Amy - can you post this up right away?? - Bill
Wild Bill Ketelhut provides the "blog" to this anti-blog
He has a radio program on WXOU out of Oakland University
Wild At Heart
What an interesting start of the week here in Detroit. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad with the events of the weekend and Monday morning. I'll start off with something nice for you readers with the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to see Gogol Bordello at the Royal Oak Music Theatre this Tuesday. They are basically a gypsy punk band from NYC and they put on a very lively show which I have had the pleasure of seeing twice. One of the best touring bands, they are known for whipping the crowds into a dance frenzy. If you are looking for a show to just let yourself go to, this is the one for you. To win tickets, be the first person to send me an email to doramu13@yahoo.com and I will hook you up.
Musically, this was a very good weekend for me having enjoyed shows by the Doves (remember when they were called Sub Sub) and the reunion of Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean performing numbers from 'This Is Spinal Tap' and 'A Mighty Wind'. The group answered questions from the audience, showed some fan made videos of their songs and had a guest appearance by Michael's wife, Annette O'Toole (best known as Lana Lang in Superman III or Clark's mom in the TV series Smallville) who sang on a couple of songs from 'A Mighty Wind'. Then last night was the 17 year reunion of Jane's Addiction who played last night at Pine Knob with Nine Inch Nails. It was a very last minute decision for me to attend but I'm glad I did. Tom Morello's (Rage Against The Machine) new band Street Sweeper Social Club opened the night in rocking fashion though it does annoy me a bit when a band says their name over 10 times during a show (esp when their banner is
hanging up behind them). Their debut album should be out in mid-June. I also ran into a lot of friends at the show and made some new ones. Nine Inch Nails rocked out as usual. I am not a fan of their albums but live they are incredible. Jane's Addiction sounded decent and while I was never a huge fan, they put on a good show. Perry walked around stage carrying what seemed to be a bottle of champaign for most of the show which I thought was odd but then again, look who we are talking about. He tried to rile up the crowd with a Pistons chant which seemed to backfire until a fan told him to use the Red Wings which he did with the added line “I guess you only root for winners here”.
Speaking of the Red Wings, I am excited they were able to survive the first 2 games of the series to take a 2-0 lead. I was worried about the back-to-back games, the moved up time table which seemed to favor the healthier Penguins, missing Datsyuk and the general seeming bias against the Red Wings by the NHL. Despite all that, the Red Wings showed true Detroit grit by showing why it is the deepest team in the NHL, shut down NHL darling Crosby and despite having the first back-to-back games in forever where their opponents out-shot them, the showed their heart and why I think they should win this year's Stanley Cup.
I hope Detroit's leadership can show the same grit as the Red Wings with today's announcement of the the bankruptcy of GM which will affect the lives of over 15000 workers. I can relate being mostly out of work the past year and thinking of leaving the state after July 31st if I don't find something secure which can pay my bills. I have also had 2 jobs where I worked with GM as a client, both with Onstar and their benefits. In my immediate area, I am looking at the closing of the Pontiac, MI pickup truck plant in October in an area which has been really undergoing bad times despite the efforts of a few people to bring some stability to the town (like the Crofoot and Arts Beats & Eats Festival). With the Orion Township plant going into stand-by and the plant closing in Flint, Ypsilanti Township and Livonia, a lot will potentially change if new jobs are not somehow brought in. I know a few people who have left the area already and while I don't want
to join them, I might not have a choice because after watching the way the elections were recently handled following Kilpatrick's removal from office and the Cobo deal fiasco, I'm not sure I have faith in Detroit's leadership doing the right thing for the people of this state which is embarrassing. On the uplifting side, if there is one, I am glad Obama took his time with the announcement after taking office. I think we all deep down knew this would happen, but he kept the company afloat long enough to get the public used to the idea which helped keep down some of the consumer panic and then staggered it with Chrysler so they didn't both happen at the same time. He has pledged $30 billion to help in the restructuring and has given hope that GM can emerge from bankruptcy in a few as 40 days as well as having the government back GM warranties. While the car industry is hurting, I think what Obama's team put together is lessening the blow and even
stats like Chrysler selling more cars in May than April show that the potential to grow is there and I hope that everyone impacting by this tragedy gets the chance to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a real worker's spirit here in this area which I enjoy if we can just get the upper echelon of society to help facilitate that spirit in a productive way. Best wishes.
