Dan DeMaggio: 100 percent gentleman
After just barely getting to New Dodge Lounge in time to see the end of the Meltdowns, I got to catch Dan DeMaggio of his City Chicken Orchestra before he went onstage. Dan, quite rightly, gave me a hard time about the description I used of his group in the paper (“Boozy spoken-word blowhard Dan…
Stick your Woodstock up your ass.
Holy shit, I love the Blowout. I may have only just arrived home (at what I thought was 2 a.m. but what my computer clock is telling me is 3 a.m. – damn) and therefore still be enjoying the memories that are very fresh in my mind, but I think that this year’s Blowout is…
Wonder Twins Blowout Report: Friday
Laura: We started off day three of Blowout right with pierogies at Polish Village. D’Anne: Those were some good pierogies. Definitely not on my diet. L: Diets are for housewives. Only a fool would go to a multi-day event in Hamtramck and NOT partake in good Polish food. D: I know. When in Rome, do…
THREE DOWN, ONE TO GO…
Man, I felt exhausted going into Blowout after putting all the editorial stuff together. and, today, finally, I’m an absolute zombie. But I figured I’d better scribble down a few random thoughts from these last three nights of my second-ever Blowout, which Brian Bowe once described to me on the phone as “Detroit’s South by…
Thursday Night Blowout Hits
Started out by checking out the amazing guitar heavy pop of Citizen Smile at Small’s. Reminiscent of early Teenage Fanclub and bass player Adam Padden is arguably the Paul McCartney of Detroit. Besides, any band with a singer named James Brown is cool with me. Keeping the ridiculously good guitar pop alive at Small’s was…
Hamtown nocturne
All the high-volume indoor energy aside for a moment, it is Hamtramck’s dense urban grid that is the real winner in the Blowout story. It’s in this space, built for people – – simply put — where all kinds of community life is possible. It’s here, man, to paraphrase Dennis Hopper’s crazed photojournalist in Apocalypse…
Blowout Family-friendly Programming! Starts at 2:10 p.m. at Cafe 1923
Daytime Blowout music at Cafe 1923 (2287 Holbrook, Hamtramck). Enjoy children’s music by the Mydols, CelloBella and Danny Kroha. Starts @ 2:10 p.m.!!
Intern BC on the Hadituptoheres
One of the many epic Blowout 12 adventures last night was the Hadituptohere’s late set at Kelly’s Bar, which started like a punk rock insane asylum, and then came totally unglued from there. Bodies slamming, drums, guitars, arms, and elbows flying, along with a heaping helping dose of crowd surfing made this one a Blowout…
HOLY LIGHT
Love and fat kisses to the tubby push-tit with the beard/black-rimmed specs combo who continued to smash my toes with his giant size 12 or whatever boots whilst traveling in and out of the Atlas Bar. The tops of the feet this a.m. are hued in peculiar shades of crimson. Neat. Could only hope the…
The Blowout is Recession Proof
We made five stops last night and they all had one thing in common: they were packed to the gills. I found this amazing, the sight of the tiniest of dive bars like the Painted Lady and Whiskey in a Jar and Kelly’s just totally banging. And people everywhere seemed really, really happy. I had…
Bombed Out Of My Mind
I woke up on Friday morning with a bad case of what can only be described as Blowout-fatigue. In other words, I was knackered. These frantic late nights out on school nights soon start to take their toll. So as Day 3 of the festival loomed, I decided that I was going to take it…
75 & 55
I started off the Blowout, as is my custom by rolling off 75 at exit 55 and hitting Paycheck’s. It’s closest to the freeway, the parking’s reliable, the attitude is pure Hamtown and, on this night, Last Tourist was playing the 9:20 p.m. slot. Win-win-win, as they say in the business. So, to be honest,…
Shades of Gary Numan
Thursday night at the Knights of Columbus (hall and lounge) on Conant was a-hoppin’. At the wristband desk, we clicked in more than 500 guests over the course of the night, making the K of C one of the busiest destinations on Blowout’s first night. With Zoos of Berlin, Daniel., Devilfish and Blase Splee in…
Blowout Photos!
