In the pursuit of thrills, circuses have ranged from the breathtaking heights of aerial acrobats and human cannonballs to the sordid depths of overworked, abused animals and sideshow ignominy. This colorful and complex spectacle...
Read MoreMy first impression of Graham Parsons is that he’s a confident front man; he’s wearing red pants, and, well, you just don’t go on stage wearing red pants unless you know what you’re doing. Then, as I...
Read MoreThe last years of the 1930s were milestones in the development of the jazz guitar. In 1939 an unknown young man named Charlie Christian joined the Benny Goodman Sextet on the new electric version of the six-string instrument...
Read MoreAs U-M students stream into the Michigan Theater on a Sunday evening to attend a Michigan Pops Orchestra performance, the space is alive with chatter and laughter. Known for peppering its semiannual themed concerts with videos,...
Read MoreThe Fab Faux are to Beatles cover bands what the Vienna Philharmonic is to Beethoven cover bands: the best in the business.Some may laugh at that comparison, though few would deny the need to cover Beethoven. The deaf...
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In the very first poem in A. Van Jordan’s new collection, The Cineaste, the poet describes a moment during a showing of the old German expressionist film Metropolis at the Michigan Theater in 2010:Movies provide my last...
Read MoreThere are people everywhere, but the first person I hear is Richard Snake. His laugh is so distinct: loud and powerful. It echoes down the hall, reaching above the distant powwow drums. Prayers and laughter fill the...
Read MoreNot so long ago, old-time music was mostly the province of urban refugees living the pastoral dream in rural New England. But it’s benefited from a modest yet definite revival. The twenty-something California singer and...
Read MoreThe current EMU exhibit Subverting Modernism: Cass Corridor Revisited 1966-1980, reintroduces some of the manifold art to emerge from that restless place and time. Detroit’s violent, post-industrial collapse is easy to...
Read MoreWhen jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer Dave Brubeck left us in December a day before turning ninety-two, his life was celebrated by news outlets all over the world. For many, he was remembered for the performances and...
Read MoreJeff Koons tasks the lifting of paintbrushes to his tightly controlled troop of 150 paid assistants. Andy Warhol relied upon an assembly line of hired hands to mass-produce his silkscreens and lithographs. And even Michelangelo...
Read MoreThe current crown prince of kiddie rock is coming to town. The news that Justin Roberts and his Not Ready for Naptime Players are returning to the Ark this month has undoubtedly served as a wake-up call for their many mini...
Read MoreAnne Carson is a classicist who has become one of the leading poets of our time. As one might expect, the classics inform almost all of her work. As readers we come to expect that we will be finding some of the old connections...
Read MoreJeff Daniels is the author of fifteen plays, his latest–The Meaning of Almost Everything–now premiering at the Purple Rose. As the last sentence of his program bio wryly notes, “He also acts.” But this...
Read MoreIt was just starting to get dark as we set out on the trail during the Leslie Science & Nature Center Owl Prowl. Raptor program director Francie Krawcke said a nesting pair of eastern screech owls had been spotted the...
Read MoreCall it what you want–indie folk, folk-rock, Americana–but banjo-driven hooks and plaintive country-influenced melodies are the pop music flavor of the moment, from Mumford & Sons to the Lumineers. Detroit band...
Read MoreSome orchestras know what they want in a music director. Chicago wants power, aka bombast, while Boston wants elegance, aka tedium, Cleveland wants diplomacy, aka don’t piss off the donors, while Philadelphia wants tact,...
Read MoreEach spring semester, several U-M Asian student groups mount “cultural night” presentations to share the cultures of their home countries in their adopted student environments. As it works out, it’s mostly...
Read MoreWhen Nikky Finney won the National Book Award in 2011 for her collection of poems, Head Off & Split, I spent a few hours rereading her work and trying to summarize my response to it. I was left with reactions that seemed at...
Read MoreFor a band that still hasn’t even released its debut album, Wild Belle has accumulated a remarkable amount of public adoration. The band has been highlighted in gushing features in Rolling Stone, T: The New York Times...
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