Media
Fifth Wall: A Soundtrack for the Michigan Theater by Sara Tea
"Growing up in the 1980s was a time of seeing architectural elements of the 1930s in drab remnants, broken bulbs of uncared for marquees, sloppy layers of paint on top of beautiful woodwork and moldings. Many theaters covered the floors with loud carpets and slapped up 1980s neon signs on top of these once vibrant spaces with no regard for the histories they held. Today, this is not true for the Michigan Theater.
When I had the opportunity to choose the Michigan Theater for this project, my desire was to give the community a chance to engage and hopefully appreciate the space in a new way. While many soundtracks, songs, and sounds have been played in these walls, has a soundtrack ever been written for the theater alone? With this piece comes a digital map of the suggested path of listening with some key spots within the theater that inspire me. The path is merely suggested, but I encourage folks to spend time where they are drawn, curious & sparked.
Often in our busy lives we spend our time consuming spaces without taking an opportunity to reflect on all of the individuals and the hard work that goes into creating something like this in our community. With this soundtrack I’m offering a chance for us to take a moment within the space, to explore and spend time in a way that we haven’t before. In this exchange is a chance to break the “Fifth Wall” between those who create and nurture space, the performers, and those who come to experience it." - Composer Sara Tea
Made History - New Song by Athletic Mic League
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TracksWritten by: Produced by: |
In 1994, seven friends never anticipated they’d make hip-hop history in Ann Arbor and beyond. A mutual love of creating music and playing sports prompted the Huron High School students to form a group that would eventually become Athletic Mic League.
“We weren’t Athletic Mic League then. We were the Anonymous Clique, but we all started going to Trés [Styles’] crib writing and messing around on little beat machines and little recording setups in 1994,” said Jamall “Buff1” Bufford, one of Athletic Mic League’s MCs.
“We didn’t become Athletic Mic League until probably [1997]. Wes [Taylor] came up with the name … so we said, ‘Yeah, let’s go with it.’ We all play sports. We took an approach to writing and practicing like it was training.”
Thirty years later, that disciplined mindset has stayed with the members of Athletic Mic League: Trés Styles, Wes “Vital” Taylor, Vaughan “Vaughan Tego” Taylor, Michael “Grand Cee” Fletcher, Mayer Hawthorne, Kendall “14KT” Tucker, and Bufford.
Now, the group is celebrating its contributions and legacy in a new track aptly titled “Made History.”
Commissioned to write and record the track for the Ann Arbor District Library's Ann Arbor 200 bicentennial project, Athletic Mic League also pays homage to Washtenaw County hip-hop history and Black history in Ann Arbor.
“We wanted to make sure there was no … erasure of Black history in Ann Arbor,” Bufford said. “We wanted to make sure there was no erasure of AML history in Ann Arbor. [We’re] letting people know our significance [and] Black history significance in Ann Arbor. And let me be real, let me be clear: I’m not saying that people are denying AML’s history. We get love … but it’s hip-hop, you gotta let people know sometimes.”
Back in the Days When I Was a Teenager
Athletic Mic League in the early 2000s. Photo by Doug Coombe.
On “Made History,” Bufford, Vaughan Taylor, Styles, and Hawthorne explore those milestones through nostalgic lyrics and local references over a chill beat.
In the first verse, Bufford raps: “Basketball and rap they was my two things / Me and Trés on the same AAU team / We lost touch and reconnected in 1993 / I met Grand Cee and KT in the time between / Scarlett Middle School, we was from the east / Trés and the Taylor brothers from the north side of things / Mayer went to Tappan kinda the middle between / At Huron we formed like Voltron and assembled the League.”
“I had a class with Trés my freshman year. I was writing in class and he looked over my shoulder and said, ‘Are you writing a rap?’ Back then, it wasn’t as cool to be a rapper—believe it or not—we kept it a secret,” Bufford said.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I’m writing a rap,’ and he said, ‘I write too.’ … And we discovered that Wes and Vaughan wrote raps and then we discovered that KT wrote raps.”
With the group intact, the members rapped on DJ Chill Will’s hip-hop radio show, The Prop Shop, on WCBN-FM (88.3) in Ann Arbor, when they were teens.
