City Slang: We Came As Romans
Just over a year ago, I wrote a feature on Troy-based nu-punks We Came As Romans for the now-defunct music website Grok. I forgot all about the thing until listening to the band recently. Thought you City Slangers might like it. Enjoy. We Came As Romans While there are Christians within the ranks of We…
City Slang: Drew Podgorski keeps getting better
Back in April of this year, I wrote a piece about a benefit show for Drew Podgorski, the singer and guitarist from local punk bands Running With Panthers and Just Ask. Podgorski had suffered a stroke and was (and is) battling heroically through his tough-as-fuck rehabilitation. I met Drew through a huge stroke of fortune.…
The old Cass Tech’s last class pictures
Answering an e-mail call that went out earlier this week from the alumni association, hundreds of Cass Tech grads gathered Saturday at 1 p.m. for one last round of pictures in front of the quickly disappearing remains of the old school. We were elsewhere when the picture taking started, but we were told there were…
City Slang: Mittenfest VI applications due
If you and / or your band wants to play at this year’s Mittenfest, you’d better act fast as the application process ends at midnight on August 1. “After raising a record $15,000 for youth literacy non-profit organization 826michigan last year, Mittenfest is poised to return with 5 days of music in its sixth consecutive…
Jazz funeral for Blair set for Sunday …
For MT’s earlier words on the passing of Blair and dozens of responses to his extraordinary life, see Brett Callwood’s City Slang post. A gig Blair was to have played Saturday night at Circa 1890 is to become a memorial of sorts. Meanwhile, here are the details of a more formal memorial slated for Sunday…
City Slang: Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor at the UDetroit Café
The Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor played at the UDetroit Café on Thursday evening as part of the Motorcity Special web broadcast that also featured the Trash Brats and, of course, City Slang on the bill. The Sisters is an interesting little trio. In 2009, reviewing the self-titled LP for the Metro Times, Lee Devito…
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Summer comedies have become such a nonstop orgy of debauchery and raunch that it’s beyond refreshing to see a film with the decency to couch its dick jokes in a sweetly humane shell — something more than a candy sprinkle of good feelings. Here, for the most part, are fully realized people, with understandably complicated…
Shea’s Lounge manhandles Joan Osborne to tackle the Republican House Speaker!
Dennis Shea, our beloved and ever grumpy copy editor returns … The late-night oldies radio played Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” (“What if God was one of us/A slob like one of us/Just a stranger on the bus”). It’s a silly song, but nothing compared to Washington, D.C.’s silliness right now. So a little satirical…
Sarah’s Key
In his review of Bruce Jay Friedman’s Three Balconies, reviewer Charles Taylor recounts a story about a friend’s uncle who would exclaim, “First the Holocaust, now this,” whenever he was beset by a minor inconvenience. Taken the right way, one sees where this profane yet self-mocking statement would amuse. Taken the wrong way, you get…
The Smurfs
The Smurfs are a wildly successful property that few fess up to enjoying, yet their chipper little blueberry-hued mugs are forever emblazoned in the collective memory of Reagan-era youth like a secret shame. Even then most kids would’ve sussed out their utter crapitude by the age of 9 or 10, yet hazy visions of their…
Cowboys and Aliens
If you don’t think too hard about it, you’ll have a pretty good time. Conceptually novel but predictable as hell, Cowboys and Aliens is more mishmash than mash-up, offering enough old-fashioned entertainment to keep audiences in two hours of air conditioning and munching plenty of popcorn. Unfortunately, director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2)…
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Lovely yet tepid, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is as thrilling as staring at an ornate tapestry until your eyes begin to cross — an overload of beauty mingled with stifling boredom. Adapted from Lisa See’s book-club fave about the sanctity of friendship and intimacy, the film version is curiously dispassionate and remote, burdened…
Tabloid
“Booger is going to give himself in Christ-like love for me.” —Joyce McKinney about her dog The late, great newspaper columnist Molly Ivins once explained that if you want an idea of how slippery the truth can be, ask 10 different car accident witnesses what happened. It is this very ambiguity of truth and memory…
City Slang: Amy Gore brings her Valentines to the Stick
This Saturday, July 30, Amy Gore & the Valentines plays the Magic Stick in Detroit. It should be a good time for everyone. City Slang caught up with Gore to get the lowdown on the show. You’re now Valentines instead of Squires (as the band were called at this year’s Blowout). What happened there? Originally…
City Slang: “Timeless Treasures” revisited
They really don’t make bands like the Gaylords anymore and, to be honest, that’s probably a good thing. I first became aware of the band when reading David Carson’s magnificent book, Grit, Noise & Revolution: The Birth of Detroit Rock ’N’Roll. They pop up in chapter 3, when Carson is detailing the late ‘40s and…
Cass alum (old school) plan one last class picture
With the final remains of the old Cass Technical High School on the verge of coming down, an e-mail from the school’s alumni association is asking for Technicians to stand up for the building one last time, gathering for the final class picture in front of the school this Saturday at 1 p.m. In an…
Rubble-rousers
news hits Rubble-rousing Detroit has long struggled in vain to keep up with its abandoned buildings. There are more vacant homes and businesses than the city can afford to tear down, and so the structures sit empty, adding even more blight to already blighted neighborhoods and creating new hazards. That’s not a news flash to…
Pig-headed
Detroiters love the smoky, sweet and savory flavors of classic barbecue. Detroit’s venerable pit-style barbecues have long lived a prosperous, almost charmed life. And ribs and the like have long been staples on local menus. Then five years ago Slows Bar-B-Q, mixing low-and-slow ‘cue with hip interiors and bad-ass beers, ushered in the new era.…
Buggin’ out
Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest B- Hugely innovative and massively influential, A Tribe Called Quest was the rare rap act that enjoyed critical adoration, peer respect and commercial success; but it all seemed to be just too much to handle. Formed in Queens in 1985, they spearheaded the "Native…
Cheat Code
Kaos Studios Xbox 360, Windows, PS3 There was a time when the platformers, racing games and fighters ruled the earth, but it’s 2011, and we live in a world widely populated with first-person shooters. And Homefront, for the most part, is what you’d expect from a typical shooter on your console. We have the (what’s…
California Dreamin’
I’m still troubled by one L.A. memory: A dirty morning crashing hard on blow in that Hollywood apartment above Franklin Avenue while my then-wife was in rehab. I was wrecked and alone on the wrong side of night with the sun rising on my flawed existence through fake French doors that opened to the sky.…
I did my bro — am I a ho?
