Blog Post
Word Up: U-M's Zell Visiting Writers Series Winter 2017 Lineup
by christopherporter
Bestselling author Colm Toibin’s November 2016 reading/talk in Ann Arbor -- part of the U-M’s fantastic Zell Visiting Writers Series -- drew a big enough crowd to not only fill all the 185 seats in UMMA’s Helmut Stern Auditorium, but also the wall end of both side aisles and the back wall.
Toibin, best known for his novel Brooklyn, the basis for an Oscar-nominated film, was one part of ZVWS’s star-studded lineup for fall 2016, which also included Everything I Never Told You author (and U-M MFA program grad) Celeste Ng and Tony Award-winning playwright/actress and Michigan native Lisa Kron (Fun Home).
“That was a large turnout for one of our readings, but not unprecedented,” said Douglas Trevor, director of U-M’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program, in reference to Toibin's event.
With big and/or rising literary stars on the roster, and increasing community awareness of the series, Trevor and HZWP assistant director Maya West (who oversees the reading series) should probably expect more full houses in future.
“Our list to date is pretty incredible,” said Trevor. “We really hope and strive to provide more opportunities for literary engagement in Southeast Michigan.”
“And we’ve cast a wider net with our marketing, especially in the last year or two,” said West, who noted that Literati has partnered with the series to be the bookseller on-site while also including the readings on the indie bookstore’s event calendar.
The new semester’s lineup includes:
➥ poet Mary Szybist (2013 National Book Award winner for Incarnadine) on January 12
➥ short-story writer Kelly Link (2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist in fiction for Get in Trouble), in-residence January 17-19
➥ poet and playwright Tom Sleigh on February 2
➥ poet/visual artist Terrence Hayes (his Lighthead won the 2010 National Book Award for poetry), in-residence February 14-16
➥ Jenny Offill (author of one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2014, Dept. of Speculation) on March 9
➥ poet Marie Howe (2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist for The Kingdom of Ordinary Time) on March 16
➥ fiction writer Victor Lavalle (The Devil in Silver, listed as one of the best books of 2012 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Publishers Weekly) on March 30
➥ novelist and multimedia artist Tanwi Nandini Islam (Bright Lines) on April 6
➥ and U-M MFA grad and faculty member Michael Byers (whose fiction has earned a spot in the annual Best American Short Stories anthology, among others) on April 13.
You might wonder if Chicago-based philanthropist Helen Zell’s 2013 gift (via the Zell Family Foundation) of $50 million to U-M’s graduate creative writing program -- on the heels of her “seed funding” gift of $10 million in 2004 -- is driving the vibrancy of the series, which offers 8-10 author events each semester (fall and winter). The answer is “yes,” but the series is only one small part of the generous gift’s scope.
“The lion’s share provides a tuition waiver for all of our students and supports our students being here for a post-graduate third-year residency, on a stipend,” said Trevor. “It basically turned a two-year program into more of a three-year program.”
U-M’s MFA program -- originally launched in 1982 -- was already considered to be one of the best before Zell’s generous gifts, but it has since established itself on most lists as the No. 2 training ground for writers, second only to the storied Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. More than a thousand applicants compete annually for 22 spots in U-M’s program, which was understandably renamed the Helen Zell Writers’ Program in 2013.
Those talented students, as well as faculty, submit nominations for the reading series. “Rising second-year students can invite one fiction writer and one poet,” said West. “There’s no guarantee that we’ll get the person they want, but it at least helps us generate a list of options.”
Of course, U-M writing students get to spend additional time with the visiting writers throughout the day of the reading via craft lectures, roundtable Q&As, lunch, and dinner, etc. And this is part of what makes U-M’s program strong.
“Sometimes, our students are getting feedback on their work from someone who made them want to be a writer,” said Trevor. “And sometimes, it might be from an incredible writer they’re not familiar with, but the feedback can just as valuable. … An amazing thing happens when you demystify the process of being a writer. And the more contact our students have with people who make up that world, the better they’re able to imagine themselves as part of that world.”
For a more information and complete list of dates and times, visit the Zell Visiting Writers Series events page.
Jenn McKee is a former staff arts reporter for The Ann Arbor News, where she primarily covered theater and film events, and also wrote general features and occasional articles on books and music.
Blog Post
Everybody's "Fools": Rebel Kind
by christopherporter
“They call us the rebel kind” goes the chorus of the 1966 New Zealand garage-rock jam by The Chicks that gave Rebel Kind its name. But the Ann Arbor band also takes other cues from The Chicks: spare guitar lines, bold but sweet vocals, and the earnest DIY swagger that has launched a million punk bands.
Rebel Kind is celebrating the release of its new album, Just for Fools (Urinal Cake Records), with a record-release show on Saturday, January 7 at Arbor Vitae in Ann Arbor. The LP is a solid jump from 2014’s Today and the cleaner production allows you to hear how much tighter Autumn Wetli (vocals, guitar), Amber Fellows (drums, vocals, etc.), and Shelley Salant (bass, etc.) play as a unit now.
