Restaurant Ringmasters
It’s a Friday night in the foyer of a tony restaurant somewhere in our fair metropolis. Last seating has come and gone, the kitchen can relax. Or perhaps not. A man dressed in Hawaiian shirt, jeans and scruffy loafers has appeared 15 minutes late for his dinner reservation. His consort hisses, “Forget it. Let’s have…
Return of the Lost Tribe
In the 30-plus-year existence of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, this unique coalition has remained a haven for groundbreaking free jazz, as well as a foundation of brotherhood and patriarchal spirituality. While groups like the Art Ensemble of Chicago and individuals like Kahil El’ Zabar have provided guidance and inspirational music in…
Johnny on the go
Hittin’ the road with living Detroit blues legend Johnnie Bassett….
Constructing New Rules
Nonprofits in Detroit say they are afraid that changes adopted by a state agency last week will make it more difficult to build low-income housing in the city. The issue centers on tax credits, which are awarded to nonprofits by the agency and sold to investors for millions of dollars. In this case, the community…
Self: Volume 1
The 108 Mountain Men is an ancient Chinese legend in which a band of honorable outlaws rises up against the corrupt government, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. In the late ’90s, the nominal descendants of these mythical warriors can be found defending hip hop against the forces of wackness and taking…
Just say Fertita, for now
First you build the better pop band from the songs up. Then you worry about the name….
Hot toys
Every fall, parents try to predict what will be the coming holiday season’s hot toy. Not because they want their tykes to have the newest, best and brightest gifts. Not because they’re hip to the latest trends, and just can’t help wanting novelty. Noooo. They’re playing the futures market. Guided by hopeful clues from toy…
Hitchmania
When there isn’t much left to be said about having nothing more to say, you can always rely on an artist like Robyn Hitchcock to hold a fun-house mirror up to the face of pop and give it at least the appearance of having new dimensions. This twist in the Hitchcock labyrinth — a witty…
What you have not been told about Jack Kevorkian
Jack Kevorkian, as do some extremists in the militia movement, claims the right to violate the law because of the nobility of his aims. The public (and any jury that tries him) deserves to know what his aims are. Kevorkian not only wants to “help” individuals reach the Great Beyond. He wants to force changes…
Killing Assisted Suicide
July polls showed a majority of Michigan’s voters were in favor of legalizing some form of assisted suicide. Then a stealth campaign funded primarily by religious groups began kicking in with a multimillion dollar media blitz attacking Proposal B, a November ballot proposal that if approved, would have legalized assisted suicide for the terminally ill…
Nightscapes
This is another artifact from the Chicago avant-garde scene which has yielded up such eclectic ensembles as Tortoise, Isotope 217 and the Chicago Underground Orchestra. The perpetrators this time are Rob Mazurek, cornet (mostly), piano and bamboo flute, and percussionist-vibist Chad Taylor, with guitarist Jeff Parker joining in on three of the nine cuts. The…
Land Values
A ballot committee backed by home builders outspent committees backed by environmentalists and farm bureaus by nearly 60 percent in defeating a land conservation proposal in Washtenaw County. Defeated was Proposal 1 — a proposed 0.4 mill levy for 10 years that if approved, was to be used in a multilevel attack on suburban sprawl.…
Insect aside
Having thrown away the best years of my life in Florida, I can say I’ve slaughtered enough bugs to qualify as the insect Grim Reaper, black evening dress and all. I could tell droning war stories about being buzzed by flying cockroaches the length of a Kit Kat, or living in a house where you’d…
Grass Roots vs. Deep Pockets
One candidate had money to burn. The other possessed incumbency and the loyalty of committed greens who respected and appreciated his environmental record. The lesson: When it comes to politics, the race does not always go to the richest. Jack Brandenburg, a Harrison Township businessman determined to portray himself as a green Republican, was given…
Monster maker
Early in his film, Gods and Monsters, writer-director Bill Condon has a scene that seamlessly weaves together the complex thematic threads of this Hollywood fable. Director James Whale, dressed to the nines and seated next to his intoxicatingly blue swimming pool, graciously greets a starstruck interviewer. It’s 1957 and the long-retired Whale is somewhat surprised…
Courting Favor
Not content with seeing just the Legislature and governor’s office occupied with ideological allies, the state’s big businesses also wanted like-minded friends holding a majority on the Michigan Supreme Court. Although officially nonpartisan, the elections deciding justices on Michigan’s high court represent party politics to the core. For years the Democrats have been able to…
Poppin’ ‘n’ droppin’
“The federal government has no business keeping lists of law-abiding Americans in their federal computers.” — Wayne LaPierre, CEO, National Rifle Association and dangerous wacko They most certainly do not, ol’ buddy, and I hope God or the Y2K problem purges your name from the Social Security and Medicaid rolls right quick. What this right-wing…
The Best Money Can Buy
The way Karen Merrill sees it, campaign reform in Michigan is more necessary than ever before. As the executive director of Michigan Common Cause, she is part of an effort begun last year to fundamentally change the way politicians raise money for their campaigns. Last month’s election only served to reinforce the call by the…
Pitch’d
LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, MR. SCOTT GROOVES While the rest of the world caught up with Detroit techno via films such as Modulations, the real Detroit name rocking bells on the world’s dance floors this year has been beatdown house producer/DJ (Patrick) Scott Grooves. The veteran deejay — hey, he spun at notorious Detroit biker/booty club…
Gods and Monsters
James Whale (Ian McKellen) is not, by nature, a creature of nostalgia. With a once-thriving filmmaking career decades behind him, Whale lives a modest but elegant Los Angeles existence with his housekeeper-caretaker-mother hen, Hanna (Lynn Redgrave). His creative pursuits consist of painting — primarily copying famous works — and eyeing the new gardener, Clay Boone…
Is it really you?
