DECLARATION FOR DETROIT: A NEW MOVEMENT FOR CITY?
The 12 principles are pretty basic. For instance: Be welcoming and embrace our diversity. Preserve our authenticity. Promote sustainability. Demand government accountability. Think regionally and leverage our geography. And more than 2,000 people have signed online as supporters of what’s being called Detroit Declaration, which is the subject of a forum Tuesday evening scheduled to…
Bing Administration moves press office to basement (but don’t take it wrong)
Even during the most embattled days of the Coleman Young, Dennis Archer and Kwame Kilpatrick administrations, Detroit’s city hall reporters remained housed in offices just outside the mayor’s quarters. That era ends with Dave Bing. The City Hall bureau that is still rented and shared by the dailies and a few radio stations is moving…
LOCAL TIDBITS: SCIENCE ROCKS, FRANK EXITS & MORE STOOGES…
Just a reminder that Wonder Twin Laura Witkowski is the brains behind yet another “Science Rocks” extravaganza — the second one, actually — tomorrow night, March 18th, at the Detroit Science Center. The local musical faves appearing include Silverghost, the Prime Ministers, Darling Imperial and the Electric Fire Babies. I promised Ms. Witkowski that I’d…
Unseen hands
The infidels here at News Hits were heartened a few weeks ago when news broke that a group called the Detroit Area Coalition for Reason placed ads on the outside of SMART buses that read: "Don’t believe in God? You are not alone." Given the influence of the religious right in this country, attempts to…
Night and Day
THURSDAY MARCH 18 Sarah Jones KARMA CHAMELEON An elderly Russian man, a Jewish grandmother, a young African-American rapper, a Pakistani immigrant — Tony Award-winning actress, playwright and spoken-word poet Sarah Jones has played them all. Jones’ multicharacter, multicultural one-woman shows — including the breakout hit Bridge & Tunnel, produced in part by Meryl Streep —…
Lakes’ law
Asian carp, climate change and clean energy are among the priorities for Nick Schroeck, the new executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. The Detroit-based nonprofit center is affiliated with the Wayne State University Law School’s new environmental law clinic, which started last year. Schroeck, then the regional representative with the National Wildlife…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
HereSay
Emilio Castillo spends about 175 days a year on the road with Tower of Power, a 42-year-old musical institution based in the Bay Area, where Castillo grew up after leaving Detroit as a kid. We caught up with him by phone at an airport, en route to a New Orleans gig where he’d no doubt…
Motor City’s greatest ‘bar band’ ever?
On paper, it’s a tired concept. Get four or five musicians or rock ‘n’ roll stars who’ve been gigging under various names with various bands for decades and throw them in a bar band together. Have them play songs from their combined pasts … and claim that they’re not, in fact, a bar band at…
The Ghost Writer
Filmmaker Roman Polanski, who brings such a masterly touch to The Ghost Writer, despite its predictable story and timid cast. Hired to ghost-write the memoir of a Tony Blair-like British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan), a nameless writer (get it?) played by Ewan McGregor is sucked into political and domestic intrigue. The PM is accused by…
The delicious dozen
The Ginger Garlic Eggplant $7.95 for one, $14.95 for two Mon Jin Lau 1515 E. Maple Rd., Troy; 248-689-2332; monjinlau.com This popular vegetarian side has an unusual origin: It was inspired by Italian cuisine. Co-owner Brandon Chin says, "We like going to Italian restaurants and we always liked eggplant rotini, so we tried to come…
Green Zone
Teaming up again with his Bourne series star, Matt Damon, director Paul Greengrass tries to graft a ’70s-style conspiracy thriller onto a breakneck action flick while critiquing the incompetence and corruption of Bush’s policies in Iraq. Very “loosely” based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s terrific nonfiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City, Green Zone takes place…
Squeezeboxin’
In a quiet office plaza off the I-696 corridor in Warren, John Castiglione sells accordions. The showroom’s small and sort of corporate; there are no flashy displays, diamond-encrusted instruments or autographed posters for show, no polka music piped through the speakers. There aren’t even that many accordions in plain view: a Roland electronic model, a…
Our Family Wedding
Welcome to the new post-racial America, where at long last African-Americans and Latinos can star together in a major studio movie every bit as crappy as anything white people have ever done. Our Family Wedding is a minor milestone in the march of cultural progress, and a huge regression in the art of screen comedy,…
Metro Retro
27 years ago in Metro Times: A cover story finds MT writers gearing up for Tiger baseball 1983. Michael Betzold hazards a prediction: "Under manager Sparky Anderson, the Tigers have been a perfect mathematical regression leading inexorably to the pinnacle of mediocrity, .500 ball, which they will reach at their current pace in 1984 —…
Remember Me
Robert Pattinson throws all his thousand-yard stares and brooding energy into the role of Tyler, an early twentysomething bad boy charging fast in no particular direction, a poor little rich boy seething with equal parts resentment and pomposity. You can tell he’s a maverick through his immaculate two-day stubble growth, chain smoking habit, affection for…
The Metro Times Dining Guide
