Funeral pyre
When you graduate from high school it’s a time for big plans. Some people travel abroad for the summer. Texan Win Butler, leader of this week’s current indie It band, Arcade Fire, went to Montreal. And he stayed, mainly to attend school. “Sometimes you have these stupid ideas that you just do, and this was…
Plus-sized art
According to conventional wisdom, drawing is something an artist does in preparation for something else: a sketch for a painting; an illustration of an installation idea; a schematic for a three-dimensional object. This preconception persists in art schools and museums. Super Sized, an exhibit of large-scale drawings at Meadow Brook Art Gallery, questions that assumption…
Straight outta the lab
Shania Twain’s “Party for Two” might be the single of the year. The duet, released in both country-broasted and Mark McGrath pop versions, is a laser-guided, petri dish-corrected, space age polymer orgasm of clean burning, unadulterated joy. In other words, its pitch-corrected tickle has a mandate to make you smile. And yet, “Party” is only…
Tone def
Eighteen year-old rapper Antonio “Tone Tone” Henderson has a lot to be thankful for. If the magic formula for hip-hop stardom these days is part talent, part connection and lots of timing, he might make American kids scream. That is, if he doesn’t wind up a victim of hateritis, that hood-born disease that strikes Motor…
Jay-Z and foes
Yes, the on-again, off-again, Jay-Z-fronted Best of Both Worlds tour is still chugging along. Now dubbed the Jay-Z and Friends Tour (sans R. Kelly, who recently filed a $75 million lawsuit against Jay-Z for breach of contract), the show rolls into the D this week. Who knows, if found responsible, Jay-Z may need to come…
Live! In the mix
San Francisco DJ/producer J. Boogie’s remixes make turntable schizophrenia sound pleasing. His work on the Om Lounge series elevated his name among global downtempo giants, and his ragga-soul fusion on Ubiquity’s 1997 release Audio Alchemy 2 helped define the Bay Area’s dubbed-out electronic sound. Boogie’s latest, Live! in the Mix, features his mind-fuck quintet Dubtronic…
Proactive
House Out That den of activity known as the Green House is on the move. The big question is, to where? Currently located at 22757 Woodward Ave. in Ferndale, the local center of all things progressive is looking for new digs. “A new location is forced on us, mainly by the rapidly evolving plans of…
Gray matters
Growing old can be a nasty business. There’s the physical deterioration and the ever-growing dependency on others. There’s the society that rarely recognizes the accumulated experience and wisdom of those afflicted by nothing more than longevity. And though these mires would seem to be debilitating in their own right, there is one condition that often…
Bamboo Kids
Bamboo Kids — what a great name. It’s right there with the Itchy Brothers, or (RIP) the Exploding Hearts. Figures that this scraggly NYC trio would find the right moniker — their eponymous debut was recorded in glorious crap-tone, features a clutch of two minute songs stealing cleverly from ’77 punk and red light district…
Last rites
This abandoned church at 331 E. Bethune has seen better days. What was once a mighty cathedral in a macabre North-End community is now little more than a haven for stray dogs and a gold mine for scavengers. Neighbors told the Abandoned Structure Squad that suspicious crews (some, apparently posing as city workers) have been…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
MB9…MB9…MB9… • The Beatles — Turn Me On Dead Man (Vigotone) :: Before he died of cancer, not only did Abbey Road engineer John Barrett secretly make hours of pristine cassette dubs of unreleased Beatles songs direct from the original multitrack masters, he also actually remixed many familiar classics. So take this bootleg, brother, may…
The brilliance of being Bening
Annette Bening gives a tour de force performance as an aging theatrical diva in this period comedy about backstage backstabbing. Julia is the reigning queen of prewar London’s West End. Bored and uninspired, she starts an affair with a young American and rediscovers her muse. When he throws her over for an ambitious young starlet…
Pop-ing off
Accusations were flying like slop in a mud-wrestling match at City Hall last Friday. This time it was corporate behemoth Pepsi Co. that got splattered. The show at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center was complete with melodramatic posturing for the television cameras, on this particular day by the wakened giant, City Council member Barbara-Rose…
Silent scream
It was that (un)godly sound that registered first — a prolonged shriek that spanged off the walls like it had been pulled up through the man’s spinal cord and flung into the air, a sound that pulled you up straight and nailed you in place. The sound of saxophonist Albert Ayler, claimed British music writer…
After the Sunset
Diamond thieves Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek attempt to retire to the Bahamas in director Brett Ratner’s attempt to cash in on the heist genre. Despite some nice scenery which, depending on your point of view, may or may not include the cast, nothing short of an Elmore Leonard rewrite could save this bland, lifeless…
Mayer coughs up a winner; little drummer boy blues
Send bitch-slaps, quips and rants to hitsingles@metrotimes.com.
