Cover Story
Behind the blinders
The world was a different place in 1976 when Carl Jensen, a professor of communications at Sonoma State University, founded Project Censored to highlight important national news stories that were underreported or outright ignored by the mainstream press. Back then, there were few good alternatives to television networks or major newspapers and magazines, and stories…
Blight without light: Neon signs gone dark
Photographer-sociologist-documentarian Camilo José Vergara has been no stranger to Detroit in his past surveys of the urban landscape. In photo essays at Slate, where he regularly appears, he’s made Detroit part of his multi-city studies of GM cars (“alive, dead and reborn”), church signs, repurposed banks (now porn emporiums, for instance), day-care centers, and power…
Outrageous Cherry Reunites a ’90s Lineup for A One-Off Gig; Leader Matthew Smith Jams With Wilco
It’s true. The absolutely pop-right Outrageous Cherry will play a gig this Friday at Hamtramck’s Popps Packing that’ll see the band’s lineup from its 1999 LP Out There in the Dark regroup and play the album in its entirety. Not a bad idea, considering about anyone with a recorded musical history is doing same with…
Tough Guy Overcomes Moronic Muggers
Downriver’s News-Herald reported last week that two 20-year-olds, Jeffrey McMath of Wyandotte and Justin Rissane of Lincoln Park attempted to rob Kevin Remisoski outside of a Wyndotte Circle K. The rangy clodpolls even had a rifle. But it’s obvious they didn’t know who they were fuckin’ with. Remisoski took action. He disarmed the cub thugs,…
CMJ’s full music, film, panel schedule announced.
Between the speedy indie, earnest hip-hop and so much genre twisting, there are lots of Detroit-area bands/artists gigging the 2010 CMJ music and film fest in New York City next week (Tuesday 10-19 through 10-23), including but not limited to Silverghost, Chris Bathgate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Power and Matthew Dear. Here’s the interactive live…
Mitten Gas Prices Jump. One Guy Gets Pissed.
Welcome to the working week: This morning at the gas station on the corner of Livernois and 7 Mile, this digit overheard a ruddy-cheeked guy with a doughy midriff shouting at the exasperated cash-register gent behind the bullet-proof glass that if gas prices get any higher he was going to bring in his “Marlin Level-Action…
Funny out-takes from Eminem’s ’60 Minutes’ interview. Watch here!
Tonight’s 60 Minutes episode reveals a surprisingly humanized Eminem alongside CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Here’s behind-the-scenes footage that show “unpredictable moments that happened” on the Detroit shoot. Particularly interesting are the bits of Em flubbing the the 60 Minutes promo, and retakes of scenes around Detroit, including in Em’s personal Burger King and old hood. Cooper…
RIP ‘King of Rock & Soul’ Solomon Burke
Philly-born soul-shouter Solomon Burke called it quts early this morning at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, according to various reports, including this one from the BBC. The one-tiime gospel radio-show host, who was a Philidelphia preacher just prior to his secular soul career, died on a flight from L.A., en route to a sold-out show at a…
Sneak peak of the N’Namdi Center
The new N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art has its grand opening Saturday (evening into Sunday morning) and Sunday afternoon. But we tagged along recently as George N’Namdi gave a pre-opening walk through of what promises to be a major addition to Detroit’s cultural and social landscape. What has in the past been an auto repair…
Ed Norton on Detroit: “It’s so feral.”
Moviepone just published an interview with Ed “eternally anonymous” Norton about his cornrow-headed roll as arsonist Gerald “Stone” Creeson in the new John J. Curran–helmed flick Stone, which was shot last year in and around Detroit, and at the old Jackson prison. In the brief Q&A, the always articulate Norton — who spent time in…
UPDATED A Neighbor’s Behavior of Assholian Proportion Part 2246
If we launched an asshole-of-the-week blog, this post would likely kick it off: Seven-year-old Trenton resident Kathleen Edward is suffering from Huntington’s Disease, the same brain disorder that killed her 24-year-old mother. The girl is dying and the scene is as horrible as anything you could nightmare up. Tragic. There are also quarreling family neighbors,…
Guy killed by hearse driven by friend.
