Blog Post
A Tribute to Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion
by ballybeg
If you want to be understood, practice kindness and mercy. Kindness is seldom mistaken for anything else. Small kindnesses reverberate a long time in people's hearts. Garrison Keillor
On this Friday evening, July 1st, from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the grand man of live, public, radio entertainment, Garrison Keillor, will host his final episode of A Prairie Home Companion, after 42 years at the helm. (The show will be broadcast in Ann Arbor, on NPR, 91.7 fm, on Saturday, July 2nd, from 6 – 8 pm.) I have been listening in on Saturday nights for 40 of those years, and already feel the loss. It is the end of a proverbial era.
Keillor began the live radio show in 1974, in front of an audience of 12 people. Now he fills huge auditoriums for the weekly broadcast, for which he has an estimated four million listeners. The eclectic music (bluegrass, country, jazz, classical, big band, folk, gospel, you name it); the comedy skits about Guy Noir the private-eye, and Lefty and Dusty the cowboys; the folksy monologues and astute, witty commentary; the zany sound effects (only fully appreciated on radio); the long tradition of top-class singers and instrumentalists; the wacky solos and beautiful duets performed by Keillor in his signature baritone voice; all brought to you each week by Powdermilk Biscuits and Bebop-a-Reebop Rhubarb Pie, have earned the show legions of fans. Garrison, at age 73, is stepping down, but not retiring. He needs time, he says, for other things.
The good news is that the show will continue, with a twist. The new host, Chris Thile, of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers fame, begins with his first broadcast on October 15. Thile is a consummate and well-connected musician, who performed for the first time on APHC when he was 15 years old. Now, at 35, he can’t help but bring a new sound and different energy to the show, and even Keillor believes this is a necessary evolution. Chris has performed on his mandolin here in Ann Arbor a number of times. His next local appearance will be in April 2017, when he comes to perform on the Hill Auditorium stage with Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma.
There seems to be no end to the output and talent of Garrison Keillor. He has written poetry, fiction and non-fiction, as well as essays, and columns for Time, The New Yorker, and major newspapers. His latest book, The Keillor Reader, is a characteristic sampling of his distinctly American wit and wisdom. So is this short piece he wrote upon turning 70.
He hosts a website called, The Writer’s Almanac, where, daily, he posts and recites a poem, and offers short blogs celebrating the birthdays of notable personalities, and anniversaries of historical and literary events. You can sign up to have it delivered to your inbox every day here. He has arranged three exceptional anthologies of poetry, all of which are in our collection. He has written the content of APHC for 42 years, the hilarious skits, the witty ditties, and the singular monologue, The News From Lake Wobegon, which captures the small-town, Midwestern ethos of his fictional town where, “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”
Most of all, he knows people. As the host of APHC, he has crossed paths with thousands of performers over the years and made them all shine. He has an uncanny sense for how to express the essence of common people in his writing: you and me, Aunt Mildred and Grandpa Ernie, our trials and triumphs. His performance instincts are spot-on, which a 42-year run would seem to confirm. Will Chris Thile be able to fill those (usually red) shoes? Fortunately, he is not even going to try. He will be about creating his own brand of Saturday-night entertainment. Hope you tune in to listen to how the magic continues.
And thanks, Garrison, for the memories.
Blog Post
Care for some Lemonade?
by manz
Beyoncé surprised the world by dropping her visual album Lemonade, which was available for limited viewing on HBO. The album of the same name was then streaming on Tidal, and now the album and video are available for purchase via the usual channels, and soon available at AADL. Lemonade is once again a carefully orchestrated release by Beyoncé, as she continues to control every detail of all things Bey.
Since Lemonade hit the ice cold glass the world has been buzzing, and not just those in the BeyHive. The visual album is rich with imagery and words of infidelity, betrayal, sorrow, self-empowerment, revenge, and feminism, which has caused critics and fans to ponder the validity of her words and how they pertain to her life and family.
The release includes the 12-song album and the hour-long film. The album does not disappoint, and I recommend watching the film first to get the full effect, so that when you then listen to the album you have striking visuals dancing during subsequent listens.
