Cover Story
Metro Times 2013 Slöshed Issue
Our annual Slöshed issue has become something of a tradition now, a chance for us to dive into metro Detroit’s world of alcohol and come up smiling. This round finds us looking at three new alcohol-themed businesses opening this year, a craft brewer in Warren, a meadery in Ferndale, and a wine bar in Detroit’s…
Film Review: 12 Years A Slave
12 Years a Slave | B+ As Schindler’s List has shown, it is critically difficult to untangle the atrocities of history from the artistry of the director who attempts to bring them to the screen. Steven Spielberg’s much-lauded treatment of the Holocaust was flawed in both concept and execution, yet I would be lying if…
12th Man Report: Leyland retiring
Bye-Bye Jim… In a somewhat unexpected event — although apparently planned since at least Sept. 7 — Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland is retiring from baseball. According to Leyland’s press conference today, during a breakfast with general manager Dave Dombrowski in Kansas City on Sept. 7, the veteran skipper confessed that this would be his…
The Joy of Better Drinking in Royal Oak
All week long, celebrating our Slöshed issue, we’ll be looking into some of the top-shelf attractions of local drinking culture. Today, we eyeball Royal Oak’s 212, courtesy of editorial intern Ashley Fagan. —Ed. 212’s head bartender, Adrianne Martin. Adrianne Martin is head bartender at Royal Oak’s 212. The kitchen serves high-quality dishes created from locally produced…
Doc Illingsworth: Coffee King
So there’s your first sip… Doc Illingsworth, a witty wordsmith of a rapper, a DIY cartoonist, lo-fi electro/ambient/instrumental whiz, and regular youtube poster… has more surreal montages for you. Essentially operating in the realms of leftfield hip-hop and outre-electronica, Doc spills samples of rounding baroque style Spanish guitars splashing into 8-bit pacman explosions, mangled…
Local Tribute Album for Elliott Smith
Burn it backwards…kill this history By chance, I drove through my old college campus yesterday. Fittingly, the next day, I’m writing about Elliott Smith, a spectral singer who soundtracked many a chilled autumn amble from dorm to lecture hall. Smith, who died 10 years ago this month, was a songwriter and a voice that simultaneously…
City Slang: The Freezer is gone
Legendary (and we don’t use that word lightly) hardcore venue the Freezer Theater, located in the area formerly known as the Cass Corridor, has been demolished. For just one year from 1981-82, the Freezer was the home of hardcore punk music in Detroit. As reported in Pizza Don’t Go Bad, it was stinky and illegal,…
Film Review: Carrie
Carrie | C+ Crusty, seen-it-all movie buffs are often perplexed by Hollywood’s insistence on cannibalizing itself with remakes of seemingly anything faintly profitable and older than a decade, and in some cases just barely that. Horror flicks seem particularly susceptible to recycling, with even lesser known titles like Fright Night andThe Crazies getting reboots, and…
City Slang: Evil Dead – The Musical
In the pages of the forthcoming issue of the Metro Times, we have an interview with George Reinblatt, the Canadian comedian who had the incredibly ludicrous idea of converting the first two Evil Dead movies into a musical. Check it out – Reinblatt is engaging in conversation, and we also got a quote or two…
Speaking about Speakeasies
All week long, celebrating our Slöshed issue, we’ll be looking into some of the top-shelf attractions of local drinking culture. Today, we eyeball Corktown’s Sugar House bar, courtesy of editorial intern Ashley Fagan. —Ed. Dave Kwiatkowski, owner and head bartender at Detroit’s Sugar House bar. Open for two years now, the Sugar House has quickly become…
Film Review: Escape Plan
Escape Plan | C+ Is there really a demand for these ’80s-style “geri-action” flicks? Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, once box-office rivals, join forces to reclaim their he-man status with a ridiculous jailbreak blow-’em-up that’s as disposable as The Expendables movies but with a little more smarts. Stallone plays Ray Breslin, a prison consultant who…
A Thousand Bottles of Beer on the Wall
All week long, celebrating our Slöshed issue, we’ll be looking into some of the top-shelf attractions of local drinking culture. Today, we eyeball Livonia’s Beer Baron store, courtesy of editorial intern Larry Lehna. —Ed. Beer! So much beer! Livonia’s Beer Baron store is a must-see for the true beer connoisseur. It carries the largest selection of…
City Slang: This week at Trinosophes
Elizabeth Ward’s Vitus Dance practice performance is just one of the highlights at Trinosophes this week. According to the venue, “This is a 15-minute performance practice at 7:30 pm by dancer-in-residence Elizabeth Ward — stop in and check it out on Third Thursday, and then move on to other venues! Dancer Elizabeth Ward presents an…
12th Man Report: Wipe the slate clean
