Unguarded heart
By day he’s a security guard, manning the entrances to the DIA. He’s the guy you don’t notice, seemingly faceless, yet graceful, in issued attire. He stands off the beaten walkway, humdrumming the hours away, anonymously, with a composed but bored expression. He looks like a guy who could live alone, subsisting on paltry wages,…
Happy Songs
It was easy to come away from Audra McDonald’s first two records — ditto her Broadway cast productions, her spots on multiartist studio projects and her 2000 Meadow Brook Theatre show — with the notion that she could sing anything: It seemed she could turn on that high-drama approach and show off her incredible belting…
Judgment pay
How Oakland County courts shortchange poor defendants,…
Kiss Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History
Finally, a killer Kiss book that is devoid of Gene and Paul’s BS doublespeak crapping all over it. At first glance, Kiss Alive Forever emerges as fodder for crazed Kiss-army purists. But it’s not the numerous attendance figures and show listings that make this book an amusing read, it’s the tour antidotes and tales, most…
The snap of the dog
There’s a lament and a wail bouncing off the sick green tile of the Lafayette Coney Island tonight. It’s bouncing off the pie case and the slung-low red swivel seats that moor this lonely joint. It’s careening off the lady who sits by herself, dabbing a napkin to her chapped and chili-burned lips, looking blankly…
Coming through slaughter
Atom Egoyan’s epic focusing on the early 20th century Armenian genocide in Turkey is based on his own heritage. Canada’s favorite filmmaking son has made what might be his most personal movie — but for all its good intentions, it’s not quite the masterpiece he wants it to be.
Night and Day
27 WED • MUSIC Ben Cyllus — With the voice of an angel and the Flemish gorgeousnes of a Rubens, Ben Cyllus is making his mark as a singer/songwriter. His thoughtfully sung songs recall the days when Jeff Buckley first graced the scene, only to surprise and remind us of the cathartic value of a…
Solaris
Whether Steven Soderbergh’s version of Stanislaw Lem’s story is about a man who creates an alternate life for himself by using the creative forces of his grief or about a planet whose strange powers may not be benign doesn’t seem to matter once the meditative pace starts to seem sluggish — with George Clooney and…
Freshwater grit
The Piranhas apotheosize smack talk, booze and porn….
Metropolis
Quaint, pictorially vivid and quite mad, Fritz Lang’s 1927 film has been restored to 124 minutes, with some footage previously unseen in the United States added and several missing scenes described by title cards — with Brigitte Helm as the seductive robotrix whose mission is to topple Metropolis.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You remind me of an oak growing sideways out of a hill. You’re healthy and strong, yet at odds with the more vertical route the other oaks are taking. I see nothing wrong with this, but I’ve made a career from going against the grain. If you want to continue evolving…
Cross-border conflict
Bad news for people living in Detroit’s Greendale community near Seven Mile and John R. Folks there are finding out that holding a corporate polluter responsible is like trying to kill a two-headed snake. Instead of collecting damages from a Michigan firm that did its dirty business in their back yard, dozens of low-income residents…
Treasure Planet
Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure on the high seas has moved to the boundless ocean of outer space in the Disney studio’s candidate for Thanksgiving box-office supremacy. The action sequences are spectacular, while doing justice to Stevenson’s classic story — a joy for kids of all ages.
Seeing the truth
In her new location at 4201 Cass in the Cultural Center, longtime gallery owner Dell Pryor presents “Visual Essence,” featuring Chuck Stewart, Hugh Grannum, Adger W. Cowans, Karen Sanders and Emerson Matabele, five African-American photographers. Stewart and Grannum are represented by works picturing jazz musicians. Jazz and black-and-white photography are Siamese-twin art forms joined at…
DEMF replay
News Hits thought the angst surrounding DEMF 2002 had faded. We were wrong. La Donna Bowen, who coordinated volunteer activity for all three Detroit Electronic Music Festivals, claims she’s getting stiffed by the festival’s promoter. Bowen says Pop Culture Media — the company that produces the festival — owes her $2,500. Carol Marvin, the company’s…
The Crime of Father Amaro
Not what you’d expect from its title, if you’ve been a follower of the Catholic Church’s recent trials, director Carlos Carrera’s film slings stones at the sin and crime-stained glass windows of the church much like an unsympathetically portrayed mob does at a cranky but lovable atheist.
