Kilpatrick missing?
The highest-profile felon serving time behind bars in Michigan had for weeks escaped the taint of being listed on the online database maintained by the Department of Corrections. But he’s there now. Yes, former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has shown up on the state’s Offender Tracking Information System, known by the acronym OTIS. It’s a…
One Obama vote revisited
Former MT staffer Jennifer Bagwell wanted to share her reflections on last week’s Election Day: The afternoon of Nov. 4, Denise came to the door in curlers and told us how they wouldn’t let her vote. “I was so geeked,” she said, now looking crestfallen. “I was all dressed up.” It was now hours later…
Obama voters: Don’t call them stupid
Around the country, as here at Metro Times, folks no doubt continue to share personal anecdotes about what transpired last week. An electric current of optimism surged through a vast network of people — from those who invested dollars and labor in the Barack Obama campaign to those who simply voted. And we’re still coming…
R.I.P. “ITCHY” (AKA GREGORY JOHN MCCORMICK)
Sorry to hear of the death of Greg McCormick, better known as Itchy, who was one of the mainstays of Shock Therapy, a Detroit band that never had a lot of success locally, despite opening shows here for the Jesus And Mary Chain and Gang Of Four, among others, but made some major waves overseas,…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
Couch Trip
The Wild Wild West: The Complete TV Series Paramount Pictures If there was ever a better male ass than Robert Conrad’s on TV, you go find it. And bring it to the thing that is The Wild Wild West, drop it from the bloody vice grip of your canine incisors and see if it stacks…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
Fasten your seatbelts! We’re in for a bumpy Jeffrey Morgan’s Mediaeval Blackout #192! Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark — OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More (Eagle) :: Archly melodramatic like an old Bette Davis Warner Bros. weeper populated by ciggy-smokin’ automatons. Now, Voyager meets I, Robot. Gary Numan — Dance (Beggar’s Banquet) :: Paul…
Bond for babes
James Bond has been a lot of things, but never a reason for a woman to squirm uncomfortably in her theater seat. When Daniel Craig, the fifth incarnation of the movie super-spy, climbed out of the ocean in Casino Royale, though, that’s exactly what happened. The sexual tension for girls is palpable, and he has…
Neighborhood perk
Across from Slows Bar BQ and a stone’s throw from what’s left of Michigan Central Station, the Mercury specializes in “slow coffee,” salads and sandwiches. The excellent soups include the Irish colcannon and the thick, velvety, nurturing butternut, and salads are nicely conceived, including a welcome small for $3. The slow coffee is ground and…
See ya, Nay-Dog
See ya, Nay-Dog A Nathaniel Mayer collaborator looks at the life that was by Matthew Smith Nathaniel Mayer died on Nov. 1, 2008, at 3:15 p.m. at St. John Hospital in Detroit. He was 64 years old, trying to recover from a series of strokes that left him paralyzed and unable to speak. Every time…
5 The Hard Way
On Aug. 15 of this year, while opening for Blue Oyster Cult at Hart Plaza with his band Spitting Nickels, 43-year-old guitarist Tom Furtaw collapsed onstage and passed away. It’s with no small amount of pleasure (and, admittedly, a little relief) that we can say 5 The Hard Way is a fine example of Motor…
Presto: You’re gay!
