AADL Talks To: Bill Zirinsky and Ruth Schekter of Crazy Wisdom

Mon, 04/03/2023 - 9:48am

In this episode of AADL Talks To, we interview Bill Zirinsky and Ruth Schekter. Bill and Ruth discuss their history running the Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and the Crazy Wisdom Journal. They also talk about their time in Ann Arbor, including some of the city’s changes over the years. They discuss their experience as a unique “new age” bookstore in a town known for its book shops.

JCC Conversations | Mark Braun

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 5:04pm

Learn about Mark’s adventures including putting the bike with the piano on a boat and towing it with the help of volunteer swimmers from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island.

Mr. B is a blues and boogie-woogie pianist who has become one of the premiere purveyors of a vanishing art. Having learned his craft first-hand from the early masters, he is a rare living link to the first generation of blues and boogie pianists.

Steeped in the rich legacy of this tremendously exciting music, Mr. B learned directly from blues and boogie legends like Little Brother Montgomery, Boogie Woogie Red, and Blind John Davis.

JCC Conversations | Kevin Lieberman

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 3:21pm

Chuck Newman interviews Michigan Robotics PhD Candidate Kevin Lieberman. You may have enjoyed listening to Kevin playing a selection of Jewish music emanating from the Baird Carillon at Burton Memorial Tower.  They discuss his studies in human-robot interaction in aerospace, defense, and other complex environments.  He will also inquire about the international presentation on RoboEthics and Rabbis: Being Jewish During the Robot Apocalypse.

Friends of the Sixties: John Sinclair and the Blues Scholars

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 6:02pm

"Friends of the Sixties" and host Michael Erlewine present poet and blues scholar John Sinclair backed up by the Blue Scholars doing the words from an interview of Howlin' Wolf by Michael Erlewine at the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969. The Blues Scholars include Michael Erlewine on harmonica, Seth Bernard on guitar, Luke Winslow-King on bass, with vocals by May and Anne Erlewine. Originally recorded in 2007 at the Heart Center Studios. (c) Copyright 2013 by Michael Erlewine.

This video originally appeared here.

The Prime Movers Blues Band (Feat. Iggy Pop): Instrumental

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 12:42pm

The legendary Prime Movers Blues Band recorded no albums. The band formed in the summer of 1965 at the same time the Grateful Dead began. Known mostly throughout the Midwest, the band did play in San Francisco during the 'Summer of Love' in 1967, opening for "Cream" at the Fillmore Auditorium, playing at The Matrix, The Straight Theater, the Avalon Ballroom, and many other venues. Recently a reel-to-reel tape was found. It is one summer night's bar gig, one complete set probably in 1966 or 1967. This is one cut from that set, although a full album of the Prime Movers Blues Band will be available soon, with James Osterberg (Iggy Pop) singing the Muddy Water's song "I'm a Man."

The Prime Movers Blues Band was founded in the summer of 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The main band members included:

The Prime Movers Blues Band (Feat. Iggy Pop): "Drinkin' That Orange Driver"

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 12:18pm

"Digging out these old recordings has been fun, but it also has made me realize what a great place Ann Arbor was in the middle Sixties. The Prime Movers Blues Band formed in the summer of 1965, the same time as the Grateful Dead were doing the identical thing out in San Francisco. Neither knew about the other. Later, of course there was interaction among these new music groups that were appearing all over the country. There was something in the air. It was the Sixties! The Prime Movers had gone to Chicago. We had seen Little Walter, Big Walter, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, and all the blues greats playing live. I can remember one night listening to Howlin' Wolf play in a small club in Chicago. The room was empty and dark; there was no one there but a couple of us. Wolf was up front sitting on a chair next to the great blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin. Wolf's music went into our ears and then deep into my brain. Time just slowed down and then seemed to stop. The walls around me (and my body) became sort of transparent and it was as if I was somewhere out in deep space, just my mind alone, outside of time and place. My body just kind of disappeared. All that I could hear was Wolf's sound in my ear and brain. I lost all sense of a personal who and where I am. When folks ask me why I listen to and study the blues, it is more than just 'good music'. Blues (for me at least) has been a way to touch home, to go between the clock-ticking seconds of my life, somehow stepping outside of time, and get a sense of my life at a deeper level. Blues has always been for me a journey to see the nature of my own mind -- a refresher course in who I am and why I am here. Music has always been that for me." - Michael Erlewine

The main band members included:

Michigan Music Project: Interview with Michael G. Nastos, Music Historian

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 10:20am

Interview by All-Music Guide founder Michael Erlewine with jazz Music Historian Michael G. Nastos, a well known radio announcer and musician. These video-podcasts are part of a series of interviews for the Michigan Music Project, a documentary on Michigan musicians, artists, venues, and music supporters. The interviews in this series represent basic archival footage (roughly edited) from which excerpts will be taken for eventual documentary.

This video originally appeared here.

Friends of the Sixties: The Prime Movers Blues Band (Solo from "Endless Blues")

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 10:07am

"Friends of the Sixties" with Michael Erlewine, a half-hour show on the legendary Ann Arbor blues group the Prime Movers Blues Band, with Iggy Pop as their drummer, complete with dozens of photos, live tunes, and Iggy Pop singing "I'm a Man" with the Prime Movers Blues Band. Michael Erlewine is founder of the All-Music Guide and former lead singer and amplified-harmonica player for the Prime Movers Blues Band.

This video originally appeared here.

Michigan Music Project: Interview with Peter Madcat Ruth (Part 2)

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 8:16am

Part Two of an interview by All-Music Guide founder Michael Erlewine with harmonica virtuoso Peter Madcat Ruth, an internationally known musician. These video-podcasts are part of a series of interviews for the Michigan Music Project, a documentary on Michigan musicians, artists, venues, and music supporters. The interviews in this series represent basic archival footage (roughly edited) from which excerpts will be taken for eventual documentary.

This video originally appeared here.

Michigan Music Project: Interview with Peter Madcat Ruth (Part 1)

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 8:12am

Part One of an interview by All-Music Guide founder Michael Erlewine with harmonica virtuoso Peter Madcat Ruth, an internationally known musician. These video-podcasts are part of a series of interviews for the Michigan Music Project, a documentary on Michigan musicians, artists, venues, and music supporters. The interviews in this series represent basic archival footage (roughly edited) from which excerpts will be taken for eventual documentary.

This video originally appeared here.