Tunes for a long winter’s night
Sure, sure, Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas" has become indelibly etched, for good or ill, in our collective memory as the Christmas song. The kiddies all sing about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (who may or may not have run over Grandma). Cynical punks concoct such tunes as "Let’s Just Fuck for Christmas" (thank you Bantam Rooster)…
Different gifts
1. KISS Bears Almost certainly destined to be the next Tickle Me Pokémon, these quaint collectibles are just the thing to brighten any toddler’s bedroom. One look at Gene, Ace, Paul and Peter, all done up just like life, only in cuddly plush, and those sucky Teletubbies are guaranteed to go "Bye-Bye!" $30 each, spencergifts.com.…
Ex-couple seeks
Enjoying the music and lyrics of Quasi, the ex-husband and wife duo of Sam Coomes, organ (formerly of Heatmiser, Elliot Smith’s original post-grunge band), and Janet Weiss, drums (Sleater-Kinney), reminds me of something someone told me once about the emotional power of Hollywood film. Show someone the final scene of Casablanca with writing on the…
Days of our knight
A new, chock-full-of-visuals history traces the Batman’s steps….
Critical mass
Who has time to locate and study pages of film critique?
Evo-core
It wouldn’t be natural for these healthy Midwestern lads to stagnate in the punk rock cesspool forever; it’s time the Get Up Kids tested new waters. The band’s a popular one in the punk faction known as emo-core (so named for the emotional content of the songs and performances), but this, its latest album, shows…
Attention Span
BRAND NEW BAG Steel hand bags from Royal Oak’s Padded Cell Custom Metal and Jewelry Design will make it onto wish lists of the style-conscious this year, as well as gift-givers in search of something unusual. These bags might also capture the imaginations of those who see their boxy ’50s look and futuristic metal flair…
The Matrix: phantom menace or episode one?
The Matrix has a complex storyline completely different from George Lucas’ version of the futuristic adventure serial.
American trajectory
The streetcar named "imagination-run-wild" doesn’t stop at every composer on the new music line, but in the case of John Adams it seems to come around whenever he starts a piece. Known as a "minimalist" since the late ’70s, Adams has often been associated with Philip Glass and Steve Reich in that musical classification —…
In one ear
FUNHOUSE OF MIRRORS As if Detroit-area über-producer Mike E. Clark needed more fun(k) on his work platter, what with his ongoing ICP duties (including recording the soundtrack to the Clowns’ upcoming flick Big Money Hustlers), Static Revenger and Control Freq board work, remix action and laying down tracks for other up-and-coming acts, he’s taken it…
Reality fiction
We take comfort in familiar imitations of life – believable plots, identifiable characters – but no matter how realistic, it’s all an illusion.
Beat-noir
The U.K. queen who first quietly wowed U.S. audiences with the poetic down-tempo drawl of her DJ Kicks mix disc for the !K7 label here delivers a broodingly beautiful full-length that shows she can hold her own as much as a frontwoman as a DJ. Though she proves she can croon, whisper and deliver a…
Lessening our shame
More than one million Iraqis have died — 567,000 of them children — as a direct consequence of economic sanctions. —United Nations, 1995. Having trouble finding enough time to work, play and get ready for the holidays? Consider this on your next drive to the health club or the Somerset Collection. Right now, as you…
My breakfast with Santa
My sources tipped me off. After a night of bending both time and space, delivering presents and/or lumps of coal to all of the good/bad little boys and girls, making merry around the globe (for all the Christians, anyway), drinking ungodly amounts of milk and chomping down gout-inducing quantities of cookies of all stripes, our…
Checks and balances
The mailbox is overflowing. If it isn’t overdue bills (and I do wish it wasn’t, but anyway), it’s gift catalogs from all the major mail-order retailers and a number of minor ones. And if it isn’t either of those, it’s card-sized envelopes, usually plastered with those little decorative stickers that declare the sender has donated…
Wrap ’em up
Why use boring old wrapping paper to conceal those special gifts? There are many more creative and unusual ideas out there – ones that will make the wrapping just as memorable as the present inside. Some of them are better for the environment than traditional wrappings. Here are some suggestions to make your gift-giving a…
Posh plates, Pure perch
DOUGH FOR DOLLARS The Motor City (aka Wonder Bread) Casino had its coming out last week, first for a media preview on Wednesday morning and then for a glitzy, black-tie free-for-all. The second debutante in our troika of gambling belles, the Ilitch-affiliated Vegas-by-way-of-Mandalay red brick palace of chance was bedecked in search lights on Saturday…
Yule be driving
I haven’t cringed at the sound of the music commonly associated with Christmas for my whole life, you know. There was a time, even after I stopped believing in Santa (sorry if I just spoiled the holiday for anyone there), when the "holiday hits" warmed the cockles of my Grinchy heart. Catch me in an…
News Hits
Below the law As if things weren’t already bad enough in Michigan’s correctional facilities, the state House last week took a giant step toward making them even worse by passing legislation that would exempt prison and jail inmates from the state’s Elliott-Larsen civil rights law. State Rep. Michael Bishop, who introduced the bill, assured Metro…
A green scheme
Emily O’Reilly stands in a vacant lot about the size of a football field on Detroit’s northeast side. The grass is overgrown and broken branches hang from dead trees. Old tires, a rusted ironing board and scraps of wood have been dumped at one end of the property. "That has to be cleaned up," says…
