Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Web site learningtoloveyoumore.com invites its readers to carry out assignments. I have borrowed some that I feel will help you fulfill your destiny in the coming week. Do as many as you feel moved to do. 1) Photograph one of your scars and write about its origins. 2) Write down…
Down by law
When Kavary “Magnif” Capsico and his cousin Alfred “Griot” Austin of Detroit’s hip-hop duo Lawless Element were but pint-sized playmates (6 and 9 years old, respectively) they didn’t waste time messing with toys. No, as impressionable children of the ’80s, these pup prodigies were wrapping their sticky fingers around hip-hop culture and little else. “We…
Head Cheese
In case you’ve been snoozing, Ann Arbor emcee Vital, along with his Athletic Mic League rap crew, has been, over the past couple of years, igniting veritable bonfires in hip-hop scenes around the country. After inking with Barak Records and releasing the group’s third album, Jungle Gym Jungle, last summer, AML’s nationwide popularity isn’t just…
Backslash
We Detroiters know our panhandlers — you can’t hit a single gas station in town without getting hit up for your spare change. But now, the Web has ushered in a new era of handout seekers. That’s right, folks: Welcome to the new era of Cyber Begging — or E-Panhandling, if you will. It probably…
Hamtown pride
If you’ve never lived in the city of Hamtramck, you may not understand the community pride common among its residents. A blue-collar ethos coupled with a wealth of cultural traditions sets this town apart. But, truthfully, it could use a little sprucing up. Having endured plenty of political, social and financial strife over the past…
Understanding the reptile brain
Q: I have long enjoyed your advice, humor and politics. But I never thought I would need your advice, being a well-adjusted hetero chick. All that changed a few months ago when I got married. Before we married, my hubby denied having any sexual fantasies. I have lots and enjoy some kinks. We talked, though,…
No. 1 at PR and BS
Detroit’s the city people just love to kick when it’s down. As if our financial crisis and mayor’s questionable activities aren’t enough, it seems the rest of the nation is gleefully proclaiming Detroit the worst in — everything. Did you know that, of all the cities in the country, Detroit is: The worst place to…
Now let us praise free minds
Last week I gave a talk on what I called “The Myth of the Liberal Media” to a pleasingly large and well-informed group called Pointes for Peace, in (surprise) Grosse Pointe Woods. I told them there are mainly two kinds of media in this nation today — the “mainstream media,” which are about as liberal…
The Cherry orchard
Matthew Smith is freezing out there in the dark. A bitter January night that he calls “Siberian” has forced him to layer his upper body with a faded sweater, scarf, pullover cap and an oily reddish-brown leather coat. None of it is fashionable, and none of it nearly enough to protect him from biting temperatures…
Remote vote
The numbers are all sketchy, but this much is obvious: Only a tiny fraction of the U.S. residents eligible to vote in the Iraqi election actually cast ballots. Locally, of a potential voter pool estimated to be about 100,000, only 8,975 people voted. Nationally, estimates of eligible voters ranged as high as 240,000; 24,335 actually…
Letters to the Editor
Fundamentally foolish I read, with great interest, your article on the brothers Kevin and Karl and their respective ministries (Metro Times, Jan. 19). I certainly wasn’t surprised that Pastor Kevin would use Leviticus 18:22 as his reasoning for not maintaining a closer relationship with his brother. Fundamentalist Christians always fall back on Leviticus 18:22: “Thou…
Comics
This Modern World Red Meat Comix
Partying in an alternate universe
Alternate universes. A polished microcosm. A pale man in a black hat and a black trench coat smiles at me, revealing long ivory teeth. He makes a remark I can barely understand, something about drinking blood. There’s a pulse in the dance hall, causing rhythmic reverberations. On the dance floor, a guy in a black…
N&D Center
Friday • 4 24-Hour Improv Marathon to Benefit Tsunami Victims COMEDY There’s nothing funny about the devastation caused by the recent tsunami in the East, but the laugh masters over at the Improv Inferno Ann Arbor have decided that humor is the best medicine for those in need. The comedy club will be holding a…
Tunesmithing
Matthew Smith: On the records, 1988-2005 (Note: All releases are full-length recordings unless noted. Discography compiled by Walter Wasacz with Matthew Smith.) 2005: Outrageous Cherry, Our Love Will Change the World (Rainbow Quartz). Outrageous Cherry, featured on Sunday Nights: the Songs of Junior Kimbrough compilation (Fat Possum). Volebeats, Like Her (Turquoise Mountain). The Cuts, title…
A new lemon
There’s a dwarf in my front window. It’s a tree, not much more than a foot tall, but with full-sized, shiny, emerald-green leaves. Its branches throw off many long, cactus-sharp spines. In the three years or so I’ve had it, it has given me one piece of fruit — a Meyer lemon (and not a…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
Welcome to the special all-DVD edition of MB19! • Slayer — Still Reigning (American) :: The scariest thing about this live show is how blood-splattered Slayer bassist Tom Araya now looks exactly like blood-spitting KISS bassist Gene Simmons. • Britney Spears — Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (Jive) :: Of course they float, what did you…
Art Bar
Malcom Gladwell, the wonderfully sideways contributor to The New Yorker, appears in Ann Arbor for a talk and signing of his most recent book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Although Gladwell admits he is “the furthest thing from an intuitive decision maker,” that didn’t stop him from writing a book on the mind’s…
Somewhere, sometimes, maybe
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick opened his new era of openness with a jaw clamped shut Monday when it came to more questions about the now-infamous red Lincoln Navigator. The mayor launched the first of what are supposed to be weekly news conferences by refusing to answer questions from WXYZ-TV pit bull Steve Wilson, who broke…
In medias res
One could say that the space of cinema is a separate world that exists parallel to, but independent from, the real world. It is a private world of its own making and its viewers inhabit it as if it were their own mirror. Like moths to a candle flame, they gather around screens of flickering…
The flaw that refreshes
Wabi sabi: The unique beauty of imperfection. A deliberate flaw. It’s the bubble in hand-blown glass, the fly trapped in amber, lo-fi music and David’s tiny marble penis. It’s soulfulness. Several years ago, Bryce Moore, then a student in the crafts department at College for Creative Studies, first encountered the term. A professor tossed it…
Return of the snake
This story warrants a lengthy history and a detailed contextualization. This story should have been written forever ago. This story is about a band and a man who has done things on stage that would make your mother cry. This is a story that should include several pictures documenting the absurdity and debauchery of a…
Bush’s hallelujah chorus
In a recent piece for Pacific News Service, columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson delivered a report that should have Democrats praying for help. In a column headlined, “Black Evangelicals: Bush’s New Trump Card,” Hutchinson points out that a segment of this group, traditionally Democratic stalwarts, helped Bush take Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin, thus giving him a…
New hitters
There are a couple of fresh faces wandering around the editorial department here at Metro Times’ world headquarters. We’ve hired two reporters to replace the much-missed Lisa M. Collins, who decided to seek fame and fortune as a freelancer (but who promises to continue being a frequent presence on these pages) and Khary Kimani Turner,…
Proactive
Frog wild — The organization Friends of the Rouge is seeking volunteers to help out with the nonprofit organization’s annual frog and toad survey. The survey is held each year to help raise awareness of the Rouge River and its watershed, and to collect information about said watershed’s frog and toad populations, which provide valuable…
A motto for Detroit?
