Cover Stories
2013 Metro Times Music Issue
Here in Detroit, we’re blessed with countless great artists spanning all genres. When you include visiting bands, touring festivals and our renowned performing venues, the verdict is indisputable: Motown is one of music’s critical hubs. So when the Music Issue rolls around, the question isn’t what to include but what not to. We think…
Metro Times’ Staff: First and Best Concerts
Chris Sexson, Publisher First: DOA In 1985, I saw D.O.A. at Brookwood Hall in Dayton, Ohio. This place was literally in a cornfield behind a Cargill plant. Local promoters would route punk bands through Dayton for mid-week, last minute shows on their way to prescheduled weekend gigs in cities like Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Columbus. The…
Q & A with Indie Rockers Sleigh Bells
Short bursts. Intensity. Dynamics. These words come straight from Sleigh Bells’ guitarist, Derek Miller, when describing his musical inclinations. And, that should ready you nicely for the Brooklyn duo’s signature sound. The buzzy guitars bark over danceable rhythms, while lead singer Alexis Krauss is “dynamic,” toeing the line between charismatic and confrontational throughout the cute…
Garage Rocker Jimmy Ohio Returns to Detroit
On Friday, San Fran veteran proto-punk band the Flamin’ Groovies is playing the Magic Stick. That, in and of itself, should result in much rejoicing. However, add much-traveled garage rocker Jimmy Ohio to the bill (plus the Sights) and the mass load-blowing can begin. Originally from Detroit, Ohio has played with bands in New York…
Garage Rocker Jimmy Ohio Returns to Detroit
On Friday, San Fran veteran proto-punk band the Flamin’ Groovies is playing the Magic Stick. That, in and of itself, should result in much rejoicing. However, add much-traveled garage rocker Jimmy Ohio to the bill (plus the Sights) and the mass load-blowing can begin. Originally from Detroit, Ohio has played with bands in New York…
Q & A with Metal Band Isenblast
Detroit black metal band Isenblast released its second demo, Forest of Frost, last summer, and plans to release a four-song EP in the near future. Closer to now, the band is preparing for an upcoming show on Dec. 8 with Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Occulation. The four men of Isenblast, including its two founding members, sat down…
Free Things to do in and around Detroit This Week
1) Cycle 6 at The Red Bull House of Art Friday, Nov. 15, 7-11 p.m. The Red Bull House of Art unveils its last cycle of artists for 2013. Artists include Sydney G. James (Acrylic on Mirror), Tadd Mullinix (Acrylic Paintings & Decoupage), Abby Tagë Lee (Ink), Dessi Terzieva (Collage & Mixed Media), Michael Eugene…
John Panich Is Dead -11.27.13-
It was Halloween when we talked to rapper JP From The HP about his new project…thus, the inherent morbidity of it: John Panich Is Dead resonated nicely. www.JPFROMTHEHP.com www.COLINDUERR.com Well… the Hazel Park-proud emcee (normally known as John Panich, or, on record, JP From The HP) isn’t dead. In fact, we just followed-up with him. But, his new…
City Slang: Howling Diablos record with Wayne Kramer
Local funky soul band the Howling Diablos have been in the studio with MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. “Return Of The Funk Hand” was produced and primarily written by Diablos main man Tino Gross at his Funky D Studios, and he roped in a sparkling array of guests, most notably the MC5’s Wayne Kramer on three…
Recap of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown Detroit Episode
Detroit-connected Facebooks went abuzz this weekend when chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain wrote a love letter to Detroit in anticipation of the season finale of his show “Anthony Boudain: Parts Unknown”, set in Detroit, which aired Sunday night. In his Tumblr post Bourdain gushed about his trip to Detroit, saying, “I love Detroit. I…
Eating So Others Can Eat
Every second and fourth Sunday Jim Rehberg feeds scores of folks he calls Friends and Forgotten Workers, in Cass Park. The self-taught chef, a UAW member, got his start during the newspaper strike in 1995, when the Wobbly Kitchen cooked for “ox roasts” to raise money for the embattled drivers and journalists. It was simple…
WATCH ME MOVE: The Animation Show at the DIA
Every trip to the DIA is a joy. The visit to Watch Me Move: The Animation Show was no different. The people who created this show have gathered an impressive amount of original material from some of the pioneers of animation. They have digitized the earliest films of this genre so that they are preserved…
Film Review: Dallas Buyers Club
