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  • City Slang: New Black Dahlia Murder album lands at number 32 on Billboard charts
    Everblack, the new album from local metal heads Black Dahlia Murder, released on Metal Blade Records, entered the Billboard top 200 at number 32. According to a statement, “The album also landed at #3 on the Billboard Current Hard Music Albums chart (behind Black Sabbath and Queens of the Stone Age). Additional chart debuts include #3 on the Billboard Hard Music Albums, #9 on the Billboard Independent Albums, and #30 on the Hits Albums Chart. Additionally, the album peaked at #15 on the iTunes album chart, and #2 on the iTunes Metal chart, second only to living legends Black Sabbath.” BDM’s Trevor Strnad reacts to the success of the album: “We are thrilled that “Everblack” is being so well received by the fans and we thank them truly from the heart for picking the album up. It’s been an amazing ride so far and the new album is our proudest moment yet. THANKS!!” Click here to join the City Slang Turntable community!!! Follow @City_Slang
  • Urinal Cake Records – “UrineFested” 6/21-6/22
    Profile: Urinal Cake Records (on Metro Times Music Blahg – “Urinal Cake Records’ First Year + New Gardens (Grows)”) “Urinefested” Local Label Showcase -2 day Fest in Detroit June 21-22nd at P.J.’s Lager House (1254 Michigan Ave), Friday: The Clone Defects, Terrible Twos, Moonhairy, Obnox, Ritual Howls, Mountains and Rainbows – - Saturday: Johnny Ill Band, Protomartyr, Growwing Pains, Drugs Dragons, K9 Sniffles, Feelings, Guinea Worms, and the Keep On Trash DJs. — Visual artwork displays by Jeff Arcel, Thelonious Bone, Davin Brainard, Zak Bratto, Joe Casey, Luke Chapelle, Jimbo Easter, Andy Gabrysiak, Ben Lyon, Johnny Lzr, Kara Meister, Nai Sammon, Timmy Vulgar, and Matt 7 http://urinalcakerecords.com – pjslagerhouse.com  ~   There seems to be a lot of local DIY record labels, lately. But Johnny Ill nonchalantly shrugs that into perspective: “Shit, there could be no one to put out your music. I’m not dong it, so I’m glad guys like Eric are doing it…”   It’s still a rarity, says Ill (a.k.a. John Garcia of The Johnny Ill Band,) for someone (like Eric Love of Urinal Cake Records) willingly financing and spending time resources for local songwriters to produce, package and distribute their works.   “The worst thing that could happen [...]
  • City Slang: Battlecross post-Orion news
    Following their triumphant appearance at OrionFest, local metal heads Battlecross has announced that drummer Kevin Talley (formerly of Six Feet Under, Chimaira and Dying Fetus) will be staying on with the band for its forthcoming tour. See Battlecross performing Slayer’s “War Ensemble” at OrionFest here. The new album, War of Will, will be released via Metal Blade on July 9, and the first single will be “Force Fed Lies”. Battlecross will be on the Mayhem Festival with Rob Zombie throughout the summer. Follow @City_Slang
  • DIA ‘Courts’ New Diners
    Who says the Detroit Institute of Arts is only for art admirers? The addition of a Friday night music schedule has found some new converts. And now food lovers can rejoice as the museum unveils a new go-to place for visitors to eat, drink, relax and socialize. It’s the newly revamped Kresge Court. Combining an elegant atmosphere with competitive prices, visitors can enjoy an array of gourmet snacks, sandwiches, salads and desserts that use regional ingredients. Befitting a hip hangout, the dishes skew creative. If you’re stopping by for a quick lunch, you’ve got to try the fine ficelle salad. The stars of this show are prosciutto, black mission fig jam, wild arugula and European-style thin sourdough baguette. The green goddess salad features local greens, carrot ribbons, marinated summer squash, sunflower seeds and currants. Other offerings include DIA deviled eggs and wasabi tobiko caviar; artichokes, radish, black olive aioli and flatbread; toasted farro salad with shaved fennel; surryano dry-cured ham with hot pepper pickles and more. Desserts include Italian pudding with bittersweet chocolate, seasonal fruit croustade, and an alcoholic spin on a Detroit classic, a Boston rum cooler with Vernor’s ginger ale, French vanilla ice cream, Captain Morgan spiced rum, [...]
  • The 1943 Detroit Race Riot, 70 years later
    Mention “Detroit” and “riot” to most metro Detroiters today, and most people will think of the year 1967. Some will call it a “riot” and some will call it a “rebellion,” but chances are that nobody will talk about Detroit’s forgotten riot, the 1943 Detroit race riot. Most likely, that’s because the events of 1943 don’t neatly dovetail with our conventional narratives about the Greatest Generation, and they provide ugly examples of white racism that most area residents, if they remember them, would rather forget. And that’s a shame, because the 1943 riot offers a chance to look beyond  simplistic sociological assumptions about ’60s civil disorder and the ensuing urban disintegration. This is especially interesting at a time when historians such as Thomas Sugrue are re-examining Detroit and the roles played by whites and their institutions, often uncovering sweeping antecedents that transcend a passive white exodus. And for those whites who think the ramifications of institutional racism are overstated, those old photographs of white mobs rampaging up and down Woodward Avenue, beating and stabbing black Detroiters, might change a mind or two. And 1943 is also worth another look because it helps define the early civil rights movement. It saw African-Americans effectively [...]
  • Oh Criminals, Where Art Thou?
    I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with my Detroit experience so far. In the past 8 months, I have no gunshot wounds, stabbing scars, or even a stolen vehicle to show for it. I don’t even have a lower credit score! When I told everyone I was moving here, I got a wave of backlash and pleas to reconsider. It reminded me of the time I traveled to the Middle East and, as I was boarding my flight, received a hundred text messages and calls saying, “If you go, you are going to DIE!” Well, my time in the Middle East was just as disappointing and uneventful as my time here in Motown. Where have all the criminals gone? With a nice bout of insomnia, I used to walk to the YMCA at 5 a.m. to work out in total darkness. My Dad freaked out when I told him. What my father can’t understand is that, unless you live right downtown, and once the sun sets, the streets of Detroit are deserted. No cars. No homeless people. Even the pimps seem to take the night off. I could streak down Woodward (my apologies for the [...]
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Best of Detroit 2011

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Photo: Marvin Shaouni

What are you waiting for? Derby Girls are ready to be served at Roast (Readers' Choice for Best Happy Hour in Wayne County).

