Cover Story
Motown revival
Now That I Can Dance — Motown 1962 is performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 18-19, and at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 20, at the Detroit Film Theatre, inside the DIA, at 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit (entrance is on John R); $20 general admission, $12 for students and seniors; purchase at mosaicdetroit.org or…
Jack White’s ‘Freedom At 21’
Earlier this year, Jack White released 1000 helium balloons from the Third Man Records headquarters in Nashville,TN. The balloons were accompanied with a flexi disc of the third single released off of his debut album Blunderbuss. So far, only six of the records have been found. Several of them have been found in pastures and…
Hamtramck street art marred by graffiti
The Detroit Beautification Project continues in Hamtramck, with new murals seemingly going up every week. Last weekend, we were fortunate enough to meet artists Dabs and Myla, hard at work on the western wall of Composite Lodge on Caniff near Lumpkin, thanks to a heads-up from DBP co-organizer Matt Eaton. Their work was cartoonish and…
Just Beyond My Headphones
“Shadow From Tartarus” swoops in and shit starts getting heavy. Jet engine bass drones and extra-terrestrial fuzz-hummin’ scales winding upward with twinkly theatricality, head-swimming swarms and disarmingly subdued beats just barely but effectively pulsing along, feeling timeless, mood-less, band-less, is this a rave or is just night-driving music, am I to meditate or am I…
City Slang: Belita Woods memorial information
A family spokesman for Belita Woods has confirmed that there will be a memorial for the Brainstorm and Parliament – Funkadelic singer, who passed away on May 14, on Saturday, May 26, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Donations to the Belita Woods Memorial Fund can be made at any Fifth Third Bank branch office.…
The Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 4: Starring the Love Me Nots in Phx., A Tom Waits Wink in Nasty City, and the Old In-N-Out, In-N-Out
Southwest Mess Here I am, a handful of days into our journey. Tonight is exciting ‘cos we’ll get to play our second show…and it’ll be shows from here on out. On Friday night we arrived in Phoenix and hooked up with our friends and Nicole and Michael of Jim Diamond faves the Love Me Nots. It…
City Slang: Jack White aims to break record
Jack White is apparently attempting to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most metaphors in a single concert. Yup, it’s come to this. Here’s what his people are blabbering on about: “The attempt may prove very exhausting and at times even dangerous, but the results could prove to be glorious and…
City Slang: House Shoes Gets All Comfy with New Album
Detroit’s self-proclaimed hip-hop ambassador House Shoes is preparing for his first album release, Let It Go, which is due out on June 19th via Tres Records. The album is entirely produced by House Shoes and features guest appearances from Danny Brown, Black Milk, Alchemist, Roc Marciano, Oh No, Guilty Simpson, Quelle Chris, Shafiq Husayn, and…
Battleship
Battleship C- If the Transformer movies were too arty and nuanced for you, this jingoistic assault on narrative logic and thematic complexity from director Peter Berg (Hancock, The Kingdom) is probably what you’re looking for. Like a cinematic demolition derby, Battleship delivers more than two hours of high-priced explosion porn while piling on its chest-thumping…
The Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 3: Roadside Diner Food Will Pack on the Chub. Meanwhile, while the rhythm section sleeps…
It’s been brought to my attention that my sedentary lifestyle (slothing in a van for 3 days across the U.S.) has brought my tour weight up. I am sure this wasn’t a problem for Lewis & Clark, but then again, I don’t have to wrestle with animals I’ve never seen before (besides our drummer Skip)…
City Slang: New John Lee Hooker DVD
A new John Lee Hooker DVD, Cook With the Hook: Live 1974, will be released on June 19. “On Saturday, July 6, 1974, Mississippi-Delta bluesman John Lee Hooker was one of the star attractions at an all-day festival attended by 6,000 people. The event in the town of Gardner Massachusetts was called “Down in the…
Clear Moon
Phil Elverum is forever endeared to me for his provocative/progressive lo-fi experimentations via The Microphones –and for adapting the theme song from Twin Peaks into a haunting, autumnal folk-ballad. He’s got a new album coming out… ((P.W. Elverum and Sun))\ . ~You come out the other end of a…
First Position
First Position B+ First Position is a skillfully made, crowd-pleasing doc just savvy enough to work over judges without being completely obvious. The six young ballet dancers carefully tracked by director Bess Kargman’s camera have been cast with a warm, cozy United Colors of Benetton appeal in mind, but their wholesome, multi-ethnic charms don’t…
Mansome
Mansome B- For many, the term documentary still carries the expectation of detached, just-the-facts-style reportage, even though the genre has long since been co-opted by polemicists, kooks and pure showmen. The affable Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) is one of the more successful of this new breed, and his films are generally amusing even if…
Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 2: Jerry Sprinter, Meth Spoons, Satan’s Helpers, Gun Battles, Budweiser’d Brawn, Tulsa!
