Poletown meltdown
A serious struggle is quietly playing out over tax revenues from the General Motors’ Poletown plant, pitting the city of Detroit against the tiny city-within-a-city of Hamtramck. Detroit, which collects taxes from the assembly plant straddling the border between the two cities, normally gives Hamtramck about $2 million a year under a revenue-sharing plan that’s…
Kings of the wild frontier
As the sun sets over the Summit Place Mall, the noticeably tired Matthew Milia turns his car sharply, perking up as he drives toward the abandoned movie theater, the same one that graces the cover of Frontier Ruckus’ latest album, Deadmalls & Nightfalls. If the fading Summit Place Mall would ever be beautiful, it would…
Pot shots
It looks as if there’s going to be a showdown between the American Civil Liberties Union and Michigan cities it says are using questionable tactics in an apparent attempt to address medical marijuana-related activity within their borders. The ACLU has sent letters to the cities of Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham asking that they either clarify…
Food stuff
Growth of the soil — Angelina Italian Bistro will host a three-course Grown in Detroit dinner followed by a screening of the documentary film Grown in Detroit. A portion of proceeds will benefit Detroit’s Catherine Ferguson Academy Farm. Starts at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at 1565 Broadway, Detroit; 313-962-1355. Ciao time — D’Amato’s will…
Backlot
Real Steel Director: Shawn Levy Stars: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly The buzz: Mr. tap-dance Wolverine himself stars as a down-on-his-luck pilot for a 7-foot-tall robot boxer. Filming for this mega-scale sci-fi farce has been taking place all over the area, including semi-urban Troy and the wide-open fields of Hartland Township. Security has been tight, since…
Fabulous fare
AJ’s Music Café 240 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-399-3946; $: The space that had a long run as Xhedos’ Coffeehouse was reincarnated a few years ago as AJ’s by A.J. O’Neil, who has brought such quirky events to the java stop as a 50-hour "Danny Boy" marathon. Classic coffee, open-mic nights (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays)…
Designer diner
For more than 20 years, in two locations and under two owners and two names, D’Pauli’s (formerly Giorgio’s) has thrived on its reputation as a diner with upscale surprises: steak Diane, veal Marsala, a burger with chutney and Bordelaise sauce. Today, though, the burgers have taken a way-back seat on the dinner menu; only three…
Signs of faith
What can it actually accomplish? It’s just a sign, stark and simple, and it declares, in the kind of religious language that saturates the city’s culture, that "God said … Thou shall not kill." And suddenly it was appearing on trees and poles all over town. The woman behind it says the idea came to…
Bust a move
The story centers on rich white guy Luke (Rick Malambri), who uses a loan from his parents to convert a grungy Brooklyn loft into a safe haven for a polyglot crew of dancing outcasts with big dreams, nonsensically called “the Pirates.” Luke feels these kindred souls were “Born from a Boombox,” and he’s shooting a…
Cheat Code
UFC Undisputed 2010 THQ PS3 (Review Copy), Xbox 360 The popularity of mixed martial arts has exploded lately, soon to replace boxing as the combat sport of choice. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) organization trailblazed not only actual fighting, but also games, riding high on last year’s surprise hit UFC 2009: Undisputed. UFC: Undisputed 2010…
The Other Guys
Perpetually pissed-off New York police officer Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) has been demoted to desk duty, partnered with Allen (Ferrell), a milquetoast forensic accountant. Their entire police division lives in the shadow of two supercops (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), who are known for their over-the-top, property-destroying arrests. When the ultra-macho cops…
Night and Day
THURSDAY AUGUST 12 Spelling Bee S-P-E-L-L T-H-I-S! Flex your orthographic muscles at this unorthodox version of an elementary school spelling bee where spelling under the influence is the true challenge. Prove to everyone that you can still spell onomatopoeia after downing five PBRs and you may emerge the champion, earning the envy and admiration of…
Glitter bullets