Food Stuff
PEG, PAUL ‘N’ PASTRY When I invited myself to Dish, a gourmet takeout eatery on Detroit’s east side, to observe a day in the life of a pastry chef, Peg Sulek said, "This is a good day to come. We’re doing a wedding cake." Great, I thought. I’ll get to watch sugary roses emerge magically…
An opposition unites
SEATTLE — Those who marched or stood or sat in the streets of this city last week made history, and they knew it. And like the great marches against the Vietnam War, or the first sit-ins in the South during the late ’50s, it was not always easy to see just what history was being…
The un-gift
Some people drop hints about what they want for Christmas beginning sometime around Memorial Day. They leave catalogs open, place little notes in strategic spots, and talk excessively about how their lives would be better if only they had a … whatever, the item isn’t important. Which is exactly what makes my brother the hardest,…
New World disorder
SEATTLE — Demonstrators danced in the soggy streets of Seattle on Sunday, celebrating after a week of mostly peaceful protests hobbled the World Trade Organization’s ministerial meeting. But the Battle of Seattle that drew 40,000 activists paled in comparison to the quiet riot beyond the barricades. Working from plush hotel suites nestled high above the…
Can’t beat ’em, join ’em
I’m Jewish, so Christmas is a weird time of year. Starting around Thanksgiving, my world becomes a disorienting blur of colored lights, Yuletide music, Claymation TV specials and shopping come-ons. Frankly, it’s exhausting. But part of me has always wanted to join in. True, we Jews have Hanukkah. But that holy day is actually a…
Holidays ’99
December is here, and the holidays are in full swing. So with great cheer, we present our annual Holiday special edition — including the usual merry stack of stories, gift ideas and more. It doesn’t matter whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa or Solstice — you’ll find something for you here. Plus, you don’t have to…
On Buddha and burglary
"’To give is nonattachment,’ that is, just not to attach to anything is to give."—Shunryu Suzuki Nowhere, it seems, is the difference between Western materialism and the Buddhist principle of nonattachment more pronounced than during the Christmas shopping season. Buddhist writings contain many illustrations of the principle of nonattachment, which is related to the idea…
TriStar nuggets
With digital video discs, expect anything. The digital platform is expanding, as your buying power should be, considering the average price for a player is only $200 and each DVD movie can be purchased for less than $20. But what about the quality of individual discs? And for cinema buffs, what does a studio provide…
Burning bright
Say what you want — ’60s legacy, old hippie shit and all — but the bonfire that my kids have come to expect each December at the Winter Solstice is a pagan ritual that nobody in my childhood hometown would’ve known about. Back then it was stone Christianity (Presbyterians and Roman Catholics) and nothing else…
Anti-Retro
It’s typical for one to get nostalgic about the good old days before the responsibilities of mortgage, bills and family get in the way of being young, dumb and reckless. But in the case of the Lanternjack, the band mostly reflects upon a rock ‘n’ roll era when sex and drugs became a lyrical mainstay,…
Of mice and myth
Usually musicians move from Detroit and to California, but Starlite Desperation isn’t your stereotypical rock n’ roll band.
Truly screwged
The Lord’s birthday sure has a way of making me, and I suspect others, feel like an outsider. My alienation stems from the false belief that everyone — except me — gathers happily around an ornamented tree with loved ones on Christmas morning, passing out packages and toasting with eggnog. It’s as though I should…
Surprising seafood & stout
Lily’s Seafood is a hot spot that offers not only a stunning interior and friendly service, but most importantly a kitchen that believes homemade is best. In keeping with this idea, even the beverage menu includes house-made root beer, cream soda and four varieties of house-brewed beer. Both the entrées and desserts are special, full…
Moroccan roll
Hassan Hakmoun is the world’s pre-eminent master of Gnawa trance music … his modern ancient sound transcends time and category.
It’s in the cards
‘Tis the season. Time to contact business associates, distant relations and old friends with whom you no longer have anything in common. In short, time to pay a courtesy call on people that you hope to get something from or that you have no time for the rest of the year. Most people will send…
Tubthumping
They were Bikini Kill and they wanted "Revolution-Grrl Style." With that they kicked off a full-frontal attack on the boys’ club of rock ‘n’ roll. Love them or hate them, Kathleen Hanna and company are to blame for a lot of the current force of the Woman in Rock, even though it took some Canadian…
A digital revolution
Portable MP3 players offer more than the latest techno-craze.
Bah, humbug!
December brings to mind an orgy of consumerism, shopping, gluttony — all good celebratory stuff, but also stuff that can easily get out of hand. Before you can say "Happy Holidays," our society co-opts old traditions into examples of what it does best: overindulge. Overspend. Overcomplicate. When you’re swimming against the mainstream — or not…
Grad school funk
DJ Spooky (Paul Miller) is the thinking man’s beat-scaper, boldly positing his chin-stroking take on post hip-hop genre-scrambling as DJ culture’s answer to a comp lit (dis)course. Trouble is, for all Spooky’s highbrow reference-pointing, his music’s never quite gotten the funk down as convincingly as its Ph.D. Here, in free jazz mode, Spooky grabs his…