Jerry Sprinter Yesterday we played our good friend Joe’s record store in St. Louis, Euclid Records. Touring life can easily be crappy motels, flies in your milk carafe (this morning’s Continental Breakfast highlight), and weird noises coming from other rooms. So staying with friends like Joe is a welcome respite. Thanks Joe. His lovely wife…
Darling Companion
Darling Companion C+ In Darling Companion, Lawrence Kasdan delivers boomer angst and narcissism, distilled into a saline solution to better deliver treacle directly to the bloodstream. Kasdan has long been the voice of his generation, the whiny, self-obsessed voice that elevated the worries of his peers into navel-gazing classics like The Big Chill and Grand…
Detroit Poet in the War Zone: M.L. Liebler Flying Home from the Kabul Beat #7
With the Kandahar, Jalalabad, Kabul and the Afghanistan experiences behind me now, and in hindsight – most of these visits had elements of serious danger sometimes for members of the audiences, for the military who assisted us at each location, and, dare I say, for me. But I was warmly welcomed in a very loving…
City Slang: Jazz at the Concert of Colors
Don Was’ Detroit All-Star Revue at this year’s Concert of Colors, taking place on July 12-15, will celebrate some of Detroit’s jazz greats. This will be Was’ fifth Revue, as it “switches out its typically rock-heavy lineup to spotlight hometown jazz greats. Was, the multi-Grammy-winning super producer and president of legendary Blue Note Records, is carefully crafting…
Sound of my Voice
The first 20 minutes of Zal Batmanglij’s low budget debut are as unadorned as you can get — a pair of suburban garages, an empty house, and a carpeted basement with a lamp from IKEA — a textbook example of economical filmmaking. It’s also one of the more tense, claustrophobic and foreboding openings I’ve seen…
Detroit’s Destroy This Place / Chicago’s Hospital Garden – split 2 songs
Destroy This Place – Hospital Garden 7”-split – Forge Again Records – 6/9/12 Fervent guitars and propulsive rhythms, avalanching bass grooves and whipping, whooping vocals – that’s the way to start your summer – drum hails you can lose your shit to pushing songs you can still sing-along-to – Detroit’s superchunky thunder-pop quartet Destroy This…
‘Shock doctrine’ to a Motown beat: A lefty take on the consent agreement
In a sort of fever-dream burlesque with a radical chorus chiming in, Detroit attorney Thomas Stephens channels, among others, Crazy Horse, Emma Goldman, Harriet Tubman and Coleman A. Young to provide a distinctly lefty take on Detroit’s “consent agreement” and, as he describes it, the corporate power-structure’s plans to keep sucking blood from the people…
Tribute Thursday for Brainstorm & P-Funk singer Belita Woods
Update: We just heard that there will be a tribute to Belita held Thursday night at Bert’s Marketplace, 2727 Russell Street, Detroit; 313-567-2030. Just over a year ago we wrote about and shared pictures from a benefit for singer Belita Woods in the wake of her massive heart attack. The Detroit singer’s resume goes back…
Ambulance Chaser (“Wrap Party”)
The business card reads: Doc Waffles – ?erudite/absurdist rap wrangler ?antiquarian rare book dealer ?Dadaist wordsmith ?bon vivant ?Ambulance Chaser. . Waffles raps have a weird charm to them; you can almost see him suavely smirking with a nod and a wink as he delivers his lines of capricious cadences and head-spinning surrealism. He’s either…
The Sights! Tour Diary! Words & Pictures! Zany! Entry No. 1: Camaraderie
(Ed. This is a first tour-diary entry in series of mad, action-packed (mis) adventures to be captured by Eddie Baranek, the articulate front man of Detroit’s rock ‘n’ roll torchbearers, The Sights. The quintet was, you’ll note, personally selected by Jack Black to support Tenacious D on their U.S. tour. Look for fetching Instagram photos…
Occupy This Blog Post
“…that idea deserves song…” -Tom Morello “…we travel as equals, or not at all…” -Joseph Arthur I don’t know what it is… But music is inherently inspiring. Music, as is noted in any history book or on any Wikipedia page, has played an integral role in most every protest movement -…
City Slang: Movement, Nugent, and Mythics
