Running with robots
Meet the next step in human-cyborg relations….
Tastes of sea and forest
Whether Erie Street needed another Italian restaurant or not, Il Gabbiano was a charming addition to the scene. On the second floor is a “wine attic,” a climate-controlled room that you can enter in order to select your own bottle. Chef-owner Joe Fallea’s food is splendid, including selections such as insalata di mare (seafood salad),…
The Specialist
A two-hour documentary culled from nearly 500 hours of videotape of the Adolph Eichmann trial, artfully shaped by Israeli director Eyal Sivan to give a sense of chronological continuity to Eichmann’s testimony: “the banality of evil.”
Club kids, electronica and shower curtains
Motor celebrates four years of underground cool… The city’s first week-long improv festival… Fabulous women DJs… & much more.
Black like us
For quite some time now, there’s been an extensive, heated and ongoing debate in the African-American community — particularly among its intellectuals — about who should be allowed to recount the stories of African-American people, and whether or not it matters. Can a white man honestly tell a black man’s story, given the ingrained nature…
A life so far
Absolutely invigorating future music from Tony Ollivierra, who has a gem of a new record on Planet E … The Dally in the Alley features world-class talent all-day on the free electronic stage … & a benefit for Anthony “Shake” Shakir.
Parallel struggles, parallel lives: Firsthand accounts of the struggle from the famous and obscure
For quite some time now, there’s been an extensive, heated and ongoing debate in the African-American community — particularly among its intellectuals — about who should be allowed to recount the stories of African-American people, and whether or not it matters. Can a white man honestly tell a black man’s story, given the ingrained nature…
Got the hookup
Regardless of how many years spent apart, a close friendship springs back to life like nothing has changed and no time has gone by…
Parallel struggles, parallel lives: A tragic Detroit death becomes a baptism in activism
A federal district judge recently set bail for Wen Ho Lee, the Chinese-American scientist who had been held for eight months on charges that he improperly downloaded some of the country’s most sensitive nuclear secrets. The judge decided the scientist was not a risk to flee. He also inferred that the material he downloaded was…
Labor and other pains
Why Detroit Police killed a man with a rake… The Labor Day parade brings back memories of labor advocate Doug Fraser… & more.
Elastica is black
Aggressive, sexy, melancholy, damning. Lovely. Five years after overpowering Britpop in England and breaking onto American TV during the Super Bowl, Elastica is back with Menace. Through drugs (heroin), breakups (Albarn-Frischmann), band members splitting (Donna Matthews, co-writer of three tracks on Menace, has left) and a ton of David Geffen’s money, Elastica has risen from…
Strictly personals
How the MT kindled three bright — and long-burning — romantic fires….
Alley cats
Old friends, new sounds and cheap thrills at the 23rd Dally….
"Eek! Left it somewhere"
He’s lucky I like him. Normally, a new album gets three songs. If nothing moves the earth by then, it’s headed for some merchant’s “used” bin. This one took two listens, ya heard? Two before deciding whether or not I liked it. That’s not cool, because Wyclef is supposed to be a good first-impression type…
Free will astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): It’s not a good time to buy stuff made in Indonesian sweatshops by young boys who’re paid 25 cents a day. I mean it’s never a good time to do that, but this week the karmic repercussions would be even more severe than usual. Same goes for being angry at the…
Letters to the Editor
Among equals I forced myself to finish Keith A. Owens’ "The truth shall make us ill" (MT, Aug 9-15). It was not easy reading, but it was necessary. When I saw Todd Kindred’s letter responding to the article ("One of those things," MT, Aug 23-29), I was floored. Kindred seems unaware that such events are…
Trippy frippy parable
A story of a three-shack village, some goats, a plague of sea creatures called gappers and a little girl named Capable, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip seems at first like a children’s book. But then something happens. A few pages in, you realize there’s much more to this silly, implausible tale. A plague of…
Pump up the volume
• A math-minded friend has pointed out that the only true way to measure your dick is by volume. Obviously, you need to consider thickness as well as length. Since the penis is more or less a cylinder, you first need the radius. To get that you measure the circumference, divide that by pi (3.1416),…
Sonic superlative
Local guitarist-composer wins Emmy.
