truesee's Blog

Charlie Sheen's Detroit show gets jeers, few cheers at Fox Theatre

B.J. HAMMERSTEIN
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Charlie Sheen's "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option" tour opened in Detroit on Saturday night with a boom. By the time he stepped off the stage a little after 10 p.m., it was an official bomb.

Wearing a Detroit Tigers jersey with "Warlock" emblazoned on the back, Sheen delivered a monologue, played videos, sat in the front row and talked loosely with the audience. But it didn't result in much of his famed catchphrase: "winning."

In front of a rowdy, often-dissatisfied sold-out Fox Theatre audience of 4,700 people, the embattled sitcom actor ranted and raved about anything and everything.

Trust me, "this is going somewhere," Sheen said as the crowd pondered his self-declared "radical" opening monologue. The 20-minute speech included many of his catchphrases, along with sayings like, "one giant heartbeat and one conscious thought."

But about 30 minutes into the show, the usual Sheen-isms started to sound old and tired. From the men's restroom to the expensive seats in front, it was a restless crowd, delivering plenty of jeers and only a few cheers.

The show had video montages throughout, including a "20/20" outtake reel that showed off his self-deprecating sense of humor. His so-called goddesses helped him burn a "Two and a Half Men" bowling shirt. Before it was all over, he asked the crowd if the goddesses should come out again. And then he asked them: How many goddesses do you have?

The show was a reminder that the pop culture phenomenon is serious about his beliefs, but most of the crowd wasn't entertained by the loose and disorganized attempt.

Valerie Piascik, 23, of Harrison Township said the videos were better than Sheen's live performance. "Wow, I am not sure what that was," she said from outside the Fox as Sheen was still on stage.

Bryan Gill, 53, of West Bloomfield said he was hoping for the best but saw the worst. "It was absolutely disappointing," he said. "Truly, it sucked."

Sheen, visibly worried that he was losing the audience, at times appeared close to becoming abrasive. He never completely fell apart, but at one point, he did tell a heckler, "Sorry dude, already got your money."

Near the end of the evening, with the booing intensifying, the 45-year-old Sheen slipped off stage in favor rapper Dirt Nasty. And then at about 10:10 p.m. -- roughly 70 minutes after Sheen's portion had started -- the houselights came on and most of the disappointed crowd headed for the exits, shell-shocked or angry.

For those who hung around, his "true, die-hard" fans, Sheen returned to the stage for about 15 minutes for meet-and-greets and the like.

WRIF-FM (101.1) host Drew Lane said if the tour continues like this, Sheen's career will be in jeopardy.

"It was bad," Lane said. "People were upset, but I don't think they knew what to expect. He's a movie star, not a stand-up comic."

LINK TO VIDEO 

http://www.freep.com/videonetwork/880763531001/Sheen-Scene-A-reporter-s-perspective

GOP shouldn't panic if whites become a minority

I think the picture is more complicated than that. And that the demise of the Republican Party is no more foreordained than it was a century ago when Italian, Jewish and Polish immigrants were pouring into the United States in proportions much greater than the Hispanic and Asian immigration of the past two decades.

The numbers do appear stark. The census tells us that 16 percent of U.S. residents are Hispanic, up from 13 percent in 2000 and 9 percent in 1990, and that 5 percent are Asian, up from 4 percent in 2000. The percentage of blacks held steady at 13. Among children, the voters of tomorrow, those percentages are higher.

But it's a mistake to see blacks, Hispanics and Asians as a single "people of color" voting bloc. The 2010 exit poll shows that the Republican percentages in the vote for the U.S. House were 60 percent among whites, 9 percent among blacks, 38 percent among Hispanics and 40 percent among Asians.

Simple arithmetic tells you that Hispanics and Asians vote more like whites than like blacks. The picture is similar in the 2008 exit poll.

Moreover, while blacks vote similarly in just about every state, there is wide variation among Hispanics. In 2010 governor elections Hispanics voted 31 percent Republican in California, 38 percent Republican in Texas and 50 percent Republican in Florida (where Cubans are no longer a majority of Hispanics).

