Not just for kids
Are you dying to rip your kid from behind that video game screen? Do you wish he wanted to be in Cats instead of on a football field? Do you hope that her desire to be Brittney Spears morphs into a dedication to follow in the footsteps of Meryl Streep? Southfield Youtheatre might be your…
Give Bush a brake, men; Benjamin gets hitched
Yup, we all know that Carson Daly is a shamelessly average and wholly dispensable prop-up whose overweening ego and little else has landed him on a platform of idiot television celebrity. Here’s a wall-eyed narcissist who commands the respectful attention of television viewers the nation over for once hosting MTV’s Total Request Live. Bah. How…
Lightning in a Bottle
On Feb. 7, 2003, a concert was held at New York’s Radio City Music Hall called “Salute to the Blues.” Lightning is a record of that event, and despite some customary documentary garnishing — reminiscences by some of the performers, archival footage (of Son House, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker), scenes from rehearsals —…
Night reclamation
The wheels of rock Carlos D. might be It. Well, the Interpol bassist is not the first rock star to perform live with his bandmates, then dance until sunrise at a party or club. But it’s rare to see a dude sweat it out on stage, then control the after-hours at the decks — especially…
Out of commission
After deciding not to renew former Wayne County auditor-general Brendan Dunleavy’s contract last month, an ad hoc committee recommended his replacement to commission chair Jewel Ware last Wednesday. Ware makes the final decision on the recommendation, but had not done so by press time Monday. Last week the committee chose Willie Mayo over Dunleavy (who…
Stage Beauty
This gender-bending, frilly-frocked period piece is a muddled but amusing take on theater in 17th century London. Billy Crudup plays Ned Kynaston, an actor known as the most beautiful woman on the English stage, because no woman is legally allowed to perform. All that changes when his dresser, Maria (Claire Danes), takes the stage. Crudup…
Head cheese
Gen is the comely blond dom and ringleader of the Genitorturers, the most perverted band in America. If Al Jourgensen ever channeled his former junkie “so what” indifference into a sadomasochistic passion, or if Marilyn Manson were to finally become the fetching blond bombshell he yearns to be, then there might be a challenge to…
Crank calls
As if there wasn’t enough ill will between those in favor of and those opposed to Proposal E — the controversial ballot initiative that dictates how Detroit Public Schools will be run — now it seems that a telemarketing scam has widened the rift, leaving each camp even more suspicious of the other. Telemarketers, posing…
Around the Bend
Before conveniently dying, a father writes a quirky will requiring his family to make a road trip to scatter his ashes — and reconnect with each other. It’s a sweet and well-meaning story, but generally every bit as contrived as it sounds. An ounce of such mawkishness will suffice, and Around the Bend offers at…
The Birth of Day of the Dead
La Catrina is the pinup girl for el Dia de los Muertos — the Day of the Dead — a traditional holiday in Mexico and Latin America, now increasingly celebrated in Detroit’s thriving Latino community. Muted here in past years as one of many cultural activities set aside for the sake of assimilation, Day of…
Proactive
Countdown By the time you read this there will be less than a week until the presidential election. And for those who want to send George Dubya and his cronies packing, there’s a lot you can do. For starters, check out the politically progressive Web site, www.moveon.org, which has mobilized thousands of John Kerry supporters,…
N&D Center
Thursday • 28 Nontombu Tutu ISSUES & LEANING The daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nontombi Tutu grew up in the shadow of apartheid, and has made it her life’s work to speak out against racial, gender and economic injustice. This Thursday at Marygrove College, Tutu will address the ways in which peace movements are interweaving…
Once-grand haven
The six-story apartment building located at 25 Waverly in Highland Park, was nearly a tragic example of why the demolition of vacant and abandoned structures ought to be a priority for cities throughout Wayne County. Late last week, A.S.S. heard that a small team of Wayne County deputy sheriffs had just entered the apartment complex…
Haunted harmonics
No, they haven’t changed their program into a freak show — the Windsor Symphony Orchestra is simply getting into the Halloween spirit. This week, as part of their Family Jamboree series, the WSO presents Trick or Treat!, an all-ages musical offering that’ll get you in the mood for this spooky time of year. “We have…
Letters to the Editor
Public outcry Re: “Making airwaves” (Metro Times, Oct. 20), with her fixation on ratings consistency, WDET General Manager Caryn Mathes has forgotten what a public radio station is all about. A commercial station runs the same format all day long to generate consistent ratings so that advertisers will know the size and type of audience…
Nun too pleased
The memories had long ago faded into short, sharp sound bites for this lapsed Catholic. The short stint in their schools, the longer stint in their churches. The flowing black uniforms of the women who served their Lord with stern instruction and quiet meditations nearly brushed the linoleum under their feet as they made their…
Comics
This Modern World Red Meat Comix
Riding with elders
Two missionaries go knocking on a door in inner city Detroit, just like they do every day. They knock for several minutes and wait patiently on the porch, the Book of Mormon safe in their backpacks. Suddenly, the door is yanked open and, without words, a woman rushes past them, jumps into a waiting vehicle…
Hiding the sausage at city hall
Detroit’s unlikely to regain its place as a world-class city as long as its leadership includes someone who’d risk going to the federal joint for 17 pounds of sausage. But if I had to pick anyone among the current cast of lightweights and ethical nitwits who show Detroit’s face to the world, it would be…
Worthy praise
Gustave Courbet shook up the art world back in 1850 when he dared to paint regular folks — peasants, no less — doing regular folks’ jobs. He made glamorous works of beauty out of highly unglamorous stuff. “The Stone-Breakers” is a powerful oil painting of the backsides of laborers doing the type of backbreaking stuff…
Catering to the nostalgia crowd
A blast from the past: blue plate specials, blue suede shoes, photos of Elvis, sliders. “A home-cooked meal at diner prices,” is how Kelly Battaglia describes the restaurant she opened with Jay Quattrocchi this summer. If you are nostalgic for the ’50s, you’ll want to check it out.
