Whitey in the bar
When it comes to race relations, it’s not always at the big events where the real show is being played out. Sometimes only one night out can change your mind.
Smoked out
Ann Arbor fights for a pro-pot ballot choice.
Culture and vultures
How could you not love a man who, moments after effortlessly coughing up four grand for a sport coat, ruins the thing with a cavalier splash of espresso. And then surveying his handiwork, mutters “Ah, well. I’ve fucked up again.” The man is noted scholar and author Alan Bloom, and he is the main event…
Now, strip, kids
A lesson in student rights will play out in court….
Right and wrong
Ferndale mayor stands up to anti-gay protests.
Seeing is revealing
As you look through that stack of fading black-and-white snapshots from a box in the attic, you notice that the young men wear hats and suits and have their hair slicked back; the women seem coy or shy; cars are rectangles on wheels and bathing suits cover up a whole lot. All afternoon, you wander…
Motorway sparks
The startlingly original works of Le Car finally collected on one CD … & Focus:Electronic, a new radio series zeroing in on the history and influences of the genre, hosted by Liz Copeland and Clark Warner.
Take it back
Widow demands apology from city attorney.
DJ phone home
The electro-texture could stand on its own. So could the African drumming, soft Latin guitar strums, jazz brass accents, intrepid, seductive Brazilian vocals and echoed, smoky backups. But when they coalesce, the output is not only worldly, it’s extraterrestrial. There’s trip-hop; there’s trance and then there’s Da Lata, which doesn’t fit anywhere on this planet.…
The Dems: What really happened
Jack Lessenberry watched the Democratic Convention, and after reading the coverage afterward, wants to state for the record that the media is remarkably full of shit.
Misunderstanding Mercy
Detroit News writer fails to get his facts straight regarding the former Mercy Hospital building.
We’re still here
Hey, even Nostradamus got a few predictions wrong. For years, Busta Rhymes has been predicting the end of the world on record, but when it didn’t come in 2000, the most prolific rapper not named DMX was well-prepared, cranking out his third solo album in three years. While the title and cover art keep up…
Bad booze, movie news
Crappy martinis at the well-meaning National Kidney Foundation benefit … Confirming deathgirl.com’s superiority over Bif Naked … Schmoozing with Hollywood types from Billy Crystal’s Detroit-based film about Roger Maris … & more.
Panned spam
Speaker of the House spouse shares homophobic jokes.
Realist modernism
Don’t be fooled — dwell is not full of new ideas about modernist architecture. You’ll find the same mouthwatering eye-candy photos of clean lines and loft-like living spaces here that you’ll also find in Wallpaper, Elle Décor or countless other magazines. dwell really has only one new idea: People actually live here, people like you…
L.A. confidential
Set against a swirling, clashing background of festive protests and street anger … Winners, losers and weird scenes from the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
No joke
Leno and Letterman tell 20-somethings who to vote for.
Not so taintless
Long anticipated. A breakthrough. A 64-bit gem. All of these things could be said about Perfect Dark, Nintendo’s flawlessly reviewed monster hit of the year. Examine the details: The unofficial follow-up to 1997’s smash hit, Goldeneye, Dark takes the player inside the world of special agent Joanna Dark — a universe of heavy, hand-mounted artillery…
Breaking the waves
WDET-FM soon to go world-wide (Web).
Costs
Comparatively speaking, mass transit could be a good deal….
A royal gas
Four black kings of comedy hold forth in the Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum and director Spike Lee focuses on their audiences: black folks responding to urban remembrances and observations. Is Kings funny? "I laughed until I cried," says MT’s
Bring in the noise
Detroit clubs plan to rock you hard.
Mind laundry
Tuff – Paul Beatty Reviewed by Chris Tysh Paul Beatty’s poetic novel is a must-read for all ages, with a bigger-than-life protagonist who defies racial stereotypes. It starts out like a classic whodunit, but the similarities stop there. Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America – Kalle Lasn Reviewed by Marc Christensen In his new book,…
The Cell
Indian-born director Tarsem Singh’s grisly and shocking images tap directly into our collective dreamscape. It’s cinema as a kind of vicarious acid trip, where we can commune with the unconscious from a safe distance — with Vincent D’Onofrio, Jennifer Lop
Driven to bus
Detroit transit will get you (almost) there, eventually. Alisa Gordaneer jumps on board to investigate.
Wartime tech
Blood, bullets and bonus features erupt in the latest battlefield DVDs.
Rock you like a hurricane
Armed ’n’ alarmed, the three women and token bloke of Britain’s Lolita Storm come on as musical mercenaries with a mission. On their excellent Girls Fucking Shit Up, they’ve created the sound of a jumbled ’n’ jigsawed ’60s girl gang run amok: machine-gunned choruses, time bomb-ticking count-offs and songs more sinister than sing-along. It’s an…
Getting wired in tha D
D Records and Paxahau.com think globally, act locally….
Hidden talents
One of Detroit’s best-kept culinary secrets, La Dolce Vita has a devoted customer base.
