City Slang: Kid Rock cover called sacrilege by Sonos
Kid Rock’s cover of Bad Company’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love” has been called “sacrilege” in a chart of Courageous and Contentious Cover Songs compiled by Sonos.com. The chart, which can be viewed here, places the Kid Rock cover alongside Celine Dion’s awful rendition of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”. Also down the bottom…
The Detroit Film Critics society weighs in.
Now in it’s fifth year of operation; the Detroit Film Critics Society, of which I and my friend Jeff Meyers are proud members, have released their nominations. It’s an intriguing list, in what was a somewhat unusual year, with fewer obvious, big budget favorites than is often the case. Many smaller films garnered acclaim; with…
New Years Eve Party Guide 2011
Find up-to-the-minute New Year’s party information at calendar.metrotimes.com. NYE at Chromatics Lounge. MotorCity Casino Hotel – Chromatics Lounge, 2901 Grand River Ave, (866) 782-9622. motorcitycasino.com/entertainment.html Wicked Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway, (313) 872-1000 NYE at Radio Bar Featuring performances by Linda Lexy and Lutalo. MotorCity Casino Hotel, 2901 Grand River Ave., 313-963-3500. $15…
City Slang: Michigan company gets a grip
Plymouth-based company Grip Studios has come out with a very cool range of guitar hangers, just in time for Christmas. The hangers, which are wall mountable, look like a variety of hands, from the zombie hand to the tree stump hand. According to the press release, “Grip Studios’ custom guitar hangars retail for around $39…
City Slang: New videos from John Maison and ICP
Recent City Slang star and country singer John Maison has released a video for his “Fast Enough” single. You have to love it. The video for the catchy tune features Maison playing on a dusty road and riding in his truck. View it here. In addition, the Insane Clown Posse have a new video for…
New author launches ‘Tears for My City’
Here at Metro Times, people love sending us books. We have stacks of them, spilling over our slush pile shelf and onto the floor. And there are always more, filling up our mailboxes, stacked on top, demanding our attention. So imagine our surprise when a local author wanted editorial coverage of his book — but…
Martha Reeves & The Funk Brothers Team Up With The Crystal Method For New Tune In Grammy Doc
Produced in association with The Grammys, the upcoming documentary film RE:GENERATION looks at the history, songwriting and studio process of different musical genres through the eyes of five influential electronic producers/DJs in music today. (For the full list head after the jump.) The film is directed by Amir Bar Lev—who made the award-winning documentaries “My…
City Slang: More on those Kramer and Williamson bobble-heads
Remember this blog that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the new bobble-head statuettes of MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer and Stooges guitarist James Williamson? Well, we got a big response from you guys at MT towers, with many of you desperate to know where the toys can be purchased. So here you go.…
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve D Imagine the most cloyingly sentimental, unimaginatively clichéd Hallmark card you can think of. Now imagine a feature-length film based on that card. Voila, you have New Year’s Eve. While attending the preview screening for Garry Marshall’s latest holiday ensemble rom-com, a fellow critic came up with the title I wished I…
Michael Hurtt’s “Hamtramck Baby” hits Detroit
As a lover of old records — heck, of all things with a layer of dust or two — there’s reason to be excited this month. See, rockabilly recording artist and sometimes MT scribe Michael Hurtt and his band have a new single out. It’s a handsome little disc on Motor City Special Records that…
City Slang: Duane the Teenage Weirdo signs with the Black Lips
The Black Lips have signed Duane the Teenage Weirdo to their own record label. On the Lips’ Facebook page, the band announced, “I am proud to present to the world our hottest new artist signing Duane the Teenage Weirdo… So happy to have him on our label.” It’s the perfect conclusion to a big year…
City Slang: “Gang War!” revisited
Back in 1979, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer teamed up with New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders for a project called Gang War. The project didn’t quite last a full year before it imploded, and no records were released. Years later though, Jungle Records put out this live album / authorized bootleg. At the time, idealists…
Too tough to die
Since forming in 1998, Eddie Baranek has led his Sights to near-stardom and back again a couple times over (search our online archives for the complete stories). Four studio albums and countless tours later, and the band’s putting out a "demos and outtakes" album aptly titled Twelve in the Bar. To celebrate, the Sights play…
Let’s get together
Q: I’m a happily married woman. I have a great sex life with my husband of many years. He’s helped me discover things I didn’t know about myself sexually. The problem: Three years ago, my first love contacted me after 23 years. He was married at the time, although he didn’t want to be, and…
Young Goethe in Love
Young Goethe in Love Directed by Philipp Stölzl. Written by Christoph Müller, Philipp Stölzl, Alexander Dydyna. Starring Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein, Moritz Bleibtreu and Volker Bruch. Running time: 104 minutes. Not rated. B- The words "German romantic comedy" are rarely used in the same sentence, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a poetic titan whose…
Johnny Ill Band – Ask All the Doctors (Urinal Cake Records)
Johnny Ill sings it how it is — and how it can be — real weird, sometimes. Whether he’s living in a garage or living in the future, cursing faulty washing machines or practicing good posture to attract more babes, he’s painting everyday portraits — mostly autobiographical — with a crooked view. This local quintet’s…
