Cover Story
In Marathon’s Shadow
See original version at Center for Public Integrity In an economically distressed pocket of southwest Detroit known by its ZIP code — 48217 – the weekend of Sept. 7-9 was one of the worst, pollution-wise, that residents like Theresa Shaw could ever remember. "I started smelling it on Thursday," said Shaw, who immediately suspected the…
City Slang: Carolyn Striho at UDetroit
On Wednesday, December 12, Carolyn Striho will be performing as part of the North Star Media showcase at the UDetroit Café in Detroit. The show will be streamed live via Red Remote TV and the UDetroit Café itself. Striho says, “We also likely are rocking the east side TBA for a holiday party – promises…
Wreck-It Ralph
Wreck-It Ralph | B+ Even as Disney expands its fearsome magic kingdom by engulfing more and more cherished media properties (Marvel, the Muppets, Star Wars, etc.), there is still the vital business of creating its own fresh, marketable characters to be exploited for decades to come, so that, someday, today’s kids can grow up and…
Flight
Flight | B Denzel Washington cranks up his patented intensity in Flight, delivering lingering stares that seem likely to burn through the aviator lenses his strung-out pilot character routinely dons to navigate hangovers. Washington’s Captain William "Whip" Whitaker is a commercial sky jockey of such immense skill and confidence that he never loses his cool…
The Sessions
The Sessions | B+ "I have to believe in God, it would be unbearable not to have someone to blame." —Poet and journalist Mark O’Brien Autumn is often viewed as a season of smart and adult cinema. Or, as it is known by insiders, "Oscar bait." Hollywood prestige films (Lincoln, Les Miserables), handsome middle-brow…
City Slang: Iggy Pop bobbles
Aggronautix has a new bobblehead toy on the shelves, of our very own Iggy Pop. The polyresin statue stands at 7 inches tall is limited to 1000 units and, while it might not be the complimentary when it comes to the facial features, it does capture a recent-years Ig in his raucous glory. They say,…
ADULT.
I’m just as catatonic, distraught, queasy, unhinged… just as much as you… over the oncoming Presidential Election. Oh the InterNet-Duress…the stirred-up-outrage…the fright-froze-implications! Relax… Well… not that you could ever relax-to Adult. Have you forgotten how stylishly scary and eerily invigorating the glitch-jittered shadow-scapes of post-techno freak-fests could be…at such a time like this? How long…
Empty Orchestra – One More Time, Altogether Now (vinyl)
“The audience gets what the audience wants…. …the monster inside us…” Those raspy booming vocals heave over hammering drums, nervy organs and rattling bass grooves as Empty Orchestra, a Flint-born collective of alt-country-reverent rockers, strikes an enticing yet dark vibe for their wicked, waving ballad musing on the “love/hate relationship between audience and performer…” Just…
City Slang: The Biggest Bar Night
The Biggest Bar Night of the Year event will take place at the Pike Room in Pontiac’s Crofoot on November 21. Bands include Cybertrybe, Shudder, Fall Prey, Volcano and The New Radio Standard, Demension and Irish Comedy act The O’Shaunessy Boys. There will also be variety burlesque show with Poly Glamorous and Anna Sassin. The…
City Slang: Kaleido and Citizen Zero to join forces
Detroit hard rock bands Kaleido and Citizen Zero will play together on Friday, November 30 at the Magic Stick in Detroit. Brooklyn band Shinobi Ninja opens the show. According to the press release, “Female-fronted Kaleido will be celebrating the release of their highly anticipated debut EP at the Magic Stick. Coming off a red-hot summer…
The Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 43: I’ll Always be ‘Giving it Some’
For our final date with the D we played the Hammersmith Apollo, formerly the Hammersmith Odeon, in London. Mixed emotions fill my head — on the one hand it’s hard to see things go, but all things must end sometime, you know? As a band we’ve learned how to manage a large stage, get the…
Gold House Launch (Friday, Corktown Studios)
“The Second Transgression” “Insomnia in Color” Friday night in Corktown, two music videos will premiere inside Corktown Studios as a means to launch the production work of media artists Kevin Eckert and Natasha Beste. Their house is the Gold House, my freak-art-friends and they’re enthusiastically offering a full service video production (post-production, motion graphics, design/consulting). Beste belts…
Props and disses
Proposal 1 Emergency manager referendum VOTE NO It’s difficult to imagine a more undemocratic law than Public Act 4, which seeks to give the state of Michigan authority to appoint emergency managers who assume nearly complete control of financially troubled municipalities and school districts. Passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick…
City Slang: Katie Grace prepares to rock the Park Bar
Detroit best bad girl Katie Grace will play the Park Bar in Detroit on Friday, November 9. But here’s the exciting bit – the show will be recorded for a future live release by Jim Diamond. Cheer loud enough and you might hear yourself on the CD later. What could be better – get down…
City Slang: Deadstring Brothers have Loving Touch
Local Americana troubadours the Deadstring Brothers play the Loving Touch in Ferndale on Sunday, November 11 in support of the album Sao Paulo. According to a press release, “Earning comparisons to the Stones circa Exile on Main Street, Deadstring Brothers are Detroit incarnate. A little rough and tumble, they’re roots rock drawing from Muscle Shoals,…
The Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 42: Tales from the Riverbank
Wolverhampton is a city we played back in ’03 but on this trip it represents the day my girlfriend rolled into town. I was very excited to see her, and when I heard a taxicab door shut I knew it was her. She’d flown across the Atlantic, got on a handful of trains, tubes, and…
Dude – “In The Next Pocket”
It’s Halloween…and I’m scared to death over the implications of the forthcoming election. Part of that might be the masters of horror themselves, those terrifying, ghoulish pundits adorning my television screen with these unnerving pit-and-the-pendulum-esque polls and swing-states-statistics… The Suspense is killing me… Pop music’s always a fine escape… But more of a bolder, blunter,…
