Despite the continuing U.S. sanction against any cultural exchange with Iran, the U-M Museum of Art plans to open Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran on Saturday, September 29. The first major body of Iranian...
Read MoreAs recently as six or seven years ago, the Ark would virtually shut down for the summer. Now it runs straight through, except for an Art Fair hiatus, and this summer the place seems to be trying out an unusual number of new...
Read MoreClassic rock has always inspired Patti Smith, even in the 1970s punk years when she was defying and blaspheming the mainstream with her Beat-poetic visions. Her 1974 B-side "Piss Factory" included a character talking...
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I’m not an engineer or at all mechanical, but the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor Area Robotics Club meetings are for hobbyists, not professionals, and are open to the public. Inside Corsa Instruments’ workshop, people are...
Read MoreSea of Fools, at the Purple Rose through September 1, brings to life a watershed moment in the acting craft, dear to virtually every repertory actor in the United States today. Somewhere around 1950 powerful plays about...
Read MoreVersatility has been the hallmark of pianist Tad Weed's career. Raised in a family of professional musicians in Jackson, he studied the classics at Central Michigan University and eventually relocated to California. His...
Read MoreOn Saturday, August 25, one of Ann Arbor’s best-loved and most notorious bands will reunite for a show at the Blind Pig.Dan Mulholland, Ann Arbor’s ubiquitous frontman (or, as he will sometimes say, the world’s...
Read MoreOn a warm night in June, the beautiful Black Crystal Cafe — fast becoming one of Ann Arbor's most popular "house concert" listening rooms — hosted Bill Bynum, a powerhouse country-bluegrass musician and...
Read MoreGo to the MySpace page of Texas-to-New York transplant Carrie Rodriguez and you'll hear "'50s French Movie," an artful, sexy piece of half-talk about a young woman attracted to a mysterious guy. The basic...
Read MoreUnquiet photos of toylike bombers, clangorous streets, and pregnant men in the U-M Museum of Art show of contemporary Japanese photographers collectively suggest a modern anomie concerned with uneasy relationships to others and...
Read MoreMy desire to see The Little Fugitive during its two-night run at the Michigan Theater on Sunday and Tuesday, July 8 and 10, arises from many interests. As a film lover, I can't pass up the opportunity to view this much...
Read MoreA few years ago, Matthew Pearl's novel The Dante Club carved out a unique place for itself on the various best-seller lists. In it Pearl combined original historical research into the work and lives of leading...
Read MoreGood jazz seems to thrive on a tension between the future and the past, but stagnates when players only look back over their shoulders. Today, while the dull mainstream re-creates the 1950s and 1960s, there are musicians who,...
Read MoreThe place is full and there are not one but two people videotaping. I assume the guy at the microphone is Dave Sharp. He plays upright bass in his own bands and is also a member of the Joe Summers Gypsy Jazz Trio, but tonight...
Read More"If I lived in this town, I would frequent this cafe," sings Annie Capps, "and that table in the corner would be mine most every day." Capps has a way of starting a song with an image that's simple yet...
Read MoreWhen I enter WCC's intimate but regal Towsley Auditorium, the Out Loud Chorus is singing "The Way You Look Tonight." This mixed chorus (meaning both men and women) is based in the gay-bisexual-transgender...
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