Mar 14-20, 2001

Mar 14-20, 2001 / Vol. 21 / No. 22

Boonies boredom

More than any other genre, country music has the uncanny ability to make rural geography seem as inescapable as it is insufferable. Anyone who grew up bored in the boonies can testify that — despite all the wide-open spaces — there’s something terrifyingly claustrophobic in knowing that, even barreling down the interstate at 90 mph,…

Jimmy Draper

BOD please approach the bar chart

Best No-Cover Bar Wayne Town Pump Tavern 100 W. Montcalm Detroit 313-961-1929 Oakland Gusoline Alley 309 S. Center Royal Oak 248-545-2235 Macomb Shores Inn 23410 Greater Mack St. Clair Shores 810-773-8940 Washtenaw Del Rio 122 W. Washington Ann Arbor 734-761-2530 Best Happy Hour Spread Wayne Tremors 17123 Laurel Park N. Livonia 734-462-2096 Oakland TIE: Big…

Metro Times editorial staff

Take a whiff

“As long as blood runs in my body, I’m going to love women. Because in life, women, flowers and romance are all so lovely. And one night of romance, oh, that has no price … and I haven’t yet forgotten how,” says Compay Segundo in the documentary film Buena Vista Social Club. Segundo, a legend…

Liz DiDonna

The New Punk Rock

I didn’t want to like Chicks on Speed (CoS). Perhaps it has been the scant, but not-so-favorable reviews that have kept me away, one of them printed in this very publication. The international art-school trio behind CoS is, yes, gimmicky. Often relying on producers for songwriting, the band’s true skill lies in their attitude over…

Liz Copeland

Making references

You might shudder with something other than delight. Sold to the tuneful and tone-deaf alike, Reading Lyrics is a sort of karaoke machine of classic American (and sometimes British) songs from 1900-1975, a 1,000-song karaoke machine whose music plays only in the singer’s head. Which leaves friends, wives, lovers, co-workers, innocent children and unsuspecting bus…

W. Kim Heron

A life’s meaning

An extramarital affair leads to catastrophe: Ingmar Bergman’s shadow is at the heart of director Liv Ullmann’s film, beating in the words of his screenplay which recapitulates the Swedish domestic dramas and comedies he has written and directed for more than 50 years.

James Keith La Croix

Gimme Shelter

The infamous, disastrous free concert at Altamont Speedway by the Rolling Stones supplies the unraveling climax of this 1970 documentary by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin. The film follows the Stones during the U.S. tour that coincided with the release of Let It Bleed.

Richard C. Walls

Ann Arbor Film Festival 2001

The internationally renowned Ann Arbor Film Festival offers viewers the chance to fall in love again with pure cinema, while providing a forum and encouragement to new filmmakers working in 16 mm. Its 39th incarnation offers more than enough reasons to check out a night of short films.

Serena Donadoni

Blow Dry

A superb cast and clear-headed director (Paddy Breathnach, I Went Down) elevate cheap jokes to a bittersweet comedy of reconciliation — a big hair movie which opts for the comfort of a good soft wave.

Serena Donadoni

Free Will Astrology

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Listen up, my beautiful, mixed-up friend, and listen good. And please don’t react until you hear the whole story. The conflagration will soon climax, which means your future is rosy. I predict you’ll entertain that little apocalypse in your heart for maybe another 100 hours, and then it’ll extinguish itself in…

Metro Times editorial staff

15 Minutes

The plot glut of this bleak satire-cum-thriller is overseen by a director (John Herzfeld, 2 Days in the Valley) who greets subtlety with a sledgehammer and tries to fashion a smart, contemporary tale from tired movie clichés, making it feel irrelevant and dated despite its flashy, bombastic style.

Serena Donadoni

If Mom only knew

Q: For almost two years I have been sleeping with and having sex with this guy. We really enjoy each other’s company — not only sexually, but just being together. The past year I have fallen in love with him and he with me, but we have to keep this relationship a secret. Why? We…

Metro Times editorial staff

Welcome to Detroit

Jay Dee’s fantastic new masterpiece … The Wizard’s return was an all-encompassing history lesson … Transmat Thursdays return to the Temple … DEMF 2001 is coming … & more.

Metro Times editorial staff

Boonies boredom

More than any other genre, country music has the uncanny ability to make rural geography seem as inescapable as it is insufferable. Anyone who grew up bored in the boonies can testify that — despite all the wide-open spaces — there’s something terrifyingly claustrophobic in knowing that, even barreling down the interstate at 90 mph,…

Jimmy Draper

Please approach the bar

Best No-Cover Bar Wayne Town Pump Tavern, 100 W. Montcalm, Detroit, 313-961-1929 Oakland Gusoline Alley, 309 S. Center, Royal Oak, 248-545-2235 Macomb Shores Inn, 23410 Greater Mack, St. Clair Shores, 810-773-8940 Washtenaw Del Rio, 122 W. Washington, 734-761-2530 Best Happy Hour Spread Wayne Tremors, 17123 Laurel Park N., Livonia, 734-462-2096 Oakland TIE: Big Buck, 2550…

Metro Times editorial staff

Letters to the Editor

Passing the buck Jack, I would like to thank you for your comments your Politics & Prejudices column ("Human rights and Royal Oak," MT, Feb 28-March 6). I’m a Royal Oak resident and have attended all the meetings regarding the Human Rights Ordinance. The fact that the HRO is going to a public vote doesn’t…

Metro Times editorial staff

Against the fall of night

Another school shooting? Not so shocking, considering that we Americans love guns more than children. Jim Bristah thinks the time has come to abolish weapons of all kinds.

Jack Lessenberry

Trash Brats

The Trash Brats have mastered the art of frightening attraction, looking way too glamorous in feathers, fur and leather as guitars wail bloody murder and vocal chords shriek, “Prepare to meet your maker.” In the grand Detroit tradition, the Trash Brats put on a show. And they’ve done it consistently well for almost a decade…

Melissa Giannini

Sleeping beauty

Juliana Hatfield was the Christina Aguilera of an entire generation of early ’90s insecure, blue-haired alternateens. We followed her virgin status and love life with dreamy Lemonhead Evan Dando in fanzines galore. We saved the issue of Sassy with her and her bass on the cover. We sighed as she sang about “wanting to fuck…

Melissa Giannini

Just stretching

Mike’s Modern Music has a hard-to-characterize sound all its own that demonstrates a commendable willingness to try out new styles. Bands willing to stretch out beyond comfortable labels usually offer up one style on one CD, then perhaps stretch out into undiscovered territory on a separate effort, maybe even on a separate label. Mike’s Modern…

Keith A. Owens

You’re the best

You’re the Best The best pickup line is “Hi.” You told us that. You also told us the best places to get your grub on, the best places to roll your wheels, the media people who really speak to you, the best places to shake your moneymaker, the best places to play games, gamble, watch…

Metro Times editorial staff

Don’t wake me

In 1997, Ry Cooder released his score to The End of Violence, the Wim Wenders film from the same year. Played by such all-stars as Flaco Jimenez, Jim Keltner, James “Blood” Ulmer and Jacky Terrasson, and featuring Jon Hassell’s existential trumpet solos and Cooder on guitar, the set did more than hang a wistful scrim…

George Tysh

Book ’em

Best Novel About Detroit to Make Into a Film: The Purple Gang: A History of the Detroit Underworld, 1910-1945

Curt Guyette

You’re the Best

The best pickup line is “Hi.” You told us that. You also told us the best places to get your grub on, the best places to roll your wheels, the media people who really speak to you, the best places to shake your moneymaker, the best places to play games, gamble, watch movies, and flash…

Larry Gabriel

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