Shen Wei
I often picture an old man, at peace, walking slowly or sitting in the park. He holds a teapot, a birdcage, a fan — and whistles, savoring a tune from Chinese opera. — Shen Wei Shen Wei is one of the most acclaimed...
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August at the Ark
As 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 MorePatti Smith
Classic 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...
Read MoreThe Robotics Club
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
Sea 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...
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Tad Weed Freedom Ensemble
Versatility 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 MoreReturn of the Watusies
On 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 MoreBill Bynum
On 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 MoreCarrie Rodriguez
Go 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 MoreJapanese photographers at UMMA
Unquiet 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 MoreThe Little Fugitive
My 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 MoreMatthew Pearl
A 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 MoreKen Peplowski
Good 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 Rock School Blues Band
The 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 MoreAnnie & Rod Capps
"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 MoreOut Loud Chorus
When 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...
Read MoreShutta Crum
Shutta Crum knew exactly what kind of books young children liked when she began writing her own in 1997. By then she'd been a youth librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library for eighteen years and had had plenty of...
Read MoreTravis Holland
Soviet writer Isaac Babel published a couple of volumes of short stories in the 1920s. They were brilliantly observed and filled with irony about the human condition, often funny, yet also very bleak. He was immediately...
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