Sex is in, politics is out
Q: When did your sex advice column become a political column? That’s not why I read your column. Please get back to what you do best: fetish sex advice. Get back to peggers and piss drinkers. If I find anything about politics in your column next week, I am done with you. I want info…
This Corrosion
Native Detroit filmmaker Mitch McCabe has tried to create a somber, thought-provoking film about death with this tale of goth kids running around the forest. The end result is SNL’s “Goth Talk” meets Blair Witch. Though it has some interesting moments, the film takes itself way to seriously — just like a goth kid.
The religious left
For years the Democrats have been telling themselves, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Yet for years, millions of middle-income Americans have voted against their economic interests to support Republicans who tap a deeper set of needs. Tens of millions of Americans feel betrayed by a society that seems to place materialism and selfishness above moral values.…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I’d love to see you risk making brilliant mistakes in the coming weeks, Aries. I hope you’ll plunge into imaginative adventures without worrying about whether they’ll have practical benefits. I look forward to cheering you on as you explore forbidden zones, dabble with unfamiliar pleasures and try intriguing experiments that make…
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason
Helen Fielding’s second Bridget Jones installment was a weaker novel than the first, so it follows that Edge of Reason makes for an even worse film. The plot is ludicrous, putting Bridget behind bars in a Thai prison, and the script relies too heavily on recycled jokes from the first movie, even reviving Diary’s feeble…
Media meltdown
Perhaps the most important function our media serves is to provide voters with the information they need to make sound decisions in the voting booth. If people don’t know what they’re voting for, our democracy is in serious trouble. Unfortunately, it appears that we’re in serious trouble. This election has been marked by a staggering…
7″ pop shots
Electric Six Vibrator” electricsix.com The E6 has always been spot-on when reanimating ’80s musicultural clichés, a practice that has of late become a music industry pastime. Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse and the Killers have covered the waterfront to fawning coverage. Hell, even Duran Duran has attached the jumper cables to their sagging jowls for another…
Crooked Rain Crooked Rain: L.A.’s Desert Origins
What can be said that hasn’t already about Pavement’s decade-old sophomore record Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain? (Or even about Pavement, the champs of ’90s lo-fi?) The album — a laid-back, sloppy, subdued yet catchy piece of pop culture — revealed the band at its songwriting peak and made everything already great about their music accessible…
Rethinking the party
Twelve days before the election, James Carville stood in a Beverly Hills, Calif., living room surrounded by two generations of Hollywood stars. After being introduced by Sen. John Kerry’s daughter Alexandra, he told the room —confidently, almost cockily —that the election was in the bag. “If we can’t win this damn election,” the adviser to…
We must get out of Iraq — now
We lost the real battle of Fallujah last week, a little more convincingly than we have lost other battles in the insane war our government is waging in Iraq. That’s not what the headlines said, but it happens to be the truth. We lost that battle, we have lost this war and we are losing…
Roger McGuinn & Band; Cardiff Rose
By 1975, Roger McGuinn had reached a bit of an artistic crossroads. His first two post-Byrds albums, 1973’s Roger McGuinn and 1974’s Peace On You, had fared poorly. So for his third solo effort he hired members of a Texas group called Lone Star and loosened the bandleader’s reins a bit. As outlined in veteran…
Dear angry left:
It would be exceptionally dangerous were there to be only one political party in power. Power must be checked and, although our Constitution provides a mechanism for the restriction of one branch, it does nothing to restrict one party from dominating. An adult discussion of substantive issues is essential to the health of this country.…
Berlinette
It’s 5 a.m., not yet prime time for a Berlin dance party. The Modernist (the splendid German artist Jorg Burger) is finishing up a live set. To his right, now at center stage, is Ellen Allien, who pulls headphones over her ears, puts records on turntables and privately begins to check her sound. The moment…
Column left – Column right
