Cover Stories
Black, White. and Red all over
See OktoRed at Movement on Monday, from 4:30-6 p.m. on the Underground Stage. Movement brought the world of electronic dance music to OktoRed when he was a kid in high school. Now, he’s bringing in a version of Detroit bass music to the rest of the world. The Motor City’s OktoRed (aka Joel Dunn)…
Massive attack
"We put the ‘no’ in techno" Who: Benoit + Sergio From: Washington, D.C., Berlin Sound: The pair shows an uncanny command of the middle register on such singles as "Everyday," so it’s no wonder they describe their "New Ships" EP (on Detroit’s Visionquest) as "a dream-pop tinctured confection within a dance-music wrapper." Set: "Think Public…
Underground Persistence
Movement kicks off with the official Movement Opening Party on Friday, May 25, featuring Life and Death, Matt Tolfrey vs. Ryan Crosson, Thugfucker and others. The fest continues Saturday-Monday, May 26-28, at Hart Plaza, at the foot of Woodward Avenue in Detroit. See movement.us for further info. Thirteen years after the festival began, dance music…
Movement 2012: Underground Persistence
The Movement Electronic Music Festival turns a lucky 13 in 2012, the very year electronic dance music became more popular than ever. To celebrate, the three-day fest retains its underground cred by refusing to sell out. Here, writer Hobey Echlin — who has covered Movement for MT since Day 1 — rounds up must-see shows…
City Slang: Amy Gore set for PiratePalooza
The second annual PiratePalooza takes place on June 8 and 9 at the Luna Kai Tiki Bar and Grill in Harrison Township. Live music comes courtesy of Amy Gore & Her Valentines, the Hips, the Orbitsuns, Bocca Musica, Frankie D’Angelo and Match By Match. Here’s the deets. “his fun pirate festival, concert and party on…
MOVEMENT DAY 1: Electric Love
By Esther Rubyan Nothing can replace the electric pulse of our beloved Detroit.  It is the electronic roots of this city that keeps this colorful pulse strong and thriving.  Movement, also named Detroit Electronic Music Festival started off on the right note, to put it very lightly. Brought to you by Paxahau, Movement day…
The Sights Tour Diary No. 9: Cali’s in the Rearview, For Now; Plus, The Boys Take Oakland and Baranek Gives Props to the Babysitter.
Rosebud Well, California is behind us as we just entered Oregon for tonight’s gig in Bend with the D. I’d like to revisit a taste of the last few days’ highs. First off, I’d like to give our tour manager Shades props for being strict on the departure time. Getting all the clowns roped in…
City Slang: More Movement on Sunday
The Movement Electronic Music Festival continues on Sunday, so get ready for a long weekend of love and pulsing beats. The action starts at noon, and artists appearing across the many stages include Carl Craig, Josh Wink, Public Enemy, Claude VonStroke, Malik Alston, Pirahnahead, MK aka Marc Kinchen, and Zed’s Dead. Visit the Movement website…
The Sights Tour Diary No. 8: Baranek Bumps into an Ex on Sunset Strip; Talks Drunks and Wormholes; Sights Hit D-day, ROCK Thousands
Between the palace and the alley Alright, it’s not like I’ve been purposely neglecting my diary duties. I just, y’know, got busy. I’d like to get current, let’s see how current we can get. So we played the Whisky Tuesday night and it went very well. Before the gig we went to Lemmy’s office, the Rainbow,…
City Slang: Movement Starts Today
The Movement Electronic Music Festival starts on Saturday, so get ready for a long weekend of love and pulsing beats. The action starts at noon, and artists appearing across the many stages include Mr. C, Roni Size, Pursuit Grooves, Daniel Andres, Mike Huckaby, Seth Troxler b@b Guy Gerber and Lil’ Louis. Visit the Movement website…
The Sights Tour Diary No. 7: Baranek Takes a Breather, Road Dog Shades Weighs in With a Bit of Texting Frolic
Shades here. Eddie’s gonna have the next installment up soon. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of Champion Texting. PREVIOUSLY… Photos by Shades
City Slang: Patti Smith to perform at Detroit Film Theater
On June 1, Patti Smith will perform live in the Detroit Film Theater with son, and in-demand guitar hero, Jackson Smith on guitar and daughter Jesse Smith on piano. Also joining Smith will be Detroit-based players James Simonson (bass), Joe Mazolla (guitar) and Eric Hoegemeyer (drums). A statement says, “In conjunction with the DIA exhibition…
Men In Black 3
Men In Black 3 B Back in 1997, Men In Black felt like state-of-the-moment entertainment with self-consciously hip, retro-futurism encoded in it’s DNA. A decade and a half later the sagging brand gets a jumpstart via the dependable sequel orthodoxy of a time-travel plotline, one that pays tribute not just to the swinging ’60s, but…
Bernie
Bernie Directed by Richard Linklater. Written by Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth. Starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey.  Running time: 110 minutes. Not rated. B It’s easy to see why filmmaker Richard Linklater (School Of Rock, Dazed And Confused) was drawn to the true-crime story of Bernie Tiede, a selfless and beloved mortician in…
Comic-Con: Episode IV – A Fan’s Hope
Comic-Con: Episode IV – A Fan’s Hope B- Far from a snarky smackdown on the geeks and freaks who descend on this San Diego fest every year, documentary maker Morgan Spurlock puts aside his barbed sarcasm to indulge in an affectionate and infectiously entertaining look at nerd culture, or what Joss Whedon describes as "members…
City Slang: Wayne State’s Literary Walk to include music authors
Wayne State University will host a Literary Walk on Saturday, June 30. The event will feature a number of local authors reading from and talking about their work. Of interest to City Slang is the music area, at the WSU Welcome Center from 2:00 p.m., not least because I’ll be there talking about MC5: Sonically…
The Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 6: Kickass Chicken Fajitas, Baranek’s Starbucks Sellout and the Sights Find The Dude in a Sweet Cali Crib