Vegetarian-Friendly Aut Bar 315 Braun Court, Ann Arbor; 734-994-3677; $: In the warmer months, historic Kerrytown’s Aut Bar spills out onto a quiet courtyard it has nearly all to itself. Functioning as a restaurant and a bar for 21 years (the second level is 21 and older only), there’s a popular Sunday brunch (10-3) and…
She’s Out of My League
Jay Baruchel (Undeclared, Tropic Thunder) is a sweet-natured everydude, working for the TSA at the Pittsburgh airport, killing time with his foul-mouthed buddies, and pining for his selfish twit of an ex-girlfriend. When a chance encounter with overachieving Aryan goddess Alice Eve (a “rock hard 10,” his friends sputter) develops into an unlikely romance, Baruchel…
Cheat Code
Bioshock 2 2K Games Xbox 360, PS3, PC It was its setting that separated the original Bioshock from other first-person shooters. The undersea dystopia of Rapture was spooky, unpredictable and, most importantly, new. Problem is, you can never go back somewhere for the first time, so Bioshock 2 has its work cut out. This time,…
Red Riding Trilogy
For most of the Red Riding trilogy, the filmmakers plunge you into 1970s and ’80s-era Yorkshire, England. Constructed like a jigsaw puzzle of societal decay and corruption, Red Riding’s three films — originally created for BBC television — are steeped in the same murky, soul-rotting noir that permeates James Ellroy’s work. Based on a series…
Happy feet
Q: My husband and I have been married for one year, but we had been dating for 10 years before that. I thought we had a very understanding relationship. In the last couple of days, I have found out that he has a serious obsession with females wearing running shoes. He had in the past…
The devil’s daddy
Gimme Shelter is way too dark; Woodstock and Monterey Pop too hippie-dippy in retrospect. The Last Waltz might be a contender. But no matter the competition, when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll concert films, 1964’s The T.A.M.I. Show is the granddaddy and, quite simply, the greatest of them all. It’s also long been something…
Pucker up
When I was a kid, I remember my mom taking me to a Wonka-ish shop that sold fake pill bottles filled with candy. It wasn’t the sugary contents that made me decide I had to have one. It was the packaging. After all, who could resist candy "pills" labeled super rich, beautiful and brainy? I…
The Calcination of Scout Niblett
This far into her career, the work produced by England’s Scout Niblett has become synonymous with the genre of stripped-down grrl rock put forth by PJ Harvey and Cat Power. For the most part, it’s been an apt comparison; there’s definitely a lonesome, searching sound and melancholy feeling pervading her work. Chicago soundman Steve…
Sharp young things
The Whitney, that grand old former residence, shines on a sunny afternoon in midtown Detroit. With its 52 rooms, 10 bathrooms and 20 fireplaces, the three-story pink-granite edifice is in great condition, and pots of forced lilies decorate the front garden. It seems the manse-turned-restaurant is preparing for a wedding party later that day, and…
Trunk Show
Trunk Show is another Neil Young live performance filmed by Jonathan Demme, (who also shot 2006’s Nashville-based Heart of Gold); this one’s taken from the Chrome Dreams II tour’s stop at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pa. How one reacts to it will be based entirely on how one reacts to this particular musical…
Welcome back, sorta
For any cognizant creative whose finger is on the pulse of this ailing city, the news of one relocating to New York is a cliché. And other places too. Want to move to Los Angeles? Best of luck, see you in the valley, babe. You’ll be back broke with smog-filled lungs, a runny nose and…
Independents day?
John Joseph Henry Schwarz grew up a Republican. He supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Earlier, he served in Vietnam, and, afterward, went back to Indochina — with the CIA. He supported his friend John McCain for president two years ago, and twice was endorsed for Congress by George W. Bush. This year, he…
Letters to the Editor
Village voice In your Feb. 24 article reviewing the taqueria Los Altos ("Mexican high"), you describe it as being in "Mexicantown’s second downtown, near Springwells." The area that you visited is called Springwells Village. Mexicantown is really only the district located east of I-96 on Bagley Avenue, which even the Mexicantown website will describe as…
Murder case curveball
In what legal experts say is a highly unusual move, a Wayne County prosecutor wants University of Michigan Law School students to testify against a man they’ve been working to exonerate. Innocence Clinic co-director David Moran is asking Wayne County Circuit Judge Tim Kenny to strike the students from the witness list, as well as…
IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE ‘JAZZ,’ DON’T CALL COPS AT MOCAD
ROVA Saxophone Quartet plays Detroit for the first time on Friday (hey, they’ve only been around since the late 1970s), which gives us an excuse to write about the bizarre contretemps involving ROVA saxophonist Larry Ochs, a disgruntled fan and Spanish police late last year. According to an account in The Guardian (of London), drawn…
IGGY POP: BEST. SPEECH. EVER!
I just spent several hours on the Internet, searching for Iggy Pop’s entire acceptance speech following the Stooges’ induction (finally – “It’s about fucking time!” Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong bellowed at the end of his excellent induction speech) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night. Can’t find it yet and there…