But at the core of Rebel Kind’s appeal are Wetli’s songs, which are personal without being overconfessional. She often takes a kernel from something in her own life and writes lyrics around it while exercising the artistic license to add fictional details as needed.
Rebel Kind largely sticks to a jangly sound reminiscent of 1980s indie guitar music, particularly bands from England, such as Television Personalities and The Pastels, and New Zealand, such as The Clean and The Bats (both of which recorded for the legendary Flying Nun label). But with the full-time addition of guitarist Alex Glendenning (who performs on two Just for Fools tunes), Rebel Kind is becoming a little noisier, a little punkier ... a like more like The Chicks, at least in attitude and spirit.
We talked to Wetli about Just for Fools -- and embedded the album for you to hear -- as well as her wanderlust, what happens when the songs dry up, and why she’s put music on the backburner.
Q: I saw the Dolly Mixture and Flying Nun Records influences listed on the record label's promo sheet, but how directly did they -- or anyone -- influence your sound versus “this is our sound because this is how I can play”?
A: Our influences come from all over, but bands like Dolly Mixture and Flying Nun artists are definitely an influence on everything we write and play. It is kind of inseparable because those bands laid a groundwork for the sort of sounds, style, etc. that I think musicians like myself and Amber and Shelley are into and emulate/feel inspired by.
Q: Is “Pop Star” about any particular musician?
A: "Pop Star" was just a fictional song I made. It may have come out of some of my own feelings of not being into touring or the independent music scene on a larger scale. Sometimes I get into moods where I just want to move away to Wyoming, where I have family, and escape from being around lots of people.
Q: Why did you leave NYC and return to Michigan? And then California to Michigan? Where to next?
A: I wasn't happy in NYC. My job was really stressful, the city was stressful, I didn't make a ton of money to be able to live there comfortably -- and that would especially be true if I was still there now! I moved out there because an ex was, and I also had the opportunity to live there very, very cheaply for the time. I like being closer to nature and being able to escape to it easily when I want. When I went out to Los Angeles this past spring, the trip and experience solidified the thoughts I have had about going back to grad school. I didn't want to start at entry-level, bottom rung anymore. I didn't want to hustle. I felt fully prepared, mentally, to settle down some and pursue a career. I left for California because my life felt stagnant and at a strange point and I sort of impulsively made the decision to just do it. After I graduate in a couple years, I plan on applying to jobs out West, Southwest, Down South. I like milder, warmer climates.
Q: You’ve said you put music on the backburner focusing on school and career, but you also seemed to be indicating that when music was your main focus outside of work, it stressed you out. Why?
A: When music becomes stressful to me, it isn't fun and the whole point of doing it and the enjoyment I get out of it is when it is fun. I don't like to tour. I don't like the pressure of trying to make it into something more, something bigger than it just naturally is.
Q: I read an interview where you said, “I feel sort of dried up on ideas in terms of songwriting at this moment.” But you were very prolific for a few years. Why do you think it’s dried up in some way?
A: I've written a lot of songs in the past 7 years. At this point, I feel a little bored with my style. I want to try new things, but the inspiration of writing comes and goes. I've been writing some new things for a new project with my boyfriend called Gloria Rabbit. It is a little easier having the two of us writing together. I'm not going to push myself to come up with new stuff, but just grab a guitar occasionally and see if anything works out.
Q: You recorded Just for Fools a year ago. How have the songs changed in the time since you recorded them and when you play them live now?
A: Our friend Alex, who is on the record some, has joined our band full time as second guitar and that has really fleshed out a lot of these songs live. We have a couple new songs we've been playing and they sound more punk and noisey to me, in a good way.
Q: This was the first record you didn’t make with Fred Thomas. Was it a conscious decision, or was it simply because Fred had moved away from Michigan? What was it like working with a new producer?
A: Shelley is friends with the couple who run Key Club [in Benton Harbor, Michigan] and we had some band money saved up, so she really wanted to try recording with them. Fred is my favorite person to work with. He just gets it and gets me and my sound. We had access to a lot more different sounds and instruments at Key Club than ever before, so that was neat. I am glad the album is different than Today, but I am personally not as into the high fidelity, clear and crispness of it all.
Q: Early last year, just after you finished recording Just for Fools you released a solo mini album, Let's Keep Things Strange. What was it about the songs that you thought, “These aren’t Rebel Kind songs”?
A: Fred was back for the holidays and I wanted to take advantage of that time to record some old things I had been sitting on, try some experiments, and record these two new songs I had written in reference/inspired by Lora Logic. I had always wanted and talked about starting a post-punk band like that and it has never happened, but I finally sat down and tried writing songs for that and that is where "Deja Vu Romain" and "The Flowers and the Trees" came from. We are actually playing these songs live now. It is a lot easier with Alex joining us, I think, because the second guitar and his leads give it a different sound than previous Rebel Kind stuff. He is super-talented and loves all the same music as us.
Q: The singing and songs on Just for Fools sound more fleshed out than on Today, and the playing is tighter. Is that simply a matter of all of you having played together for a while now, or were you focused on trying to make things a little more polished, relatively speaking?