Now underway, The Formation World Tour was announced after Queen Bey's performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. She heads to Ford Field in Detroit on June 14.
Blog Post
Vinyl Records!
by manz
Saturday, April 16 was Record Store Day! On this day we launched AADL’s circulating vinyl collection. Yes, that’s right, you can check out LP records at the library again! You can browse the little collection online to see what we’ve got, or stop into the Downtown Branch to flip through the stacks of wax. Ah, the joy of flipping through a record bin.
There’s a good mix of classics and contemporary. You’ll find artists such as Taylor Swift, The Cure, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, The Beatles, and Fleetwood Mac, to name a fabulous few. Can you dig it?
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "G" is for GO ... but always be ready to stop.
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel did stories about “Go” this week at Malletts Creek Storytime.
A Mouse went on “A Journey” to his Mother's house for a visit … a story from MOUSE TALES by Arnold Lobel.
We rhymed props with the song A-HUNTING WE WILL GO ...
We practiced driving IN The DRIVER’S SEAT. It got pretty crazy at times.
For more stories with “GO” try these favorites:
GO! GO! GO! STOP! … the difference between “go” and “stop”.
DON’T LET The PIGEON DRIVE The BUS … don’t let him “go!”
RICHARD SCARRY’S CARS And TRUCKS And THINGS THAT GO and RICHARD SCARRY’S HOP ABOARD! HERE WE GO!
OK GO … you don’t need a motor to be able to “go”.
MOO! … look who’s driving!
NEW RED BIKE!
AND AWAY WE GO ... how many ways can you go?
You can choose more titles from the public list Planes And Trains And Things That Go
AND … you can check out 6 stories at once in the Stories To Go set on TRANSPORTATION.
Remember ... some times you need to read the signs ... and sometimes you need to STOP!
Be safe out there.
Blog Post
A Most Unusual Love Story
by Lucy S
Author: Miranda July
Narrator: Miranda July
Length: 7.5 Hours
Listening to Miranda July read her unforgettable novel, The First Bad Man, was an engrossing experience that provided me with many laughs, surprises, and moments of reflection. Giving voice to her narrator, 43-year-old, Cheryl Glickman, Miranda July creates a story full of the minutiae and inner-musings of a singular, single woman. This debut novel defies categorization. It is sharp, funny, detailed and challenging. July’s narration is the perfect way to hear this story, so much of which comes to us from inside Cheryl’s head. To hear Cheryl’s thoughts conveyed by their original creator provides the listener with extra layer of nuance and knowledge.
As Lauren Groff said in her New York Times review of The First Bad Man, “Cheryl is ...such an acute observer that her life is never as pathetic to the reader as it appears to the people around her.”
When we meet Cheryl, her existence is one of systems and order, fueled by an obsession with Phillip Bettelheim, who serves on the board at Open Palm, where Cheryl is the manager. Open Palm is an organization that teaches self-defense to women as a way to be fit, but, even as manager, Cheryl works primarily from home, per the request of her employers. They seem to feel a little of Cheryl goes a long way. Due to her solitude, many of Cheryl’s interactions with other people are fantastical or imagined. Her life is suddenly disrupted when she asked to take in the daughter of her employers, Clee. Clee turns out to be a challenging roommate in many ways, as she defies Cheryl’s carefully constructed systems and ultimately breaks down Cheryl’s rigidity. The relationship between Cheryl and Clee evolves many times, and passes through some unexpected territory.
July’s novel is an exploration of violence, both real and imagined, sexuality, and physical expression. The most explicit physical of these interactions take place in Cheryl's imagination. In an interview in The Guardian, July explains that “it is perfectly possible for people who live primarily in their own heads (artists, writers, intellectuals) to hanker after a physical communion.” Through Cheryl, July examines and exposes relationships and intimacies. We meet characters, including Cheryl, who are learning to love on different levels, self-love, mother-love, married love, new love, and we see how powerful and terrifying these attachments can be.
“Sometimes I looked at her sleeping face, the living flesh of it, and was overwhelmed by how precarious it was to love a living thing. She could die simply from lack of water. It hardly seemed safer than falling in love with a plant.”
