Psychopathic’s underrated Mike E. Clake drops Volume 2 of his ‘Murder Mix’
From our ace editorial intern Tyler Kane: Halloween’s here, and aside from burnt orange and yellows, cider mills, haunted houses, what’ve we got? Oh, yeah our holiday-warming pals at Psychopathic Records. Hence the news that Psychopathic’s house-producer guy Mike E. Clark’s dropping a new follow-up mixtape, Murder Mix Volume 2, on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Although…
Silverghost: Debut album, huge show late Nov.
If you’ve been paying attention you’d have noticed that the little duo Silverghost has quietly amassed a giant following in these parts, as well as big word-of-mouth pretty much anywhere else that even hints of the cosmopolitan. They’ve earned a PR flack’s dream-load of press and have placed songs in major TV ads without help…
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Rating the trilogy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Directed by Neils Arden Oplev The Grade: B+ (on DVD) The Girl Who Played With Fire – Directed by Daniel Alfredson The Grade: A- (on DVD) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – Directed by Daniel Alfredson The Grade: C+ (in theaters) Trilogy as a whole: B+…
MT Music Blog Interview: Gwar’s Dave Brockie a.k.a Oderus Urungus!
Shock rockers Gwar may have about the same number of lineup changes as years spent playing Detroit rock staple Harpos. But one man who’s been a constant in the metal spectacle that is Gwar since 1984 is frontman Oderus Urungus or Dave Brockie. The Richmond metalheads first played Detroit in 1988 at Blondies, but when…
Golden girls: lady faints when judge sets her bond
A woman who cops say conned elderly Detroiters lost consciousness during a video arraignment today, after a judge set her bond at around $2 mil. No joke. Viola West just fanned her face, cracked her maw and flopped over after hearing the amount. She had to be lifted from the floor and needed some medical…
Detroit’s food scene gets attention of Atlantic Monthly
Last week, we noted with pleasure that The New York Times took a 1,500-word-plus look at Slows Bar-B-Q and its most famous owner, Phillip Cooley. It was a pretty good article that also gave some ink to some other local worthies too. And while many folks in the Detroit food scene loved to see the…
Not funny: 38-year-old dude and 15-year-old girl found dead in a van
More from the Dept. of Too Many Creeps: You’ve by now heard of Taylor Eileen Manley, the missing 15-year-old girl and subject of a yesterday’s amber-alert in Reed City. She and her apparent kidnapper Raymond R. Bush were found dead last night in the back of his Chrysler minivan parked at the St. Charles Cemetery…
Sit down when you read this: Economy in red and blues
Last April we posted a link to what News Editor Curt Guyette described as: a devastating interactive map that chronicles the progression of national job losses over the past two years, showing county by county where they have been cut and where they are growing. It is like watching a time-lapse version of an accident…
‘Inception’ theme goes with every trailer in the universe!
Back when I was in school, one of my video editing projects was to combine a pre-existing movie trailer with a different soundtrack, to give the trailer a different effect. Mine turned out OK, but I’d knock that project out of the park if I knew what I knew now. Tyler Wilde and the guys…
Is it Dearbornistan?
Hating on Muslims seems to be very popular these days among the politically conservative set, as in the controversy over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque." And one of the objects of that hate seems to be the alleged creeping influence of sharia. Sharia is the sacred law of Islam, although there are different interpretations of…
More stink
As we were going to press Tuesday, there was still no word regarding the fate of Detroit’s waste-to-energy incinerator. As we reported recently, the facility shut down after its owners were unable to agree on a steam contract with Detroit Thermal, which, in turn, supplies steam to a large chunk of central Detroit. Meanwhile, the…
Book battle
Several weeks ago, Metro Times editorial intern Michelle Styczynski was outside the Troy Public Library when, as she describes it, "a young woman clenching onto a clipboard loaded with signatures approached me. She was asking library patrons as they walked past her, ‘Do you want to save the library and not raise taxes?’" Styczynski, although…
Food Stuff
The fright stuff — A fun event tonight mixes fundraiser and hair-raiser, scaring up money for five good local charities. It happens at the spacious digs of Rosie O’Grady’s in Ferndale. The joint, dubbed "Scaring for Caring," asks patrons to drop donations into buckets in front of more than a dozen scarecrows, all artfully created,…
Motor City Cribs
Only Detroit could birth the newly threatened Theatre Bizarre, a sprawling complex of gonzo art and urban renewal just south of the now-abandoned State Fair Grounds. Equal parts twisted circus sideshow, haunted carnival, outsider art installation and utterly unique performance space, Theatre Bizarre started 10 years ago when painter-architect John Dunivant’s Halloween party had grown…
A-square meal
Afternoon Delight 251 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor; 734-665-7513; afternoondelightcafe.com; $: Open every day until only 3 p.m., Afternoon Delight serves from the bright pinks and aquamarines of its tablescape a variety of creative breakfast and lunch plates to an often — particularly on Sundays — out-the-door crowd. Catering service available. Anthony’s Gourmet Pizza 2520 Packard,…
Lit up