Check out our Blowout photo page on Flickr! http://www.flickr.com/groups/blowout2009/pool/
Blowout Youtube Vids
Our Blowout video team has been working hard to cover the best of Blowout! Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/user/MetroTimesBlowout It is constantly being updated.
Deastro Was So Beautiful
How can I put this? In Detroit there is Deastro and there is everybody else. Randy Chabot has gone to the next level. I realized this last night. I’m not talking about quality but about commitment. About courage, really. Because let’s be honest, the rest of us are just hiding — underneath layers of detachment,…
IMPORTANT note about tickets!!
Hey everyone!!! 60 degrees and it’s FRIDAY! BLOWOUT 12 is going to KILL tonight!!! There was a little confusion last night regarding $10 wristbands. It was a mistake on our behalf; we had only planned on offering the $10 wristbands on Saturday night since it is the last night of the festival. The $10 wristbands…
Wonder Twins Blowout Report: Thursday
Laura: So Blowout Day 2! The first official, “so many venues and bands, so little time” frenzied evening. Did you have fun? D’Anne: Yes. The highlight of Blowout Day Two was definitely, for me, the Juliets. L: Yes – Jeremy Freer’s new outfit is tops. Reminded me of the Divine Comedy – one of my…
…and they’ve got a killer band name to boot.
Only in Detroit would the bartender who slung whiskey shots a the Pre-Party, be, a mere 24 hours later, enjoying rock star-caliber adoration as “the band you shouldn’t have missed” at Thursday’s Blowout. We don’t know this particular fella’s name, but we know he’s in Millions of Brazilians, a band that not only packed the…
The Silent Choir
Glancing over the line up for the Blowout on Thursday earlier in the day, I began to realize that I’d only heard of a couple of bands. With that in mind, I had to develop a system to help me decide who to see over the course of the evening. Here’s how it panned out:…
Let’s all make love in Detroit
Yes, oh, yes, I’m feeling it. I watched interview and performance footage (“Astronomy Domine”) of Pink Floyd in ’67 before going out last night to pre-party Blowout XII, and did it for the unforgettable genius Syd B. and inspiration’s sake; I then rolled out to the Majestic just in time for the spoken word, jazz-broken…
Different name, same stink
It can be truly dizzying the way PR flacks attempt to spin reality. To keep at least some sense of equilibrium, one of the sources I keep a regular eye on is the Center for Media and Democracy, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit dedicated to exposing the realities that lie behind corporate and government facades. I mention…
Blowout 12 on NPR!
