Mutha of a mistake
Metro Times admits misspelling…
Be like John
Guitar instructional videos are strange beasts. At each and every corporate music equipment store — at this very moment — there is undoubtedly one such video playing endlessly on a TV screen. This is the land of the guitar muso: People who talk about half-stacks and whammy bends with all the passion in the world.…
The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings (1944-48)
Bird fans always welcome another way of listening to Charlie Parker take flight. Yet there are few truly exciting moments here if you’ve already been listening. This is not a collection for beginners, with its myriad alternate takes, false starts and incomplete takes. Do you really need 11 versions of “Marmaduke” in a row? This…
Diamond studs
Extravagant suits with sparkle…
Steal this election
Detroit attorney Ron Glotta’s urgent call for progressives to unite and fight a Bush presidency….
Blurred bombast
Anti-establishment, unflinching and always unpredictable — three of the benchmarks of great rock ’n’ roll. For Rage Against the Machine, rock music has never been about option. It’s always been about necessity; a necessity to provoke, to communicate, to not only defy convention but to spit back in its face. Even though the band’s blind…
The Last Waltz
Bill Evans looks like hell in the pictures here, but he sounds like he’s making a petition to get into heaven. With his last trio (Marc Johnson on bass, Joe LaBarbera on drums), the pianist wrapped up his eight-night Keystone Korner gig exactly a week before the death he surely felt looming. Some 20 years…
Hands on
Lovely lotion for gardeners’ mitts…
High hopes renewed
Renewed ballot drive for marijuana decriminalization (to begin April 2001)….
Nerd pop
In this day and age of sensitive-male indie-rock, it’s easy for bands to get automatically lumped into an inevitable “Get Up Kids/Promise Ring” comparison. This is thanks in part to the overabundance of coattail riders who are trying to achieve scenester status by means of blatantly ripping off the aforementioned. At the same time, there…
1954-1965 The History and Lost Recordings
From Monk to Miles to Mulligan, everybody jammed at this artist’s loft in a decade-long heyday. These two CDs capture one chummy circle of regulars — saxophonists Zoot Sims and Pepper Adams, trombonist Bob Brookmeyer and pianist Mose Allison among them — over a number of years. The sound quality is so-so, the rough edges…
Cheap shots
Drink smart with a novelty shot glass (& more)…
Hamtown hassle
Hamtramck Mayor Gary Zych braces himself for third recall effort….
One Man’s Eye: Photographs from the Alan Siegel Collection
The Ringling Brothers freaks on the cover of One Man’s Eye seem to promise a collection of weird, scandalous, strange-but-true pictures in this album of one collector’s favorites. Instead we get a beautifully purposeful sequence of 20th century works by photographers both celebrated and unknown, covering the various subgenres of camera art: portraits, still lifes,…
Rhapsodies in Black
This is the semen of 20th century American popular music. Certainly cornet and trumpet player Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, made from 1925-27, are seen as the direct foundation of jazz (and by extension blues, rock and pop) as the art of the virtuoso improviser. Sure there were others who played jazz…
Low snow
The Gap’s very cool holiday ad music…
Close call
Faulty traffic signal dangerous to MT reporters (and others)….
Big books
Forget having an arrangement of flowers displayed on your coffee table. Instead, install this gorgeous volume of exquisitely photographed, masterfully executed floral designs that will make your local florist’s most exotic bouquets look dowdy. Not that there’s anything wrong with a bunch of lilies or daffodils, especially in the middle of winter, but these floral…
Feels like team spirit
For the new-breed Pistons, W–O–R–K is how you spell respect. Everybody plays, everybody contributes.
Count on cynicism
There’s a good possibility that campaign 2000 may create yet another generation with a continuing distrust of government and “the system.”
Prague 1900: Poetry and Ecstasy
What do we care about a city in Europe a hundred years ago? Why should we take note of its cultural life, its music, poetry, painting and decorative arts? Well, no reason, really, unless we actually want to know what we’re talking about when we use the word “bohemian.” Prague in 1900 was undergoing a…
Nurses strike back
Flint nurses go on strike to avoid mandatory overtime, which may threaten hospital patients’ well-being.
Royally tasty kebabs
Shahi was recommended by a Metro Times reader who regularly makes the trip from Farmington Hills, where he is surrounded by Indian restaurants, to Rochester Hills, where he visits the only Pakistani restaurant in the area. “It is hard for me to really explain what the difference is between Indian and Pakistani food,” wrote Samira…
Take me to your leader
What’s up with Rhino Records and its wonderfully bent box sets? Must be something in the Southern California water supply. For years the label has distilled pop culture’s murkiest (and often delightfully shallow) musical trends into cardboard-covered time capsules. And now it has created its most elaborate offering yet — Brain in a Box: The…
Dressed for the office
Affirming that clothes do indeed make the man, Mark Twain said, “naked people have very little influence in our society.” Still, the fashion industry seems to foist some mighty odd clothing concepts upon us. Take house slippers. The Wall Street Journal recently reported the astonishing news that it is now deemed fashionable to wear them…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Dear Rev. Brezsny: Is there a time limit on your weekly predictions? Are they like milk that spoils if not used by the date stamped on the carton? I’m wondering because I really liked the prediction you made two weeks ago — that we Aries would find enlightenment — but I’ve…
Flies and chopsticks
Unsolved, this Boston trio’s fourth full-length, opens with a tentative two-string sketch, followed by an elegant cymbal crashed in unison with a plunging bass line. These sparse layers provide breathing space and a security blanket for a studied but subdued black beret jaunt up and down the guitar’s neck. After hearing this description, you might…
Crimes low and high
The Detroit News is a shadow of the newspaper it was before the sale, merger and strike — but does that explain blatant plagiarism by its reporters? PLUS: Continually astonishing election news.
