Elvisfest
With the twenty-fifth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death fast approaching, opportunities to commemorate in style seem limitless. You could don a Priscilla-style black wig and light a gigantic bust-of-Elvis candle; get...
Read MoreUncategorized
Kim Richey
Kim Richey grew up in southwestern Ohio, right on the line dividing rock-speaking from country-speaking lands, and her musical career has turned on intriguing tensions between the two styles. In concert she's dispassionate,...
Read MoreLove Lies Dreaming
I've seen the local pop band Love Lies Dreaming only twice: once in a quiet, living-room-like setting in the basement of the Michigan League on a wintry Saturday night in front of a couple dozen friends, and once at Leopold...
Read MoreO Brother, Where Art Thou?
In the depths of Depression-era Mississippi, three convicts escape from their work farm and begin a race against time to reach buried treasure. Hair-obsessed, quick-tongued Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), ill-tempered,...
Read MoreLife on a String
Once upon a time, an artist mom sewed three hand puppets representing her son and two daughters. When one daughter turned fourteen, she took a local rec department class in puppetry. She gleefully holds up her puppet in a grainy...
Read More
Wet-N-Wild Wednesdays
There was a time, say about ten or eleven years ago, when any utterance of the word "pool" was met with riotous, schnauzerlike hysteria on the part of my male child. And it was with this in mind that I suggested to my...
Read MoreJerry Douglas
The Dobro is the instrument that put the twang in country music, but it is much more besides. It was the 1928 creation (and contracted namesake) of the Czech American Dopyera brothers, who placed a steel disc over the sound hole...
Read MoreA Midsummer Night’s Dream
The U-M Residential College production of A Midsummer Night's Dream last June in the Arb was an enormous pleasure, and Ann Arborites will be delighted to know that the college will produce the play again June 13-16 and...
Read MoreSummer chamber music
Isn’t it grand that somebody still performs hard-core classical music in Ann Arbor in the summer? Sure, there’s Marilyn Mason’s organ recital series during the Summer Festival, and this year there are a couple...
Read MoreWeddings of Yore
Since Victorian-era ladies could not in all decency approach men, they used their fans to broadcast coded messages. According to the Museum on Main Street's Weddings of Yore exhibit, frenzied fanning meant that one was...
Read MoreScott Weidensaul
Scott Weidensaul is a nature writer, but beyond that, he defies categorization. His books are informed by a personal voice, yet they also offer explanations for lay audiences of scientific — particularly ornithological...
Read MoreThe Fullerenes
They describe their style as "geek rock." And one look at the five members of the Fullerenes confirms their geek status. At a recent show in Eastpointe, three wore glasses, all wore ties, and everyone looked too smart...
Read MoreShahida Nurullah
Jazz singers are normally not my beat. When it comes to singers, I prefer classical, blues, and folk warblers. I do have some favorites, however, and among them is Detroit's magnificent Shahida Nurullah. I first heard her...
Read MoreBorn Yesterday
Born Yesterday is one of the Purple Rose's rare forays into producing plays by dead guys. Though the program notes call it a "classic," unless you're a real buff you've probably never heard of it. It opened...
Read MorePeter Sparling Dance Company
Far from the continuing and contentious legal battle over the rights to Martha Graham's choreographic legacy in New York City, Ann Arbor boasts its own Graham descendant, Peter Sparling (a former Graham principal), and his...
Read MoreTamim Ansary
On September 12, 2001, Tamim Ansary, a freelance writer and editor from San Francisco, sent an e-mail message to the people in his electronic address book. An Afghan American, Ansary felt the need to separate his people from the...
Read More