If Detroit has an official slogan right now, it’s escaped me. The last one I remember is “It’s a Great Time in Detroit!” unveiled amid great éclat a number of years ago by the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. Pretty tough to make that one meaningful today. Before that, it was “Say Nice Things…
Lake Effect: A Four Way Split
Most of the music on the new comp from Grand Rapids imprint Friction channels the spiny guitar tones, lyrical claustrophobia and coed lineups of a time when indie rock didn’t have Internet access, and 7”s were always mailed postpaid. Corcovado’s “Biology of Bees” splays out reverb and distortion over detached female vocals and the melodic…
I Am Kloot
The self-titled second album from Manchester trio I Am Kloot finally gets a domestic release, a year-plus after the British rock press went typically batty for it. Still, now is probably a good time, with Kloot’s third album dropping in March and a swell of UK groups (Keane, Coldplay) making hay in America with what…
Sordid schooling
Pedro Almodóvar’s new film makes its film noir intentions clear from the get-go. It’s an odd fit, for the celebrated Spanish filmmaker’s garish color palette, but even if its noir aspirations don’t always succeed, the film’s ambitions affirm Almodovar’s commitment to his art. He is that rare creature in cinema: a director who constantly challenges…
Aliens of the Deep
We all sort of forgot about 3-D after the ’80s passed, but it’s back again (with sturdier glasses) thanks to IMAX theaters and James Cameron, who descends into the deep and gives us an up-close-and-personal look at the strange creatures that lurk below our planet’s waters. The film’s premise: Our own sea creatures could provide…
Music for pleasure
With North Carolina swamp-country combo Trailer Bride up on blocks, guitarist Melissa Swingle hooked up with former Grand National drummer Laura King, signed on with producer Rick (Southern Culture on the Skids) Miller and went about revising her distinctive twang-noir vision for the duo format. Now, before you start muttering “White Stripes … Black Keys…
A Letter to True
Filmmaker-photographer Bruce Weber’s latest documentary is ostensibly a love letter to the favorite of his five golden retrievers. True, but that’s just a thin premise for his presentation of a smorgasbord of seemingly unconnected subjects. Weber has assembled a film more teasing than intriguing. At times it’s lovely to look at, presenting some interesting juxtapositions,…
Charm Offensive
Pity the long-suffering powerpop fan. Do a Web search on the name “Steve Barton” and 9 out of 10 links will net you a veteran stage actor (he played Count von Krolock in Tanz der Vampire) who died in 2001. This Steve Barton, however, is very much alive and kicking, although you’d be forgiven if…
Les Choristes
*Les Choristes* (*The Chorus*) is an uninspired depiction of a classic tale of inspiration: the teacher who, in the face of tyranny, motivates his class but then gets tossed out on his derrière. Set in post-World War II France, Gérard Jugnot plays the music teacher who fills the screen with warm smiles and gentleness, and…
Witness My Growth: 1997-2004
From the tip-off of the intro, Elzhi doesn’t just want you to acknowledge him as one half of Slum Village, but rather the emcee laying vocals in the basement with Waajeed circa 2000, the cat representing Fenkell Avenue, and the friend who cried when fellow rapper Bugz died. The majority of the 24 songs on…
Hide and Seek
This alleged thriller starts off creepy enough, but ultimately doesn’t deliver on the trailer’s tantalizing promise of an all-out freak-out fest. The movie stars Robert De Niro and little Dakota Fanning, who dyed her hair dark brown to match the heavy circles painted under her eyes. The pair plays a father and daughter who flee…
Alone in the Dark
Make room, Showgirls and Battlefield Earth — there’s a new so-bad-it’s-awesome flick joining your ranks. The only thing missing from this craptastic Christian Slater sci-fi extravaganza is a running commentary and laugh track, which can be provided interactively by audiences across the nation.
The science of hunches
Knee-jerk reaction has a bad rap. Context is overrated. Everything we need to know was not imparted in kindergarten, during college or at the gnarliest meditation retreat of all time. Rather, in a few breathless seconds we process information and make decisions with more proficiency than anyone gives us credit for. Or so goes the…
