goods & services add
Best store for used records/Best vinyl Encore Recordings 417 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor 734-662-6776 For true music collectors nothing can really match the nearly sexual rush of chemicals to the brain triggered when walking through the disheveled labyrinth of Encore Records. Behind every corner there seems to be an undiscovered gem or an old chestnut…
Louis E. Jones
A transplanted New Yorker, with degrees in history from Morehouse and the University of Delaware and in African and Afro-American studies from Cornell, Louis E. Jones landed in Detroit a decade ago to work at the Walter Reuther Library at Wayne State University. And although he has held various titles at the Reuther, his constant…
nightlife add
Best new downtown scene Instant Vintage at Fifth Avenue 2100 Woodward (inside Comerica Park), Detroit 313-471-2555 There’s a mysterious charm to Sunday nights at Fifth Avenue downtown. It might be the duo residents, DJ HFusion and Brad Hales, and attendant collection of old soul, hip hop and groove-intensive sounds. Maybe it’s the monthly engagements by…
James Carter
He’s been a Big Apple sensation for more than a decade, but his hometown still figures into saxophonist James Carter’s major successes. Last year, he crossed the jazz-classical divide with panache, performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in “Concerto for Saxophones,” commissioned for the occasion from composer Roberto Sierra. He reprises the concerto with the…
John Conyers
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, epitomizes the spirit of the city — idealistic hell-raiser; fighter for Democratic and union values; tireless advocate for justice for minorities. Last year, Conyers was elected to his 19th term in the U.S. House of Representatives, winning 83 percent of the vote in Michigan’s 14th Congressional District, which covers swaths…
Dave Buick
The co-owner of Young Soul Rebels record store and label (which will release the vinyl LP version of Detroit band Slumber Party’s latest album, 3) can be found many nights holding court on the downtown bar scene. In fact, that’s one of his fave things about the city. “I’ll just say, ‘the bar’ — meaning…
Norwegian wood
Rock’s most valuable asset used to be its ability to scare people into thinking they were never gonna hear nice music again. Even shock rock turns nice with familiarity — glam, punk and metal being three prime examples of once-frightening genres that couldn’t inspire a piss shiver now. Hank von Helvete was determined not to…
Chuck Costa
As characters go, few are as full-blown as Chuck Costa. A native of Malta, he’s been in Detroit since 1951, with his paint store on Grand River housed in a sprawling building that dates to 1875. “Custer was fighting the Indians when this place was built,” he says with a grin. Described in a newspaper…
Devin Scillian
The terms “local TV newscaster” and “renaissance man” are rarely, if ever, found in the same sentence. But Devin Scillian, anchorman at WDIV-TV Channel 4, can be equally comfortable cast in either role. As a newsman he’s covered big stories that have taken him from Iraq to Haiti to Australia. His coverage of the Murrah…
Stacey Thomas
Stacey Thomas is a thief. A good one. What she steals is the ball. From opponents. Which is one of the reasons her team, the Detroit Shock, is one game away from the WNBA championship at press time — after spending the previous season dwelling in the league’s cellar. A product of Flint Southwestern Academy…
The Secret Lives of Dentists
It turns out that dentists are like everybody else with inner monologues, emotions, bouts of stomach flu and troubled marriages. Directed by Adam Rudolph with Campbell Scott and Hope Davis as the coupled dentists, and Dennis Leary as an inner voice.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Delilah is a left-wing pagan hippie who makes big bucks as an X-ray technician in a large hospital. She’s a pacifist, but serves as president of the local chapter of the American Legion. She has been engaged forever to a dreadlocked man 25 years her senior, though he looks her age…
Sept. 17-23, 2003
18-20 THU-SAT • MUSIC Frank Pahl — He could be Thelonious Folk, Bric-a-Brac Bacharach, Awry Cooder. When he gets his automatons going, he is our hometown Rube Goldberg of roots music. Frank Pahl is eccentrically shindigging for three nights to celebrate two new recordings. On The Mayor of the Tennessee River, on PelPel Recordings, he…
Love and Diane
Poverty, addiction, depression and a fractured family history don’t obscure the essence of this documentary: family members trying to find some balance between personal happiness and personal (and familial) responsibility.
