A 200-pound burger?
Yes, you heard right, it’s a burger that weighs a tenth of a ton, and they served it up at Mallie’s Bar & Grill in Southgate. Why? It was for a special episode of the Travel Channel’s show Man vs. Food. They assembled a cast of hearty Detroit eaters to try to consume the whole…
Last Chance to Check Out Cedric Tai’s “Accepting Accidents” at Re:View
Cedric Tai is fresh. I was just talking about his work over the weekend — mainly regarding his recent solo show at a gallery in the Cass Corridor — to an artist friend who hadn’t yet seen Tai’s work. Said friend loved what he saw on when I pulled up Tai’s work on my Droid,…
Live Review: Peelander-Z w/All-Girls Boys Choir and Birthday Suits. Friday, Oct. 15 at PJ’s Lager House
Yikes. Japan’s Peelander-Z touched down at the Corktown bar PJ’s Lager House last night. Opening for the New York-based but Japan-born quartet were the All-Girls Boys Choir. The LA duo features Alicia Warrington and Marlene Hammerle, both previously of Detroit’s Gore Gore Girls. They jammed out a set of hefty blues rock, sweet croons and…
Richko remembered: ‘There Will Never Be Another Steve’
“He was like my right arm. I thought we were supposed to play together for the next 30 years,” bassist Paul Keller said on the phone the other day about his recently lost friend and band mate Steve Richko. And in a long piece that Paul wrote and has circulated he said it just a…
Guy Hits Boss with Rake to Avoid Work
We’ve never been clocked in the head with a rake but we can imagine it smarts some. Hence, a 51-year-old foreman at Michigan Outdoor Services has our undying sympathy because he got clobbered in a manner that necessitated 41 stitches and a head brace. All because 51-year-old Lewis Paris didn’t want to work. Dude. The…
How to Manhandle the CMJ Festival
Heading to NYC next week to catch a few of the 1200 live bands scheduled to appear over five days at the CMJ Music Marathon? Are you a blogger-wannabe who lately has taken to calling yourself a scout? Or are you a “badgeless” and “fearless” party crasher? Will you be there for the free booze?…
NoHam’s Power House Gets Major Boost from Juxtapoz Mag
NoHam Late last year, contemporary art mag Juxtapoz celebrated its 15th Anniversary with a benefit show and auction to raise money for Detroit’s Power House Productions, in an effort to buy homes and create an artists’ community in Hamtramck. Two houses have already been bought, and word from Juxtapoz is that, in time, two more…
WRTNOB: New York Times on Detroit’s Lafayette Park
We Read the News Today, Oh Boy: The NYT website considers the near-downtown neighborhood of Lafayette Park, specifically the Mies van der Rohe townhouses. Well, to take it a bit further, the piece not only focuses on the townhouses, but the creators (it’s an extensive words, picture and sound package) seem to think that the…
Live Review: High on Fire w/Kylesa and Torche. Thursday, Oct. 14 at the Magic Stick
California’s sludge-metal heroes High on Fire rolled through Detroit last night, stopping to rattle the floorboards of the Magic Stick. The trio is currently touring with Torche and Kylesa. Goergia’s Kylesa able opening set warmed the crowd sweetly with an intricate blend of stoner metal, classic rock and downtuned chugs. Miami’s Torche, in turn, damn-near…
Red
Red GRADE: C+ My God, Helen Mirren sure knows how to class a joint up — even if she is toting an automatic weapon. And much as I would love to say that her supporting role is enough to make German director Robert Schwentke’s (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Flightplan) geriatric actioner an E-Ticket ride, it…
Freeman’s freedom? Judge orders new trial in contested murder case
A federal judge today granted a new trial for a Michigan man who has been serving a life sentence in prison since 1986 for a Port Huron murder. In a 52-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood in Detroit conditionally granted Frederick Freeman’s habeas corpus petition filed in 2007. She gave the state…
New DJ House Shoes HVW8 Podcast + Detroit Show
No matter how long DJ House Shoes lives on the West Coast, he’ll always be one of Detroit’s own and a local in the eyes of many. He rides for Detroit hip-hop artists harder than anyone (save Hex Murda) and is constantly using his brazen ‘tude and industry connects to shed more light on this…
Two New Magestik Legend “Leaks” Hit the Web
It’s never clear why they call these tunes “leaks” when they’re really just early singles. But if you dig getting your ears wrapped around music before it’s scheduled release date, you’ll appreciate the two new tracks from Michigan rapper Magestik Legend. He’s putting out a project called To Be Continued… Chapter 2 hosted by Rapper…
Halloween TV: Hollywood, the Munsters and Alice Cooper
Back in the mid-to-late ’70s, Alice Cooper was semi-famously a “member” of the Hollywood Vampires, a hard-drinking club that closed the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Blvd. nightly, alongside Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Micky Dolenz, and a couple of times John Lennon as an honorary member. Cooper had in that time performed…
Live Review & Photos: Gorillaz @ The Fox Theater
