The Michigan Daily To my landlord: All of this talk about the Michi- gan Student Assembly axing fund- ing forthe Ann Arbor Tenants'Union raises an important issue: landlords throughout the city gouge their stu- dent-tenants with impunity while forcing them to live in Dickensian slums. Unfortunately, an equally im- portant, yet often neglected issue is being swept under the proverbial shag carpet: landlord abuse. I know this because last year, as ,, .5 ' r .} Id. I L HA , HA, HA11 HAHA 11 Second City, does Motor City VI f I , . '11 4.~- - 7 K ' 4 the appointed legal counsel for my housemates, I was personally re- sponsible forblackmailing, malign- ing, misleading and, though per- haps only indirectly, killing my land- lord. The conflictbegan lastfall, when the city housing inspector was about to pay her annual visit. Our landlord asked us a favor: to move all of the furniture outof the attic bedroom, which she casually informed us was an illegal fire hazard. As honest tenants, we could not think of deliberately misleading a city inspector. Instead, we chose the high road: blackmail. Since the in- spector was scheduled to visit the next day, I found myself dialing the landlord at midnight with a cheer- ing section of overzealous housemates behind me. Our offer: we would be happy to accommodate the request. But as safety-conscious students, we couldn't have our fellowhousemate, Jon, put his life on the line every time he rested his head on his pillow in his attic bedroom. Not unless we got something for it, anyway. The main flaw in this tactic is that when the city inspector made her visit, she didn't particularly care that our landlord was breaking the law. The other flaw was that as soon as we started talking tough, the son of our landlord (our original land- lord soon passed away) began han- dling matters. This amounted to an increase of about 200 pounds in net landlord weight. Despite his many fine landlordly qualities, such as the ability to fix most broken items in the house for 99 cents or less, we did not consider our new landlord to possess a par- ticularly astutemind. Soat thispoint, we considered a variety of schemes which involved tricking him into thinking we were paying the rent when we actually weren't. One popular idea was to invite him to a sit-down and place hamburgers in front of him in order to exact rent concessions. Eventually, we abandoned the hamburger strategy in favor of the more simple plan of unilaterally re- ducing our rent. In a brief letter to our landlord, we outlined the rea- sons we were reducing the rent, and made sure to do all of the necessary math for him. Seeking to end the conflict, he agreed to lower the rent in return for a promise that we would issue no more demands. But he had shown weakness, and we smelled blood. Fearing he would exact retribution and withhold our substantial security deposit at the end of the year, we refused to pay our last two months' rent. We as- sumed that for our embattled land- lord, legal action would be too costly and time-consuming. It is fair to say that this action was a mean, cynical, double-cross. But we were pretty sure it would work. A week later, we were receiving subpoenas. We had placed our en- tire faith in the bloated, inefficiency nf the Ann Arhnr lo lvte.m and '-If ,. } I' It Jfl tl"' £4 By ALISON LEVY ILLUSTRATION BY JORDAN ATLAS Fr r4ooooolql 6 etroit. It's called Motown. It's called the Motor City. It's called Murder City. And now it can be called Mike Ilitch City. The pizza king's latest venture is bringing The Second City to town. In 1959, entrepreneur Bernie Sahlins opened the first Second City in Chicago. In the 34 years since the doors opened, the comedy club has become one of the hottest draws in Chicago. This is partly because its alumni (see adjoining story) have gone onto fame and fortune on "Saturday Night Live" and on the big screen. In 1974, a Second City opened in Toronto and while it does not have as impressive an alumni roster as its Chicago counterpart, box office suc- 'cess has not yet been a problem. So two years ago, looking for an invest- ment and another draw to his Fox Center, Ilitch listened to a friend rave about the club and sent his son (Atanas of rock fame) to Chicago to check out the possibility of opening one in De- troit. Last week, the 6.5 million dollar facility opened. Besides the 300 seat theater, the building also offers the two-level 350 seat restaurant, Risata, featuring Italian cuisine presented by Mike Prainito, the executive chef at the Fox theater and Mike McFarland of The Beverly Hills Grill. Over 750 comedians and actors, both amateur and professional audi- tioned to be members of Detroit's Second City comedic troupe. In the end, eight comedians, including one understudy, were chosen. While otherwise an eclectic group, all of the chosen eight are from Michi- gan. And two, performers Angela Shelton and Andy Newburg, are U of M alumni. While none of the mem- bers of the talented cast is famous yet, several have family ties to well- known Detroit personalities. Shelton is the daughter of Detroit mayoral candidate Sharon McPhail, andJackie Purtan's famous dad is radio funnyman Dick Purtan of WKQI. Helping her father on his shows has been a strong background for the comic. "I worked on my Dad's show where it's 'make it up, and make it up now,"' said Purtan. Second City's first show, "Power to the People ... Mover," will play throughout the company's first few months. Focusing on Detroit and its people, the show has a wide target at which to aim. One skit tells of a couple from suburbia who are spending their first days in their new Detroit apart- ment. This (like many of the first skits) is taken from the most success- ful spots in Chicago. The performance material will change every three to four months to keep the show fresh and to keep the audiences coming. If Second City's first performance was any indication, pulling in a full house will not be a problem. Opening night, Wednesday September 14, packed in audiences from wall to wall. The crowd who got the first live glimpse of the new show was not just comprised of lucky Detroiters - it also included "Cheers" star George Wendt, movie star and Chelsea local JeffDaniels, Danny DeVito and Penny Marshall (both in the area filming "Renaissance Man"), as well as con- troversial anchorman Bill Bonds. To give Detroiters who couldn't make opening night an incentive to check the place out at a later date, WDIV broadcast the performance locally. Atanas Ilitch, the show's producer, thinks that Second City will draw a younger crowd due to the genre of the comedy and the youth of the perform- ers. "We're very young and it's very exciting," he says. The average age of the cast is 24-years-old. While the prospect of good com- edy in Detroit is both a boost for the city and entertainment for its resi- dents, Mike Ilitch's interest in the cabaret is obviously not purely for his own entertainment. The theater is situ- ated next to his Fox Theater and adja- cent toThe Gem Theater on Woodward in the downtown area. Add Ilitch's newest venture to his recent acquisi- tion of the Detroit Tigers and Tiger Stadium, and it becomes obvious that he is trying to do what none before him have been able to accomplish: rebuild Detroit. Ilitch does not hesi- tate to say that he hopes that his prop- erties will combat the flight from De- troit and bring people back to experi- ence the positive aspects of the city. "I feel the activity is going to pick up," said the elder Ilitch, "I think entrepreneurs are beginning to take an interest in Detroit." Indeed, if Sec- ond City's tradition of drawing subur- banites into the city carries over from Chicago, it seems Ilitch will not be the only one in Detroit laughing happily.- According toAlan Lichenstein, the Nederlander Organizations director of theater operations, Second City has opportunity to succeed. "They're do- ing a great job of marketing,," he said. "I ran into son'tebody in a bar the other night and he said, 'Oh yeah, I've al- ready got my tickets for October 7."' The advance sellouts may be a great thing for the performers and for the Ilitches, but last minute comedy- goers will find themselves coming out for a laugh and seeing nothing more than the parking valets. At this point tickets must be bought about a month in advance. So, if you're thinking of escaping Ann Arbor for some well-needed laughs, head to Second City. Just make sure to call ahead for tickets. Second City's shows run Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8:30 and 10, Sundays at 8. Cail 965-2222 for tickets. ..;?;