Our heart goes out to this guy, to be sure. It went like this: Over in Macomb Township early yesterday, 22-year-old Samuel York had his hearse-driving pal drop him off at a party. Moments later, York darted into the path of the same 1999 Chevrolet hearse as it drove off along 21 Mile, in front…
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Update: Stereogum, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Taco Bell & CMJ!
Hello, Trav here. So, I’m working on something sort of epic. It’s about this band, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., the Detroit-based duo who, earlier this summer, took independent radio and the blogosphere by storm. My “on the road with the band Almost Famous-style” story will arrive — in tactile, ink-laden pages — on stands sometime in the coming weeks.…
Willy Wilson’s Motor City’s Burning Playlist
Motorcity’s Burning (CJAM 99.1 FM) Playlist 10-6-10 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. How nice to see the Mutants get some love, L-U-V. Tune in each Wednesday evening. Mick Bassett & The Martha’s – Newspaper Eyelids – Demo – www.mickbassett.bandcamp.com* The Hard Lessons – Carey Says (Alright) – Listen Up EP – Self Released Friendly Foes…
Get Yer Pom-Poms Out: Demi Moore Likes to Walk Her Dog Near Local Water!
Let’s all get on bended knee for the movie stars making movies in the Mitten and getting cribs in our lovely city (er, metro area). … As if Demi Moore would ever live in the 313. Hugh Jackman? Please. And if Michigan wasn’t forking over a portion of star expenses, they’d flock to some other…
‘Gimme Your Caddy, Lady,’ Chirp Two Little Boys
Yesterday afternoon two kiddies in black hoodies carjacked a woman and her daughter at Eastwood and Beaconsfield in Harper Woods. They demanded the keys to her sweet ride, a 2008 Cadillac Escalade, got in and sped off. The woman, unfortunately, did not rock any May Kom moves — it seems one brat had a piece…
New Jack Swing Gets a Michigan Hip-Hop Remix
If you’re a fan of New Jack Swing, the oft-loved late ’80s-through-mid-’90 sub genre of R&B that gave us artists like New Edition, Wreckx-n-Effects, Teddy Riley, Keith Sweat and others, but you also happen to be a fan of new school hip hop, then you’ll probably love the New Jack Kings. They’re a new endeavor…
Danny Brown ‘Greatest Rapper Ever’ Video
We here at the MT are huge fans of Danny Brown’s perpetual hustle and toothy grin. And rarely does a week and a half go by when he’s not releasing something new. His latest — a fookin’ hoodtastic music vid for the song “Greatest Rapper Ever” off of his much beloved mixtape, The Hybrid. What…
Solutions for Detroit (to start the day)
Anytime a thousand Detroiters get in a room, there’s the hope for good energy. This morning, it was great. Gathering for the annual “Solutions At Sunrise” fundraising breakfast for Southwest Solutions at the Masonic Temple, Mayor Dave Bing¸Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, State Rep. Rashida Talib (D-Detroit) and about 997 students, administrators from nonprofit groups,…
Artist Tom Thewes Gets “Rigid”
Paintings by Detroiter Tom Thewes nod at cubo-futurists and German Expressionists of the early 20th century yet occasionally point to the modern day, as in the ballooning boom box he was commissioned to create for the original Detroit Electronic Music Festival. And this show, Rigid, is a collection of past and present work, representing Thewes’…
Highland Park cops lose jobs because someone can’t count. Enter radio vigilantism.