Check out Celeste Headlee’s interview with Chris Handyside, Blowout’s original creator! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101479583
Hugs ‘n’ Bugs
I have come to view the opening party of Blowout as a family reunion of people with whom I’d actually like to share a park, a game of frisbee and a BBQ. To that end, I’d like to propose a casserole buffet at next year’s kickoff. Ratified? Awesome. Thanks! Random thoughts include: *I find it…
The Wonder Twins Blowout Report: Wednesday
The Wonder Twins, D’Anne and Laura Witkowski, report from the trenches of the Blowout fest, Day One. Laura: Blowout! Day ONE! This is your first ever Blowout and MY second! Though last year I dutifully volunteered, so I didn’t get the FULL Blowout experience. D’Anne: I am a Blowout virgin. I am happy to report…
RANDOM THOUGHTS OUT LOUD
Some random Wednesday night thoughts: *Electric Fire Babies were great. Between the stripped-down beats, guitars and Nicole’s vocals, I was reminded of the undeniable dance assault of the first two B-52’s albums. *Fluent and his band were amazing. Judging by the at-times flat response of the crowd (OK, it was early). Detroit rock ‘n’ roll…
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
I had trouble making sense of things last night. The evening just didn’t want to stay linear. Maybe that’s what happens when you sandwich your brain between the beers and boom of a Blowout music fest. Or maybe the Majestic complex really has magic in it. I don’t understand, and I suppose I just stopped…
Men With No Meat
Day one of the 2009 Metro Times Blowout Festival at the Majestic Theater and Magic Stick produced a mixed bag of music, both in terms of style and quality, though it produced an equal amount of questions and theories: If Beastie Boy Mike D joined the B-52’s, how much would that band sound like the…
LYMAN WOODARD REMEMBERED, PART II (PLUS AN ONLINE SPECIAL)
“He was a great guy, a wonderful spirit and he had a great love for the music,” an old friend of recently deceased Lyman Woodard told us the other day. Bud Spangler, a presence on the Detroit scene in the days of Tribe and the Strata label and Kenn Cox’s CJQ, Spangler told us that…
BLOWOUT BLOGGING
Blowout 12 kicks off tonight with the Pre-Party at the Majestic Theatre complex. Just realized that we’re losing an hour this weekend, with the arrival of daylight savings time…which means we’re probably all going to be even more exhausted when next Monday arrives. Oh, well… Just wanted to give a heads up that various voices…
Shielded in secret?
Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter wants to tell a federal judge why he fears prosecution if he testifies in a civil lawsuit about his confidential sources for a 2004 article about a Justice Department investigation. As long as his reasons remain secret, that is. In a motion filed Tuesday — a few hours after…
Without a shield
The fatal shooting of an off-duty Michigan State Trooper rocked Detroit during the summer of 1985. A seven-year veteran of the force, Paul Hutchins, 30, was on evening stroll along the downtown riverfront when he was shot in the head during a robbery and left to die by a group of teens. During the investigation,…
What we’ll miss
When newspapers disappear, what will go with them
Couch Trip
Fuzz: The Sound that Revolutionized the World Brinkfilm The first time I ever heard the word “guitarded” used to describe gear whores and effects geeks, I about choked on my ham sandwich. Culturally insensitive as it is, no word better encapsulates the nerd-ism that plagues those dudes (and the rare chick) who would rather play…
Night and Day
WEDNESDAY • 4 ASOBI SEKSU DREAM POP Over the course of the group’s first two albums, New York City’s Asobi Seksu established itself as a bunch of shoegazing, starry-eyed dreamers with heady distortion practically burying the half-English, half-Japanese lyrics. But on the band’s third release, Hush, the group — pared down to a duo —…
Food Stuff
Full plates for local foodies.
Letters to the Editor
The sweet truth This e-mail is in response to the anonymous caller who said that Paczki Day is the mindless creation of “marketing assholes.” Sorry, dude, but you’re barking up the wrong tree. Paczki Day originated from a dedicated team of baking-industry personnel at the now-defunct Farmer Jack supermarkets, who were looking for a way…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
Rock ‘n’ roll high
Wow! Can you believe it’s been 12 years of musical mayhem and brilliance? Once again, Hamtramck is converted into “Rock City Central,” as Metro Times proudly presents the largest local music festival in the country … and thanks to the diligent work of producer Eve Doster Knepp, Blowout 12 may be shaping up to be…
Fresh French