It’s like Austin Jackson isn’t the leagues worst hitter anymore. It’s like Big Papi didn’t rip out an entire team’s — and city’s — heart with one swing of the bat. It’s definitely like the Tigers’ ace closer hasn’t been possessed by the ghost of Jose Valverde past. After last night’s victory Tigers’ victory, Detroit…
The Rock jock
As the Tigers look to sneak the American League Championship Series, as the Lions continue their winning start to the season, as the Red Wings embark on what will, God willing, be another march towards the play-offs and beyond, and as the Pistons warm up, Detroit sports fans have much to be excited, optimistic and…
Spelling out nu-Elektro: Chvrches and Poliça
Chvrches Poliça The Bones Of What You Believe Shulamith Virgin …
City Slang: DSO’s tribute to Fred and Ginger
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers with two performances in November. According to a press release, “The world’s most famous dancing duo will be celebrated in “Fred & Ginger: Dancing and Romancing”, with performances by Kirby Ward and Joan Hess, both vocalists and dancers, along with DSO Assistant…
Detroit Pistons
The only sure thing about the Detroit Pistons this season is that there are no sure things. General Manager Joe Dumars didn’t completely overhaul the roster in the offseason, but he came pretty close. Not only did he trim some fat from a less than successful lineup, but he also signed a few big names…
Bistro Joe’s
Bistro Joe’s 34244 Woodward Ave., Birmingham 248-594-0984 Handicap accessible: Elevator near restaurant entrance Lunch: Small plates: $6-$13; entrées: $12-$19.50 Dinner: Small plates: $6-$13; entrées: $12-$40 Open for lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays. Open for dinner 5:30-10 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 5:30-11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 5:30-9 p.m. Sunday. In Paris, it’s not uncommon to find yourself sitting…
Waxing Philosophical in Detroit’s Serengeti
When I drove up to the house where Mulenga Harangua squats, I noticed a “Benny for Mayor” sign in the flowerbed. As usual, I had to go around back to find him since he is forever working in that garden of his. Although, I have to admit the results are pleasing to the palate This…
Stuck on Honey
Mead expert Ken Schramm is enormously well educated about his pet topic, the kind of guy who can expound for hours at a time about mead. Now imagine that personality amped up by the stress of opening a meadery, Schramm’s Mead, right on Nine Mile Road in Ferndale. It happened in a nick of time,…
Kwame and Race
Kwame and Race Kilpatrick sentencing, credit, and patriotism Dear Editor: Race is once again raising its ever-present head in the Kwame Kilpatrick sentencing. Here’s how I see it: They didn’t have to give him 28 years … he gave them legitimate reasons to do it. For me, it would have been easier to take if…
Elton John
What was Elton John’s last truly great album? Probably Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy in ’75, right? Up until that point, he was consistently incredible and then his form dipped. The ’80s were particularly unkind to John, with the Brit legend diving into schmaltzy water with abominations like “Sacrifice” and “Nikita.” By the…
Falling Down Rises
It’s a Tuesday afternoon just after opening time at Warren’s Falling Down Beer Company. Co-owner Mark Larson is there, although he’s just back from a “research” visit to Sherwood Brewing Company in Shelby Township, and therefore still recovering from what sounds like more than a few pours of Chai Tea Ale. That said, he’s already…
Tragedies Come in Threes
Q: My boyfriend and I have been together for two years and we live together. Recently, his ex was killed in a car accident. They were not on good terms and he often made scathing statements about her. I made the mistake of saying the following several days after her death (after offering him my…
Caroline Smith
It’s usually a warning sign when an artist is described using words like “neo-soul” and “1990s R&B.” This usually means that, in fact, said artist is an overproduced pop monstrosity who references Marvin Gaye or Aretha Franklin in interviews to make themselves appear a little more authentic and honest. Caroline Smith’sHalf About Being a Woman…
The Pour Side of Town
When we last visited Motor City Wine several years ago, it was up above Woodward Avenue, in a second-floor space above Foran’s Grand Trunk Bar in downtown Detroit. Mostly overseen by husband-and-wife team David and Melissa Armin-Parcells, the small space served as a tasting room and sales floor, some nights given over to live music…
View From Above
“Yeah,” says Freya Gothelf, sounding every bit the 71 inches of teenager, “if you grow up to be 5-foot 11-inches and you’re a 14-year-old, you think about [modeling]. People tell you, ‘Oh, hey, you should be a model.’” Now a four-year veteran of runways and fashion shoots, she’s pushing 20, about which she says, with…
Slimed!: An Oral History of Nickelodeon’s Golden Age
