Posthumous employment
Lou Gehrig’s image used in a creepy TV ad….
Source search
L. Brooks Patterson protects his alleged sources for a story he guest-penned for the Freep ….
Wrong combination
Music’s like boxing. The right combination scores a knockout. The wrong one gets you knocked out. Blow by blow, your hits should be fluid. That way, each punch has greater impact than the last. That said, Laila Ali would whup Queen Pen’s ass. The inconsistent performance of Conversations with Queen, her sophomore album, leaves too…
Beatball
In a new post-modern twist, Jack Kerouac hooks up with the NFL….
Fun at the Fair
Nederlander attorneys get testy about fairgrounds deal….
Chicago cruiser
Eddie C. Campbell’s blues ride in that kind of groove that feels like a smooth old Cadillac easing its comfortable way down the open road. In the country. On a warm, summer day. With a big, fat smile stamped on the grill. In short, this is the kind of Chicago blues that’s meant to keep…
Jingles reborn
A CD collection of cool commercial songs (hey, you’ll be humming them anyway)….
Sprawl y’all
Terrific PBS documentary spotlights Motown’s urban troubles….
Motives of the heart
In The Taste of Others, a boorish businessman becomes obsessed with a sensitive, classically trained actress. The film makes its points about the obscure motives of the heart with intelligence and a light touch. It’s also very entertaining and especially recommended to those who think subtitled French films are beyond the scope of their taste.
Head fellows
Flags here, flags there, flags on your head….
There goes the hood
Tyree Guyton Heidelberg-izes a house in polite Birmingham….
Evolution
There’s nothing really thrilling about this polished but shallow pastiche of stock sci-fi situations from director Ivan Reitman, who uses the comedic blueprint he worked so well in Ghostbusters. Its major comic riff involves the posteriors of humans and extraterrestrials alike, and the end result is just one extended Uranus joke — and that stopped…
Dressed to ill?
Balancing that perfect look with self-protection….
Where the girls are
Cranbrook’s Fabulous Friday Night features Girlee exhibition….
Swordfish
Director Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds) goes all the way with a plot that’s pure action (fresh, not frozen), a dash of bittersweet melodrama and a twist or two as it rushes against the clock. People and things are not as they seem from the literally explosive beginning to the explosive sleight-of-hand ending —…
Myths ’n’ ’toons
Atlantis: The Lost Empire fancifully animates a legend….
Forget about it
Seems that saxo-cat James Carter is way too popular….
Bill’s golf adventure
Time for another peek into the “Lifestyles of the Rich … and Cranky.” One of the advantages of being rich is that you don’t have to mingle with the riffraff. No crowded airports — you’ve got your private jet. No jostling with the teeming masses at the beach — you’ve got a secluded getaway in…
Electro-props
Derrick May is honored, and the techno-love spreads….
Letters to the Editor
Doomsday declaration Jack Lessenberry’s recent column asks where Al Gore and Ralph Nader are now the President Bush is in charge and getting things done ("While the Democrats sleep," MT, May 23-29). Liberals use issues and causes to achieve and hold power. Many of them have very little interest in actually solving these issues and…
What a week
Last week’s whirlwind show schedule included the mind-tripping Monster Island collective and overwhelming love for the White Stripes … More fun this weekend with record release parties for sweatysuedelips and Judah Johnson … & much more.
Two troubled journeys & a moment of truth
It’s a Sunday spring morning, and the Rev. Da Vita McCallister wakes rested and ready to share her story. She considers what she will say to the 125 or so worshipers who will gather at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Detroit. She promises herself that she won’t cry when she divulges a secret that…
Thin, crisp pleasure
Terra Cotta serves pizza for those who value an exceptionally thin crust with fresh and imaginative toppings. It’s a friendly place, with brother-and-sister co-owners Greg and Dina Gnyc waiting tables themselves. Each pizza is made to order in a wood-fired clay oven, and the pizzas, salads and soups are not only very good, the prices…
Down with sex!