Last night found the world’s biggest virtual band at the ornate Fox Theater. MT Music Blog was there for former Blur frontman Damon Albarn’s latest incarnation of The Gorillaz which featured Mick Jones & Paul Simonen of The Clash. After the opening N.E.R.D, Albarn lead the charge of the massive band that included the eight-piece…
Watch Larry Gabriel tie one on — actually two
A recent column by Larry Gabriel, Tying it all together, included a description of a problem-solving exercise involving ropes hanging from a ceiling and a riddle of how to tie them together. A metapher for the kind of creative thinking that Detroiters are going to puzzle through a vision for the city’s future. Most of…
If you’re drunk, don’t stop to nap in the middle of I-75
Never stop to sleep on I-75 if you are drunk, especially if you’re wanted for drugs and drunken driving and your license is suspended, and … you happen to be an illegal immigrant. According to the Oakland Press, it was not long after midnight on Monday and the pickup truck was just sitting there dead center on…
Secretariat
Secretariat GRADE: B- Secretariat is a rousing, crowd-pleasing thoroughbred; but, deep down, it’s nothing but a load of good, old-fashioned Disney horse hockey. Set in an early ’70s milieu so handsome and bucolic that it may as well be poodle-skirt ’50s suburbia, it’s as blandly wholesome as oats and apples. The script wisely puts a…
Good hands
Pianist Johnny O’Neal’s peers have likened his playing to the late, great Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum, which is a heck of an acknowledgement. He’s an orchestral pianist, meaning that, like Peterson and Tatum, O’Neal swings across every inch of the piano, hammering chords and tickling melodies. Blues licks lurk beneath the surface of his…
The choice for governor
No doubt about it. The Democratic candidate was an accident of history, somebody who got the job by chance; got the nomination because none of the more experienced candidates wanted it. They all knew he couldn’t win. So did all the smart guys in the media and the chattering classes: pollsters, pundits, talking heads. The…
Metro Retro
16 years ago in Metro Times: The Michigan Militia Coalition is in its infancy in Beth Hawkins’ "Patriot Games." In the northern Michigan town of Pellston, a Baptist minister and a group of citizens meet in a city park armed with semi-automatics. The logic is to get people to start paying attention to their anti-government…
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger GRADE: C It’s interesting to note how few of the iconic directors of the ’70s have managed to stay vital and relevant in Hollywood today. Robert Altman is dead, Francis Ford Coppola has retreated to his vineyards, only occasionally emerging to make films no one will see, and…
‘Where’d ya get it?’
When I applied to the state of Michigan for my Michigan Medical Marijuana Patient ID card last year, I didn’t designate a particular caregiver, and my card arrived with "NO CAREGIVER" printed across the back. Then my caregiver and I reached agreement and filed new papers with the state to establish our relationship. Soon a…
Why to be paranoid
I was at a wedding where I expected to see my old pal Mulenga Harangua. He wasn’t at the wedding, so I swung by his house so we could chew the fat for a while. Mulenga always has something interesting to say. He’s been squatting in an abandoned house on the west side since his…
Thai breakers
Bangkok 96 2450 S. Telegraph Rd., Dearborn; 313-730-8161; $: Open since 1996, this bright, warm space decorated with wall hangings and elephant imagery enjoys a steady stream of loyal dine-in and take-out customers. The menu boasts traditional Thai favorites, such as gang gai, pad prik khing, pad almond, pad kra tiem and pla lad prik.…
Snuffed
Apparently no one noticed, and no press conferences were held to alert residents, but the city quietly began landfilling its trash on Oct. 1, according to Dan Lijana, a spokesperson for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. For more than 20 years, Detroit’s municipal waste has been disposed of at the waste-to-energy facility located on the city’s…
Christian denial
Q: I was listening to the radio yesterday morning, and I heard an interview with you about your It Gets Better campaign. I was saddened and frustrated with your comments regarding people of faith and their perpetuation of bullying. As someone who loves the Lord and does not support gay marriage, I can honestly say…
It’s Kind of A Funny Story
It’s Kind of A Funny Story GRADE: B Some movies get saddled with titles so absurdly on point that critics can’t help but unleash the zingers (see: Vampires Suck) as if answering a rhetorical question. In this case, It’s Kind of a Funny Story is kind of a funny picture, and also a kind of…
Mesh with frequencies
If you’ve not heard Detroit duo Moon Pool & Dead Band, you’ve likely heard something one of them has created. See, Moon Pool & Dead Band is Nate Young — a linchpin in Detroit and Ann Arbor’s noise scene and a driver behind its brutally awesome flagship band, Wolf Eyes — and Dave Shettler, drummer,…
The big deal
Faced with an admitted cumulative deficit of $332 million, Detroit Schools’ emergency financial manager is proposing a sweeping deal under which the state would forgive the school system’s debt in exchange for a complete overhaul of district operations and structure. He’s calling that Plan A. The only alternative, according to documents drawn up by Robert…
Motor City Five