“We thrust our babies into the air again and again, showing them what it felt like to be a mother, to be terrifyingly in love without the option of getting off.”
Parts of the story seem absurd and here is where listening to July’s telling is helpful. Her tone makes us implicit in her folly. July’s writing, while amusing, is also beautiful, poetic and sad and her reading of it is at times, breathtaking.
“But as the sun rose I crested the mountain of my self-pity and remembered I was always going to die at the end of this life anyway. What did it really matter if I spent it like this—caring for this boy—as opposed to some other way? I would always be earthbound; he hadn’t robbed me of my ability to fly or to live forever. I appreciated nuns now, not the conscripted kind, but modern women who chose it. If you were wise enough to know that this life would consist mostly of letting go of things you wanted, then why not get good at the letting go, rather than the trying to have?"
I found everything about this book to be unique from its absurdities to its breathtaking moments, many of which I rewound to hear again. The First Bad Man will appeal to fans of Lena Dunham, Maggie Nelson, and Carrie Brownstein.
Blog Post
Distortion Pedals! Bzzzzzzzzzz!
by manz
The Music Tools collection is one of the largest Unusual Stuff collections at AADL, and it keeps growing in size and use as more and more musicians (and knob twiddlers) find out about all the cool stuff that can be checked out.
Included in this are the many distortion pedals that are ready to give your guitar some extra fuzz. Check out the list of what we have!
And to sweeten the deal, a bunch of them are made in Ann Arbor by King Custom Electronics. Their handmade pedals bring the sounds of tried and true vintage fuzz, paired with modern convenience, reliability and versatility. Creative designs help make these pedals something you can't find on the showroom floor. Made with the highest quality new old stock components, they're guaranteed to put the tone you want in the palm of your hands.
Sounds cool to me!
Blog Post
PreK BITS - “A” is for Art
by ryanikoglu
There were ARTful stories in Preschool Storytime @ Malletts Creek this week.
Ms. Rachel drew “Monkey Face” while telling the story.
The book MONKEY FACE is long out of print but the tale lives on in oral tradition.
Frank Asch is the author and his books are still popular.
The BIG ORANGE SPLOT is a story of Mr. Plumbean and the day a big orange splot lands on his house. What would YOU do?
For more Artful stories try these favorites:
I AIN’T GONNA PAINT NO MORE! … is totally singable as you read the pages and enjoy the pictures.
VINCENT PAINTS HIS HOUSE ... Vincent Van Gogh of course!
LILY BROWN’S PAINTINGS … a young artist growing …
SCRIBBLE … what if you scribbled on your sister’s things?
BEAR’S PICTURE … what if folks don’t think your art is right?
PURPLE GREEN And YELLOW … what if your markers go places they aren’t supposed to go ?
The DAY The CRAYONS CAME HOME … sequel to The DAY The CRAYONS QUIT … stories from the crayon box.
DOG LOVES DRAWING by Louise Yates.
SHAPE SONG SWINGALONG … a song on a CD to go along …
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? … a collection of stories and poems told by a collection of famous children’s book illustrators.
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "10" in the DEN
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel told stories that counted to 10 in Preschool Storytime.
Banjo Betsy accompanied and sang too!
TEN In The BED was sung using puppet animals in the doll bed. We sang the version by Peter and Ellen Allard on CD SING IT! Vol. 3 and used their unique refrain …
“Please remember to tie a knot in your pajamas. Single beds were only made for one …”.
We sang the “Finger Family” action song.
We met “10 Animals” … an abridged rendition of Sandra Boynton’s 15 ANIMALS board book.
You can Keep on Counting with the following favorite suggestions:
Stories To Go kits … the one for COUNTING.
The CD 50 SINGALONG CLASSICS by Little People is full of sing-along songs including “Ten In Bed”.
TEN LITTLE FISH by Audrey Wood.
TEN LITTLE CATERPILLARS by Eric Carle.
TEN MONSTERS IN The BED by Katy Cotton.
TEN NINE EIGHT by Molly Bang.