Believe it. Six unfortunates — five patrol cops and one supervisor — will see their jobs vanish by week’s end in Highland Park because of, get this, an accounting error, so report our pals over at WXYZ. Remember those killer crack corners we were just yakkin’ about? So what’s the fix? Well, HP Mayor Hubert…
No middle class in Detroit? New numbers, smaller still
A bit ago we got into a discussion of the existence and size of Detroit’s middle and upper class. That came after a comment by writer-ad man, unofficial Detroit ambassador Toby Barlow in a Q&A (“Detroit has no real middle class of any substantial size and certainly has no real upper class”) and a rejoinder…
Majority Rules
A few years ago, a mid-Michigan group of fly fishermen won their immediate court fight to prevent an energy company’s wastewater from being piped across state land and into the headwaters of their treasured Au Sable River. An Otsego County judge stopped the pipeline, which would have pumped more than a million gallons a day…
Poletown saints
It’s hard to hear the priest. His voice has softened with age, he’s got a thick Polish accent and his microphone keeps cutting in and out. Still, Father Edward Kaszak pushes forward with the Mass, a little in fluent Polish, some in halting English, giving the most unique liturgy in town. There are only 12…
Hatchet II
The “plot” picks up right where the 2006 original left off, with Marybeth (Danielle Harris) as the lone survivor of a massacred boatload of bayou tourists, who ran afoul of a hulking, deformed madman named Victor Crowley. Our intrepid gal barely manages to escape dismemberment, hightailing it back to New Orleans, where, despite her abundant…
Let Me In
Let Me In GRADE: B+ Tomas Alfredson’s haunting and poignant Let the Right One In was one of the best releases of 2008. An eerie mixture of coming-of-age tale and vampire story,it explored the depths of adolescent alienation and suggested that the things that make us strong and the dark urges we hide from the…
Aaron-Carl, in memoriam
Aaron-Carl Ragland, who died with shocking suddenness last week from complications of lymphoma, shaped his musical career by challenging all boundaries and taking on enemies and friends with equal fury. He was diagnosed with the disease only days before he died. He was preparing for a European tour when he became ill last month. Aaron-Carl…
Jack Goes Boating
This overly talky, claustrophobically indulgent display of actor’s workshop masturbation is made watchable because most actors here are incredibly easy to watch. The plot is indie-drama boilerplate; a sad, cut-off fortysomething loser learns to appreciate the world again through the love of an equally quirky woman. Hoffman plays the title schmuck, a painfully shy New…
TV rise and fall
What was once Felicity is now just Foolish. Keri Russell, the wispy, curly-topped beauty largely absent from your TV screens since starring as idealistic New York college student Felicity Porter in the Golden Globe-winning ’90s series Felicity — one of the few legitimate hits on the old WB Network — has resurfaced in the most…
What can Brown do for you?
When many hip-hop listeners think of Nicki Minaj as the only notable female rapper, it’s clear they’ve not heard D-Town spitters Miz Korona and Invincible. If the latter two artists are becoming huge, there’s a third female Detroit rapper, Boog Brown, deserving mass attention. Her freshly released debut album, Brown Study , is proof. Created…
Shaming our state
When the wimps running the British government sold out Czechoslovakia to Hitler, Winston Churchill, not yet in power, reportedly growled that they had been faced with a choice between war and shame. "They’ve chosen shame. They’ll get war later." Last week, the Michigan Legislature did much the same thing in passing a budget. They faced…
Let Me In
Set in suburban New Mexico in the early 1980s, we meet the fragile and sullen-eyed Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a 12-year-old loner who’s bullied at school and whose newly single mom is a religious nut. One cold, snowy night in the courtyard outside his apartment he meets Abby (Kick-Ass’ Chloe Grace Moretz), a barefooted neighbor who…
Bad (ass) attitude
Taking the stage at PJ’s Lager House for his band’s sound check, Bad Party frontman Nate Savino fixes the small, alcohol-warmed crowd a sly sneer. "Anyone got some cocaine?" His bandmate and bassist Mike Kearns smirks. The crowd begins to get playfully antagonistic, some yelling silly requests to which Savino affectionately replies, "Fuck off." The…
Shaming our state
When the wimps running the British government sold out Czechoslovakia to Hitler, Winston Churchill, not yet in power, reportedly growled that they had been faced with a choice between war and shame. "They’ve chosen shame. They’ll get war later." Last week, the Michigan Legislature did much the same thing in passing a budget. They faced…
