Category: Arts

REVIEW: Ann Arbor Folk Festival

hcobrien Leave a comment

Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend the Ann Arbor Folk Festival for the first time. Hill auditorium was packed to the brim full of avid folk music supporters from near and far, all squeezed in to see the fantastic lineup of Elliot BROOD, Rainbow Girls, Cedric Burnside, The Lone Bellow, Ingrid Michaelson and Calexico and Iron & Wine.

I caught the end of Cedric Burnside’s set, walking in to see a stage with only one man and his guitar. He managed to make the performance seem intimate, as intimate as playing to 3500 people can be. I was drawn in by his deep voice and haunting, rhythmic blues. His melodies were simple, but he carried the weight of old tradition with his own new spin.

Next I heard the Lone Bellow, a group of three singers/guitarists that brought a lot of energy to the stage. In the second song, the lead singer, Zach Williams, broke a string on his guitar (magically another one appeared from backstage). The three of them singing in harmony was powerful and melancholic, with thoughtful instrumentation and arrangement. I was reminded of the band BAILEN as I listened to their set, paralleling their soulful harmonies and close connection as a group. They closed with a song by lead singer Zach Williams, written for his daughter, with a message of hope for the future and how bright her life is going to be. It was a strong and sentimental way to lead to the intermission of the festival.

Next up was a singer I listened to for a big part of my middle school years, Ingrid Michaelson. She was a character on stage to say the least. Stripped down to just Michaelson on ukulele and a backup guitarist, she opted for a more intimate set much like Burnside’s. While sharing plane anecdotes and tour stories, she immediately connected with the audience, and was the subject of mild embarrassment when she forgot the lyrics to her third song, Miss America. All was well thanks to google lyrics and a good sense of humor, and it added to her style of frivolity and childlike nature. She had great energy and it was clear that when she started singing The Way I Am, that many of her fans had made the trek to see her perform. I really enjoyed her set and felt she was very down to earth even in such a big hall.

The Folk Festival was such a fun experience for me and I wish I could have made it back for the second night. The Ark brings in such amazing artists year round, and this event helps them program throughout the year. I am already planning to go to the festival next year and have been scouting the Ark’s schedule for the next few months:)

If you want to learn more about the Ark’s season:

https://theark.org/shows-events/calendar

 

Photo Credit: The Ark

REVIEW: 8th Annual Yule Ball

Ruth Leave a comment

What a fantastic night!

University of Michigan’s quidditch team surely put on a show. The Rogel ballroom looked positively gorgeous in it’s Harry Potter attire, transforming into something almost as magical as the great hall itself. Quidditch hoops lined each opposing end of the room, decorated in twinkling lights, serving as a popular spot to to take pictures. A banquet table full of appetizing delights, tempted witches as wizards alike with different cheeses, fruits, cakes, and bread, as well as water and lemonade. A playlist of catchy dance music was constantly playing throughout the night encouraging guests to strut their stuff out on the dance floor, and of course being the enthusiastic dancer that I am, I complied, much to the despair of the dancers around me. I’ll tell you, dancing in full robes and high heels is harder than I thought it would be.

Although I enjoyed the Yule Ball very much, it did have it’s shortcomings. One of which is that the entertainment that was provided was a bit of a hit or miss. Of course, I have to take into consideration that this is an event put on by a student organization, hence budgets are always limited. However, when you see a sorting hat hanging from a string off a sagging wall-like structure that is  falling over at times…you start to wonder how much was left until the last minute. Of course, I would never claim that that was the case and I’m sure they worked hard on all their props, but if a prop is every failing, it’s better to just cut it out entirely. Another problem with the sorting hat was the performance itself. As my friend sat down to be sorted, it seemed as though the quidditch team had a series of sorting questions that were printed out a sheet of paper. However, the person in charge of the sorting hat only asked my friend two of them before abruptly sorting her into Gryffindor, a rather disappointing turn of events. As well as the sorting hat, there was also a divination booth which produced a better experience overall. The person in charge seemed very willing to put on the best performance possible and gave both my friend and I a very enthusiastic prediction of our futures.

Overall, I’d say it was a successful night in the long run. It was fun to see fellow fans of the wizarding world of Harry Potter enjoying time together under the same roof. No duels broke out and no one got turned into a ferret. I would have liked Dumbledore to make an appearance, but I guess that was too much to hope for.

Oh well, there’s always next year!

REVIEW: Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

A 9 x 12 x 12 room. The walls and ceiling are mirrors, the ground water. You, the subject, are reflected over and over again against a backdrop of hanging lights: blues, reds, oranges. You are allotted 60 seconds in the room. Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water transports you to another reality where it feels like you are at the center of that surreal universe.

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist. When she was ten years old, Kusama began to experience vivid hallucinations in which she saw bright lights and endless fields of spots, which has heavily influenced her artwork throughout her life. She first became known to the public sphere as an active member of the hippie counterculture movement in the late sixties. She staged several performances, or “happenings,” in which naked participants were covered in polka dots.

I had previously seen another one of Kusama’s installations at The Broad in Los Angeles. The room was structured in a similar fashion, thought the lights were larger and more spherical. Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away had a more blue-green hue, whereas Fireflies on the Water had a warmer tone. Although both rooms are very similar, I found the two experiences to be independent of each other. The room in LA was exciting; I felt like a child, giddy, desperately taking photos in an attempt to capture the experience. This time around the experience felt more self-reflective. I was more aware of the tranquility of the scene, which was largely attributed to the fact the museum workers ask those waiting outside the room to remain silent. Inside the room, it feels like you are alone in this alternate dimension, but the experience is more soothing than frightening.