Dallas Buyers Club | B+ Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if all it took for assholes to become angels is a little adversity? Hollywood has a long tradition of advancing the notion that even the most flawed man can be transformed into a selfless crusader if exposed to just the right mix of personal…
Film Review: How I Live Now
How I Live Now | B- Move aside Road Warrior, Book of Eli and The Road, Armageddon isn’t just for dudes anymore. With the incredible box office and bestselling success of The Hunger Games, it was only a matter of time before teen romance and grrl power found its way onto the post-apocalyptic landscape. Imagine…
Music Writers wanted
The Metro Times is looking to expand its team of freelance music writers. In particular, we need writers available to us who know electronic music (all of the many genres and sub-genres), hip-hop/rap, and classical/opera. We need people who know the music inside out, and specifically the Detroit scene – the local hotspots and haunts,…
Film Review: Thor: The Dark World
Thor: The Dark World | Grade B- Gods, monsters and the geeky gals that love them are at the heart of this pleasurable yet largely disposable sequel to 2011’s hit Thor, and, to a lesser extent, a follow-up to the mega-smash The Avengers — although it seems most comic book movies released these days are in the shadow of…
Old-School Detroit Recipes: Part 1
It seems like other cities celebrate their culinary heritage with a bit more enthusiasm than we do. Think of San Francisco food and sourdough and cioppino will come to mind. Think of New Orleans fare and gumbos, rouxs and bananas Foster can’t be far behind. But think of Detroit food and you’ll think coney dogs…
Reviewing Dovetail’s Mount Karma
Urgh, that album title stinks. What could be more pretentious, so overwhelmingly egocentric, as a band calling the record Mount Karma? Maybe an album called The Om of Destiny. Let’s allow it to slide though, because the music isn’t nearly as bad. The Texas band is as influenced by ’70s pop groups like the Carpenters…
What is THAT? – Oddities from the MT mailbox
Here’s the deal. Every day here at the Metro Times, our mail delivery includes CDs, books and all sorts of other promotional items. A lot of it we can use and review – local-interest music, DVDs, etc. But we also get a lot of weird and whacky items that just kinda build up. So that’s…
Flashback Friday: Detroit Free Press, November 4, 1880
Here was what was happening this week in 1880. Highlights include new lights at the Michigan Central Depot, a reported ruckus by noisy and unruly boys, and a stolen bay pacing mare- any information will be thankfully received at 96 Woodward Avenue. Be sure to check out the very choicest novelties for the…
Two nights at the Fillmore for City and Colour
We caught up with Dallas Green (better known by his recording alias, City and Colour) a few days before he wraps up his North American tour for his latest album, The Hurry and the Harm. When he first looked at the tour schedule, he said it looked very long, and now it’s eight weeks later…
Windsor International Film Festival
The Little ‘Fest that could | Now screening 65 films … When it began nine years ago, the people who came up with the idea of having an annual film festival in Windsor didn’t know whether an event devoted to showcasing independent and foreign films would work in a city not always considered appreciative of the…
Throwback Thursday: An inside look at Volume 1, Issue 2 October 30 – November 13, 1980
It seems like one of the hot topics we hear about are how people are struggling with debt and income management. Back in 1980, we were still struggling with debt and income management. Arlond Reid provides us with advice that makes climbing out from under a mountain of debt a very real and obtainable goal…
City Slang: Clutch Cargo regresses to religion
Pontiac club Clutch Cargo is being turned back into a church, according to clickondetroit.com. A recap is in order. Clutch Cargo was a Detroit-based events group with ties to Bookies, St. Andrew’s, etc. The venue in Pontiac was dedicated as a place of worship for local residents by the First Congregational Church of Pontiac back…
Lunchtime Links: A message from Dave Bing, Ron Asheton on the Stooges, 10 corporations rule the world, and more
Mayor Dave Bing has a message for Detroiters: “You’re finished, get it? Done. Through. You’re all washed up. Let me make this real clear: You’re a no-good filthy bum, and you’ll never work in this town again!” (The Onion) Ron Asheton illustrated oral history about Iggy & the Stooges. (VICE) Netflix killed the video store:…
City Slang: Duendesday has the Loving Touch
First of all, I’m really sorry that I missed Unlimited Head. Judging by the EP, the erstwhile members of Warhorses make a lot of great stoner noise, and they have a weirdly cool name. See you next time. Mind you, Caveman Woodman provided the perfect start to any evening. You know that thing where you’ve…
