Food Stuff
Full plates for local foodies.
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
Take this Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout #201, may it serve you well! Since you asked, here’s my annual accounting of all the audio-visual items that I excessively obsessed about during the year — and still do! ON MY TURNTABLE: Ian McLagan — Never Say Never (Maniac) Pop album of the year! :: Samuel James —…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
Fist jackers
The most interesting element of most music polls in recent years is a complete lack of critical consensus. Look at these lists — only a few albums (Lil Wayne, PAS/CAL, TV on the Radio) merit more than one mention. This is probably both a good and bad thing, as some of the consensus in the…
2008’s Most Dubious
For a brief and delusional moment, we actually entertained the fleeting thought of offering our annual Dubious Achievement awards without having ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick as the feature’s centerpiece. Maybe it was the result of extreme Kwamster fatigue. But the thought passed quickly, like a flash fever, and we soon regained our senses. Like his oversized…
Boxing gifts
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible … who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time … who still questions the power of our democracy … tonight is your answer.” And if anyone questioned the power of…
Valkyrie
In the waning days of World War II, a group of German officers (Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard and a weirdly wasted Kenneth Branagh) come together to assassinate Adolf Hitler and assume control of the government. The chief architect of the plot is Claus von Stauffenberg, a one-eyed, one-handed colonel who daringly…
A new leaf
Blue Nile 545 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-547-6699; $$: For those unfamiliar with Ethiopian dining, a big part of the draw is that you get to eat with your hands (steaming washcloths are tendered before and after). At the Blue Nile, you get only two all-you-can-eat choices: four meats and seven vegetables for $18.90,…
Beast masters
This is no ordinary steakhouse or barbecue joint. It’s true that they offer several cuts of beef, all naturally raised and dry-aged for a minimum of 21 days. The same amount of gastronomic attention is paid to the poultry and seafood dishes. Even the optional sides have their own unique signature. Restrained lighting, white linens…
Doms and danger
Frank talk about domination and love
Bad movie heaven
This brawny, swaggering and often incomprehensible CGI-covered mess of a movie is either an achievement of mad genius or a colossal flop, but it’s never boring — it’s charged with the excitement of not knowing what’s coming. Frank Miller’s a comic-book legend. On the basis of his comics that have been turned into successful films,…
Naked truth
People don’t disrobe for the right reasons anymore
A defining year
In 2009, auto crises, mayoral elections and struggling schools
Night and Day
FRIDAY-SUNDAY • 2-4 CYCLE WORLD INTERNATIONAL MOTORCYCLE SHOW BROS, BROADS AND BITCHIN’ BIKES It goes without saying that motorcycles are badass — not only does owning one allow you to strut about bedecked in leather (without anyone thinking you’re a fetishist gone wild), but actually riding the f’ing things is fun as hell. The annual…
New Year Blues
The 15th annual Anti-Freeze Blues Festival shakes off the cold
In a word
Award-winning Charles McGee talks art, life and Detroit
Cheeky worlds
Behind the Bedroom Door Edited by Paula Derrow Delacorte Press 334 pp., $25 If you’re looking for stories that sizzle like one of those erotica collections you place next to the penis cake at a bachelorette party, don’t read this book. Magazine editor Paula Derrow has put together a collection of essays by 26 accomplished…
My favorite year
JEFF MEYERS Best film no one in Detroit saw The Edge of Heaven Fatih Akin is the shit. Hollywood filmmakers only wish they had half the juice this German-Turkish director has. His Head On took the No. 1 slot on my “best of” list three years ago, and this heartbreaking tale of parents and children…
Motor City Rides
Al McWilliams’ magic bus
Remembering Kenn Cox, cultural warrior
Kenn Cox at Baker’s during the summer of 2007. (Photo: W. Kim Heron) Detroit’s jazz community mourned the loss of pianist and musical activist Kenn Cox on Saturday — even as folks celebrated his life. Years ago, percussionist-composer Francisco Mora Catlett dedicated a piece titled “The Cultural Warrior” to Cox. It was more than apt.…
