Moore on GM’s bankruptcy: An opportunity to transform travel
On his blog today, Michael Moore puts into words something I’ve been thinking for a while: Why not use the collapse of General Motors as a springboard for a major government investment in light rail, high-speed bullet trains and clean-running busses? It is an idea that seems to make sense in so many ways. And…
MUSIC PEFORMERS RIGHTS: EMINEM AND BEYOND….
Eminem’s music publisher, Eight Mile Style LLC, and copyright manager, Martin Affiliated LLC, filed suit against Apple today in a Detroit U.S. District court for copyright infringement. The suit alleges that Apple did not have permission to sell Mr. Mathers’ material for downloading on its iTunes Music Store. “Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that…
Hope springs: Views of a better Detroit arising from capitalism’s ruins
One of our readers, after seeing a recent News Hits item that mentioned 94-year-old activist and political philosopher Grace Lee Boggs, has sent us a few links I thought worth passing along. They share a common theme: Detroit, as Ground Zero of the economic meltdown, is uniquely positioned to show the world a way out…
LOCAL MUSIC TIDBITS
*The local band Last Tourist is playing its final show tonight at Smalls in Hamtramck, as one of its members is leaving town. That’s too bad. Caught their set at this year’s Blowout and they were a quality band. Catch them tonight, as tomorrow will be too late. *Handyside e-mailed a couple of days ago…
EMINEM’S HUGE…NO, GIGANTIC DEBUT…
It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Eminem’s new album, Relapse, debuts at No. 1 today on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. What is just a tad suprising is how many copies it sold. There were those who doubted the continued relevance of one of Detroit’s favorite sons — including one guy (who…
MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO SAXOPHONIST VICKI ALEXANDER
Until illness limited her travels, Vicki Yava Alexander was a regular at the jam sessions at Bert’s Marketplace. Her long thin frame, pianist Bill Meyer noted in an e-mail, seemingly echoed the baritone saxophone she lugged around and used to express herself. So this Thursday, May 28th, the regulars and sometimers who knew and appreciated…
Food fighters
Detroiter Holly White says what started her gardening was stark staring fear. After getting rattled by theories about “peak oil” — with its scenarios of a future where fuel prices soar so out of control that people can’t afford to eat — she wanted to find a way to make a change. “I got sort…
Couch Trip
Wise Blood Criterion There are two kinds of inscrutable films: The pretentious drek that isn’t worth your brainpower and the enigmatic visions that demand multiple viewings to draw your conclusions. Wise Blood is the latter. Deciphering John Huston’s bizarre adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s Deep South fable is such an enjoyable, stimulating task that I’d cherish…
Desktop lunching
First, an admonition: Try not to do what I’m about to describe. There is no reason why anyone should spend more time at a desk than needed, especially during lunch hour. Go outside. Picnic. Take a break. Share lunchtime with friends or co-workers. Head out and support a local restaurant. Break away from the phone,…
Upper crust
One of the Café’s best features is its large patio, covered with sage-green canopies and provided with heaters for the transitional months. Outdoor seating is needed because there are only 15 tables inside, plus a tiny bar and a few seats for drinks in that crowded hallway. The small rooms give an intimate feel. Café…
Weird Science
It all started with booze. Picture the Neolithic hunter-gatherer coming home from a couple of weeks in the bush to find the honey he had collected before he left a simmering mess. Ravenous from his adventure, he would take a small taste, realize that this strange, not exactly rotten brew wasn’t going to kill him…
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Look, the original Night at the Museum was no work of brilliance. But it had enough affection, amusing jokes and special-effects wonder for an inoffensive family flick. The sequel, however, is as unimaginative as it is sloppy. With all the history and cultural iconography at its disposal, Battle of the Smithsonian relies on Einstein bobbleheads…
Turning the tables
In our last Food Issue, we observed that food was becoming a bit, um, political. If anything, the last year has clinched it. That vocal minority concerned about “food security” is growing, inspired by writers like Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, and informed by documentaries like King Corn and Super Size Me. Opinion polls show…
Back to basics
If you could eat only one food for a whole year, plus water, which food would be best for your health? Pick one: bananas, corn, alfalfa sprouts, hot dogs, spinach, peaches, milk chocolate. If, like me, you chose bananas, you’d be with 42 percent of the population (all that potassium). Next most popular: spinach. Only…
About face
I love you, you’re wonderful, but we can’t do it because you remind me
Salvation salivation
Star Christian Bale, who cranks intensity to 11, then busts off the knob. As humanity-savior John Connor, Bale’s intent to glare his way to victory, growling orders and threats with gravel-voiced fury, all the while attempting to burn a hole in the camera lens — even in the quieter moments. Of course, Connor has the…
Night and Day
WEDNESDAY • 27 YEAH YEAH YEAHS SYNTHS? SAY WHAT? Scrappy New York City "art-rock" trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs may have caused some head-scratching with their third album, It’s Blitz, when they (somewhat) ditched growling guitars for screeching synths — that is, if they hadn’t pulled it off so darn well. While the overall effect…
Dance Flick
Deep beneath its canopy of dumb slapstick, pop culture winks, and scatological ha-has, lies the existential dilemma at the heart of Dance Flick; that is, what sucks worse? The silly teen dance flicks or the lame spoofs of them? Cheesy flicks about dance-offs all get ground into a greasy pile of hamburger by the cooks…
Three-course meal
Gwen Joy As sweet as Gwen Joy is, she doesn’t really do the dessert thing. Instead, she digs full-flavored vegetarian fare and sipping hot liquor drinks with biker gangs in dive bars. Joy’s also, it should be noted, a painter, toy transformer, model, art socialite and rock club concessionaire (she earns coin as a kind…
Summer Hours
The plot couldn’t be simpler: Three fortysomething siblings struggle to manage their mother’s estate after her death. Though the family’s home is storied and the inheritance filled with valuable art works (courtesy their great uncle, a celebrated artist), only eldest son Frédéric (Charles Berling), a French economist, longs to keep the estate and heirlooms in…
GM’s soft landing
Behind the scenes, Obama manages the crisis deftly
Central nerve rehab
Several years before his death, George Harrison criticized electronic-techno-dance music, theorizing that fans were “destroying their nervous systems.” Of course, the wonderful Mr. Harrison always seemed somewhat preoccupied with the nervous system, once claiming Beatlemania had destroyed all four Fabs’ systems and then using the words “nervous system” in at least three of his post-Beatles…
Second coming
The best record to come out of Detroit this year spent 30 years in an Ecorse basement. It’s called Downriver Revival, and, although most of the tracks on it are almost 40 years old, it sounds relevant. In fact, it sounds uncannily modern in an era when genre-nudging under the R&B mantle (see Adele, Estelle,…
Modern Mistakes
It’s a well known that all music trends, regardless of how uncool they are in present tense, eventually resurface. (See “garage rock” in the late ’90s.) So you can gamble your life savings on grunge rearing its lank-haired head in a decade or so. Thus, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see ’90s Brit-pop get…
Motor City Cribs
Where do the Go practice? In the Berkley basement of a deaf retiree, natch.
