.....~ ~~.....:........ ......Rs ar n s
:::~~~~~~~~~~. .:::::..::.^.::::::..:.:.:.. ..:.. .......... ..........
..................
5" ::'::::::: A"J::: J~~~~~~~~~~.S ...:N:J:: :v :r ::::::{ :::::... ':J:JA::"::.::::...'..':.. .:":::.:.. . . J: "........: ::........ :.....
-w
W
'CC f 7 ?f>$$7{ '1 } }.}' 111 }7lj }}II }}}}1'$' }}' 111;; }ifL? j{1%.7:1'7111115:;7.>Y711 r1'$r L4:;I;'" [SI.}71! ]{11 t11t>I ! [1 1 11 }]1111:7}1C}r}' [+7:1? }71
Y:
....................... ................................... ....... ........... t i .......................................... .................................................................
Delong's:
By Stephen Gregory
It's 2:00 a.m. Saturday night
(Sunday morning, for the picky), and
you're starving. The Jug is closed,
and you're just not in the mood for a
desert-dry muffin at Grandma Lee's
or even a slice of pizza at Bell's.
What to do?
Well, you could give in and go to
Bell's ( but please don't go to
Grandma Lee's under any circum-
stances), but better yet, why not go
to Delong's Bar-B-Q Pit in Kerry
Town.
To put it bluntly, Delong's has
probably the best barbecued chicken
and ribs in town.
Delong, the owner of the place,
recommends the ribs if you're really
hungry. But after a quick perusal of
the menu, you'll realize there are
many more tasty eats to be had..
Those of you who are not into
beef and chicken may want to turn
the page right now. If you can't
stand fish too, then go ahead and
turn it; Delong's has nothing for
you (except maybe an order of french
fries dipped in a spicy barbecue sauce
that's been in Delong's family for
generations. But don't ask Delong
best ribs in town
Drive-ins: Endangered species of
One of the last outdoor theaters
n t
in the area hopes to survive
Ar
for the recipe, he won't give it to
you).
If you do like fish, then feast
yourself on the likes of a fried trout
or catfish sandwich. Delong recom-
mends the trout. Or maybe you'd
like an order of shrimp, scallops, or
even oysters.
If you're really into ribs, Delong's
got 'em in more ways than one. You
can get a small-end rib dinner which
offers the most meat but rings in at
$7.80. Or you can get a medium-end
dinner which has less meat and is 50
cents cheaper. If you're so hungry
that your own ribs are showing, then
maybe you should consider a full
slab that runs an even $13. Each
dinner comes with home-made slaw,
fries, and a piece of white bread
wrapped in wax paper. You can eat
the bread during dinner, but you
should really wait until you're fin-
ished and use the bread to mop up
the sauce left on the plate. White
bread never tasted so good.
For those of you who like really
hot food, the sauce is probably a lit-
tle too mild, but Delong will make
it spicier for yogi if you want. All
you got to do is ask.
Delongrconvertedta gas station at
the corner Detroit St. and Fifth Av-
enue into the barbecue pit in 1964,
and Ann Arbor residents have fre-
quented the place ever since.
"Ain't too many people in Ann
Arbor we haven't delivered to at one
time," Delong said.
Oh yeah, Delong's delivers any
where in Ann Arbor. Of course,
there's a charge, but if you're a stu-
dent, it's only 50 cents rather than
the $1 everyone else has to pay.
If you're the person in the scenario
at the beginning of this review,
though, you're out of luck. Delong's
only delivers until 1:30 a.m. on
Fridays and Saturdays and until
12:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays,
Thursdays, and Sundays.
Delong's is open until 3:00 a.m.
weekends and 1:00 a.m. during the
week.
The pit opens everyday at 11:00
a.m. except Tuesdays when Delong
and company take a much needed day
of rest.
Delong's is located at 314 Detroit
Street on the corner of Fifth Avenue
in Kerry Town. For delivery call
665-2266.
z
z2
z
0
z
WU
YU
WU
Delong prepares an order of barbecued chicken.
FE 44099
LIVING COLOUR
VIVID
including: Ow
Middle Man/Desperate People
Memo"is Can'*"Wat
Open Letter (To A Lndlord)
Cull Of Personality
SEE LIVING COLOR
MONDAY, SEPT. 19
By Joshua Ray Levin
The slight nip in the air is ad-
dressed with a blanket and some
cuddling. The lack of space is cor-
rected by the dangling of feet out a
passenger seat window. And every-
one is having fun despite the fact
that a 35-foot tall Freddy Krueger is
stalking towards the car.
It's a September night in Michi-
gan. It's Saturday night at the drive-
in.
For those sheltered souls who,
have only seen movies from
uncomfortable seats in the Cineplex
Odeons and the living room couches
of the world, salvation is just down
Michigan Avenue at the Wayne 1-2-
3-4 drive-in theater. But those who
want to partake in this outdoor
experience had better hurry because
the drive-in theater is an endangered
species.
Although drive-ins triumphed over
the onslaught of television in the
'50s as a cheaper, more convenient
form of entertainment, there are far
greater threats to outdoor movie the-
aters today. The rising costs of real
estate has caused even profitable
drive-ins to fold. Also, cable acces-
sibility and VCRs have cut into
drive-in audiences and limited the
availability of first and second run
movies for the drive-ins to show.
Drive-ins nationwide have been
closing at a rate of over 600 a year.
Although the Wayne has been a
consistent moneymaker since its in-
ception in 1949, its own people
speculate that the theater will even-
tually succumb to the Ford plant
next door. Nevertheless, the Wayne
and its employees keep their hopes
up that it will survive.
