
Basic
John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson star in this military mess that uses the age-old Rashomon storytelling technique to jump from revelation to revelation. Much to its detriment, it can’t be bothered to stop for a breath and actually explain what the hell is going on.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I’ve been scouring herbal textbooks and tantric literature to find a labor-intensive aphrodisiac — some stimulus that would inspire you to work hard to become a fantastic lover. I’m not saying your amorous skills are inferior, just that there’s room for improvement. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to…
Conspiracy theory
Was it a cunning terror cell, or a group of hapless immigrants?…
Bet on fun
Feeling like a high roller? Or do you just have 20 bucks burning a hole in your pocket? From 25-cent slots to first-class poker tables, Greektown Casino has a little bit of something for everyone. A night out at Greektown Casino is a fun alternative to humdrum smoky bars and singles’ clubs. Hungry? Check out…
Squirts, spurts and speculums
Q: My boyfriend wants nothing more than to have me pee on him. I really want to do this for him, but my body will not cooperate. I’m usually able to pee whenever I wish, such as when the doctor needs a sample, so this is very frustrating. I’ve tried the obvious — drinking tons…
Post-funk brothers (& sisters)
A new record taps Detroit sounds from gospel to jazz to techno….
Messin’ with the Format
15 reasons why you should let a new power-pop duo have a great year….
In memoriam
If you’re a blues musician and you’ve never heard of DeVonne Jones, then you owe it to yourself to read this woman’s story. In fact, it really doesn’t matter what style of music you perform — or if you play at all. If you’ve been around the Detroit scene for any time, that’s really all…
World-minded
Valerie J. Mercer is taking a good look around Detroit. Since September 2001, the first-ever curator of the General Motors Center for African-American Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts has been rethinking the museum’s collection and exhibition of African-American art. Before taking the DIA position, Mercer was a curator at the Studio Museum in…
Larval life
Bill Brovold shrugs and calls himself a “souped-up carpenter.” In a self-effacing sort of way, it’s true. To make a living he sells lovely, Modern-influenced furniture which he sometimes creates from single blocks of maple. “I don’t tell people I’m an artist. You know, I want to get paid for my work,” he says, laughing.…
Hocus hyper focus
Henry Ford Community College zaps The Tempest into virtual reality….
11 things worth considering
1. Because the religious movement was inspired in France, the crusaders who invaded the Middle East beginning in the 11th century A.D. were called Franks. The supreme commander of the Coalition of the Willing? Gen. Tommy Franks. 2. Morocco offered to assist the Coalition of the Willing by deploying 2,000 monkeys trained to detonate land…
Our days in court
What is it about our little corner of Michigan that seems to consistently spark so much racial controversy? Some will blame race-baiting folks like me for waving red flags in front of the bull, but this area was a racial hotspot long before I ever came to town. Seems like southeastern Michigan was destined to…
Abandoned Shelter of the Week
This week’s ASS quest led us to 3914 18th St., on the corner of Selden near I-96. This home is by far the worst one the Abandoned Structure Squad has featured in a while. Forget about boarding the place up to keep squatters out, because most of the home’s backside is missing. Telltale signs of…
Bowery boogie
rimson Sweet’s cure for day-job doldrums….
Edutainment
In 1973, “Schoolhouse Rock” introduced us young Saturday morning couch spuds to the function of the conjunction. It taught us how to hallelujah properly before our interjections and where to shop for the best adverbs. It was fun learning that snagged our interests with hook-laden pop songs and colorful cartoons, as if we could head-bob…
