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Scott 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...

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Tamim 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...

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The 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...

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Neko Case

One morning Neko Case jumped out of my clock radio and woke me up with her song "Mood to Burn Bridges," hinting at the punk rocker she once was with angry tempo changes, channeling righteous rage at gossipy enemies...

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Shahida 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...

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Pinmonkey

The buzz in Nashville is that Pinmonkey may be the first country act from the alternative side to break through to the mainstream. Of course, the reason may be that they're not really all that alternative, despite the name....

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Born 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...

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Ian Bostridge 2002

He does have a pretty face: imagine a young Oberon from A Midsummer’s Night Dream played as an ethereal elf with a boyish glint in his eye. But this elf can sing. Ian Bostridge lacks the sheer power of an operatic tenor,...

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The Civil War Muster

A team of horses pulling a cannon thundered through Ypsilanti's Riverside Park as their driver tried to rein them away from a microphone and two speakers near crowded bleachers. WHAM! BOOM! BAM! One speaker rolled under the...

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Crowbar Hotel

With timeless rhythms, accessible tunes, and words you can (usually) make out, Crowbar Hotel’s debut CD, Other Lives, eschews alt-rock tangents in favor of the deep roots of southern rock and urban blues-rock, with a...

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Green Wood Coffee House

The Green Wood Coffee House of the First United Methodist Church is on the elevated main floor, above a co-op preschool, of a small Green Road building that serves as FUMC's North Campus branch. On two Friday nights each...

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Christine Lavin

The problem with growing up — well, one of them — is that no one tells you stories anymore. That's why singer-songwriter Christine Lavin regularly packs them into concert halls from Andover to Anchorage. Adults...

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Alistair MacLeod

A large island in the middle of nowhere off the northeastern edge of mainland Nova Scotia, populated by the descendants of Scottish Highlanders fleeing the invading English and of British Loyalists fleeing the American...

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Babes in Toyland

"I wrote frantically on the train all the way so we could have a script when I got back," said Hal Roach, who produced Babes in Toyland, a 1934 film adaptation of the Victor Herbert operetta that is every bit as busy...

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Cedar Walton

Pianist Cedar Walton was one of many promising Bud Powell-inspired pianists working in New York when he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1961. He had already made a name for himself as a member of two of the finest...

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Vox

Honestly, it was about as exquisitely, sublimely beautiful a musical experience as I have had in a long, long time. I didn't go with high hopes. It was a cold and dismal October afternoon, and the rain had seeped through my...

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Cavafy’s world

Constantine Cavafy is the leading poet of modern Greek, although he never published a book in his lifetime or lived in Greece. He lived mostly in Alexandria, Egypt, a member of the Greek-speaking minority that was one of the...

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Steven Curtis Chapman

The youthful faithful already know all about Steven Curtis Chapman's appearance Thursday, March 14, at Hill Auditorium. Although contemporary Christian music doesn't register much on weekend things-to-do lists, he filled...

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