Hard time
White blues fans — which is to say white fans of blues music — come in a vast array of ideological shades. Hardcore purists, the “appreciation society” dudes, curl their lips in a patronizing sneer if it doesn’t sound like Blind Willie McTell. The upwardly mobile soccer-dad types keep the 10-disc changer in the back…
Sex, Love & Rock ’n’ Roll
“I’m the volume in your fucked-up teenage band,” says Mike Ness in “Don’t Take Me For Granted,” one of the ragged and melodic rockers on the new Sex, Love & Rock ’n’ Roll. The words pay tribute to founding Social Distortion member Dennis Danell, who died unexpectedly during the band’s eight-year hiatus from the studio.…
Three chords and the truth
So punk rock has grown up. It’s not just the sheer number of potential hair club for men members in their 40s staging reunion tours. It’s that the whole idea of punk that has evolved — for better and worse — becoming a genre as enduring (and tired) as heavy metal or singer-songwriter folk. Bad…
Cactus
As a veteran of several Cactus gigs during the brawny combo’s 1970-1972 heyday, I distinctly recall being on the receiving end of disparaging remarks from my, er, chemically unenlightened associates, commentary that essentially went like this: “Yeah, but they’re just a boogie band, aren’t they?” Well, yeah, I s’pose so, if you go strictly by…
Saving the nation
Nobody among the intellectual and power elites was overwhelmed by the Democratic candidate for president; the only thing they agreed on is that he would be marginally better than the alternative, who was a disaster. And while they wanted him to win, they worried about whether he was decisive enough. They regarded him as a…
Slowly But Surely
Recorded in the traditionalist fold of London’s Toe-Rag Studios and featuring a crack backup band, Holly Golightly’s 13th album sports her usual vintage sashay. Whether it’s the loping Western swing of “Keeping On,” the Seeds-worthy garage rock fever of “In Your Head,” or the blowsy pre-rock swagger of “All Grown Up,” Golightly’s songwriting is always…
Crying fraud
As CEO of Aurora mental hospital on Detroit’s West Side in the late 1990s, Barbara Clark was in charge of a facility with 140 beds and a multimillion-dollar budget. Now a substance abuse treatment center, Aurora at the time of Clark’s tenure was Detroit’s last remaining mental hospital, treating the city’s poor and uninsured, often…
The Definitive Diary of America’s Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio
The diary book format is a prestige item among rock stars; it says your fans want to suck up all your day-to-day minutiae so they can argue on your behalf that you did it first. And as any Beach Boy fan knows, you gotta argue hard to make a case that the Boys ever were…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): When I advise you to spend the Halloween season awakening and nurturing your wildness, I’m referring to the definition of that word offered by Robert Bly in his book, The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart. To be wild is not to be crazy like a criminal or psychotic, but…
Touring with the dead
This is just a partial listing of Day of the Dead celebrations in Detroit: 10th Annual Dia de los Muertos Fiesta: Nov. 1-2, 9-7 p.m. at the B.U.O.Y. 3 Center; 3041 W. Vernor Hwy., 313-967-9898. Dia de los Muertos 2nd Annual Walking Tour: Pick up a guide at the B.U.O.Y. 3 Center. Casa de Unidad:…
A Kerouac for this generation
In the past 10 years, Dave Eggers has given birth to two literary journals, a nonprofit writing center, a publishing company and a daily humor Web site, as well as a pirate costume supply store in San Francisco. The Dickensian swirl of activity might explain why it’s become easy to forget that Eggers is foremost…
Old world goodness
It doesn’t seem too long ago that most ethnic restaurants were Chinese or Italian and served only a small selection of Americanized foods. Chinese menus offered Cantonese-style dishes, including chop suey and other standards, with the requisite wonton soup, rice and an egg roll. Things have changed. Now we can more easily sample the fare…
Funk, yeah
There’s something about hearing a killer funk band kick it live that transcends flesh and physically alters the soul. It’s true. Could be the heart-skipping crack of the snare drum in the 16th bar that makes you forget about gravity, or the throbbing jolt of a bass solo that makes the $150 hairweave you scored…
The Grudge
The Grudge is basically one scene played out with mathematical precision and predictability over and over and over again. By the time The Grudge wraps up its barely existent story arc, you’ll wish it were you they were going to kill. As scary as a cardboard jack-o-lantern pasted on a 7-11 beer cooler door, The…
To cut or not to cut
Q: I have a serious problem. I am pregnant with a boy. At first my husband and I were in agreement that we would not circumcise him. I have read that the foreskin is comparable to a clit — all the nerves and stuff that make sex more pleasurable. But now my husband says he…
Art Bar
Playwright and Detroit native Neil LaBute has been praised for his way with dialogue and his efforts to expose the dark side of love and gender affairs. Having won critical acclaim for his 1997 film, In the Company of Men, LaBute came out last year with The Shape of Things, a film based on his…
Fanny And Alexander
Ingmar Bergman’s self-proclaimed swan song, 1982’s Fanny and Alexander, is another of his autobiographical fantasies written on a larger than usual scale. The film weaves together the Bergman themes of God and sex and love and death. A fascinating film, it seems choppy in parts, no doubt because it’s been edited down from a five…
