The Coat Puller

The Coat Puller

As we start our second month of weekly publication, it's actually beginning lo feel natural to knock out this column once a week instead of every two weeks like before. While the folks who put this Kulchur section together are still trying to take full advantage of the new schedule, I think they've done a pretty nice job up to this point-that calendar back there seems to keep getting bigger with every issue and we keep getting more up-to-date reviews into the Vortex. A lot of it has to do with the talented, culturally-astute people who have joined us as writers recently -in the last three weeks we've welcomed Geoffrey Jacques, Harald Habinski, Ken Dossar, and bassist/philosopher Shoo-BeDoo to these pages, and we've even gotten Sun Field Representative Jim Tomlinson and our own Assistant Editor Peggy Taube to do some good writing as well. In the next few weeks we expect to add an arts column by the eminent poet/griot James W. Thompson, and the people in the front office have some surprises in store that the Coatpuller doesn't even know about yet . . . Oh, yes, we do plan on expanding our coverage of television, art, books, films, dance, theatre, and classical music, so please bear with us. If you would like to add to that list, or if you've got any hot tips about anything on the greater Michigan "Kulchural" scene, call my man Frank Bach (961-3555) pronto and he'll make sure we do something about it.OK?

HOW COULD THEY FORGET?

Luckily, I just read over that story on film groups (page 11 ) before they sent it to the printer, and I discovered a serious omission. Somehow, those guys forgot to mention the tasty Cabaret Theatre in Southfield at 8 Mile and Beech-Daly. The Cabaret is a commercial joint but it's a hip one- they often show really great films in a context that you don't hardly get anywhere else (like the Mel Brooks special I'm going to see later on this month, for instance), and the place deserves the support of anybody who is serious about good movies. Why Bach didn't catch this blunder I'll never know . . .

DETROIT RADIO TURNTABLE: Every couple of months or so local radio stations play the switch-the-disc-jockey game, and the results of the latest round are: Ann Christ has moved to WIQB-FM in Ann Arbor after being cut loose at WWWW; Clarence "Foody" Rome has moved from WGPR to WJLB; Tiger Dan, on the other hand, moved from WJLB to WGPR; and the venerable Ed Love is off WJZZ. At the student-run WCBN in Ann Arbor, the popular Night Jams show has been moved from the 7-11 pm slot to just 2 1/2 hours a day (from 3:00 to 5:30), Jazz 'Round Midnight starts at 10 pm instead of 11 and Nat Colley now has his own talk/phone show on Mondays at 6 pm. Check our calendar for station phone numbers to get the real deal . . . By the way, Nadine Brown reminds us that over at WXYZ-TV in Southfield Dennis Archer's excellent "Issues" program has been scratched and Ann Eskridge has been dropped from the TV-7 news team. This leaves moderator Don Haney as one of very few on-the-air black employees at XYZ, and his show has reportedly changed titles from "Haney 's People" to simply "Haney." Are they trying to tell us something?

HANGING OUT: We hear that the Spinners are organizing a benefit for the ailing Jackie Wilson, who is now making a surprising comeback from the serious heart attack he suffered while performing one year ago. The Spinners will perform along with B.T. Express this Sunday at the glamorous Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New jersey, with tickets ranging from $30 to $100 and all proceeds going to help defray Wilson's medical and hospital bills. We finally got that interview with the Spinners and you'll see it soon. . . Chris Jasczek of Probity Productions tells us that he chatted with pianist Chick Corea when he was in Ann Arbor. last week (see The Vortex this issue) and Chick says that he is in the process of getting rid of all of his electronic instruments and putting a new, acoustically-oriented group together. Besides adding that Chick's performances with Gary Burton almost blew him out of his chair at Hill Auditorium, Jaszczek gave us some tips on new Probity scheduling: Gil Scott-Heron's planned appearance at the Showcase on Oct. 3 is being re-scheduled for later this fall, and Probity kicks off its first concert in the Ramona Theatre on Oct. 19 with saxophonist John Klemmer and Trinidad singer/songwriter ]oan Armatrading . . .

Speaking of tasty shows, Showcase Jazz in East Lansing (not to be confused with the Showcase Theatre in Detroit) has Oregon at Erikson Kiva Oct. 2-3, and pianist Bill Evans with his trio along with the John Payne Band at the Music Building Auditorium at MSU on Oct. 8-9 ... Count Basie and band come to the Plymouth Hilton Inn Ballroom for you heavy high-steppers Oct. 17 ... and Travis Biggs' very interesting String Machine now is at Dummy George's every Wednesday night for a new and different musical experience . . . Music biz whiz Bill Craig has been appointed Assistant National R&B Promotion Director at ABC Records, and he will continue ' - to work out of Detroit . . .