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AADL Productions Podcast: Brandon Doman
Having returned to Ann Arbor after college, one day Brandon Doman wanted to see what would happen if he put out a handwritten sign inviting people to write in his journal. 3000 journal entries later, Brandon is still inviting people to contribute anonymously to what has been named Don't Talk to Strangers. People from all walks of life stop by to chat with Brandon and write sometimes funny, sometimes heart-wrenching entries. Brandon stopped by the library to talk with us about how the project came to be, where it is headed next, and what he has discovered from talking to strangers.
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AADL Productions Podcast: 48th Ann Arbor Film Festival
Tuesday marks the start of the 48th Ann Arbor Film Festival, one of Ann Arbor's world-class annual events. AAFF's Executive Director, Donald Harrison, stopped by to give us a quick overview of what we have to look forward to in this year's festival. Aside from the many great films on offer, Donald talks about some of the panel discussions and live performances. This year's highlights include an evening with legendary experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger and a specially commissioned soundtrack, performed live by composer Flying Lotus, to Harry Smith's 1962 film Heaven & Earth Magic. Two of this year's events happen at AADL: Bison Boys & Famous Monsters of Michigan: 1970s Super-8mm Films of Jimm Juback & Cary Loren and Gerry Fialka Discusses Dream Awake: How James Joyce Invented Experimental Cinema & Disguised It As A Book.
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AADL Productions Podcast: Bring It Back, Take It Forward Conference
Bring It Back, Take It Forward (BIBTIF), a 3-day conference celebrating 50 years of activism in southeast Michigan, will take place March 12-14, 2010. In this podcast, we talk with two of the conference organizers, Elizabeth Gonzalez and Jim Toy. Gonzalez, a graduate student in the UM School of Social Work, and Toy, a veteran activist and founding member of the University's Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office in 1971, reflect on the achievements and challenges of activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as their hopes for the conference and the future of the progressive movement.
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AADL Productions Podcast: Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
Cherry Chevapravatdumrong is an Ann Arborite who has gone places even she never expected. After getting her law degree from NYU, Cherry made an about face, packed up a car, and drove to Los Angeles. Now she is a writer and co-producer on the animated sitcom Family Guy and the author of two young adult novels, She's So Money and Duplikate. Cherry shares with us how she made it from Huron High to one writers room of the funniest shows on television and how an episode of Family Guy gets written. She also talks about writing young adult novels and why she loses a third of her name on book covers.
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AADL Productions Podcast: Helen Thomas
When she was in town speaking at the Michigan Theater to promote her book Listen up, Mr. President: Everything you Always Wanted Your President to Know and do, Amy and Andrew had the intimidating yet thrilling chance to interview Helen Thomas. In the resulting interview, we talk with her about her experiences in the White House Press Corps, where she sat for decades asking presidents and press secretaries alike the questions they were hoping she wouldn't. While Amy and I didn't ask of her quite the sort of tough questions Ms. Thomas is famous for, we did get her reflections on presidents past and present, her thoughts on the state of journalism, and her feelings about how America has changed in her nearly 75 years of reporting.
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AADL Productions Podcast: Lucinda Scala Quinn
In this podcast, we talk with Lucinda Scala Quinn, editorial director of food and entertaining at Martha Stewart Omnimedia, co-host of PBS's Everyday Food, and author of the recent cookbook Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys. Quinn's love for food is evident throughout the discussion, whether she's extolling the virtues of onion and garlic, reflecting on the changes in food culture over the past 20 years, or reminiscing about her attendance at an enviable course-for-course reenactment of Babette's Feast. She also offers practical advice on eating well--and getting children to eat well--despite our hectic lives.
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AADL Productions Podcast: David Alan Grier
When David Alan Grier was in town to promote his book, Barack Like Me: The Chocolate-Covered Truth, Eli had a chance to chat with him about growing up in Detroit and his time in Ann Arbor while attending the University of Michigan in the late 1970s. DAG also talks about his work on In Living Color and Dancing with the Stars; celebrity and the internet; and Obama's inauguration.
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AADL Productions Podcast: Carol Mull and the Underground Railroad
In this episode, AADL speaks with Carol Mull, a local historian of the Underground Railroad. Carol talks about her upcoming book on the Underground Railroad in Michigan and her work with the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission. Mull also discusses some of the gems she found in The Signal of Liberty, a 19th century abolitionist newspaper published in Ann Arbor.
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AADL Productions Podcast: Madcat Ruth
Peter "Madcat" Ruth, a world-class harmonica player who's lived and played in Ann Arbor for over 30 years, celebrated his 60th birthday last April. We had the privilege of talking with Madcat about his varied career, which included lessons from Chicago blues harmonica legend Big Walter Horton; touring with Dave Brubeck; inventing the Madcat harmonica microphone; and winning a Grammy for his solo performance in Songs of Innocence and Experience. Madcat also reminisces about playing the many lost music venues in Ann Arbor and treats us with his signature harmonica rendition of "Take Five".
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AADL Productions Podcast: Shary Brown
In this interview, AADL spoke with the outgoing Ann Arbor Street Art Fair executive director, Shary Brown. Shary talks about the challenges of pulling off the Fair during difficult times, some of the innovations and changes that occurred under her guidance, and her personal memories of attending the art fairs while growing up in Ann Arbor.