Media
The Star-Spangled Bannercast with Mark Clague: The Banner at War
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of The Star-Spangled Banner, UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance Professor Mark Clague talks with us about our national anthem during wartime start with the war of 1812.
In this Bannercast edition, Mark traces the role that music, and especially The Star-Spangled Banner, played in the United States military conflicts, starting with the War of 1812, and traveling through years when the anthem and its various versions were embraced for their patriotism and message.
Media
The Star-Spangled Bannercast with Mark Clague: Translating Our Anthem
In celebration of the 200th anniversary, of The Star-Spangled Banner, UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance Professor Mark Clague talks with us about the controversy surrounding translations of our national anthem.
This Bannercast features a conversation about the challenges of translating a national anthem, and capturing the nuances of meaning that make The Star-Spangled Banner such an expressive song.
Media
Martin Bandyke Under Covers: Martin interviews David Browne, author of So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead.
They hold a place in history and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They helped spawn jam bands and social networking. Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of a band that changed rock & roll musically and culturally, David Browne’s So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead takes us deep into the world of the Dead in ways that will be eye-opening even to the group’s most rabid fans.
By way of an altogether unique and striking structure – each chapter centered around a significant or pivotal day in their story – Browne, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone who has written extensively on the band for that magazine, lends this epic musical story a you-are-there feel unlike any other book written on the Grateful Dead.
David Browne’s previous book Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970, was called “one of the most entertaining and informative books of the year” by NPR.
The interview with David Browne was originally recorded on June 10, 2015.
Media
The Star-Spangled Bannercast with Mark Clague: Writing Our Anthem
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of The Star-Spangled Banner, UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance Professor Mark Clague talks with us about Francis Scott Key and the writing of our national anthem.
In this Bannercast, Mark shares the story of The Star-Spangled Banner's author and his shipboard seat for the Battle of Fort McHenry, during which he wrote the anthem. Mark discusses the events surrounding the writing of the song, as well as the manner in which it was distributed and how it grew in popularity.
Media
The Star-Spangled Bannercast with Mark Clague: Jimi's Banners
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of The Star-Spangled Banner, UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance Professor Mark Clague talks with us about Jimi Hendrix and his personal relationship with our nation anthem.
Mark discusses one of the most famous national anthem performances of all time in this Bannercast, recounting the story of Jimi Hendrix's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner at the Woodstock music festival. He elaborates on the significance of this performance, its creativity and craft, as well as the intent behind it. For more from Mark on this iconic Banner moment, see his article "'This is America' : Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner Journey as Psychedelic Citizenship" in the November 2014 volume of the Journal of the Society for American Music.
Media
The Star-Spangled Bannercast with Mark Clague: The Star-Spangled Banner in Professional Sports
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of The Star-Spangled Banner, UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance Professor Mark Clague talks with us about the unique connection between our national anthem and sports.
In this edition of Bannercast, Mark explores the reasons that The Star-Spangled Banner have become a part of professional sports in America, discusses landmark performances, and clarifies that the last two words of the lyrics are not actually "play ball."
Media
Martin Bandyke Under Covers: Martin interviews Charles Leerhsen, author of Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty.
Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player who ever lived. His lifetime batting average is still the highest of all time, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics, he held more than ninety records. But the numbers don’t tell half of Cobb’s tale. The Georgia Peach was by far the most thrilling player of the era: “Ty Cobb could cause more excitement with a base on balls than Babe Ruth could with a grand slam,” one columnist wrote. When the Hall of Fame began in 1936, he was the first player voted in.
But Cobb was also one of the game’s most controversial characters. He got in a lot of fights, on and off the field, and was often accused of being overly aggressive. In his day, even his supporters acknowledged that he was a fierce and fiery competitor. Because his philosophy was to “create a mental hazard for the other man,” he had his enemies, but he was also widely admired. After his death in 1961, however, something strange happened: his reputation morphed into that of a monster—a virulent racist who also hated children and women, and was in turn hated by his peers.
How did this happen? Who is the real Ty Cobb? Setting the record straight in Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, Charles Leerhsen pushed aside the myths, traveled to Georgia and Detroit, and re-traced Cobb’s journey, from the shy son of a professor and state senator who was progressive on race for his time, to America’s first true sports celebrity. In the process, he tells of a life overflowing with incident and a man who cut his own path through his times—a man we thought we knew but really didn’t.
The interview with Charles Leerhsen was originally recorded on May 5, 2015.
Media
Long Distance Hiking: Tales from the Trail
Long distance hiker Chris "Wolverine" Hillier earned his "Triple Crown" title by completing the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Appalachian Trail, covering a total distance of about 7,900 miles. He was also the first to hike Michigan's 924-mile trail that reaches from Belle Isle to Ironwood. Chris will share his love for hiking through photos and stories, and pass along some of the lessons he has learned firsthand on the trail.
Media
Nerd Nite #22 - Why We Watch: How Everything From Football to Mario Entrances Us
Why We Watch: How Everything From Football to Mario Entrances Us
Games are a form of storytelling as old, if not older, than language itself, but we rarely stop to think why some games succeed and some fail. What do college athletics–which, despite being non-professional games, earn nearly $1 billion per year–have in common with a fifteen-year-old Pakistani boy playing video games in China for the first time, with 770,000 live viewers and $3 million in prizes on the line?
About Ryan “Gorgon” Jurado:
With professional experience in publishing, music performance, gaming, podcasting, and three majors split across two undergraduate degrees, Ryan “Gorgon” Jurado is what you might call a renaissance nerd. These days, he spends his time studying the burgeoning realm of online spectator games, often called eSports, in which he is a data analyst and live commentator for audiences of tens of thousands. You can find him on Twitter: @gotcowdota
Media
I Remember When: Playbill Part 2
In this episode, Gerald H. Hoag, former manager of both the Majestic Theatre and the Michigan Theatre, talks about the early theaters in Ann Arbor and some of the early stars and most popular films to come to town. Host Ted Trost mentions the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. Footage includes a street performer at the Art Fair and the University of Michigan Marching Band.
Directed by Dale Throneberry
Created by Jeff Werner
Executive producer: Catherine Anderson
Graphic artist Eric Anderson
Sponsored by the Ann Arbor Public Library, with help from the Ann Arbor Sesquicentennial Commission and the University of Michigan Speech Department.