Zoe Muth
Seattleite Zoe Muth has drawn comparisons to Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells, the great female vocalists of country’s honky-tonk era. The music she makes with her band, the Lost High Rollers, is quiet and sparse, like that of...
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Metal Off Main
“Wow, now that’s what I call a big hint,” writes Ellen Willson. “This month was a challenge, until …” writes Ted Kennedy, “I paged through the Observer.” “I must admit this...
Read MoreThe Capitol Steps
When the Capitol Steps return for their annual Fourth of July shows at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, it will be their twenty-first consecutive visit. “They’ve become a part of the culture of the holiday in this...
Read MoreBarn Theater
Way off Off Broadway came to Ann Arbor by way of the Carriage House Theatre, a new group that’s presenting Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in a hundred-year-old barn on Third Street. The play opened June 23 and completes its...
Read MoreJamie on the Verge
When Jamie Weeder did multiple roles in the Blackbird Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream two years ago, she found herself playing three characters in the same scene. Director Barton Bund considered...
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All the Shell’s a Stage
After an April fund-raiser for Shakespeare West was nearly rained out, artistic director Barton Bund did what any imaginative risk-taker might. He announced an impromptu “Shakes Scramble” the following week at the...
Read MoreThe Deep Fried Pickle Project
The organizers of the free Top of the Park series at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival have generally favored local acts, but it’s easy to see why they chose Kalamazoo’s Deep Fried Pickle Project for this year’s...
Read MoreCAECC Spring Festival
A Chinese New Year performance in April? I was confused, but Auntie Ning explained that the Chinese American Educational and Cultural Center (CAECC) Spring Festival event was going to be like a “Chinese Nutcracker,”...
Read MorePaul Thorn at the Ark
Singer-songwriter Paul Thorn has said that his music is “kind of like going to church with a six-pack.” Thorn knows whereof he speaks. He grew up in Tupelo, MS, the son of a Pentecostal preacher, soaking up deep soul...
Read MoreLimited engagement
When U-M theater grad Torrey Wigfield ran into Jason Segel at the corner of Liberty and Main in May, the movie star greeted him warmly. The two had met a few days earlier when Wigfield auditioned for Five Year Engagement, a...
Read MoreThe Appleseed Collective 2011
The Appleseed Collective is true to its name, at least the “collective” part; “appleseed” I can’t vouch for. Members of the Ann Arbor band–Andrew Brown on guitar, Brandon Smith on fiddle and...
Read MoreThe Summer Fest Rebounds
“Steve Martin will be selling out in a couple of hours,” Ann Arbor Summer Festival director Robb Woulfe predicted in late April.After a rocky couple of years, Woulfe is again daring to exhale. After the economy...
Read MoreStacey Earle and Mark Stuart
Soon after Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart began their set at the Nor-East’r Music and Art Festival two years ago, our then fifteen-year-old daughter turned to my wife and me and whispered, “They have voices that make...
Read MoreThe Mini-Maker Faire
The first time my children and I attended the Mini-Maker Faire, we were greeted at the entrance by two young men in silk vests and top hats. They doffed their hats and bowed with a flourish I have not seen since my last...
Read MoreSome Couples May
The Purple Rose is twenty years old this year. If it were a person, it would be old enough to vote and almost old enough to drink. And maybe that’s why it seems to be acting out a little bit this year. Earlier this year...
Read MoreSean Dobbins & the Modern Jazz
Some years ago a boy named Sean Dobbins joined the jazz band at Washtenaw Community College that was directed by Morris Lawrence. Lawrence took in kids of every level of ability and had developed a repertoire of original tunes...
Read MoreWord Power
What brings a pair of Pulitzer Prize winners to town in May? Nope, it’s not the U-M commencement. Novelists Richard Ford and Jeffrey Eugenides will be at 826Michigan’s “Storymakers Dinner” at...
Read MoreOde to a Picture Palace
I love the State Theater. To paraphrase Shakespeare, I clasp it to my bosom with hopes of steel.Many Ann Arbor moviegoers will likely snort at my affection, and not without reason. What adjectives would one apply to the State in...
Read MoreSherlock Jr.
My great affection for the Buster Keaton classic Sherlock Jr. was the reason I didn’t get hired as the Detroit Free Press film critic back in the 80s. At least I presume it was, because when as part of the application...
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