COLUMN LEFT A progressive pastiche John Kerry’s campaign offered some resistance to the nationalist tide but in the end failed to articulate a compelling alternative. His pragmatic appeals for socio-economic fairness couldn’t cut it against a nationalistic and religious fervor. After all, what’s poverty and corruption when Jesus is on your side and there’s a…
Electoral collage
How could it have happened? Four years ago, George Bush didn’t have much of a record to run on. As governor of Texas he’d been relatively moderate and able to work with Democrats in the Legislature. He preached against “nation building” and accused challenger Al Gore of using “fuzzy math” when the vice president claimed…
Letters to the Editor
Blue over Nov. 2 In his column, “What does it all mean?” (Metro Times, Nov. 10), Jack Lessenberry says: “The night will come, not very long from now, when the map will be more blue.” Don’t bet on it, Jack. You’re probably well aware of all the irregularities in the Ohio and Florida vote tallies,…
Art Bar
As the old joke goes, there are two seasons in Michigan: hockey season and construction season. Although the omnipresent orange barrel is normally just a source of aggravation for your average Detroiter, it also symbolizes the growth and betterment of our city. Six local artists explore the subject of construction in Concrete, a multimedia exhibit…
Warrior spirit
Reaction was swift, intense, heart-rending and ultimately inspiring when word spread through Michigan’s environmental community that Ann Arbor activist Mary Beth Doyle is dead. Doyle, 43, died Saturday following a car accident in Lenawee County. She worked at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor and served on the board of the Michigan Environmental Council, a…
Head cheese
DJ Graffiti is the self-proclaimed underground mixtape king of Michigan. A lofty proclamation, sure, but one rooted in truth. Graffiti knows the rap game. But he ain’t your everyday vinyl hound; dude’s got somethin’ to fall back on. The University of Michigan Business School grad (and intellectual property attorney) is moving forward with his LLC,…
Use your noodle
The noodle seems a simple thing, just flour paste of some kind that keeps well dried and offers the basis of a quick meal. As Americans, we probably first knew it as a fat, limp thing in canned noodle soup. As Detroiters, we also knew it well as the centerpiece of Prince spaghetti day. But…
Send in the Greens
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry may have hummed along to Bruce Springsteen’s song “No Surrender,” but the Green Party’s living the lyrics. While Kerry and the Democratic Party quickly threw in the towel and conceded the election to our once-and-future Chimp in Chief, Green Party candidate David Cobb is calling for a recount of the…
For a better Detroit, try a clean sweep
Like something nasty stuck in the treads of your cold-weather boots, some of Detroit’s problems can’t be scraped, stomped or shaken loose. They keep getting re-elected. Everywhere you look, deeply inbred politics rears its misshapen head. The temptation is to start pounding the drum for a purge and all new blood. But, you blurt out,…
Playing hardball at the ballot box
The election may be over, but the bitter taste remains. No, I’m not just talking about four more years of Bush, although that is more than enough to turn my stomach. What really makes this whole thing hard to swallow is the increasing evidence that the Bush re-election crew played dirty — again — and…
Comics
This Modern World Red Meat Comix
Past imperfect
Daniel Libeskind is America’s favorite disappearing architect. Since he was chosen to guide the Ground Zero reconstruction, he’s been steadily shrinking, dragged down by a fight to salvage his original design. That fight has made for great drama, replete with big personalities, vast money and intense public interest. After 9/11, everyone was a New Yorker,…
N&D Center
Wednesday • 17 Figure Fixers’ European Showcase ETC Unless you’ve experienced the all-day pinching of an unforgiving elastic strap or a poke to the ta ta from a weathered underwire, you have no idea of the importance of a well-fitting bra. Weary bra-wearin’ locals will be pleased to know, however, that the Figure Fixers…
Art on the streets
Graffiti and urban culture have become hot themes for group exhibits in Detroit galleries. Now, Art Exchange Gallery offers Street Smart, a multimedia exhibit that conveys many views and understandings of the streets of Detroit. Unfortunately, at moments these views are more reflective of the individual artist than the greater subject matter. Some of the…
Hyped, but still hip, Italian
A good, stylish restaurant in the center of the Via Italia, Windsor’s Erie Street Italian strip. The ambitious food varies from pretty good to great. The meal starts with a thoughtful touch, a “tasting” of a complimentary morsel from the chef. The chef’s wild mushroom soup is a supberb puree of portobello, porcini and oyster…