Let’s keep the bedroom doors shut, people. It’s time to concentrate on an individual’s thoughts and actions – which should be much more important than his or her sex life.
Arresting audiophile
Gaming is an audiovisual slaughterfest. While some games manage to preserve curious sound effects — ambient and spooky — the eye-candy may be dilapidated. Or valuable development hours might have been spent sprucing up graphics while ignoring eerie sound bites. And even when the perfect balance is achieved, potency is lost in the dungeon that…
Big Four blues
Has the nation’s Web usage has become as stale and predictable as our mega-mall shopping habits? What has happened to digital diversity?
Wordless wonder
British filmmaker Sally Potter (Orlando, The Tango Lesson) has given much thought to this film and the effort shows. Nearly every scene is visually remarkable and some are magical, but what is ultimately the point of this expertly composed but unfulfilling exercise? — with Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro and Johnny Depp.
Lies done gone
It’s about time – Margaret Mitchell’s epic distortion of history has inspired a parody novel that attempts to portray a more accurate description of Southern plantation life.
The Animal
Rob Schneider spends most of this film’s 87 minutes responding to animal urges he can’t control or understand while courting the sweet Rianna ("Survivor" survivor Colleen Haskell). Though often funny in a light-hearted, juvenile way, this slapstick animal doesn’t have any bite.
The Ani anomaly
Difranco’s still strummin’ toward an alt.existence….
Turntables alive
Thirty years ago, you might have made some food, might have put it in some airtight Tupperware, might have shoved it in the back of your refrigerator, forgotten about it, let it sit as the decades rolled by. Over the years, things change, but so long as that food is preserved in a plastic bubble…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Experimental musician Harry Partch made his own instruments from objects such as artillery shell casings, eucalyptus branches and bottles of sherry. Artist Jason Macier concocts portraits with beans, noodles and yarn. Both resemble my friends Cybil and Juliana, who’ve cobbled together a family of 10 people with no blood relation to…
The viola in her life
The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival brings soloist Kim Kashkashian back home….
Fits of harmony
It’s safe to say that the Hissyfits are a modern-day version of the Shangri-Las: Both are from Brooklyn and both show off a sweet, playful side. But the tough-girl attitude is obvious enough that you’ll want to stay in their good graces. Sure, the Hissyfits don’t have any choreographed dance routines, don’t have any songs…
How are they hanging?
• I am a 55-year-old male who suffers from DBS and I’m wondering whether or not DBS is common among many middle-aged men or if it is unique to me. DBS is, of course, the dreaded Droopy Balls Syndrome. It seems as I get older my balls get larger and floppier and droop more and…
2001 Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
SUBSCRIPTION CONCERTS Sat · 16, 8 p.m. — Kirk in the Hills Sanctuary Sun · 17, 3 p.m. — Grosse Pointe Memorial Church Ruth Laredo, James Tocco, Juliette Kang, Nathaniel Rosen, Linda Hohenfeld, Miró String Quartet perform: C. Schumann: Trio in g minor for violin, cello, and piano, Op. 17 Barber: Hermit Songs, Op. 29…
Morning ghosts
The Clientele’s first stateside release, Suburban Light, jangles and jingles through 13 songs that sound the way Super 8 footage looks — grainy, otherworldly, beautiful. It is, at the same time, a sound you’ve grown up with and one you’ve never heard before. You might catch shadows of the record player you curled around as…
The price was right
Shaq’s a boring corporate candy (w)rapper….
Photos, black spots & leis
A cozy shindig honoring the MT Photo Contest winners … Scorching and tripping to the Rev. Horton Heat … & Surprising birthday boy Will English in deathgirl’s basement.
I’m not coming back
Radiohead has produced one more giant sledgehammer of a record. Even if one doesn’t “like” the avant-garde, minimalist, electronic and melancholic leanings, there’s no good reason to immediately dismiss the new direction, as many have done. Because how many rock bands — once they have captured our attention — have imploded right in front of…
