Blog Post
September at The Ark
by manz
The fall line up at The Ark is looking good! If you’re in the mood for some shows, check out their schedule.
Indie rock favorites, Toad the Wet Sprocket, will be playing on Sept 15, 16. Although the band “broke up,” they are still around playing various gigs for your entertainment. The same week, improv entertainers The Second City, will be performing for two nights as well, on September 17, 18. If you’re up for satire and wit, The Second City is for you.
And of course some local faves like The Chenille Sisters and RFD Boys will be on hand at The Ark in September as well. With a huge line-up listed already, here’s sure to be something for everyone this fall at The Ark!
Blog Post
Love is a Mix Tape
by Caser
The mix tape lives on! It's not spooled inside a 3"x4" piece of plastic any more; instead, it's on an iPod playlist or on sites like 8 Tracks, but the idea of assembling the perfect collection of songs to capture just the right moment in your life is alive and well. Rob Sheffield, writer for Rolling Stone magazine, believes in the magic of the mix tape. It helped him meet his wife, Renee, and their funny, real, and ultimately heartbreaking story is chronicled in his book, Love is a Mix Tape.
Rob Sheffield is unabashedly obsessed with music. On his variously themed mix tapes -- the Party Tape, the I Want You Tape, or the You Broke My Heart and Made Me Cry and Here Are Twenty or Thirty Songs About It Tape -- one might find anything from ELO to Biggie to Big Star to Eric Carmen, etc. There is no genre of music that Sheffield doesn't connect with on some level, which means there is a song (or at least a lyric) alluded to in this book for everyone. Almost every chapter is another year in his life with Renee, and each starts with the track list of a mix tape representing that year, from their first meeting in 1989 to her sudden, tragic death in 1997, and ending in the mid 2000s.
The adventures of these music geeks had me alternately laughing and crying as they trade vocals on Hall & Oates songs, dig through moldy vinyls, invent names for their imagined synth-pop duo, and find Jackie Kennedy's documentary LP, Portrait of a Valiant Lady, a solace for deepest grief. A great book for music lovers and anyone who's ever believed in true love.
Blog Post
Ann Arbor Blues in Black & White
by amy
Lightnin' Hopkins, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Albert King, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Junior Wells--that's the short list. The Ann Arbor blues festivals of 1969 and 1970 saw one of the most astonishing lineups of musical artists of any genre at any time (including the more famed Woodstock festival of 1969).
"Were you there?" was the question many blues fans were asking each another in 1969. But they didn't mean Woodstock, they meant Ann Arbor.
Michael and Stanley and thousands of others were here in Ann Arbor to witness and facilitate the spread of electric city blues as it made its way from the small Chitlin' Circuit to an enthusiastic larger audience hungry for this new, powerful roots-inspired American "folk" music.
Join us Thursday, August 19, 7-9 p.m. as Michael Erlewine, chronicler of popular music and founder of the largest music review database in the world, All-Music Guide, discusses Blues in Black & White: The Landmark Ann Arbor Blues Festivals, with stunning photographs by Stanley Livingston. A book signing, with books for sale, will follow the talk.
Blog Post
Detroit Puppet Art Theater's "The Sleeping Beauty" August 23rd
by cecile
On August 23rd at 7:00 pm the library hosts a performance of "The Sleeping Beauty", a marionette ballet performed by Detroit's Puppet Art Theater, at the Downtown Library. The members of the troupe are masters of puppetry art theater trained in the former Soviet Union.
A beautiful princess, wicked fairies and a handsome prince will be brought to life with exquisite marionettes and accompanying classical music.
We all know that Sleeping Beauty has been cursed by a wicked fairy and is forced to sleep until she is awakened by a kiss from a Prince. Most versions focus upon the Princess’s story but this production sheds light on the story of the Prince as well. We find out how he knows of the sleeping Princess and why he feels destined to rescue her. You can relax and enjoy the show because this story, as all fairy tales, promises a very happy ending.
If you would like to refresh your memory of the classic tale, Sleeping Beauty is a beautiful version illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. The Walt Disney version of The Sleeping Beauty is available on Blu-ray. Finally, if you would like to listen and imagine the story yourself, Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra is an excellent version.
Blog Post
She Ate My Heart (a bite)
by annevm
It wasn’t my choice to go to the Aug. 6 Lady Gaga concert at Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. But our 14-year-old son was eager to go, so he and I went.
After a couple of days touring Chicago, we strolled over to Grant Park, acting like we go to crazy huge music festivals all the time. At the gate, we were waved through and given water boxes and programs with I-tunes cards. Around Buckingham Fountain, we crowd-surfed, hoping to spot Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga), but no luck.
So we staked out a spot on the field, moved three times, and ended up with a good view of the stage and the two giant TV screens. As the show opened, Lady Gaga was ghost-dancing behind a screen. Everyone screamed and pawed the air (her fans are her “little monsters”).
In Michael's view, the best songs were Telephone, Poker Face, and Alejandro. I found myself at several points wishing for less fake blood and profanity -- but everyone around us seemed to be loving it.
Lady Gaga has been compared with Madonna. Musical inspiration apparently comes from performers including Queen and David Bowie. In concert, I found her original, humorous, loud, entertaining, and enormously powerful. No wonder the June Forbes magazine put her fourth on its list of the 100 most powerful and influential celebrities in the world!