Food Stuff
Get crafty — D’Amato’s and its in-house cocktail bar, Goodnite Gracie, have put together a Craft Brew Dinner that should send beer-heads into a swoon: They’ll serve five courses of food paired with specific beers, including Leffe Blonde Belgian Ale, Siren Amber Ale from North Peak Brewery in Traverse City, High Seas I.P.A. from Michigan…
Feeding frenzy
Based on questionable accounts in Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires, and told mostly in flashback, breathlessly sprints from one exhilarating exchange to another as we witness the freshly dumped Zuckerberg get drunk, disparage his ex in an online journal, then create a website that compares the relative attractiveness of female Harvard students. The stunt crashes…
Hatchet II
Hatchet II GRADE: B The never-ending slasher genre is as seemingly critic-proof as the shambling, indestructible killers who populate it are resistant to knives, guns and dwindling market share. Still, there’s a profit margin to be squeezed somewhere, and remaining gore fans are a dedicated and appreciate bunch. So comes the Hatchet franchise, designed for…
Getting cuckold feet
Q:My husband has a cuckold fetish, which we have indulged through two drunken threesomes with two of his best friends. The first time, he really had to talk me into it. The second time, he steered me in that direction and I took the wheel. I now have had sex alone with Friend 2 a…
Letters to the Editor
Conventional thoughts Re: "Making real change" (Sept. 29), in calling for a "yes" vote on the constitutional convention ballot question, Proposal 1, Jack Lessenberry made the same mistake as other con-con proponents: He failed to outline the state government overhaul that a con-con would be needed to produce. This vagueness should make us wonder whether…
Land of cedars
Amani’s is a halal neighborhood place, across from Dearborn City Hall, that serves all the tried-and-true dishes of Lebanese cuisine that Westerners tend to order — hummous, kebabs, tawook, shawarma — plus some that deserve to be more widely known. A party of four seeking meat would do well to order the Jumbo Platter, advertised…
Thickening Agents
Yup, it’s that time of year. We’re moving away from the lighter stews, consommés and gazpachos of summer and into the thicker, heartier chowders, bisques, gumbos and chilis of the colder months. When it comes to soups, the addition of starchy ingredients and an extra hour of simmering is sometimes all it takes to thicken…
Pot, pols and polls
Just because the Detroit Election Commission chose not to put the question of legalizing marijuana on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn’t mean there’s no cannabis drama in this election. At least for Michigan medical marijuana activists, the contest for attorney general is crucial. "We’re concerned about the potential election of Bill Schuette as attorney general,"…
Majority rules
A few years ago, a mid-Michigan group of fly fishermen won their immediate court fight to prevent an energy company’s wastewater from being piped across state land and into the headwaters of their treasured Au Sable River. An Otsego County judge stopped the pipeline, which would have pumped more than a million gallons a day…
Spun
Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz Asthmatic Kitty As the second song on Sufjan Stevens’ The Age of Adz closes, you might be cursing his name for establishing a sound you love and completely abandoning it. Question Stevens, play the album again, but by no means try to ignore how cool the new record…
Ghettophysics: Will the Real Pimps and Hoes Please Stand Up?
From the makers of the profoundly strange metaphysical polemic What the Bleep Do We Know? comes this pseudo-doc, perhaps more focused and thematically clear than its rambling predecessor, but equally bizarre. Where else in the history of cinema will you see Adolf Hitler’s fiery, hate-fueled invective translated into rap lyric hood-speak, and the infamous Nazi…
The Social Network
The Social Network Directed by David Fincher GRADE: B+ "Listen. You’re going to be successful and rich, but you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a geek. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re…
Behind the Burly Q
Behind the Burly Q GRADE: A- Burlesque is about the tease, but this fast-moving yet bittersweet documentary about the golden age of peek-a-boo gets right down to the business of uncovering the trade’s dirty secrets. The quaintly bawdy art form, which thrived from the 1920s to the mid-’60s, was a traveling hybrid entertainment revue, which…
What can Brown do for you?