Q: When I was 14, my parents informed me that I had a half brother. He was my father’s son by another woman. My parents were already married when my brother was born, but I hadn’t come along yet. It was a huge scandal when it happened. My half brother came to live with us…
Letters to the Editor
Not laughing Re: Curt Guyette’s blog post, "WTF?: Planned Parenthood, protesters and the Pontiac show" (July 12), only someone with a warped sense of humor and one-sided reporting — who thinks dropping "F-bombs" on Republican presidential hopefuls, the Tea Party, traditional marriage, chastity, Catholics, pre-born babies and even God — could report that Lizz Winstead…
Food Stuff
< Write an Opus — When Tim Kokas opened Opus One in 1987, plenty of observers scoffed that a four-star restaurant tucked away on Larned Street wouldn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t fly. But Kokas was no stranger to the business, and believed the luxurious eatery would be a smart gamble. For almost 24 years, he’s been proving…
Keys to the city
For a Monday morning birthday party, it was pretty wild. Drinks were served. An organist played gospel music. The crowd danced on a concrete floor. And the guest of honor was surrounded by his friends in this unexpected party setting — the garage of an old Cass Corridor locksmith shop. "It was insane," remembers Jim…
Try a line in the sand
Three and a half years ago, before the stock market crashed and the Great Recession began, I sat down with a group to interview then presidential candidate Barack Obama. More jobs were urgently needed, even then. The first question I asked him was, "If you are elected president, why don’t you create something like an…
Goober and The Peas
1 After reluctantly letting our drummer Doc drive the van (pre Mallard RV) home from St. Louis after a show, we awoke at 5 a.m. with our van being towed to Greenup, Illinois (pop. 1500) and we figured out Doc may have been driving for hours in second gear on the freeway. We spent five…
Diner refiner
Square Lake Diner 6024 Rochester Rd., Troy 248-720-2000 Handicap accessible Prices: $5-$15 From St. Clair Shores to Canton, Trenton to Port Huron, southeast Michigan is replete with family diners — inexpensive joints with big vinyl booths and seemingly bigger portions. Setting their sights a bit higher are the folks behind Troy’s newest eatery, the Square…
Dogs of war
Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today B As cinema it’s perfunctory. As history it’s necessary. Consigned to the archival dustbin upon completion, Stuart Schulberg’s stoic, no-frills chronicle of the 11-month trial of former leaders of the Nazi regime stands out because of its startling film footage of war crimes, urban devastation, and concentration-camp atrocities (much of…
Wendell Harrison – It’s About Damn Time
Wendell Harrison has gigged on the celestial road with Sun Ra and recorded in the most challenging (and perhaps least listener-friendly) format of the unaccompanied saxophone disc. He’s fronted likewise daunting clarinet choirs (off-putting in concept, perhaps, but not execution, it should be noted). But lest there be any confusion, all the way back to…
Moms against the drug war
Moms against the drug war Robin Schneider remembers Christmases as a young child: sitting in a visitation cell at a federal prison in Indiana, chatting with a father she saw only two or three times a year. The visit was short. The drive with her mother and two brothers was long. Her father had been…
Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes (Yep Roc)
Much has happened since the last Fountains of Wayne album in 2007: Babies were born, hair was lost, and youthful irresponsibility has been curbed. Songwriters Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger address midlife crises the only way they know how on their fifth album: with super-catchy pop songs that don’t sound all that miserable on the…
Joss Stone – LP1 (Stone’d/Surfdog)
For her fifth album, Joss Stone severs ties from her past couple of records and trims the fat. She recorded the album in less than a week in Nashville with Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. She started her own label. She even titled the 12-song project LP1. It’s not necessarily a back-to-basics move for the British singer…
A bullet in the head
It’s 1 a.m. on Thursday, June 30, at Eight Mile and I-75, almost on the border of Hazel Park and Detroit. Mike Anton, aka Manton, singer and guitarist with folk-ish rock trio the Mantons, is in his basement messing around on his computer when he hears four distinct knocks on his front door. As a…
City Slang: Poet and singer/songwriter David Blair passes away (updated with links, videos)
We are extremely saddened today to learn that David Blair has passed away. At the time of writing, no confirmed details were available but no foul play is suspected. Blair was an award winning poet and singer/songwriter. A 2010 Callaloo Fellow and a National Poetry Slam Champion, his books of poetry included the critically acclaimed…
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…
Matthew Barney shooting ‘erotic short’ in the D?
We have to thank a former staffer’s Facebook page for alerting us to an article at Artnet.com that quotes a posting at the Cremaster Fanatic fan page that cites a Craigslist ad from artist Matthew Barney’s studio described as follows: The ad sought “women, men and couples/groups to act in a 13 minute erotic short,”…