Tucker, Hawthorne, Styles, and Vaughan Taylor also formed a locally renowned production crew called The Lab Techs.
“They were one of if not the most innovative production teams from Michigan, but I would say in all of hip-hop at the time,” Bufford said.
“They were using computers and nobody else was using computers at that time. … Those four were using a program called Cool Edit, which was used for video editing. They used it to chop samples.”
Athletic Mic League finally released its debut album, The Thrill of Victory ... The Agony of Defeat, in 1998, but the group struggled to book live shows at local clubs like The Blind Pig.
Vaughan Taylor raps about that struggle in the chorus of “Made History”: “Let me take y’all back / Before The Blind Pig let us in / Let me take y’all back, yea, yea, yea, yea.”
“The scene was fledgling. … We couldn’t really perform at The Blind Pig,” Bufford said. “It wasn’t open to a lot of local rap back then. You could be a touring rap artist to come through there, but if you were local and rapping, they weren’t really trying to get you in.”
Athletic Mic League eventually teamed up with Ann Arbor funk/hip-hop band Funktelligence and that opened the door to rock-oriented clubs.
“They were a live band, and The Pig was a little bit more receptive to them—even though they were rapping—so they would get in there all the time. We started getting on bills with them,” Bufford said. “Once they saw what we were about, Funktelligence was our foot in the door. We eventually built a relationship with The Blind Pig and started doing our own shows.”
Some of those shows included shared bills with Ypsilanti’s S.U.N. and his live backing band Gorilla Funk Mob and Ann Arbor’s Invincible.
Bufford pays tribute to those acts and their support of Athletic Mic League in “Made History”: “Forever indebted to those who helped AML / Chill Will, Ill Weaver, S.U.N., Funktell.”
“I wanted to make sure that I made it a point to mention S.U.N.—Scientific Universal Noncommercial—because he was super important in helping AML. I recorded it … so there’s no discrepancy on S.U.N.’s importance not only to us, but to the whole scene, and utilizing a live band, Gorilla Funk Mob,” Bufford said.
“S.U.N. helped with that, Funktelligence helped with that. Invincible—Ill Weaver—they were super critical not only just collaborating with us, but when they moved to New York, that was our pathway [there.] And then Chill Will, of course.”
Athletic Mic League continued to gain momentum through live shows at local venues, collaborations with the Subterraneous Crew and other Southeast Michigan hip-hop acts, and opening slots for national acts like Jurassic 5.
“To be all the way transparent, we had our ups and downs with The Blind Pig, but they were critical,” Bufford said. “They were the venue and we had to have our presence felt there. They were a big part of who AML is, for sure.”
Athletic Mic League also released two other albums—Sweats and Kicks in 2002 and Jungle Gym Jungle in 2004—before pursuing various solo and collaborative projects.
On “Made History,” Bufford raps, “Sold-out shows, we made history / Known around the globe, we made history / When it comes to albums sold, we made history / You proud to call The Deuce your home, we made history.”
“A lot of things that we did before anybody—not even before anybody, that nobody else has ever done—and that’s going to sound very arrogant, but it’s just the facts,” Bufford said.
“As far as hip-hop goes, artists from Ann Arbor—like major label record deals, indie label record deals, touring the world, selling out The Blind Pig multiple, multiple, multiple times—not a lot of people can say they’ve done what we’ve done.”
Native Tongues: Black History in Ann Arbor
Diana McKnight Morton and Curtis Morton of DeLong's Bar-B-Q Pit in 2001. Photo taken from The Ann Arbor News.
Along with honoring its own legacy on “Made History,” Athletic Mic League celebrates Black traditions in Ann Arbor, including Black neighborhoods and Black-owned businesses.
Later in the first verse, Bufford raps, “I can’t forget my early days on The Old West Side / My first bike ride without falling on a test drive / So much Black history in that part of town / Before Kerrytown or Water Hill was thought about / Before Jones School was Community High.”
“A lot of that process was helped by my involvement in the Jones School documentary and my involvement in the Fourth and Catherine Affordable Housing Development with the Ann Arbor Housing Commission and Avalon Housing,” said Bufford, who’s also Director of Washtenaw My Brother’s Keeper. “In that work, it really sparked a lot of my content in that verse that doesn’t have to do with AML.”
