Blog Post
Pat Thomas reconstructs the revolutionary history of Jerry Rubin in "Did It!"
by christopherporter
As an archivist, Pat Thomas is focused on letting the subject speak or sing unadulterated. So, whether it's working on album reissues for the Light in the Attic label and others, or writing about the Black Panthers and other political movements, Thomas wants voices and ideas to be presented as the artists and activists intended.
Thomas' latest search for the truth is Did It! From Yippie To Yuppie: Jerry Rubin, An American Revolutionary, which follows his other graphics-heavy book for Fantagraphics, Listen, Whitey!: The Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975.
Blog Post
"As One" opera explores a trans woman's journey to find her true voice
by christopherporter
Those who don't closely follow the opera world may not think of the artform as a medium that addresses issues any less than a century old. But the 2014 opera As One, which will run April 6-7 at the Kerrytown Concert House, addresses one of the biggest social issues in our current public discourse: the experience and rights of transgender people.
Blog Post
"Labors of Love and Loss" exhibition explores race, gender, and class with mixed media
by christopherporter
The U-M Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Department of Women’s Studies exhibition Labors of Love and Loss is a collection of mixed-media pieces exploring gender and race and "considers the intertwined lives of caregivers, their dependents and charges.” The exhibition presents the works of Marianetta Porter and Lisa Olson, featuring processes such as letterpress combined with found objects. Though Porter and Olson’s works differ in some respects, they create a cohesive, important dialogue about the history of women’s work and the intersections between race, gender, and class, expertly portrayed through text and object.
Blog Post
Our Secret Stories: "Notes From a Public Typewriter" captures anonymous odes & anecdotes
by christopherporter
When Michael Gustafson, co-owner of Literati Bookstore with his wife, Hilary, put a typewriter out for public use in the basement of the store, he wasn’t sure what would come of it.
Blog Post
Catch-"13": A2 author Michael A. Ferro's new book is a satire & character study of Midwest Americans
by christopherporter
Some authors would give their right arm for a book deal. Others would give a kidney or two.
Author Michael A. Ferro gave an eye.
Blog Post
Nervous Breakthrough: Ann Arbor novelist Camille Pagán's "Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties" explores loss & change
by christopherporter
Ann Arbor-based novelist Camille Pagán (Forever Is the Worst Long Time, Life and Other Near Death Experiences) was in the midst of writing a book that wasn’t going anywhere when she had an unnerving grocery-store experience.
“This guy, a college kid ... bumped into me and didn’t even look at me or say anything,” said Pagán, who also noted that on other occasions while out shopping, she’d observed “when a cashier would talk to and make conversation with a middle-aged man but then not talk to the middle-aged woman who was next in line. This seemed to me to really be saying something about our society and how we view and treat women as they age.”
Blog Post
U-M's Musket's production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s "In the Heights" feels like home
by christopherporter
What makes someplace feel like home?
Blog Post
The Unknown Guitarist: Throwaway's Kirsten Carey is in the bag for avant sounds
by christopherporter
Kirsten Carey shreds on guitar like free-jazz icon Derek Bailey.
Blog Post
Vick's Picks: Former A2 Film Fest exec Vicki Honeyman curates an evening of cinema
by christopherporter
Vicki Honeyman knows a thing or two about film.
Blog Post
Yvonne Rainer's movies dance away from the mainstream at the Ann Arbor Film Fest
by christopherporter
If you don't yet know the work of Yvonne Rainer, after the 56th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, you most certainly will.