Cover Stories
Josh Malerman’s top five authors and recordings
S.T. Joshi: An H.P. Lovecraft enthusiast and biographer, he wrote a real rattlesnake called The Weird Tale. It’s got a little something about all my fellas: Lovecraft, M.R. James, Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood. One thing I don’t like, while citing the magnanimity of Lovecraft for responding to letters sent by fans, Joshi never…
Ready, steady. Pop.
On the new High Strung album, ?Posible o’ Imposible?, on a power-pop track called "The Luck You Got," guitarist and frontman Josh Malerman sings "What is this feeling you’re so sure of?" The question, in fact, may well refer to the band’s nationwide fanbase, which, after years of struggle, is finally burgeoning. It could tell…
City Slang: The In-Between and Growwing Pains at the Lager House
On Wednesday, May 16, PJ’s Lager House will host the In-Between, Growwing Pains, Screams of Christ and Esper. The action starts at 9 p.m., and cover is $5. According to the Lager website, “The In-Between is an Indie Rock Band From Detroit MI. Stated in 2011 the band consists of Matt Diederichs (guitarist/ Vocalist), Brad…
Detroit Poet in the War Zone: M. L. Liebler Rides the Kandahar Beat # 6
I met some very hip writers Kabul filmmakers, painters and musicians at the Afghan Cultural House (the MOCAD of Kabul) http://ach.af/. I performed a few poems for them, which they said, “We like! We Like!” I did some “Blood in the Moon” (they seem very biggly on both blood and the moon over here). We…
Detroit Poet in the War Zone: M. L. Liebler Rides the Kabul & Jalabad Beats #5
Hey Ya Detroit! M. L. Liebler has officially left The Stan & the Barracks . Let the blogging continue: I traveled out to Orange Blossom country in beautiful Jalalabad in Nangarhar Province. Jalalabad is a stone’s through from the famous Kyber Pass which is the gateway to Pakistan. We helicoptered in from Kabul passing over…
City Slang: Happy Mother’s Day
Moms are awesome, ain’t they? Who else makes boo-boo’s feel better? In honor of mothers everywhere, here are some celebratory Detroit tunes. First up, an oddity from Alice Cooper that we had, to be honest, pretty much forgotten about. I’ve written home to mother. The Candy Band are punk rock moms who sing about candy…
City Slang: Two days left on Amy Gore appeal
There are just three days to go on the Kickstarter appeal to raise the $4,500 Amy Gore & Her Valentines need to finish and release their debut album. We’ve heard it (reviewed here), and it’s a corker. At the time of writing, the band are about halfway to the total, and if they don’t make…
Teen-a-rama: ‘Walk Alone Skin N’ Bones’
On the first album from this super group of musicians, They keep to their glam rock roots, and hard rock influence. The group composed of Gregory Beyer (Grayling, Sherry, Ty Stone and The Tr uth) Eric Hoegemeyer (Crud, Gold Cash Gold) and Troy Gregory (The Dirtbombs, The Witches) are all but underground, having performed at…
Fawn’s Coastlines
Out this June on Quite Scientific – This Detroit quartet demonstrates the impact of earnest pop when it’s bolstered by four minds already finely honed into sensibilities for atmospheric augmentation, shred-it-up-energy, wholesome-smacking new-wave grooves and knotty rhythmic patterns – The reason their “debut” sound has such strong presentation is that this band -as-a-unit- has been…
Experience’d (–Pupils/Easy Action/Peelander-Z – 5.17.12)
What are you gonna take away from it? I was talking to a friend about the artist’s experience and he underlined the vitality of being able to hand something to the audience, the viewer, the listener, the reader. Iron Man will zoom through space and cars will explode in 3-D in front of your eyes…
Impossible Spaces
Sweet Sunday-afternoon soundtracks…for a Friday… Sandro Perri’s wafting ambling groove-pop as wavy as gravy, with bubbly synth champagne-froth and honeyed vocal tones crooning all a’ quiver. Impossible Spaces (Constellation) blends minimal Tropicalia-type buoyant breezes to sepia-toned 70’s singer-songwriter soars and wonderfully weirds-it-up with warm, winding organs trailing fuzzy curly cues under breathy ballads. Toronto-based producer/songwriter Sandro…
City Slang: The Detroit Community Chorus sings a Detroit Panorama
On the evening of Friday, May 11 and the afternoon of Saturday, May 23, the Community Chorus of Detroit presents A Detroit Panorama: Music of a Great American City. Find out more at the CCD website. According to the website, “This unique, collaborative program will be a celebration of the history, present, and future of…
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel B- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a meandering drama of twilight soul rediscovery that is every bit as cozy, soothing and quintessentially English as a cup of milky tea or a pint of warm lager. It’s aimed squarely at the eager crowd of film-going pensioners that the biz so often…
Street art wars rock Hamtramck!
