Cover Story
The devil inside
Around and around they go, walking in a circle, speaking in tongues, clenching toy swords and holding crimson flags aloft, as the music blares, absolutely blares, from the speakers on the altar. There is no other church service in town like this one tonight. No Bible verses have been read, no prayers were led by…
Detroit Poet in the War Zone: M.L. Liebler Rides the Kabul Beat # 3
Yesterday was a productive and very interesting day. I spent Sunday morning with the wonderful women writers of The Afghan Women Writers’ Project. We met in an undisclosed location in a neighborhood in Kabul as the women are all writing poetry about their life experiences anonymously. They shared some of their writing with me while…
Day Surfing / Day Dreaming
Rainy Monday – Washing away the splotches of last weekend’s margaritas and mojitos upon the paved stoops of neon-blased taverns and sports pubs… And I’m listening to three deliciously divergent musical works – two from some locals, one from a California group buzzing across the various Internet/satellite channels with notable bombast. First: On Friday,…
City Slang: 60 Second Crush with new album and show
Metal heads 60 Second Crush releases a new album called Seven this month, and will celebrate the release with a show at the Corktown Tavern on Saturday May 19. Also on the bill will be Superlast and Devil Elvis. Doors are at 9, cover is (appropriately enough) $7. Produced by The Loft’s Andy Patalan (who…
City Slang: Detroit gospel star hits Billboard top 10
Local gospel star Tim Bowman Jr.’s cd Beautiful has debuted at number 8 on this coming week’s Billboard Top Gospel Albums sales chart. Meanwhile, his single “Free” is making its way towards the top 10. Not bad, all things considered. According to a statement, “America first noticed Tim Bowman Jr. when he scatted on the…
City Slang: Cactus melts the Bag
Could there be a more perfect opening band tonight than the Muggs? The blues rockers are so predictably great every time they play nowadays that there’s little less to say. But as ever, Danny pulls out some killer riffs, Tony makes amazing bass-type noises come out of his keyboard, and the cover of the Beatles’…
Detroit Poet in a War Zone M. L. Liebler Rides the Kabul Beat # 2
War is hell! Or at least trying to get to a war is. I left Detroit Thursday night at 10:00pm for Amsterdam. I had a brief layover there (no John Sinclair sightings at Schippol), and I caught a flight into Dubai. The place is beautiful from the sky at night. It’s known as the Las…
New (Clear) Vessels – make a Pledge next Thursday
“Focus” Dustin Mclaughlin’s only 27 but he’s already been to 42 states in the Union and he has his band to thank for it. The singer/guitarist of Woodbridge-based The Summer Pledge also has their van to thank for it. “Make sure your van is healthy and happy,” he quips. Indeed, “Health,” is his one-word answer…
City Slang: Battlecross to tour North America with Trivium and more
Detroit metal heads Battlecross will tour the States with some of thr biggest names in undergroud metal, including Trivium and, God Forbid, Five Finger Death Punch and Killswitch Engage on the Trespass America tour. According to a statement, “The 34-date tour starts July 13 in Broomfield, Colo., and will land in Michigan Aug. 3 at…
The Avengers
The Avengers Written and Directed by Joss Whedon. Story Zak Penn and Whedon. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Running Time: 142 minutes. Rated PG-13. A- Epics don’t come bigger than The…
The Avengers: Critic vs. Critic
Jeff Meyers: So, at the risk of sounding like a joyless film critic, I have to say that as entertaining as The Avengers is — and it is a damn good time — it’s not a particularly good film. As spectacle it’s big, stupid fun. Visually it’s impressive. For comic geeks it’s a wet dream…
Boycott The Avengers?
Unless an Occupy Comics Movement has been stealthily plotting and rears its head at the opening of The Avengers tomorrow, we can write off the effort to bring some justice and remuneration to Jack Kirby just now. Artist Kirby, any major fan’ll tell you, is of artistic import at least on par with Stan Lee,…
Clarke’s plan for student debt forgiveness gets attention
U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, a Detroit Democrat, is mentioned in an editorial in The Nation magazine regarding the student debt crisis. Clarke has introduced a bill calling for forgiving of “up to $45,520 in student debt after a borrower makes ten years of payments at 10 percent of income.” As the lefty magazine reports, student…
City Slang: Jack White at number one, Stars & Stripes, and Louder Than Love
Jack White’s Blunderbuss is at No. 1 on the U.S. albums charts, as well as in three other countries. Domestically, the album has sold 137,554 copies so far. This is White’s first album with any project to debut at No. 1. Congrats, sir. The 6th annual Stars & Stripes Festival will take place between June…
Jack White Has the #1 Album in America — So Show Some Respect, You
On his own, the always raucous and divisive White achieved what none of his various bands and projects ever have — an entrance at the top of the Billboard chart, with his solo debut Blunderbuss. This of course is sometimes (Cake, Amos Lee) a dubious honor in recent years — though this week he wrests…
Devil’s in the Details
Hey, Details. Don’t do us any favors, OK? A “Critical Eye” piece in Details recently offered a handful of breezy, drive-by puff pieces on some of our local movers and shakers. Entitled “The Rust Belt Revival: What’s Happening in Detroit, Michigan,” the brief piece has some photos and profiles of some of the usual suspects,…
City Slang: DMA Thoughts
OK, I’m not going to drag this on. I’ve sat and thought about how to reword what I wrote about the Detroit Music Awards in the pages of the Metro Times last year and, no matter what I do, it feels like I’m repeating myself. So, to summarize, the performances were mostly really good. The…
Detroit Police duck and cover