Bufford continues to rap, “DeLong’s Bar-B-Q, the sauce they would use on them fries?! / Rosey’s, Rush, where we would go for a cut / Remember this story from Ann Arbor growing up, ay.”
Located south of Kerrytown on 314 Detroit Street, DeLong’s Bar-B-Q Pit operated for 37 years before Curtis and Diana McKnight Morton decided to close in 2001. A July 24, 2001, article in The Ann Arbor News stated: “Robert and Adeline Thompson founded DeLong’s in a former gas station across from the Farmers’ Market in 1964. Today, their daughter, Diana McKnight Morton, runs the business. She says her husband Curtis Morton is ill, restaurant help is very difficult to find and her two daughters have occupations of their own.”
Bufford recalls fond memories of eating there with his father.
“And DeLong’s, I remember walking with my dad [there] and Zingerman’s, too,” he said. “We used to walk to Zingerman’s and get corned beef sandwiches. The fries at [DeLong’s] with that magical barbecue sauce. … I remember the taste, I remember the smell. I was little, I was really young—5 years old—but I remember it.”
Today, the former site of DeLong’s—and later Teriyaki Time—will feature a new luxury condo low-rise complex.
DeLong’s shared that update in a December 7 Instagram post: “As much as this hurts our hearts, the memories had there will forever live on from our stories—your stories and photos. Thus, why my family wanted to reopen the business with you all in mind. Never let [Black] history die!”
Ann Arbor director Kameron Donald pays tribute to DeLong’s in a documentary of the same name. It features the restaurant’s history told by co-founder Diana McKnight Morton. DeLong’s is available to stream on AADL’s website and will be shown December 16 during the Ann Arbor 200 Film Series at the downtown location.
The exterior of Rosey's Barber Shop in 2020. Photo taken from AADL's website.
Bufford also spotlights two barber shops, Rosey’s Barber Shop and Johnnie Rush Barber Shop, on “Made History.”
“Rosey was from my other neighborhood where I eventually moved to in Pittsfield [Township],” Bufford said. “Rosey used to live in Pittsfield. His son Ricco was like a big brother figure to me in the neighborhood. I used to go to Rosey’s to get my hair cut.”
According to an April 16, 2021, article in the Ann Arbor Observer, “Roosevelt ‘Rosey’ Rowry worked in other barber shops in the area before opening his own in 1972. It closed ‘in November 2018’ after [Rosey] passed away.”
Rosey’s Barber Shop was located at 203 East Huron Street in a former gas station and “was one of the last [Black]-owned businesses in [that] area.”
Johnnie Rush in 1960. Photo taken from The Ann Arbor News.
Also located in a former gas station at 1031 Broadway Street, Johnnie Rush Barber Shop operated there for 45 years until Rush retired in August 2020.
Rush earned his barber’s license while working as an orderly part-time at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital (now Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital) and opened his own barber shop in 1961.
He “sold the building a year later to a group that [planned] to open a neighborhood coffee shop and bar called Lowertown Proper,” wrote Dave Algase in an October 25, 2022, article in the Ann Arbor Observer.
While Bufford didn’t go to Rush’s barber shop, three other Athletic Mic League members did.
“I also mention Rush, which I know now is Lowertown [Bar & Café],” Bufford said. “I didn’t go to Rush because he was on the north side, but the guys from the north side—Vaughan Taylor, Wes Taylor, and Trés [Styles]—they did go to Rush.”
Finally, Athletic Mic League gives props to the University of Michigan’s Fab Five on “Made History.” Vaughan Taylor raps in the chorus, “Fab Five era nothin’ better / Wouldn’t trade it back, yea, yea, yea, yea, yea.”
As longtime basketball players and fans, the group was inspired by U-M basketball players Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson in the early ‘90s.
The Fab Five were the first team in NCAA history to compete in the championship game with all-freshman starters.
“I cried at the Chris Webber timeout … that’s how important the Fab Five were. I never got to go to a Fab Five game. I think my older brother got a Chris Webber autograph for me,” Bufford said.