Naturally, I took an abundance of photos, but I almost felt that shattered the illusion. I wish I could return to the room and just sit on the platform surrounded by water for as long as I wanted. The logistics of allowing each visitor to stay in the room for 60 seconds makes sense, but it leaves the viewer yearning for more. Right when you enter a daze of seeing an endless number of lights and your reflection again and again, the door swings open, distorting your vision, and you find yourself back in the dingy lighting of the museum.

Still, Kusama’s installations are a very unique and unforgettable experience that I highly recommend seeing. Fireflies on the Water is currently on display at the Toledo Museum of Art and will be open until April 26.

REVIEW: Color Out of Space

Lucy Leave a comment

SPOILER WARNING- you have been made aware.

This movie was much scarier than I expected it to be! A heads-up- there is blood and gore, scary creatures, lots of jump scares, and Nicholas Cage. However, the movie’s gorgeous colors and scenery almost made up for the fact that I was covering my eyes in fear and wincing at gross things for half of the second hour of the movie.

The movie is set in a gorgeous forest, in an old house, and at the beginning of the movie, we got to see the landscape, as well as the large, charming old house they live in. One thing I think was missing from the movie was that they did not do enough set-up of the family dynamic. I felt like the people were just actors living in the same house, rather than a family that cared for each other. This often made the stakes not feel as high for me when someone was in danger, or hurt, etc. I think if the family’s bonds had been established more at the beginning, I would have been more invested in the characters’ relationships and their interactions.

I like how the meteorite affected each person/animal in the family differently, but I also thought that made some of its effects somewhat confusing. For example, the first time the dad switches into the angrier version of himself, I was unsure of whether he was just having an outburst, or if he really was being possessed. But I did really like that none of them believed each other that something was going on because they all had different experiences of strange-ness.

My favorite part for sure was the usage of colors, which was the indicator that the meteorite’s evil was present. I like how it was used both very brazenly, like when the colors came shooting out of the well, but I also liked how it could be very subtle too, like when you saw little shards of it in the ice of a drink. I also liked how the color was limited to very bright blues, purples and pinks, because I think it made it look much more cohesive. It was cool how at the end everything was white, as though the evil from the meteorite had pulled all the color out of the world. It was also impactful at the very end, when the hydrologist, Ward, was standing on the dam. The colors were much more dark and sort of orangey-red, which was a huge contrast to the colors that had been all over the farm only 5 minutes earlier in the movie.

I noticed a couple of inconsistencies with the movie, or things that I think should have been better explained or elaborated. One of the big ones was the significance of the bug that came out of the meteorite. I never saw it touch anyone, or anything, it just flew around in a couple of scenes. However if it was supposed to be the catalyst of all of the destruction, I didn’t quite get that, because a bunch of the mishaps happened before we even saw it hatch. I also was confused a bit on the role of the old man in the woods. I understand that he was listening to the aliens in the ground, but his role seemed like it was added just for that, and he seemed so 2-D as a character. Also, when they went to find him and heard the tapes rolling, it was somewhat indiscernible what was being said, so that did not have as much as an impact as I think it should have.

Overall I thought it was a good movie for its genre. I wonder if the things that were kind of left hanging were because of H.P. Lovecraft’s original story that this was based on, or if it was the fault of the movie producers. Either way, I understand that a horror movie is more focused on the horror part than the storyline, and they definitely got the horrifying part right. There were many scenes where I needed to look away because the deformities that the meteorite caused were absolutely just plain gross, or something was very bloody. I did not expect this movie to be as scary as it was, so I don’t have much to comment on in that respect, as I have little experience with horror movies. Plus I was mostly covering my eyes during those parts. However, I did enjoy the mystery and the build-up, and even though I do not like horror, I could definitely appreciate some of the more artistic elements of the movie.

 

PREVIEW: Color Out of Space

Lucy Leave a comment

Color Out of Space, starring Nicholas Cage, just came out on January 24th, and is called to be fantasy/sci-fi (and thriller, on some websites). The movie’s main characters must fight a parasite that comes down from space in a meteorite, with the apocalypse on the line. The movie is an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft short story.

The movie is playing at the State Theater in the evenings until February 3rd, so go see it while you can!

Buy tickets and see the official trailer at: https://www.michtheater.org/show/color-out-of-space/

PREVIEW: Ann Arbor Folk Fest

hcobrien Leave a comment

This Friday, January 31st, The Ark is hosting its 43rd annual folk fest at Hill Auditorium. The concert lineup on Friday includes artists Elliott BROOD, Rainbow Girls, Cedric Burnside, The Lone Bellow, Ingrid Michaelson, and Calexico and Iron & Wine. On both Friday and Saturday, Hill will be filled with folk music from 6:30pm onward, showcasing up and coming talent as well as established artists in the folk scene. The concert is an annual fundraiser for the Ark, and is always a popular concert:)

For More Information Visit:

https://theark.org/folk-festival

Tickets can be purchased online, at the Michigan Union Ticket Office, and The Ark