As RealClearPolitics senior political analyst Sean Trende has written, Hispanics tend to vote 10 to 15 percent less Republican than whites of similar income and education levels. An increasingly Hispanic electorate puts Republicans at a disadvantage, but not an overwhelming one.

The same is true of Asians. In 2010 Democratic Sen. Harry Reid got 79 percent from Asians in Nevada, where many are Filipinos. But the Asians in Middlesex County, N.J., most of whom are from India, seem to have voted for Republican Gov. Chris Christie in 2009.

The 2010 census tells something else that may prove important: There's been a slowdown of immigration since the recession began in 2007 and even some reverse migration. If you look at the census results for Hispanic immigrant entry points -- East Los Angeles and Santa Ana, Calif., the east side of Houston, the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago -- you find that the Hispanic population has dropped sharply since 2000.

One reason is the business cycle. The 2000 census was taken on April 1, 2000, less than a month after the peak of the tech boom. Unemployment was low, immigration was high, and entry point houses and apartments were crammed with large families.

The 2010 census was taken after two years of recession, when immigration had slackened off. We simply don't know whether this was just a temporary response to the business cycle or the beginning of a permanent decline in migration.

Past mass migrations, which most experts expected to continue indefinitely, in fact ended abruptly. Net Puerto Rican migration to New York City stopped in 1961, and the huge movement of Southern blacks to Northern cities ended in 1965. Those who extrapolate current trends far into the future end up being wrong sooner or later.

Finally there is an assumption -- which is particularly strong among those who expect a majority-"people of color" electorate to put Democrats in power permanently -- that racial consciousness never changes. But sometimes it does.

American blacks do have common roots in slavery and segregation. But African immigrants don't share that heritage, and Hispanics come from many different countries and cultures (there are big regional differences just within Mexico). The Asian category includes anyone from Japan to Lebanon and in between.

Under the definitions in use in the America of a century ago, when Southern and Eastern European immigrants were not regarded as white, the United States became a majority nonwhite nation some time in the 1950s. By today's definitions we'll become majority nonwhite a few decades hence.

But that may not make for the vast cultural and political change some predict. Not if we assimilate newcomers, and if our two political parties adapt, as we and they have done in the past.

Michael Barone,The Examiner's senior political analyst

An Illinois man apparently believes a promise is a promise, even if it's from two unnamed strippers.

According to a Franklin Police report:

The 37-year-old Illinois man, who was staying at a Franklin motel went to On The Border gentlemen's club, 10741 S. 27th St., on Sunday night.

The man told police he spent $1,000 on lap dances from two dancers who told him they would come to his hotel room later that morning for private lap dances "on the house."

When the women failed to show up at the man's hotel room, he called police at 1:26 a.m. Monday morning believing he had been cheated.

Once again, a Facebook post has gotten a teacher into trouble.

The Paterson, N.J., school district suspended a first-grade teacher Friday to investigate charges from parents that she wrote on Facebook about feeling like a “warden” and referred to her students as future criminals, the Record newspaper reports.

“We are seeing more of these cases,” says Francisco Negrón, general counsel of the National School Boards Association.

Paterson school board president Theodore Best told the Record: “You can’t simply fire someone for what they have on a Facebook page; but if that spills over and affects the classroom, then you can take action.”

In February, the suspension of Pennsylvania high school teacher Natalie Munroe for Facebook posts about unnamed students sparked widespread debate about what’s appropriate when teachers use social media.

These cases are “emblematic of a very large social shift that’s taking place in the age of social media ... [where] the boundary between work and home is not nearly as distinct as it used to be,” says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

When people used to complain about their jobs over the backyard fence it usually stayed between neighbors, but when such comments are placed on a social media page, people need to realize they probably have a much larger audience than they intend, he says. “It’s a public act.”

School board president Mr. Best told the Record that he received messages from local NAACP members and others worried about the teacher’s comments.

The local teachers union told the Record that the suspended teacher will be provided with an attorney.

Ex-ref says Wilkins hit him first, tweets about incident

 Michael Cunningham and Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A former NBA referee was left with a swollen left eye and misdemeanor assault charges after he confronted and fought with Hawks TV analyst Dominique Wilkins following Wednesday night's game over an alleged $12,500 clothing debt.