When 2 isn’t enough
Q: Some time ago my partner asked me about a threesome — us and a woman — and everything worked out fine. The female was a longtime friend of mine and I would like not to invite her back into our bedroom. We are a mature couple who would rather not go into a club.…
Mood music
It’s been said that the one who’s in the middle sees the most. Hip-hop crews from the states that border the Great Lakes have heeded these words, taken notes and waited for the perfect time to grab the spotlight. MCs from Michigan and Illinois have been making waves in the underground and blowing up worldwide…
Anger management
From roots to rage, Detroit’s 12 Angry Steps gets with the program.
Undead again?
Q: My on-again, off-again girlfriend of a year wanted “time off” to date other people. Two weeks later, she told me she was in love with someone else. That was a month ago. I’ve spent the past month desperately staying busy so I won’t call her or be sitting home thinking about her. Just when…
Aimée & Jaguar
This story of a passionate love affair begun by two women in Berlin during the final years of World War II strives to shatter stereotypes of Germans goose-stepping to Hitler’s agenda. The performances are uniformly fine, but the revelation is Maria Schrader.
Out of the box
Sets of music and spoken-word greatness stock the shelves this season….
Agony and ecstasy
A legend in life and death, Pasolini made excess into art….
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
The strengths and faults of this film lie squarely on the shoulders of writer-director-actor Chi Muoi Lo. At its best, it’s a classic American tale of reconciliation, of understanding where you came from while accepting where you belong.
On dancers, on vixens
‘Tis the season for crashing Christmas parties, such as Traque’s good-looking mixer at Motor & the do-gooding Gogirls Music Fest at the Magic Bag. PLUS: Local bars in trouble?
Online hors d’oeuvres
Forget the fruitcake! Everyone, even our pets, can now look forward to receiving mail-delivered holiday foods….
Dungeons & Dragons
Richard C. Walls writes, "based on the infamous role-playing game of the same name, this isn’t a dreadful movie, just routine and a little uninvolving. The hero goes through many trials and evil is finally defeated (hope I didn’t spoil it for you)."
Endgame impossible
Everquest is a computer game that’s tremendously successful, with a huge community of online players … it’s also seriously addicting.
Daily dose
A new tradition — an online advent calendar…
Big books
Some visions are easily contained in the mind — a haiku by Basho, for instance. Others — the Palace of Versailles, the Taj Mahal — burst out, needing acres and acres to be realized. The dimensions of Tibetan master painter Romio Shrestha’s works — from 2 feet to 9 feet high or wide — while…
Celebration spaces
When an occasion is truly special, home is the only place to celebrate in a way that defines your personal style. All it takes is a few significant items, a special place, and the right combination of reverence and fun.
Letters to the Editor
Netting praise My name is Chris Moskal, I am Brandon Lesner’s step-dad. Brendon was mentioned in your recent article on the Wheelchair Hockey League ("They roll! They score!," MT, Nov. 29-Dec. 5). I just wanted to let you know that you did a outstanding job on the article on the WCHL. These are some great…
Brothers Groove
A good time at the bar with friends, drinking thick flavored porters and stouts and dancing with strangers. These are the images construed from the music of The Brothers Groove. However, these three guys have a musical dexterity that transcends an eternity of bar band status. They’re known for switching instruments mid-set at their popular…
The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings
This is the semen of 20th century American popular music. Certainly cornet and trumpet player Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, made from 1925-27, are seen as the direct foundation of jazz (and by extension blues, rock and pop) as the art of the virtuoso improviser. Sure there were others who played jazz…
Tree town
Eastern Market becomes a temporary home to winter migrants selling Christmas trees at all hours of the day and night…
Smooth transition
The only criticism I had of John Lawrence’s last CD, Old Smooth, was that he didn’t offer any original material. For someone who plays as remarkably well as Lawrence, this wouldn’t have been worth noting had he already established a lengthy track record of originals preceding his earlier release. On Summer Nights, however, Lawrence has…
…And It’s Deep Too: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (1968-1992)
One may conjecture on Bert Williams’ greatness, but there is no question when it comes to Pryor. Ask nearly any comedian and you’ll be told that Pryor is the single most important wonder of the world. In fact, many do just that in the booklet that accompanies this nine-CD set. Robin Williams, Chris Rock and…
For those with everything
Musical gift suggestions for everyone in the family, from MT music writer Melissa Giannini…
PhD. & B?
After a three-year sabbatical, drum and bass’ minimal innovator is back with a much greater scope in mind. In contrast to 1997’s influential Modus Operandi — a darkly textured drum and bass album that stripped the entire genre to its bare essentials, making it finally live up to its name — Solaris explores new sonic…
El Cancionero Mas y Mas
People so often refer to Los Lobos (The Wolves) as a Chicano group that it obscures the fact that they are a quintessential American rock band. As facile with roots rock, R&B, rap and guitar hero twazzling as they are with Mexican folk music, Los Lobos is a formidable assemblage of rhythms and riffs that…
Game theory
A talk with veteran video game developer Warren Spector…
Call to action
The complete text of Detroit attorney Ron Glotta’s urgent call for progressives…
Continue the struggle
Attorney Ron Glotta urges progressives not to give up the fight…
