LAURA ON KRISTIN…
The Detroit Institute of Arts “Friday Night Live!” series brought none other than KristIn Hersh to town this past Friday for a stellar (and FREE) performance. Hersh has influenced countess other artists through her work with her band Throwing Muses and her high caliber solo offerings. Despite being overshadowed by a few of her contemporaries,…
OVERNIGHT SENSATIONS?
Fans of the late Frank Zappa may be interested in two shows by Detroit’s only Zappa/Mothers tribute band, Ugy Radio Rebellion. The group – which is usually a trio – is touring this summer with Ike Willis, who spent 17 years as a guitarist and vocalist with Zappa. He’s probably best known as the voice…
ANOTHER STELLAR LINEUP FOR CONCERT OF COLORS
The lineup for this summer’s Concert of Colors in mid-July was announced last night during a press conference/party at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn. It looks to be another stellar blast, although I was personally pleased and surprised to see that four of the acts performing are sort of old friends of mine…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
Dumping time
She treats me like crap; should I just take it?
Food Stuff
Full plates for local foodies.
Readies, steady, go!
Danny Kroha is, of course, already well-known on the Detroit rock ‘n’ roll scene; you’ll recall his work with Gories and, more recently, the Demolition Doll Rods. Following the dissolution of the latter group and a brief spell trying to go solo, the guitarist’s back with a new band dubbed the Readies, which is now…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
I get bugged drivin’ up and down the same old Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout #174! Head of Femur — Great Plains (Greyday) :: Wouldn’t it be nice if these Mod-decked dudes from the Windy City recorded a psychedelic smiley smile of an album that sounds just like what the Beach Boys would’ve sounded like had…
‘We blew it for you guys …’
The last time Peter Lewis played Detroit, it was with his group Moby Grape, opening for the Mamas & the Papas at the Roostertail in 1967. “It was crazy!” Lewis recalls. “There were a ton of people in there. It just felt kind of claustrophobic. I remember being able to look out and see Lake…
Hand jive
First, thank you Dan, for the column and podcast. You have helped me immeasurably. If I could buy you drinks or chocolate or whatever, I would. And now some advice from me for Bi Bi Bridie and Right Handed Man: Work this shit out now. My fiance and I had the signs of sexual incompatibilities…
The air apparents
Quick, think of an instance where pretending to perform a task has become an art form unto itself. OK, OK, try to not think about the current commander in chief, who’s spent nearly half his two-term presidency taking vacations, clearing brush and playing tennis while the country goes down the shitter. Come up with anything…
Middle age riot
Within the first few pages of music journalist David Browne’s Sonic Youth retrospective, each member of the quartet — lanky, wide-eyed guitarist Thurston Moore, withdrawn bassist Kim Gordon, intense guitarist Lee Ranaldo, and steady drumhand Steve Shelley — is characterized, one way or another, as “determined”‘ Whether or not Browne intended to hammer home the…
Couch Trip
Teeth Dimension Extreme Look out, Iron Man! There’s a new superhero in town. She (yes, she!) ain’t some whiz kid who got lucky when his daddy died, leaving him in charge of some double-dipping multibillion-dollar weapons-manufacturing corporation. Nor does she need a shiny red-and-gold suit to fight the forces of evil. Her name is Dawn,…
Fruit of the deep
Though some will find the fare on the sweet and soft side, the trick may be in the ordering. As it is, the regular sea and lake items all have a lot going on, such as Parmesan-crusted whitefish, ahi tuna with Asian peanut vinaigrette, crab cakes with roasted red pepper aioli, and perch piccata in…
Dems get one right
Deal will seat state’s delegates in August.
Moving pictures
“Don’t be fooled,” Canadian novelist David Gilmour’s aunt tells him. “Teenage boys need as much attention as newborns. Except they need it from their fathers.” This axiom is at the heart of Gilmour’s new memoir The Film Club. For Gilmour and his son Jesse, attention does not mean curfews and consequences and scary fables about…
Can it work here?
Minneapolis had an interesting idea: Ask residents what they want.
Marvin Gaye at Walden Pond
The reality of climate change is now beyond doubt in the scientific community. We also now know that it will take more than technological innovation to stave off its potentially devastating environmental consequences. As academic and laboratory squabbles about our planet’s ills begin to fade, the arduous task of correcting past and current negligence becomes,…
On the Download
A few years ago, I happened luckily on the recordings of two fine folks who call our fair city home and fed my itchy noise-loving side with their creations. I decided to check in with them online, found them in finely evolved form — and I’m all the happier for it. Do check out the…
Norweigan blood
The year was 1991, and there were those who felt the decade-old black metal genre had yet to realize its dark potential. So with some corpse paint and controversy and Odin on their side, Norwegians emerged as the torchbearers — sometimes literally — of extremism. Following a mid-’90s spate of medieval church burnings, a grisly…
From Mars to Makeba
The Detroit Festival of the Arts has something for every ear.
