Time’s warp — and the legacy of Coleman Young
We were wondering what was going to come of Time Inc.’s much-touted Assignment Detroit. That’s the project that includes buying a house in West Village, near the better-known Indian Village, to house a retinue of correspondents, some for short stints, others for the long haul. Encompassing representatives of Time, Fortune, Money, Essence and Sports Illustrated,…
Food Stuff
Wine for lunch — Not only is lunch being served again at Ann Arbor’s Vinology, the "Eight for $8" promotion is on, offering eight such great lunch specials as a barbecue pork sandwich, mahi fish tacos, a shrimp po-boy and the "Vino Burger," to name a few. It happens Monday through Friday at 110 S.…
As ‘daffy as a motherfuckin’ duck’
Music critic, convict, manifesto writer, journalist, music fest impresario, pot propagandist, radio host, editor, municipal employee, rock ‘n’ roll manager, poet, bandleader — John Sinclair’s traveled a long way from his 21st year (1962), when, having moved to Detroit from Flint, he ensconced himself in the basement (Room B2) of the Forest Arms apartments (Second…
Fulgurites, asparagus and zaniness
Just open a daily newspaper in any major American city today and you’ll find it’s not just the quality, length and subject matter of the stories inside that’s changed. Where did the creativity go? What about the screwball columnists and cartoonists? And what would become of an artist like Nolan Ross, a prolific and gifted…
Places
Music criticism has been pushed to the brink of ridiculousness. Too many new albums to judge; too many shows to review; too many priggish distinctions to be made between band A and band B for language to bear. Thus, we must overreach to make the reviews we write appear different from the one we wrote…
Letters to the Editor
Baseball errors I’m afraid Jack Lessenberry combined the apocryphal with the factual in his description of Rube Waddell ("The great deceivers," Sept. 23). Rube’s affinity for fighting fires is well-documented. However, I have not found one documented case in which he left a game in progress to chase a fire wagon. On the assertion that…
Santiago dreaming
Raúl (a riveting Alfredo Castro) is a pallid, brooding, 52-year-old slacker; living in a squalid Santiago cantina, waiting for his opportunity to compete on an American Idol-type TV show. Each week the local program selects a top celebrity impersonator and Raúl is determined to become Chile’s own Tony Manero (John Travolta’s character in Saturday Night…
Holocaust by bullets
For more than 50 years, Esther Lupyan kept to herself memories of the "monsters." Monsters that imprisoned her father. Monsters that forced her and her mother to live in a ghetto, behind barbed wire, in constant fear of death. Monsters that killed her 12-year-old brother. Monsters that marched her neighbors out of town, shot them…
Murder and cover-ups
For years now, News Hits would have bet big that Kwame Kilpatrick had no hand in the 2003 murder of exotic dancer Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, who was rumored to have performed at the infamous Manoogian Mansion party that, officially, anyway, never actually happened. The same non-party that then-Detroit First Lady Carlita Kilpatrick didn’t show up…
Crimes and punishments
Craig Gonser can’t be charged in a 1994 sexual assault he’s suspected of, but authorities are proceeding with a trial to declare him a sexually delinquent person in the wake of two other convictions last week. If Gonser is found guilty, Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith says he’ll ask the judge "to take him off…
The cuddly bunch
Ask 50 Detroit rock musicians to name their favorite local band and Javelins will most likely come up time and again. Exactly why isn’t always clear. "We do get a lot of people who are in other bands that become fans of our band," vocalist-drummer Matt Rickle says. "I almost prefer that [to mainstream success]…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid
Night and Day
THURSDAY OCTOBER 1 Connecting Communities LOCAL GLOBALIZATION Connecting Communities explores the topic of immigration through stories told by immigrants from Detroit, Hamtramck and Dearborn. Using the photos and personal objects of local residents, the exhibit puts a human face on this often-contentious topic. The opening also coincides with the return of the Arab American National…
Another one bites the dust
Another downtown skyscraper from Detroit’s golden years is being torn down, the victim of a city unwilling to maintain it and developers unwilling to invest in it. Demolition prep work recently began at the Lafayette Building, at Michigan Avenue and Shelby, an example of the city’s ornate, pre-Depression architecture. The wrecking ball comes next. "It’s…
The jazz age