Food
Best weekday alternative to Eastern Market on Saturday Detroit Wholesale Produce 2506 Market, Detroit 313-309-1000 Missed your Saturday shopping trip? You can still get a bit of that market-produce price vibe here through the week, which is to say avocados at $1 and a head of leaf lettuce for 75 cents when the going rates…
The worst president in history
A Canadian politician once told me that if you put a frog in a pot of water and slowly increase the temperature a degree at a time, Mr. Hoppy would be completely cooked before he realized anything was wrong. I have no idea whether that is actually true for amphibians. But it does seem to…
Matchstick Men
Ridley Scott directs a feel-good crime film where friendship, family and love manage to transcend the main characters’ occupational choices. As partners in con, Nicholas Cage and Sam Rockwell are Felix and Oscar of The Odd Couple gone bad. Throw in Alison Lohman as the elder con man’s teenage daughter, and watch Matchstick Men light…
The long & short of penis pills
Q: I’ve received several e-mails recently from various companies marketing penis-enlargement pills. These companies say these pills will increase your penis width and length considerably. What do you know about these products? —Lusting After Longer Dong A: I’ve always assumed that everyone who reads this publication also reads the Wall Street Journal, so it didn’t…
Best of Detroit 2003
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “character” as “one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual.” Also, as “the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group or nation.” And finally, as “a person marked by notable and conspicuous traits.” “The Best of Detroit 2003” is…
Love the Hard Way
In this profoundly fucked-up relationship, a clean-cut biology major from Columbia falls for a scalawag running a hooker con. But by giving us a scalawag to remember, Adrien Brody continues to prove that his legend-making turn in The Pianist was no fluke.
Elena Herrada
A story Elena Herrada tells about her grandfather reveals something about her as well. There’s a twinkle in her eye when she describes the family patriarch — who fought alongside Emiliano Zapata — showing up at her graduation from Wayne State University wearing “full revolutionary regalia,” including bandoliers strapped across his chest and shouting “viva…
best of add 2
Best thrift store Salvation Army 5600 E. Eight Mile Road, Detroit 313-891-6644 1627 W. Fort St., Detroit 313-771-2452 5850 W. Fort St., Detroit 313-841-2720 There is nothing in this world that feels better to a fashion- and clothes-whore than finding a brilliant outfit, replete with a vintage 1960s fur-lined coat, for less than $20. Throw…
The Holy Land
The characters include a jaded ex-journalist from the States, a radical Zionist, a shady Arab real estate broker and a hooker transplanted from Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, writer-director Eitan Gorlin’s yarn falls victim to a plot almost as distracted and ineffectual as the distracted rabbinical student who is its protagonist.
‘Papa Joe’ Zainea
“Papa Joe” Zainea has worked at the Majestic entertainment complex his entire life. His father bought the Garden Bowl 58 years ago, and Zainea began working there in his teens. In those many years, he’s watched Detroit flourish, burn out, then return to life again. He’s now preparing for retirement and will soon turn the…
Letters to the Editor
Romantic thoughts I just wanted to express my appreciation to Brian Smith for your cover story on the Romantics (“Test of time,” Metro Times, Sept. 10-16). I’ve been a fan/believer/friend of the band for many years, and it’s damn nice to see good things finally begin to happen for them again. —Kevin Gibson, kgramone@aol.com, Louisville,…
Domestic Violence 2
Refusing to edit out the slow parts, Frederick Wiseman is the rare documentary filmmaker who lets us see bureaucracies at work, and what happens to people in them. Continuing his examination of domestic violence (shown during the last DFT season), he follows his subjects into the courts.
Kelly Brown
The longtime 89X DJ is one of the most recognizable voices in Detroit. Unlike jocks who simply spin predetermined playlists, Brown exhibits a deep-seated dedication to Detroit bands — her “Homeboy” show features exclusively local talent, and remains one of the most popular radio shows on the dial. Best wings to eat: “Sweetwater Tavern. They’re…
Talkin’ the walk
“The fastest growing demographic of people with HIV are those between the ages of 13 and 24. It’s terrifying,” says Ken Rosen, vice president of Steppin’ Out and public relations chair for the AIDS Walk Detroit. Rosen, a cheery albeit incredibly busy man, joined Steppin’ Out (a nonprofit organization and sponsor of the AIDS Walk…
Readers’ picks
Metro Times readers submitted more than 1,000 ballots. Categories that received fewer than 10 votes have been eliminated, as were categories marked by blatant ballot stuffing attempts — cough casinos cough. We told you we could tell. Best museum: Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). Best museum to take kids: Detroit Science Center. Best art…
Slaw
Slaw (real name Kevin Stanislawski) is a venerable Detroit artist with a vibrant passion for the kitsch of decades past. He’s derisively known as “the Detroit Shag” by jealous assholes. Best art supply store to shoplift at: “Utrecht. Artists are broke — I don’t think I’ve ever met an artist who didn’t shoplift anything —…
Ashcroft’s matronly nemesis
News Hits has a new hero. Her name is Lynne Stewart, and, according to Attorney General John Ashcroft, she is a dangerous enemy of the state. Of course, in Ashcroft’s America, everyone who doesn’t automatically click heels and shout sieg heil upon command is an enemy. But Stewart is in a league all her own.…
The worst of the Best?
