For our Protection?
From the Massive Attack camp: OFFICIAL STATEMENT: Massive Attack Forced to Cancel First Four Shows of North American Tour Despite timely and coordinated efforts, the essential U.S. immigration visas were not issued in time for the beginning of the Massive Attack North American Tour. Subsequently, the band has been forced to cancel the first four…
Hem is just killing me right now.
Funnel Cloud, their new album, is amazing, and you should buy it right away. But Hem is also on TV right now, scoring an unsuspectingly gorgeous ad for Liberty Mutual that essentially retells the old “pay it forward” bit. My favorite part is when the woman moves the coffee cup. The song is called “Half…
The Seeg, man. The Seeg.
To most classic rock radio programmers, Bob Seger is a reliable commodity, not that much different from The Eagles or the Steve Miller Band. But most classic rock radio programmers don’t keep “Heavy Music” in their regular rotation, and WCSX always has. That’s because the station recognizes how important Seger is locally, and not just…
The Final Word
Latimer’s final word on this year’s Jazz Fest, punches un-pulled: “There was a lot of overkill. Too many Brazilian acts. The fireworks were unnecessary. To me, the festival is becoming too diluted. I mean, it’s supposed to be a jazz festival, the operative word being jazz. I think there was even a Karaoke stage, or…
Head Cheese
After a 7-inch for Ann Arbor’s No Fun Records and a regular presence on local stages, the Avatars have finally released their debut full-length, the bright, bratty and decidedly no-frills Never a Good Time. Producer John Speck gets the tones right throughout, and the quintet uses its tools right, from the twin-guitar crunch to vocals…
The cross and the flag
In the introduction to her very readable primer on conservative Christianity in America, Kingdom Coming, journalist Michelle Goldberg quotes Josh Ryun, an ex-speechwriter for George W. Bush turned Christian youth activist, a man who does not want for savvy. As Ryun explains, the majority of Americans won’t accept “because the Bible says so” as an…
Our democracy at (sort of) work
Last month, the Michigan Democratic Party held a statewide convention that offered us a lot of good reasons to not call ourselves Democrats. For some reason, Michigan is stuck in the bad old smoke-filled-room days when it comes to selecting candidates for two of the most important state offices there are — secretary of state…
Bombs away!
The Fondas originally issued “Make You Mine” and the winning, Greg Cartwright-penned “Don’t Come Back” as 7-inch singles on Sympathy for the Record Industry, the tiny Long Beach, Calif., imprint that’s also home to Runaway Bombshell. Those songs appear here, too, as part of a set that’s much heavier on original material than 2003’s Coming…
Is New Orleans the new Detroit?
At one edge of this city’s future are the extravagant visions of its boosters. Awash in federal cash, the New Orleans they dream of will be an arts-infused mecca for youthful risk-takers, a boomtown where entrepreneurs can repair to cool French Quarter bars in ancient buildings after a hard day of deal making. At the…
Christ Illusion
The last time Slayer’s original lineup put out a studio album, Metallica hadn’t been to rehab yet, Anthrax still had hair, and Megadeth were still, well, mega. There was plenty to riff about — Operation Desert Whatever was about to Storm — and blindingly fast double-bass drumbeats and evil guitar riffs were the perfect sound…
King of coals
The Grill King talks about his fiery creations.
The Avalanche
Sufjan Stevens has followed his critically acclaimed 2005 release Illinois with The Avalanche, a companion piece that feels more like a sequel than the outtakes collection it actually is. It’s full of just the sort of lush arrangements and uplifting melodies that made Illinois such a rewarding listen, but this time around the narratives feel…
Cinephile finery
For too long, the Detroit Film Theatre has seemed more like an afterthought of the Institute of Arts than a crown jewel. Sure, true cinephiles have been able to overlook the creaky seats and the womblike, flaking red paint, focusing instead on the world-class program of classic, independent and foreign films put together every fall…
What price vanity?
Artist Matthew Barney and his wife, pop-vocalist savant Bjork have cast themselves in this expensive film-multimedia art experience that incorporates clothing made out of intestines, vigilante barbers and a 20-foot long specimen of whale puke. Luckily, Barney, the reigning king of weird in any medium, knows how to put a vice grip on an audience’s…
Foer’s fiction follies
Jonathan Safran Foer was 25 years old when his debut novel, 2002’s Everything Is Illuminated — an inventive and ambitious fictionalized chronicle of the search for his European roots — lit up the literary world. An avalanche of commendation accompanied the book, with rapturous reviews like the one in The New York Times that dubbed…
Factotum
Bent Hamer’s Factotum is based on the novel by Charles Bukowski, starring Matt Dillon as Henry Chinaski, Bukowski’s literary alter-ego, a lowlife alcoholic who’s beyond recovery or redemption. His passions in life encompass not only drinking and smoking but also writing, which allows him to maintain a modicum of idealism and dignity. Ruddy-faced and sporting…
Motor City Cribs
Nathaniel Mayer’s east side roost.
