Gas crisis comix
Relive the ’70s in stripped-down living color…
Ain’t nothin’ but a third party
I’m sure at one time each and every one of us has looked at Booger T. Snapchippy running for president on the “Stop The Alien Voices In My Head" ticket, and wondered what the hell his tiny little echo-ridden brain thought was going to happen. These thoughts are not reserved solely for the sandlot candidates,…
Sweet dreams
Understated and sedate, Slumber Party’s hypnotic pop dreamscapes unravel in pixel vision: slightly unfocused, obscured and intimate, artsy. On its exceptional full-length debut, the females in this Detroit foursome reveal their secrets in cinematic slow-motion, in lingering close-ups of long-gone and longed-for loves. The effect is startling. Amid swirling and twirling Velvet Underground sounds, densely…
Spin cycle
Headphones clapped to one ear, head nodding, free hand in motion – the club DJ is now as familiar a cultural figure as the lead guitarist or the game-show host. But while everyone knows what a DJ does, even dedicated clubbers probably don’t know the full story of how he (and it’s almost always he)…
Trash crack-up
Lunchboxes for trailer dwellers
Letters to the Editor
Elitist view Elliott Wilhelm’s comments on subtitles in George Tysh’s interview ("Cinema varioso," MT, Aug 16-22) pissed me off. He says people have trouble watching movies with subtitles. For some people the subtitles or closed-captioning of movies and television programs are a needed thing since they are hard of hearing (as I am) or deaf.…
Pan-Asian pleasures
The menu combines Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine — with a few additions such as crab Rangoon and chicken curry — in an ambitious list of entrées, adapted to Midwestern tastes. Chef Nguyen’s version of Pho Dac Biet, a meal-in-a-bowl soup of beef and noodles, was good, with lots of brisket, meatballs and tripe.
Spike and Mike’s Classic Festival of Animation 2000
This year the cleverness quotient, not to mention the flat-out funny ratio, seems a little higher than usual. Especially recommended to those who don’t think they can be moved by a farm animal wearing a babushka. You’ll be surprised.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Whenever I feel like I can’t go forward and I can’t go back,” says my friend Briana, “I know I’m on the verge of a creative surge.” Then there’s my pal Allie. “Being between a rock and a hard place,” she bubbles, “is an invitation to become very pliable, sort of…
Shahida’s second set
Her career was on the upswing. Then came tragedy. Now she’s an inspiration….
Lovely musics
These two discs, recorded 33 years apart, aren’t quite music for meditation, but they’re close. This 1965 John Cale-Tony Conrad-LaMonte Young meeting of the minimal minded produced an otherworldly droning (painful to some) that raises both philosophical questions about eternal emptiness and the hairs on more than a few listeners’ necks. Table of the Elements’…
Opening Pandora’s box
Q: I am 43-year-old female. I have never had any sexual desires. I guess I am old enough not to be embarrassed to ask about it. I am a virgin. Do I perhaps have a shortage of a hormone? I never could understand other women’s attraction and sexual desire. It has hurt me all my…
Blues moves
Now that Detroit’s finest finally can leave the city, will it make a difference?…
Staying power
In the 13 years since ushering in the “D.A.I.S.Y. Age,” De La Soul has done what none of its rap peers could manage: stayed on top while constantly evolving. Each of the group’s previous four albums has been completely different, yet equally brilliant; it has also retained a loyal fan base in a culture notoriously…
Ed is dead and Safety in stupidity in numbers
Q: I have been in a 12-year relationship with Ed. Our intellectual and emotional connection is very deep. Our sex life is the problem. Ed is not interested in sex and never has been. This has ruined all of his past relationships. He is not very body oriented, but I can live with that. He…
Soul eyes
Local band spices up MTV’s world…
A shot of whiskey
Kicking off the album with a good-natured debate over a Morrissey song, you can tell Whiskeytown’s Ryan Adams just wants to have a good time with some friends on his solo effort Heartbreaker. The next track, “To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high)” solidifies the easygoing atmosphere with a wailing blues-guitar,…
The young, the restless and real TV
“Reality TV” isn’t real. They’re real fakes, and that’s why people tune in.
Beauty bidness
A new kind of art book…
Dressing for sexcess
You like to wear panties and a bra under your Brooks Brother’s suit? Are you planning to do a Carmen Miranda number at your sister’s wedding reception? So what! Like so many other things in the world, drag has been rendered a banality that even Disney can love — and sell. Media proliferation and the…
Get on the sane page
The differences between men and women continue on into the mental health arena….
Every little bit
Hudson’s art garden greens up the city
Dressing for sexcess
You like to wear panties and a bra under your Brooks Brother’s suit? Are you planning to do a Carmen Miranda number at your sister’s wedding reception? So what! Like so many other things in the world, drag has been rendered a banality that even Disney can love — and sell. Media proliferation and the…
One more try
The owners of Maple Creek Farm, which sells organic produce and honey, say they are going to give it another year before chucking in their dream.
…Baby one more time
Travis do a kick-ass cover … Some local bands call it quits … & looking forward to the Dally.