News Hits recently had an interesting back-and-forth going with the Detroit Police Department regarding the two federal consent judgments it has been operating under for nearly nine years. In advance of the latest release of the quarterly reports issued by the federally appointed monitor overseeing the DPD’s attempts to comply with the conditions laid out…
Damsels in Distress
Damsels in Distress B- Who knew anal sex could be so quirky and whimsical? Roping together everything from college-comedy stereotypes (toga parties, campus cliques, etc) to the origin of dance crazes to Catharism, writer-director Whit Stillman’s (Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco) first film in 14 years is daffy, arch and, ultimately, meaningless. How…
Court ruling hasn’t cleared the air
Update: Since this column was published on May 2, it has generated a heated debate among people with more than a casual knowledge of medical marijuana law and how it is applied in our legal system. The prevalent opinion is that my statement that medical marijuana patients cannot legally drive is wrong. Attorney John Targowski…
Detroit Public Schools: Suspensions of disbelief
Raychel Gafford, one of about 125 Detroit Public Schools students suspended last week for participating in a protest, is having trouble understanding the reasoning of those responsible for providing her with an education. Gafford helped lead last week’s walkout at Western International High School in southwest Detroit. The students were protesting the planned closure of…
Food Stuff
The din of mirth Spring is in swing! You can tell by the return of the birds: the robins, blue jays, cardinals — and chickens. Chickens? Weirder still, chicken hats? What’s going on? It’s Maifest, a crazy old fun time at Detroit’s Dakota Inn. Celebrated this year on May 5 and May 12, reservations are…
Letters to the Editor
The union makes us strong America attained greatness on the shoulders of middle-class workers. When they demanded fairness, our economy flourished. They bought houses, cars and other products that kept our farms, factories and small businesses humming. This was the result of treating workers fairly. Today, as America’s megacorporations consolidate economic power, small businesses are…
Teenage kicks
Amanda Morgan’s "Saturday in June" single is out now. For more info, go to amandamorganmusic.com. She plays on May 23 at the Hard Rock Café, 45 Monroe St., Detroit; 313-964-7625. Amanda Morgan is 17 years old, and she’s on the brink of some fairly hefty national success. Fucking 17. She could be writing Hunger Games…
The Five-Year Engagement
The Five-Year Engagement B- It’s a given that Emily Blunt immediately elevates whatever movie she’s in. Funny, charming, sexy and intelligent, she is able to take command of the screen while engaging with her co-stars in a way that’s both authentic and spontaneous. She is that rare actor who seems to have chemistry with…
New morning
Mick Bassett performs Tuesday, May 8, at the Pike Room in the Crofoot, with the Features and Elliot Street Lunatic. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; $12, $10 advance. At 20, you think you’re Lennon, says Mick Bassett. But you’re not. You’re only still becoming whatever you is. The singer-songwriter had to get away from music…
Rich pours
Zin Wine Bar & Restaurant 555 Forest Ave., Plymouth 734-455-9463 zinwinebar.com Handicap accessible Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday The former owners had a cuter name — Grape Expectations. The new name came about because the owners’ wives like Zinfandel, according to chef Justin Vaiciunas. Open under new…
Graystone Hall
Graystone Hall 7816 Michigan Ave., Detroit Not to be confused with the venerable (and much grander) Graystone Ballroom, the Graystone was a small venue and social hall on Michigan Avenue. In the early 1980s, it had hosted shows by the Circle Jerks, Black Flag, the Big Boys, Necros, Negative Approach and even the final…
Postcards from the ruins
For weeks now, everyone believed it was curtains for the emergency manager law rammed through the Legislature last year. We were just waiting for the state to certify that its opponents had, in fact, collected enough signatures to get a measure to repeal it on the November ballot. Once that happened, the law would be…
When you’re busted
Q: I am a straight 29-year-old guy and I’ve been into ball-busting — having my balls kicked and stomped — since I was 14. The fucked-up thing is, I only enjoy getting my balls busted by other guys. I’ve been hit in the balls by girls, and it doesn’t do anything for me. I thought…
PreDictionary – Mikhail Epstein
PreDictionary Mikhail Epstein Atelos, $13.50, 155 pp. Steven Wright once said that he thought the dictionary was the longest poem ever written, but who reads the whole thing? Malcolm X when he was in the slammer (if the revisionists haven’t cast doubt about that detail), but who else? Yet, some of us still want…
Spring Mix
May Day. International Worker’s Day… What’s in the news? The 99% are re-activated! (Via MSNBC): Massive ‘May Day’ Protests take place across the U.S. What will the impact be on a day without the 99%? On the music side of all this is the Occupy Guitarmy – bolstered by Tom Morellow, Das Racist, Dan Deacon…
The Sights New Album, Major American Tour, Free Download and Road Diary!
Let us offer up a toast of cheap red wine to the Sights for earning the respect of thespian rock star Jack Black after some Hollywood shows the band did several years ago in which singer Eddie Baranek called it like he saw it with chords and words. (Baranek’s a proper rock ’n’ roller, ya…
City Slang: DMA Winners
No huge surprises from the DMA’s this year, although there were some great performances from Amy Gore & Her Valentines / Gorevette, Savage Grace, and thePleasure Seekers / Cradle. The winners in full were: Outstanding Folk Artist/Group Jill Jack Outstanding Acoustic/Folk Instrumentalist Billy Brandt ( guitar/ mandolin ) Outstanding Acoustic/Folk Recording Billy Brandt “Way Down…
