he hole was dug for the Koffin Kats back in 2003 near Detroit, Michigan, when Vic Victor (lead vocals, upright bass) hooked up with longtime friend Tommy Koffin (guitar), then added Damian Detroit (drums) to begin the long adventure. Over 10 years later, with a couple thousand shows beneath their belts, they are a force […]
Detroit
Posted inArts & Culture
Not your father’s RoboCop
Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy in RoboCop. When Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop burst onto screens in 1987 it caused a sensation, primarily because of its excessive violence but also because of its cutting edge special effects. It also played out as a right-wing fantasy in which law and order was dispensed with impunity, with the title […]
Posted inOpinion
Why cities die, continued
If you enjoy the grisly autopsy scenes in your favorite cop drama, you might like to poke about a bitin the corpse of the City of Detroyt, as I did in Dancing around the issue from the Aug. 8, 2013 paper. Since that piece appeared, J. Eric Wise added to the discussion in this City […]
Posted inOpinion
Dancing around the issue
“It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.” – King Kong The Motor City finally ran out of gas. The recent bankruptcy of Detroit’s municipal government has been explained and re-explained. It was a single-industry city, the equivalent of the mining camp, that failed to diversify its economy. It was badly run, meaning […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Must-see screening
Touted as a “must-see, jaw-dropping” film, the documentary Burn will be screened at The Legacy Theatre on Wednesday evening, May 8. Burn tells the story of Detroit firefighters. But this first responder story is unique. Detroit is a city with more abandoned buildings and arson fires each day than cities twice its size. Los Angeles, […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Motown’s green makeover
There have been thousands and thousands of words written and spoken about Detroit’s auto bailout. On Jan. 15, the fifth annual Slow Food Springfield Film Festival will feature Urban Roots a documentary about a different kind of bailout Detroit has been undergoing for the past few years – a green bailout. Detroit’s green makeover is […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Ad-lib acting
The Portuguese Rodeo Clown Company performs two shows at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, Aug. 3-4. What is a Portuguese Rodeo Clown Company, what do they do and why see them? For those who missed their 2006 Springfield performance, they are an improv group, formed in Detroit in 1995, who take audience suggestions to […]