 

Fulton County Rashan Michel

 

Rashan S. Michel was taken to Fulton County Jail after he was charged with two counts of simple battery, accused of assaulting Wilkins and a Philips Arena security guard. Michel was released from jail on $1,000 bond early Thursday. No court date has been set.

Court records show Michel filed suit last year against Wilkins in Fulton State Court, claiming the former player owed him money for clothes that Wilkins allegedly purchased from his business, Rashan Michel Custom Clothier. The business was dissolved in 2008, according to Secretary of State records.

On Thursday, Michel tried to explain his actions at Philips Arena in a local radio interview and on his Twitter account.

"I was like, ‘Let's handle this like men, work out a payment plan,'" Michel said on the Frank and Wanda Morning Show on V-103.

"I call what happened at Philips Arena earlier, Operation Repo. ... Next time have my money!” Michel tweeted.

In yet another tweet, this one addressed to Wilkins' Twitter account (DWilkins21), Michel wrote, "Pay your debts, poser."

Hawks spokesman Arthur Triche said the team has instructed Wilkins not to comment.

Wilkins also is a Hawks vice president who, according to the team's media guide, is responsible for "advising senior management on basketball-related issues and working as a strong voice in the community."

The incident took place near the Phillips Arena floor once Wilkins finished his broadcasting duties following the Hawks' game against the Orlando Magic.

Police said Michel made his way to the arena floor and confronted Wilkins along press row. Officer Kim Jones, an Atlanta police spokeswoman, said Michel hit Wilkins in the chest.

TMZ.com posted a low-quality video footage that begins after the incident had escalated and appears to show Wilkins throwing a punch as security personnel try to break up the scuffle.

Sekou Smith of NBA.com tweeted that Wilkins got in three solid punches during the brief fight, while his assailant landed none.

“A scuffle ensued, and we’re not real clear on what happened,” APD spokesman Carlos Campos said.

An arena employee with knowledge of the incident said Michel took a swing at Wilkins, who deflected the blow before shoving Michel into the first row of seats. An NBA security official tried to break up the fight but Wilkins shoved him aside, according to the employee.

Wilkins, who wasn't injured, punched Michel as the NBA security official, arena security and Hawks team security various security personnel broke up the fight, the employee said.

"It's unfortunate that something like that would go down here," Hawks center Al Horford said.

Hawks players' discussion of the incident centered around the police mugshot of Michel posted at AJC.com. Michel's left eye appeared to be nearly swollen shut.

"The results wasn't pretty," Hawks guard Joe Johnson said.

Michel, who is an Atlanta resident, was 23 and the NBA's youngest referee when he started working games in 1997, officiating until 2001. He later opened his clothing business.

Wilkins, 51, played for the Hawks from 1982 until 1994, and was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

State records showed that Michel owns A and R Motors Enterprises, which has an office address that matches Michel’s home on Summer Land Drive in Atlanta.

Wilkins had problems with the IRS around the time Michel’s clothing business closed. The federal government placed a lien against Wilkins’ house on Wisteria Vine Lane in Lilburn in 2008 for $37,833 in back taxes. The lien was released on Aug. 31.

Staff writers Alexis Stevens, Larry Hartstein and Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.

An argument over a haircut led to two women being cut, one of them by their mother.

Natasha Scott, 24, was mad that Kiara Shuford got her hair cut by Scott’s mother, said Sgt. Phil Demas, with the Hickory Police Department.

Scott and Shuford, 21, got in an argument over it in the parking lot at Civitan Court on 17^th Avenue, NE, on Wednesday. It escalated and the pair fought verbally and physically, Demas said.

Scott’s mother, Teresa Jean Imes, got involved in the fight and tried to cut Shuford with a knife. Although she sliced Shuford’s upper left arm, she also cut Scott’s lower left leg, Demas said.

Imes, 45, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injuries and was given a $2,000 secured bond.

Scott and Shuford were treated by EMS at Civitan Court before being taken to Frye Regional Medical Center.

6:21 p.m. CDT, March 31, 2011