For those looking for escapism this week and want something to uplift the spirit, I have a few film choices which might fit the bill. The first film is my current frontrunner for best film of 2009 and that is “Up” which is the newest animated film from Pixar (not to be confused with the 1976 softcore sex comedy by Russ Meyer). The film holds the distinction of also being the first animated film to open the fabled Cannes Film Festival and the first film to be released in Disney Digital 3-D. The film has some adult themes which show during the opening sequences where Carl, a quiet young boy who dreams of exploring like his hero Charles Muntz, meets up with Ellie, a fast-talking girl with the same passions. The films then shows their live together as the get married, always with the idea of the fabled Paradise Falls (think the lost World of Doyle's novels and the last place disgraced Muntz is seen searched for a fabled bird) coloring their world.
They can't have kids and saving up for a trip to the Falls always seems beyond their reach until one day Ellie passes away. When big business tries to buy his house and put him in a retirement home, he decides to fly the house to Paradise Falls to honor his memory of Ellie (it was determined that 23 million balloons would be needed to do this in real life but the animators decided on just having 10-20 thousand). When his house takes off to startled workers, Carl finds he has a guest, young Wilderness Explorer Russell who is trying to earn his “assisting the Elderly” badge. The rest of the film has them reaching South America near their goal but having to walk the house to the Falls. On the plateau, the come across a colorful native bird which they name Kevin, talking dogs (they wear translating collars) and an elderly Muntz still trying to find his elusive bird which turns out to be Kevin. Muntz seems to be a little off kilter and Carl realizes
he wants to help the bird stay out of Muntz's grip and along with one of the dogs, the clumsy Dug, he and Russell help save Kevin and her young. I could get into the wonderful dog fight sequence (that is with planes driven by dogs) and all the other wonderful things in this movie but this is a great film right up their with the Incredibles, Ratatouille and Wall-E which should delight all viewers. There is a cute short film entitled “Partly Cloudy” about the relationship between a cloud which makes babies and the stoke that delivers them. However, instead of cute puppies and kittens the other clouds seem to make, this cloud makes alligators and other hazardous babies much to the storks chagrin. This films gets an enthusiastic A+.
On a lesser note is the con man film “The Brother Bloom” starring Adrian Brody as Bloom and Mark Ruffalo as Stephen, two brothers who grow up to be the best con men in the business but Bloom wants to get out. Stephen dreams up the final con which involves posing at art dealers to ensnare reclusive rich girl Penelope (Rachael Weisz) into coming to Greece with them. On the boat, they confess that they were smugglers and Penelope gets caught up in the fantasy of that life and wants to be a smuggler. A job appears to steal a book out of Prague which has some scary moments. The movie itself goes in myriad directions as Bloom falls for Penelope and wants to get her out of the con. However, Stephen's plan might have anticipated this (it is hard to tell at times exactly what was planned out and what just happens and is dealt with) and he drags Bloom around in this scheme which eventually lands them in Russia at the supposed mercy of an old enemy.
What is con and not is really hard to say but if you can just go with the flow, you might actually enjoy this film. It kind of feels in the spirit of films like “In Brughes”. I like the guys who are generally understated while Rachael is the main emotion in the movie as her character is quirky and bubbly in a way you only see in movies and mental wards. I also like the Japanese sidekick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) who doesn't talk much but is very resourceful in getting whatever is needed for a job. My favorite line is when a guy goes up to her at a party with the opening line “I like anime” which shows the humor of the script. I guess my biggest concern for the casual viewer is that you have to really pay attention to what is going on so as not to feel lost and if you can commit to that, you might come out of this film with a small smile on your face. I wish the ending of the movie had been stronger but overall, I enjoyed this film. I give
in a B-.