COUNTING CROCODILES
TEN LITTLE FINGERS And TEN LITTLE TOES by Mem Fox.
TEN LITTLE HOUSES by Helen Musselwhite.
TEN IN The DEN by John Butler.
It's a good thing we have TEN LITTLE FINGERS And TEN LITTLE TOES to practice our counting!
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "5" alive
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel did five stories about "Five" in Preschool Storytime and Banjo Betsy accompanied with music and voice.
TUBBY by Leslie Patricelli included a bunch of "fives" ... 5 fingers ... five toes ... five tugboats ....
We counted toes "Singing All The Way Home" ... a version of "This Little Piggy" found on the CD SINGING ALL THE WAY HOME by Liz Buchanan.
“Five Little Snow People” melted away in this counting rhyme.
FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS JUMPING ON The BED by Eileen Christelow ... and you already know what happened to them!
We sang "One Elephant" using all 5 fingers. You can sing along with Sharon, Lois and Bram on the CD GREAT BIG HITS.
Keep on counting with the following titles:
I FEEL FIVE by Bethany Deeney Marguia
10 TIMES 10 by Herve Tullet
OCEAN COUNTING by Janet Lawler
100 ANIMALS ON PARADE by Sebe Masayuki
DINOSAUR NUMBERS by David West
FIVE LITTLE PENGUINS SLIPPING ON The ICE by Steve Metzger
ANIMAL 1 2 3 ... is a unique animal counting book by Britta Teckentrup. Can you predict the next number?
High FIVE!
Blog Post
Bowie Lives On
by lucroe
What can one say about such an influential icon as David Bowie that has not been said already? He was never one to be pigeon holed into one look or one style of music. From the '60s hippie days of Space Oddity with the hit “Major Tom” to the glam rock 70s of Ziggy Stardust, Bowie was forever changing and adding new personas. Following Ziggy were such blockbusters as Aladdin Sane (“Panic In Detroit” was on this one), Diamond Dogs with its soul/funk beats and the break out hit, “Rebel, Rebel”, then Young Americans with the popular song, “Fame”, co-written with John Lennon which became his first number one hit in the U.S.
In the late '70s he changed his persona again into the elegant Thin White Duke with the album Station to Station and another memorable tune, “Golden Years”. Ahead of his time in so many ways, he experimented with electronic, ambient, and world music alongside Brian Eno to create the experimental Berlin Trilogy of albums: Low, Heroes, and Lodger. Artists, like Philip Glass would be highly influenced by his work during this time.
With the '80s came the album Scary Monsters which some consider to be his last great album with hits such as “Ashes to Ashes” and “Fashion”. But then came the hit album, Let’s Dance, with Chic guitarist, Nile Rodgers, producing and the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughn on lead guitar. On this one album Bowie had several memorable songs including “China Girl” and “Modern Love”, and once again he led the way but this time in music videos especially for the title track. Next was Tonight with the hit, “Blue Jean” which garnered him a Grammy for best music video. Lesser albums like Never Let Me Down rounded out his '80s releases. He then had a short-lived rock quartet called Tin Machine at the start of the '90s. After they disbanded, he returned to solo work starting with Black Tie, White Noise but none of them quite lived up to the commercial success of previous albums. However his last album, Blackstar was just released, and has earned rave reviews. See music videos for the album here. If you are looking for a best of album check out Best of Bowie which includes the single “Under Pressure”.
Bowie was also a noted actor on stage as the Elephant Man and in some unique movie roles such as a vampire in the Hunger, an alien in the Man Who Fell To Earth, a prisoner of war in , king of the goblins in Jim Henson’s the Labyrinth, and portraying Andy Warhol in Basquiat. He produced albums as well like those for his good friend Iggy Pop (the Idiot), and was a well-respected post-modernist painter. This of course was a brief overview of his most notable works and to read more thoroughly about him there are plenty of websites and books to fill the gaps.
If you want to remember him on twitter type #bowieliveson or post a comment below. For me, the song "Blue Jean" still gets me dancing. You can watch the video to it here. He definitely has the cheekbones to pull off that makeup!
RIP Bowie