Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): My mom bequeathed to me a set of impeccable social instincts, the fundamental rule of which is: Never go on any adventure where you’re the most interesting person. Blessed by my innate drive to remain entertained at all costs, I’ve developed a fondness for going to parties where I’m the least…
Shaken industry
I have a very vivid memory of Freddy Foxxx, who now calls himself Bumpy Knuckles on his independently released Industry Shakedown. In this memory, he emerges from near obscurity to knock out Grandmaster Melle Mel in a charity boxing match. He wasn’t even considered a presence by the crowd of hip-hop connoisseurs gathered at the…
Sci-fi, sequels and surprises
Watch for some fun and craziness in Hollywood’s unconventional autumnal lineup….
Skanky panky and Lemon pledge
Q: My fiance and I love each other very much, and we share a very healthy sex life. My problem is porn. I enjoy porn. I am not obsessed with it, but I find it arousing at times. Oddly, I get extremely jealous when my fiance looks at porn, which as far as I know,…
Doin’ it to you
Gene Defcon is the Pacific Northwest’s one-man party band with a musical mission to dance his (and your) mess around. He also appreciates, in no specific order: backstage boogies, ecstasy, hot-tub rubbin’ and fingerfuckin’. For this Texan transplant, nothing beats a good beat — musical or libidinal — so he’s barely able to contain his…
Letters to the Editor
The doctor is still in Thanks to Jack Lessenberry for doing a commentary on Jack Kevorkian "Let the prisoner be seen," MT, Aug 30-Sept. 5). What he said was true in all respects — except one. Jack Kevorkian has many people who think of him, and still support him. My being the “high priestess of…
The rear entrance
Q: I really would like to try anal sex with my girlfriend, but she is nervous about it. It is OK if my penis is back there, but she moves away if my hands get anywhere near her butt. I figure that my finger is smaller than my penis so that with lubrication I can…
Unsung hero
With his consummate pop craftsmanship, his ear for multitracked harmonies and his way with words, it’s a wonder that Australian expatriate Richard Davies isn’t hailed by the masses for the psych-pop songwriting genius that he is. Oh, I almost forgot: The computer isn’t interested in creativity; it’s interested in making money (to paraphrase John Hammond’s…
Origin story
The Jeromes go beyond this dimension to divine the mysteries of the Metro Times’ beginnings….
Small screen, fall screen
This season, TV freshens up, straightens up and takes chances….
Past due
Great rock ’n’ roll records are forever. Contrary to popular belief, or even to what your parents may have taught you, they are works of art. They’re timeless, transcendental reference points to be taken seriously. And just what ingredients define great rock ’n’ roll records? Let’s say that you’ve finally picked up that classic Dylan…
Listen locally
New releases promise plenty of autumnal tunes.
Pack it
Backpacks for the weak and/or lazy.
Personal appearances
Acoustic piano and electric bass aren’t exactly natural-born partners. Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, on the other hand, hardly approach their respective instruments with anything resembling conventionality. Bley incorporates a gamut of influences in her open-minded, idiosyncratic playing, and one-time upright ace Swallow plucks with a pick, playing guitaristically on a five-string bass rigged with…
Falling into feeling
Knits in the extreme take us to the brink of a season….
Bang bang gotcha
Gangster-style details for your car
Personal appearances
Acoustic piano and electric bass aren’t exactly natural-born partners. Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, on the other hand, hardly approach their respective instruments with anything resembling conventionality. Bley incorporates a gamut of influences in her open-minded, idiosyncratic playing, and one-time upright ace Swallow plucks with a pick, playing guitaristically on a five-string bass rigged with…
Get theatrical
Local stages house some innovative works this season….
Really open door
Beaded doorways = instant hippie pad
Blue-collar, white-collar
A bracing reminder of just why France — a model for the shiny, prosperous new Europe — is plagued by labor unrest. Director Laurent Cantet’s unassuming yet undeniably powerful film takes on the scope of a classic tragedy.
Scare me not
The horror film as we know it dances its last tango….
Iconic blues
Jazzheads decorate trendy t-shirts
The Decalogue
The monumental 10-hour film by the late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski is a collection of short stories, each related to one of the Ten Commandments while centering around a point of moral crisis – a towering work of humane pessimism.
Fall Guide 2000
Metro Times invites you to enjoy all that autumn has to offer.
Sales of optimism
Ordinary drinking glasses reveal your true nature.
The Color of Paradise
Much of this Iranian film (and Oscar nominee) by Majid Majidi is stiffly acted and awkwardly subtitled, but when the dramatic crunch comes Majidi’s gaze is steady and sure. Unfortunately, getting there is a gooey sentimental trip.
The Best of the Best Of
Metro Times readers vote for their distinct favorites, year after year….
Heating up the strip
Gallery hopping from one percolating site to another in Detroit’s cultural center….
Love & Sex
Director Valerie Breiman’s blow-by-blow coverage of two goofballs in love very nearly wears out its welcome. What keeps it from being cloying are two underrated performers, Famke Janssen and Jon Favreau, who play up their strengths from a position of weakness.
Is Frumin a Truman?
Matthew Frumin knows the experts think he has no chance to win his Democratic campaign for Congress. What is especially impressive is that he’s running hard anyway.
The curve on learning
Do something for yourself this fall: Go back to school….
Alice and Martin
André Téchiné’s intelligent movie stumbles over its own knowingness. It’s an example of a now-familiar French film genre, the elliptical chamber piece, but too much happens to too little effect and the melodramatic bits don’t mesh with the slice-of-life parts – with Juliette Binoche.
Jazz hangover
Ford Detroit Jazz Festival lineup leaves a bland aftertaste for loyal listeners.
Quick trips
Get away from it all in just a few hours….
Bar none
Taking the band out of the bar … & a rundown of places for you kids to go for some fine entertainment.
Spicy business
Rafal Spice in Eastern Market has almost two shelves full of mustard and about 120 types of hot sauce, plus coffees, teas and much more.
Purple prose and power brokers
Hipsters and hippies converge at the Dally in the Alley… A local author writes about the city’s sordid past… & the City Council fails to act on an on-again, off-again problem.
Issues come back to bite
Looking over the Metro Times’ early issues creates many impressions … one of which is that, for all the changes that we’ve gone through, the region’s issues remain the same. The cover of the first MT from 1980 reads “Last Hired, First Fired” for a story on layoffs of African-American and female officers from the…
Growing on you
Little Jimmy Scott is finally a big success….
Give
A possessed fiddle grind dancing with whispered threats, drenched vocals and hard rock guitar usher the dramatic chaos that is Give. You can definitely bang your head to the music, but you don’t want to fall too far into the spell. If you did you’d miss the compelling harmonies and folk accents.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): My mom bequeathed to me a set of impeccable social instincts, the fundamental rule of which is: Never go on any adventure where you’re the most interesting person. Blessed by my innate drive to remain entertained at all costs, I’ve developed a fondness for going to parties where I’m the least…
Don’t fence him in
I’ve been hearing raves about this guy for the longest, and I’m ashamed to say right out here in the open that I never heard much of Alvin Youngblood Hart’s stuff until now. Or if I did, I wasn’t paying anywhere near the sort of attention that I should have been. Having just finished listening…