When straight isn’t straight
Q: I wanted to respond to the advice you gave to “Tried Not To Fall,” the closeted gay who was in love with his straight roommate. You advised TNTF to tell his roommate how he felt. I am in the roommate’s shoes, Dan. I believe my roommate is gay and, judging by the many hints/jokes…
Buoyed by hope
The Vang gang of Warren is doing — if not fine — at least better these days, thanks to a groundswell of public support and some political intervention. Regular readers know that Laotian natives Guy Vang, his wife Genevieve and their four children face a deportation hearing in May that will likely send them packing…
The Emperor’s Club
The Emperor’s Club
is a nerd’s version of Dead Poets Society, mimicking the "new kid at an uptight boys’ school-caring teacher" formula, but lacking the wonder, revelation and charisma of the latter. Kevin Kline’s character, meant to be endearing, is about as interesting as a slide rule.
Letters to the Editor
Steamed Greens I appreciate being contacted by the Metro Times and News Hits, and have no particular argument with the article’s mention of the Green Party of Michigan, other than the blatantly erroneous assumption that continues to color Bill Ballenger’s perception of Greens and their voters ("News hits," Metro Times, Nov. 20-26). I will say…
Apocalypse flash
The heathens here at News Hits became sudden converts last week, falling to our knees and praying fervently that our manifest sins be forgiven, certain that Judgment Day was upon us. A certain sign the Apocalypse was nigh had just appeared in the pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported that our very own Gov.…
The Emperor’s Club
The Emperor’s Club
is a nerd’s version of Dead Poets Society, mimicking the "new kid at an uptight boys’ school-caring teacher" formula, but lacking the wonder, revelation and charisma of the latter. Kevin Kline’s character, meant to be endearing, is about as interesting as a slide rule.
They spin by night
The rise of Ann Arbor indie label Ghostly International….
Faded queen
The Abandoned Structure Squad (ASS) has struck again. This time, we’ve invaded Corktown, where abandoned houses are few and far between among the well-preserved abodes of one of the oldest neighborhoods in Detroit. But, after just a little searching, we came across 2036 11th Street. Built in 1901, the Queen Anne Victorian sits near Michigan…
The Zen of file sharing
Theorem proves it’s more fun to compute with friends….
Challenging eyes & ears
You can’t get too far into pop culture without running across one of David Bowie’s essential albums, Low, which explores the concept of "Sound and Vision," as one song title goes. Somehow, through it all, the brief interlude becomes nothing more than a tease (although a brilliant one), giving us an image of a blue…
What’s the meaning of this?
Three Detroit galleries make a commitment to understanding….
Abandoned Shelter of the Week
The Abandoned Structure Squad (ASS) has struck again. This time, we’ve invaded Corktown, where abandoned houses are few and far between among the well-preserved abodes of one of the oldest neighborhoods in Detroit. But, after just a little searching, we came across 2036 11th Street. Built in 1901, the Queen Anne Victorian sits near Michigan…
Rich classic
Hilberry Theatre proves that familiar stories are sometimes best….
Raised on fusion
A new batch of CDs opens jazz’s embrace wider than ever….
Get the good guys together
We are lost, all of us, who long for universal health care, a living wage and dignified employment, alternatives to a prison and war state, basic environmental standards … no one has a clue anymore how any of it might be achieved. —Tom Ness Tom Ness is one of the metro area’s authentic treasures, a…
Depths of brevity
There are cats roaming Hemingway’s estate. They probably live well, spending much of their time lounging on the grass, forgetting things like literary genius, tourists and suicide. Within the same poem, an African slave maims himself in an almost ceremonial kind of escape. On another page, a monarch butterfly dances its death. If you lived…
You’re fired
What color is your cyanide capsule?…
1938
What are we to make of 25 Suaves’ massive mangling and rebuilding of the metal beast? The Michigan duo (Velocity Hopkins riff-wrestling guitars and DJ Party Girl beating holy hell on drums) make the kind of immediate bluster that absolutely demolishes the division between player and audience, leaving only a demolition derby of sweaty bodies…
Fair chance
All along this short strip of Woodward Avenue, there are signs of an old town coming back to life. The restaurants, shops and bars pop up in the suburban metropolis of Ferndale, like little spring tulips. From the second comings of music venues hatched from the wayward ashes of movie houses to the proudly bigot-free…
The Sound of the Third Season
Hmmm … an Ibiza-themed mix from Richie Hawtin? Richie “mnmlr-than-thou” Hawtin? A tag-team mix? From Richie “your-next-seven-hours-are-mine-alone” Hawtin? Yup. Anyone else find this a bit … konspicuous? By the way, that’s Ibiza as in “Hi, I’m rich Eurotrash on holiday. Holy shit! My corneas are burning from staring at the sunrise on Ecstasy, but, wow,…
