Bill Kettelhut provides the "blog" to this anti-blogHe has a radio program on WXOU out of Oakland University
Wild At Heart
Wild At Heart
The time is fast approaching for my favorite car show of the year (though saying car show doesn’t really seem to do it justice). The 2008 Concours D’Elegance (http://www.meadowbrookconcours.org/) will be this Aug 3rd at Meadowbrook Hall and I cannot wait. The Concours is special among car shows because the vehicles are hand-picked to appear in the show and is recognized as one of the most prestigious annual auto events. This means that you won’t see Bob’s ’64 Chevy, but will instead be presented with some of the most beautiful and unique cars to grace Meadowbrook Hall’s lawn (a 1920's Tudor-revival mansion built by the widow of John Dodge which you can also tour). One the highlights for this year’s show will be the North American debut of the BAT 11, the newest member in the family of Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica concept cars (previous BAT’s were designed by the legendary Nuccio Bertone and Franco Scaglione in the mid-1950s, built on the Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint chassis and are highly regarded for their futuristic but functional curves).
This BAT was designed by Michigander Dr. Gary Kaberle. Also included in this year’s show is Ed Sweeney’s 1956 Aerocar, the only airplane in history certified for highway driving. It is easily converted from airplane to car, in minutes, by folding and detaching the wings. Among the other cars that grace the lawns, expect to see cars which fall into the following categories: significant Ferraris, 8 Litre Bentleys, 16-cylinder cars, vintage motorcycles with sidecars, the class of 1933 (a landmark year in automotive history), Voisin cars and cars which celebrate the 100th anniversary of both General Motors and the Model T. It should be a great show and will be my fifth annual appearance at the festival. I will have someone from the Concours on my show on Thursday (tune in between 8-10AM on http://www.wxou.org/).
I had the pleasure of talking to Brandon T Jackson this past week. He is a local actor who plays in his first big summer film with Tropic Thunder. He plays a young rapper, Alpo Chino, in the film whose best moments come when he plays against Robert Downey Jr (who plays Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor who gets skin pigmentation so he can play a black army hero). Jackson stated that most of the dialogue was improved on the set (such as a Jefferson’s monologue) and it is one of the reasons to see the movie when it premieres on Aug 13th. Brandon was pretty down to earth and seems to really appreciate what he has. He grew up in the Detroit suburbs and has had some limited success appearing on his own TV show with Wayne Brady, a part in the movie ‘Roll Bounce’ and a comedy tour ‘Teens of Comedy’ which he hopes to continue.
His one piece of advice for young actors growing up in Detroit is to make sure to get a good education because knowledge is power. I will be doing a preview of the film when it gets closer to its release date.Dan McGowan stopped by the studio this week and we talked about his movie premiere of “The Tower” which happened last Thursday at the Main Art Theatre. This locally made horror film (filmed in downtown Detroit and Pontiac, MI) is not bad for a first time low budget effort. Inspired by Raimi and low budget horror films like ‘Rock N Roll Nightmare’, the film focus’s around an abandoned tower which has a mysterious light despite having no power (the film was based a real Detroit urban myth). Doug is driven by a desire to uncover the reason for the light and disappears into the tower. His sister Lucy has a dream that her brother is trapped inside and embarks on a journey to rescue him. Along the way she comes across flesh-eating demons and mysterious otherworldly creatures.
Having filmed most of the movie in a recently fire damaged building, this leads to a nice atmosphere for the film that makes it better than a lot of its current competitors. The story suffers from the typical low budget pains of back-lighting, some stilted dialogue and overlong scenes, but these are minor and there is plenty here for the low budget fans. The film will be making the festival rounds (Dan is hopeful for Sundance) and will be having other local screening so keep a look out for this film when it next rears it head. I give the film a C+ for it’s wonderfully played bad guy and it’s nice use of local talent and locations.
For more info, go to thetowermovie.com.I would also like to give kudos out to a young singer Hana Pestle who opened the Blues Traveler/Live/Collective Soul show last Thursday. This cool, attractive 19 year old singer came on my show that morning and played a few tunes, including a nice cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”. This is her first big tour and she is traveling with her father whose job as a teacher has allowed him to act as her tour manager as she learns the ropes. She loves this tour and esp times when the guys from Collective Soul invited her onstage with them or Popper played harmonica with her during her set. For more info, check her out on http://www.myspace.com/hanatunes.
Last Friday was a great day for free music in Detroit with concerts at both Campus Martius and the RenCenter. Guitar legend Rick Derringer put on a great show by the waterfront playing his hits, such as “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo”, “Real American” (used by Hulk Hogan as his intro music) and the song he made famous with his first band the McCoys, “Hang On Sloopy” (which is the official rock song of Ohio). Upcoming free shows will include The Guess Who – August 1, Kansas – August 8, Blue Oyster Cult – August 15 and from my hometown of Rochester, NY, Foreigner – August 22. This Friday was also a 4th Friday which included performances by the Bacon Brothers (yes, Footloose fans unite) who weren’t bad in a folk indie sort of way (I really liked their song “Artie” about a giant squid) and Carlene Carter (the daughter of June Carter and Johnny Cash) who played a lot of Carter family favorites along with a nice version of her father’s “Ring Of Fire”. The fourth Friday in August will feature local favorite Nomo and reggae star Julian Marley. It is nice that there are some nice free events that people can go to and have a good time. Afterwards, on my way back I let a street performer by Greektown Casino juggle knives over my head fulfilling a life long dream of show biz aspirations.
I hope everyone has a good week and look for me at the following events – 7/31 Neil Diamond @ Palace Of Auburn Hills, 8/1 Rancid @ Clutch Cargos, 8/2 Hippifest @ Pine KnobJand the wonderful Sunday show at Freedom Hill featuring Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Bobby Rydell (last weeks Doo Wop show with the Tokens and Lou Christie, got me excited about this one). Later.Wild Bill does a radio show on Mon & Thurs mornings 8-10AM on WXOU 88.3FM or http://www.wxou.org/ and he can be seen on myspace.com/wildatheart_13.