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends … Ladies & Gentlemen (1974)
It’s a wonder they didn’t split up sooner than they did — all the signs of an "it’s complicated" relationship status were in place for this threesome. In the long, hot summer of 1974, this Emerson would lose his quiet cool by stabbing daggers into his synthesizers, strapping himself to a Steinway piano spinning upside…
Totally radical
The Root 340 Town Center Blvd., White Lake 248-698-2400 Handicap accessible Entrées: $16-$29 Chef James Rigato wants you to know how much of a locavore he is. He lists his regional purveyors on the Root’s website, up to and including his recycler and his glass guy (Libbey in Toledo). The tasting menu lists Michigan…
Crank
Pusha T Fear of God II: Let Us Pray Def Jam 2.5 Stars Riffing: Kanye’s glitzy Good Music label aims for street cred with follow-up to acclaimed mixtape by Clipse’s Terrence Thornton. Reference points: Demented party music leaves Pusha adrift — the hefty beats don’t live up to his intelligence. Turns a hell of…
Police raid dampens Cannabis Cup
Just when you think you know what you’re talking about, events sometimes take a sharp, unanticipated turn and one ends up with a bad case of foot-in-the-mouth disease. My last column from Amsterdam trumpeting the joys of the Cannabis Cup, Dutch tolerance of the cannabis culture, and the growth of the semi-licit industry that services…
A squat in time
In some ways, the Occupy Detroit movement, especially now that it has moved out of downtown’s Grand Circus Park, is like a spider web, with strands shooting off in various directions but still connected, even if sometimes tenuously. Some in the movement are focusing on the electoral process. Others see education — especially in terms…
A Lions fan from afar
By definition, Detroit Lions’ fans are some of the most loyal and faithful imaginable. It takes a lot to remain a fan of a team that hasn’t won a league championship since 1957, is one of four current National Football League franchises to never play in the Super Bowl, is the only NFL team ever…
Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare (Universal)
This highly anticipated sequel to 1975’s Welcome to My Nightmare gets back to basics, only this time Detroit native Alice Cooper’s crazed fantasies aren’t exactly on par with the original masterpiece. Album opener, "I Am Made of You," even has some Cooper fanatics rightly disappointed in its fusion of AutoTune and high-octane rock ‘n’ roll.…
Unease at Wayne State University
I’d like nothing more than to tell you what happened when Wayne State University President Allen Gilmour met with the President’s Advisory Group at the WSU Police station last week — but no sooner did I arrive than I was asked to leave. I was there because I’d received a message that Gilmour was going…
Downriviera!
$=$5-10; $$=$10-25; $$$=$25-50; $$$$=$50+ Angelina’s Mexican 8425 Allen Rd., Allen Park; 313-216-7181; $: Warm service, colorful dishes, generous cheese-to-tortilla ratio, and a lunch menu with prices hovering around $5 per meal make this authentic eatery a prime location in the constellation of metro Detroit’s Mexican restaurants. Auburn Café 3520 W. Jefferson Ave.,…
The Frustrations – Negative Reflections (X! Records)
The black sheep of Detroit’s punk farm, this trio once distinguished itself on earlier releases with unrestrained psych and noise rock. Reflections mines darker, almost druggier mother lodes — there’s outright haunt-rocking songs that include references to "subconscious whores," "nausea-suffocation," "ransacked soul(s)" and acne self-operation. The Twilight Zone-like riffs on "No Repair" lift to siren-like…
Emergency manager for Detroit?
There was something poignant about the scene last week at City Hall, aka the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, when the council, mayor and other Detroit city leaders huddled around a podium. They all expressed solidarity. We can fix our problems. We don’t need any emergency manager. We can do it, honest, mon. Right. Just…
Food Stuff
Holiday hankerings Want to give the gift of local flavor? Don’t miss the Second Annual Detroit Holiday Food Bazaar, a pop-up marketplace with wares from a variety of Detroit’s independent food vendors. You’ll be able to shop from the good folks behind Love’s Custard Pie, Drought Juice, the Detroit Institute of Bagels, Pete’s Chocolate Co.,…
Occupy: on the move
Related Stories Building for a fight Detroit businessman shows another face of the Occupy movement | 12/7/2011 A squat in time Looking to reclaim one piece of the hood | 12/7/2011 The tents and makeshift kitchen are gone from Grand Circus Park, cleared out by order of city officials in time to keep it from…
Question Mark & the Mysterians – 96 Tears/Action (ABKCO/Real Gone Music)
Both albums on audiophile 180-gram vinyl at 45 rpm You had few options if you wanted to listen to these Question Mark records when they first came out in 1966 and ’67 respectively. If you were lucky, your parents might’ve let you play them on the living-room record player, one of those that was…
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Bethesda PC, PS3, Xbox 360 After the still-highly acclaimed Morrowind and Oblivion, the long-awaited fifth Elder Scrolls installment has quite a task to perform in raising the bar for console RPGs. And so far, so good. Skyrim’s immersive, free-roaming world map and seemingly countless quests and adventures are great, and…
Building for a fight
With the burly build of a construction worker, Marc Hesse bears a passing resemblance to actor Robert Duvall. The local businessman has the same bald pate, steely gaze and hardscrabble voice as the Academy Award winner. Nothing about Hesse, outwardly at least, would cause anyone to think he might in anyway be connected with the…
Letters to the Editor
A piece of her mind Re: "Emergency manager: Take 3" (News Hits, Nov. 23), as a lifelong resident of the great city of Detroit, I am very disappointed in the government on all levels of this state. I write to you as a citizen who has participated in the election process every election primary and…
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…
