Push set for legal pot in Michigan
That smoky aroma in the air — is it the scent of positive momentum, or simply that of high hopes doomed to be dashed? News Hits is talking about the news that pro-marijuana activists are set to launch an effort to amend the state Constitution in an attempt to end prohibition of the drug in…
City Slang: Dick Wagner gets writing
Dick Wagner of Lou Reed / Alice Cooper / Frost fame has written an e-book. According to the man himself, “Dick Wagner’s Not Only Women Bleed stands tall amongst a proliferation of memoirs about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Supported by an edgy and ironic wit, Wagner creates rich visualizations that transport and envelop…
City Slang: Happy New Year
Hey there all. This being New Year’s Day, just a quick note today to say Happy New Year to everyone. 2011 was an amazing year, not least because City Slang started. We have gone from strength to strength because of you. Keep reading, keep supporting Detroit music, and keep writing letters and comments in response…
City Slang: New Year’s Eve shows
It’s New Year’s Eve, and that usually means that there are a ton of great shows to choose from while welcoming in 2012. Here are a few: The Magic Stick is hosting the Detroit Cobras, with Amy Gore and Her Valentines and Sisters of Her Sunshine Vapor opening up. Downstairs in the Majestic Theater, Kalamazoo…
City Slang: Celebrate City Club manager retirement
Tonight, on Friday 30th December, the City Club will be hosting a retirement party for manager Sybil Carter. A perfect precursor to the New Year’s Eve event, the party will serve as a great opportunity to give good wishes to one of Detroit’s great characters. Look out for a forthcoming City Slang column for Carter’s…
Advocates to seek legalized pot in Michigan
Pro-marijuana activists are on the verge of launching an effort to amend the state Constitution in an attempt to end prohibition of the drug in Michigan. Campaign director Matt Abel, a Detroit attorney who specializes in handling marijuana cases, tells the Metro Times that 322,608 valid signatures must be collected by July 9 to qualify…
City Slang: “Pawn Shoppe Heart” revisited
A few weeks ago, I wrote one of these “revisited” pieces about the Suicide Machines’ Steal This Record album, and the fact that it has never been considered cool by the band’s hardcore fan base, and perhaps even by the band themselves, though it helped to spread the notoriety of the machines around the globe.…
Dilla Day Celebration Confirmed At the Fillmore Detroit
Plans are currently in motion to ensure the legendary Detroit producer James “J Dilla” Yancey will be celebrated in style this upcoming February on what will be the sixth anniversary of his passing. On February 10, “Dilla Day” is scheduled to take place at the Fillmore Detroit says Jonathon Taylor who heads the Yancey Media…
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Remember – if you send it, it will get reviewed. That’s the City Slang promise. It doesn’t matter what genre the music is – as long as it has a Metro Detroit connection, it’ll get in. Preferably, we’d like to concentrate on new releases but, while we’re getting warmed up here, feel free to send…
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (Sour Mash/Universal)
If there was any lingering doubt as to who the mastermind behind Oasis was, the debut solo album from that band’s tunesmith and lead guitarist should settle it once and for all. Brother Liam’s band Beady Eye and their debut, Different Gear, Still Speeding, was pleasant enough but obviously style over substance when compared to…
Flank right
$=$5-10; $$=$10-25; $$$=$25-50; $$$$=$50+ Big Rock Chop House 245 S. Eton St., Birmingham; 248-647-7774; bigrockchophouse.com; $$$: Oozing Northern lodge appeal, with a variety of dining rooms, located in Birmingham’s historic train station. It resembles the kind of place where Hemingway would spend a lot of time and a good portion of his book…
How this came to pass
Ever wonder how our country ended up like this? As this year sputters to its end, that is, and children are being thrown off cash assistance forever in the dead of winter, and we are letting our roads fall apart, and few seem to give a damn about the next generation. How did it come…
Holes in the wall
The look on his face says it all. Vasile Sirca wears an expression of pure fatigue. He’s standing behind the cookie counter at his store, Nortown Bakery, on Van Dyke by Seven Mile. He’s the only one here, as usual. And he looks like he’s been through a war. "There are a lot of problems…
Hot for haters
Q: I am a 25-year-old gay man. I consider myself very gay-positive and self-accepting. Although I have always accepted my homosexuality and never really felt bad about it, recently I have been going through a hard time psychologically because I’m exposing myself to very graphic homophobic online content. There are blogs, online groups, and websites…
