One man’s Paradise Valley: Marsha Music on Joe Von Battle
From for MT blogs In this week’s MT, arts editor Travis Wright writes about the Arts League of Michigan and the move to put Paradise Valley back on the map of Detroit — and the current vocabulary of Detroiters. And it reminded me that I’ve wanted for some time to pull a few coattails for…
Tune into WDET now for a Local Moth Spotlight!
As part of their pledge drive, WDET produced a special Moth Radio Hour comprised of performances recorded during the Moth StorySlam, which premiered in Detroit on Thursday, October 1st at Cliff Bell’s. It starts at noon and you can listen here. StorySlams go down the first Thursday of the month at Cliff Bell’s. For more…
SOUPY SALES, R.I.P.
We lost a true Detroit legend yesterday when Soupy Sales died in a Bronx hospice after years of declining health at the age of 83. Sales — who was born Milton Supman in Franklinton, North Carolina — was years ahead of his time in that he delivered a children’s show (complete with puppet friends) that…
River talk with Bill Milliken
The renewal of Detroit’s riverfront continued this Thursday with the official dedication of the William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor, formerly called Tricentennial Park. “Having a park in downtown Detroit associated with the Milliken name is a lot better than a building somewhere in Lansing,” Milliken said to chuckles and applause. Located just east…
I did know Jack
Film crews were swarming around the Wayne and Oakland county courthouses last week, shooting a few final scenes for the forthcoming HBO movie, You Don’t Know Jack, about our once-nationally famous zero-population-growth activist, Dr. Kevorkian. Well, I do know Jack. Did, anyway. I covered all the major trials; had behind-the-scenes access to write long pieces…
Outdated Fate
There are bands that claim to live by the "do it yourself’ ethic, and then there are those that actually do it. Usually, it’s out of necessity rather than a desire to be seen as genuinely "punk rock." Let’s face it — nobody would go to the trouble of pulling a battered old drum kit…
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Men
Local photographer Thomas Weschler — who officially served as Bob Seger’s road manager from 1969 through 1973 — had unlimited access to Seger and his camp for several decades, both during and after his official managerial duties. In other words, Weschler was there, almost like a fly on the wall, for Seger’s ascent from local…
Strung Out
Gordon Staples was the concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and basically did the same for the Motown’s string sessions in the ’60s and ’70s. Remember, that was an age when many of his DSO co-workers looked down on the pop coming out of Motown. But Staples embraced Motown enthusiastically, always taking his Stradivarius violin…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
Los Lobos Goes Disney
Who’d have ever thought Walt Disney Records — or "Disney Sound," as it’s called here — would be responsible for one of this year’s most enjoyable albums, not just for kids but for rock fans and adults as well? But, then, has Los Lobos ever been responsible for a disc that’s even remotely bad? No…
LGBT safe and centered
Sometimes it’s funny what people find funny. Some people can take a serious issue and have you laughing uncontrollably before you stop for a moment and wonder just what you’re laughing at. Comedian Wanda Sykes does just that in her recently debuted HBO concert special I’ma Be Me. Her work pokes holes in the thin…
From the Vaults
Showing at the Burton Theatre (3420 Cass Ave., Detroit; 313-473-9238) at
Letters to the Editor
Hooked on Iggy Re: "Kill city dreaming" (Oct. 7), thanks for saying what I always felt: The first two Stooges LPs were great but Raw Power was the one! What cemented it for me was seeing them live at some gymnasium. Catfish Hodge opened; then Bob Seger. Seger wore a big hat and said he…
Living in Paradise
Some history: From the 1920s through the late ’50s, Paradise Valley was Detroit’s African-American arts and entertainment hub. It was also the home of African-American heroes, including boxer Joe Louis, bluesman John Lee Hooker, poet Robert Hayden (Elegies for Paradise Valley) and civil rights icon Rosa Parks. At its peak, the Valley was Detroit’s answer…
Making a race of it
On a crisp, clear Saturday morning, with a little more than two weeks remaining before Detroiters again go to the polls to choose a mayor in this oddest of election years, volunteers at the east side campaign headquarters of Tom Barrow are eagerly waiting for their candidate. The campaign has run out of coffee cups,…
There goes a secret
The 2007 inspection report released last week finding the Ambassador Bridge in "fair condition" was mostly unremarkable, save for a few descriptions of the "poor condition" of certain sections outside of the primary structural parts. The color photos of cracks and missing bolts made for good TV. Since the report’s release, bridge company employees have…
