Baker’s Keyboard swings into a new era
A new era kicked off this weekend at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge with new owners Hugh W. Smith III and Eric Whitaker officially taking over. It was good news back a few months ago when the venerable jazz institution – and not just for the Detroit as the oldest jazz club in the nation, and most…
‘Detroit 1-8-7’ Killed, Six Other Shows Out at ABC
10-7, over and out, Detroit 1-8-7. Though the “official” word won’t be announced until ABC makes its fall season upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday, May 17, it’s impossible to keep a secret in the television business: According to numerous media sources, 1-8-7, the first-year police procedural drama starring Michael Imperioli and James McDaniel and shot…
Into the chasm of the Lafferites
Twice in recent months, MT’s Jack Lessenberry has made passing and appropriately cutting comments about a particularly risible tenet of faith among the true believers of the fiscal right: the notion that cutting taxes guarantees business productivity and jobs, leading to so much economic activity that, in fact, more revenues are raised at the lower…
Download Mayer Hawthorne’s New Covers EP
This week, one of Michigan’s best received young musicians, Andrew Cohen — better known as Mayer Hawthorne — released an interesting EP of covers entitled Impressions. Despite containing only six songs, Impressions actually covers a lot of ground. It’s an adventurous project that ranges from covers of classic songs like the Isley Brother’s “Work to…
Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder
Today, Detroit music legend Stevie Wonder turns 61-years-old. He’s responsible for writing and singing some of the best soul songs of all time and has been a fixture in Detroit’s musical DNA since he was just a kid recording tunes for the Motown corporation. There’s no shortage of career highlights under his belt. For starters,…
Hesher
Hesher GRADE: B For those not versed in dated mall lingo, a "hesher" was a particular breed of long-haired, pre-grunge headbanger, similar to a burnout; but usually distinguished by more grime and a nastier attitude. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has attitude in spades as the title character, a living personification of the scraggly social misfits who’d do…
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids GRADE: B Bridesmaids is a chick flick for chick-flick haters. It strives to prove that gals can be as nasty as dudes, and when it comes to raunchy yuks, they are, until those darned realistic human emotions get in the way. Written by star Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, and directed by Freaks and…
Everything Must Go
Everything Must Go GRADE: B- Well observed, well acted, and, well, not nearly sharp-toothed enough, one thing it certainly ain’t is Raymond Carver. Everything Must Go is based on Carver’s "Why Don’t You Dance?" a terse, affecting portrait of middle-age decay that says a whole lot by not saying much at all. While there are…
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids GRADE: B Bridesmaids is a chick flick for chick-flick haters. It strives to prove that gals can be as nasty as dudes, and when it comes to raunchy yuks, they are, until those darned realistic human emotions get in the way. Written by star Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, and directed by Freaks and…
Sunday fundraiser to help P-Funk’s Belita Woods
Those who were there in the day, and serious students of R&B of yore, know the name and work of Belita Woods going back to her ’60s sides for Ollie McLaughlin’s Moira label and ’70s work with the group Brainstorm (she had the lead vocals on “Loving is Really My Game” and “This Must Be…
Sam Roberts – Collider
Sam Roberts – Collider Rounder/Universal "Honey, don’t point that gun at me, you know I only want to be your friend," meandering Montreal rocker Sam Roberts drawls. His reading of that calculatedly dramatic line gives a hint to what’s so off and disappointing about his latest record, Collider: Shooting for the invitingly casual populist disaffection…
Tired of hearing ‘Woe is queer me’
Q: My life is not horrible. I’m an American college student. Compared to most people in the world, I’m pretty well off. I go to college in Bellingham, Wash. — the weed is awesome, the weather is great, and there are lots of hot guys. Score! But! I’m a homo. And I didn’t know how…
Feeling al fresco
$=$5-$10; $$=$10-$25; $$$=$25-$50; $$$$=$50+ Anita’s Kitchen 22651 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; 248-548-0680; anitaskitchenonline.com: The food is what really shines at Anita’s, but the covered patio is a real treat in the summer, while you nosh on the salads and veggie-intensive appetizers that fill a good portion of the menu. As with most Mediterranean cuisines, Lebanese is…
There Be Dragons
There Be Dragons GRADE: C- How director Roland Joffe devolved from producing provocatively humanist films — such as The Mission and The Killing Fields — to 2007’s ham-fisted and awful torture-thriller Captivity is as confounding as Katherine Hiegl’s continued popularity. It’s a slow trajectory toward failure that makes you ruminate on the fickle nature of…
Letters to the Editor
Gutless media Re: Jack Lessenberry’s article "Dems: Gutless cowards" (April 27), while I agree with Lessenberry most of the time, here is where I disagree. The problem isn’t the Democrats not being able to put forth an alternate plan or vision for the state; the real problem is the lack of coverage this governor and…
Spun
FRIGHT FROM THE BINS Mae West Way Out West! (Tower) 1966 Here’s a post-Mother’s Day special from the last of the red-hot and bothered mamas. "The voice is torrid. Her beat is sensational … it’s as if Mae was made for rock ‘n’ roll." Despite still boasting an hourglass figure in 1966, the sands of…
Salt of the Earth