Anybody who knows local rock ‘n’ roll has likely seen the Ruiners by now, or at least heard of them. Stories of the band’s antics border novelty and are legion, such as frontman Rick Ruiner’s penchant for setting his leather trousers ablaze on stage, the fights, clink stints and all of that silly stuff. Oh,…
Tumor humor
A whimsical, seriocomic 13-week series about cancer? Anyone who has suffered the devastating effects of that disease or knows somebody who has (and isn’t that just about everybody?) would be hard-pressed to envision malignant tumors as the stuff of prime-time chuckles. What’s the old expression? "Dying is easy; comedy is hard." If anybody can pull…
The Suburbs
Everything Arcade Fire does is big: the ballads, the rockers, the kitchen-sink epics. Even the band’s more introspective songs are grand in scope. This has been their routine from the start, but on their terrific third album, The Suburbs, they make even the most restrained moments sound as if the fate of the world depends…
Metro Retro
26 years ago in Metro Times: David Dodd covers WDIV’s cavalier treatment of Late Night with David Letterman. After years of decisions that have ired Letterman fans, including plans to air old movies instead of the show, replacing the showman’s promos with their own, and airing the show at 1:30 a.m., it’s small wonder WDIV…
Long way down
Part of the brilliant early blossoming of Jean-Luc Godard’s career, My Life to Live (1962) is, like so many great works of art, about a girl. The lady in question is Anna Karina, the most “it” of “it girls,” an immortal beauty who just happened to be the director’s bride at the time. One glance…
Blooming talent
A gaida is a bagpipe-type instrument used in North African and Balkan music. It produces a lilting, reverberating sound, not unlike Syrian-American singer Gaida’s voice, but she laughs at this association. Her name should be spelled Ghaida, but Americans can’t pronounce the Arabic ghrayn, which is transliterated as gh, she says. When she spelled her…
Restrepo
Without a civilian draft, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become low-rated television shows that perpetually defy the threat of cancellation. And while there is no shortage of documentaries about our struggles in the Middle East, filmmakers Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger offer an urgent and harrowing insider’s view of what U.S. soldiers endure…
Why indie rock is dead
The trendy obsession with subgenre may be achingly lame, but the music inspiring the excess labeling often isn’t. Case in point: chillwave, which to me sounds like some neon elixir you’d order on a cruise — or a sadistic amusement park ride or some new sex-prank slang: "Bro, a chillwave is when you’re having sex…
Say Goodnight to the World
Dax Riggs’ sound has been evolving for years — from the sludge rock he played with Acid Bath to the indie rock he now makes on his own. On his third solo album, he adds some blues and folk to the mix. Riggs’ genre-jumping hasn’t always been smooth, but he sounds more comfortable than ever…
Bernero vs. Snyder
To my surprise, I was happy with the way the primary election turned out, even though one of the candidates I recommended didn’t win. Speaker of the House Andy Dillon had the better credentials. He was the only one of all the candidates to take a firm position supporting the Detroit International River Crossing, the…
Message to Michael
Detroit poet-musician David Blair’s vision of pop icon Michael Jackson isn’t the fedora-tipping, sequined kind. It’s more about a lonely, abused child trying to fall asleep in a strange place, trembling in fear of the snap of his father’s belt. The first two lines of the opening poem "Into Darkness" read: Through boughs of…
Letters to the Editor
Corporate control I was interested in Jack Lessenberry’s column "After voting, what?" (Aug. 4). He had some good notions of why people don’t believe in the political process to fix problems, but I think he missed the most critical one: The fact of the matter is that corporations run the country. They run the country…
Go deep
It’s hard to know real talent anymore. We’re gorging on product that comes at us instantly and in abundance from, well, our front pockets, where we keep our phones. Lost in our personal electronics, drifting through increasingly noncritical space, we’re unable to tell musical good from evil anymore — evil being what we want. You…
