http://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.aspArts, culture and the idiot windhttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1108Henrietta Epstein, Detroit poet and avid supporter of the literary arts in Michigan, died June 5, at the age of 80.Born in 1930, Epstein grew up on Normandy Street in the Martin Park neighborhood of Detroit, and attended Wayne State University in the late 1940s. She became involved in poetry and writing circles, and participated in poetry festivals put on by the Michigan Poetry Resource Center on the west side of the state in the late '60s and early '70s. There, she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Robert Bly. When Michigan writers began to move out of the state, Epstein took it upon herself in 1977 to move the PRC to Detroit and maintain a schedule of readings and workshops in a small loft in Greektown, and later in Royal Oak. Epstein was instrumental in getting fundi...Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:56:36 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1097Like it or not, Detroit is in the national spotlight in a way it hasn't been in years. The good news, however, is that much of the coverage is inspiring, thoughtful and positive.Take, for instance, this week's piece in Atlantic Monthly. The editors interviewed John Hantz, who hopes to turn parts of Detroit into for-profit farms. It wasn't a total puff piece, as it acknowledged that some urban aggers are leery of "a glorified land grab" from the billionaire businessman. All in all, a decent Q&A and required reading for both boosters and critics.And although this article about the new Miss America doesn't mention our region by name, it provides a compelling look at the complexities of our Arab-American community, as seen through the prism of beauty contests and home life, truthfully repr...Fri, 28 May 2010 16:47:43 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1092Donald Trump is a hypocrite, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. But his "hiring" of stricken rock star Bret Michaels as the 2010 winner of Celebrity Apprentice in the show's two-hour NBC season finale Sunday (9 p.m. May 23, Channel 4 in Detroit) – as genuine a feel-good moment as TV has produced in many a moon – was surprising. And flat wrong.Michaels, 45, certainly could lay claim to the sympathy vote, literally coming back from the dead to appear live on the final episode, which included taped segments. After recovering from a severe brain hemorrhage in April, he was hospitalized again recently upon suffering what doctors termed a "warning stroke," and faces additional surgery to correct a hole in his heart.Michaels acknowledged that his doctors cautioned him not to ap...Mon, 24 May 2010 11:00:17 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1088To those who knew him, Larry Meeks was more than a businessman running Harbor Town Garage off Jefferson Avenue. He was a charming, generous man with big dreams, which included his unusual Kar Wash Kafé on Meldrum Street. Meeks, who died April 29, of a heart attack at 56, used to own a collision shop on Harper Avenue, which later moved to Mt. Elliot near Jefferson, but was best known as the man who filled up the corner of Meldrum and Jefferson with an odd assortment of classic cars, repurposed refuse, odd antiques and a stage, all under a wall with a sign that read "Enjoy Detroit." Those drawn in by the quirky cornucopia found a hangout that included a car wash, an ice cream parlor, a junk museum and, often, music from DJs or bands.Hamtramck's Jason Janusch, who knew Meeks for several years...Tue, 18 May 2010 12:52:27 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1080Through a friend of a friend of a friend at the Ghostly Intl. imprint, Metro Times has come to acquire proof of a recent visit to Detroit from none other than Banksy, one of the world's most intruiging artistic figures. A bit on Bansky: The annonymous nightstalker  is said to have come up through Bristol's underground scene in the early 1990s. Though he's now an infamous globetrotting graffiti guru, redefining the impact and economy of stencil art, Banksy was once just a punk with a pen and and some sick freehand skills. His work often contains melancholic characters that both figuratively and literally play off their immediate environs. He nods at pop culture, pop art, and more. At the core of much of his work is anarchy. Banksy attempts to provoke sympathy, albeit with...Mon, 10 May 2010 15:06:33 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1076Words written on a smoke break by grumpy proofreader Dennis Shea:Standing at the entrance to the Metro Times office, four styles of architecture clang like a millennium bell before you. The Greektown casino and hotel are actually attractive blue vertical blurs. The Blue Cross building and the Monroe Street parking structure are modern light stone stacked structures.The faux-Romanesque St. Mary's Church and the Greek Orthodox church up Lafayette stand out with primacy in terms of chronology, and solidity, in this menagerie. And behind is the Metro Times typical Bricktown building, except the shrill and still-inexplicable spaceship flange next to the METRO TIMES sign. The point is these places would be fine among compatible neighbors. The lack of coordination here, and mostly throughout...Mon, 03 May 2010 13:27:27 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1074Elise Ray was alone in her living room when she heard the news: She's an Olympic medalist."We're all thrilled, but it's just wild that it's a decade later," says the University of Michigan alum, who was part of the women's Olympic gymnastics team at the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia.The International Olympic Committee, meeting in Dubai this week, made the decision Wednesday to strip the Chinese women of their team bronze medal from the 2000 games because one of the athletes did not meet age eligibility requirements. She was just 14 then, investigations have shown, and gymnasts had to have turned 16 in the Olympic year to compete.As the fourth-place team there, the U.S. women move up to third, and Ray says that changes their place in history. "We were all really good gymnasts and we were...Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:59:20 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1067The Metro Times has received six awards — including top honors in two categories — in an annual contest held by the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.   Competing against the city's two major daily papers, MT Arts & Culture Editor Travis R. Wright won first place in the criticism category for his review of a Leonard Cohen concert. Calling the piece "great," one judge wrote that Wright's prose really made them want to be at the show. Wright accomplished the rare feat of taking home an award for photography as well as writing by capturing second place in the feature photography category for his cover photo of poet M.L. Liebler.   Also winning first place at the awards ceremony held Wednesday evening in Troy was the MT freelance contributor who write...Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:26:20 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1064(This memory, written in 2006, is sort of a pre-companion piece to Brian Smith's misery-in-baseball story, "Fly Ball," Metro Times, April 7, 2010.)A young fellow on the bus, light mocha color, bald head shined, creaked open my file of memories. He wore a white knit football jersey. "D. THOMAS" on back with Thomas' number in gold-lined black. This Thomas must be only one of the Thomases on his team. This fan was maybe 22.At age 9 or 10, my parents bought me a full, gray — believe me — woolen Chicago White Sox replica uniform, with cap, (My dad's Go-Go Sox won the 1959 pennant; I remember their lineup decades later.) I'd begged them for the uniform, which they warned me must not get dirty. I was last picked, played mostly right out at our pick-up games, unless someone had it in for me and pu...Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:56:13 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/reckless.asp?perm=1057"One of the original hero working-class poets from the early days of Detroit's hip, contemporary poetry scene," fellow poet M.L. Liebler wrote in a Wednesday morning e-mail of Mick Vranich, who passed away the following night. Vranich had taken a serious fall on a construction site in February, suffering a head injury, a punctured lung and two broken vertebrae (leading to at least one benefit to raise funds to help him and wife). Presumably, his more recent surgery was related to that. A note we received from artist Bob Sestok said that "following an operation, his lungs began to bleed and nothing could be done." Other notes put the time at 9 p.m., the manner as "peacefully."Vranich was a rock 'n' roll poet who knew how to swathe his words in electric guitar shimmers, or send them skitteri...Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:18:25 EST