Nothing more to say
The raw sound of Alberta Adams’ voice will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the blues. But what really makes the woman special is her ability to tell the kind of stories that so many people can relate to and appreciate. On “Everybody Got Their Hand Out,” the eighth track on…
Panel discussions
Scott McCloud spends the first part of his latest book stating the obvious and the second talkin’ all out his haid. This is not a bad thing. In this sequel to the essential Understanding Comics, McCloud suggests 12 “revolutions” are necessary to ensure the future vitality of comics. The first nine concern gaining acknowledgment of…
Pucker up
The sourest sweet on the market
Free will astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Harper’s Index reports that it would require 60,133 ants to carry away a 10-pound picnic basket and 14,286,000,000 fireflies to create a ball of light equal in brilliance to the sun. These images should embolden you as you contemplate the intricate work ahead of you. While you probably won’t accomplish any…
Dreamy coconut ice cream
Bangkok Sala Cafe is quite an attractive place, and does a good job with its entrées–gingery pad king is a great choice. However, it does less well on the side dishes, except for desserts like the creamy, dreamy housemade coconut ice cream.
Rock you like a hurricane
Armed ’n’ alarmed, the three women and token bloke of Britain’s Lolita Storm come on as musical mercenaries with a mission. On their excellent Girls Fucking Shit Up, they’ve created the sound of a jumbled ’n’ jigsawed ’60s girl gang run amok: machine-gunned choruses, time bomb-ticking count-offs and songs more sinister than sing-along. It’s an…
Getting personal
Custom-fit jeans for every body
A smelly situation
Q: My boyfriend and I are both in our 30s. We have been together for a number of years. He is a big guy who sweats a lot in the summer. He showers, at most, three times a week, about the same number of times he brushes his teeth. I love to kiss and give…
Baby pictures
Without question, Stephen Sondheim is the most sophisticated Broadway composer and lyricist alive. Who else could have penned that darkest of black comedies, Sweeney Todd, or written an elegant musical about painter Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park with George? Or set Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night to exquisite music in A…
Cornish in a Turtleneck
Cornish in a Turtleneck is an indulgent romp through the strawberry fields of musical good fun. Some might argue that it’s more of a foaming-at-the-mouth overdose, but I prefer indulgence. Plenty of bands exist in the super serious realm of music. So it’s nice every once in a while to witness a talented group that’s…
Pump you up
Cleavage that’s wet and wild
The Dismissing Link and He loves me, he loves my toe jam
Q: I disagree with your advice to the guy who has a “Rule of One” (the guy who gives women he asks out only one opportunity to turn him down). You encouraged him to give a woman three chances. I don’t see the point in giving a woman extra opportunities to dis you. Better advice…
Kurt who?
Call it fate. And if it isn’t fate, call it graduation time for the Black Crowes. As decade-long students of the ’60s and ’70s Southern fried-blues-R&B-rock ’n’ roll preservation society, on paper, it would seem like a natural fit for the Crowes and Jimmy Page to join forces. Throughout their decade-long history (on the road…
The Jaundiced Eye
In Nonny de la Peña’s documentary, Stephen Matthews (of Monroe, Michigan) and his father are accused of sexually molesting Stephen’s son — an all too familiar and distressing story — on the basis of no evidence but much hatred and fear and the test
Burgers, fries and pop
Britney & N’ Sync sell records at the drive-through window
How sweet it is
Yummy, smooth legs with no razor blades
Getting mad (but) not even
In his new book, the founder of Adbusters magazine rages against overconsumption but tends to forget that universal American affluence is a myth.
Not One Less
With its barren setting in a remote village in the Chinese countryside, stiff performances from the adults and cutesy ones from the kids, the first part of Zhang Yimou’s film seems interminable — an awkward slice of Chinese neo-realism from the director o
Letters to the Editor
To the rescue Thanks to Anne Mullen for her article “EMS Mess” (MT, Aug. 9-15). I am very proud to have spent the majority of my adult life working as a Detroit medic. That Detroit EMS has functioned as well as it has for so long is simply amazing, and only due to the efforts…
Stellar sidemen
Jazzfest greats are backed by even more of ’em.
Secrets unrevealed
This is an infuriating book. Not because it’s bad. But because it isn’t — bad, I mean. I’ll get to that. First, though, some background information. The author, Sallie Tisdale, a contributing editor of Harper’s, has published five previous books, most recently Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex (1994). In this book,…
The Tao of Steve
Dex is a shlub, a most unlikely lothario, but he has a secret weapon (the "tao of Steve," so named for kings of cool like Steve McQueen) which can turn him into the seducer of the entire female population of New Mexico — a clever idea that never
Deus Ex phile
A thinker’s video game finally hits the market, and Web sites fight to get an editor’s attention. Also, find out how many grubby hands have touched your dollar…
MT tooner
Callahan’s wicked wit comes to life.
Deadly signifyin’
Paul Beatty’s poetic novel is a must-read for all ages, with a bigger-than-life protagonist who defies racial stereotypes. It starts out like a classic whodunit, but the similarities stop there.
