On the outside looking in
Outkast rappers follow their own lights at Harpo’s this Saturday.…
Home Fries
The prominent role of an ominous, low-flying, black helicopter in this otherwise homespun tale of love, murder and fast food clearly points to the involvement of Vince Gilligan, who wrote this oddball small-town romance before he became one of the masterminds behind “The X-Files.” Directed with quirky charm by Dean Parisot, Home Fries follows the…
Pixel Pictures
We Americans are obsessed with taking pictures. Last year alone, we shot nearly 18 billion photographs. The majority of these snaps were taken to capture magic moments and to share with friends and relatives. This holiday season, we’re likely to go even more snap-happy as new technology makes it easier — and faster — than…
Very Bad Things
The men who populate Very Bad Things, the writing-directing debut of actor Peter Berg (The Last Seduction), represent the clear, lethal distillation of the American dream. Epitomes of middle-class, white-collar, suburban comfort and prosperity, these quintessential white guys understand rituals, and the upcoming wedding of Kyle (Jon Favreau) calls for nothing less than a bachelor…
The Better Binge
I know this guy who started taking gingko biloba to improve his memory. “The problem was,” he said, “I kept forgetting to take it.” I believe it. You’d need three or four memories to recall and take all the herbal elixirs suddenly available to jack up everything from your metabolism to your spirits. Not long…
Old Smooth
The title itself better describes the texture of John Lawrence’s first CD than anything else that could be said here. Well, almost. This is not a jazz album for jazz purists. Anyone who frowns reflexively at all post-Breezin’ George Benson albums should move on. Read no further. This one is not for you. But if…
In One Ear
ONE SMALL STEP FOR BLUES Famous Coachman, who was a longtime fixture for blues aficionados tuning in to WDET, is back on the air. Coachman can now be heard on WHPR-FM (88.1 on the dial), Monday nights, 7 p.m.-2 a.m. Granted, his return is on a station with a much smaller signal; it is nevertheless…
Banned in New York
From original concept to recorded sound to packaging, Greg Osby here makes the move that desperately needed to be made. Far too often in the ’90s, despite all the hype about jazz’s popular resurgence, the music has been suffocated by over-production, calculated politeness and “commercial” polish. Osby says “later for that” with this live set,…
Close this school now!
“What if I told you that your government, the best one that money can buy, spends more than $20 million each year on a special school that helps train right-wing Latin American military types to commit atrocities against their own people? Granted, you haven’t read much about it in the Monica Daily Tattler or whatever…
Torch Song Drum ‘n’ Bass – Really
The latest addition to the Portishead-Everything But the Girl school of moody pop acts featuring a female singer over dressed-up dance beats, Baxter has at least been forward-thinking enough to venture into the next-school rhythms of drum ‘n’ bass with its aching torch songs on the group’s eponymous American debut. While it’s obvious the Baxes…
Power scramble
After years of talking about electric utility deregulation, the state Senate is expected to consider legislation this week that will radically change the way power companies do business in Michigan. Equally radical is the difference of opinion regarding who wins and who loses if the plan supported by Gov. John Engler is passed into law.…
If Evolution is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Evolve
Jello Biafra’s renegade lectures on American politics and culture are, for some reason, more endearing and interesting than the often tongue-in-cheek scrawled criticism that leaked out of his early ’80s punk venture the Dead Kennedys. The creative expression of his early years had its base in the idea that if the Ramones could do it,…
Persistent perils, dubious distinction
Environmentalists recently released a report ranking the Detroit-based Allied Signal Inc., No. 1 in the state — and fifth in the nation — for releasing some of the most harmful substances known: persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs). PBTs, which include mercury, lead, dioxin, and other substances that build up in human tissue, have been linked to…
The Art of Fugue
