Letters to the Editor
Your Metro Times, redesigned For nearly a quarter of a century, Metro Times has been Detroit’s weekly alternative for news, arts, culture, music, film, food and more. Hard-hitting news stories, in-depth profiles of local artists, musicians and cultural icons, and the area’s most comprehensive club and concert listings have made us indispensable to metro Detroiters.…
Uncovered: The War on Iraq
This is the documentary Michael Moore should have made, because it is journalism instead of ego and emotion, and allows the high-level government experts to do the talking. Unlike Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, it won’t leave you sobbing, but it’ll leave you mad as hell. And anyone who watches it and still considers Bush electable —…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your current relationship with romance might best be summed up with these words from the *Washington Post’s* Joel Achenbach: "Love begins as a sonnet, but eventually turns into a grocery list. Therefore you need someone with whom you can go to the supermarket." In other words, Aries, realism should rule your…
Back to the future
George Lucas’ first film is a masterpiece, a horrifying depiction of conformity run amok, where everyone is a number. It is more visually stunning and politically potent than anything that has come down the pike since the film’s original release in 1971. This is the Lucas movie that no one would dare celebrate with fast-food…
All Access: Ashlee Simpson vs. Ashford & Simpson
Thank God for VH1 shows like “All Access” and “The Fabulous Life” or we’d be stumbling ignorantly into the future, unable to match Britney and Xtina bling for bling. But while the nation distracts itself wondering whether George W. spends more money on his personal stylist than John Kerry, a different battle is raging in…
Head cheese
Dead Heroes: Here Kirk Anderson, shouter of Motor City’s Dead Heroes (think ruffian refrains and spermatozoa riffs in Lemmy’s kickboots) mouths five things crowding his head this week: 5. Thee NFL The Lions may be mediocre but I now have a reason to roll out of bed on Sundays. 4. Detroit’s Resurgence This sounds funny…
Looking behind the veil
A book of cartoons might not seem like the most expressive way to tell a complex tale about growing up during the rise of a strict Islamic regime. But in the hands of Marjane Satrapi, simple pen-and-ink sketches offer an improvement over words. In her graphic novels, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, and Persepolis…
Soup of the gods
We all have favorite foods — vegetables, poultry, beef — and favorite cuisines — Chinese, Indian, Italian. We also have favorite dishes. I love a rich lasagna Bolognese, one of the ultimate comfort foods, constructed of fresh pasta strips layered with meaty red sauce, béchamel (a white cream sauce), parmigiano reggiano and perhaps a few…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
Welcome to the inaugural edition of my new musical excess. It’s just like speed dating, only faster and louder! • Ray Charles — Genius Loves Company (Concord) :: And modesty hates egomaniacs. • Last of the Famous — The Music or the Misery (FourFiveSix) :: Make mine misery because these Clash City Poppers don’t rock…
Randolph Says, This is … What It Is
For more than 15 years Detroiter Paul Randolph has shared wax and/or stage with Carl Craig, Amp Fiddler, War, Ben Harper, George Clinton and others. With this debut bow the formidable Motor City bassist has established himself as a legitimate solo artist. And the most astonishing thing about this album is that it’s all basically…
Playing hide & peek
Q: Please help me. My husband gets off on the voyeur thing. It started out with him watching me and masturbating while I was unaware of his presence. Soon I was wearing daisy dukes at the door (about to come myself!) and writing out a check for the pizza delivery guy while my husband hid.…
Proactive
Let’s ride A transit forum featuring business leaders, transportation professionals, policymakers, scholars and transit riders will be held at Wayne State University’s McGregor Memorial Conference Center on Monday, Sept. 20. The purpose of the forum, according to Lawrence Hands of the nonprofit group Transportation Riders United (TRU) — a co-sponsor of the event — is…
Sasquatch
Nine out of ten pundits agree: This is one group that nailed it when it came time to select a band name. Featuring a pair of Detroit ex-pats (drummer Rick Ferrante, bassist Clayton Charles) plus guitarist/vocalist Keith Gibbs, the Los Angeles trio has been doing the stoner rock thang for about three years, finally arriving…
Nights of lights, delights
If Juan Atkins, the enigmatic force behind a revolution in electronic music now in its third decade, brought his best records to play in your basement would you show up? Would you surrender your body to a master DJ, the Obi-Wan (Ben) Kenobi of the underground dance scene since 1981, and free your mind to…
Art Bar
All clichés aside, art is truly the essence of life — and now, both artists and art connoisseurs have the chance to possibly save a few lives through their passion. The 9th annual Artworks for Life auction features the work of more than 300 (mostly local) artists, and all proceeds go to the Midwest AIDS…
Popular Among Van Users
Even though this spiffy disc spends a lot of time in the predictable modern rock mode of “let’s put the vocals through this tiny speaker for four bars, then blast everyone’s ears off for the next four,” it’s worth hearing that hoary trick again for the added bonus of Ron Hornbeck’s expert snarl. When he’s…
The Ryder stipulates
Almost 40 years have passed, and the average rock ’n’ roll fan still doesn’t hear the Detroit Wheels singing “see Mitch Ryder” instead of “CC Rider” on the second verse of “Jenny Take a Ride.” Similarly, your average fan let a lifetime go by without appreciating what heavy hits Ryder laid on them. And what…
Polka dots and a parade
Later this month, some 500 shoes painted by Detroit children will be displayed in Sydney, Australia. Trees will be wrapped in clothing and draped in found objects, and a whole lot of polka dots will be painted, well, everywhere. Sound familiar? Let’s start at the beginning. It’s a small world. A few years ago a…
Champs in town
If one could gauge wealth by the influence and love one spreads, then Brian Harmon, known as Champtown (or Champ for short), is one of the richest men in Detroit. You may recognize him from his appearances on VH1’s “Kid Rock: Driven” and the “Before They Were Stars” episode on rapper Eminem; but this Detroit…
The sizzle, not the steak
Inn Season Café — a rare provider of vegetarian cuisine in metro Detroit — has gotten better as it has gotten older. Fine, organic ingredients have always been its hallmark, but the health food nature of the cooking has been eclipsed; now you are eating vegetarian haute cuisine.