A: We spent a couple days at the studio in Benton Harbor working on this album, so we had a lot more time to do multiple takes and such. I think we had more full, fleshed out ideas for what we wanted on Just for Fools. Today was recorded very quickly at Fred's old apartment in Ann Arbor. Maybe one day to record, one day to mix? If I remember correctly. We were rushing to record songs for a tape for a Lexington/Nashville weekend we did in 2014. I think we have also all grown at being better musicians in this band since Today, too. At least, I know I have.
The record release party for Rebel Kind's new album, Just for Fools, happens at Arbor Vitae (336 S. State St., Ann Arbor) on January 7 at 9 p.m. The concert will also feature Rachel Epperly and Mike P, Toys and Toysier, Bonny Doon, Isaac Levine, readings from Leah Xue, and DJ Silas Green.
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp.
Blog Post
Spontaneity on Cue: Batsheva Dance Company
by christopherporter
People are going gaga for Batsheva Dance Company -- in part because of its complex and compelling system of movement called "Gaga."
Based in Tel Aviv, Batsheva is considered among the foremost contemporary dance companies on the planet, its reputation resting on both artistic director Ohad Naharin, whose innovative dances have earned him international recognition, and the dancers -- strikingly beautiful, preternaturally facile people capable of movement that can be breathtaking, quicksilver, poignant, contorted, edgy, quizzical, bombastic, and much more. They have a totally engaging hyper-presence.
The University Musical Society-sponsored Batsheva performances at the Power Center on January 7 and 8 are the North American premieres of Naharin’s 2015 provocatively titled Last Work and kicks off a six-week tour that will take the company to major cities in U.S. and Canada. The tour is also the first chance U.S. audiences will have to see Batsheva live since 2014.
Talking with Luc Jacobs, a former Batsheva dancer who now serves as Naharin’s rehearsal director, afforded me the chance to get an insider’s perspective on Batsheva, Naharin, and Last Work. Fittingly, our conversation began and ended with "Gaga," Naharin’s invented movement language that allows him to communicate more directly with the dancers.
With Gaga, “dancers get dropped into Ohad’s way of thinking and moving very quickly,” Jacobs said. It has become the company’s daily practice; whereas other professional dancers may take a class in ballet or a contemporary dance technique before rehearsals, Batsheva dancers practice Gaga.
Different from an imitative dance class in which dancers try to reproduce and perfect certain ways of moving, Gaga uses verbal cues from the teacher, words that prompt unique physical responses from the dancers. These prompts, according to Anna Della Subin of The New York Times, evoke images as diverse as “the engine between the navel and the groin” and “spaghetti in boiling water.” The mirrors are covered; it’s not about visual results. While Gaga classes are available in many cities for dancers as well as various non-dancer populations (including Parkinson’s patients), for Jacobs and the Batsheva company, this shared daily practice “acts like a virus that’s already in our systems," he said. "It’s like the way we come to breathe.”
In that way, Gaga permeates every aspect of Batsheva’s work. It constitutes the dancers’ training, but it also enables the creative process that results in a new dance like Last Work. Because of their communal immersion in the Gaga language, the dancers can respond readily to the ideas Naharin presents in rehearsal. For example, Naharin might ask to see 10 seconds of very fast movement, slicing through the space rather than allowing any curves or arcs. “He often speaks about the creation process as a playground," Jacobs said. "We don’t work; we play at dance.” It is a game, but one with clear rules or parameters, and one that relies on the dancers’ shared Gaga language and willingness to play for its outcome: a new work.
Finally, Gaga infects Batsheva’s performances. As Jacobs explained it, Gaga makes it hard for a viewer to tell what’s improvised and what’s not: “It’s the training of spontaneity. ... In a way, the choreographed stuff is improvised and the improvised stuff is so set with its guidelines and intentions that you could take it to be choreography.”
Gaga, then, is the source of that insistent immediacy that pervades Batsheva dancing.
Naharin has said, “Our work is to go beyond the familiar boundaries on a daily basis,” and Jacobs called him “a master at creating new worlds every time.” So, what’s new about Last Work?
Jacobs readily identifies two elements he has not seen in Naharin’s other dances. First, he said, “There’s an atmosphere of twilight, when the day turns into the night, when things are ambiguous.” Then, the dance approaches time in unexpected ways. Jacobs is used to surprises, to a rapidly changing temperature in Naharin’s work, but in Last Work he sees a slower arc, a “stretching of time.” There is even a 20-minute-long section for which the dancers were asked to create movement that has the quality of leisure, of having plenty of time. Meanwhile, a lone dancer runs ceaselessly on a treadmill throughout the piece, a constant that ties the piece together and can connote the passage of time.
Admittedly, these are elements of Last Work that might challenge a viewer. Twenty minutes can be a long time to watch people moving slowly, and what about that running dancer? Who is she running from, or where is she running to? The key to surmounting these challenges lies in Jacobs’s advice to “listen with the body.” That is, attune to the direct communication available via the Batsheva dancers’ bodies -- no need to look for anything beyond the sense of groove or absurdity or sensuality or power you will experience in that moment.