“Much later in life, I got to meet Jimmy King a few times. He would come to my open mic, Elevation Sundays, at the Firefly Club. Obviously, how [the Fab Five] played, their Blackness, how proud they were to be Black, their hip-hop connection, and how much they loved hip-hop and represented hip-hop, it’s super important.”
Playground Legends: Athletic Mic League’s Legacy
Athletic Mic League is releasing new material in 2025. Photo courtesy of Athletic Mic League.
In the last verse of “Made History,” Styles reflects on Athletic Mic League’s lifelong ties to Ann Arbor and the group’s evolution over time: “Moved back to The Deuce and still handlin’ it / ‘Cause it’s only boss moves in our manuscripts / Correction, we not a clique, this is my family, yeah / Since we was kids there was always plans for this.”
“[Trés] is probably the best bragger of AML. He’s good at letting people know how good we are, how important we are,” Bufford said.
“We need somebody to champion us and let people know what we’ve done. If nobody else will, we got to. I love Trés’ verse, and amongst other things, he’s my brother. But that’s one of the things I love about Trés—what he brings to the group.”
At the end of “Made History,” Styles raps, “We out here! And been doin’ damage, man / What you playin’ for if ya ain’t tryin’ to win a championship?! / Life’s too short to waste a chance at this / The Mic League Kings! Tell my kids I ran with them! / We made history!”
“This song will eventually become history,” Bufford said. “We do need an official day though. I don’t know if it’s the mayor’s call or city council’s. … I’m officially vouching for an AML official day with the city of Ann Arbor.”
In 2020, the group reunited after a 15-year hiatus and released Playground Legends, Vol. 1 on October 28, which is the unofficial AML Day. The members recorded the album during a four-day retreat in Richmond, Virginia. During another retreat, the group made Playground Legends, Vol. 2, which came out in October 2022.
Besides advocating for an official AML Day, Athletic Mic League also released a new single, “Plates,” with Detroit MC Boog Brown. The group plans to release Playground Legends, Vol. 3 soon as well.
“We’re working on Vol. 3 to end that trilogy, so hopefully that will be out early next year,” Bufford said.
Athletic Mic League's Kendall Tucker, Michael Fletcher, Trés Styles, Mayer Hawthorne, Vaughan Taylor, Jamall Bufford, and Wes Taylor. Photo courtesy of Jamall Bufford.
Written by:
Buff1
Vaughan Tego
3Steez
Produced by:
Mayer Hawthorne and DJ Dahi
Complete Lyrics
Buff1 verse:
Sold out shows we made history
Known around the globe we made history
When it comes albums sold we made history
You proud to call The Deuce your home we made history
Back when the 734 was the 313
I was tryina shoot the rock and live out my hoop dreams like 23
Basketball and rap they was my two things
Me and Trés was on the same AAU team
We lost touch then reconnected 1993
I met Grand Cee and KT in the time between
Scarlett middle school, we was from the east
Trés and the Taylor brothers from the north side of things
Mayer went to Tappan kinda the middle between
At Huron we formed like Voltron and assembled the League
Forever indebted to those who helped AML
Chill Will, Ill Weaver, S.U.N., Funktell
I can’t forget my early days The Old West Side
My first bike ride without falling on a test drive
So much Black history in that part of town
Before Kerrytown or Water Hill was thought about
Before Jones School was Community High
DeLong’s Bar-B-Q the sauce they would use on them fries?!
Rosey’s, Rush where we go for a cut
Remember this story from Ann Arbor growing up ay
Vaughan Tego hook:
Let me take yall back
Before the Blind Pig let us in
Let me take yall back, yea yea, yea yea
Let me take yall back, yea yea
Fab Five era nothin better
Wouldn’t trade it back, yea yea, yea yea yea
3Stees verse:
A Leader in this clique, Iron Man of this /
Future billionaire playboy philanthropist /
Moved back to The Deuce & still handlin it /
‘Cause it’s only boss moves in our manuscripts /
Correction we not a clique this my family yeah /
Since we was kids there was always plans for this /
Grew up round the corner from ya mans and them /
One of us probably dated ya girlfriend and yeah /
You know us, from rec league, summer camps & then /
Ballin w/ Coach Phillips, & Coach Blanchard’s kid /
From hoopin in the “Heights” to high school gyms /
We all academic scholars turned businessmen /
We out here! & been doin damage man /
What you playin for if ya ain’t tryin to win a championship?! /
Life’s too short, to waste a chance at this /
The Mic League Kings! Tell my kids I ran with them! / We made history!