The Strangers
The romantic evening James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) arranged as a surprise for his girlfriend Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler) is going badly. Strangers burst into their country getaway, conducting a cold, calculated rampage conducted with no rhyme or reason. Unfortunately, even at a brief 80 minutes, The Strangers feels drawn-out, a short story printed in a…
Motor City Cribs
G-Unit producer-emcee Nick Speed’s Cass Corridor apartment.
Gang of four
The central character, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), may have written a newspaper sex column, but it was as much about the importance of friendship and the vagaries of romantic relationships, and so — in the end — was the show. Men came and went; it was the bond between Carrie, publicist Samantha Jones (Kim…
Night and Day
WEDNESDAY • 4 SLIM CESSNA’S AUTO CLUB GOTH HILLBILLY From backwoods revivals to murderous boys next door, this seven-member alt-country combo eyes the darker sides of life and religion in rural America. One listen to “This Is How We Do Things in the Country” and you’ll never want to leave the city again. Fronted by…
The Fall
Shot over four years in 18 different countries, it is impossible to overstate the film’s sheer beauty. Roy Walker (Pushing Daisies’ Lee Pace) is a 1920s film stuntman recuperating from a dramatic on-set accident. He lies in his hospital bed contemplating suicide. One day, by chance, he’s visited by Alexandria (nonactor Catinca Untaru), a 5-year-old…
Hope kindled
Incinerator battle could turn into a garbage standoff.
Motown mist
British producer-turned-singer Jamie Lidell champions R&B and light funk that play up the genres’ feel-good effervescence at the expense of their sexual urgency. Although his music is occasionally the sonic equivalent of white-man’s overbite, what makes his blue-eyed soul so pleasing is its light touch. Lidell’s last record, Multiply, got a sales boost from its…
The new Depression
Foreclosure moratorium bill recalls 1930s legislation.
Standard Operating Procedure
Errol Morris, like many other filmmakers who’ve tackled the moral disgrace of the War on Terror, will probably find his movie ignored by all but the most stalwart cineastes. Once again, he brings his detached but intimate style to the screen, unmasking the made-for-the-media villains in the Abu Ghraib scandal. And as he’s done in…
Letters to the Editor
Poor exchange My name is Arata Zushi. I work at Consulate General of Japan in Detroit, which is located in the Renaissance Center, and I was one of the exchange students from Toyota City in Japan in 1995. I read your editorial about the sister-city relationship between Detroit and Toyota in Metro Times (“Sayonara, sister…
In the blink of an eye
DeShawn Reed and his uncle, Marvin Reed, are seven years into 20-year sentences for assault with intent to commit murder in the 2000 shooting of a man DeShawn went to school with in their Ecorse neighborhood. Like many convicted prisoners, they’ve maintained their innocence since they were arrested. The shooting victim, Shannon Gholston, 30, is…
WHAT WEILAND LEARNED FROM VELVET REVOLVER
If you’re headed to the Stone Temple Pilots show tonight or tomorrow night at the Fillmore, you may want to be prepared to wait awhile (or longer) before the band takes the stage… In other words, Scott Weiland pulls a fuckin’ Axl… Mr. Weiland: What a weenie…! Related Stories
IN THE NAME OF PRIDE…
This past weekend, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender folks, supportive straights, and people with an insatiable appetite for grotesque portions of artery-clogging carnival food (the line for the “butterfly chips” cart was so long, I assumed people were standing in line to meet a celebrity) gathered in downtown Ferndale for the Motor City Pride festival. From…
ACLU LOOKS AT CAID?
It looks like the ACLU may get involved in the fracas that took place last weekend when a Detroit Police SWAT team hit (though that word might be an understatement) the “Funk Night” party at CAID (see Doug Coombe’s item below). Anyway, this e-mail is making the rounds on the Internets. If you were there,…
SATC — YAY OR NEIGH…
Sex And The City was the number one box office attraction last weekend and it looks like the studio has already hit the green light for a sequel next summer. I’m probably one of the few heterosexual males in the universe who didn’t hate the show when it was on HBO all those years (would…