While there is room in Naharin’s dance for myriad interpretations -- it is rife with conceptual possibility -- that intellectualization is only the edge of an experience whose bulk is direct and visceral. “The dance we do in Batsheva is similar to listening to music or eating food," Jacobs said. "When you eat something really nice or you have a nice glass of wine, you don’t ask yourself, ‘What’s this glass of wine about?’”
Batsheva Dance Company performs Last Work on Saturday, January 7 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 8 at 2 p.m. at the Power Center. There's a pre-performance talk on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Power Center lobby and then a post-performance Q&A. Tickets and more information are available from University Musical Society: ums.org/performance/last-work.
From 1993-2004, Veronica Dittman Stanich danced in New York and co-produced The Industrial Valley Celebrity Hour in Brooklyn. Now, PhD in hand, she writes about dance and other important matters.
Blog Post
New Year's Japes: 50 First Jokes at The Ark
by christopherporter
Organizing 50 people to be part of a show is never easy. But organizing 50 comedians?
“It’s cuckoo,” said Shelly Smith, who programs and hosts Ann Arbor’s 50 First Jokes show at The Ark, happening Tuesday, January 3 at 7:30 p.m. “It’s completely ridiculous.”
But that’s part of the fun, of course.
The show was the brainchild of comedian John F. O’Donnell, whom Smith met as part of the Ann Arbor comedy scene in the early 2000s. When O’Donnell moved back to New York more than a decade ago, he had the idea to gather comedians in Brooklyn to deliver their first new joke of the year.
“The first show was not exactly super-organized,” said Smith.
Now, though, 50 First Jokes has taken root in 10 different cities across the country, and three years ago, at O’Donnell’s urging, Smith brought the annual tradition to Ann Arbor. The show combines comedians of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels -- from headliners to those now earning their stripes -- and seats 25 at a time on stage, where they have a maximum of two minutes to lay their first joke of 2017 on the crowd.
“It goes really fast,” said Smith. “It’s like, name, joke, name, joke, name, joke. The energy is crazy, but it’s so fun.”
Herding dozens of comedians, whose schedules can change on a dime, has involved a steep learning curve for Smith.
“The first year, I was at a party in September where there were a whole bunch of comedians, and I went around explaining it, saying, ‘I’m doing this show in January,’” said Smith. “And then last year, I was overwhelmed by too many people wanting to do it. But because of the number of things that happen when you’re working with 50 different individuals, I’d think, ‘I’ve got too many,’ then ‘I don’t have enough,’ then ‘I’ve got too many,’ then ‘I don’t have enough.’ Some who had committed backed out, others would text me that they wanted in -- it was crazy. This year, I’ve been much more in control of that flow. Before we even announced, I had 47 people, and between bumping into people and going through the list over the last two months, I got to 50, and I put in five or six alternates.”
It helped, of course, that Smith sought out help from co-producers after her first experience with the show.
“Right before the first show, I was talking to John on the phone, and he said, ‘Who’s your co-producer?’ And I said, ‘What would they be doing?’” said Smith. “I had no idea. Then I realized when I got there that, oh, you really need more than one person doing this.”
Ann Arbor’s 50 First Jokes of 2017 will mark the first time that the public will be invited in to see The Ark’s recently remodeled bar/merchandise area, and Smith promises that the show will be unlike any you’ve previously seen.
“Everybody’s so different,” Smith says of the show’s lineup. “A joke may kill, it may suck, it may be dirty, it may not be dirty -- but you only have a second to think about it before there’s someone else up there.”
But in addition to entertaining patrons in need of a laugh, 50 First Jokes is an inviting atmosphere for comics at all levels of experience.
“There’s a friend of mine, Mark Sweetman, who’s been doing comedy for 20 years, and he refers to it as ‘the annual meeting,’” said Smith. “It’s so true because there’s no other time during the year when that many comedians get together in one place. And a bunch that didn’t get on the roster will be in the audience. … So community happens. … Plus, what’s fun about it is, in the comedy scene, we know a lot of other comics’ sets. We know what a comic is going to say. Like, ‘Here comes the basketball joke, the Kanye joke,’ that’s their set. But because this is the first new joke of the year, we’re all surprised. It’s really funny, and it can be really scary, too, because nobody can just rely on their tried and true stuff. … It’s one chance, one joke, and that’s it.”
Jenn McKee is a former staff arts reporter for The Ann Arbor News, where she primarily covered theater and film events, and also wrote general features and occasional articles on books and music.
50 First Jokes happens on Tuesday, January 3 at 8 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor. Tickets cost $10, available at www.theark.org.
Blog Post
Reviving the Romance: Ann Arbor Musical Theater Works' "Love Story"
by christopherporter
Mounting new musicals that haven’t been locally staged before is quickly becoming Ron Baumanis’ calling card.
“It’s one of the things I love to do,” Baumanis said.
In January 2015, for example, Baumanis directed an Ann Arbor Civic Theatre production of the stage musical Bonnie & Clyde,” which won over audiences so much that Baumanis went on to stage the same musical at Dexter’s Encore Theatre and Wyandotte’s Downriver Actors Guild. Now, Baumanis’ company, Ann Arbor Musical Theater Works, will present the regional premiere of the stage musical adaptation of Love Story at Ann Arbor’s Children’s Creative Center from January 5-15.
