Wreck dreck
Barbara-Rose Collins and some of her colleagues on the Detroit City Council are raising an ethical red flag regarding the Board of Wrecking examiners. And News Hits is paying heed, at least in part because Collins, who was once investigated for allegedly misusing public funds while a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (the…
The Blowout drive-thru
Who/Where: The Holy Fire; Detroit (well, Dearborn). Backstory: Like high school chicks drunk off wine coolers and giggling about The Killers, singer/guitarist Sean Hoen, drummer Nick Marco, bassist Nathan Miller and guitarist Ryan Wilson formed the Holy Fire out of an equal admiration for whiskey, the Pixies and the things that make your soul ache.…
Form follows dysfunction
First unveiled in 1987, the art in the Detroit People Mover stations has been out of the public eye over the past few years as parts of the system have been shut down due to construction. With the reopening of the entire 2.9-mile circuit, the project’s profile is being raised once more. Part of that…
Costly comedy
Fighting between metro Detroit’s leaders is looking more and more like a comedy of errors. Unfortunately for the region, this ain’t no sitcom. Case in point: Ferndale City Manager Tom Barwin, an energetic, progressive leader who wears a beret and helped Ferndale revitalize and double its property values over the last decade, says Detroit is…
A savage debate
Q: Holy cow, Dan! What a mean response! I totally disagree that there is a direct parallel between mugging old ladies and having unsafe sex with an HIV diagnosis. The old ladies have no way to protect themselves, whereas every single partner who sleeps with an HIV-er has the choice to use a condom. I…
Orange crush
News Hits is consistently amazed at the breadth of information dispensed by the Enviro-Mich listserv, a discussion forum and an automatic e-mail distribution system sponsored by the Mackinac chapter of the Sierra Club. We mention this now because of an item posted this week directing attention to a New York Times article regarding Agent Orange,…
Leader of the pack
There are photos on Guitar Wolf’s Web site of people destroying themselves, sharing sweat and pleading with Seiji, Billy, and Toru to have mercy. But the Wolf men do not, and the rock ’n’ roll continues. The Tokyo trio’s been bringing it like this since at least 1991, when the world first started hearing about…
Tearing down, looking up
“Why are you bothering with this? Half the city is like this,” says a Highland Park city employee to a resident as he picks up a demolition request form from a resident who wants the eyesore at 115-117 E. Buena Vista razed. The resident, who does not want to be identified, tells the Abandoned Structure…
Art Bar
Who you know and where you go: Detroit’s people and places are the respective subjects of an exhibition opening at Revolution Gallery in Ferndale and a brand-new book. Kurt Novak: Detroit Portraits, running March 5 through April 9 at Revolution, is a photography show featuring Novak’s large-scale portraits of local celebs — artists, patrons, writers,…
Letters to the Editor
Guns not the only problem Re: Keith A. Owens’ article “America: Still eating its young” (Metro Times, Feb. 9), I found the article quite interesting. While I feel that it was informative and perceptive, I felt it overlooked valid points contributing to Detroit’s predicament. I must admit that different cultures vary in what kind of…
P-Rock, dog
Pop quiz: Which Detroit neighborhood spawned more lyrically gifted hip-hop talent, Conant Gardens or P-Rock (Plymouth Road)? Well, Conant nurtured the original Slum Village (T3, J-Dilla, Baatin, Que D and Waajeed), Amp Fiddler and Frank N’ Dank, but P-Rock has its own roster of heavyweights. Freestyle gorillas like Elzhi, Fuzz Scoota, B-Flatt, Lo Louis, F.O.D.,…
Comics
This Modern World Red Meat Comix
Gotta serve somebody
Here’s how politicians differ from ordinary people: Last month, my wife leased a new car, which was fine, except for a small request from the dealership. They want us to pay them several hundred dollars a month for it. Matter of fact, they insist on it. What I was hoping for was a version of…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show," is a big star now. But on his way to the top, he has sometimes had a laid-back attitude toward ambition. "As long as I can remember," he has said, "I wanted to sleep late, stay up late and do nothing in…
Young again
There seems to be a resurgence of interest in Detroit’s first black mayor. An updated version of The Quotations of Mayor Coleman A. Young (Wayne State University Press) is not far off, and Coleman A. Young Jr. recently appeared in a preview of the upcoming play Hit 8-Mile: I Remember Coleman. And now Odell Waller,…
Backslash
Bunny terrorism: Animal lovers — God bless ’em, but they’re quite the gullible bunch when it comes to Web pranks. Remember Bonsai Kitten? Founded in 2000 by a group of MIT students, bonsaikitten.com featured widdle kitties crammed into oddly shaped jars in an attempt to shape the kitten as it grows, like a bonsai tree.…
Proactive
For the health of it — There will be something for almost everybody at a fund-raising event for the nonprofit group Z.I.A.D. Healthcare for the Underserved. The group provides health care, health education and physical fitness programs to uninsured and underinsured families and individuals. The event is being held Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6, in…
Masculine hygeine
In Harmonie Park on the corner of Grand River and Broadway, amid the half-finished roadwork, makeshift parking lots and temporary stop signs that spring up like weeds, sits an elegant juxtaposition: a sleek spa, its name embossed in white lettering on plate glass windows. Occasionally a Lincoln or Cadillac will glide up and deposit someone…
N&D Center
Thursday • 3 McKenzie Wark: A Hacker Manifesto LITERATURE As part of the 2004-05 DeRoy Lecture Series, Wayne State University presents “Information wants to be free … but is everywhere in chains,” a talk by McKenzie Wark, professor of media studies at the New School University in New York and author of A Hacker Manifesto.…
