Abandoned Shelter of the Week
This week’s abandoned eyesore casts a dark shadow over a quiet residential neighborhood on Arlington Street, just north of McNichols. Painted a deceptively cheery blue, the side of the house is curiously accentuated with a bright sunshine-yellow dot, reminiscent of the Heidelberg Project. However, this house is no work of art; the smashed windows and…
The fat’s in the fire
Q: You had to know letters would pour in from women pissed off at your blatantly fat-phobic, sexist response to the man who thought “girl love handles” created by low-rise jeans were “revolting.” You agreed with him “100 percent,” and said that women “should get the obesity epidemic under control” if we want to “flounce…
Passing a polygraph
For more than two years Antoine Morris has maintained that he and Vidale McDowell didn’t murder Morris’ mother. Now, Morris has polygraph test results to back him up. “It is my opinion, based upon an analysis of the polygrams from Mr. Morris, that he is being truthful” when he says he did not kill his…
Retrieving Sexsmith
Ron Sexsmith is sitting in a Paris hotel strumming a guitar and digging the grandeur below his window when my call comes. Maybe it was a new song he was trying to get some words around, or one of another artists’. “I’m always learning songs — not always a new song, but it’s new to…
Abuse magnified
Like much of the rest of the world, News Hits has been transfixed by the photos coming out of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison. But the folks at the Blue Triangle Network, an anti-discrimination group based in Dearborn, want to make sure that we don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. “The Blue Triangle Network shares…
The Return of the Abandoned Structure Squad
Dear Sir or Madam: With rue my heart is laden. … For the buildings that once were homes, stores, businesses, manufacturing plants, churches. … For the shelter they provided, for the mercantile exchanges they saw, for the industry that took place, for the worship, for the learning (did I mention schools?). And last but not…
Proud momma
In his Mother’s Day proclamation, President George W. Bush mouthed all the usual platitudes in urging his countrymen to honor their moms. Curiously, he also made passing reference to Julia Ward Howe, an abolitionist who wrote the words to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” According to the Institute for Public Accuracy, a lefty nonprofit…
One hole among many
Along a stretch of Chene between Garfield and Warren, the 19th Hole’s name is truly a sign of this place and this time. The fabric of this street on Detroit’s East Side is in tatters, riddled with abandoned businesses and vacant lots. John Johnson remembers a different, better time when this neighborhood, which he grew…
Lion in wait
By far the largest structure tackled by ASS during our inaugural year, the Lee Plaza Hotel is a magnificent structure that has fallen on the hardest of times. During its heyday, this residential hotel at the corner of West Grand Boulevard and Lawton offered 220 “luxury class” apartments and rooms. Built in 1928, it is…
Between Midnight And Day: The Last Unpublished Blues Archive
Dick Waterman has logged a zillion miles during 40 years in the music business as a manager and promoter. Most of that time, he seems to have carried cameras and a notepad. That’s great news for blues fans, as this volume clearly demonstrates. A skilled lensman and an often-amusing writer, Waterman’s obsession with the blues…
Verse chorus verse
This breezy Sunday afternoon finds Eric Weir on Belle Isle, in the grass between the road and the river. He’s on the south side, between a set of goth kids about to get horizontal on a picnic table and a family of anemic ducks scavenging a discarded bag of Andy Capp’s Hot Fries. Behind him,…
Loretta’s turf
A poor excuse for a house, 15715 Virgil, was finally demolished on April 30. ASS first visited this one-story hulk in January 2002 in an attempt to help residents like Ron Coffey, who lived next door with his five children. Fortunately for Coffey, one of his neighbors, longtime neighborhood activist Loretta Hudson, 64, made it…
Andy Bey