He comes in colors
His stained-glass work gives grace to the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit. You can find his massive oil paintings on Federal Reserve Bank walls, and an impressive 37-square-foot piece he named "Genealogy" is the circular terrazzo floor at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History. See, Hubert Massey is an artist of interminable…
Couch trip
How to Be a Man How to Be a Woman Kino Often, the funniest jabs in Mystery Science Theater 3000 came not at the expense of the feature-length sci-fi turkeys Joel, Mike and the ‘bots were so mercilessly fed, but at the unintentionally hilarious educational shorts that preceded them. These short movies, full of horrible…
Food Stuff
Scary spirits — Champane’s Wine Cellars Pub is hosting a spooky, Halloween-themed wine tasting that includes a few beers. Jokingly called an opportunity to taste the "scariest" wines in the world, the event will feature such wines as Jekolatern, Black Cat, Witches’ Brew, Howling Moon and many more. Seasonal beers will include Werewolf, Goose Island,…
Off the shelf
Lyrical, beautifully shot and filled with poetic flights of fancy, Where the Wild Things Are starts with a Cassavetes-like honesty before exploding into a fantastical exploration of how children desperately and capriciously try to define their world. It’s a mature, melancholic approach to Sendak’s 1963 work that may not add to Warner Brothers’ riches but…
A royal time
Andiamo 129 S. Main St., Royal Oak; 248-582-9300; more locations at andiamoitalia.com: Unquestioned master of the Best Italian Chain category in our annual readers’ poll, the many iterations of Andiamo’s are part of an Italian chain, all right, but they have different styles and menus. Under the tutelage of Chef Aldo Ottaviani, the kitchen staff…
More Than a Game
This slick 90-minute promo film — tarted up to resemble a doc — for Nike’s crown jewel overflows with energy, style and a great soundtrack, but shows zero insight and honesty. It’s a puff piece, an oddly dull tale of James bonding with his childhood pals and teammates from the gritty streets of Akron, Ohio,…
Gone Hollywood?
With their garage rock energy and Marshall Crenshaw-esque affection for what some would call the lost art of "the song," the Singles should’ve been ready-made for some serious local success followed by some national (and international) indie renown. But after 10 years of what lead singer and guitarist Vince Frederick refers to as "going in…
Mideast outpost
The menu is short but covers the usual bases — at prices well cheaper than those of the Lebanese restaurants a few miles further west in Dearborn. The highest priced entrée is $12, and that will get you three skewers of meat plus your rice, pickles and salad. Most entrées are $6 or $7 —…
Cheat Code
Brütal Legend EA Xbox 360, PS3 With more and more people getting their music digitally, fewer people journey to the record store. That’s a damn shame, because there’s nothing like cracking open a new CD and poring through its liners (I’m old enough to remember that records had the truest experience of this sort, and…
Green acres
Robert Stone’s gorgeous and engaging film will appeal to a small group of believers, make the casually curious feel guilty and powerless, and likely be ignored by the overwhelming masses. Which is a real shame, because, along with the eye-opening archival footage (see DDT sprayed onto kids at the public pool) and alarming facts (learn…
Taking the plunge
Q: I’m a straight teenage male, but I can’t climax unless I am stimulating my anus or rectum. I use various objects, such as cucumbers. The reason I don’t buy a toy is that I live in a very religious household and my parents would disown me if they found a sex toy in my…
Mod boys
These Ann Arbor working-class dandies had a penchant for Brit invasion and Yankee soul that even foreshadowed town-mates the Stooges on the rock ‘n’ roll tip, and, to a certain extent, the hugely mainstream Rascals on the national soul-pop tip. The Rationals simultaneously embraced, and then smashed, the veneer of Carnaby Street-attired rocker ‘n’ rollers…
Night and Day
THURSDAY OCTOBER 22 The Airborne Toxic Event DANCE TO YOUR INNER DARK The Airborne Toxic Event’s hook-happy and radio-friendly post-punk is often compared to a new wave pastiche of Franz Ferdinand and Interpol. But before you fall asleep, note that the band’s brooding lyrics build into proper anthemic choruses, and there’s a kind of "noir"…
Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor
Since forming in 2005, the artists formerly known as SikSik Nation have built a homegrown following based on the strength of their trippy live shows. Now the band returns with a new LP of psychedelically seductive rock ‘n’ roll, complete with a gender-bending name change to go along with it. Rechristened Sisters of Your Sunshine…
