Cover Story
The 2013 Metro Times Lust Issue
Hot to trot The annual Lust Quiz exposes a bit of what goes on behind closed doors – and in public! Roundup Of Raunch A rundown of raunchy records from the leader of the Meatmen Fucking art! The Dirty Show turns 14 INSIDE JOB Sexual appliances aren’t just mainstream, they’re hard…
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…
City Slang: More Juggalos fighting back
More Juggalos have come forward with stories of injustice relating to the group being officially labeled a gang. “My daughter started listening to Insane Clown Posse years ago. I kept hearing bad things about Juggalos, so I decided to listen to the music myself. I really like the fact that they embrace the ‘Family’ idea…
City Slang: Deadstring Brothers at Magic Bag
Local alt-country/Americana dudes the Deadstring Brothers will play at the Magic Bag in Ferndale on Friday, February 22. Also on the bill is Brandon Calhoon, Ryan Dillaha and the Brunswicj Brawlers. They say, “Earning comparisons to the Stones circa Exile on Main Street, Deadstring Brothers are Detroit incarnate. A little rough and tumble, they’re roots…
Donald Byrd remembered (with thanks to Al Young)
Recent word that Donald Byrd had passed sent me to Al Young’s poetic prose about the trumpet-bari sax team of Byrd and Pepper Adams back in the Detroit of the 1950s. It’s in Young’s “musical memoir” Bodies and Soul (the first of at least three musical memoir collections by Young, all apparently out of print,…
City Slang: Boldy James is for the birds
Local rap star Boldy James has seen the video for his song “For the Birds” appear on Music Choice, MTV Jams, and mtvU, and the record is now on iTunes. Apparently, “”For The Birds” is the first single from Boldy’s forthcoming 6 song EP “Grand Quarters” being released on Decon Records.” “Boldy James, the blue-collar…
Review: Identity Thief
Identity ThiefC Prim and haughty vs. brash and bawdy: This is an immortal comedy pairing as indelible and comforting as PB & J or mac ’n’ cheese, a simple duality employed by teams from Abbot and Costello to Belushi and Aykroyd. The latest spin on the familiar concept pairs deadpan master Jason Bateman and fireball…
City Slang: Electric Six back on tour
The Electric Six are going back on tour to both fund a new live DVD called Absolute Treasure. The band is using Kickstarter to raise money for the DVD. Says frontman Dick Valentine, “Previously, I said I’d only do a Kickstarter campaign to have me surgically altered to look like Amanda Palmer, but this live…
City Slang: Pewter Cub album out now
Bellyache Records has announced that the new Pewter Cub album, If You Can Hold Your Breath, is out now. According to Bellyache, “Our 33rd release is the 2nd full length release from Pewter Cub and is not one to be overlooked! From Regan Lorie’s beautiful vocals, poignant lyrics & groovy bass-lines to Scott Sanford’s ethereal…
Children of the Sun (Phantasmagoria)
Electro-wunderkinds Phantasmagoria have a mesmeric new video, in case you missed it… Fresh off his inaugural hosting of the High Vibrations monthly music series, prog-tweaking-ambient-arranger Christopher Jarvis steps out of the frame for this video, letting his bandmate, percussionist/singer Lianna Vanicelli bask in the bleary-iridescent spotlight/”sun”-light… High Vibrations, which aims to showcase various progressive/”futuristic”- electronic music channeling out…
Cuck you
Q: I’m a 27-year-old man in a two-year relationship with a 26-year-old woman. My last partner cheated and lied and did some unforgivable things. I wasn’t blameless — I stayed with her long after I realized it wasn’t working — but our relationship did unearth a kink. After I found out about her cheating, I…
Review: Side Effects
Side Effects | B Whatever happened to the A-list suspense thriller? They were the stock in trade of cinema for the 1990s, boasting clever scripts and top-notch casts, providing audiences with a reliably satisfying night at the movies. Films like Malice, Presumed Innocent and Primal Fear were dependably middlebrow entertainment, reaping modest or better…
Genuine Pho
Pho Lucky 23838 Joy Rd., Redford 313-532-2333 pholucky.net Handicap accessible Appetizers: $3 Soups, entrées: $7.50-$9 Shakes, coffees: $3-$4 Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; closed Tuesdays If you’ve never had pho, the beef and noodle soup that’s known as the national dish of Vietnam, I…
