Delectable puppet strings
Midway sent out one immensely appetizing, extremely surprising holiday hors d’oeuvre this season, yet it wasn’t wrapped in Christmas tinsel and fruitful bows. In fact, a uniformed FedEx man delivered the package, protected in sturdy plastic foam and a bulletproof envelope stow. Being a childhood friend of Jim Henson’s felt creatures, “Muppet Monster Adventure” was…
Gumby groove
A plush coat with Scandinavian style…
Nothing to laugh about
Sexually-transmitted disease cases on the rise in Detroit….
Yulara
Essentially a duo of keyboardist/producer Robert Matt and saxophonist/flutist Annie Hilsberg, Yulara continues on “Future Tribe” to combine the sounds of acid jazz, world beat and various dance rhythms, both indigenous and industrial, in an engaging multicultural mix. Although this album is an extension of their two previous Higher Octave releases, “All Is One” and…
Sexy sleepers
Whimsical PJs (as seen on TV)…
Food fight
Local vegan cafe sued by national sandwich chain as “competition”….
Multicultural mix
Essentially a duo of keyboardist/producer Robert Matt and saxophonist/flutist Annie Hilsberg, Yulara continues on “Future Tribe” to combine the sounds of acid jazz, world beat and various dance rhythms, both indigenous and industrial, in an engaging multicultural mix. Although this album is an extension of their two previous Higher Octave releases, “All Is One” and…
Slosh puppies
Handsome clogs meant for snow-stepping…
Slim chance
MTV kicks off hate speech awareness campaign…
Killer curiosity
Madonna says, “I like Liz because she has balls, like me.” Balls, eh? Now there’s a word that aptly describes a columnist. Just imagine any respected writer gloating with such praise as appears on the jacket of Natural Blonde. Liz is a prominent gossip columnist whose salacious words titillate readers and reaffirm our groping identities.…
Nice warm head
A keep-warm, stay-cool Neptune Records cap…
Another music criminal
Philly busts famed jazz soloist for busking…
Fighting spirits
In the mythic landscape of Crouching Tiger, the supernatural reigns supreme. Director Ang Lee begins with the mind (an exiled child’s idea of old China), adds the body (magnificent locations, remarkable actors, phenomenal action sequences) and ends up with a film about the spirit.
Kashmir’s agony
A visitor finds the Indian-occupied state of Kashmir a divided land of lush vegetation and ruthless troops — blissful and chaotic, heavenly and hellish.
Force of conviction
Gus Van Sant sponsors award at Ann Arbor film fest…
Thirteen Days
What makes this cautionary tale so exciting is the way in which director Roger Donaldson transforms the real-life chess game of the Cuban missile crisis into an epic political thriller — with Bruce Greenwood as JFK and Kevin Costner as his chief aide.
Tribute and post-mortem
Ken Burns’ "Jazz": The Rise and Fall…
Yi Yi
Taiwan-based director Edward Yang’s first unequivocal international success is a three-hour-long contemporary family drama with an intricate, slowly simmering soap-opera plot. While the focus is realistic, its manipulations of the viewer’s emotions are done with intelligence and restraint.
We almost lost it all
Global politics as epic thriller in Roger Donaldson’s Thirteen Days….
Diary of a Chambermaid
Newly reissued in Cinemascope and crisp black-and-white, this is one of the strangest of director Luis Buñuel’s mature works (1964). What begins as a kinky comedy of bad manners slips into a very grim place before arriving at a savage, hallucinatory ending — with Jeanne Moreau and Michel Piccoli.
Celebrating instability
Detroit’s Abreact Playhouse sets off an explosion of Sam Shepard and Patti Smith….
Muppet RaceMania
Midway sent out one immensely appetizing, extremely surprising holiday hors d’oeuvre this season, yet it wasn’t wrapped in Christmas tinsel and fruitful bows. In fact, a uniformed FedEx man delivered the package, protected in sturdy plastic foam and a bulletproof envelope stow. Being a childhood friend of Jim Henson’s felt creatures, “Muppet Monster Adventure” was…
They don’t want you to ask
Some may want us to forget about the stolen presidential election, but if you’ve got your facts straight, you know that this is an issue that should not be allowed to die.
Climax Divine
With a name like The Climax Divine, you can only imagine what kind of saucy sounds these guys cook up at each and every show. It’s anyone’s guess really, but whether it’s smooth avant-pop, funk-fused soul or whacked-out rock, it’s always sexy. (Really, how could a band with a double bass not be sexy?)
Pastry redeemer
If we plan to stuff the cold, dark days leading up to Lent with maximum munching, then Polish baked goods are the only true way. And as a destination for this quest, where else but the bakeries of Hamtramck?