The final, up-to-date schedule for the Movement Festival, taking place May26-28 at Hart Plaza, is now online at the official Movement website. Ted Nugent has been named Detroit’s Greatest Guitar Player of All Time by a poll initiated through Mlive! Nugent pulled in over 51% of the votes. The Nuge is currently out on the…
Walking on
For nearly 80 years, if there was a protest in metro Detroit involving some social justice issue, it is likely that Ethel Schwartz was there. "Stalwart" is one of the words inevitably used to describe her. Which is why Schwartz received a lifetime achievement award from the Gray Panthers of Metro Detroit for the decades…
Fifty Shades of annoyance
Q: I work in an office tower in downtown Seattle. From time to time, I go to a bathroom on a mostly deserted floor, go into a stall, and rub out a quick one. Usually, no one comes in. Today, just as I was blowing a load into a handful of TP, someone came into…
Clear Soul Forces’ breakout potential
Clear Soul Forces album, Detroit Revolution(s), is out now and can be found at clearsoulforces.bandcamp.com. Talking to Detroit rap troupe Clear Soul Forces is a fascinating experience from the very beginning. The four men — L.A.Z., Ilajide, E-Fav and Novellis — are so tuned in to each other, so used to each other’s vocal flow,…
Downriver vs. Hamtramck!
Language What: A group show curated by Detroit performance artist Satori Circus. Where: River’s Edge Gallery, 3024 Biddle Ave., Wyandotte; 734-246-9880; artattheedge.com. When: Displays May 18 through June 11, with an opening reception at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 19. Satori Circus and his gleaming grease-painted skull form a ubiquitous presence in Detroit’s art scene. From…
The Dictator
The Dictator B- Sacha Baron Cohen has always danced on the knife-edge of comedy, and with a style that is half acerbic brilliance and half idiotic slapstick, eventually he was bound to slip and stab himself on his own sharpness. Not that The Dictator is a career disembowelment, but numerous small chinks do appear in…
Food Stuff
Re-stored Last October, we all got a good scare with the announcement that Eastern Market’s venerable R. Hirt Jr. company (founded 1887) was closing its doors. As it turned out, the store was actually closing for a mild renovation, passing back into the hands of another Hirt descendant, David DeVries, who ran it until recently.…
Stevie Wonder – Innervisions (Audio Fidelity)
Besides having the vision and wherewithal to frame his running commentary on America and the black condition inside the most hook-filled soul-pop ever (His most underrated song: "He’s Misstra Know-it-All"), Wonder played a lion’s share of the instruments here too. Not so easy on tape machines and analog punch-ins! But you already know all that. …
Peaked
Sherilyn Fenn signs autographs at the Motor City Comic Con 2012 in the Suburban Collection Showcase, 46100 Grand River Ave., Novi, 12:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 18, 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, May 19, and 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, May 20 Sherilyn Fenn is distracted and her voice trails off. Are the questions too obvious?…
Marijuana mea culpa
In my last column I stepped in a pile of doo-doo regarding the implications of the April 17 state Court of Appeals decision in People vs. Koon. I said that a strict interpretation of the ruling meant that any medical marijuana patient could not legally drive. That is not true. Quite a few medical marijuana…
Headhunters
Headhunters A- Oh, what ridiculously bloody and nasty fun! Norwegian director Morten Tyldum takes Jo Nesbo’s savage and macabre cat-and-mouse thriller of a novel and turns it into a darkly comical caper that’d make Elmore Leonard and the Coen brothers proud. Filled with oddball cutthroats, well-lubricated plotting, and Hitchcockian-style direction, Headhunters is a sordid…
True east
Empire Dynasty 29505 W. Nine Mile Rd., Farmington Hills 248-888-6866 empiredynastymi.com Handicap accessible Entrées: $8.50-$28.95 Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. Just because it includes "basil intestines" and "pork stomach with celery," that doesn’t mean you should shun everything else on…
Rick Springfield – Beginnings (Real Gone/Capitol)