Gretchen Parlato In a Dream Obliqsound There’s been plenty of buzz preceding this disc. Parlato won the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and self-released a wonderful, self-titled debut disc. Now her sophomore effort on a "real" label delivers on the expectations. There’s a lightness, an airiness, to her voice that’s alluring. Some singers…
Fabulous fare
Angel’s Cafe 214 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-541-0888; $: Part art gallery, part restaurant, Angel’s Cafe has a prime location in downtown Ferndale and the feel of an intimate European café. The chef will happily accommodate vegetarians’ (and vegans’) special needs. They’re only open for dinner (starting at 5 p.m.) Tuesday through Saturday, with…
Backwash
The Gears Rockin’ at Ground Zero Hepcat The D.I.s Rare Cuts Hepcat A proper Hollywood rock ‘n’ roll band always sounded something like the corner of Western and Hollywood Boulevard (and southward from there); grinding dirt and grease and beat-to-shit Datsuns with busted mufflers, trannie hookers, Mexican saints and old-man bars. Head north a few…
Capital offenses
Once again Michael Moore is on the outside looking in. Flint’s prodigal son, and the world’s most famous and controversial documentarian, is preparing to host an afternoon of private screenings and Q&A sessions for his latest film Capitalism: A Love Story, at the Riverfront 4 Theaters in the Renaisssance Center, owned by General Motors, the…
Border skirmish
Food doesn’t have to be authentic to be tasty, but some may find Maria’s not quite authentic enough for their pedigreed palates. Just in case, you may want to ask the kitchen to hold the cheese, which does tend to overwhelm many of the dishes. Better than most choices are the jalapeños stuffed with lime…
Industrial tools
Living a long life in the spectral borderlands has its rewards. Since you’re basically invisible to most of the rest of the world, you’re free to test your inspirations and then transform them into art, music or political energy — and do it any way you prefer. Invent! Reinvent! Take risks. Fail? Doesn’t matter. Transcend!…
Bright Star
John Keats was arguably the greatest poet of the 19th century romantic movement, but he wasn’t exactly lucky in love. A swooning and romantic period weeper where nary a bodice is ripped, Bright Star gushes with submerged passions and longing. Ben Whishaw plays Keats, a wispy deep thinker with bedroom eyes and poetry in his…
Complications ensue
Q: About a month ago, I got drunk and slept with my friend’s girlfriend. (He’s not my best friend, more of a second-tier friend.) We both swore never to tell anyone and left it at that. Only problem is, we’ve been hanging out a lot lately and sending private messages to each other multiple times…
Surrogates
Old Willis is Tom Greer, a cynical FBI agent in an alternate modern world where much of the population are homebound shut-ins plugged into perfect robotic duplicates who wander around doing their dirty work. Alongside his fashion-model-prim partner robo (Radha Mitchell), Willis investigates a twisty conspiracy involving a flashlight-like weapon capable of shorting out the…
Whip it good
By Hollywood standards, Whip It is practically an independent film. Working with an $11 million budget, a large cast and the need for kinetic roller derby sequences, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut was no small endeavor. What makes it work? Well, the obvious chemistry between the cast members, which include red-hot Ellen Paige, Marcia Gay Harden,…
Flame out
Depressed but promiscuous restaurant manager Sylvia (Charlize Theron) mopes in blue-hued Oregon, self-injuring and banging her way through the week. Cut to the brilliant New Mexico plains, where philandering Gina (Kim Basinger) and Nick (Joaquim de Almeida) hook up for sex in a trailer halfway between their two homes. They perish in a horrific fire,…
Merrily down the drain
At the moment I am writing this column, the collection of largely pathetic political creatures known as the Michigan Legislature is fighting over how to damage our futures. Basically, one of two things seems certain to happen. They may pass a budget that is guaranteed to weaken the quality of education in this state, make…
The September Issue
The September Issue is about hideous people obsessed with glamour, and the occasionally ugly business of keeping the world awash in beauty. As the preeminent guardian of the fashion industry’s bible Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour quite literally controls the fate of thousands of careers and millions of dollars with a withering glance, and she bears…
MAJESTIC CANCELS SHOW BY JAMAICAN “HOMOPHOBE”
Mucho controversy this month over the American tour of Jamaican reggae vocalist Buju Banton, who is rightfully hated in the gay and lesbian community for his homophobic views and music.. One of the performer’s song, “Boom Bye Bye,” actually calls for the gruesome murder and maiming (pouring acid on them is one suggestion) of gays…