Blog Post
Arcade Fire, On Tract Housing
by Caser
Over the last 6 years, Arcade Fire has quietly built itself a castle atop rock and roll's fickle world. And it hasn't been through reality television, or on the face of some gorgeous lead singer, or by signing with a behemoth record company, but by doing what every great rock band aspires to: writing record after record of great songs. In recent memory, only Radiohead and Nirvana have been equally lauded by both critics and fans while reaching such a surprisingly wide audience.
Director Terry Gilliam recently directed a webcast of Arcade Fire's blowout Madison Square Garden show, and for fans who have followed Win Butler, et al. since their debut album, Funeral, this band playing MSG is far more surprising than who they chose to direct it.
With their new release, The Suburbs, topping the Billboard 200 and skyrocketing up the U.K. charts, and their worldwide tour selling out months in advance, it's clear that this is one band on top of the world. Check out their 2004 release, Funeral, and their 2007 release, Neon Bible from the AADL to catch up with the Arcade Fire.
Blog Post
German Park is This Saturday, July 31st!
by aschling
If you want some real German food traditional German music and dancing and to relax with friends or family outside, then German Park is the place for you! I attended my second German Park last month and had a lot of fun. There is plenty of space with picnic tables and shade. The food is delicious from the Spätzle to the German potato salad, sauerkraut to the sausages.
If you can't get enough German food, here are a few cookbooks here at the library to get you started. Culinaria Germany , The German Cookbook; A Complete Guide To Mastering Authentic German Cooking, Recipes Of The Old German Restaurant : And Other Traditional German Recipes.
Do you want more German folk music? The library has that too! Here are Songs for Oktober Fest and Folksongs from Bavaria to get you started.
German park is the last Saturday of June, July and August. The remaining dates for 2010 are Saturday July 31st and Saturday August 28th. For hours, directions and prices please see the The German Park Website.
Blog Post
Living in the Material World
by celesteh
Who is your favorite Beatle? Mine has always been George. So I have been getting anxious ever since I heard that Martin Scorsese has been steadily at work with an upcoming documentary film titled Living in the Material World: George Harrison, set for release in 2011. Having already directed films such as The Rolling Stones' Shine a Light, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan and even The Last Waltz in 1978 – handling a Beatles related film seemed inevitable for a man who sure loves rock and roll.
Scorsese has been collaborating with Harrison’s widow Olivia for archival material and it has been quite an undertaking for the last few years. Having been approached numerous times since his death in 2001 with film proposals, Olivia had held off until she realized it “had to be done.” Lucky for us, Harrison was somewhat of a packrat and the film will include some previously unheard recordings as well as never-before-seen footage. Definitely something to look forward to.
There'll come a time when most of us return here
Brought back by our desire to be
A perfect entity
Living through a million years of crying
Until you've realized the Art of Dying
Do you believe me?
-George Harrison
Blog Post
Melody Non-Pareil
by Caser
On a cold January night in Koln, Germany, 1975, jazz pianist Keith Jarrett sat alone on stage before a baby grand piano, with a rapt audience filling the Koln Opera House seats. Non-classical music had rarely been played within the Opera House's utilitarian walls, but this wasn't the only ground-breaking the pianist would accomplish this evening. What became The Koln Concert was the beginning of something much greater.
Jazz-rock fusion had taken over the jazz scene in the '70s after the success of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and the popular Weather Report albums. Jarrett himself was a part of Miles' fusion bands, but after leaving the band, he began forging a new sound, which was more closely tied to the acoustic and melodic roots of jazz, and this concert signaled the re-birth of that sound. Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, and other contemporary jazz performers owe much to Jarrett's return to melody to allow for their success.
Jarrett entered this performance with a few chord progressions in mind, but everything else was improvised. You can hear him playing one melody, then reshaping it, inverting it, and refining it into a line so beautiful you'd swear he spent years writing it. The styles he mines here flow from swing to pop to bebop so effortlessly that it's as much an homage to jazz as it is an original piece.
The album is broken into three parts: Part I, Part II, and encore. Throughout, you can hear Jarrett humming along with the melodies as he invents them, vocally expressing his excitement amidst a line, and pounding out the rhythms on the frame of the piano, all of which add to the sheer joy of this recording. As the bestselling solo jazz recording of all time, this is no secret, but for those who haven't heard it yet, it's an amazing experience. And it's one of my favorite album covers.
Blog Post
Happy Birthday Barry Manilow!
by darla
He writes the songs that make the whole world sing...and today is his birthday! Born June 17, 1943, Barry Manilow has been an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, entertainer, and performer since the 1970s. Despite his career longevity and massive record sales, he is often disrespected by critics for being a sappy, schlocky show-boater. (Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?). Whether you're a lover or a hater, there's no denying that Barry's career is alive and well. He has his own website for fans to keep tabs on his activities, like his current show at the Paris Las Vegas Theater. Off stage he maintains the Manilow Music Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to putting musical instruments in the hands of middle and high school students, which is supported by ticket sales and Barry Manilow merchandise. Happy Birthday Barry, we "can't smile without you".