Video premier: Eddie Logix (ft. Mister & Ben Miles) “In The Meantime”
“ disco lights, old Playboys, scorched Twizzlers and some old timey dance-step instructions for the lindy-hop.” That’s what was promised, back in August, when Metro Times checked in with producer Eddie Logix, in his Viper Room studio, when their “#CoOwnaz” crew was then in pre-production planning stages for this music video “In The Meantime”…
12th Man Report: Chi-Town Showdown
This weekend the Lions can take control of the NFC North. What’s that? Lions? NFC North? First place? You heard me. Detroit will be playing the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field and with a victory and a Packers loss, they can gain first place in the division. Granted the Lions aren’t necessarily known for winning…
Kanye West Palace Date Rescheduled
It looks like fans waiting for Kanye West’s Michigan date as part of his first solo tour in 5 years will have to wait even longer. The Nov. 10 Kanye West show at The Palace of Auburn Hills has been rescheduled for Dec. 19. West’s critically-acclaimed but decidedly anti-commercial Yeezus released earlier this year was famously…
City Slang: The Nutcracker at the DOH
As has become the norm around the holidays, the Detroit Opera House will see four performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker on November 29-December 1. According to the press release, “BalletMet’s production, with larger-than-life characters and narration by Sir Roger Moore, aims “to keep The Nutcracker an entertaining event that is both fresh and rekindles a…
Reviewing Ultra Bidé’s DNA vs DNA-c
Apparently, DNA vs DNA-c (Alternative Tentacles) is the first new album from this Japanese noise-punk band in ten years. First of all, we’d like to get an ultra bidé of our own – one would assume it reaches the spots that other bidé’s just don’t reach. Also, judging by the picture on the back of…
Detroit’s Election Results
Results of Tuesday’s historic election for mayor and city council have yet to be certified, but city officials have released preliminary data indicating voter turnout exceed 25 percent. Looked at in a historical perspective, that number is up from Dave Bing’s reelection bid in 2009, which was 22.68 percent; in 1993 turnout, according to Department…
Duggan Is Detroit’s Next Mayor
In The Bag Before 11 p.m. … Af ter arguably one of the most fitful starts a Detroit political campaign has faced in, maybe forever, Mike Duggan’s electoral victory in the Motor City signals that identity politics no longer trumps economic crisis. Before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, 100 percent of precincts were reporting that Duggan…
The Dreadfuls Art Show Celebrates Alt Publishing
In 19th century England, the top form of adolescent working-class entertainment was the penny dreadful. Named for their cheap price and lurid subject matter, they planted the seeds for zines, tabloids, and pretty much the rest of alternative publishing. At Whitdel Arts, nine artists take on the form as part of an exhibition called The…
Fashion Advice From the Political Sphere
In politics, strong female characters are a given. The question is, in a world where it’s still a question, how does a woman show both strength and femininity? Ask Jill Alper of the consulting firm Dewey Square Group. She has served as a political strategist in a career that started at age 15, spanning all…
Senior Kinksterz
Q: I am a kinky, youthful 72-year-old guy. I grew up in the Pleistocene era, when there was virtually no way to meet a kinky woman. I’ve had two vanilla marriages and three months ago I ended a four-year vanilla relationship with the best woman I’ve ever met. I just couldn’t take not being a…
Chauncey Billups Makes His Return to Motown
It can’t be easy being an old man in a young man’s game. But that didn’t hold back Chauncey Billups, aka Mr. Big Shot, from making some noise last Wednesday during the Pistons’ season-opening victory over the Washington Wizards. The 37-year-old Billups is playing in his 17th NBA season. Finding himself in last week’s starting…
Dave Bennett Takes Jazz Back
In the age before a young Elvis Presley thrust rock ’n’ roll from his loins, or Little Richard and Jerry Lee hammered at the ivories — or Chuck was doing his duck walk in diapers — jazz musicians were the raucous rebels, the punks if you will, of the music scene. These were the guys…
The Gories
Maybe Gories-men Mick Collins and Danny Kroha would gain wider recognition with the Dirtbombs and the Demolition Doll Rods, respectively, but the music they made during their artistically formative years shouldn’t be forgotten. The Gories seamlessly blended the blues wail of John Lee Hooker with the primal energy of the Stooges, and the result was…
Ralph Peterson, Jr.