I grew up in the town of the slow bicycle race. Last one across the finish line wins. Veer left or right and you’re disqualified. Did your foot touch ground? Forget it. Fall? Too bad. Fall and knock down another rider? He may kick your ass. The dangers and difficulties aren’t entirely different from those…
Gentleman Dobro
Would I lose you this instant if I told you that Jerry Douglas was the best Dobro player on earth? Not buying it? Then think of it this way: If Douglas isn’t the best resophonic guitar player in the world, than he is certainly the most ubiquitous. Like Jimi without the Strat, Don Ho without…
Brush back
This ASS feature at 92 Alfred in historic Brush Park is still there — but not for long. The city’s Planning and Development Commission has approved the once-grandiose structure for demolition. It’s little wonder; after a fire ravaged the mansion several years ago, the entire roof caved in, leaving damage so extensive a renovation would…
Spirit Stereo Frequency
Gifted multi-instrumentalists, twisted songwriters, musical alchemists: Dave Scher and Jimi Hey are the sound of New Los Angeles, a fifth dimensional burg where, legend has it, Brian Wilson is Mayor (Van Dyke Parks is his personal assistant), Arthur Lee is the chief of police (Forever Changes serves as the department’s official in-house elevator Muzak) and…
Letters to the Editor
Where’s the choice? Jeremy Voas cites the figures from the Florida vote count in the 2000 election (“Nader’s evaders,” Metro Times, May 5). Voas suggests that if everyone had voted Democratic then, the world would be a better place. However, if even Democrats do not vote Democratic, it would seem there is a problem, no?…
What a steel
Drivers along Atwater Street between Rivard and St. Aubin will see the ruins of Ambassador Steel and Shipping, a collection of buildings that looks more like the aftermath of an air raid than a piece of well-preserved history. ASS paid a visit in December 2002 and reported that the land was purchased by the city…
Bridgeburner
As the band’s bio says, Louisville’s least favorite sons are back. And this ain’t yer mama’s brand of Louisville rock ’n’ roll, not the kind that spawned math-rock goobers Slint some 15 years ago, or, more recently, psychedelic twangbearers My Morning Jacket. As hosted by the Motor City’s hugely underrated Small Stone label, this is…
Last house standing
Arthur Daniel is an institution, a stalwart Detroiter, the last man standing. Rather, his house is the last one standing on the 1900 block of East Canfield on the city’s East Side. Daniel has lived in his spacious duplex on East Canfield for an astonishing 63 years. He’s raised three children there, and he still…
Godsend
Director Nick Hamm practically begs you not to like his film. Besides using one of the most blatantly derivative and stupid scripts ever written, Hamm will go down in history for allowing Robert DeNiro to give one of the absolute worst performances of his career. Please, don’t find out for yourself. Just walk away.
N&D Center
12 WED • MUSIC Bosco Nova —No, Herb Alpert has not made his way to oh-so-trendy downtown Ferndale hot spot the Bosco — it’s just that his music has. Enjoy the caliente fun of Bosco Nova, an evening of Latin tunes and specialty cocktails (think refreshing mojitos, caipirinas, and margaritas) every Wednesday night. Sounds to…
Strangled in red tape
That nasty little number at 3432 Cochrane has finally been demolished, but that’s of little comfort to Damon Gray, who grew up just a stone’s throw away. He now owns and rents out his childhood home and the adjacent dwelling, and he’s trying to buy and renovate empty houses that surround his property. But he…
Bon Voyage
If you’ve got a hankering for a bullet-flinging romantic film noir, Bon Voyage is the ticket. The film is set in 1940’s France, but filmed in present day full-color. Isabelle Adjani plays a stunning screen star, while Gérard Depardieu makes a characteristically strong showing in a film that questions the role of entertainment in matters…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Whirl-Zap-Gush (the Supreme Being formerly known as God) has choreographed a rigorous dance for you this week. It’s a mix of primal and elegant elements; it’s both meditative and profanely funny. A good title for this mysterious spectacle might be "Holy Ruckus" or "Sacred Uproar." As always, of course, you have…
Washed up — not!