Review: Wild in the Streets
Wild in the Streets| B+ In the quaint Derbyshire village of Ashbourne, U.K., there is a sports tradition that dates back nearly a millennium — and though it no longer involves the tossing about of a decapitated virgin’s head, it has lost none of its muddy, chaotic fury. The game is known as Shrovetide…
Roundup Of Raunch
When I got a missive from Metro Times asking me to write this piece, I had a Flounder-from-Animal House “Oh, boy, is this great!” moment — and then the reality of the daunting task at hand set in: With myriad and sundry candidates, who would be worthy of such a moniker as “The Raunchiest”? Precluding…
Confessions of a strip club DJ
Have you ever sat in a strip club and spent a minute or two looking at the DJ? Probably not; let’s face it, there’s boobage to be seen and that guy sitting alone in a booth isn’t going to be as compelling. But if you stop and think about it for a minute, this is…
Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock
When Bob Kealing met Margaret Fisher to talk about her relationship with legendary country-rock singer Gram Parsons, it was sort of a moment of epiphany. Kealing was working on a book about the legendary singer who never found the success he thirsted for until after his tragic death in 1973, and he could tell that…
Food Stuff
The big five — Congratulations are in order. Mudgie’s Deli is marking five years on the block. And they’re going to celebrate with a big bash that will feature lots of music. Why music? Because, over the years, lots of Detroit bands have worked a “day job” at Mudgie’s, and now they’re coming together…
Food for thought
I met Mulenga Harangua on the corner of Cass and Forest in Detroit last Friday evening. He’d told me to meet him there so we could go to dinner. I figured we’d be dining at the Cass Cafe as we’ve enjoyed a few evenings there. He was waiting for me, with his bicycle, when…
2013 Metro Times Lust Poll
What’s the most public place you’ve ever done it? Our readers evidently get out a lot. As in, making it in some pretty public places. Among the most common answers were sex in cars and parking structures, on beaches and playgrounds, and — surprisingly — in graveyards. Morbid much? Not really. As “JB”…
City Slang: New Destroy This Place album coming soon
Ferndale post-punks Destroy This Place are preparing for the release of their new self-titled album, due for a May release. According to the press release, “With their new album, simply, fittingly, titled Destroy This Place, the band sought to refine their assets, while adding even more intensity and heaviness to their already pulverizing jams. Captured…
The Dirty Show turns 14
Jerryvile is one of those guys who looks like he’d just as soon kill you as talk to you. His eyes are startlingly intense and his voice as gruff as a bear gargling glass. But that’s not the real Jerry Vile; don’t tell anyone, but the Dirty Show curator-organizer is gentle and, honestly, really…
Boiling blood and Arctic blasts
Our blood began to boil a bit here at the Hits when we read a recent piece that Henry Payne, an editorial cartoonist at The Detroit News, wrote for the National Review Online. Under a headline that declared “Warming’s Not the Problem, Mr. President,” Payne began what could be described as an anti-think piece…
Where’s the outrage?
There are lots of things a reasonable person should be angry about today, from guns to crime to the stupidity and cowardice of Detroit City Council, which seems hell-bent on not only forcing a state takeover, but making us all welcome one. But that’s not what we should be most upset about. What should make…
Letters to the Editor
Failed fight Re: Larry Gabriel’s Higher Ground column titled “Don’t be dazed” (Jan. 30): Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but adult recreational use should be regulated. Drug policies modeled after our nation’s disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers…
Ooze (Mister’s rap purge)
The struggle…to rise above the rubble. Mister’s come to be known for his motorboat-bladed delivery, a blurring cascade of enunciated raps most listeners trip over after the fourth bar. He slows it down for true slow jams like “Coulda Shoulda” -one shadowy soul-woozy sipper from his brand new solo-E.P. The Ooze. Yeah, he said some…