Robo-Kraut
One night last month, I found myself lolling on the patio of a massive pile — one part Mies, three parts Mobutu — in a well-heeled part of Dakar, Senegal. Try as I might, the irony machine set itself awhir: If only I had the right music on the stereo, I could be enjoying a…
Girls won’t budge for Pudge and Flood pants
Q: I’m an average-looking guy in my early 40s, with no hair on top, and a bit of pudge around the middle. My income is also average, and many people would consider my life boring. It appears that there are two kinds of women — those I am attracted to and those I can get.…
3, 2, 1 …
St. Andrew’s Hall to discontinue Three Floors of Fun.
Hey adults! Comics!
Montreal publisher Drawn and Quarterly’s anthology has long been more than a periodical collection of comics. D&Q is a resource, a rich repository for work by some of North America’s best cartoonists and illustrators, as well as for English-language versions of comics by Europe’s leading talents and reprints of hard-to-find older works. Volume 3 is…
Garden bounty
Fresh basil, tomatoes, eggplant, squash and corn … It’s all better when it comes from your own backyard.
More of less
Empty Bowls Project celebrates 10 year anniversary with art exhibition.
Remembering to forget
In director Marcel Ophuls’ documentary on the tragedies of Nazi-occupied France, the horrors of the war have faded somewhat for those interviewed, though their accounts are full of irony and absurdity. The final irony: how monstrous normal people become w
Hardwired help
No dream of the future, robots are already becoming part of our lives….
News perfectly wrong
Detroit News wrong in front-page story involving its unions.
Cirque du Soleil’s Journey of Man (An IMAX 3D experience)
IMAX, with its wrap-around, six-story-high screen and 3-D effects, is the perfect theatrical vehicle for the imagination alchemists of Cirque du Soleil — offering us intense imagery, precise physical movement and magnificent eye poetry.
Local revival
In Detroit’s historic neighborhoods, the city has already returned to life.
More EMS mess
Detroit ambulance arrives late to help deaf man shot by police.
The Way of the Gun
Christopher McQuarrie’s directorial debut is one bloody shoot-’em-up, a cross between a vengeance western and a film noir. Yet the center of this testosterone fest turns out to be a woman, and not the usual femme fatale — with Juliette Lewis, Ryan Phillip
All things Godzilla
From deep within rises a beast of terrifying proportions.
Toxic shock
Detroit school to be built on contaminated site.
Wonderland
Director Michael Winterbottom (Jude, Welcome to Sarajevo) explores the ways in which ordinary people build their own private hells, but he turns these individuals into stereotypes, draining his film of the passion it so desperately needs.
Developing communities
When it comes to affordable housing in Detroit, the need — and desire — is building.
Slammin’ Spence
Jesse Jackson warns about stalled state judicial nominations.
Itchy fingers
Le Triggers are not indie-rock, per se. They’re not necessarily punk, either. Le Triggers do not play funk music. OK, so they do get their proverbial groove on a little more than you might expect from some white boys in thrift-store threads. They may also like to drink PBR instead of that fancy Heineken you…
Big top, koko-bop
As the world’s first African-American-owned and -operated circus, UniverSoul Circus gives a new flavor to an old formula.
School of thought
Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues to host school voucher debate.
Rot ‘n’ roll
First off, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Believe the hype. Rancid’s the real deal. As the incredibly influential Operation Ivy (which preceded Rancid), these guys ruled the now legendary Gilman Street punk scene. Signed to Epitaph in ’92, Mr. Gurewitz released Rancid’s self-titled debut, followed in ’94 by Let’s Go. Then Green…
Campaign buttons
The Web should be our best way to find out about any candidate’s platform. MT’s online editor reviews the presidential candidates’ official Web sites.
After the Dally
An evening of experimental arts competes with the Dally in the Alley.
12 Gauge & Nylons
These Howell headbangers have been together less than a year, but they’ve already left behind shards of metal at select venues across the state. Arrival of the Fisted, 12 Gauge & Nylons’ stellar debut CD, sets the band apart from most modern hardcore acts. Yeah, there¹s the grinding guitar assault and guttural-scream vocals, but actual…