With the opening theme statement of Bach’s The Art of Fugue, as played by the Keller Quartet, the inner ear is affected, brought to attention. The first of these 20 fugues and canons begins with a stately, isolated voicing, which soon is joined in counterpoint by the remaining three instruments. Bach didn’t specify the instrumentation…
International outrage
“We are the most technologically advanced nation on the planet and we’re blaming our children for having to struggle with guns and drugs on the street. We have a sad, dismal hope in humankind, and I think they are saying, ‘We’re not going to let you sink that low.'” So said Pontiac City Councilmember Everett…
A Band That’s Big
From a record label that is most familiar for its introduction of such folkies as Bruce Cockburn and Murray McLaughlin comes an impressive release from the Toronto area-based NOJO — that’s the Neufeld Occipinti Jazz Orchestra. NOJO is a 16-piece aggregation with one Juno — you know, essentially Canada’s Grammy — and a Juno nomination…
Surfin’ with Santa
I managed to avoid the malls on Black Friday, the affectionate term used to describe the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year. I did, however, make the mistake of joining the throngs of people who ventured out to christen the new Great Lakes Crossing Mall. And if that wasn’t a peek…
Greekworld
Anna Vissi is the biggest superstar today in Greek music and Antidoto, her new album, like her previous 13, immediately topped Greek charts. Sony’s world division, Globetrotter, has finally realized that audiences not neighboring the Aegean Sea could be captivated by this Hellenic diva. For years, though, her records have been available at some of…
Virtual workplace
To do her job, Leslie Kellogg needs a computer, color printer, telephone and fax machine — standard office equipment. But sitting alongside them are less-standard appliances: A washer and drier. That’s because Kellogg’s office is in the laundry room. “For a while,” she says, “when the washing machine started its spin cycle, my computer would…
Glam’n’ Grit
Wood, the second album by New York City band Johnny Society, sounds like a classic. Not just good, mind you, but classic: from the jingle-jangle onslaught of the first track, “Everyday,” through “Writers,” the album’s epic conclusion, the rich, expertly orchestrated songs on Wood have the easy familiarity of radio favorites a couple of generations…
Pitch’d
Thanksgiving night’s “Fluid” party was the first casualty of Fox 2 News’ sensationalistic “Crave The Rave” segment, in which a Detroit police captain promised a crackdown on so-called “rave” parties in Detroit. “Fluid” organizers Detor productions went out of their way to secure a legal venue with all the necessary licensing (“the same permits St.…
Conjure poet
Shakespeare’s plays, which sit firmly at the center of the Western literary canon, have proven a rich source of inspiration for numerous films. The Tragedy of Macbeth alone gave rise to Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Throne of Blood (1957), Orson Welles’ expressionistic adaptation from 1948, and Roman Polanski’s starkly gothic interpretation from 1971. We have Mel…
Hydrogen explosion
In upstate Latham, New York, not far from the Hudson River that General Electric once used as a dumping ground for PCBs, sits a modest, brick-faced ranch house without any visible means of support. The lights are on, but the grid is off. The house, owned by a company named Plug Power with headquarters around…
Hot peas
Dining out on LAs hip-hop positive legumes….
A Bug’s Life
For the first half hour or so, John Lassetter’s A Bug’s Life is utterly predictable. Wanting, waiting, willing to help, the good guys charm the audience with their innocent smiles and their round, sparkling eyes captured in tight close-ups, while the bad guys — sharp mandibles and thundering voices — take over the screen with…
Silent light
A loving-edge art form that will never seek an audience….
Zoup!
All-soup, nothing-but-soup, and a rotating list of 200 varieties. Large wedges of sourdough and multigrain bread come with the soup, making it a substantial lunch. Follow up with an excellent brownie or oatmeal raisin cookie — one of the best our reviewer has eaten.
Manos Arriba!
Dances from the islands warm up the straits of Detroit….
Marius and Jeanette
Set in the Estaque district of Marseilles, writer-director Robert Guédiguian’s Marius and Jeannette is the kind of movie one likes despite oneself. Its generous infusions of warm and fuzzy feeling into a bleak situation ring false, but break down one’s cynical resistance all the same. Jeannette (Ariane Ascaride) works as a cashier in a grocery…