Fusco, fuses, and fajitas … With a side of Burger I am in a Starbucks on an iPad sitting across from Shades who is on his laptop. I am the guy I make fun of. Don’t tell anyone. You know how you can think the world is so cruel? Well I’m pretty cynical, but I…
Killa Tape & Rare Tears
I got a mummified hand in the mail yesterday… I know with the latest issue out everyone’s eyes (and ears) are peering (and bending) towards the big techno-trounced music festival MOVEMENT – soon to saturate Hart Plaza with dreamy/droney synths thrumming up your ear drums with hypnotic felicity – and that’s not to mention the…
City Slang: Strata Records digitally archived
Legendary Detroit label Strata Records is being honored at the Scion iQ Project Museum, an online archive of creative culture. “The Strata Records exhibit takes us on a tour of the Detroit art gallery, music venue and record label started by trumpeter Charles Moore and pianist Kenny Cox in the late 1960s. Motown had already…
Oi! – Detroit-style
Bad Assets play a CD release show for The Spirit of Detroit at the Corktown Tavern on May 26 with 1592, Standard Issue, Public Sex and Super Dot. 1716 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 313-964-5103. Alright, here’s the history lesson. As the ’70s were giving way to the ’80s, as UK punk rock was being sanitized for…
The Gipper giveth, state GOP taketh away
Once upon a time, there was a president of the United States who enthusiastically supported giving the working poor a break on their income taxes. The program, called the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, "is the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family program ever to come out of Congress." He vastly increased it. Soon, seeing…
Food Stuff
Brain food Now through June 18, Mitchell’s Fish Market — the upscale chain that tries not to seem like a chain — will feature a special seasonal "Shrimp Sensations" menu, with prices starting at $19.95. The specials highlight regional flavors and include an entrée, selection of soup or salad, and dessert. Dishes featuring the so-called…
Letters to the Editor
The Whole picture Re: Jack Lessenberry’s recent column about Whole Foods ("The Whole truth," May 16), that was great! I was vice president of real estate and construction for Farmer Jack (and two other A&P divisions) for some time. We never turned a dime of profit at our Jefferson Avenue store, but felt an obligation…
Man-up
Mansome is now screening at the Birmingham 8, 211 S. Woodward Ave., Birmingham; 248-723-6230. Comic Con: Episode IV — A Fan’s Hope screens Thursday, May 31, at the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale 248-544-3030; doors at 8 p.m.; $2. The perennially upbeat and gregarious Morgan Spurlock is the poster boy for a relatively new…
Good Wood and CAMP Detroit
Good Wood What: A display and auction of skateboard cruiser decks painted by more than 80 artists. Where: 10229 Joseph Campau St., Hamtramck; goodwoodexhibit.com. When: From 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday, May 26. One hundred cruiser decks hand-embellished by more than 80 artists will adorn the walls during Good Wood. The exhibit and auction is…
Pointedly bogus
As this column is being written, it’s still not known how a three-judge panel at the state Court of Appeals will rule in Stand Up for Democracy vs. Board of State Canvassers. Whatever the outcome, though, people need to keep in this mind: Democracy is under assault in this state. That much is abundantly clear.…
Starting out right
Q:  I’m a 17-year-old girl and, in most aspects, I’m confident with myself, my identity and my body. Earlier this year, I met a girl. She had some serious drama at home and needed to get out of her house, so I let her stay at mine. Things went a lot further than I was…
Feeling al fresco
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 considered to be a…
Green Dot Stables returns with a twist
Green Dot Stables 2200 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit; 313-962-5588 greendotstables.com Handicap accessible Sliders, fries, salads, soups and desserts: $2-$3 Kitchen open 11 a.m.-10 p.m., bar until 2 a.m. Monday-Saturday; closed Sundays Racing to the lead among Detroit’s budget dining options, the Green Dot Stables recently reopened after a yearlong closure and change of ownership, with…
Hustle and flow
A passing woman sees him and tries to hide her face from his gaze. Too late. The traffic light by the Fox Theatre has just released a burst of Tigers fans heading to the ballpark on a spring weekday evening. But first they must get past the street performers who line the way there, including…
Local food for thought
Detroit is home to more community gardens than any other city in the United States. With more than 1,200 gardens, we have more per square mile — nine-plus — and more per capita than our closest competitors, according to numbers generated by the Greening of Detroit’s Gardening Resource Program. Our closest competitors, Cleveland, New York…
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…
The Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 5: Pasty Detroiters Burn! Plus, PBR Flows Free but Baranek and Schanta Stay Sober (!?) and Sexy Tartaglia Graduates From College …
Dude here, walked 2.5 hours on Mission Beach yesterday. I don’t know how many miles that is (get on that Shades), but I do know how badly the sunburn feels. We had to band-fund some aloe at Rite-Aid today. We’ve since added that to our backstage rider. So we loaded into San Diego’s Til-Two Club…
Long Time MT Fave SelfSays’ Talks His Euro Rollercoaster and Some ‘Buh-roo-zah buh roo zah’!
Charles Vann got back from Europe about three weeks ago. Since winding down his tour there with Ann-Arbor-bred/NY-based ambio/electro-artist Shigeto, the Detroit emcee has been doing his best to keep his poetic pistons pumping, working toward releasing an EP later this year and making the best music he can … Vann, who’s better known as…