Now for my painful movie of the week is a movie that I really wanted to enjoy but never quite got the hang of. The movie is the new Sam Raimi's “Drag Me To Hell” and with a tile like that, I was expecting a big fun film similar in style to his Evil Dead movies but while the movie had flashes of that, it gets bogged down at times. The movie starts off with a young Spanish boy who has stolen a necklace from some gypsies and has been cursed. He is seeing and hearing things and during a seance with channeler Shaun San Dena, the boy is dragged to Hell as the channeler vows revenge. Not a bad start you may say and sets up for a climatic battle later on. Well, let's go to present day where we meet Christine Browne (lovely Alison Lohman) who works as loan officer at a bank who is looking at a promotion but her boss (David Paymer) is giving an opening to newcomer Stu (Reggie Lee) who might be able to make stronger calls for the bank. Then in walks an
elderly gypsy woman Mrs Ganush (Lorna Raver) who is looking for a third extension on her mortgage. Well, here comes the tough decision which causes the gypsy to lose face and curse Christine. After some strange things happen, Christine convinces her doctor boyfriend (Justin Long) to take her to a fortune teller (Dileep Rao) who determines she is being hunted by a demon called the Lamia who will kill her in three days unless she can appease the demon or find a way to give the curse object to someone else. The film has fun moments like when animal lover/vegan Christine decides to sacrifice her cat and some boring moments such as a séance with San Dena which is really anti-climatic in my opinion. I won't tell you if she succeeds in escaping her fate but I wish I could have. I think the movie is basically average with some really great moments and some really disappointing ones. I think is Raimi could've ramped up the camp so the whole movie reflected
the fun of scenes such as Christine and the gypsy fighting in out in the car garage, the possessed goat and the here kitty scene, this would've have been a must see horror film. But to me, there are to many dead moments in the film which detract from this so my best grade can be a solid C. One of my fellow critics boldly stated it was the best horror movie in the past 10 years. A short list of better films would include Dawn Of the Dead, Shaun Of the Dead, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Bubba Ho-Tep, Ju-on, Saw, Bug, Black Sheep, 28 Days Later and I could name a lot more if needed but I won't.
Before I get into upcoming cool concerts, I should mention that Palace Entertainment is doing away with vouchers this year. A contact at the Palace who is upset with the decision said the main reason they are doing it is because they a) printed up too many last year and b) blamed the fact that the Pistons didn't do as well this year in the post season. The main source of anger is dealing with people who show up to get vouchers only to find they don't have them anymore but special prices are being offered if you go online to www.redeemonlinenow.com though you will need to go the the Palace website to get the login and password codes to be able to print them off at home. That is convenient up to the point of trying to find the codes. For example, I have just spent 15 minutes going through the Palace website with being able to find them though a web search did get me the codes for TNA Wrestling. My advice to the Palace is too make the public aware
you have done this and make the codes easy to find for those who want to take advantage.
Now for the shows that seem the most exciting for the week. Besides the Gogol Bordello show this Tuesday (6/02), you can go to Pine Knob (DTE) for the 2nd coming of Coldplay who is touring with Pete Yorn and Howling Bell's. On Wednesday (6/03), you can see the Supersuckers @ The Magic Bag or the lovely Liz Larin @ Goodnight Gracie's in Royal Oak. Thursday (6/04) is the next day of choice with Stephen Pearcy (best known as the lead singer of Ratt) @ the Ritz in Warren, Toronto's Celtic rock band Enter The Haggis @ The Belmont and the Meat Puppets @ The Magic Stick. The Meat Puppets are a great band which started out punk but eventually moved into a cross between country and psychedelic music and have been said to be a influence on bands such as Dinosaur Jr and Nirvana. The Detroit Opera House has been expanding the number of concerts, probably to help offset expenses for their wonderful opera and dance schedules and on Friday (6/05) will host the
swing sensations the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Saturday (6/06) is a good day for the older generation with performances by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons @ Caesar's Windsor and Crosby Stills & Nash @ Meadowbrook Theatre and Joe Lally (of Fugazi fame) @ the Pike Room. For something different, try out the musical comedic genius of Neil Innes (Monty Python and Rutles fame) @ The Magic Bag, Amanda Lepore @ The Majestic on Sunday (6/07) or big busted porn star turned blues/jazz musician Candye Kane @ The Ark. Not sure what to expect at the Lepore show, but this transsexual icon famous for modeling and hosting parties should foretell a good time by all.
As everyone should know by know, I love music. I went to over 200 concerts last year (including festivals and musicals) showcasing a wide range of musical genres (everything from classical to rap, folk to heavy metal and everything in between). I read a number of music journals and there is one big issue going on right now concerning corporate radio stations paying artists when they play their songs over the air since those same songs attract their millions of listeners and advertising dollars. I am not sure where I fall on the issue yet but there is a town hall tomorrow at Wayne State I plan on attending that is hosted by US Rep John Conyers and is expected to get some big names showing up including singer Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), Duke Fakir of the Four Tops and council member/ Mo town star Martha Reeves. I hope to talk to some of them and hopefully have something on my show next Saturday morning which will also feature a cast member from the
upcoming production of Grease at the Fisher. While I'm downtown, I will also check out the Art Spiegelman @ the MOCAD and talk to the Ringwald Theatre about their upcoming production of Trainspotting which opened this past weekend. Also, there is a new Nunsense at Meadowbrook Theatre with the famous Marcia Wallace playing the lead which I am working on also. See you all next week and have a good week.
"MCB IS DETROIT"
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