Based on the 1970 bestselling novel by Erich Segal -- with a book by Stephen Clark, music by Howard Goodall, and lyrics by Stephen Clark and Goodall -- Love Story tells the story of a young man (Oliver) from a wealthy East Coast family who falls in love with a poor young pianist (Jenny) of Italian descent. Against his father’s wishes, Oliver marries Jenny, so then he must find his way in the world without his family’s wealth. He goes to law school while Jenny works as a teacher, but when bad news arrives, both Oliver and Jenny have no choice but to alter their plans for the future.
“The musical is based more on the book than the [1970] movie, which kind of ‘60s-ized’ it,” said Baumanis. “It takes a lot of that stuff out of it and goes back to the basics of the story.”
Blog Post
Swinging Into the New Year: Pete Siers and the King of Swing
by christopherporter
“It's a sense of melody, harmony, rhythm, and simplicity that is of interest to all of us,” said drummer Pete Siers about what Benny Goodman's music means to him.
In fact, Siers is so in love with the King of Swing's sound, his band recorded a second CD dedicated to the great clarinetist: Goodman and Beyond Vol.II. The band will celebrate the release by swinging into the new year at the sold out Kerrytown Concert House on Saturday, December 31. Siers will be accompanied by the virtuosic pianist Tad Weed and clarinetist Dave Bennett, a Goodman devotee.
The Ann Arbor-based Siers is focused on the core elements of jazz -- swing, improvisation, etc. -- but he’s not bound by tradition. Instead, his concept is to expand on those vital elements and take jazz into a personal realm, which has always been the objective of any skilled musician not dictated to by commercial constraints. Siers also considers Goodman’s music to be modern as opposed to vintage because, given the entire history of music, jazz is chronologically modern.
And it’s not just Goodman-era jams that Siers explores. From big bands, working with boogie-woogie pianist Mr. B, organ combos, and the progressive Freedom Ensemble with Weed, Siers has covered the jazz universe.
Siers came to Ann Arbor from Western Michigan alongside longtime rhythm mate bassist Paul Keller in the 1980s and has been here ever since. He’s the No. 1 on-call drummer in the area, combining immaculate taste, exciting power, and melodic content. He's also played Carnegie Hall with this band, worked with the Ron Brooks Trio, and came back recently from a major recording project in Toronto.
Still, Siers emphasizes the basics in his music with jazz being the common thread no matter the era, style, musicians with whom he’s playing. With his current drums-piano-clarinet trio, the group keeps finding new ways to explore swing-era jazz.
“Our collaborations keep crossing this path over and over. We have all smitten and fallen in love with it,” Siers said. “The unique part is that it is raw and there's no base. The roles change between us and there's more room. For instance, I use a bigger bass drum so I can allow it to speak and not intrude to get a more muddy existence. That is refreshing and since we started dabbling in it, it has grown for us.”
The trio’s Goodman and Beyond Vol. II CD also pays tribute to longtime Goodman collaborator and drummer Gene Krupa, who had arranged some Japanese folk songs for jazz while touring the post-war country.
“Searching out what the Krupa trio did in in the late 1940s and early 1950s, I exhausted what I could find until my friend Terry Kimora asked if I had been aware of their sides cut in Japan,” Siers said. “He said Gene was the first to play for the Japanese public after the war and was a huge star. Norman Granz found out about these tunes and banned them from the U.S. The public never got to hear them, but Terry found them on YouTube, and we recorded two of them for the new CD: ‘Bridge Over Ruined Castle’ and ‘Badger's Party.’”
The trio came together because Siers, Weed, and Bennett have worked together on many other projects, but Goodman isn’t the only composer the drummer would like to explore with this lineup: “I want to explore the music of Raymond Scott approach with a novelty side,” he said.
In fact, it sounds like Siers feels like he could play anything with this group, heaping praise on Weed and Bennett.
“It's like a pitcher of water,” Siers says of pianist Weed: “When he opens that channel he can emote from a deep spot and the ideas pour out. It can be dense, abstract, beautiful, sparse, the whole gamut of colors and so much experience behind it. At times we can push each other into places we would not normally go.”
Bennett is the upfront focal point of this trio, but his musical skills go beyond playing swing clarinet. “He has a sweet teasing sound on clarinet, a virtuoso for sure,” Siers said. “He has a huge base of interests. He's self-taught. He loves early roots rock, blues, and boogie woogie piano, [he’s] a competent rockabilly-style guitarist, and quite a good singer. These things in his arsenal will keep him out there and his longevity is just starting to blossom -- he's a quadruple threat.”
But all those diverse talents have to coalesce in a very specific way for this trio: “In order to play jazz you have to know how to swing,” Siers reiterated. “You can be modern, but I do what the music calls for. My mantra has been since my experience playing and recording with [guitarist] Russell Malone is to swing as hard as I can. Aside from technical jargon, it's about being able to manifest the music and allow it to pass through you and then you add something to it.