Kid Moves
“Free Money,” the first tune off Kinetic Stereokids’ sophomore album features a giant guitar riff ready for something like a Nike commercial, which offers a clue to the Flint-based band’s intentions. KS has their sights set on corporate radio domination, pulling inspiration from about everything that’s “alterna-rock” now. The rest of the album’s a whirlwind…
Letters to the Editor
A cut too deep I take exception to the positive tone of the copy on page 54 of the May 13, Metro Times, issue referring to the Grand Opening of the Dequindre Cut “Greenway.” I’ve lived in Elmwood Park for 10 years. The Dequindre Cut is the spine between Lafayette Park to the west and…
Queen City Quandaries
Old Empire’s debut album starts off with a Wall of Sound, ’60s pop-copping, girl group-esque bang. “Track & Field” kicks off the album with an irresistible slice of melodic goodness that begs repeated listens, which could make it hard for one to move on to the rest of the record. But it’s definitely worth resisting…
Demand and supply
Fleeing Baghdad’s violence, Nuhad Toma arrived in the United States a year ago and, at first, the relief at simply being safe left her content. But reality eventually set in for the 56-year-old Iraqi refugee: She is alone in a new country, doesn’t speak much English, worries about friends and family still in the war zone,…
Slow burn
Is talk of shutting down the incinerator just smoke and mirrors?
The candy man
“How you doing, young fella!” shouts a jolly Mr. Boyd to the little kid standing at his store’s counter. The boy, probably about 7 years old, asks for a pack of gum. “Oh you’re gonna be doing some chewin’, huh?” Boyd replies enthusiastically. He gives him the gum and lets the kid owe him a…
What recession?
Despite hard times, a great year for political war chests
Get it fresh
Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market 315 Detroit St., Ann Arbor; open year-round, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday, May through December; 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, January through April; a2gov.org/market. Ann Arbor’s premier farmers’ market has locally grown food, plants, prepared food items, and handcrafts. They’ve also collected recipes and stories about the market, available for $10…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
800beloved ain’t all doom and mortuaries
Based on his morbid pop music sensibilities, not to mention his day profession, it’s easy to imagine Sean Lynch being a nocturnal person. Thus, it’s not at all surprising when Lynch says he can meet for an interview after midnight. “It’s not conscious — like I say to myself, ‘You’re going to write another song…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
Just the Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout #217, ma’am! Dennis O’Neil & Curt Swan — DC Comics Classic Library: Superman — Kryptonite Nevermore (DC Comics) :: In 1971, definitive Supes artist Swan and definitive Green Lantern writer O’Neil teamed up to clean up a cluttered iconography by finally putting the kibosh on a multicolored crutch called…
MEG MARRIES JACKSON AT JACK’S…
The White Stripes’ website has reported Jackson Smith and Meg White tied the knot last Friday, May 22nd, in the backyard of Jack White’s Nashville home,.in front of “a small party of close friends and relatives.” According to the announcement, Meg and Jackson were married as part of a double ceremony that also included the…
Odds & Ends
I wish I knew her real name. I don’t want to call her Grandma Techno. Surreal speakers in the sky. Flying Lotus tearing it up. Cybergoth kids raving by the Noguchi Fountain. Mr. Nice Guy playing Alice Cooper songs on Roland Micro Cubes.
D.I.A. NOW HIRING ARTISTS
See, art and money can co-exist! We can’t believe it either! Maybe this is a small sign of an economic upswing, who knows? Most artists I know aren’t at all money hungry entrepreneurs. In fact, most could definitely use some cash to line their pockets. Seriously, as cheap as Black Label is, I’m tired of…
MONDAY
Clark Warner Kero Flying Lotus Lee Curtiss Carl Craig
SUNDAY
John R. Michael Geiger @ Family Funktion Brian Gillespie @ Family Funktion Brendan Gillen @ No Way Back
ALL IN THE FAMILY…OR WEDDING BELL ROCK
Congratulations to regular Metro Times music contributor Brett Callwood and Toni Deville (aka Toni Jedlowski), who’s one of the stalwarts across the hall in the MT sales/ad department. The happy couple tied the knot in downtown Detroit this past Sunday, May 24th, in a ceremony that was officiated over by L.A. punk hero and producer…