When many hip-hop listeners think of Nicki Minaj as the only notable female rapper, it’s clear they’ve not heard D-Town spitters Miz Korona and Invincible. If the latter two artists are becoming huge, there’s a third female Detroit rapper, Boog Brown, deserving mass attention. Her freshly released debut album, Brown Study, is proof. Created with…
Motor City Five
NYC buskers-gone-haywire who’ve created a multi-album career by staying drunk on banjos, be-bop, Mills Brothers and punk spirit, and have enough chutzpah to raise the ghost of Harry Von Tilzer! Dylan and Willie love ’em; they’re the most hell-raising act you’ll see all year. Here Andy Bean gives up their Worst Shows Ever: 5. Jackrabbits —…
Motor City Five
NYC buskers -gone-haywire who’ve created a multi-album career by staying drunk on banjos, be-bop, Mills Brothers and punk spirit, and have enough chutzpah to raise the ghost of Harry Von Tilzer! Dylan and Willie love ’em; they’re the most hell-raising act you’ll see all year. Here Andy Bean gives up their Worst Shows Ever: 5.…
Jack Goes Boating
Jack Goes Boating GRADE: B+ Sports experts often point out that the greatest players (think Michael Jordan) usually don’t make for good coaches, because their natural talent made everything so easy for them that it was hard to teach to others. A similar problem’s at work here in Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s indulgent but well-meaning directorial…
Pot, pols and polls
Just because the Detroit Election Commission chose not to put the question of legalizing marijuana on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn’t mean there’s no cannabis drama in this election. At least for Michigan medical marijuana activists, the contest for attorney general is crucial. "We’re concerned about the potential election of Bill Schuette as attorney general,"…
Poletown saints
It’s hard to hear the priest. His voice has softened with age, he’s got a thick Polish accent and his microphone keeps cutting in and out. Still, Father Edward Kaszak pushes forward with the Mass, a little in fluent Polish, some in halting English, giving the most unique liturgy in town. There are only 12…
Wall posts
This Friday, the release the latest film from David Fincher (Fight Club), The Social Network — "the Facebook movie" — an adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s 2009 nonfiction novel The Accidental Billionaires, marks a cinematic phenomenon of sorts. Face it, Facebook’s history is as fascinating as it is young. " On Saturday, a very different multimedia take…
Ghettophysics: Will the Real Pimps and Hoes Please Stand Up?