“With this combination, we can't help but put our own stamp on it, and we understand how high the bar is,” Siers continued. “It might not sound just like Benny, but we will toy with the elements constantly. We get along like brothers and my direction to give has been pretty spare on my part because I know what they're capable of and don't want to put a gate on it.”
Michael G. Nastos is known as a veteran radio broadcaster, local music journalist, and event promoter/producer. He is a former music director and current super sub on 88.3 WCBN-FM Ann Arbor, founding member, Lifetime Achievement award winner and founding member of SEMJA, the Southeastern Michigan Jazz Association, Board of Directors member of the Michigan Jazz Festival, votes in the annual Detroit Music Awards and Down Beat Magazine, NPR Music and El Intruso Critics Polls, and writes monthly for Hot House Magazine in New York City.
The Pete Siers Trio perform Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave. in Ann Arbor. It’s sold out, but you can get on the waiting list by calling 734-769-2999.
Blog Post
Everyday They Write the Books: Mittenfest XI Returns to Rock for 826michigan
by christopherporter
Mittenfest is the annual three-day music festival benefiting 826michigan, the nonprofit center at 115 East Liberty St.
in Ann Arbor that helps school-aged kids express themselves through creative writing. 826michigan also offers drop-in tutoring, after-school programs, and help for those learning English.
Basically, it's good people doing good things, which is why 21 bands are playing for free to raise money in support of 826michigan.
Mittenfest returns for its 11th iteration, December 29-31, and it’s again taking place at Bona Sera in downtown Ypsilanti.
We did interviews with four of the bands playing the fest:
→ The Belle Isles
→ The Avatars
→ Blue Jeans
→ JUNGLEFOWL
And below is the full festival lineup, plus sound samples, dates, and times for all the Mittenfest bands:
Thursday, December 29
8:00pm - Audra Kubat (Detroit)
8:45pm - Truman (Ypsilanti)
9:30pm - AM People (Detroit)
10:15pm - Avatars (Ann Arbor)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
11:00pm - Mic Write (Detroit)
11:45pm - The Belle Isles (Hamtramck)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
12:30am - Chris Dupont (Ypsilanti)
Special guest: DJ Amber Fellows
Friday, December 30
8:00pm - Flower.Child (Ypsilanti)
Instagram is all we have pour l'enfant de la fleur
8:45pm - The Bruised Reed (Ann Arbor)
9:30pm - Anna Burch (Detroit)
10:15pm - Louis Picasso (Ypsilanti)
11:00pm - Decisions (Ypsilanti/Detroit)
11:45pm - Javelins (Detroit)
12:30am - Frontier Ruckus (Detroit/Ypsilanti)
Special guest: DJ Ryan Cady
Saturday, December 31
8:00pm - Slug Love (Ypsilanti)
8:45pm - Wraiths (Ypsilanti)
9:30pm - Blue Jeans (Ann Arbor)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
10:15pm - Meshes (Ypsilanti)
11:00pm - Junglefowl (Ypsilanti)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
NEW YEARS CHAMPAGNE TOAST
12:05am - Tart (Hamtramck)
12:50am - Minihorse (Ypsilanti)
1:30am til 3am- DANCE PARTY
Special guests: DJ BEIGE (Detroit) and DJ Richie Wohlfeil (Hamtramck)
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and the editor of Pulp.
Mittenfest XI takes place December 29-31 at Bona Sera, 200 W Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti, MI, 48197. Music starts at 8:00pm every evening. $10 cover benefits 826michigan.
Blog Post
Mittenfest: The Belle Isles
by christopherporter
See the rest of our Mittenfest coverage:
→ Overview of the festival with music samples
→ The Avatars interview
→ Blue Jeans interview
→ JUNGLEFOWL interview
The Belle Isles is a new band years in the making. The quartet features guitar, drums, bass and baritone sax, and is a fascinating conglomeration of long-time Detroit area musicians who combined have played in more than 20 bands, including the Detroit Cobras, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Viv Akauldren, Gore Gore Girls, Outrageous Cherry, Detroit Party Marching Band, and more.
The group’s sound is somewhere between gritty garage rock and grimy Detroit R&B, all played with the sort of party-rocking joie de vivre that will make for a great close to the first night of Mittenfest.
Pulp spoke with Richard Wohlfeil, The Belle Isle’s founder, lead singer, and guitarist about how The Belle Isles came to be, their plans for the future, and how Detroit has influenced their sound.
Q: The Belle Isles are a fairly new band. Can you give us some background on the members and how you all came together and started playing music?
A: We've been a band for just under a year. We came together rather quickly while at the same time taking years to come together, if that makes any sense. I started working on these songs/ideas back in 2009 or so, [and] even grabbed the Bandcamp page a few years before I even uploaded a song. I remember a Saturday Looks Good to Me tour about five years ago where I was on drums and Fred [Thomas, the lead singer of Saturday] asked if he could borrow my guitar for the tour, so we brought it, and before and after gigs on the road back then I would work out and practice some Isles tunes.
