Thursday • 9
The Last Atomic Bomb
MUSHROOM
CLOUD
It may not be a golden jubilee — 62 years is a pretty
nondescript span of time — but that doesn't make this
anniversary of the 1945 nuclear blasts in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki any less relevant. In an attempt to promote
awareness about the horrors of nuclear weaponry, the
Detroit Area Peace with Justice Network will show Robert
Richter's documentary, "The Last Atomic Bomb," which
follows survivor Sakue Shimohira's recollections as a
10-year-old girl. Anabel Dwyer, an attorney and nuclear
policy expert, will be among the speakers at the event,
and choral group Motoko and Friends will perform while
wearing traditional Japanese summer kimonos. Beginning
at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of Fatima, 13500 Coolidge Hwy.,
Oak Park; call 248-318-7678 for more info.
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Thursday • 9
Gore Gore Girls
CHICKS, GUITARS
AND CARS
Detroit's fave chick band released its latest, Get
the Gore, this summer and will perform at, yes, the
Henry Ford as part of the Rock Stars' Cars and Guitars
exhibit. But after a decade of being, uh, "rock stars,"
what can be said about the fetching trio (or duo, or
quintet) that hasn't already been said by us? They're
wild, they're sexy, they're pretty fucking good, and
they're playing at the Henry Ford Museum, 20900 Oakwood
Blvd., Dearborn; call 313-982-6001.
Friday-Sunday • 10-12
15th Annual Caribbean
International Festival
ISLAND STRUT
From reggae to calypso to soca and zouk, the gamut of
Caribbean styles ring out across Hart Plaza for the
annual Caribbean International Festival. Just to
name-check the headlining closing acts, there's steel
drum and calypso music with Nite Flight on Friday (10:30
p.m.), soca on Saturday with Leon Coldero, Roger George
and Code 868 Band (10:30 p.m.), and roots reggae with
Culture (featuring vocalist Kenyatta Hill) on Sunday (10
p.m.). The music starts at noon each day with DJs mixing
with live bands; Caribbean foods will be for sale, of
course. And there's the sight to behold Saturday, the
carnival parade, starting at 11 a.m., when audaciously
costumed carnival ladies — virtually small parade floats
in their regalia — sashay to island beats while heading
down Jefferson, from Chene Park to Hart Plaza. More info
at myccco.com.
Friday-Saturday • 10-11
Cass Tech
Homecoming
SCHOOL SPIRIT
With an alum roster that includes Diana Ross, Lily
Tomlin, Jack White, Alice Coltrane, Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick, NBA and NFL players, auto execs, Miss USAs,
etc., the all-city Cass Tech has been Detroit's most
renowned high school by far. The centennial of its
founding in a long-razed downtown site is being
celebrated with a call-out to reconnect alums and former
faculty with a weekend of activities at the Detroit
Historical Museum and at the new Cass Tech building
(which is being transformed so each floor depicts a
separate era of the school's past; sadly, the 1917-2005
school building was damaged in a blaze last week). The
activities include a block party, school tours, a
black-tie gala and a reception featuring Morris Day
& the Time (what, where're Ross and White?). For
information, see detroithistorical.org or call
888-815-4468.
Saturday • 11
War Machine
KISS THIS
It's a Kiss tribute band! In a fully made-up,
bewigged and tongue-wagging mode, no less. War Machine,
a Livonia-based group led by Gene Simmons impersonator
Kenny Mann, will perform Kiss covers, of course, amid
flashing lights and fog machines. Judging from recent
Kiss tours, this has gotta be better than the real
thing. At the Historic Wayne Theatre, 35164 Michigan
Ave., Wayne; call 734-728-7469 or visit
historicwaynetheatre.com for more info. Oh, and of note
— the Historic Wayne Theatre, around since the 1920s, is
struggling to keep its doors open. Do your part.
Saturday • 11
MONA Unplugged
OVERLOADED
Any given museum will hide away the majority of its
collection, rotating the wall displays every few months.
In a cluttered attempt to break from this norm and show
the public what it's got, all the art that's stuffed in
the museum's bowels — every mural, painting, panel and
photograph — will be on display. At the Museum of New
Art, 7 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac; call 248-210-7560.
Sunday • 12
American Idols Live
CULTURAL
ANTITHESES
American Idol has to suck. Bunch of starlets
and what-not clamoring for 15 minutes for some dismal
hope of celebrity. But ... some of them are good.
Like, really good. This year's Melinda Doolittle
inspired chills with her rendition of "My Funny
Valentine." And we can't forget Flint's own Lakisha
Jones, who wowed all the judges — not just drug-addled
Paula Abdul — with her soul-shaking pipes. The top ten
contestants of the madly popular show will perform at
the Palace of Auburn Hills, 4 Championship Dr., Auburn
Hills; call 248-377-0100.
Tuesday-Sunday • 14-19
Wayne County
Fair
CARNIES!
Wayne County once encompassed the entire lower
peninsula of Michigan, as well as portions of Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois. Sure, the county's slightly
smaller these days, and it's a stretch to describe much
of Wayne as anything close to bucolic or agrarian, but
the fair still attracts RV-loads of visitors from the
tri-county area. It's wonderfully dated — livestock
shows take place on several of the days, featuring
swine, sheep, rabbit, llama and (pre-butchered) beef, to
name a few. There are rides, games, foods, a doll
dressing contest (yeah, that's quaint), singers and
dancers, demolition derbies and a Mexican rodeo. A
ride-all-day pass on Tuesday is only $2; every day
afterward the fee is $12. Camping grounds are available.
At the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Belleville, at exit
190 off of I-94; waynecountyfair.net
Ongoing
Southern Baptist
Sissies
DECLOSETED
The Sissies are back! After a successful June run,
the unabashedly over-the-top Ringwald Theatre is
presenting Southern Baptist Sissies, a kind of
bildungsroman about four young'uns accepting
spirituality and flaming homosexuality. The show's
irreverent, introspective and, of course, hilarious.
Performances from Friday to Sunday are $15, the Monday
shows are $10. Running from Aug. 10 to Aug. 27 at the
Ringwald Theatre, 22742 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; call
248-556-8581 for more information.