Powerful love
Music and guitars are Keith A. Owen’s lifeblood; that’s why it was such a big deal when two extremely special people died recently. Both Famous Coachman and Willie D. Wilson left marks on this city that will never be erased.
Red Tree
Heavy storms brew inside Red Tree’s guitar crunch and drum boom. Rumbling bass provides the wood glue that holds the branches together and solidifies the root structure. This foursome wanders into creative territories stretching from guitar god solos to psych-rock trips to gentle funk but there’s always that gratifying return to the metal sparking grind…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): My New Year’s resolution for you is to wean yourself from Us vs. Them thinking; to stop dividing the world into two groups: those who like you and help you and share your opinions, as opposed to everyone else. This will not only be your personal contribution to world peace; it…
Happy campers of urban hip
Making the rounds to the C-Pop for Urban Scrawls … Bouncing genitalia at UofM’s Naked Mile … A Detroit-style bonfire … & more
Word
Straight outta Highland Park, up-and-coming poet-MC Anthony Morgan has just dropped an album full of honest lyrics and profound social wisdom. Don’t sleep, because under his apt moniker of s.k.l.f.l., this cat has crafted a collection of joints more relevant to the people of Detroit than the collective hip-pop opus of all our city’s MTV…
Cruddy buddy
Q: I have strong feelings for the ex-girlfriend of one of my best friends. She feels strongly for me, too. She and my friend dated for two years. During that time; he cheated on her five times (unbeknownst to her). Actually, he never treated her very well. They broke up more than two months ago.…
Free the waves
Listeners protest lack of hip hop on local radio stations … Lansing bands worth traveling for … Too many great shows to choose from … Pontiac-based hip-hop crew finds national success … & more.
Heartbreak motel
Will Hoge isn’t necessarily doing anything new, but what he does, he does right. That in itself is thrilling. He kicks a roots-rock reactionary movement in the ass simply because he’s not reacting to anything but his own passion. Throughout a decade of performing, soul has continuously rushed through his veins despite his sonic surroundings.…
The unkindest cut?
Q: I’m a guy in his early 40s who is considering a vasectomy. My question concerns the effect of such on operation on my semen. How much will the quantity drop? How will the quality (consistency, taste, scent) change? The urologist says I will notice no difference, but I wanted to ask someone with more…
Heee’s baaack
Environmental nightmare Spence Abraham didn’t stay gone long. A Michigan Sierra Club leader comments on Abraham’s presidential nomination: “It’s like a perverse form of recycling.”
Lightning strikes
There’s a violence beneath Caithlin De Marrais’ vocals that breathes a sense of life-or-death immediacy into Rainer Maria’s A Better Version of Me. As the Madison, Wis., trio’s lead vocalist, De Marrais has windpipes that open wide and hit without warning, sweeping up and knocking the wind — and life — out of everyone within…
New name, same shame
Instead of calling a skunk a skunk, let’s call it a rose — for that’ll make it smell so much sweeter, right? Such is the level of sophistry presently being propounded by our Pentagon — the multibillion-dollar military hierarchy that previously gave us the term “collateral damage” to refer to the killing of innocent people.…
Air war in old China
It’s a stunning expression of both ancient and progressive ideas – director Ang Lee brings it back alive in his romantic martial arts adventure, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Soul mining
The year 2000 was a heartening one for British music. While Radiohead kicked off the soundtrack to the 21st century, the class of Y2K — including Badly Drawn Boy, Doves and Coldplay — showed there’s still some room for guitar-based, midtempo, introspective rock. Coldplay’s Parachutes has been heralded by the British press as a top…
Letters to the Editor
Wrong guess In reference to Jack “Nostro-Dumbass” Lessenberry’s prognostication scorecard ("Predict the future," MT, Dec. 27, 2000-Jan 2, 2001), please recheck question No. 5. Since voluntarily leaving CPop, the gallery I founded, the MT has reported three times of my pursuit of other interests. Lessenberry believes otherwise. Why would the “political” columnist include such an…
The "Bullshit Bush Express"
Disgruntled voters plan protests at Bush inauguration (including many from Detroit)….
Culture catechism
There was a first … and a second. And now, Sister Wendy Beckett has found reason enough to author an expanded and enhanced edition of her art history book: The Story Of Painting. This time, 200 artworks are printed in full color; small-scale reproductions and full double-page spreads also appear frequently. The book offers 736…
Clothes-minded
You’re getting warm with these winter-related fashion ideas…
More Bush whacking
“Electoral Disenfranchisement” subject of upcoming talk….