Drive-ins like the Wayne exploded
into Americana in the late '40s. The
post-war period saw the advent of
America's second Peculiar Institu-
tion: the suburb. As the country's
leisure-crazed population spread out
in radii around the cities and grew
more obsessed.with automobiles, the
need for accessible entertainment
grew. Young families looking for
something to do on a weekend night
were hesitant to spend money on a
baby sitter, transportation, tickets;
refreshments, and parking, just to
see a show- at a city theater. Drive-
ins were, for the most part, less ex-
pensive, closer by, offered double
features, and one could take the kids
with them. Drive-ins were also more
comfortable and more open than in-
door theaters, and definitely more
romantic.
As the 'burbs grew, so did the
drive-ins and their popularity to the
point where, in 1958, there were al-
most 5,000 outdoor theaters nation-
wide serving an estimated six mil-
lion moviegoers a night. The drive-
ins also became "cheap motels" for
young lovers suffocating under the
staid morality of the pre-Sex Revo-
lution '50s. Despite denials from
many a drive-in owner, the outdoor
theaters have always been viewed as
"passion pits." As the ritual goes,
families park in the front, couples
that are just dating in the middle, and
serious lovers occupy the darker ar-
eas in the back. To save their
reputations, drive-ins have pushed
the family theme and often patrol the
cars to gain approval from parents
(and disdain from those parked).
But perhaps the biggest drawing
power for drive-ins have been that
they are simply different - different
from indoor theaters, different from
any other form of entertainment.
They also show different movies,
which are usually "worse" than the
films at the indoor theaters. The
main staples of drive-in viewing
have traditionally been sex, horror,
and right-wing action flicks. How-
ever, the movies themselves hold
little importance to the drive-in
regular. Said one viewer at the
Wayne during the intermission be-
tween Night of the Demons and
Defense Play, "The movie? Who
cares?"
The Wayne, and others like it,
serve as a gathering place for local
teens and couples. Small circles of
vans, trucks, and cars are surrounded
by smoking, drinking, and otherwise
partying folks who seemingly never
watch the screen.-But for those
celluloid connoisseurs who are em-
broiled in every car chase, slaughter,
and love scene, the Wayne is never
too raucous to interfere with their
viewing. The mix of people attend-
ing one of the Wayne's four nightly
double features varies from the
partiers and lovers to seniors and
families sitting on their hoods or
bundled up in lawn chairs alongside
their cars. Everyone gets along, un-
less a drive-in rookie (like myself,
the first time I went to the Wayne)
walks between the cars and snags the
cord between the in-car speakers and
their poles.
In the concession booths, about
three quarters of the lot back from
each screen, one can choose from
standards like popcorn and candy to
burgers, dogs, and egg rolls, and the
cashiers seem to know everyone.
Part of the appeal of the Wayne is
the welcome feeling viewers get
from other moviegoers and the
Wayne's staff. A great deal of that
See DRIVE-IN, Page 8
- 2
A van pulls up to the box office at the Wayne Drive-in Theater.
LIVE AT THE NECTARINE BALLROOM
Also avalable on cassette
Meet Them Before the Show
at Schoolkids
Call for details
994-8031
Living Color on EPIC records available at Schoolkids
on Vinyl, Cassette, and Disc
Scorcese'
'Christ'
By Michael Fischer
"I'm throwing away the law.
Didn't they tell you? I'm the
saint of blasphemy!"
- Jesus, declaring His arrival
as the Messiah, to the rabbis of
the Temple in Martin Scorsese's
The Last Temptation of Christ
It is supremely ironic that
however "blasphemous" the
maverick theology of The Last
Temptation of Christ may be,
this very blasphemy - the
fictional portrayal of Jesus Christ
as a human who strives to
become God of his own free will
- is the device of the film's
stunning affirmation of faith in
Christ, the same spiritual martyr
whom many mistakenly believe
the film is out to slander.
Here, in drawing a Christ who
becomes "the end of the old law
and the beginning of the new,"
director Martin Scorsese
anticipates with a bold salvo the
response to deny his interpretive
vision, likening his fifteen-year
mission of making this film to
the spiritual struggle of Christ.
Details such as this are no mean
evidence of an already great di-
rector working at the height of
his power. Far from blasphemy,
this inspired masterpiece seeks to
'S
"
reaffirms
overcome the status quo and
infuse a universal symbol of faith
with the new blood needed to
revive its inspirational power in a
computerized age of reason.
The mission must first declare
cinematic blasphemy against the
stuffy pageantry of Hollywood's
conventional account of Biblical
history, the Nordic-looking
"Israelites" with grand
Shakespearean accents. In this
film, only three characters speak
in British voices: a flame which
is Satan, the false guardian angel
sent as his emissary to tempt
Jesus, and the evil Roman
governor Pontius Pilate (David
Bowie).
Instead, the Middle Eastern
faces of Scorsese's apostles,
money changers, and pagan
zealots - pasted with sweat and
grime - reveal the toughness of
a desert life that is reflected in
shockingly disaffected American
East-Coast accents. It's as if the
director finds a sympathetic
parallel in this Holy Land to the
dregs of the modern city's mean
streets, ones who need hope
most. Eschewing special effects,
Scorsese creates a folkish Judaea
of North African Berbers and
Black kings, of bazaars and
brothels as well as ritual
baptisms. It's a strikingly gritty
and human realism informed by
ti
ti
P
ii
a
S
p
1
Pc
T
e
h
ti
th
d
to
f
C
cc
i
h
G
a
f
w
a]
r
5
t
d
contron
d E.Liberty994-8031
Mon.-Sot. 10-9, Sun. 10-8
See Our New CD Room.
Ann Arbor's Leading CD
Collection has a new home!
PAGE 16 WEEKEND/SEPTEMBER 16, 1988
WEEKEND/SEPTEMBER 16, 1988