Last Known Address: Original EP from Timothy Monger
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Artist's Introduction:
Located about 18 miles south of where I grew up, Ann Arbor was the cool older sibling to my hometown. Just a short drive down US-23 there were used book and record shops, vintage boutiques, comic sellers, coffee houses, punks, students, hippies, and other college town fixtures less common in the suburbs. During summer festivals you could see scruffy Andean folk bands busking on street corners and Hare Krishnas drumming in the Diag. Brighton had its merits, of course, and my childhood there was near-idyllic, but my young mind really opened up whenever I got to come to Ann Arbor.
In the late-'80s, my mom drove my brother and me into the city to take guitar lessons from Michael Lutz at Al Nalli Music. Mike was an affable guy with shaggy hard rock hair who correctly deduced that we didn't care about notation and just wanted to learn how to play songs by ear. His band, Brownsville Station, had a hit in the mid-'70s with "Smokin' in the Boys Room," and to us he was a legitimate guitar god. Being too young to get into clubs, I watched in-store acoustic shows at Schoolkids' Records by touring bands like Camper Van Beethoven and Chickasaw Mudd Puppies. When I was a little older I started volunteering at the Ark and eventually got a job as a clerk at Schoolkids'. I never attended the University. I always gravitated toward the townie side and still do. Every job I've held since the age of 18 has been in Ann Arbor and I've built my music career amid its various overlapping scenes.
Last Known Address is a collection of six short songs related to my life in Ann Arbor. I'll be the first to admit it's a thematically disparate lot, but sometimes memories are like that. You shake your head and unexpected things fall out. Think of it as a little ragtag bouquet of wildflowers plucked from the city's greater ecosystem. I've accompanied each one with a photo and corresponding essay. The songs themselves are intentionally brief; fleeting musical snapshots from a relationship still in progress. The photos offer visual context and the essays add color. My partner throughout the arranging and recording of this project was singer and multi-instrumentalist Carol Catherine, an Ann Arbor native with a long history in the arts. Every June you can find her in Nichols Arboretum, co-directing Shakespeare in the Arb.
Song Essays, lyrics, and photos:
HARVEY'S LENS
"Diag 1994" - © 1994 Harvey Drouillard
LYRICS:
Nudes in the Diag
Nudes on State
Move through the Art Fair
Harvey's lens is an x-ray
Although I grew up in Brighton, Ann Arbor was where the interesting things happened. In the mid-'90s I was a teenager, driving into the city to play acoustic gigs at local coffee houses and shop at record stores like WhereHouse, Wazoo, and Schoolkids'. Ann Arbor also had its share of eccentric gift shops like Middle Earth and Peaceable Kingdom, which sold interesting curated objects that ranged from punk t-shirts and imported folk art to plastic toy bulldog guns that squeaked when you pulled the trigger. These shops also stocked postcards of every stripe.
In 1994 I remember noticing a series of black and white postcards depicting local events like the Art Fair and Hash Bash. The curious thing about them was that they contained both nude and fully-clothed people in casual interaction, as if it were an everyday occurrence. Even then I recognized how artfully done they were. All I knew was that they were taken by a photographer known mononymously as Harvey.
Harvey Drouillard now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and still specializes in guerilla-style nude photo shoots. His models disrobe for less than a minute, mingling with the local flora and fauna while he quickly captures the scene. Usually before anyone is the wiser the models are already clad and moving on. Over the years he has staged nude shoots in dozens of North American cities, but the tradition was born in his hometown of Ann Arbor.