Under the skin of fashion
Both of these skin-loving, upstart fashion magazines are aimed squarely at the young, modern, Wallpaper demographic. That’s where the similarities end. There is no visible joy to be found in Flaunt; only smooth, glistening, forbidding surfaces unable to satisfy any inner want. It’s in Trace that preoccupations with appearance walk alongside a hedonism that’s comfortable…
Gore: Better, not best
It must be some playful new postmodernist form of politics: First you spend years ranting about the plutocracy that has supplanted American democracy and is rapidly devouring the planet. You complain about the growing numbers of Americans who can’t afford health care or housing; you rant about the inadequacy of wages and the arrogance of…
More six degrees
Mike Duggan’s #2 man consorted with drug runners…
Mbalax blowout
In the 1980s, Youssou N’Dour revolutionized West African music, creating a style called mbalax, fusing funk, reggae and salsa with traditional Senegalese Wolof rhythms. Dakar quickly became known as one of the world’s musical hotspots, with scorching mbalax bands enlivening dance floors though the night. However, in the years since, while N’Dour keeps the bodies…
Nader: Diversion, not direction
Ralph Nader, America’s indomitable public citizen, is the one great man in this presidential election. He has inspired more, done more and stood for more over the past decades than the other candidates put together. And his searing indictment of our corporate-dominated, money-drenched politics is surely a message people need to hear. But the Nader…
Case dismissed
Archer foes cleared of wrongdoing in recall attempt…
Keep on rising
Detroit Underground is one of numerous bands that have been steadily working the small club circuit for years, but have received little recognition beyond their relatively small circle of fans. To be honest, there are so many blues bands around that it has become a challenge figuring out how to rise above the pack. On…
Cell mating
Online services open door to romancing women behind bars….
Protest? What protest?
News and Free Press fail to write about their union protesters…
Road to reality
David Riker’s neorealist feature debut shows why films such as Vittorio de Sica’s The Bicycle Thief (1948) continue to resonate in both hearts and minds. In four haunting stories of Latino immigrants in New York City, he transforms the familiar int
The ladies and their songs
From Rust Belt capitals they’ve bloomed with the fresh longing of jazz….
Smoked again
Ann Arborites sue to get pot on the ballot…
Titanic Town
What this film captures so well — missing in many films about the "troubles" in Northern Ireland — is the absurdity of trying to conduct a seminormal life during an occupation. Director Roger Michell (Persuasion, Notting Hill) has
Let the prisoner be seen
Sure, they’ll grant a jailhouse interview with Jack Kevorkian. And they’ll let him out on bail, all right. Sometime after rigor mortis has set in.
Thank you
A personal note from the artist…
Godzilla 2000
Any Japanese Godzilla movie is more or less part disaster flick and part WWF Monster Smackdown. This millennium’s version follows suit, borrowing some action and screwballish romance moments to add a pinch of American spice. The man in the rubber s
Shop by the seat of your pants
Back-to-school clothes which should please all
Dance, pop and play chicken
The Fanclub Foundation for the Arts throws a fiery fiesta … Local C-Pop artists hit the road … & tons of chicken wings gobbled up at the Dream Cruise.
Slumber Party
Slumber Party sets free the wee truths customarily locked away in the cobwebbed corners of the mind. Statements such as “Sooner or later / If I didn’t have somebody now I might love you” usually only come out accidently or in a sleepy, post-dream haze. That’s the feeling you get while listening to Slumber Party,…
The Art of War
In many ways, War is like a cheap theme park ride through "The Greatest Hits of the ’90s Action Movie." Wesley Snipes makes a habit of gravity-defying leaps across city rooftops. He crashes through skylights, miraculously unscathed. It al
Shoe-in
Some way cool shoes, mon…
Bangin’ the walls of stone
Alabama Thunderpussy gets loaded and pushy….
Yippee-kay yay
Nestled in relative obscurity, the sprawling Diamondback Saloon bursts with new and old country music and lots of two-stepping. Live bands play and line and two-step lessons are available at this country palace where ten gallon hats and ruffled skirts rule.
Lovely musics
These two discs, recorded 33 years apart, aren’t quite music for meditation, but they’re close. This 1965 John Cale-Tony Conrad-LaMonte Young meeting of the minimal minded produced an otherworldly droning (painful to some) that raises both philosophical questions about eternal emptiness and the hairs on more than a few listeners’ necks. Table of the Elements’…
Write different
A shape-shifting pen that’s comfy, too
Jesus saves, often
Quick–without running to a computer, answer me this: Who would you guess runs Jesus.com? The Vatican? Billy Graham and his merry band of fundies? Nope and nope again. The answer is a 26-year-old guy in Northern Virginia who seems to be using this heavenly domain name to help himself get laid. A friend sent me…
New vireos this week
NEW VIDEOS THIS WEEK Held Up (2000) I Dreamed of Africa (2000) The Next Best Thing (2000) Three Strikes (2000)
Under the skin of fashion
Both of these skin-loving, upstart fashion magazines are aimed squarely at the young, modern, Wallpaper demographic. That’s where the similarities end. There is no visible joy to be found in Flaunt; only smooth, glistening, forbidding surfaces unable to satisfy any inner want. It’s in Trace that preoccupations with appearance walk alongside a hedonism that’s comfortable…