Carousing around the Web lately, I found myself back at the City of Detroit’s site (www.ci.detroit. mi.us/) to see what improvements could be found. I was heartened to learn that Detroit City Council members have finally received e-mail accounts. Without hesitation I selected Councilmember Ken Cockrel Jr.’s name to conduct my own cyber test. Never…
The Last Emperor
Apart from a rather sheltered life inside carefully guarded fantasies of power, the most difficult thing to accept about great dictators is their vulnerability. When Anthony Hopkins played Hitler in The Bunker a few years ago, he was shocked to discover that, at the end of his absurd career, the Führer was nothing but a…
Great recipes revisited
Many film critics are wondering out loud why in God’s name Gus Van Sant was allowed to spend $25 million to “restage” Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Implicit in this indignation is a knee-jerk allegiance to the sanctity of so-called masterpieces. Yet when one thinks of the legion of dreadful and misbegotten extrapolations made from the original…
Waking Ned Divine
Winning the lottery is such a pervasive fantasy that stories depicting its downside are laced with gleeful, self-righteous schadenfreude. Money is the root of all evil, say the envious observers of these lucky few — that’s why friendships and families simply unravel when the windfall hits. Waking Ned Devine will surely displease those naysayers to…
Your office is an ecosystem
Winter brings dry skin, stuffy noses and aching sinuses to workers in tightly sealed office buildings. It’s not that there’s an epidemic going around — it’s just that the indoor air quality is, well, less than fresh. But all it takes to get your office feeling more habitable is a few green plants, suggests Betty…
Basses Are Loaded
Among the most trying of improvised musical situations are the solo and duo performances. With this recording, two of the most accomplished bassists in the world of jazz and improvisation have joined forces to reveal a unique approach to duet performance. In addition to her work on the jazz scene, Joëlle Léandre’s background includes playing…
Cold turkey at clinics
The survival of substance abuse clinics providing treatments to addicts in Detroit and Wayne County is in jeopardy because they haven’t received Medicaid reimbursements since October 1 and don’t know when payments will be made. At least nine clinics serving an estimated 4,500 addicts are being affected, according to Lucila Ryder, vice president of the…
Beyond Evora
Throughout the 1990s, Cesaria Evora has redefined the world music business. This diva from the Cape Verdean archipelago has sold hundreds of thousands of records and has performed at the world’s most prestigious concert halls. A decade ago, virtually no one outside of West Africa had any idea where Cape Verde was, let alone what…
Archer recall effort
“This is a battle we can win,” shouted Malik Shabazz to a crowded Shrine of the Black Madonna Church chamber full of disgruntled Detroit residents. “This is a new day. No power can keep us from claiming what is ours,” continued the fiery, charismatic leader of the New Marcus Garvey Movement. His is one of…
Eccentrica
When the Orb first emerged on the early-’90s UK rave scene, nobody was quite sure what to make of Alex Patterson and his band of merry beatpranksters. Now, as his sense of irony is finally understood for both its sincerity and subversiveness, the Orb finds itself revived in the public ear by the inclusion of…
Payback for Whyman
Sparks continue to fly between State Rep. Deborah Whyman (R-Canton) and the Triangle Foundation, now over the terms of the legal settlement they reached last week. The gay and lesbian advocacy group successfully sued Whyman last year for defaming it when she disseminated 1996 campaign literature accusing the organization of supporting “sex acts between grown…
Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation (1998)
One can’t help but be a little suspicious of any enterprise which wears its taboo-breaking proclivities so squarely on its sleeve. The discerning consumer can be forgiven for asking of Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation: Is it really sick? Is it genuinely twisted? These questions are not easily answered. Not easily…
Humbugged
The battle over the fate of Humbug Marsh continues. Protesters held a demonstration Saturday to draw attention to the fact that developers are moving ahead with plans to build homes on the last undeveloped stretch of the Detroit River. The project has yet to receive the necessary permits, but there is apparently nothing illegal about…
Star Trek: Insurrection
There is both a presence (of perfect moments and little quirky moments) and a lack (of fascinating villains, Data solutions and Picard’s formidable monologues) in Star Trek: Insurrection. Lighthearted, luminous and comic — despite its Heart of Darkness intimations — maybe tired of the collective consciousness of the Borg, Star Trek: Insurrection revolves around the…
In One Ear
MAS MEDIA The “fanzine revolution” of a coupla years ago that kept the pages of newspapers like this one full of nicey-nicey features about the “kids” doing it for themselves in the publishing realm thankfully has deeper roots and stronger cultural currents sustaining it than any of the aforementioned mini-tomes could hope to expose. So,…