Happy Blue Year
To many in these parts, particularly those deaf to the blues, harmonica-playing singer James Montgomery will not be a familiar name. Yet the Detroit native, who moved to Boston in the late ’60s — and built his name in the northeast, headlining shows above Aerosmith and J. Geils — toured with many of the greats,…
Market institution
Longtime patrons of Detroit’s Eastern Market got a good scare in October with the announcement that the venerable R. Hirt Jr. company, founded in 1887 and run by four generations of the same family, was closing its doors. As it turned out, fortunately for fans of the vendor of specialty goods, the store won’t be…
War on the War on Drugs
When I started writing this column a little more than a year ago, I thought medical marijuana was a thinly veiled cover for folks who wanted to legalize the substance. Not that I opposed the notion, nor did I doubt that marijuana has medical value — I’ve seen it stop nausea in people who couldn’t…
Eastern Market institution
Longtime patrons of Detroit’s Eastern Market got a good scare in October with the announcement that the venerable R. Hirt Jr. company, founded in 1887 and run by four generations of the same family, was closing its doors. As it turned out, fortunately for fans of the vendor of specialty goods, the store won’t be…
A night to remember
I hitchhiked to New Orleans, where we had a huge party by the levees. We ended up at this bar called "the John" and played $10 worth of ABBA on the jukebox. Then, while stumbling back to the house, I heard this woman say to my friends, "Make sure he gets home, I wanna see…
Clinton Township’s Smokin’ BBQ offers fast, delicious dining
Smokin’ BBQ 37310 Gratiot Ave., Clinton Twp. 586-469-3000 smokinbarbq.com Handicap accessible Prices: $7-$25 Ten years ago, suburban barbecue was more or less reserved for backyard grills. Today, the options are widespread, and among the newest is Clinton Township’s Smokin’ BBQ, a smallish standalone restaurant that starts the strip of storefronts lining Gratiot just north of…
Rage
Rage id Tech Windows, PS3, Xbox 360 The team over at id Tech — the same one that changed the world with the still-beloved classic Doom franchise — sure hooked us up with a new thriller. In this rather violent FPS, you play the tough rogue hero, who also happens to be a friendly teddy…
Human Switchboard – Who’s Landing in My Hangar?: Anthology, 1977-1984 (Bar/None)
Human Switchboard was one of the finest bands to come out of Cleveland’s late ’70s punk and new wave scene, although another of example of a great band never getting its just due, during or after its own time. This anthology is rounded out by singles, EP songs, live (at CBGB) recordings, and unreleased tracks,…
London Boulevard
London Boulevard C+ From the flatly generic title to the swinging ’60s rock ‘n’ roll to the impenetrable cockney grunts of the bit players, London Boulevard has all the trimmings of a proper old-school British crime caper, but with no particular urgency to get anywhere. Having nabbed an Oscar for writing The Departed, William…
Food Stuff
More coffee, please The mid-city area just got another coffee joint. It’s called Thistle Coffee House (pictured), and it’s right across the street from the Bronx Bar. Expect coffee and tea, baked goods, a smattering of tables, and even a few couches. There’s art on the walls and free Wi-Fi. We even hear that if…
Darkmarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You
Darkmarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You by Misha Glenny Knopf, $26.95, 308 pp. The fear caused by credit card- and identity-thieving cybercriminals in Misha Glenny’s DarkMarket is more immediate but less world-shaking than the Obama administration’s cyberwarfare plans during the late Libya war were (reported Oct. 17, New York Times). Those plans were abandoned, ironically,…
Letters to the Editor
All over the map We received numerous comments on our Ultimate Sightseer’s Guide, most of it positive, but often pointing out omissions. When we set out to do the map, we decided to go for a range of places, not just the most important, and not necessarily including all the important or interesting sites in…
The Dispatcher
The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn Penguin Books, $15, 398 pp., softcover At the risk of undermining the critique that follows, a disclaimer must be made: This reviewer is not a regular reader of crime fiction. So it is perhaps extra surprising that I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish Ryan David Jahn’s…
City Slang: Detroit School of Rock and Pop has Holiday deals
The Detroit School of Rock and Pop in Royal Oak is celebrating Christmas and the Holidays by offering a variety of discounts. For more information, visit the website, but there are deals on the table involving songwriting/studio circles. Say they, “Learning Songwriting and Studio Techniques can be challenging, but they don’t have to be lonely!…