Before Rick Springfield’s stint as the MILF-fluttering Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital, and nearly a decade before hitting on "Jessie’s Girl," the ’80s pinup fronted a band (Zoot), went solo, and debuted with this in 1972. What’s unexpected is Beginnings is shockingly good, but you’d never guess from the cover, which depicts the 21-year-old…
Malcolm X — still controversial
Ask Herb Boyd about Malcolm X and he’ll tell you about his first meeting with the man who forged a path for his political development. He’ll tell you about being a young black man in late ’50s Detroit enthralled by the magnetism and brilliance of the convict-turned-minister. Based at the Nation of Islam’s Mosque No.…
Ane Brun – It All Starts With One (PIAS America)
Ane Brun has been a star in her native Norway for nearly a decade, making her mark with a dramatic but understated approach that combines the tenderness of 1970s Laurel Canyon folk with a cinematic whoosh that’s part Tin Pan Alley, part ornate adult pop. On her latest stateside release, Brun’s voice fills tracks like…
Cornershop – Urban Turban (Ample Play/Darla)
Cornershop must have really enjoyed working with unknown singer Bubbley Kaur on last year’s collaboration album Cornershop and the Double ‘O’ Groove Of. The British band’s eighth LP features different singing partners on each of its 11 songs. But unlike the somewhat tuneless 2011 outing, Urban Turban packs its songs with pop hooks, dance grooves…
Takin’ it to the streets
If you would like to read the longer version of this article that was featured in the Blog last Friday please go here It all started with an innovative plan to bring more art to metro Detroit. A joint project of the Seventh Letter street art crew, with help from 1XRun (a division of Royal…
Letters to the Editor
Kudos on voter I.D. Appreciated the recent News Hit "Mess of suppression" (May 9) regarding voter suppression laws now before the Michigan Legislature. Your assessment is spot-on. As a member of Michigan Election Reform Alliance, I am working with our group to convince the legislative majority that these suppressive bills should not be passed. One…
The Whole truth
There was a fair amount of excitement in the press and, presumably, yuppieland, when ground was broken this week for Detroit’s first-ever Whole Foods Market, at Mack and John R. Some of the coverage was positively breathless. Wow! Will wonders never cease? Whole Foods, which bills itself as "the world’s largest natural and organic grocery…
Crash course
A select group of Midtown residents gathered last week for an exercise in understanding, using fake money and role-playing to gain insight on the real-world catastrophe their city is facing. What organizers of the event wanted to help these people comprehend is this: There are no good options for solving Detroit’s financial mess. There’s also…
Advance Base – A Shut-In’s Prayer (Orindal Records)
While it’s true that Owen Ashworth has grown more serious with age — no songs about mouse infestations here — the evolutionary justifications for his retirement of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone are exaggerated. His exquisite, haunting new record as Advance Base, A Shut-In’s Prayer, carries forward from the palpable resignation of CFTPA’s Vs. Children.…
Sentenced to life by Michigan’s juvenile injustice system
A just-released report titled “Basic Decency: Protecting the human rights of children” is both heart breaking and infuriating. The study looks at the way Michigan treats juveniles found guilty of first-degree murder. It is grim reading. As noted in the introduction: To date, 376 young people have been sentenced to life without the possibility of…
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Remember – if you send it, it will get reviewed. That’s the City Slang promise. It doesn’t matter what genre the music is – as long as it has a Metro Detroit connection, it’ll get in. Preferably, we’d like to concentrate on new releases but, while we’re getting warmed up here, feel free to send…
Social worker explores dancing and disabilities
Janice Fialka’s 40-year career as a social worker has been profoundly influenced by the concept of dance. Not as a therapeutic technique but as a metaphor for partners who truly listen to each other in a way that synchronizes and transforms their relationship. She is an internationally recognized lecturer, author and advocate on disability, parent-professional…
