When all those American Idol contestants take a simple note and add all those extra frou-frou decorations, they somehow turn music into sport — a yawner contest to see who can add the most frou. When Daisy May does it, it...
Read MoreYou can call yourself a roadhouse, but that doesn't make you one. On the other hand, the Northfield Roadhouse could call itself the Automat, but it would still be a roadhouse. For decades, the unassuming cinder-block...
Read MoreShe's so much more. Bebe can dance. She made her debut in A Chorus Line as a dancer, appeared in two Bob Fosse dance reviews, and won her first Tony in his revival of Sweet Charity. Bebe can sing. She won her second and...
Read MoreI don't read enough detective fiction to get passionate about the nuances that distinguish different writers. I read it for fun, and I'm comfortable with my stereotypes. I think of British detective fiction as being...
Read MoreWhen you listen to Preston Woodward, you quickly get the feeling that listeners should be sitting around him in a circle, outside in the dark woods, drinking ale from clay mugs and throwing logs on a fire. I guess you could call...
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Suddenly is an appropriate name for FUBAR’s debut CD only in this sense: You’re waiting around a long time for someone you expect. You give up hope. And then your visitor shows up, suddenly. Or maybe the title is...
Read MoreCorky Siegel's Chamber Blues was born in 1966, when Chicago Symphony summer conductor Seiji Ozawa, his Beatlesque hairstyle then a distinct novelty in the orchestral world, announced a desire to bring classical music and...
Read MoreWestern Michigan artists express a regional style distinct from eastern Michigan artists'. Maybe. That's the premise under exploration at the Gallery Project, on South Fourth Avenue, in its sparkling debut show,...
Read MoreLast year the Ann Arbor Farm and Garden Association’s annual garden walk was scheduled for a Saturday in mid-June when my husband and I were going to be in Stratford. So that I could write about the walk for the Observer,...
Read MoreTake four seasoned musicians; mix in acoustic and electric instruments; flavor with country, bluegrass, blues, and rock; serve with clear, lilting vocals and close harmonies. It’s a recipe for down-home, rootsy music, and...
Read MoreThe last time I saw John Prine was . . . well, let's see. He's been some kind of soundtrack throughout a whole lot of my life. I've sung his songs, played his songs, put my kids to sleep with his songs, cooked dinner...
Read MoreThe quick way of summarizing Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian — a 650-page novel about vampires — does not come close to describing her accomplishment. Vampire books create expectations — prose perhaps a little overdone...
Read MoreAt the Michigan Songwriters' Festival at the Ark last January, Ann Arbor native Steve Amick sang "I'm Sorry for You (If You Don't Live Here)," his rousing and only slightly ironic chronicling of a few of...
Read MoreThere was a time when most jazz musicians concentrated on doing one thing really well. Some combined composition with instrumental prowess, and woodwind players may have doubled on a variety of saxophones, clarinets, and even...
Read MoreThe music of George Bedard & the Kingpins is, by turns, as solid and dependable as a '57 Chevy and as flashy and flamboyant as a long-finned '59 Caddy convertible. It's American roots music — rockabilly,...
Read MoreFor an accompanist, pianist Kathryn Goodson has an outsize personality. Her enthusiastic playing isn’t merely an accompaniment to the singer or instrumentalist but a full partner and then some. In her recent Kerrytown...
Read MoreIt didn't take long for me to rule out attempting to juggle anything at the juggling festival. I generally duck when things are flying toward me. Besides, I went to the festival to people-watch. I wasn't disappointed....
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