Fast forward to last year, a little while after I recorded a solo album [by] my buddy Connor Dodson -- we were talking and he said something along the lines of "When you gonna start your own band?" and I was like, “Well, I want to but ....” And he said, “But what? What do you need to play your songs out?" and I was like, “Just bass and drums ... maybe a baritone saxophone?” [Played by Nicole McUmber] And he goes, "Great, I'll play bass. Who do you want on drums?" I told him my favorite drummer ever was Deb Agolli, but I didn't know if she'd ever want to play with me and he goes, "Whaddya got to lose? Call her and ask her!" So I called her up and she goes, "Yeah! But what the hell am I gonna play? You're the drummer!” “Naw,” I told her, “I'm gonna play guitar and sing, you're playin' drums!” And that was that.
We booked a show a few weeks after our second practice, which forced us to come up with seven songs real quick for a set ... now almost a year later we’ve got just over 20 songs!
Q: How would you describe the sound and the feel of The Belle Isles?
A: That's a great question. I just want us to sound like a pile of my favorite 45 rpm records while at the same time providing a really good vibe for my friends and folks at our gigs. I love the “feel” of things that remind us of summer and of warmer vibes while we're stuck in the winter, and I love music I can dance to -- so those are the two paths in the band's sound, two paths that I worried might become divergent, but they're converging beautifully when mixed. We’re actively trying for that fine-line found somewhere between rhythm and blues, soul, and garage rock ‘n’ roll ... all the while never taking ourselves too seriously. It should always be fun -- keep it a party.
Q: How is being based in Detroit influenced the sound of your music?
A: Can I just check a box that says "all the above" for this answer? Not only is being in the city influential with its musical history, but the city's social and historical context down to the physical landscapes and architectures of Detroit and Hamtramck have some kind of influence on our sound and content. Some of the covers we do have some significance, even if they're just good old Detroit party records. Some of the originals I write range from commentaries on gentrification to strange tributes in honor of a specific vacant apartment building. Of course, some are just dumb break-up songs, but each has some context amongst us and our friends and expresses some aspect of our lives in the city.
And there's the lineage and influence aspect too -- the goal is to develop our own voice while participating healthily in the city's musical exchange -- be influenced by the bands around you, be it what TO DO or what NOT TO DO, current or past sounds and style, be influenced by the bands before you and try to find your place down the lineage of those you love, and most of all be reciprocal -- “You go to my show, I'll go to yours” -- and "patron the scene, man." Engage and be a part of your community while respecting and finding your place in it -- don't be no colonialist. You may be here, but here is not you -- here is all.
Q: You’ve released some demos. Are there plans to release an album at some point? Where is the band hoping to go from here?
A: Well, I made up all these nutty rules for the band which sort of work as guides, like parameters establishing ethos while developing an aesthetic. Regarding releases, we just want to release 45 rpm records -- every once in awhile we'll do a tape of demos here and there or something, some digital stuff whatever, but the goal is 45s. We also want to let anyone who wants to release a 45 of our band the opportunity to do so insofar as they follow a few rules: black vinyl only, large center hole, and other "traditional" sets. And we only want to release albums when we have enough singles to fill one up, like a "singles collection." What are most bars you go to? Singles collections. Bad joke.
Q: The sheer number of bands that play at Mittenfest makes for limited stage time for each one. What do you guys like about playing a short set like the ones at Mittenfest? How do you get into the atmosphere of the show in such a limited amount of time?
A: Back to those "nutty rules" of mine ... but this one might work in our favor if all goes according to plan. We have no preference about playing long or short sets, but we do have a couple rules about staging. We don't play stages. We've consented to play some in the past, but not anymore. We also bring our own PA. Our setup is small but effective. We're a party band and by virtue of this, we need to be able to play anywhere. So, hopefully, there's a spot off in the corner or the back of the room at Mittenfest where we can tuck into and play -- if I remember there was no "stage" but a floor last year, and we like that. That's our style. How long they want us to play is up to them; we're groovy with whatever. And as far as atmosphere goes, the scene is cool at Mittenfest, so chances are the atmosphere will already be "inviting" before we even show up.
Q: Mittenfest is a benefit for 826michigan, an organization that works with young people on writing and creative skills. Were there any organizations or mentors early in your music career that encouraged or influenced you?
A: I'm reminded of Rod Hicks. He was the bass player who, with George Davidson, backed up a bunch of Motown and other soul and rhythm ‘n’ blues artists on the road back in the '60s and '70s -- Rod played behind Paul Butterfield at Woodstock in '69. I was working sound for a Butterfield tribute night at Cliff Bell's the first year or so that place opened about 10 years ago. In between sets I was sitting at the bar, getting a drink, and Rod walked up to me outta nowhere and said, "Man, you can get real good playing in yer basement, you could be a real bad dude, but you ain't shit until you out playin' in front of people." I was freaked out and was like, "How do you know I play in my basement?!" and he goes, "Cuz I can tell, man. But you need to get out. You see, music is a PERFORMING art, and you ain't really gon' know what you doin' until you out PERFORMING."