7″ pop shots
YOU HAVE to hand it to Boyarm’s Shawn Knight for covering his bases. The split 45 between his own band/collaboration Stationary Odyssey and local indie-violin-instro outfit El Boxeo comes with a CDR gratis. You never have to leave home without it. For their part, Stationary Odyssey’s “Spongelike Wonderland” splices together a gauzy shoegaze electro-dub replete…
Together We’re Heavy
If Morrissey could once evoke a suicidal tendency or two, then the white-robed, 25-deep clan Polyphonic Spree begs redemption. Together is pure “Sesame Street” for grown-up folk; the same high-spirited soft-core lollipop sound that 38-year-old singer/songwriter Tim DeLaughter was originally going for on 2002’s cult-y The Beginning Stages Of. Three years ago, critics knocked the…
Classroom cover-up
For more than a decade, students, faculty and administrators in Warren Consolidated Schools repeatedly raised concerns about the bizarre behavior of physical education instructor James Arnold Kearly. Complaints began surfacing at least as far back as 1984. He allegedly made lewd comments and gestures in front of students, peered down the shirts of middle-school girls…
Singles 1965-1967
ABKCO’s second release in its Rolling Stones Singles series (three boxes filled with CD-singles, replicating the Stones’ 1960s-era 45s and EPs in their original packaging and sequencing) lacks the odd rarities included on its predecessor, 1963-1965. Actually, virtually everything here has been available, at one pass, since 1989’s The Singles: The London Years box. But…
N&D Center
Friday • 17 The Valentinos MUSIC Rock ’n’ roll always looks a little prettier with a side of glam, and the boys of the Valentinos have perfected a juxtaposition of the two that is both tough and lovely. Their snarky punk rock/come-fuck-me ethos makes this Detroit fivesome a piquant combination of everything that makes Detroit…
Hot Fuss
Remember a few years ago when Drew Barrymore’s boyfriend was sonically schtupping Television and the Fall, and Interpol was dry humping Joy Division and the Jesus and Mary Chain and it all sounded current, fresh even? Well, the Killers do too, only they’ve forgotten a major nuance of the old art-is-theft routine: You gots to…
Film pilgrimage
Never mind the obvious benefits of visiting Toronto. With 328 films, 206 premieres, 148 foreign-language screenings and 60 countries represented, the Toronto International Film Festival offers just about everything that a cinema buff could ask for. It’s obvious why the event, now in its 29th season, has earned its status as the world’s most significant…
Evergreen
The story may smack of a John Hughes teenybopper drama, but writer/director Enid Zentelis’ feature debut, Evergreen, is a compelling, not just adolescent trifle. A dirt-poor teenage girl starts to date one of the filthy rich kids, and she hides the fact that she lives in a waterlogged shack. It may sound like Pretty in…
Wood for thought
The booze is top-shelf, the soul food is cheap and the poetry … well, the “poetry is therapy, y’all.” At least that’s what Mahogany Night’s host Marsha Carter says. The riverside bar is dimly lit as Carter, a bombshell with a gleaming smile, steps into the spotlight to welcome the crowd. She breaks into a…
Criminal
This American retelling of the Argentine film Nueve Reinas is a shade paler than the original, but the outstanding cast (Richard C. Reilly, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Diego Luna) light up this who’s-screwing-who con man puzzler. It’s loads of fun to watch the sparks fly when these three actors go toe-to-toe. While the film breaks no…
Bubble brigade
When we at News Hits heard that bubble-blowing protesters planned to descend on Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit this past weekend, we thought somebody might just be full of hot air. But sure enough, on Sunday, Sept. 12, a throng of about 30 upbeat folks gathered near the Pingree statue, joyfully sending sprays of…
Mean Creek
The bully in this film will be terribly familiar to anyone who has endured the “golden years” of junior high. When a group of friends not-so-innocently invite the bully to accompany them on a river excursion, it becomes apparent how an impulsive yet entirely believable revenge plot can run dangerously out of hand. This may…
Wads of wit
Pseudo-billionaire Phil T. Rich made a triumphant return to his alma mater last Friday when he provided a group of about 70 at the University of Michigan’s progressive Residential College some of the secrets of his wondrous achievements. Rich, aka Andrew Boyd, is a prime force behind Billionaires for Bush, a political group growing at…
Remember Me, My Love
In Italian writer/director Gabriele Muccino’s new film, four family members are each going through a crisis at the same time. Carlo and Giulia’s marriage has fizzled after 20 years, and this is further complicated when Carlo runs into his old flame. Meanwhile, their daughter wants to be a professional bimbo, and their son suffers from…
Emotional rescue
It’s a good thing Michigan isn’t located in the hurricane belt, because the abandoned house at 1650 Putnam St. in Detroit’s Woodbridge Historic District looks like it could be toppled by one swift wind. The structure was built in 1880 according to the city of Detroit’s property inquiry Web site, and neighbors say it has…
Piccadilly
This 1929 film by German director E.A. Dupont, was one of the last British silent movies. An old-fashioned melodrama gussied up with a large dose of late 1920s indulgence, it takes place in the fictitious Piccadilly Club, where a love triangle is playing out between the entertainers and the owners. The film winds along a…
