up in the air

Jason Reitman's film, Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, comes to local movie theaters on December 25, but you can get a preview of the story that's being hailed as the most timely of the year by reading the book of the same title by Walter Kirn. Reitman spent several years adapting the novel into a screenplay, turning it from a story about a guy who gets paid to lay people off into one man's search for self-realization and fulfillment.

In the film, Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a frequent flyer, motivational speaker, professional firer, and reveler in the superficial pleasures of what Chuck Palahniuk called the "single serve life." All this changes when a new female coworker introduces a cost-cutting idea that threatens to end his flight hopping lifestyle. The film has some local connections too, for several scenes were filmed at Detroit Metro Airport, and one sequence features real-life Detroit residents that have recently lost their jobs.

Other thematically related items at the AADL include the book Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed, created by actress Annabelle Gurwitch, as well as her DVD and CD also called Fired!

It's been an historical couple of weeks for three former Detroit Red Wings stars. Last week two players, one known to Wings fans simply as The Captain, Steve Yzerman, along with scoring machine, Brett Hull, were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, ON. And then yesterday, after 21 seasons tormenting opposing defenses, Brendan Shanahan decided to hang up his skates. Shanahan won three Stanley Cups with Detroit, Hull won one, and Yzerman won three as a player and one in an executive role with the team. Before Stevie Y came to the Motor City, the team had been mired in a Cup slump for the previous 47 years. Since then, the team has brought four Cups home to the Joe Louis arena. The AADL has a great collection of books chronicling the storied history of the Detroit Red Wings and its players.

It's an exciting time in Michigan with all the movies being filmed here and Whip It, in theaters on Friday, October 2 is the latest flick to hit theaters. Marking Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It, is based on the teen novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. Derby Girl is about sixteen-year-old rebel Bliss Cavendar, who is miserable living in a small Texas town with her beauty pageant-obsessed mother so she secretly joins a roller derby team under the name "Babe Ruthless," her life gets better, although infinitely more confusing. Ellen Page of Juno fame stars as Bliss and early buzz is good!

Whip It also stars several members of the local Detroit Derby Girls and to celebrate the release we'll be hosting an evening with them to talk about Roller Derby and their experiences on set on Thursday, October 1, 7:00-8:30 at the Downtown Library.

Movement 09

Techno, house, EBM, ambient, acid, dub, etc, these are just some of the types of electronic music (as well as hip hop, rap, and rock) you will hear at Movement Festival '09 in Detroit this weekend (Sat, May 23-Mon, May 25)at Hart Plaza. Boasting some 70+ DJs and live acts (as well as numerous pre and post parties throughout the downtown Detroit area), Movement '09 promises to keep the ravers and booty shakers up all night. Some of the beats that are represented at the library on CD are Detroit electronic music pioneer, Carl Craig; opening headliners Prodigy; newer music producer and DJ, Flying Lotus; and the legendary DJ, producer (some say the Grandfather of hip-hop) Afrika Bambaataa. If you are interested in reading about the history of electronic music we have the books, Ambient century; Electronic & computer music; & Grown up all wrong. Or watch the DVD, 24 hour Party People, a semi-autobiographical story about the ups and way downs of music promoter Tony Wilson, both tragic and triumphant it is also a great story of the post-punk era in England to the beginnings of the electronic music scene.

DAM

Take a trip to the Detroit Artists Market for the 2009 All-Media Exhibition. The show kicks off DAM’s spring season with a juried exhibition of contemporary art by 48 Detroit and Michigan artists. The exhibition will be on display until June 6. Since 1932 the Detroit Artist Market has been rooted in the history of Detroit art and culture, and continues today to be a community organization promoting contemporary art. As a bonus, check out a Museum Adventure Pass before you go and get a 10% discount on DAM merchandise.

Back in the day, listening to Leonard Cohen did not make me sleepy, but lately . . . so I won’t be there this weekend when this remarkable Canadian singer-songwriter performs in Detroit’s Fox Theater. I do still like his music -- especially Suzanne -- and I’ve been following this tour, including shows in Chicago. I'm also intrigued by the DVD about Cohen's life I'm Your Man.

marvingaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., better known as Motown legend Marvin Gaye, was born April 2, 1939. Celebrate this singer/songwriter's birthday by checking out some of his music from the AADL. Try Blue Velvet: The Ultimate Collection by his early R&B band The Moonglows, or pick up some of his solo classics like the 1971 release What's Going On, his 1973 release Let's Get It On, Love Songs, or the Marvin Gaye Concert Anthology.
To learn more about this Grammy winning musician and his tragic personal life, check out the biography Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye, Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye, or What's Going On? : Marvin Gaye and the Last Days of the Motown Sound. Many Marvin Gaye fans also recommend reading Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, which isn't terribly well-written, but is largely based on interviews for a projected autobiography that was cancelled after Gaye's death in 1984.

In 1968 Detroit Receiving Hospital began an art collection designed to provide an environment colorful, attractive, and beneficial to patients, their families, and the hospital staff. Today, that collection includes more than a thousand works of art. The Healing Work of Art : From the Collection of Detroit Receiving Hospital documents this amazing collection, highlighting the diversity of its holdings as well as its history. Detroit Receiving Hospital is home to major sculptures, as well as hundreds of paintings, works on paper, textiles, and crafts. Over the years, the collection has been broadened by the addition of African beadwork, tapestries from the USA, Africa, and Columbia, a site-specific Pewabic tile water fountain, and large photo murals in the Emergency Department. The collection, which continues to grow in scope and quality, retains its original purpose of lightening the burden of illness carried by patients and their families. Art enthusiasts, as well as those interested in Detroit culture and history, will appreciate this book.

Dossin

Head on over to The Dossin Great Lakes Museum! The museum, a flagship of the Midwest’s inland lakes maritime heritage museums, stands on the shore of Detroit’s historic Belle Isle, one of America’s grandest city parks. You, your family and your friends will take in a panoramic view of the Detroit River and experience many rare artifacts, including the reconstructed pilot house of the Great Lakes freighter S.S. William Clay Ford, the Miss Pepsi championship hydroplane, and one of the largest known collection of scale model ships in the world. Admission is free, although donations are accepted. As an added bonus, check out a Museum Adventure Pass and receive 10% off your purchases in the museum shop!

Motown 50

On January 12, 2009, Motown Records turned 50. It was 50 years ago to the day that Barry Gordy launched the world renowned record label home to such legendary acts as, the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and the Jackson 5, to name just a few! The label still exists and is celebrating the 50 year mark with the Motown 50 Podcast series where you can hear for free a number of their well-known artists. A wonderful documentary about a bit of Motown history is the DVD, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, the story of the Funk Brothers, the group of musicians that played on every single hit Motown record from the label's beginnings to 1972. If you are interested in seeing where Motown's roots began, visit the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit. Enjoy Motown by listening to a CD, reading a bit of its history, watching some of the artists, and visiting where it all began!