Whilst poring through the mass of ballots, we discovered some gems that made us do spit-takes with our coffee (and that really burns). Some are clearly tongue-in-cheek. Others are clearly head-in-rectum. Here’s a selection of your funniest, strangest, and, well, most moronic responses. Hey, you wrote ’em. Best museum: That one on Woodward in…
Jeremy Harvey
You might know him as artist extraordinaire, co-curator of the Dirty Show, CEO of sugartitdetroit.com, and host of Buddha Lounge’s Sunday karaoke night. Best she-males: “Goes out to the lovely gender-blenders that loiter nightly just half a block north of Numbers.” Best humanitarian cause: “Hands down, nobody gives more to the Motor City community than…
Unterrorist unwelcome
Nabil Almarabh may be deported to Syria despite claims that he will likely be tortured or killed if sent there. The fate of the 36-year-old Kuwaiti is now in the hands of Immigration Judge Robert Newberry, who presided over Almarabh’s deportation trial in Detroit last week, and who, by the way, regularly yawned, inspected his…
Civic pride
Best team turnaround Detroit Shock Last year the Shock had the worst record in the league. This year they compiled the league’s best record and make it to the finals of the WNBA playoffs. From worst to (perhaps) first, they’ve staged one of the most amazing comebacks for a franchise in sports history. These gals…
Mick Collins
In 1990, the Gories immortalized band-member Mick Collins’ cheap Woodbridge neighborhood digs in the song “Detroit Breakdown.” They sang of a mythical joint at 1515 Merrick where “Mickey’s havin’ a party” and you “don’t have to worry about the neighbors, cuz they all moved out.” A decade after he moved out, the hood is still…
Chick lit to chew on
The trouble began, as it always does, with a Helen. I’m referring, of course, to Helen Fielding, author of 1997’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? It was only 271 pages long, but the publishing boom it created grossed $71 million dollars in the last year alone, according to a recent report by…
Goods & services
Best cheapo cineplex Silver Cinemas Macomb Mall, Gratiot at Masonic, Roseville 810-205-0200 Sure, movies don’t show up here until they are about to hit video stores, but if you are loath to shell out $8 to see a first-run flick but still crave the movie-going experience, this place is just the ticket. With a matinee…
Stirling
With a sobriquet that dovetails with a perfected rock ’n’ roll aesthete, a sober effusiveness that rivals any drunken late-night raconteur and an obvious vulnerability to daylight, the glam-tinged Stirling (ne Alden Walker Gallup III) has been beguiling Detroit nights since 1970. And he’s never left. From Bookies to Max’s Kansas City, Stirling has been…
Chick lit to chew on
Next time you go out late at night, look around and you’ll see me. To the casual observer or passing acquaintance, I’m just another independent woman with a small and cheap but sharp apartment, an entertaining job that puts most of my education to work, and a decent — although not what anyone else would…
Nightlife
Best sports bar Rosie O’Grady’s 175 W. Troy, Ferndale 248-591-9163 There are always a few tons of football geniuses waiting — waiting for any mistake so they can interject in a drunken, Hawaiian-blue blur how they would have sent the running back to the flat. Or bench Joey Harrington for their highly recruited second cousin,…
David and Matt Lee
Identical twins David (front) and Matt Lee are often mistaken for each other, yet they’re polar opposites in many ways. They both “represent.” David is a criminal defense attorney; Matt is a publicist. They graduated from Southfield High in 1976. David went to the University of Detroit on a tennis scholarship. Matt jammed on his…