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 Oak’s 323East gallery), Contra Projects (headed up by Tom Thewes, the guy who directed CPOP Gallery in Detroit for 10 years) and spray…
Detroit Poet in the War Zone: M. L. Liebler Rides the Kabul Beat # 4
For security reason, I am going to temporarily suspend my Blogging until I leave Afghanistan. I have some MT Blogs stored up that I can post soon. Stand by…. I have some interesting and very cool literary arts stories to share with my friends and interested folks. I just did a gig at The Afghan…
Tarnished Gold
There are times when my kool-aid drunkard spills out of the blogoid-saloon and yells his enthusiasm for a work out into vast blur of the Internet skies…whether you wanna hear it or not… Beachwood Sparks (are/were/have-been/prove-again-to-be) one of my favorite bands, but after a concernedly long dormancy -they come back and have made what I…
City Slang: Kodaks celebrate CD release at Magic Stick
The Kodaks are celebrating the release of their new album Night Surfing with a show at the Magic Stick in Detroit on Friday, May 11. Cover is $5, and the bill also includes the Vatican and the Handgrenades. According to, awesomely enough, front man Adam’s dad, “The Kodaks are four guys in their early 20’s:…
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows Directed by Tim Burton. Written by Seth Grahame-Smith and John August, based on the TV series created by Dan Curtis. Starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote, Christopher Lee and Alice Cooper. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated PG-13.…
Remembering Alma Smith, Detroit music countess
“With so many beautiful people, Detroit is bound to last,” Alma Smith sang in one of the many songs she penned, this one an eloquently swinging mash note to her hometown. You can hear her wonderful ivory tickling behind her vocal lines in the video embedded here, and hopefully, it will inspire others to post…
Detroit is the 86th Porniest City in the Country!
Part of our story-finding gig down here at MT HQ is to explore all roads, low and high, of Detroit culture. Sometimes we find glory and sometimes shits and giggles. When it comes to porn, there’s lots of it in the old Motor City, and not just what’s wired into your homes. It’s also produced…
Rants on White Noise – a crappy future?