A couple weeks ago, a writer and a photographer were on the highway to Hell — Michigan Route 23 — driving away from Ypsilanti in a car that carried cameras, guitars, and bourbon. All for later. First, they had a record to listen to and some miles to cover. They were on their way to…
Back from the dad
It’s nighttime, a couple hours north of Richmond, Va., and singer Preston Woodward and guitarist Art Tendler for the punk band State talk in the front seats of a full-size van, jumping topics with the kind of quick-synapse subject-leaping that can make road trips epic (think Dean and Sal losing their minds between New York…
Duly noted
On weekend nights, at a hallowed little coney island restaurant on Vernor Highway called Duly’s, you’ll likely find a real Detroit character holding forth up front. He calls himself "Mayo," and as the bar crowd wanders in for post-beer coneys, Mayo treats the front counter as his personal vaudeville stage, wisecracking with the customers up…
Mulenga’s tinfoil hat
I picked up a flat of strawberries cheap at Eastern Market and figured I’d swing by Mulenga Harangua’s place to share the wealth and find out the latest scuttlebutt. He’s squatting in a west side house that looks like it’s about to fall down — peeling paint, boarded windows, graffiti-covered. He didn’t answer the door…
Crank
Jaki Byard A Matter of Black and White: Live at the Keystone Korner, Vol. 2 Highnote 3 1/2 Stars Riffing: Byard was post-mod when it was just called eclectic; solo selections culled from ’78-’79 club dates; subtract half-star for poor recording quality. Reference points: Monk and Ellington, both of whom are covered here. Byard was…
That hippie sacrament
Larry Gabriel’s Higher Ground column last week painted a frightening picture of the atrocities perpetrated by the Oakland County law enforcement community in its last-ditch attempt to preserve and extend the scope of their prosecution of the War On Drugs by persecuting medical marijuana patients and licensed caregivers whose activities are protected by state law.…
Motor City Five
Together, Derrick Miller and Alexis Krauss are Sleigh Bells. You’ve heard his crunchy riffs, bombed-out beats. You dig her look and hooks. You’ve been waitin’ for ’em since they blew Detroit’s roof off last summer. Miller remembers: Metro Times: What do you remember of your last show here? Derek Miller: I never enter Detroit without…
Top of the world
Iridescence MotorCity Casino Hotel 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit 313-237-6732 As you gaze over the lights of Detroit from your aerie on the 16th floor of the MotorCity Casino Hotel, who would guess that our city has only 70 percent occupancy? It’s best to arrive before dark, as the 40-foot windows seem to change color…
The Cars – Move Like This
The Cars – Move Like This Hear Music/Concord It’s always an iffy proposition for a legendary band to reunite after decades away, especially if a new album’s involved. But the Cars always looked strange anyway; age has simply accentuated certain members’ facial creakiness. And damn if their first album in 24 years doesn’t sound just…
J. Peterman calling
You can see debonair, silver-maned John O’Hurley in the flesh next week, when he dances across the stage of Detroit’s Fisher Theatre reprising the role of Billy Flynn with the national touring company of the musical Chicago. But it’s his image on that big flat-screen in your living room that truly has allowed him to…
Jumping the Broom
Jumping the Broom GRADE: C "Jumping the Broom" refers to a romantic African-American tradition dating back to slavery, when marriage was forbidden, and is understandably still a sore spot for some. This is just one of the skirmishes in the immortal struggle between uptown and downtown that gets another public airing in this faintly musty…
Smoke and mirrors
Way back in February, News Hits reported that questions were being raised about the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority, which is responsible for overseeing how the city’s municipal waste gets disposed. The story at that time involved an audit of the authority, the details of which hadn’t been publicly discussed until environmental activists — who…
Too cool for school
The Burton Theatre, an ambitious, adventurous and occasionally radical experiment to convert a closed Cass Corridor elementary school auditorium into a cult cinema palace, was forced to shut down last Sunday. A protracted dispute with the landlord appears to be to blame. The area’s hoped-for cultural revival didn’t blossom the moment the Burton opened its…
Food Stuff
Go fish! — Dearborn’s Big Fish marks two decades in the seafood business with a special 20th Anniversary three-course menu that will be available all summer long. For starters, get either a Big Fish chowder, a chilled gazpacho or a Cape Codder. Eight entrée choices include a beer-battered fish and chips, shrimp jambalaya, Maryland crab…
Plugola
News Hits usually lets our stable of regular reviewers handle movies, but a special request was sent our way to give some ink to a documentary titled Where I Stand. After watching the film, we’re more than happy to spread the word about this look at the life of a newsman named Hank Greenspun. Don’t…
Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts
Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts Matador Think of what you love about Sonic Youth — the scalding interplay among musicians, the tipping-point buildup, the noise. Now strip it all away so you’re left with the skeletal songs performed on acoustic guitar, violin and harp. That’s pretty much what this solo album from Sonic Youth’s main…
True colors in Lansing
Want to know what Republicans are really like — at least, the mean-spirited variety that inhabit our Legislature? They revealed their true colors in glistening slimy iridescence last week, while voting massive cuts for education. Not, that is, just by cutting education, though that is appalling enough. The official mantra of the Snyder administration is…
