Down to Earth
Laughs may get Down to Earth off the ground, but it never flies high. Filled with a satire of American race relations, but underpowered by a weak love story, it’s at its laugh-out-loud best when Chris Rock does his own material and at its worst when it gets bogged down in mediocre dialogue.
Letters to the Editor
On the mark Jack Lessenberry’s column about George W. Bush’s manipulation of the press ("In the name of the son, y’all," MT, Feb. 7-13) is a gem of journalistic truth. I have long held the belief that the vast right-wing conspiracy extends to a tacit agreement in the media to go easy on the new…
Beyond wanking
Enriching sex workshops for all….
Last Resort
Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski utilizes a spare documentary style and improvised dialogue to create a film which seems to have grown organically around its characters, yet resorts to cheap melodrama to resolve its story.
Road to rail
Southeast Michigan families spend more on transportation than they do on food and health care combined — one reason why Michigan needs to get on board with transit alternatives.
Sweet November
Irish director Pat O’Connor (Inventing the Abbotts) makes use of a gimmicky, artificial construct (attractive oddball takes in stray men for a month to cure their ills), but focuses on genuine thorny emotions over saccharine platitudes — with Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron.
Coppin’ an attitude
Detroit City Charter revision suggested to help clean up police problems….
Son of the desert
Mark Jude Poirier has found a gold mine in the desert. His native Tucson, Ariz., served as the barren backdrop for his acclaimed 1999 short-story collection, Naked Pueblo. In his impressive debut novel, Goats, Poirier keeps one foot planted firmly in the sand while pushing the geographic and creative boundaries of his craft. The result…
Trump Card
Dubya’s chief of staff is former GM lobbyist….
Son of the desert
Mark Jude Poirier has found a gold mine in the desert. His native Tucson, Ariz., served as the barren backdrop for his acclaimed 1999 short-story collection, Naked Pueblo. In his impressive debut novel, Goats, Poirier keeps one foot planted firmly in the sand while pushing the geographic and creative boundaries of his craft. The result…
Anti-Card
More lanes or more trains?
Thrall
Thrall takes the scariest parts of late-night public-access church talk programs and sets them to metal-infused hymns, perhaps what would happen if some rebellious mic assistant replaced the holy water with acid rain or just plain old liquid acid. Emitting fiery, fainting, fallen-angel rock sermons from his contorted gut, Mike Hard sings the soundtrack of…
Guy thang
Manly filmsand soccer jerseys to match
Joke of the week
That jokester President Bush’s tax plan has us rolling on the floor….
Bowling for feathers
Even though the food is perfectly reasonable, the main motive for visiting the Bath City Bistro may be the Belgian trough bowling. What to eat while you’re bowling? The menu includes the usual bar appetizers; more traditionally Belgian are the mussels, served with garlic and white wine and very good. Steaks are a specialty, and…
Boot up
Hard-to-find, funky footwear
All aboard … the bus?
Metro Detroit eyes fast, trainlike buses. Some passengers think they should upgrade the existing fleet first.
Textured architecture
An echoed clash against sheets of metal, low-end, blown-speaker fuzz, giggling New Wave synth and groggy robotic repetition of the phrase “cigarette lighter” over the course of four minutes. Japanese Telecom’s intro track (aptly titled “Cigarette Lighter”) only hints at the subtle sense of humor and minimalist magic found throughout Blueprint, the second installment in…
Ritual view
Tune into the patron saint of television…
What’s ahead. How to influence it.
Want to get involved in the quest for a reliable mass-transit system in southeast Michigan? Here’s how to get your voice heard.
Bear witness
Right now, in the downstairs apartment, across the street in that seemingly abandoned building, while you are sleeping, while you are making love, people are making music. Neil Ollivierra, aka Detroit Escalator Co., is one of those people. When you drove past the corner of Gratiot and Russell trying to bypass westbound traffic on I-94…
Hankering for Hank
Play King of the Hill on your PC…
So damn insane
A few innocent Iraqis died in our recent air strike, while Dubya was happy that he had both pleased and imitated Daddy. PLUS: Our brave and mighty military, who sunk a Japanese fishing boat with ease.