Music soothes these savage souls – -shuffling down endless URL aisles offering double-take-deals no longer so hard to believe in the daily blur – hearts on sleeves at such a steal in the big digital vacuum. Dog-walkers and baby-carrage-pushers, bus-stop sitters and even some daring old lady drivers, all have their eyes cast downward, their…
City Slang: Holdin’ it down with Marion Hayden
There will be a tribute to jazz bassist Marion Hayden at St. Matthew’s & St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church (8850 Woodward, Detroit) on Sunday, May 13. The event begind at 4 p.m. with an Afterglow to follow. Tickets ate $20, or $40 including the Afterglow. According to AllAboutJazz.com, “Marion Hayden is one of the nation’s finest proponents…
Verse chorus verse
It’s like this fetching frontwoman has been preparing her whole career for her band Amy Gore & Her Valentines, because everything great about the Gore Gore Girls and Gorevette is here, along with lots of not-so-cheap tricks. The debut Valentines album reveals Shadow Morton-like girl-group elements, the same sort that warmed up her past combos,…
Mess of suppression
News Hits recently found itself engaged in a debate about election integrity with one of our conservative friends over beers at a local watering hole. And yes, that’s not a misprint. We do have friends on the right. Just not very many of them. Concern over voter fraud is being hyped as a real issue…
Senate dumbs down
Last week, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) made a stunning proposal: How about closing all the loopholes in the tax system — and using that money to give every high school graduate in the state a college education? That’s not a silly idea. Michigan is one of the most undereducated states in…
Food Stuff
Market growth Want to get in on a growing market? Visit a local farmers’ market. According to the USDA, last year saw the establishment of more than 1,000 new farmers’ markets across the country, an expansion of 17 percent in one year. And they’re getting bigger and more focused on food education and cooking demonstrations.…
Grateful Dead – All the Years Combine: The DVD Collection 2012 (Shout Factory)
Visual documentation of the Grateful Dead has a been a fickle beast; releases sell out, stay out of print for a few years, reappear briefly, disappear again … if you don’t get ’em while they’re hot, it’s the eBay/Amazon gamble, for which exorbitant prices are likely paid. Happily, this latest in the recent avalanche of…
Dr. John – Locked Down (Nonesuch Records)
The Doctor is back, and finally you can get a little taste of what he’s prescribed. Giving off the flare of voodoo funk, this time with Black Keys front-man Dan Auerbach, he delivers what you wish the Black Keys sounded like. Even though this is more like a Black Keys plus Dr. John album, the…
Screwin’ the pooch
Q: I am a 26-year-old straight guy. My straightness and guyness are recent revelations, and it feels amazing to be able to confidently state this. Here is my trouble: I’ve had gender issues for the past five years. My now ex-girlfriend of three years said she couldn’t be with me anymore due to these issues.…
Ode to a café
Mahogany Dreams Where: Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History; 315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit; 313-494-5800; thewright.org. When: May 10-12; doors at 7 p.m. call 202-480-9469 for info; tickets at bit.ly/IJvy7Y. During its late ’90s heyday, Café Mahogany in Harmonie Park was a one-of-a-kind nightspot for jazz, soul and the spoken word,…
Roll with it
Blufin Sushi 18584 Mack Ave, Grosse Pointe Farms 313-332-0050 Handicap accessible Prices: $15-$35 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. Sundays. While the name may imply otherwise, Blufin Sushi isn’t just a sushi bar — or even a Japanese restaurant. Sushi dominates the offerings, but a glance at…
Optimism in the hood?
Perspective is a matter of position. Right now in my neighborhood, from where I sit, things are looking up. That’s partly because the house directly across the street from me had been empty for a couple of years, but now it’s occupied by a couple and their three kids. They are friendly and seem like…
Crank
AU Both Lights Hometapes 2.5 Stars Riffing: Charm and obnoxiousness in equal measure on overly busy showcase that sounds like a different band from song to song: classical-infected baroque here, power pop and bizarro noise there. Reference points: Architect Luke Wyland digs Animal Collective-derived headfucks, but Panda Bear and company are better at making them…
Start the day right
$=$5-$10; $$=$10-$25; $$$=$25-$50; $$$$=$50+ Angelo’s 1100 E. Catherine St., Ann Arbor; 734-761-8996; angelosa2.com; $: Plenty of stuff for eggheads to try here, including eggs Benedict, Florentine, lox Benedict and a standard two-egg breakfast plate with bacon, sausage, ham, breakfast potatoes and homemade toast for $7.75. Omelets include their standard (comes stuffed with your choice of…
Detroit is a muralist’s dream canvas
Normally, we object to any statement that declares Detroit to be a “blank canvas” ready to have new designs imposed on it. Generally, those who make such statements are prone to ignore the very real people, the centuries of heritage, the wealth of architecture that exist here in abundance. But when it comes to muralists…
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…