LAST KNOWN ADDRESS
"Liberty Station" - © 2024 Timothy Monger
LYRICS:
Post office box 8036
Last known address,
Liberty Station
While he lived,
His ghost in town sublet
The downtown post office was moved to the federal building at 200 E. Liberty in 1977, the year I was born. In 1999, my band, the Original Brothers and Sisters of Love, was about to release our first album and required a common mailing address for legal purposes. My brother Jamie and I shared a house on West Ann, but our rented duplex was hardly permanent. So, using money earned from our monthly gig at Arbor Brewing Company, we rented a mailbox in the lobby of Liberty Station. Over the next couple decades it became the de facto mailing address for my various bands, record labels, and other ventures, providing me a consistent presence in town long after I'd moved away. Because of its location, I've always thought of it as ground zero, the dead center from which the rest of Ann Arbor radiates. Wherever my corporeal self roams, my ghost in town keeps residence at Liberty Station. It is my proxy, my last known address.
Write to me at:
Timothy Monger
P.O. Box 8036
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
ARBOR OAKS PARK
"Arbor Oaks Park" - © 2024 Timothy Monger
LYRICS:
Been having a hard time, too much on my mind
Got to get on my feet, get lost, just to get by
Hop across Stone School onto Champagne Drive
I found hope at Arbor Oaks Park
I learned to meditate at a picnic table
And a kid was shooting baskets
As the solar eclipse passed
And I wanted to share the moment
So I gave him my dark glasses
In the summer of 2017 I adopted Arbor Oaks Park as my personal refuge. My office building was maybe a half mile away on Varsity Drive and I'd taken to wandering around the suburban fringes of Pittsfield Township during my lunch breaks. It was a melancholy time, and I felt rather lost. One day my explorations carried me across Stone School Road and into a neighborhood I'd never been to. A few blocks in I discovered a quiet little park next to Bryant Elementary where for the rest of that summer I took up residency. To combat my anxiety, I'd begun experimenting with meditation via one of the guided apps that had recently become popular. Several lunchtimes per week, I could be found, eyes closed, focusing on my breath at a picnic table near the park's west entrance. On the afternoon of August 21, I walked over there to watch a total solar eclipse make its way across America. I was alone except for a young guy shooting baskets at one of the nearby courts. As the earth's shadow passed over the sun, he kept on playing through the darkness until I walked over and insisted he wear my eclipse glasses and look up to witness this astronomical wonder.
ERIC FARRELL'S DERBY PARTY
"Eric Farrell" - © 2008 Timothy Monger
LYRICS:
Detroit Street, Derby Day
Midwestern fancy
Women in hats
Heels, no flats
Julep drunk in May
Up the stairs at Eric's house
Reckless joy just spilling out
On Derby Saturday
I first met Eric Farrell sometime in the mid-2000s. He was then employed by Zingerman's Mail Order and lived on Detroit Street, just north of the Deli and directly across from the fusty old antique shop Treasure Mart. Every year on the first Saturday in May he hosted a Kentucky Derby party. Formal wear was highly encouraged; women sought out elaborate hats, men were suited, it became a sort of raucous thrift store gala. Good food was always in abundance and Eric premixed a massive punch bowl of bourbon and simple syrup for a make-your-own-julep station with heaps of crushed ice, a bouquet of mint sprigs, and a few silver julep cups reserved for honored guests.
Gambling was also encouraged, making the actual race-viewing, crammed into his tiny living room, a high-stakes affair. They were decadent and joyous daytime bangers that stretched into night. In 2011 Eric opened the Bar at 327 Braun Court, a beloved Kerrytown space which matured into one of Ann Arbor's legendary in-the-know hangs. The Derby parties eventually faded out and in the spring of 2024, the bar too closed its doors. Like his parties, Eric's bar was a cult classic, something not meant for the mainstream, but cherished and protected by those who found it.
NORTH STAR LOUNGE
"North Star Lounge" - © 2024 Timothy Monger
LYRICS:
Late November
Cold drives the crowds
Home from market day in Kerrytown
Sun down, moon out
Friends constellate at the North Star Lounge
Phillis Engelbert opened the North Star Lounge in Kerrytown in 2022 as an extension of Detroit Street Filling Station, her popular vegan restaurant. Tucked into a historic two-story brick house on the corner of Catherine and Fifth, it immediately became a bustling micro-venue with a cozy upstairs listening room that could bear 35 patrons if they tucked in their elbows. It was billed as Michigan's first all-vegan bar, but the intimate performance space was the real draw. Carol Catherine and I first played there as a duo in November 2023, and to promote our show I wrote us a short 30-second jingle. We posted a video of us singing it online and then opened our show with it. I assumed it would be a single-use relic meant only for this gig, but a few weeks later I spontaneously wrote several more tiny Ann Arbor songs which became the genesis of this project.