It was a trip because I had never met this dude and somehow he knew that I had been making music for years secretly, privately, and never having the guts to play out, even when asked, either thinking I wasn't good enough or what I was doing might sound lame to people at a "cool" show -- but sure as shit, the next time I got asked by a friend to play out (and it was opening a show at a crummy bar with literally less than ten people in the audience) I said, "YES." And it was my buddy Jeff Fournier who asked me to open for his band Heroes & Villains just days after meeting Rod. Jeff had been an older brother and mentor to me since I was a teenager. Somehow they both knew what was needed to get me outta my shell ... whether they were working together, conspiring like angels to break a spell, or just a couple bass players looking for a good drummer -- either way they found me and provided a necessary step in bringing me right here to you.
Elizabeth Pearce is a Library Technician at the Ann Arbor District Library.
Mittenfest XI takes place December 29-31 at Bona Sera, 200 W Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti, MI, 48197. Music starts at 8:00pm every evening. $10 cover benefits 826michigan. The Belle Isles will play opening night of the festival at 11:45pm.
Blog Post
Mittenfest: The Avatars
by christopherporter
See the rest of our Mittenfest coverage:
→ Overview of the festival with music samples
→ The Belle Isles interview
→ Blue Jeans interview
→ JUNGLEFOWL interview
The Ann Arbor-based rippin’ rock band The Avatars had a four-year run starting in 2003 that included one 7-inch single and a kickass album, Never a Good Time (2006). Then real life got in the way for guitarists Chris "Box" Taylor and Charlie Lorenzi, drummer Claudia Leo, vocalist Mariah Cherem, and bassist Theresa Kiefer, and the garage-rockin’ power-poppers broke up in 2007.
But The Avatars reformed in October to play a single show in Hamtramck opening for a friend’s band. The show ended up being so much fun, The Avatars decided to do one last gig near their Ann Arbor home base. (Though Lorenzi won’t be appearing.)
Pulp caught up with Kiefer (and at the end, Taylor) before The Avatars play their ultimate show at Mittenfest on December 29.
Q: How and when did you get together? Any funny details or circumstances?
A: We got together in 2003. All of us were talking about trying to put something together, I believe the conversation started at one of the early Bangs [the long-running dance party at The Blind Pig].
Q: What’s the significance of your name? Did you have any past names you tried out?
A: We had a ton of names in mind. We all really liked The Fevers, however, it was taken, along with just about every other band name we thought of. The Avatars was simple and worked very well for us.
Q: Did you come to your sound organically, or did you decide to form the band with a specific sound in mind?
A: We are big fans of the garage-y Motown sound and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll. The songs came pretty quickly and luckily for us, easily. Our “sound” developed on its own.
Q: What’s next for The Avatars?
A: This will most likely be our last show. We disbanded in 2007, and had not been on stage in nearly 10 years. We were asked to open up for Detroit pop-rock band The Fags last October and we had a BLAST! It was a lot of fun to get back on stage together, so we thought we’d hit Mittenfest.
Q: Mittenfest is a benefit for 826michigan, an organization that works with young people on writing and creative skills. Were there any organizations or mentors early in your music/creative/professional career that encouraged or influenced you?
A: Kiefer: In the early '90s I moved out to Austin, Texas, for college and the music scene was huge and so diverse. It was back when SXSW was not owned by corporate America and record labels. When I moved back to Michigan, I found another really great community of musicians and just some of the best people you could know. Chris Taylor and I befriended Ron Asheton [Stooges/DAM/New Race]. We lived around the corner from him, here in Ann Arbor. He was such a sweet guy and absolutely a mentor. I remember talking to him about taking bass lessons and he replied, “Don’t take lessons. Work on your style and your songwriting.”
A: Taylor: The Ann Arbor music community was my greatest influence and I ended up sharing the stage with the very best that Ann Arbor had to offer, like Hiawatha [of The Cult Heroes], Deniz Tek, Scott Morgan, Mitch Ryder, and Ron Asheton, just to name a few.
Liz Grapentine is a desk clerk at AADL. An Oakland University graduate with a major in Music Education and a minor in English, Liz enjoys the arts in every form. Liz is also a true Ann Arbor townie and a proud patron of the library since 1995.
Mittenfest XI takes place December 29-31 at Bona Sera, 200 W Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti, MI, 48197. Music starts at 8:00pm every evening. $10 cover benefits 826michigan. The Avatars play Thursday, December 29 at 10:15pm.
Blog Post
Mittenfest: Blue Jeans
by christopherporter
See the rest of our Mittenfest coverage:
→ Overview of the festival with music samples
→ The Belle Isles interview
→ The Avatars interview
→ JUNGLEFOWL interview
Blue Jeans takes the minimalist hooks of Buddy Holly, marries it to the stomp of glam rock, and sweetens the deal with just enough indie pop to make it a super-fine hybrid of genres and eras.
Formerly known as Santa Monica Swim & Dive Club, earlier this year the group came out with its first full-length album, Songs Are Easy, under the new-ish name Blue Jeans. The group recorded it with Ann Arbor superstar Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good to Me, etc.), and he kept the cymbals-free album stripped down and crunchy, just like vocalist-guitarist Tim Sendra, bassist Heather Phares, and drummer David Serra intended.
Blue Jeans, we just met a band called Blue Jeans -- well, at least Phares, who answered some questions for Pulp before the group plays the final day of Mittenfest.