Charles Sorel, raised in France but with the Caribbean personality of his native Martinique, is providing a splash of sunlight at his breakfast-and-lunch spot in Corktown. His small space has bright yellow walls and bright yellow napkins. It’s accented in green and turquoise and is adorned with paintings in primary and other cheerful colors. Outdoors,…
Class war
The Class doesn’t deviate from director Laurent Cantet’s progressive social messaging, but its pseudo-documentary trappings represent a departure in style. Based on a memoir by François Bégaudeau (who plays a fictionalized version of himself in the movie), Cantet generated his script by intensively workshopping the piece with young non-actors who spent nine months improvising with…
Fanboys
This film is little more than a typical dude-raunchy road farce stuck in a nerdy candy shell, but with a saccharine aftertaste. The “plot” follows a crew of Ohio megageeks circa 1998, on a mission to drive cross-country and break in to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch compound, in order to steal an advance print of…
The Punk meets the modfather Pt. 2
The Small Faces were my first love. It was Christmastime when I discovered them. I was 16, shopping at Car City Records in St. Clair Shores — buying discs for my older sisters. On one of their wish lists was the Small Faces’ Decca Anthology. I’d heard of this band in Paul Weller interviews. I…
The kids are alright
The Crooks — drummer Ben Van Camp, 17, guitarist-vocalist Jordan Krebs and bassist Taylor Reynolds, both 16 — are knowledgeable beyond their years. But first a little backstory … Music writer-producer-hustler-legend Kim Fowley told me on the phone, Thanksgiving weekend: “The Crooks. High school boys who play like Led Zeppelin. Check them out.” And when…
R.E.S.P.E.C.T
Competition is fierce in the Michigan hip-hop arena. The state — or more specifically, the Motor City — is heralded worldwide for its versatile array of lighthearted rappers and lyrically dense emcees, not to mention artists signed to both huge major label and powerhouse independent label deals. It takes a ton to stand out in…
Big Diehl pop
The first time this writer saw Lightning Love play, it was a drab October evening at Hamtramck’s Belmont rock venue. Headlining were the ultimately forgettable Griefs. On a different night and in a different city, this kind of evening would’ve been a total wash. But this is Detroit, and so blessed are we with musicality…
Ready to blow
Because of this week’s Blowout, we’re presenting this handy shortlist of Hamtramck’s humble culinary destinations. They’re uncommonly cheap, sometimes open late, and are often off the beaten path, but, at any given hour of the day, these joints are tehre to lay the foundation for a night’s drinking, quell late-night hunger pangs, or nourish away…
Jonesin’ for song
Aw, shit. It’s a frigid Monday afternoon and songwriter-singer Matt Jones is at tonight’s show venue in Columbus, Ohio, but its doors are locked. The joint’s closed. Of course it is. Think about it: If you’re some unknown dude out peddling your tunes, 35 cities in 37 days — road-dog style — do you think…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
Well, here comes Jeffrey Morgan again with the liquor and the Media Blackout #208! Cory Woodward — Princess of the Skies (self-released) :: The first impression is of a guy expertly aping Springsteen, but then the subtle nuances in his voice filter through, exposing eerie elements of early Presley and Plant with a slight skein…
Gutsy art
Cristin Richard’s art studio takes up the entire living room and dining room in her Victorian home in Hubbard Farms on Detroit’s southwest side. Life-size bras, panties, corsets, dresses and spiked pumps made of pig gut (or sausage casings) fill the space. They are the color of yellowed newsprint and as delicate and translucent as…
Lesson plans
State rep in the fray over Detroit Public Schools
Portly problem
He says he hates plus-sized women, yet dates one; here’s the psychology
Nuke news
Nuclear watchdog protests DTE’s plans for new reactor
Angelic upstarts
Here’s a little roundup of upcoming bands oozing from this area’s ephemera, and ones you’d most likely otherwise miss at Blowout numero 12. We quizzed ’em for kicks and got back youthful smirks and some irony-rich, sweeter-than-you commentary. Some even listed their ages! —Compiled by Brian Smith LIES UNKNOWN MEET THE BAND Enrique “Rico” Sierra…
PRE-PARTY: FIRST BAND STARTS EARLY!!
Hello All, In case you hadn’t noticed, set times for both Wednesday’s Pre-Party and Thursday night Blowout are a little earlier than normal.  We did this out of respect for folks with day jobs and also, to help preserve (somewhat, anyways) the immune systems of attendees.  We don’t want to kill you in the first…