Say no to the Troll
Next week, Michigan voters will make a vastly important choice, and if they choose wrong, it may cripple any attempts to revive our economy — forever. If you vote yes on Proposal 6, you’ll be selling out your state, your democracy and your constitution so that one lying, bloated, greedy billionaire can get even richer…
Here to corrupt
Pretty Ghouls play at Found Sound Records on Saturday, Nov. 3, from 3 p.m., with Deadbeat Beat, the Cray Crays, and 3Ft. No cover. 234 W. 9 Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-565-8775. "I want to be the first black, female Iggy Pop," says Pretty Ghouls singer Asia Mock — and she’s not kidding. "I just want…
Food Stuff
Cobo sources locally Centerplate, the company responsible for catering events at Detroit’s Cobo Center, wanted to get the word out that it’s upgraded its menu to provide convention-goers with fare that’s, well, more unconventional. So, to spread the news, they invited a bunch of media types — including the MT — for a tasting last…
Upper crusts 2
$=$5-$10; $$=$10-$25; $$$=$25-$50; $$$$=$50+ Como’s 22812 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; 248-548-5005; comosferndale.com; $$: Oh, yeah! We always forget that Como’s serves food, including pizza pies. On a boozy day on their outdoor patio, they must come in handy once it’s time to sober up and hit the happy hunting ground that is Woodward between Eight and…
Colin Duerr’s freaky horrors
Viewer discretion advised, indeed. Client discretion advised as well. Colin Duerr says, essentially, that he’s "not for hire." Give him the chance to direct your band’s music video, but don’t be dismayed when the concepts come off edgy (or "excessive or crazy" or even "… creepy as hell"). Duerr knows true edginess is attained only…
Pot at the polls
The stakes are high for marijuana laws in next Tuesday’s elections. Three states are voting on some form of a tax-and-regulate law, and two states are voting on medical marijuana. In Michigan, where voters said yes to medical marijuana in 2008, there are proposals in five cities that would further mitigate legal penalties for marijuana…
MC5 with Bill Charlap
How do you pick which tunes to play? A jazz pianist shares his latest faves. Bill Charlap performs Wednesday-Saturday, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, 97 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe Farms, 313-882-5299. For musicians, repertoire is an individual thing. Some overhaul their show to follow each album. Some are human…
Deserving of a second term
Four years ago, when endorsing Barack Obama, we expressed some trepidation over his tendency to steer a course down the middle of the road. Despite relentless claims from the lunatic right that the president is some sort of "socialist," the real concern from progressives is Obama’s willingness to compromise principles that we hold dear. Take…
Fun Size
Fun Size | C Fun Size is an ’80s teen romp for the benefit of kids who weren’t even a glimmer in their parents’ eyes during the heady Reagan years, when teen comedies roamed the earth like giant ravenous beasts. In basic structure, this breezy little starter flick resembles "night on the town" John Hughes…
Canvassing The Hood
For more on the arts challenge and other Knight arts programs, visit knightarts.org. For the Knight Soul of the Community report, go to soulofthecommunity.org. Every time he visits Detroit, wherever he goes — from the smallest artists studio to the Detroit Institute of Arts — Dennis Scholl finds himself overwhelmed with creative energy. An avid…
The Other Dream Team
The Other Dream Team | B- There’s a thin line between necessary context and too much information. Though first-time director Marius Markevicius’ sports documentary The Other Dream Team is vividly inspirational, his unwieldy mix of history lesson, basketball drama and personal portrait tries to tell too many stories at once and struggles to find the…
Old spot, new take
Lena 226 S. Main St., Ann Arbor Phone: 734-994-2773 lena-annarbor.com Handicap accessible Lunch: $10-$18 Dinner: $30-$50 Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday, noon-10 p.m. Sunday. Whenever a new restaurant assumes a previous eatery’s space, it’s hard to avoid comparisons. And for longtime customers, first impressions might be made through the rose-tinted…
Leo Smith’s opus at this year’s Edgefest
The 16th Annual Edgefest (theme: Worldly Measures) takes place Oct. 31-Nov. 3 at Kerrytown Concert House and a few other Ann Arbor locations. Smith’s Ten Freedom Summers is performed Nov. 2-3 at Kerrytown, 415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor; 734-769-2999. Single performance tickets are $10-$15, day passes are $50 and full-fest passes are $135 (including…
Savage Love
Q:  So I was innocently browsing the personal ads on Craigslist and saw one from a dude who was looking to try "saline balls" for the first time. Having no idea what this was, I googled it. Even worse, I google-imaged it. I pride myself on being unshockable, but I was completely and utterly mortified…
The Sights Tour Diary Entry No. 41: Was So Much Younger Then…
After our Stonehenge trip in the early afternoon we made our way north to the island where Lemmy from Motorhead (and Hawkwind) was born. I forget the name of it, but it is in Wales. We checked into the room and since it was Friday night, we went out for a pint. Ben, Kyle, Skip,…
City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
Remember – if you send it, it will get reviewed. That’s the City Slang promise. It doesn’t matter what genre the music is – as long as it has a Metro Detroit connection, it’ll get in. Preferably, we’d like to concentrate on new releases but, while we’re getting warmed up here, feel free to send…
New Sounds from the New Class: Puppy Love and Organ Solos
Kickstand Band – Puppy Love  (Suburban Sprawl) You have and haven’t heard this before A Detroit-based pop-trio clearly charmed by the fuzzy feedback grooves of the 90’s-indie-class of strutting, sock-hop conjuring, late 50’s-rock. Revivalism’s a guilty pleasure when it’s got quality and these kids are cutting quality tracks for their debut full length (in, out and over-with in…