Lost Detroit: Stories Behind the Motor City’s Majestic Ruins Dan Austin & Sean Doerr History Press There are monolithic ruins, if you want to call them that — and many do — standing out on highways and streets hovering over Detroit. They’re architectural time capsules. White elephants in brick and mortar. Ghosts. Call them relics…
Couch Trip
Horror is a tricky-sticky genre, and for every creepy classic, such as Night of the Living Dead or The Exorcist, there are a dozen forgettables. At least. Here are our picks for the most laughable, ludicrous and downright nonthreatening horror flicks ever. 7. Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) A homegrown cult fave, this…
Third wheels
Just because most voters don’t have a clue about them doesn’t mean the three third-party candidates running for governor of Michigan don’t have anything interesting to say about taxes, prisons, the state’s debt and their philosophies about the role of government. The trio — Stacey Mathia, from the U.S. Taxpayers Party, Harley Mikkelson, from the…
Snyder’s shortfalls
It’s official: Rick Snyder is the establishment’s choice for governor of Michigan. The Detroit Free Press, which usually endorses Democrats (if they don’t threaten that paper’s economic interests) made it unanimous last weekend. After listing where they disagree with Snyder, the newspaper adds: "The most important choice Michiganders face has less to do with policy…
Letters to the Editor
Simple economics I read with interest Jack Lessenberry’s article, "Obama’s trouble" (MT; October 20). I totally agree with him that Obama and his administration should have done a much better job of educating the public about the health care plan before the Republicans brainwashed a lot of people into believing that "Obamacare" is a big…
Outlaw Country
Grown men in leather, dirty beards and fingerless gloves riding Harleys aren’t always as grizzly or as grimy as they appear. Some could be criminal lawyers, anesthesiologists or marketing gurus in boots flaunting vicarious thrills on drop-dead expensive bikes, with their trophy blondes and Bloomfield Hills houses in the rearview. But this writer grew up…
Spit or swallow?
Q: I love reading your column and never thought that I would have a reason to write to you, but to my pleasure and chagrin, I realized today that I could use your help. I am a 23-year-old woman. I have been with my boyfriend for three years, and we have lived together for two.…
ONCE again
Not an acronym so much as an all-caps catch-all, ONCE stands for a variety of artistic actions that occurred simultaneously, yet discretely, in Ann Arbor in the early ’60s. For several years, a handful of avant-garde music composers in Ann Arbor created the annual ONCE Festival, an independent, artist-directed series of modern music concerts. Working…
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest GRADE: C- Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. A long, aimless, talky whimper. All but the most loyal fans of the book will find The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest anything more than a sporadically interesting bore that never rises…
Getting NORML
Looking ahead to next month’s long-anticipated popular vote to legalize recreational use of marijuana in California, it seems like a million years ago when I went to the West Coast in 1972 to campaign for the original Proposition 19 — the first California Marijuana Initiative. Out of prison for only a few months and still…
Flop, snarkle, pop!
Nathan Rabin gets paid to watch bad movies — well, to be exact, notorious movies that flopped at the box office. He can’t believe he gets to do it for a living. And if you’re, say, between the ages of 18 and 24, you might know his byline from the clever, funny and profane column…
Tiny but tasty
Tongue Thai’d 32166 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak 248-549-4112 Just about every other hole-in-the-wall Asian joint in southeast Oakland County is serving Thai cuisine. Lighter and fresher on the palate than typical American-Chinese, Thai food is an obvious choice for a quick carryout dinner when you’re in the mood for exotic spices and seasonings without all…
Metro Retro
24 years ago in Metro Times: The Gray Panthers, a group uniting elderly and young progressive activists, call for national health insurance. The intergenerational group holds a three-day demonstration in front of the White House designed to call attention to the social costs of massive defense spending. A Detroit Gray Panther, Kate Streitmatter, 30, tells…
Twiztid morality and horrorcore
So much has been written about Psychopathic Records, the Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid and their loyal Juggalos (fans of ICP and anyone connected with them, for those new to this) in the mainstream media that it’s nearly impossible not to have a preformed opinion of what the artists involved could actually be like. Opinions are…
Debut Album by Timmy’s Organism — uh, that’s Timmy Vulgar solo — is out today. Free song download here!
He’s a Human Eye, a 2010 Kresge Fellow and a never-say-“sellout” punk — his co-authorship of a Clone Defects ditty once used on TV to sell cars (“dude, that’s $$$$”) notwithstanding. In one way or another, Tim Vulgar (aka Lampinen) has appeared on our cover a few times over the years, and for good reason:…
‘Detroit Rocks!’ needs co-publishers, maybe you
A book capturing a pivotal decade of Detroit rock by Gary Grimshaw (one of the Pied Piper poster artists who brought everyone to the scene) and Leni Sinclair (the photographer who captured so many of the definitive moments when everyone arrived) would seem a natural. So much so that they got tired of people asking…
