City Slang: Here, There Be Monsters
Most Detroit music fans know that MC5 bassist Michael Davis, Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton and artist Niagara used to be in a band called Destroy All Monsters. Most are familiar with the single “Bored”, and the fact that the band metamorphosed into Dark Carnival. That Destroy All Monsters was a gritty punk rock band with…
City Slang: Hot-Rods on Gratiot
The traffic was heavy along Gratiot on Saturday, but people were throwing themselves into it deliberately. The Gratiot Cruise saw an impressive array of vintage cars, classic hot-rods and generally bad-ass looking vehicles, umm, cruising as onlookers downed a few pints in the glorious sun, barbeque sauce dripping off their chins. In Eastepointe, Boney’s Niteclub…
City Slang: School’s In
Eddie Baranek is well known around town for his work with the Sights, not to mention KO & the Knockouts, Shotgun Wedding, Spitting Nickels and more. He’s a talented multi-instrumentalist, a bad-ass front man, and a super-sweet guy to top it all. It’s enough to make you throw up, right? Well, as if that’s not…
City Slang: ICP’s Hosting a Gathering and Kid Rock’s Going to the Ballpark
Between August 11-14, Cave-In-Rock, IL, will host the 12th annual Gathering of the Juggalos, the festival hosted by Detroit’s own horror-core rappers the Insane Clown Posse. As one might expect from a Gathering, all of the Psychopathic Records artists are there including ICP themselves, Twiztid, ABK and Blaze. There will be wrestling (male, and “ladies…
Beginners
Beginners GRADE: A On paper, Beginners’premise reads like the most maudlin sort of weepy indie melodrama; a devoted son attempts to find reasons to live again after caring for his dying father, who has finally come out of the closet at the end of his life. Yet as it plays out, in the delicate, wise…
Into Eternity
Into Eternity GRADE: B+ What is our legacy on Earth? What will we leave behind for our descendents? According to Danish filmmaker Michael Madsen’s Into Eternity, 300,000 tons of life-killing nuclear waste. Sounds dire, yes? But, as his spooky, hypnotically gorgeous documentary points out, Finland has a plan. Onkalo is the name of the country’s…
The Art of Getting By
The Art of Getting By GRADE: C Just about everyone has some embarrassing artifact of their youthful pretensions lying around in a drawer somewhere — an unfinished screenplay, a sketchbook, scribbled poems — but most of us don’t have the benefit of a multimillion-dollar budget and a marketing department exposing our failings to the world.…
Green Lantern
Green Lantern GRADE: B- The Green Lantern is armed with the incredible ability to turn will power into energy, creating almost anything imaginable, except perhaps a coherent script. Credited to at least four (and likely more) screenwriters, this fun but terminally unwieldy adaptation of the venerable DC comics franchise pinballs between above-it-all camp and gravely…
Rejoice and Shout
Rejoice and Shout GRADE: B- "Black Gospel Choir Makes Man Wish He Believed in All That God Bullshit" —Headline in The Onion This by-the-numbers documentary is too long, too dry, too unfocused and, dare I say it, too vanilla. But, oh, the voices. Listening to a soundtrack filled with the heavenly pipes of the Soul…
City Slang: Don Was Talks Concert of Colors
As announced in this week’s Metro Times, the bill for this year’s Concert of Colors is out, and as ever, it covers the gamut of local music across the genres and touring world music artists. The event, taking place between Thursday, July 14 and Sunday, July 17, has been extended this year to feature acts…
Em and Royce: Bad Meets Evil Again
Bad Meets Evil Hell: The Sequel It’s been more than a decade since the last official Eminem and Royce Da 5’9” collaboration, too long a wait for hardcore hip-hop enthusiasts. I’ve been a longtime fan of Royce and most of Eminem’s early Slim Shady stuff (but his material in the last decade has been…
City Slang: Damn Yankees Revisited
Back when the first, self-titled Damn Yankees album was released on Warner Bros. in 1990, it was critically panned from many, if not all, corners. Fast forward 21 years, and the band is little more than an afterthought in the minds of most rock fans that were around at the time. They were a California-based…
Gilbert Gottfried unbound.
