Pollen angels
When J. Kim Welch made his way to school as a kid he didn’t walk … he ran. Those days are gone but not forgotten. It’s late on a Thursday night; with the workday on its last legs, Welch and I are on our fourth attempt at an interview. He is an incredibly busy man,…
Body Kiss
The Pied Piper of medieval legend led an entire rodent scourge from an infested town simply by playing his instrument. When the town refused the Piper his promised reward, the Piper played his tune again, this time leading away all the town’s children — perhaps becoming history’s most influential child molester. R Kelly produced, wrote,…
White DeStriples
A rough guide to the new wave of the terrible twos….
Ballot box set
By letting citizens make a second choice, IRV could revolutionize elections….
City eyes
“Art in a living context” could be the subtitle of every show at 4731 Gallery on Grand River in Detroit. The street-level exhibition space and warehouse full of artists’ studios is so far west of the Cultural Center that it can’t rightfully be thought of as a “culture outpost.” Instead, in the tradition of Alley…
Huge stones
The Huntington Woods neighborhood couldn’t be any less rock ’n’ roll: Squirrels scuttle beneath bird feeders and wind chimes, grape vines twirl up trellises, yard care trucks exhale hazy fumes over numerically aligned, garden-rich yards. There are dogwoods, morning glories and spangled fritillaries. Spring has sprung. It’s not a place one might suspect to find…
Sondre’s samba
If one thread binds Norway’s somewhat infrequent musical exports, it’s a penchant for globetrotting. Even if we dismiss the brass horns that Vikings left scattered around the Northern Hemisphere and the ceaseless touring of 19th century classical innovator Edvard Grieg, rest assured, Norwegian pop phenomenon Sondre Lerche will carry on the footloose trend of his…
Letters to the Editor
Other choices In the Politics & Prejudices column “Choosing the next president” (Metro Times, May 14-20), Jack Lessenberry writes that “None [of the Democratic candidates for President] would appoint Ashcroft or Rumsfeld or anyone nearly as bad to high policy-making positions.” I would not be too certain of that statement. Clinton appointed Janet Reno, who…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Writing in Poetry Flash, critic Andy Brumer reminisces about the creative writing class he took with poet Stan Rice at San Francisco State University. “I remember sitting in class,” he muses, “thinking this teacher is working harder at teaching than I am at learning.” Don’t let such laziness overcome you. You’re…
May 28-June 3, 2003
30-1 FRI-SUN • FUN FOR ALL JAMbalaya — Mardi Gras will be a little late this year, folks — at least in Pontiac. So if you missed this year’s festivities down in the Big Easy, or you’d just like to revisit those debauched good times, get on over (beads in tow) to downtown Pontiac for…
Remains of the day
Artist-turned-evidentiary photographer plies her trade at the county morgue….
Holding out for a zero
When pop music is this nause8ing, we need a sk8pgoat to blame it on….
Select your Santorum
It feels like a million years ago that Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., told a reporter that he hoped the United States Supreme Court would uphold anti-gay sodomy laws and compared consensual gay sex to incest, bigamy, adultery and “man-on-dog” sex. There was a brief uproar, of course, with gay groups calling for Santorum’s head and…
The 1st Album
Roomful of Blues That’s Right! Alligator Records Fans of the swingingest band in the land have double the reason to celebrate these days. Hyena Records has rereleased Roomful of Blues’ debut disc from 1977, just as Alligator Records has put out a brand-new recording of the group. Comparing the two albums shows just how far…
Abstract facades
Lester Sloan’s "Urban Glyphs" see past grime and neglect….
