Crafts
Make a Maraca!
Tuesday June 20, 2017: 1:00pm to
2:00pm
Pittsfield Branch: Program Room
Grade K-5
Film & Video Events
Special Film Screening: Lincoln Center Local: Mariachi Flor de Toloache
Saturday May 6, 2017: 3:00pm to
4:00pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Blog Post
Celebrating Our Own Thing
by amy
Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Our Own Thing organization here in Ann Arbor. With Black History Month upon us, now is a great time to acknowledge the work of this incredible group started in 1968 by Dr. Willis C. Patterson, Singer A. "Bucky" Buchanan, Jon Lockard, and Vera Embree. Countless African-American students in the area have benefited from the cultural arts instruction provided by Our Own Thing, as well as their scholarship program which has sent numerous young artists and musicians to Interlochen Arts Academy. Watch the interview of Dr. Patterson from the AACHM (African American Cultural & Historical Museum) Living Oral History Project for a deeper look into the organization and the amazing man behind the scene.
Blog Post
"Ride With Me Through the Journey of More Success" - Khaled Mohamed Khaled
by zurenkot
When Khaled Mohamed Khaled’s parents immigrated to the United States from Palestine in the 1970’s they came with the idea that the American Dream could work for them. And yet, while Khaled and his parents were selling clothes out of their van at New Orleans flea markets, they couldn’t have possibly dreamt of the success that their young son would eventually attain.
With a bevy of certified Gold and Platinum singles, collaborations with some of the most talented and most recognized rappers in the industry, major brand endorsements and an enormous presence on social media, DJ Khaled, as he's now known, has achieved everything his parents could have dreamed for him. But the best part is that DJ Khaled keeps dreaming.
In early 2016 DJ Khaled started posting short videos on social media in which the mogul/producer would lay out his keys to success. Everything from brushing your teeth, to recognizing loyalty within your circle of friends, were keys to success. And now, with the publication of Khaled’s first book, The Keys, those successes can be yours!
Being part autobiography, part self-help book, part business manual, layered with a whole lot of mogul talk make The Keys a must read for, well… anyone. Khaled’s keys to success can be applied across all disciplines and lifestyles. His writing is very accessible, and in some cases there is absolutely no denying his logic. The book is fun to read and has some surprisingly deep insights into social and business relationships.
So, if I were to ask you if you are the best library patron what would you say?
If you said no, then I am disappointed in you.
Because you are the best library patron.
We the best library patrons.
For more on DJ Khaled check out his Wikipedia page, or put a hold on his music or book.
Blog Post
Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
by ballybeg
…you’re movin’ on the back roads, By the rivers of my memory, Ever smilin’, ever gentle on my mind.
In the 1960s, Glen Campbell was the most sought after session guitarist in the industry. He played for the recordings of every singer and group you could name: Sinatra, Elvis, Ricky Nelson, Stevie Wonder, The Monkees, and dozens of others. For two years he was a Beach Boy. With the wildly-popular, 1967 Grammy-winning hit, Gentle On My Mind, he came out front, and charmed his way into people’s living rooms for four years with his weekly television variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, full of popular music and hokey skits. He had a short-lived acting career, mostly because he was a mediocre actor, but as a musician and host he was brilliant. His fusion of country/pop/bluegrass/soft rock produced many more hits, and he has sold more than 50 million records over the course of his career. Boyishly good-looking and affable, with a down-home Arkansas persona which always seemed a bit out of place in LA, his smooth, lonesome, tenor voice, and his lightning-quick fingers on the neck of his guitar, he won all the major music awards, including, in 2012, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. I didn’t follow him after the early 1970s, but I grew up watching the tv show with my country music-loving grandparents, collected his albums as a young teen, and still thrill to the sound of that banjo at the beginning of Gentle On My Mind, and his astonishing displays of prowess on the guitar.
Imagine my dismay to watch this documentary, Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me, and discover that in 2011 Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He and his family decided to make and film a farewell tour, as a way to celebrate his long career, but essentially documenting the course of his demise. The goal was to raise awareness about the dreaded disease and the urgency to understand it, fight it and fund it, and, to that end, we watch Campbell in a most vulnerable, delicate state, often forgetting the words to songs he sang thousands of times, not recognizing his children (three of whom played in his band), becoming disoriented more and more frequently as the year-and-a-half tour rolls on. It is hard to watch, but his family felt strongly it was what he wanted, and that it was a necessary sacrifice to shine light on the Alzheimer’s experience. Four years later, Campbell is currently in the seventh, and final, stage of the disease, where he cannot understand any language or communicate. His very brave choice to film his experience, has given voice to millions who suffer with the indignities of Alzheimer’s.
I knew I had to write this blog, when my 27-year-old daughter asked me, as she happened upon me crying over this film, “Who’s Glen Campbell?” You don’t have to be a country music fan to appreciate the talent of this man, or be grateful for his contribution to an understanding of the disease which has slowly stolen the “river of his memories” and eaten away his brain.
Public Event
A2 Jazz Fest Preview Featuring Janelle Reichman
Thursday June 1, 2017: 7:00pm to
8:00pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Blog Post
Sing Street
by manz
A delightful film! Set in 1985 Dublin, the coming-of-age Sing Street is ripe with adolescence and dreaming big. Fourteen year old Conor is sent to a new school due to family money problems, and he encounters a slew of new woes himself, from a mean head-master to bullying. Enter the beautiful Raphina. One look at her and Conor’s heart is done with. He quickly needs to form a band to impress her. With a misfit crew of new band-mates, an older brother who schools him in the finest 80s Duran Duran, The Cure and Hall and Oates, Conor is on his way to self-discovery and fulfilling newfound dreams. The film is a pleasure to watch, and the band’s songs are a hit.
The film has been on many year-end best-of lists for 2016, and is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.
Public Event
Electronic Music: Reaktor with Mike Huckaby
Tuesday January 31, 2017: 7:00pm to
8:30pm
Downtown Library: Secret Lab
Grade 6 - Adult
Public Event
Electronic Music: Ableton Live with Mike Huckaby
Tuesday January 24, 2017: 7:00pm to
8:30pm
Downtown Library: Secret Lab
Grade 6 - Adult
Public Event
Electronic Music: Maschine Jam with Mike Huckaby
Tuesday January 17, 2017: 7:00pm to
8:30pm
Downtown Library: Secret Lab
Grade 6 - Adult