Foot in the door
Football’s back on the stands.
Celebrity bigots
John Rocker, Dr. Laura, Eminem, Don Imus … Why is hate so hot? As the memory of fascism fades, so does any sense that hate speech has real consequences.
Lawn joy
Never mow your lawn again!
Listen up, Al Gore
Why not make this a campaign for and about our future, naming the issues and taking them on? Jack Lessenberry issues this challenge to Mr. Gore – and hopes it’s not too late.
Sloganeering the blues
Diversify and invest in corporate blues culture.
Girlee stuff
It’s a new spin on fashion, art and fun, with a collective dedicated to furthering the careers of local female artists … from photographers to fashion designers.
Never Mets him
Tip your cap in tribute to Walter Matthau.
Redevelopment, retail and radio rants
Downtown nightclubs (more new ones) … Patti Smith finally closes its doors (as do several other Royal Oak retailers) …The Planet changes format (again) … & Neal Rubin channels the spirit of the late Bob Talbert.
Pop rocks
The fascinating life of Christina Aguilera.
Remarketing the Gospels (of business)
nv, emerging from and for the entrepreneurial aspirations of African-Americans and other businesspeople of color, is an eye-catching periodical which also happens to be uniquely situated to ask challenging questions about diversity, technology and business culture. Unfortunately, even though its headlines often beckon with the promise of rethinking the status quo, the articles uniformly squander…
Rap-sody of ruin
Detroit rappers rack up a list of legal troubles.
Elvis action
The King is resurrected as a tiki-god idol.
Deconstructing City
You’d swear we live in a Sim-reality – well, at least judging from the recent strain of Sim-DNA promenading in the PC market. First, the barrier-breaking, real-life module, The Sims, launched into fame; then Sim Theme Park hit the PlayStation console; and now, Maxis provides a reinvention of its trophy-worthy franchise, Sim City 3000: Unlimited.…
Mouthing off
Middle-aged rocker Ted Nugent jaws it up with anti-fur folk.
Truffle testing
Ah, the famed truffle. Its sweet, earthy aroma and delicate flavor are virtually incomparable. But where to find them here in Michigan – and how best to use them?
No tears tonight
Any emo band worth its crocodile tears (the better to get your money, sucker) has picked up on the quiet-vs.-blare tension that was Slint’s stock in trade. But since the demise of Slint way back in the early ’90s, Brian McMahan, the main mind behind Slint, has retreated into a realm more introspective and distanced…
Napster not napping
Napster’s still alive, and busier than ever.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries painter Vincent van Gogh sliced off the lobe of his ear in the name of love. Aflame with rom…
Free spirit
There are spirits we know, yet don’t know. There is energy we feel and cannot define. There are influences we emulate, yet fail to acknowledge. And there is the space between these occurrences, which is filled by the things we feel but find difficult to identify. These are the words of Semaj, the local fire…
‘Eye for the Beautiful’
Bargain treasures at Bellocchio, a new Royal Oak boutique just north of the Detroit Zoo on Woodward.
Who wants to look?
• I read with interest a letter in your column from a woman who asked “Is it unusual or perverted for a woman to find the sig…
No place like home
Unlike Jeff Mills’ recent Purpose Maker-era, when creating one-dimensional dance building blocks became his central mission (utilized gruelingly by Richie Hawtin on Decks, EFX & 909), Lifelike showcases Mills’ ability to create compelling tracks which favor multilayered rhythms and melodies without giving up the dance floor. Tracks such as “Zenith” and “Solara,” the first with…
Can you say “gouge”?
$20 to park at Comerica Park?
A girl and her dud-muffin
Q: My boyfriend and I are in our early 20s. I am practical about things while he is more laid-back, and it’s causing argument…
Who’s your daddy?
The Hughes brothers open their hot-button documentary, American Pimp, with on-the-street interviews, asking primarily white middle-class citizens what they think of pimps. The replies are loaded with venom: They’re despicable manipulators, predators with no moral sense. Some of what the pimps themselves say during the next 90 minutes does little to discredit this point of…
Be Ware
Jewel Ware’s fundraising giveaways.
Boogie Chillun
The history of Detroit blues, Part II: Blues festivals, The Famous Coachman, Uncle Jesse White and a move to the suburbs.
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
What does it say about a performer who only really comes to life when covered with enough makeup to make him unrecognizable? Nutty Professor II: The Klumps proves that, as an actor, Eddie Murphy has more in common with Tracey Ullman than Martin Lawrence. In this bravura performance, Murphy embodies an entire big family: Professor…
Bile for Giles
Former News editor Bob Giles goes off to Harvard.
Blues for life
The Butler Twins have been playing the blues together since they were kids.
The Mood Elevator
With malt shop melodies and a penchant for power pop, The Mood Elevator (formerly The Neptunes) draws from bands such as The Kinks and The Who and fits snugly into a group of smart pop revivalists including XTC, Sloan and Fountains of Wayne. Listen Up, the band’s first full-length CD, was produced by Virgin Records…
Ready, willing and…
Raise Cain – vote Green Party’s Matthew Abel for senator!
Whole lotta blues
Today’s Detroit blues scene is alive and flush with quite a few working bands.
Blood Simple
The Coen brothers have chosen to subtract rather than add to the recently released director’s cut of their debut feature, "in order to more quickly get to the carnage,
Dishonest Abe?
Environmentalists blast Spence Abraham‘s record.
Body of knowledge
Darva Conger, Who Didn’t Want to Marry a Millionaire, posed for Playboy, earning six figures for her one. And why not? She’s got a beautiful body, and it ain’t gonna last forever.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
One of the many pleasures of Stanley Kubrick’s meticulous version of Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon (1975), set mainly in 18th century England, comes from observing the way that language can lay a civilizing veneer over the most unsavory activity. Whether Barry is being robbed at gunpoint by highwaymen or being cruelly rejected by the pillars of…
Unconventional wisdom
Corporate funds pay for convention party favors.
Letters to the Editor
Different worlds
Concerning the "Newshits" piece on the reduction of the Social Services Block Grant (MT…
Birthday bombast
Speedball dishes out some good old-fashioned Detroit rock … The Mood Elevator serves up its own soon-to-be-classics … The Suicide Machines get busier … & metro Detroit may be the source for the next teen sensation, Laney.
Smelling love, tasting pain
Canadian writer/director Jeremy Podeswa has a few narrative aces up his sleeve with The Five Senses – it opens eyes to new sounds and feelings.