Keep On Your Mean Side
My friend and I just got into a steaming argument about the Kills. He claims it’s just outright theft, that the Kills should apologize to the surviving members of the Velvet Underground and Patti Smith, then take their scratchy guitar anxiety and boy-girl incantation and go home to Mama. He has a valid point. The…
Cass Records: We’re a happy family
You’ve probably seen Ben Blackwell around but just didn’t know it. He goes to, like, a million shows. He’s the tall, longhaired, towheaded kid standing near the stage with his jean jacket on and a wide-open stare that sometimes says “What the hell is this shit?” and sometimes says “I’m witnessing the greatest moment in…
Purple pain
Alex Hahn thinks The Artist Once Again Known As Prince is a spoiled, misogynistic, egotistical megalomaniac. But he admires his talent. Really. Hahn’s dishy new biography of the Purple One, Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, is his attempt to chart Prince from the days when his music was introducing thousands of suburban teens…
They just don’t get it
Imagine that the entire nation was in the state Detroit is in today, or worse. Rotting buildings falling down, people out of work, kids without prospects for a decent future, fathers abandoning their families, general despair. That was once exactly the case. Seventy years ago, during the Great Depression, plenty of those in the know…
Palates & palettes
An art gallery restaurant that features an international menu of reinvented favorites. Vegetarian and vegan friendly dishes are featured. Only the freshest ingredients are used in their dishes, and organic ingredients are used whenever possible. From the viande selection only all-natural chemical free free-range chicken, certified Angus beef tenderloin, all-natural chemical free seafood and pork…
Go back, Jack
Thom and Linda Hildbold want their Jack back. There’s been a hole in their lives, not to mention their front yard, since their beloved 6-year-old with a perpetual snarl and demonic horns was snatched from their Ferndale home one month ago. The police have been notified. A site alerting the world to Jack’s disappearance is…
Lover boy
This is Victor’s coming-of-age story, but it’s also about the more general mysteries of teenage love, and the characters are so genuine it hurts. It’s one of the sweeter, more pure bits of film you’ll find, with people living lives untouched by anything so heady as what’s in store for tomorrow.
Somebody put out an APB
What’s a little rape among friends? A group in Mount Clemens calling itself “Friends of Bill Hackel” is holding a welcome home fund-raiser on Friday, June 6, for the convicted felon and former Macomb County sheriff. The married Hackel, 61, was sheriff for 23 years before his conviction in 1999 of two counts of third-degree…
Bunny
Soft for Digging
HHH 1/2
Finishing off Madstone Theaters’ Film Forward Independent Film Festival are a couple of peculiar islands of thought — strange birds brought to lights, camera and action — disturbing poetic visions on-screen May 29-June 11 in Ann Arbor.
Easy rider
News Hits has to hand it to Fox 2 reporter Scott Lewis. He reported last week that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been touring the hood on his Harley-Davidson without a license. According to Lewis’ story, Kilpatrick had a 30-day permit to drive his motorcycle, but the permit expired last year. Kilpatrick’s press secretary Jamaine Dickens…
Spellbound
This documentary follows eight participants in the 1999 National Spelling Bee as they struggle with words that mere mortals only run across in, uh, spelling tests. Each of the eight kids has their own story, and, not surprisingly, the most affecting tales are those of the underprivileged.
Any deport in a storm
If your idea of a good time is exploring the lengths to which this nation will go to punish perceived political foes, you’ll be euphoric on Thursday, May 29, at the metro Detroit premiere of a flick called Voices in Exile: Immigrants and the First Amendment. The fact that the video was completed in 1989…
L’Auberge Espagnole
French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch has mastered just the right tone for his busy coming-of-age tale — neither too silly nor too serious and always a pleasure to watch — about a young French student who decides it would be advantageous to spend a year in Barcelona.
Artist shafted
As Detroit winds down from its annual Hart Plaza electronic music dance party — now dubbed Movement 2003 — Eddie Birtulescu is still smarting from last year’s event. Back then, the event was known as the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, and Birtulescu agreed to do the artwork to market the event. The College for Creative…
Bruce Almighty
Like a housewife fed up with her husband asking what she does around the house all day, God (Morgan Freeman) puts the chores — and the powers and responsibilities — of running Buffalo in Bruce’s (Jim Carrey) incapable hands. This comic fable begs comparison to It’s a Wonderful Life, but doesn’t have a prayer.
Dropping inn
This week’s abandoned structure has really gone to the dogs. The residence at 13903 Manning in northeast Detroit and its surroundings suggest that at least one pooch has taken up residence — there’s a dreadful amount of doo-doo. A look inside reveals everything from dirty children’s clothes to a seemingly unbroken and strangely enticing Teenage…
Climbing!
Nantucket Sleighride The Best of Mountain Not long ago I sat down with Gov’t. Mule’s guitar god Warren Haynes. During the conversation it came up that his longtime producer, Michael Barbiero, is the cousin of the late Felix Pappalardi. The latter, of course, was bassist and producer for Mountain, a band the Mule has frequently…