Spend the Night - Readers' Choice

The music venues and watering holes our readers treasure

By Metro Times readers

Published: April 27, 2011

Best Club Night in Oakland County
Best Bar for Under 30s
Best Sexed-up Waitstaff
Best Dance Club in the Suburbs

Luna
1815 N. Main St., Royal Oak; 248-589-3344; lunaroyaloak.com

Luna is famous for its cadre of fetching dancers, rightly priced drinks and nightly variety. Things get poppin' mid-week with electro-pop Wednesdays, where MGMT will get you one minute and Depeche Mode the next, but they go totally retro on Thursdays, when the Luna dancers twist, shake and shimmy to '80s jams. Fridays are for letting loose, and that's an easy gear to shift into with $2 "you call it" drink specials. And when cover band, Killer Flamingos, plays live on Saturdays, the place simply rocks.

 

Best Bar to Meet Someone - Tie

BlackFinn
530 S. Main St., Royal Oak; 248-582-9460; blackfinnroyaloak.com

Pronto
608 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak; 248-544-7900; prontorestaurant.com

Sure there are myriad televisions vying for your attention, but at BlackFinn the scenery's mostly off-screen, all around you; babes and bros mingle hard in the saturated singles scene at this happenin' suburban bar and restaurant. There's also the occasional celeb strolling about, often with an air of entitlement. Whereas, a restaurant, bakery and gift shop, Pronto is also home to Video Bar — a thriving scene for southeast Oakland county's gay and transgendered community. With regular drink specials, Video Bar also hosts communal TV (both kinds) watching, with weekly viewing parties for shows (read: conversation ice-breakers) such as Ru Paul's Drag Race, Glee and American Idol.

 

Best Bartender

Andy French, Go Comedy!
261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-327-0575; gocomedy.net

Bartender Andy French's grizzled, tweed swagger is parallel only to his ability to create pun-riddled drink concoctions, such as "The Pickleback" and, our fave, the "Cool Hand Cuke." The man further revolutionizes the age-old drink-slingin' gig by gracing the Go! Comedy stage, where he performs and hosts improvised comedy with the kind of natural charm reserved for a bartender.

 

Best Club for the Libidinal (Horny) Crowd - Tie

BlackFinn
530 S. Main St., Royal Oak; 248-582-9460; blackfinnroyaloak.com

Boogie Fever
22901 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; 248-541-1600; boogiefevercafe.com

If you've always wondered why there's a line of people, in snow and rain, waiting to gain entry into the Royal Oak restaurant and bar BlackFinn, here's your answer: It's a centrally located joint with enough class to make even the most random hookup feel less cheap. And Boogie Fever, with its wacky dress code and retro soundtrack, has garnered attention in the last few years as a hot spot for lust-headed ladies and gents in their 30s and 40s — libidinal singles and scandalous attached folks alike. If you're hunting cougars, it's quite the sexy safari.

 

Best Dive Bar in Wayne County
Best Jukebox

The Bronx Bar
4476 Second Ave., Detroit; 313-832-8464

Even with last year's renovations, this Cass Corridor (OK, fine, Midtown, whatever) classic is still Detroit's most digable dive. Dimly lit, with two killer jukes, the bar is a mix of walk-ins and regulars, whose names can be found on the chalkboard that keeps a tally of drinks bought in advance.

 

Best Dive Bar in Oakland County

Gusoline Alley
309 S. Center St., Royal Oak; 248-545-2235

Some thought that Gus' would never be the same when the smoking ban went into effect. Wrong. Characters from all walks of life pack this place throughout the week. Sure, it smells better than it once did, but your shoes still stick to the floor and you're just as likely to get schooled from gents who could pass for bouncers but converse like professors.

 

Best Dive Bar in Macomb County - Tie

Dawg House
35965 Groesbeck Hwy., Clinton Township; 586-791-2773

Goldie's Saloon
45330 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb; 586-286-6991

The Dawg House's greatness is apparent in its years-long collection of grime and grit, frightening those who don't belong but undoubtedly attracting eastsiders with foul mouths and unkempt facial hair. A 15-minute drive north gets you to the delightfully cramped Goldie's Saloon, a dark, wood-paneled bar known for its stiff drinks, cheap burgers and divey-good times.

 

Best Dive Bar in Washtenaw County

8 Ball Saloon
208 S. First St., Ann Arbor; 734-996-8555; blindpigmusic.com/8ball.html

Any bar that calls itself a saloon better be some kind of den of lifer boozehounds and frothy mouths. The 8 Ball doesn't disappoint. If you thought Ann Arbor was all judgmental jocks, stuffy MBAs and myriad neo-hippie hipsters, perhaps a stop (for pitchers of beer) here is in order. It lives beneath the venerable Blind Pig, but, like its bouncer's beard, maintains a distinctive look and feel, which is apparent from the small side-door entrance, located somewhere down that dark alley. It's not just a dive, it's an adventure.

 

Best Honky-Tonk Bar

Club Bart
22726 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; 248-548-8746; myspace.com/clubbart

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2011 Best of Detroit
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