Bebop chops
Mark Elf has demonstrated over the years the talent and ingenuity necessary to succeed as an indie artist. His last five CDs, released on his own Jen Bay Jazz label, have hit No. 1 on the Gavin jazz-airplay chart, no mean feat on a recording landscape dominated by conglomerate-owned labels with fat advertising budgets and…
Burn it right
Texas-style barbecue in your own backyard….
Name that road
Two local organizations want to promote a catchy name for local technology-related businesses. Which will it be — Automation Alley or The Digital Drive?
Strip prog
The Blue Trees is supposed to be an in-between record for the band that most recently unleashed the sprawling, brilliantly playful neo-prog album Spanish Dance Troupe. Apparently, no one told them that even when you strip away all the sonic studio trickery and sound plundering, great songs are still great songs. So what was supposed…
Change done come
Erykah Badu brings the deep transformation of the word….
Who will be our champion?
MT editor Larry Gabriel looks at possible “champions” for a Michigan mass-transit system.
Paradise found
We could all use a little Shangri La in our lives about this time of year. That dirty, gray snow that’s been around since December is getting you down, not to mention the icy blasts of wind that are still hanging in there. For those of us who can’t afford a getaway to someplace warm…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Joseph Campbell Council on Contemporary Myth has approved my request to temporarily give you Aries folks a new subtitle, the “Lazy Warrior.” In bestowing this designation, I intend to exempt you from all menial tasks so that you can free up large amounts of heroic energy for use in your…
Perks, bricks, sights, skin
Check out the Camillian Cafe for art and java … Take a tour of the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit … Deep tans and designer labels at Times Square … Animalistic debauchery at the Emerald Theatre … & more.
Boundary benders
Groove Collective is exactly what it professes to be — a musical mutant, refusing to conform to any single genre or style. The group’s statement of purpose dictates, “From this point on, there will be no more barriers, no more forced separations between musical styles, cultures or social classes, because melodies and rhythms are universal…
All in the family?
Q: My husband introduced me to the pleasures of professional massage several months ago. I am not naïve; I know that for him the experience ends in orgasm. I am also aware that masseuses only are employed at our spa; there are no men. I anticipated a nonsexual massage. However, once I relaxed I allowed…
bell hooks’ tough love
Here’s a chance to see more of the impressive interview with bell hooks, one of the most fascinating and provocative people Keith A. Owens has ever met, regarding love, healing and progress in the African-American community.
Feeling subservient
Following closely in the footsteps of London’s (and Detroit’s) beloved Carl Cox, Montreal’s Misstress Barbara, the reigning queen of hard techno antes up with a solid studio mix on a label that was once associated with churning out countless boring electronica compilations. Taking a turn for the much better, Moonshine’s latest installment in the emerging…
Pollock primer
Perhaps the most important artist of te 20th century, Jackson Pollock is the man we love to admire and pity. Check out the book before (or after) seeing the movie.
Caffeine dreams
Talented singer-songwriter Gretchen Busam … The Jinx tests out its newly-formed sound … The MC5’s Michael Davis has a new album … The Trumbullplex needs your help … & more.
Painted into a corner
Ed Harris’ film is about an artist whose voracious appetite for self-destruction seemed to persist independently of his creativity, a parallel emotional life leaving chaos in its wake — with Harris in the title role and Marcia Gay Harden as his long-suffering wife and fellow artist Lee Krasner.
Absolutely hip
The Absolute Ensemble melds the best of new musical worlds….
Belles letters
Nominate your favorite American poet for stamphood…
The Mystery of Picasso
When French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (The Wages of Fear, Diabolique) asked his pal Pablo Picasso to collaborate on a film with him, the result was this 1956 one-of-a-kind documentary of an artist at work — in a sense, the ultimate art film.
Herb garden insider
In Michigan, in February, you could pluck fresh mint leaves from an indoor herb garden. What could be more satisfying at this time of year?
Art works (yes it does)
Art Gallery of Windsor has new locale, new shows…