Jazz at the Centre’s 2013-2014 opening season promises to be “true to the music” by presenting a wide range of artists representing some of the best creative jazz artists performing in the world today. “Jazz at the Centre will build a dedicated audience with great music, great sound, a great venue and a great ticket…
Saxon
This is actually a lot of fun. British heavy metal band Saxon, part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene that also spawned Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and, ummm, Budgie, have re-imagined and rerecorded a bunch of their old songs, either stripping them down into unplugged form or adding an orchestra. Power-metal anthems…
Trattoria Pizzeria da Luigi
Trattoria Pizzeria da Luigi 415 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak 248-542-4444 www.trattoriapizzeriadaluigi.com Handicap accessible Entrées: $14-$24 Open 4-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday 4-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Luigi Cutraro says his new menu is “built upon thousands of years of eating” — a lovely thought and surely one reason Italian cuisine is universally beloved, and deservedly…
Detroit Food This Week
Side Dish Burgers for health — It has been the mission of Moo Cluck Moo to create a much higher level of quality of fast food than anyone has been able to find in its area. Surprisingly, another part of that mission is giving people what they want at a low price, all while paying…
Detroit’s Real Estate Market Sees Rebound
Realtor.com had a bold headline in its third quarter Turnaround Towns report released last week: “Detroit, Santa Barbara, Reno Lead Housing Markets’ Rebound,” as the Detroit market led the nation, posting a 44.3 percent year-over-year gain. On top of the near 50 percent gain in median price, the report noted that Detroit’s available housing stock…
County Plans to Sell Unfinished Jail to Gilbert
Kevin McNamara would like to be the next Wayne County executive. I know, because I heard him say that to Joe Harris, the former Detroit auditor, as we were all waiting to go be on Huel Perkins’s “Let it Rip,” one night last week. Actually, it was Halloween, which was appropriate, given that we were…
Looking at Word Choice in the Marijuana Debate
Language and the creative use of words have always fascinated me. That’s why I find the use of language employed in the War on Drugs so amusing. Among pro-marijuana activists, there are some who always refer to pot as “cannabis.” Cannabis is its scientifically correct name and the name predominantly used for medical preparations before…
Feedback
Obamacare Dear Editor: The assertion that Obamacare will destroy America’s working poor and middle class, and was likely responsible for the downfall of the Roman Empire too, must be addressed. About 65 percent of American jobs are created by small businesses. There are no mandates or fines for businesses with fewer than 50 workers under…
Feds Monitoring Hamtramck Voting: No Big Deal
Anybody reading local news headlines about the area elections may have seen that the Justice Department was present in Hamtramck to monitor the election in that city. And those familiar with Hamtramck may have thought it had something to do with the three Hamtramck men charged with mishandling absentee ballots last month. That conclusion would…
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Send CDs, vinyl, cassettes, demos and 8-tracks to Brett Callwood, Metro Times, 1200 Woodward Heights, Ferndale MI 48220. Email MP3s and streaming links to bcallwood@metrotimes.com. The Delta Twins’ The Seasons & the Scars was recorded live at the Hard Rock Café in Detroit, so kudos to the people behind the desk because it sounds great.…
More Goose Lake Memories
I can still remember my real estate agent telling me that the house in Hamtramck I’d bought would be “empty and broom-clean.” If by “empty and broom-clean” you mean “jammed with furniture and littered with belongings,” fair enough. A year has gone by and I’m still making discoveries every time I start rooting through the…
YpsiFest
There’s this guy who used to be known, locally, as Anthony Anonymous. If he had a reputation, despite that obfuscating moniker, it was as both a passionate musician and passionate music fan. Anthony Gentile, as the Ypsi-based singer/songwriter is known, is distinguished by his beard, his kinetic stage presence and that certain fire in his…
12th Man Report: A look at Tigers’ new skipper
First off — yes, Brad Ausmus is a pretty attractive 44-year-old man. Paul Sancya, AP But no, Ausmus wasn’t hired as the next manager of the Detroit Tigers based on his good looks and youthful age. In a search that took a little less than two weeks, Tigers’ general manager Dave Dombrowski announced former major…
Nov. 5 Election Day in Michigan: Find Your Precinct
Visit michigan.gov/vote to find your polling location and other information. Who are you supporting in your local election?
