Events
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Nightspots
Paul Keller Orchestra.: Zal Gaz Grotto
MoreZal Gaz Grotto 2070 W. Stadium, Ann ArborAward-winning 14-piece big band led by bassist Keller and featuring vocalist Sarah D’Angelo and occasional guest vocalists. Also, each week features a middle set by a guest college or high school student ensemble.
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FreeObserver Editor
Ann Arbor Stamp Club
MoreClub members show and discuss their finds from the club’s annual show (see 6 Friday). Also, a mini-auction of US & foreign stamps and covers. Visitors welcome. 7:30 p.m., Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1500 Scio Church Rd. Free. (734) 761–5859, [email protected], annarborstampclub.org.
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Observer Editor
Tartan and Thistle Scottish Country Dancers
MoreEvery Mon. Learn to dance jigs, reels, and strathspeys. All dances taught. Usually with live music by Susie Lorand, Josh Burdick, and friends. 7:30–9:30 p.m., Pittsfield Grange, 3337 Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. $10 suggested donation (first-timers free). (734) 474–7299, (734) 274–0773.
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FreeObserver Editor
Scandinavian Music Jam
MoreNov. 9 & 23. Bruce Sagan leads an acoustic jam session devoted to traditional music from the Scandinavian countries. All instruments welcome, no experience necessary. 7:30–9:30 p.m., location TBA; email [email protected]. Free.
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FreeObserver Editor
University Symphony Orchestra: U-M Music School
MoreKenneth Kiesler directs this music student ensemble in a program of music inspired by the stage highlighted by U-M Concerto Competition–winning mezzo-soprano Grace Ryan singing arias from two very different portrayals of Cinderella—Massenet’s tender and lyrical Cendrillon and Rossini’s dazzling and playful La Cenerentola. Also, Mozart’s sparkling Magic Flute overture and Richard Strauss’s exuberant Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, featuring virtuosic violin, cello, and piano soloists. Preceded at 7:15 p.m. by a brief talk. 8 p.m., Hill Auditorium. Free. (734) 764–2538.
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FreeObserver Editor
Comedy Show: The Blind Pig
MoreEvery Mon. Performances from up to 15 aspiring stand-up comics from around the state. Local comics emcee. Age 21 & up only. Free candy. 8–9:30 p.m., 208 S. First St. Free. (734) 996–8555.
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Nightspots
Open Stage.: Ark
MoreArk 316 S. Main, Ann ArborAll acoustic performers invited. Fifteen acts are selected randomly from those who sign up (doors open 7:30 p.m.) to perform 8 minutes (or 2 songs) each. The most talented and popular Open Stage performers are offered their own evenings at the Ark. $3 (members & students, free) at the door only.
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Nightspots
Heroes, Interlopers.: Ziggy’s
MoreZiggy’s 206 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti, YpsilantiChicago-based avant-garde string quartet whose music incorporates electronic soundscapes and extensive improvisations.
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FreeObserver Editor
“Sharon Mills Quilting Bee”: Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission
MoreNov. 1, 10, & 22. WCPARC docents lead both seasoned quilters and novices in stitching a traditional 1860s quilt top around a frame. Materials provided. The final product will be displayed in the historic cabin at Parker Mill. All ages welcome. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. (Sun.) & 10 a.m.–1 p.m. (Tues.), Sharon Mills Park, 5701 Sharon Hollow, Manchester. Free. (734) 971–6337, washtenaw.org/registerparks.
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FreeObserver Editor
“Investigate Labs”: U-M Museum of Natural History
MoreEvery Tues.–Sun., except Nov. 26. All age 6 & up invited into the museum’s labs to use scientific tools and museum specimens to answer questions and solve problems. The newest program examines how membranes can help solve water shortages. 11 a.m.–3 p.m., 1105 North University. Free. (734) 764–0478, ummnh.org.
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FreeObserver Editor
U-M Center for Chinese Studies Noon Lecture Series
MoreEvery Tues., except Nov. 24. Talks by U-M and visiting scholars.
Nov. 3: Columbia University Chinese studies professor Gavin Healy on “Foreign and Diaspora Tourism to Mao-Era China.”
Nov. 10: U-M Chinese studies professor Pär Cassel discusses a series of anti-missionary riots in the 1890s in “The Sacred Edict as Hate Speech: Griffith John, the Hunan Riots, and Qing Imperial Ideology.”
Nov. 17: U-M history professor Gyatso Marnyi on “Chinese and Muslim Refugees on the Tibetan Frontier, 1860–1965.”
Noon–1 p.m., 1010 Weiser Hall, 500 Church. Free. (734) 764–6308, [email protected].
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FreeObserver Editor
“Lunchtime Concert”: U-M Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments
MoreMonthly concert featuring a wide range of music performed by music students & faculty on instruments from across the centuries and around the globe. Noon, North Campus Research Complex, bldg. 18, 2800 Plymouth Rd. Free. (734) 417–3899.