The Macpodz: This Ann Arbor’s jam band leads the charge of the bouncy jazz brigade. If you’ve seen someone spinning a hula hoop and you’re over the age of 10, you’ve probably heard of the A2 quintet. OK, that’s hyperbolic. But their audience is growing. Bassist Brennan Andes gives us the band’s favorite Detroit records.…
The Tillman Story
The Tillman Story GRADE: B+ "Pat isn’t with God, he’s fuckin’ dead. He wasn’t religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he’s fucking dead." —Richard Tillman There’s something profoundly angering and depressing about the sight of top U.S. Army generals lying their asses off before Congress with the Grim Reaper-like visage of Donald…
I Spit on Your Grave
I Spit on Your Grave GRADE: D With perhaps the most audacious title to ever grace a drive-in marquee, the original I Spit on Your Grave scandalized disco generation movie critics and audiences as one of the most brutally exploitative slabs of celluloid ever. That’s something of an achievement, considering it was competing with Bloodsucking…
Spun
Lil Wayne I Am Not a Human Being Cash Money Lil Wayne was never daunted by the prospect of alienating fans. Instead, the throaty, boldly bizarre rapper achieved stardom his way. That approach worked: Not only was Wayne hip-hop’s reigning weirdo, he was also its best artist (with the exception of Kanye West or Jay-Z).…
Nowhere Boy
Nowhere Boy GRADE: B- The formula for biopics is so rote by now, so predictably charted, that director Sam Taylor-Wood should be complimented simply for keeping her tale of John Lennon’s coming of age so tightly focused on his formative teenage years. In fact, never once are "The Beatles" mentioned. And while Nowhere Boy can…
Ticket to Ride
Designs are months from completion for the first phase of the Woodward Corridor Light Rail project, but planners and residents are already preparing for the line’s northern extension to Detroit’s border. Meeting in church basements and community centers this week, discussions began about what development ideally would spring up around as many as 20 stations…
Letters to the Editor
Right-wing hypocrites Attorney General candidate Bill Schuette may believe the misconception that attacking sick citizens for using the God-given plant cannabis (marijuana) is somehow being tough on crime (Higher Ground, "Pot, Pols and Polls," Oct. 6), but that action’s consequence actually creates crime. Same thing with cannabis prohibition in general; since it creates crime, prohibitionists…
Cheat Code
Mafia II 2k Games Xbox 360 (Review Copy) PS3, PC What an interesting conundrum we have here. Open world games are usually a meandering affair, where the primary storyline can be put on hold so you can just explore your virtual world. Not in this case, because despite the open world setting, Mafia II offers…
Dinner and show
Zazios 34977 Woodward Ave., Birmingham 248-530-6400 As this is the last review I will be doing for a while, I thought it might be fun to fold up my napkin with an uncharacteristic big splurge. (I hope I have provided useful information over the years and that I have been fair to the hardworking people…
The liberty spike comb-over
On Saturday night the Wonder Twins headed to Small’s in Hamtramck to jump in the pit of punk rock history with the legendary Jello Biafra. Best known for heading up the seminal punk band The Dead Kennedys, Biafra was in town with his newest outfit, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. D’Anne: I…
Bobb’s deep debt
Expectations were high when Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced early in 2008 that she was appointing Robert Bobb to serve as the emergency financial manager of Detroit’s struggling public school system. With the district burdened by a cumulative budget deficit of nearly $220 million at the time, Bobb faced a daunting task — made all the…
Cider insider
From the 1,560-pound pumpkin on display to bins of apples, pies and sausages and cheeses, the rustic appearance of historic Franklin Cider Mill belies the modern equipment and stainless steel used in the cider- and doughnut-making processes. Owner Barry Peltz is a man who loves what he does. He prides himself on the results. Metro…
Food Stuff
Detroit food power — The recent MOCAD fundraiser at Eastern Market, dubbed "Home Slice," was a virtual cornucopia of local food providers. The vendors ranged from such restaurants as Slows Bar-B-Q and Atlas Global Bistro to upstart meat vendors such as Porktown Sausage and Corridor Sausage Co. Also on hand were jams and preserves from…
UPDATED Sunday Boozers: Alcohol May Soon be Sold at 7 a.m.
Governor Jennifer Granholm says she’s close to deciding whether or not to sign the bill that’d end booze prohibition between the hours of 7 a.m. and noon on Sundays. In other words, alcohol could be sold from 7 a.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. Monday. If she signs it’ll be swell news for alcohol sellers, though…
No smoking: Detroit incinerator shuts down
According to Covanta Energy, minority owner and operator of Detroit’s waste-to-energy incinerator, the facility that burns Detroit’s municipal waste has shut down because of “economic factors,”according to a company statement. The main cause of those difficulties is an ability to negotiate a contract with Detroit Thermal, which previously bought steam produced at the incinerator. When…