Dan’s revenge over Prop 8’s passage
5 The Hard Way
On Aug. 15 of this year, while opening for Blue Oyster Cult at Hart Plaza with his band Spitting Nickels, 43-year-old guitarist Tom Furtaw collapsed onstage and passed away. Medical examiners ruled heart disease to be the cause of death. In light of such a tragedy, the release of this EP can’t fail to take…
Secrets & crimes
Not long after U.S. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden learned he was going to be named the director of the National Security Agency (NSA) in 1998, he and his wife went out on a date. The Haydens lived in Seoul, South Korea, where he was stationed with the United Nations Command, and they decided to…
The Villain
Detroit rapper Trick Trick’s reputation precedes him. Being linked to beatdowns or chain-snatchings involving the likes of national stars Trick Daddy and Yung Berg, the towering, imposing figure has become the stuff of Motor City legend. Fortunately, his sophomore disc, the aptly titled The Villain, shows that he’s got the music to back up the…
Ode to Kilpatrick
So Kwame Kilpatrick is in jail and Detroiters are reading about what he ate for breakfast. As a reporter who covered Kilpatrick for this paper and The Detroit News, it’s been surreal to watch the scandal from afar. (I live in New York now.) My memory of Kilpatrick is still of a man larger than…
Role Models
Wiseass Danny (Paul Rudd) and amiable dude Wheeler (Seann William Scott) have a peculiarly demeaning job — they cruise around in a monster truck peddling an antifreeze-colored energy drink to middle schoolers; Wheeler wears a furry costume while Danny delivers the bullshit pitch. The dead-end gig is turning Danny into a royal jerk, and when…
On the Download
Gardens — the newest project from the dudes who brought you the joys of the Genders — share a natty urban-underbelly garage savoir faire with ’90s NYC heartthrobs Jonathan Fire*Eater, featuring thumping Velvets-y whomp and strum that sounds like a Bohemian amateur dance party night gone extremely right. I caught ’em first at the opening…
Soul Men
And though it’s bound to be a mere footnote in Isaac Hayes’ and Bernie Mac’s distinguished careers, Soul Men ain’t a bad way for either to go out, fondly satirizing the soul music Hayes embodied with one of Mac’s better screen performances. And in Samuel L. Jackson, Mac has a perfectly matched co-star, someone with…
Believing
Obama won because he was the best
Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa
This animated sequel quickly picks up where the other Madagascar left off. The four animals — lion Alex (Ben Stiller), zebra Marty (Chris Rock), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) — who were raised in captivity and pampered in a New York zoo all their lives, are still stranded in the…
Armageddon time!
Sex and the end of the world: That’s perhaps the best way to describe the music of Octopus (or the Octopus; it doesn’t matter which, according to the band). Well, that and a long list of other things that band mastermind Joe Frezza is passionate about: Comic books. Conspiracy theories. Salvia (as in that psychedelic…
The boy looked at Patti
Fashion photographer Steven Sebring met Smith 11 years ago, during a photo session, and approached her with the idea of a personal documentary. Smith agreed, and the documentarian was given extraordinary access to his subject for more than a decade. Smith narrates the film herself — both in verse and plain speaking — and her…
Night and Day
WEDNESDAY • 12 BRIAN WILSON FUN, FUN, FUN! The sad fact is that most of pop music’s living legends are dead. You can count the living “living legends” on two hands these days … but Brian Wilson would undoubtedly be near the very top of the list. As the genius architect behind the Beach Boys…
Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978
“We always blow the big ones,” Jerry Garcia said once upon a time, and that’s a list that includes Monterey, Woodstock, Egypt. Playing at the foot of the Great Pyramid — the Gizah Sound and Light Theater in Cairo — was one of the biggest stoned ideas come to life, though, after considerable effort put…
Motor City Cribs
Malik Alston holds down the family homestead.
The ’59 Sound
It’s kinda comical, especially for someone who actually lived through and remembers that decade, to see how in vogue and “influential” the ’80s currently seem to be. Truth is, however, thanks to the advent of MTV (and image becoming more crucial than the music), among other elements, there was a great deal of shit that…
Letters to the Editor
Voter compassion I’m writing to express my gratitude to the voters of Michigan, who courageously and compassionately made Proposal 1 law. This historic initiative will bring relief to countless friends, family members and loved ones. It’s so much the worse for those who so stridently opposed its passage, relying on fear and deceit to stand…
Hope’s future
Community leaders discuss how to help fix Detroit
Highlighting ACCESS
Dearborn-based Arab services group now a national resource
Food Stuff
Full plates for local foodies.