Trust the Man
Ah, just what the world needed: yet another pseudo indie-flick about neurotic, affluent thirtysomething Manhattanites who whine endlessly about their crumbling relationships while dining at posh downtown eateries, another entry in the irritating trend of filmmakers making pale tributes to Woody Allen’s glory days. The negligible storyline follows a pair of couples through the thicket…
Switched on retro
Audio-visual artists Kyle Lapidus and Tali Hinkis aren’t looking to write a catchy tune that will stick in your head for a week. They’re not looking to tug at your memory by writing a line that perfectly summarizes the way you felt last summer. But they are looking for a reaction — something they accomplish…
Crossover
Though this new clumsily underground b-ball drama is set in the D, and actually filmed here, it has little more to offer than a rare chance to peek inside the abandoned husk of the old train station without dodging cops or hobo urine. Crossover is strictly amateurish from top to bottom, with bad acting, bad…
Letters to the Editor
A musical family Larry Gabriel: Regarding your piece, “How I learned to second line” (Metro Times, Aug. 30), this is a note of appreciation from your cousin Tamara Davis. I am grateful that our family history is being shared and carried on. I am fortunate to have grown up during a time when I was…
The Quiet
This suburban psychological thriller is yet another variation on the really dysfunctional family genre made popular after American Beauty became a surprise hit in 1999. It takes place in a world where all the moms are doped up on prescription painkillers, the dads are incestuous monsters with no apparent source of employment and teenage girls…
Art Bar
Waiting to inhale — The American Lung Association of Michigan nearly had a heart attack a few weeks ago when they realized that the live show “The Rat Pack is Back,” which they are scheduled to host on Sept. 12, at the Gem Theatre, features portrayals of Frank, Sammy, Joey and Dean smoking through the…
Night and Day
Wednesday • 6 Under the Radar: The Willis Remembered ART It may be a simple idea, but when you take in the wild diversity of works in That DAM Box Show, Under the Radar: The Willis Remembered, it seems hard to believe that every piece started with an identically sized tin box. When you compare…
Economic dumbdown
News Hits took note of a recent report that indicates Michigan’s economic problems have little to do with high taxes. In a study conducted for the respected W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, researches found that our state’s quite competitive tax-wise. Which makes the Republican-led Legislature’s decision…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid The Perry Bible Fellowship – by Nicholas Gurewitch
In her son’s name
For Marilynn Rosenthal, the tragedy could not have been more personal. The eldest of her two children was at work in the World Trade Center’s south tower when a hijacked Boeing 767 piloted by a 24-year-old jihadist from the United Arab Emirates hit the New York City landmark with the force of a guided missile.…
Moving pictures
Among the films showing now through December, the DFT is hosting an impressive three director retrospectives. The 19 films scattered throughout the schedule take viewers from Madrid to Tokyo, chronicling the lives of geishas, trannies, bullfighters, ghosts, divas and men buried almost completely in sand. Here’s a quick guide to the auteurs you can see…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Five years ago, I began making daily bike rides all over creation, through neighborhoods and wild spaces alike. Early on, I realized I’d regularly have to deal with loose dogs running toward me with the intent to bite. For protection, I armed myself with pepper spray and yummy treats. In all…
The best is back
Look, we took a year off from the Best Of game and, instead, celebrated our 25th anniversary for our all-around, knockout fall issue of 2005. But now we’re back for our 20th Best Of issue, back to remind the latecomers and imitators that we’ve been at this longer than anyone in town — and know…
Backslash
Sweet pimpin’ — In April ’06, a couple of bored Brits decided to engage in some kitchen-table surgery … on their candy. They took a Kit Kat Chunky, removed the peanut butter, replaced it with a store-bought brand, reassembled it, and then — naturally — posted photos of the experiment on the Internet. As is…
Food Stuff
Full plates for local foodies.
Coming out swinging
Q: I am a 22-year-old woman, generally happy, but I have a problem with cheating. My peers seem to have no problems staying faithful, but I do. I have never been faithful to anyone, and I have had many relationships with men and women. Some found out, some didn’t. I have finally found someone I…
Turning Pointe
Just about everything at City Kitchen merits praise. One might quibble a bit about the price of the appetizers, but not their quality. The individual pizzas, baked in a wood-fired oven, are well worth a try, and the generously proportioned mains, most of which are priced in the low 20s, include fire-roasted Lake Superior whitefish,…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout
They say our MB85 won’t pay the rent! The Damnwells — Air Stereo (Zoë) :: Which is funnier: a) that they open their album singing: "I’ve got you, babe. Diamonds and pearls, babe. More than a feeling, babe. Radar love, babe. I want you to want me, babe. Kick start my heart, babe. Sweet child…
Canned hits
When Public Image Limited originally released Metal Box on Virgin in 1979, they had to toss about $50,000 of their advance back at the label to finance its release. As the name implies, the album came in a steel box, a film canister with a fine-matte finish, embossed with the letters PiL in the center.…
Walk your bass like a prom date: Jazz Fest ’06
Regular Metro Times freelancer Charles L Latimer checks in with these recollections of the 2006 Detroit International Jazz Festival: Just shut up and blow! Okay, so I admit that I was excited when I heard alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson was performing at 27th Detroit International Jazz Festival. I’ve always loved Donaldson’s bluesy, gritty and soulful…
