Wednesday • 19
American Express Celebrity Chef Tour
Fun For All
Even for the culinary layman, sometimes a hamburger and fries just won’t cut it, and it takes a nice roasted lobster with warm fingerling potatoes to hit the spot. Or how about braised oxtails, short ribs and porcinis? These mouthwatering dishes will be just a few of the meals prepared by chefs Marlin Kaplin and Stephen Kreuzinger as part of the Celebrity Chef Tour. The Renaissance Club, the private business club where Kreuzinger is executive chef, will open its doors to the public for the event at a cost of $165 a ticket. Chefs across the country are taking part in this touring fundraiser for the James Beard Foundation, which promotes the culinary arts.
Friday • 21
Reading from Richard Ritter’s new play
THEATER
A reading of Detroit author Richard Ritter’s as-yet-untitled play will be presented by local actors Kate Ritter, Naia Venturi and Misha Grey. “Ritter’s plays are very psychological and intense. They deal a lot with human emotions,” says Venturi, who was a lead actor in Ritter’s previous play at the Dreamland Theater, The Awakening. The play concerns a young woman who lives in Detroit’s Cass Corridor and ends up living with and befriending a woman suffering from sleeping sickness. Doors open at 8 p.m. at the Dreamland Theater, 44 E. Cross St., Ypsilanti; 734-657-2337. Donations are appreciated.
Friday • 21
The Primary
Music
In celebration of freethinkers and freestylers, a group of innovative Detroiters has mounted a monthly party series highlighting the city’s best improvisational artists. Champions of freeform musical style, Ubiquity Records artists Jeremy Ellis and John Arnold recently created this series as a means to spotlight musicians who understand the power of improv. See soul-jazz fusion artist Malik Alston, 2002 U.S. Vestax Champion, DJ Len Swann and freestyle heavyweight Fat Ray of Barak Records mix it up at the first of this three-part series at Fifth Avenue Detroit, 2100 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-471-2555.
Friday • 21
Alex Katz
Art
Artist Alex Katz is known for painting nature in revealing ways. Katz’s interest in painting outdoors first developed when he was a student at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Katz now returns to Maine every summer to paint landscapes filled with striking detail and vibrant colors. Though many of his paintings are traditional landscapes, he also uses landscapes in figurative works and in works he labels “environmental,” in which nature seems to engulf both the canvas and the viewer. This exhibit will feature five large recent landscapes that provide close-up views of flowers and fields, as well as several of Katz’s small oil works. At the Susanne Hilberry Gallery, 700 Livernois St., Ferndale; 248-541-4700. Runs until March 5.
Friday • 21
The Gold Rush
FILM
Returning for his fourth consecutive year as part of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s annual Great Music in a Great Space series, organist Tom Trenney will provide improvised musical accompaniment for Charlie Chaplin’s famous silent film, The Gold Rush, on the cathedral’s massive chancel organ. Enjoy a great silent film with an “organic” sound track at 8 p.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 4800 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-831-5000. Suggested donations are $10 for adults, $8 for children and $25 for families.
Friday-Saturday • 21-22
Double Indemnity
FILM
Slick insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) meets lonely housewife, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) on a sales call. The two quickly begin an affair. The adulterous couple concocts a diabolical plan to murder Dietrichson’s husband in order to cash in his life insurance with a double indemnity clause, but the scheme goes awry. It’s the stuff of 1944’s Double Indemnity, an early film noir that has been lauded as one of the best suspense films ever made. At the Historic Redford Theatre, 17360 Lahser, Detroit; 313-383-0133. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. (organ overture begins at 7:30 p.m.) with a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. (organ overture begins at 1:30 p.m.).
Friday-Sunday
• 21-23
Rumors
Theater
For its latest production, St. Dunstan’s Theatre Guild of Cranbrook has chosen the hilarious Neil Simon play Rumors. It tells the story of eight dinner party guests whose sedate evening is interrupted by a mix of off-the-wall mishaps, which are inevitably followed by contradictory but comedic rumors. The hilarity reaches its climax at the conclusion of the play with a visit from the police, who actually do get to the bottom of things, once and for all. Who knew a dinner party could be so much fun? At 400 Lone Pine Rd., Bloomfield Hills; 248-644-0527. Performances Jan. 21-23 and Jan. 27-29.
Saturday • 22
It Came From Detroit Benefit
FUNDRAISER/MUSIC
Based on some of the raw footage we were able to check out, local music documentary It Came From Detroit looks like it’s going to be pretty friggin’ rad. The doc, which delves into the inner-workings of Detroit’s insular-yet-esteemed garage rock world, has all the earmarks of an immediate cult classic. There will be a fundraiser to help Director James R. Petix finish editing the film, with performances from the Gore Gore Girls, Fortune & Maltese, the Cyril Lords and Detroit City Council. How “Motor City” is that? At the Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-9700.
Monday • 24
Eric Bibb
MUSIC
Eric Bibb’s pedigreed lineage has more branches than you can shake, well, a stick at. The singer-songwriter’s father is 1960s folk singer Leon Bibb, his uncle is Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis and his godfather is theatrical legend Paul Robeson. It must have been all this exposure to raw talent that helped Bibb develop into the majestic and versatile modern bluesman he is today. Renowned world-music artist Taj Majal says of Bibb, “I love him.” See Bibb at the Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor; 734-763-8587.
Send comments to [email protected]