VETERANS PARK ICE ARENA
"Ice Skating at Vets Park, 1971" - © 1971 The Ann Arbor News
LYRICS:
Snow drifts, mid-July
A pale omen
Car seats on fire
Burning a hole down Huron
Vets Park has smooth ice
They've brought its skin outside
When I was in my early-20s and living on Ann Street, I remember driving up Huron past Veterans Memorial Park and noticing what looked like a pile of snow out front. It was either late spring or early summer. At the time I wrote it off as the stubborn remnants of a large snow plow berm, the kind that are ubiquitous in Michigan parking lots even well into the spring. It didn't make sense, though, and it unnerved me. Also, I saw it more than once. Years later I casually mentioned this phenomenon to someone and they offered me a great revelation. The building outside which this anomaly appeared was an ice rink, and the snowpile was in fact shavings from the ice resurfacer. I was never able to confirm this, but the idea of the Zamboni operator dumping his leftovers to melt outside seemed logical enough. Still, this strange Ann Arbor memory has stayed with me over the years and every time I drive by Vets Park in the warmer months, I find myself looking for a flash of white.
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A note on the cover: The photo on the album cover was taken during a snowstorm on January 16, 2002. It was my last year living on Ann Street and I wanted to document the neighborhood somehow. I climbed to the top of the nearby parking structure and snapped a handful of aerial shots on my cheap 35mm camera. This one looks out west toward Ashley Street with West Park in the distance behind it. In the foreground is my old house, 216 West Ann, partially obscured by a large pine tree. My brother and I lived in that house for five years and wrote most of the songs from our first three albums there. Originally built in the late-1800s, the house was recently demolished and rebuilt from the foundation. |
Artist Biography:
Timothy Monger is a musician and writer living in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He has released four solo albums ranging in style from lush baroque pop to pastoral folk and harmony-driven indie rock. In addition to his work as solo singer/songwriter, he is the bandleader of Timothy Monger State Park, co-founder of folk-rock cult heroes Great Lakes Myth Society, and curator of the experimental multimedia project Log Variations. He is also a blogger, music writer, and longtime contributor to the AllMusic database. Monger's latest project is Last Known Address, a collection of short songs and essays commissioned by the Ann Arbor District Library.
Credits:
Recorded February - August 2024 in Ypsilanti, MI
Engineered by Timothy Monger and Elly Daftuar
Mixed by Rishi Daftuar
Mastered by Jim Kissling
Timothy Monger - vocals, guitars, bass, synths, chord organ, bongos, stylophone, drum programming
Carol Catherine - vocals, violin, windchimes, vibraslap, triangle, shaker, maracas, floor tom, tambourine
Elly Daftuar - additional harmonies
Chad Thompson - wurlitzer electric piano, drum set
All songs written by Timothy Monger © 2024
Happy Maps Publishing Co. (BMI)
Commissioned by the Ann Arbor District Library for Ann Arbor 200
Released by Northern Detective in conjunction with the Ann Arbor District Library
Northern Detective - Case # ND-006
Ann Arbor 200 - #159
Media
Condemned to a Soulless Wealth: An Original Composition based on Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society" Speech by Garrett Schumann
Condemned to a Soulless Wealth contemplates President Lyndon Baines Johnson's 'Great Society' speech, which he delivered as the commencement address at the University of Michigan in 1964, from a contemporary perspective. Johnson's words are confident and optimistic, but, from the vantage of six decades in the future, they can come across as achingly idealistic. Composing this work in 2024, I have the unfortunate privilege of knowing that the aspirational America Johnson proposed has not exactly come to fruition; that the students, politicians, and leaders he spoke to were unable, or unwilling, to manifest his calls to action. But, Johnson does not ignore the possibility of failure. The piece's title comes from the address's final minutes when he confronts this potential outcome with a characteristically determined attitude. "There are those timid souls that say this battle cannot be won, that we are condemned to a soulless wealth. I do not agree."