Gilbert Gottfried is a nice guy. No really. The veteran comedian, slight of frame but gigantic of voice, is without question one of the filthiest, raunchiest and most consistently hysterical comedians working. On stage he’s fearless; a tiny volcano of rude, profane hilarity. On the phone, he’s polite, warm and self deprecating, and he doesn’t…
Bing and Dumas: Shop until the other shoe drops
Rumors have been floating around for a while now about the influence wielded by Karen Dumas, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s director of communications. The talk has been that Dumas is a divisive presence in an administration that’s seen an unusually high amount of turnover during Bing’s first two years in office. Well, the scuttlebutt hit…
Spun
FRIGHT FROM THE BINS To Sir With Love Original Soundtrack 1967 Like most Sixties soundtracks, this is a ripoff, sprinkled with a few pop vocals to lure the kids in but mostly teeming with disembodied incidental music to orchestrate your household chores with. Hearing a teenage Lulu sing the title track so expertly, it only…
In (the) heat
We’re lust hungry. Scientifically, biblically, whatever excuse. We’ve been that way ever since some protohuman mounted another and they thrusted till something happened. And something did happen. It felt good. Nothing’s changed. Nor will it. Look no further than your own kinky family, the celeb gossip feed, and scandalous political headlines for proof. Some believe…
Back to the future
If you think about it, we’re living in a time and in a city where you can actually go out and see six decades’ worth, or more, of Detroit music performed live by the original performers. Things happen to be aligned in such a way that kids in need of a Detroit-style music education can…
Food Stuff
Catering to Dad — Father’s Day dining possibilities abound. The folks at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse wanted to remind us of their Father’s Day celebration, which includes early hours and a brunch prix fixe menu. It’s $32.95 per diner (plus tax and tip), and entrée choices include a filet mignon frittata, an asparagus, Swiss and lump…
Serious Pull
Blue Tractor 207 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor 734-222-4095 Barbecue has nearly universal appeal for meat lovers. From the first tender bite to the last lick of one’s own fingers, all washed down with a frosty pint, it leaves every comfort food craving satisfied. Part brewpub and part barbecue joint, Blue Tractor brings exactly that…
Life’s a beach
June 23-26: Detroit River Days Festival season kick-starts in Detroit with the return of Detroit River Days, now in its fifth year. Showcasing the Detroit Riverwalk, the fest features food, frolic and music taking place from the new Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority Terminal just west of the RenCen all the way to Milliken State Park.…
Quick and dirty
Q: I’m a straight man married to a bisexual lady, which is something I would recommend to all other straight men in the world. We’re in our late 20s, have been together for eight years, married four. (I know: too young and too soon, but we’ll see how it turns out.) My wife has a…
The quality of mercy
Does the Michigan Humane Society kill far too many animals? That’s what two former board members claim. They set off a firestorm of controversy this month by resigning over this. Indeed, the figures at first glance are horrifying. Last year, the society’s three shelters in Detroit, Rochester Hills and Westland took in something like 29,000…
Killer prose
His books describe hunters fed to pigs, DNA collected in a roller rink and a woman’s body parts transported on her children’s sled, but perhaps the most unlikely plot line in Tom Henderson’s world is his entrance into true crime writing. In 1999, one of the book world’s more prominent agents called him looking for…
Owl City – All Things Bright and Beautiful
Owl City – All Things Bright and Beautiful Universal Republic Adam Young, the 24-year-old mastermind behind Owl City, never goes too deep. In fact, he barely skims the surface on his third album. "Tiny feathers kiss your face," he sings on opener "The Real World," pretty much tipping you off to the dude’s state of…
Letters to the Editor
Thoughtful defense Re: "In defense of Gaga" (June 8), I’m not a Lady Gaga fan. I can appreciate what she represents, and don’t hate her, but I am not part of that musical demographic. But it was gratifying to see a publication devote space to an old-fashioned critical essay, with perspective, in an age of…
What the frack?
We’ve all seen the ads touting the benefits of natural gas as a cleaner-burning alternative to other fossil fuels. And it’s true that, compared to coal or oil, natural gas is much less harmful in terms of its effect on global warming when used to generate electricity or power vehicles. "Natural gas produces 43 percent…
Bridge spin
So much is going on with Manuel "Matty" Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Co. that the beleaguered souls at News Hits can hardly keep up. Just last week, the company was simultaneously in front of two different judges over at the Wayne County Circuit Court. In one long-ongoing case, the city of Detroit and the company…
Eastern Market heats up
It’s summertime, which means the Mack Avenue exit off I-75 backs up on Saturday mornings when thousands stream into Detroit’s Eastern Market in search of farm-fresh food. Though it has been a Detroit tradition for decades, it has only picked up steam since Dan Carmody came to Detroit three years ago to assume leadership of…
Feed your head
It’s summer: You’re sitting on the porch, ankles crossed on the railing. You’re swaying under shade in a hammock. You’re splayed out on the beach, propped on your elbows, toes in the sand. You’re in bed. You’re at the bar. Maybe you’re even at work. In any event, your nose is in a book. But…
Juggalos in the mist
Late this winter, my Hamtramck buddies Steve Cherry and Jeffrey Fournier asked me to join them canoe-camping on the Au Sable River in northern Michigan. After long months trapped in the city, I was psyched to get away to nature. I agreed instantly, took time off work, and looked forward to our getaway longingly. Cherry…
Cults – Cults
Cults – Cults Columbia/In the Name Of This boy-girl duo from New York has been building buzz since last year, when a handful of their songs trickled online. And like a lot of their Brooklyn-based peers, Cults are a modern indie-rock band that looks back for inspiration. On their self-titled debut, they run through the…
Raids and aftermaths
An Oakland County Court jury found 70-year-old Barb Agro guilty of delivery/manufacture of marijuana last week. Although she is a registered medical marijuana patient and caregiver, Agro faces as much as four years in prison. This is the first case stemming from several Oakland County Sheriff’s raids on alleged marijuana dispensaries in Ferndale and Waterford,…
Magic bus
She was waiting for him at the window. For part of the morning, Marion Jenkins sat at a table, eating a bowl of Shredded Wheat in her fourth-floor apartment at McCauley Commons, a housing complex for seniors. The TV blared daytime shows in the background. Jenkins, 81 years old and barely 5 feet tall, had…
Motor City Five
Future reminiscing youngsters will view Scrummage (the spaces, the bands) as a sacred time. We partied all night, and the music was all right and sometimes we tripped our balls and vags off. But the kids won’t understand. The latest incarnation kicks off this week, and here’s Scrummage’s Conor Edwards. Metro Times: What can one…
City Slang: Weekly Music Review Roundup
So here’s the deal. As part of this new City Slang music section shake-up, I’ll be reviewing any and every piece of new local music that I receive for this weekly review roundup at MetroTimes.com. No matter the genre, regardless of whether the media is vinyl, CD, MP3, cassette, or anything else – if the…
City Slang: What’s in a Name?
It’s not easy to come up with a great name. A lot of time was spent trying to come with a name for this column / blog and the thing was nearly called Schizophonic (after a song by Brit rockers the Wildhearts), until features ed Brian Smith had the brainwave. The answers had been in…