When ASS first stumbled across this quaint abandoned carwash at John R and East Palmer, we were charmed by what we described as its “cozy, Alpine feel,” where “one would expect not only a fine car wash, but fresh cookies and milk with each purchase.” We suggested “someone buy it and set up a grandma-run…
Eastern elements
Like all the best ethnic restaurants, you’ll find Sukhothai in a seedy strip mall. Here you’ll find Koong Houm Pa, an appetizer in which a spring roll wrapper is folded into a triangle around ground pork and a jumbo shrimp, with the shrimp tail forming a handle (think of a flat ice cream cone), then…
Act: Detroit
It’s the first 80-degree day of the year and a curious one at that. I’m taking a lazy late-afternoon stroll down Cass, Second and Selden, Forest, Canfield and Warren, cutting through apartment complex communities and new condo parks, picking flowers up off the sidewalk, filling the petals with water from a sprinkler and sipping from…
More ASS stories
Hope floats We suspected that the Dumpster outside 2036 11th St. in Corktown might be a sign something good was happening here. After all, when we first featured the property, it was one of the few vacant homes in the historic neighborhood. With only about 300 residences in a tight-knit enclave, Corktown has typically avoided…
It’s Not Enough to Love
Comparing one singer to another is an odious task, and the promo blitz motoring It’s Not Enough to Love places this poor French-girl-cum-Detroiter behind the eight ball by touting her as an alterna Petula Clark or Linda Ronstadt. Who needs that shit? Truth be told, though, this record sonically resembles Detroit’s deserving-more-attention Volebeats, as the…
Burly girlies unite
Before sitting down to write this review, I did a quick mental checklist of my female friends and acquaintances. Out of two dozen gal pals, I could only think of one who is not actively obsessed with/hateful of her body. One of 24. And I’m sure if I asked her to elaborate, she’d generate an…
Banned in Kalamazoo
Shouldn’t college students seeking knowledge — especially knowledge that might challenge their own biases — be encouraged? Not so, it seems, according to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and the College Republicans of Kalamazoo College. When seven sophomores at the school showed up at Wings Stadium in downtown Kalamazoo to see George W. Bush at a…
Silent no more
An actor who has fathered an illegitimate child comes to terms with the consequences of his years of paternal neglect, consequences for himself as well for his son. In this 1959 remake of one of his 1930s films, Yasujiro Ozu renders a richly textured tale with relatively little overt drama.
Creole comforts
Recently, I was going west on Orchard Lake Road between Woodward and Telegraph, when I passed a sign on a small white building reading Catfish Corner. Of course I made a U-turn and went back. What I found was a tidy little neighborhood fish market run by Stan Oliver, the friendly proprietor of what seems…
Dirtbombing Down Under
The Dirtbombs left Detroit Metro Saturday evening March 27 and didn’t arrive in Melbourne, Australia, until 10 a.m. on Monday, March 29. Somewhere in the cosmos lies my lost Sunday. Monday, March 29 We get to the Hotel Cosmopolitan in the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda and realize we ain’t as big Down Under as…
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
A Vincent & Theo relationship told with the absurd humor of Harold and Maude. Lone Scherfig, the Danish director of Italian for Beginners, holds to the goal of pulling truth out of characters and settings, an approach at odds with an industry hooked on razzmatazz.
Breakin’ it down
On a fateful, blustery Friday night, Mike Robinson of Rochester headed to St. Andrew’s Hall in downtown Detroit, where the avid b-boy often goes to show off his skills. MTV was holding a breaking competition, searching for dancers a cut above the rest. Not only did Robinson win, beating many of Detroit’s best in dance…
Ado-lescent bards
If you’re wondering what Shakespeare and adolescents have in common, check out Everybody’s Talkin’, a Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit production deserving of professional acclaim. The theater is nationally recognized for the quality performances put on by its youthful members, ages 8 to 18. In the group’s latest venture, and the first at Mosaic’s new…
Since Otar Left
This is a prime example of a uniquely European entity, a film whose effectiveness relies largely on the performance of an extremely old person. In this case it’s Esther Gorintin who plays an octogenarian of a family in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The interrelation of three generations of women living under one roof,…
N&D Center
12 WED • LITERATURE Julius Lester — He has written enough for a literary school; call it Lesterism. He’s reflected on civil rights (Look Out, Whitey! Black Power’s Gon’ Get Your Mama) and his conversion to Judaism (Lovesong: Becoming A Jew); he’s written poetry and surveyed the work of W.E.B. Dubois. But he’s been particularly…
America’s best journalist
The United States is now at a fork in the road in its Iraq policy. The deplorable prison abuse and the mounting casualty toll may wake up Americans to ask a question about Iraq, a question Bush and his administration have never clearly answered: Why are we there? — Helen Thomas, May 6, 2004 When…