Ghettophysics: Will the Real Pimps and Hoes Please Stand Up? GRADE: C From the makers of the profoundly strange metaphysical polemic What the Bleep Do We Know? comes this pseudo-doc, perhaps more focused and thematically clear than its rambling predecessor, but equally bizarre. Where else in the history of cinema will you see Adolf Hitler’s…
Night and Day
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY OCTOBER 6-9 Hay Fever SOCIAL SNAFUS Noel Coward’s 1925 comedy of manners takes place on the country estate of the Bohemian Bliss family. At center stage is Judith Bliss, the mother and retired actress who takes every opportunity to live life as theatrically as possible. She, her novelist husband and two grown children, each…
Spun
Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz Asthmatic Kitty As the second song on Sufjan Stevens’ The Age of Adz closes, you might be cursing his name for establishing a sound you love and completely abandoning it. Question Stevens, play the album again, but by no means try to ignore how cool the new record is.…
Bad (ass) attitude
Taking the stage at PJ’s Lager House for his band’s sound check, Bad Party frontman Nate Savino fixes the small, alcohol-warmed crowd a sly sneer. "Anyone got some cocaine?" His bandmate and bassist Mike Kearns smirks. The crowd begins to get playfully antagonistic, some yelling silly requests to which Savino affectionately replies, "Fuck off." The…
Aaron-Carl, in memoriam
Aaron-Carl Ragland, who died with shocking suddenness last week from complications of lymphoma, shaped his musical career by challenging all boundaries and taking on enemies and friends with equal fury. He was diagnosed with the disease only days before he died. He was preparing for a European tour when he became ill last month. Aaron-Carl…
Thickening agents
Yup, it’s that time of year. We’re moving away from the lighter stews, consommés and gazpachos of summer and into the thicker, heartier chowders, bisques, gumbos and chilis of the colder months. When it comes to soups, the addition of starchy ingredients and an extra hour of simmering is sometimes all it takes to thicken…
Metro Retro
18 years ago in Metro Times : Ron Williams writes "A City of Dreams: Ideas to transform the city," outlining 20 ideas that could improve Detroit economically, culturally and politically. His ideas include creating neighborhood food cooperatives, fostering entrepreneurial development, and restoring Detroit’s riverfront to complement downtown’s entertainment district. Though Williams’ specific ideas — such…
Behind the blinders
The world was a different place in 1976 when Carl Jensen, a professor of communications at Sonoma State University, founded Project Censored to highlight important national news stories that were underreported or outright ignored by the mainstream press. Back then, there were few good alternatives to television networks or major newspapers and magazines, and stories…
Land of cedars
Amani’s 13823 Michigan Ave. Dearborn 313-584-1890 Amani’s is a halal neighborhood place, across from Dearborn City Hall, that serves all the tried-and-true dishes of Lebanese cuisine that Westerners tend to order — hummous, kebabs, tawook, shawarma — plus some that deserve to be more widely known. In particular, the chef does a great job with…
Metro Retro
18 years ago in Metro Times: Ron Williams writes "A City of Dreams: Ideas to transform the city," outlining 20 ideas that could improve Detroit economically, culturally and politically. His ideas include creating neighborhood food cooperatives, fostering entrepreneurial development, and restoring Detroit’s riverfront to complement downtown’s entertainment district. Though Williams’ specific ideas — such as…
Food Stuff
Get crafty — D’Amato’s and its in-house cocktail bar, Goodnite Gracie, have put together a Craft Brew Dinner that should send beer-heads into a swoon: They’ll serve five courses of food paired with specific beers, including Leffe Blonde Belgian Ale, Siren Amber Ale from North Peak Brewery in Traverse City, High Seas I.P.A. from Michigan…
Never Let Me Go
Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s respected 2005 novel, the film follows the melancholy lives of some children raised outside the view of polite society, carefully tended by the state, and prepared from birth for a singularly unpleasant destiny. What they don’t know, and we don’t find out until the end of the first act (spoiler alert!),…
Letters to the Editor
Conventional thoughts Re: " Making real change" (Sept. 29), in calling for a "yes" vote on the constitutional convention ballot question, Proposal 1, Jack Lessenberry made the same mistake as other con-con proponents: He failed to outline the state government overhaul that a con-con would be needed to produce. This vagueness should make us wonder…
Behind the Burly Q
Burlesque is about the tease, but this fast-moving yet bittersweet documentary about the golden age of peek-a-boo gets right down to the business of uncovering the trade’s dirty secrets. The quaintly bawdy art form, which thrived from the 1920s to the mid-’60s, was a traveling hybrid entertainment revue, which one talking head calls vaudeville “with…
Whaaaat? Detroit escapes a national worst-of list?
Not even the killer crack corners over in Highland Park? Nope. The mugger movements and nightly rat-a-tats in the Van Dyke and Six Mile area? ‘Friad not. What about that no-man’s land on Hamilton south of Puritan? Not even, dude. No, Neighborhoodscout.com and WalletPop report that according to FBI info culled from all 17,000 local…