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Observer Editor
Duplicate Bridge: Ann Arbor City Club
MoreEvery Tues., Thurs., & Fri., except Nov. 26. All invited to play ACBL-sanctioned duplicate bridge (Tues. & Fri.) and a game (Thurs.) for players with no more than 750 ACBL master points. 1–4 p.m. (arrive by 12:45 p.m.), 1830 Washtenaw Ave. $9–$11 per person. If you plan to come without a partner, email [email protected].
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FreeObserver Editor
Ann Arbor Area Scrabble Club
MoreEvery Tues., except Nov. 24. All invited to play the classic word game, using the 5th-edition Scrabble dictionary. Bring your own set, if you like. 3:30–8 p.m., Arbor Brewing Company Corner Brewery, 720 Norris, Ypsi. Free. [email protected], meetup.com/ann-arbor-scrabble-meetup.
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FreeObserver Editor
“Laughter in the Dark: The Consolation of Comedy”: U-M Philosophy Department Tanner Lecture on Human Values
MoreMIT philosophy professor Kieran Setiya discusses how we use humor to confront adversity, in particular how confessional comedy offers a temporary, interpersonal solution to the emotional problem of evil. 4–6 p.m., Rackham Amphitheatre. Free. (734) 764–6285, lsa.umich.edu/philosophy/news-events.
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FreeObserver Editor
Michigan Marching Band Practice
MoreEvery Mon.–Thurs., except Nov. 24–26. U-M’s highly disciplined 200+ member marching band or sections thereof can be seen and heard practicing on the new Elbel Field (across the street from the old Elbel Field). All welcome to find a spot in the bleachers and get a sneak preview of upcoming halftime shows. Rehearsals usually last 1–2 hours. 4:45 p.m., Hill at Fifth Ave. Free. (734) 764–0582.
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Nightspots
Easy Street Jazz Band.: Zal Gaz Grotto
MoreZal Gaz Grotto 2070 W. Stadium, Ann ArborEarly jazz classics from Scott Joplin and Bessie Smith to Louis Armstrong and beyond by this veteran local septet led by trombonist Terry Kimura.
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FreeObserver Editor
Game Night: Sylvan Factory
MoreEvery Tues. All invited to play board games, assemble a puzzle, paint miniatures, or try a tabletop role-playing game, all in a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. 5–9 p.m., 2459 W. Stadium. Free. (734) 929–5877, sylvanfactory.com.
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FreeObserver Editor
“Reading Through the Double Archival Grain: Yugoslav Socialist Humanitarianism and Its Whiteness”: U-M Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Borka Tomljenović Lecture
MoreUniversity of Mainz (Germany) cultural studies professor Čarna Brković discusses alternatingly ironic and nostalgic attitudes toward humanitarian activities in socialist Yugoslavia. 5:30–7 p.m., Michigan League, Vandenberg Rm. Free. (734) 764–0351, [email protected].
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Community ListingFree
“Yugoslav Socialist Humanitarianism and its Whiteness”: U-M CREES Annual Borka Tomljenović Lecture: Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
More911 North University Avenue, Vandenberg Room (2nd floor), Ann Arbor, MI
For the 2026 Annual Borka Tomljenović Lecture, Professor Čarna Brković will consider different forms of affective engagement with humanitarian activities in socialist Yugoslavia, including irony and nostalgia. Ironic engagement assumes that Yugoslav solidarity with formerly colonized populations during the Cold War was empty rhetoric, driven by a pragmatic desire to establish the country as a significant player on the geopolitical stage. Nostalgic engagement, by contrast, is shaped by the belief that Yugoslavs were motivated by an honest ideological commitment to solidarity and anti-racism that ultimately placed them on the “right side” of history. Both ironic and nostalgic engagements with socialist humanitarianism evaluate the past through contemporary ideas about solidarity, socialism, capitalism, and their interrelations.
To understand socialist humanitarianism on its own terms, Brković proposes reading it through the double grain of state socialism and the end of history. Such an analytical approach illuminates the role of racial socialism—socialist ideologies of “race” and local racial projects—and its interactions with global racial hierarchies, showing how these ideologies were shaped by particular value constellations.
By discussing a 1961 humanitarian initiative of the Yugoslav Red Cross that brought sixty children and young people from the Congo to Tivat, Montenegro, this talk sheds light on the workings of socialist whiteness. This was not a colourist project but rather a normative regime of political value with two key characteristics: it ascribed superiority to Yugoslavs on the basis of their greater socialist experience, and it overlooked present problems in favour of a future in which “race” would no longer matter.
Čarna Brković is professor of cultural studies and European ethnology at the University of Mainz. Dr. Brković has a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester and a BA in Ethnology and Anthropology from the University of Belgrade. In her European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant “Racial Socialism” (2026-2031) as well as in her book Realigning Humanitarianism in the Balkans: From Cold War Politics to Neoliberal Ethics (Indiana University Press, 2026), she studies historical projects of integrating the world differently, such as socialist humanitarianism and Europeanization.
https://ii.umich.edu/crees/news-events/events.detail.html/151290-21911323.html