One of my favorite aspects of this composition is that it features so many instruments from the Ann Arbor District Library's music tools collection. Throughout the piece, you will be able to hear at least four different synthesizers that I checked out from the library. They are particularly apparent in the first few minutes, which portray a brooding and swirling cloud of sound that possibly represents the mists of history. It is from this initial declaration that recorded excerpts of Johnson's speech emerge.
At first, I use an array of effects and interwoven layers of sound to emphasize the historical recording's atmosphere more than intelligible language. As I began working on this project, I found myself particularly interested in the literal echoes of the President's voice over the sound system in Michigan Stadium sixty years ago. So, I carefully excised and arranged these moments from the recording in an intricate, mercurial texture that leads into more straightforward presentations of the archival audio. Other than the titular line from the speech's text, the statements I present with the most clarity are three fateful questions Johnson uses to challenge his audience and, hopefully, inspire them to do the work required to make The Great Society a reality. - Composer Garrett Schumann
Media
Summer Echoes - An Original Composition Created from Climatological Data
In this piece commissioned for Ann Arbor 200, composer and media artist Eloysa Zelada takes us on a journey through a century of climate in Ann Arbor through music and images via data sonification.
From creator Eloysa Zelada:
"Summer Echoes" is a work that translates a century of temperature records into a dynamic musical composition. This project uses temperature data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from Ann Arbor, Michigan, spanning the summer months (July, and August) from 1925 to 2024. Created by the media artist Eloysa Zelada, this work delves into the intricate relationship between environmental change and human experience, transforming raw data into an immersive sensory journey.
Media
"This Is The Town That Was," A Musical History of Ann Arbor: A Recording of the December 16, 1974 Performance
On December 16, 1974, Ann Arbor concluded its year-long sesquicentennial celebration with a performance of "This Is The Town That Was" at Hill Auditorium, presented here online for the first time. This historical musical, written by Ann Arbor teachers Dianne Baker and Carol Duffy, was performed by Ann Arbor Public Schools students from Abbot, Angell, Newport, and Pittsfield Elementary Schools and Forsythe Junior High School. Produced by Carol Duffy, Joan May, Sue Laughlin, and Lillian Holtfreter, the play was narrated by Judge Sandy Elden and attorney William Richardson playing founders John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey.
As Ann Arbor School Board trustee Pat Pooley wrote in an Ann Arbor News editorial that day: "This musical history of our city has been made possible by a modest grant from the Ann Arbor Schools, the opening of Hill Auditorium without charge by the University of Michigan, and the unstinting efforts of teachers, parents, townspeople, and especially, the stars of the show, the children, to conclude Ann Arbor's sesquicentennial year in the spirit of active community involvement in which we all take pride."
This production features several songs written by Dianne Baker. Sheet music is available for The Naming of the Streets and Ann's Arbor We Will Sing You A Song.
Scoring the Archive
EXHIBIT STATEMENT
Scoring the Archive brings together undergraduate students at the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor District Library through the creation of original electronic compositions designed to accompany photographs selected from the library’s archives. These new musical works are inspired by these images and aim to enhance the community’s experience of the local history they represent through an evocative, multimedia listening experience.
The April 2024 iteration of Scoring the Archive features students in Dr. Garrett Schumann’s Composition 222 courses at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. These students have worked with AADL staff since January to select the photographs that serve as their compositions’ subject matter. As with the first Scoring the Archive project, the music these students created represents an innovative reflection on Ann Arbor’s history, as captured by the images held in AADL’s archives. The new electronic compositions enliven the past through the lens of these student composers’ points of view and the digital tools they employed. Scoring the Archives also serves as a uniquely intergenerational work that puts Ann Arbor’s current residents in dialog with decades-old events, places, and people from the local area and nearby regions.
The compositions’ format makes this music maximally accessible, providing people in the AADL community, and beyond, with an opportunity to connect more deeply to these images and their meanings. We hope these compositions inspire you to engage with Ann Arbor’s history in new ways as we all commemorate the city’s bicentennial in 2024.
— Dr. Garrett Sanders Schumann
THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Select any image below to hear the accompanying composition.