This window in time by Matthew Klickenstein pulls back the curtain of a fledgling cable TV network for kids that sneaked through the corporate drapery delightful buckets of slime and splashed them across the screen, effectively washing away preconceptions of how to engage adolescent viewers. This history plucks the nostalgia-soaked heartstrings of anyone between ages…
Dot Wiggin Band
Frank Zappa once said that late ’60s all-girl garage group the Shaggs was “better than the Beatles.” Bless Frank, he spoke a lot of shit and the Shaggs were obviously nothing of the sort. However, that band’s importance and influence is lost on many music fans who would, if they went back and listened to…
A Later ‘Last Call’
Hoping to make Detroit seem cosmopolitan, like Chicago and New York, Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, recently sponsored legislation that would extend drinking hours at bars and clubs until 4 a.m.; last call is currently 2 a.m. But it seems Smith and his supporters may be forced to bring flasks with them, as indications are it’s…
Small Stone Records: Lo-pan, Freedom Hawk, and Gozu
The bands on music impresario Scott Hamilton’s label, Small Stone Records, roster might generally be classified as “stoner rock,” but many of these guys are boozehounds too. And with this week being the Sloshed issue — which just happens to coincide with the Small Stone showcase at the Magic Stick on Oct. 19 — we…
Oil And Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist
This intriguing story — at its heart, a battle against Big Oil— starts in a bee colony. Oil and Honey is not a gloom-and-doom haranguing of our carbon-addicted culture or a liberal’s citing of “green” propaganda; it is merely a frank account of the End Of Nature author’s last three years, spent gaining education on…
Detroit Food This Week
FOOD THOUGHT The American Craft Beer Cookbook by John Holl Storey Publishing, $19.95, 344 pp. Given his premise that beer goes better with food than wine does, craft beer enthusiast John Holl has put together this book of recipes from dozens of brewpubs across the country. Holl has visited more than 900 of them, so…
Meet the GOP Taliban
EVERYONE REMEMBERS WHAT happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but do you remember the ideology of those who hijacked the planes and destroyed thousands of lives, including their own? They were fanatics who believed they were serving a righteous cause — and who didn’t give a damn that it would destroy the lives of others and…
The Artwork of Mark Sarmel
Even if he didn’t refer to it as art — or to himself as an artist — Mark Sarmel has always made cool-looking stuff. As for what compels him to create, Sarmel says, “If I’m not making something, I’m not a happy person. I feel lost and I feel like I’m wasting my time. It’s…
Toast Detroit’s Brewing Legacy
Detroit’s love affair with beer has been a staple for nearly two centuries, dating back 184 years when an issue of the Cleveland Herald heralded a shipment of Detroit beer making its way down the Great Lakes. At the time, dark, robust ales were the rage, due largely to a wave of early English immigrant…
Film Review: The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete
Director Lee Daniels could learn a thing or two about emotional modesty and understated messaging from George Tillman Jr.’s Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete. Unlike the melodramatic urban grotesqueries that populated his much-overrated Precious, Tillman’s depiction of two youths abandoned in a Brooklyn housing project during a sweltering New York summer has a quiet…
Wall-to-Wall Crawl
Some of the most outstanding destinations for drinking in metro Detroit. Alley Bar 112 W. Liberty St., Ann Arbor; 734-662-8757; alleybarannarbor.com: This pleasant hole-in-the-wall bar has something to slake all thirsts. They can pull you a cheap brew, yes, but they also have a good selection of bourbons, scotches and rye whiskeys. They can even…
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. Howard Glazer’s Stepchild of the Blues (City Hall) sees the local guitar virtuoso running through nine blues rock numbers that are all played with enthusiasm and an obvious love for…
City Slang: Getting spooky with Claude VonStroke
Barclay Crenshaw, aka Claude VonStroke, is a house and techno producer originally from Detroit but based out of San Francisco for the last 15 years. However, he’s going to be back in town for Halloween to play a show at the Royal Oak Music Theatre. When the MT caught up with the boss of Dirtybird…
History Lessons for Halloween
And suddenly, it’s Halloween. Suddenly, the season of swelled line-ups of local bands going all method-actor with their music, disguised in hair styles and sunglasses, fish-nets and five-o-clock shadows altogether iconic, nostalgic and passé…trick-or-treating with their guitars dolled up as famous (and quasi-famous) bands from albums of yore. Halloween Cover Shows! How many can you get…