Trigger happy
The sticky and sweet fluid arches up and falls gracefully in foamy droplets, showering tousled hair and trickling down noses and arms, jeans and boots, onto the floor, wasted. How sad. Squandered Miller High Life is no fun for anyone, particularly this punk rock five-piece suitably dubbed Bang Bang. Who’s going on a beer run?…
Hizzoner, the real one
This week, I was prepared to write about neo-religious fascism, the tyranny of the minority and our surprising acquiescence to it as a so-called free society. But that’s going to be with us for at least four more years, so I can hit it later. I chose a new topic because a letter poured in…
Just say no to crack
On Feb. 9, Virginia’s House of Delegates approved a law making it illegal to show your skivvies in public. Dubbed “the droopy pants bill,” it called for a $50 fine to anyone exposing their undies in a “lewd or indecent manner” (as opposed to displaying your knickers in a tasteful, discreet manner). But just a…
Because of Winn-Dixie
Newcomer Annasophia Robb channels the cheerful innocence of Little Orphan Annie and Lassie’s Timmy in this film adaptation of the best-selling children’s book, Because of Winn-Dixie. The film does deal with tough issues, but the stories of pain and abandonment are handled on a level appropriate for a young audience. The soundtrack is refreshing, but…
Here’s Henry
Juilliard-trained and brilliant, bassist Henry Grimes started out in the sweaty mainstream of ’50s jazz with the likes of Arnett Cobb and Buddy Rich. In the ’60s he threw his lot in with the edge-pushing crowd, with Sonny Rollins and Don Cherry and the saxophonic volcano Albert Ayler. And then, in the early ’70s he…
Here’s a ‘Fly’ we want open
You can get a burger and fries, or bacon and eggs, but after that the menu goes in all sorts of interesting directions, including sandwiches with such names as the Pea Patch or the charmoula chicken. And vegetarians have as interesting a selection as carnivores. Of the seven dinner entrées, only one contains meat, another…
The bees’ knees
Now I know just how sweet Van Morrison’s girl, his angel of the first degree, was to him. Although as a youngun I thought she was “as sweet as stupid ol’ honey,” I’ve long since understood the correct lyrics, but hadn’t tasted the real thing until very recently. She must have been one sweet mamma-jamma.…
I lost it at the movies
This Chinese surrealist entry focuses on a young man in an old movie palace, watching the 1966 classic martial arts flick Dragon Inn. Some viewers may high concept approach off-putting and become restless. But if you can steady your gaze, slow down, get into the movie’s dream-time pacing and accept the lack of plot, you’ll…
Old-school, new-school
OK, we asked Nathaniel Mayer and Phat Kat — an old “hit-making” soul singer and a young, up-and-coming rapper — to give us top ten lists of the records that not only soothed troubling childhoods, puberty and the attendant street hassles, but also helped make them who they are. In other words, those tunes that…
Northern exposure
A little while ago, a friend described his midnight vision of a steam-shovel ballet. He said he saw a trio of yellow metal arms rising from the ground in unison like a blossoming mechanical flower. Bulldozers were performing industrial-strength pirouettes with precision, spinning in sequence to the pleasing downbeat-double-upbeat music of a waltz. This wasn’t…
Sky Blue
A post-apocalyptic science fiction story, this marks Korea’s first foray into big budget anime. Borrowing shamelessly from films like Metropolis, Blade Runner, and Road Warrior, Sky Blue doesn’t have an original idea in its head. Despite these shortcomings, however, the film’s visuals are nothing short of astonishing. One arresting image after another seduces you into…
Blow by blow
Think musical desegregation and songs filling frigid streets, the cold made warm by music culled from every conceivable (and damnable) corner of the Detroit area. Think puffy livers and snow-haired bartenders manning warm, old-man taverns turned superstar venues. If you’re still a Detroit suburb shut-in harboring misgivings about Blowout 2005 in Hamtramck, well, you should…
Hard time
A Corrections Department van circles the perimeter of the Huron Valley women’s prison in Ypsilanti. It is a dreary scene. A 12-foot-high fence topped with razor wire rings the state facility housing 817 women. A U.S. flag and a partially torn Michigan Department of Corrections flag flutter in the wind. Inside the lobby on this…
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
A message to folks who are fed up with black stereotypes in the movies: give Diary of a Mad Black Woman a chance. Although the film adaptation of playwright-actor Tyler Perry’s hit stage play caters to a few overused caricatures, it also has its share of insightful moments. Despite a bumpy beginning littered with cultural…
Afro-beat repeat
The strumming of a guitar, people singing and cat-calls from tetchy bandmates boom in the background. As he walks from room to room in the Glasgow home of a new friend and fan, Elliot Bergman — leader of the Afro-beat/avant-jazz ensemble, Nomo — searches for a place to hide. He is currently on a European…
Just you wait
“We’re done. We’re through with teaching. We’re here for rock ’n’ roll,” Korin Cox says, with a matter-of-fact nod. The Hard Lessons keyboardist-vocalist is sitting in Gusoline Alley, sipping red wine, spinning tunes on the venerable Royal Oak dive’s well-stocked jukebox, and bickering playfully with her bandmates over liner note details for the trio’s upcoming…
Cursed
The Scream team — writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven — warm up some leftover would-be thrills for this bloodless, gore-free teen werewolf flick. About the only thing that separates Cursed from one of those ancient B-horror movies shown on USA Up All Night is a decent cast and some severely fake-looking CGI creatures.
