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REVIEW: The Dicks and Janes- It’s Not Delivery, It’s DJorno and Album Release

kjtopor

The transition from the Polar Vortex couldn’t have been more wonderful. I went from walking from the Bursley-Baits busstop to the MLB, fighting face-biting winds and dangerously slippery sidewalks, to strolling across the diag’s grass in the light of the setting sun. Warmth. But last night, the sun wasn’t the only thing that put a smile on my face. I had the opportunity to attend The Dicks and Janes: It’s not Delivery, It’s DJorno and Album Release performance.

The concert was held in the MLB at 7:30pm on Friday, April 11, 2014. My friends and I walked in, greeted by excited grins and tables of t-shirts and albums. We walked into the auditorium to upbeat music which was quickly interrupted by Justin Wong, who introduced the Maize Mirchi, a South Asian, co-ed a cappella group. A 30 minute set by the Maize Mirchi sang a lively array of music, including both pop and cultural tunes.  Their chemistry was evident, and I found myself smiling throughout the entire performance.

Maize Mirchi
Maize Mirchi

After an amazing opener from the Maize Mirchi, the Dicks and Janes took the stage at 8pm. The a cappella crew, who took 3rd at the ICCA quarter finals this year, came out ready to sing. They began the night with a stunning rendition of Zedd’s Clarity. After their first song, they talked quickly about the concert, the songs, and their album! They moved swiftly through the next few songs, which included Happiness is a Warm Gun by the Beatles, Bottles by V.V. Brown, Delicate/I Won’t Give Up by Damien Rice/Jason Mraz, A cappella by Karmin, and OK, It’s All Right from the Dicks and Janes’ album- Flying Bicycles. I was disappointed to take an intermission after senior Sarah Szollar’s breathtaking solo in OK, It’s All Right.

While looking through the program, I was surprised to find a majority of six freshman! But the young group wasn’t defined by year, only by talent. Kait Mulder and Austin Terris tore up their solos! I was amazed by their range and solo in I Won’t Give Up and Happiness is a Warm Gun.  Throughout the next few songs, I was thrilled by their dancing, stomping, and incredible skrillex-like bass drops.

We learned, through small skits and jokes, that the Dicks and Janes album is compiled of 5 years’ worth of music and groups. We also learned that they went through many album names…from punny to downright hilarious! While names like  Barackapella, Falling From Grace Notes, and my personal favorite- Queen Jane and the Dicktators- were thrown around, they eventually settled on Flying Bicycles.

After a brief intermission, we were continually delighted the Dicks and Janes’ vocal ability. They had great range, great chemistry, and everyone had a good opportunity to showcase their voice.

The show continued with Bizness by Tune- Yards, Here We Go by Mat Kearney, Royals by Lorde, the groups ICCA set, which included Why Oh Why by Little Big Town, The Plains/Bitter Dancer by Fleet Foxes, and It Doesn’t mean a Thing by Club Des Belugas. My two favorite moments of the night were both in the ICCA set; I’m not at all surprised they received such a high ranking. During Bitter Dancer, all the men in the group really stepped forward and sang out. Now, maybe I’m just a sucker for guys who can sing, but that was an amazing musical moment. During the final song of the set, the group seemed to be huddling together, but much to my surprise, they exploded into musical and visual waves. Arms flew around as the Dicks and Janes incorporated a sick bass drop into their a cappella set. I was blown away!

The show ended with a small award presentation to Justin Wong, who has really gone above and beyond to make this group as good as possible, and followed up by a heartwarming sendoff for the three seniors in the group- Elise Coletta, Jeff Ferguson, and Sarah Szollar.

All in all, I would highly recommend listening to the Dicks and Janes if you have the chance! Check out their album- Flying Bicycles- which should be on iTunes shortly! The Dicks and Janes would like to thank the alumni of the group for all of their help on this album!

The Dicks and Janes
The Dicks and Janes

REVIEW: What the %@&*! Happened to Comics?

Jeffrey Sun

Art Spiegelman came to EMU on Thursday to reflect on the history, state, and future of comics. It was part of a tour he was on, and I was afraid the talk would be clearly practiced or tired or reluctant, or all in the service of a new book. It wasn’t. What surprised me most was that from the start he seemed to genuinely care about his subject. He talked about how comics affected him in his childhood, some of their history, how methods developed. He started with comics — at the time I think sequential woodcuts — popularized in the late 18th century by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, on to a popular book of woodcuts published in the US in 1929, and then onto the underground comix movement that was just developing when Spiegelman was a child. He told us about his father buying him lurid comics as a child because they were cheaper than the nicer ones and how the moral panic around comics at the time shaped the development of comics in his life.

He was well-spoken, friendly, and engaging throughout, and there was never a time when it seemed like he was doing anything other than talking about what he wanted to talk about. At the end of his talk (he went overtime) he said he had a few minutes for a question and answer session. A small line formed behind a microphone, but he took his time to answer each question, and it went on for probably over half an hour. He went off on tangents and matters on interesting in the way only a really interested person can. Finally it came time for the book signing. “By this point an unsigned copy of Maus must be worth more than a signed one,” he said. “I think that’s my penance, to sign every copy of Maus, and when I sign the last one I’ll die.”

In fairness, he was selling a book called Metamaus, a book of reflections on Maus and how it had affected his life, and he was selling the book there, but he was clearly talking about stuff he liked talking about, and his interest and enjoyment were what really made the event.

PREVIEW: Sacred Harp Singing

musickim

What: Sacred Harp/FaSoLa Singing!

How Much: Free!!

When: Every second Sunday from 2-5pm

Where: The Ark

Sacred Harp

Every second Sunday of the month, FaSoLaMichigan puts on Sacred Harp Singing at the Ark in Ann Arbor. If you have never heard of it before, you should come out! If you have been doing it since you were three years old, you should come out! Sacred Harp Singing has been an American tradition since the mid 19th century where a group of people get together and sing selections from various Sacred Harp books published over the years. Originated by Elisha J. King and Benjamin Franklin White’s publication of The Sacred Harp in 1844, Sacred Harp singing has since grown to be a community of people. So come see what it’s all about!

REVIEW: M-Agination Films Festival

Phillip Wachowiak

Usually student films are envisioned as earth-shattering ideas that will shake the world, only to end up on Youtube or Vimeo with 200 views.
Events like the M-Agination Film Festival allows films to transcend this by showcasing a collection of these films on the big screen in the Michigan theater for a much wider audience, in the best possible way to experience a film.

Before I go any further, I will admit that I am a producer on the board of M-Agination films. I am one of the ten students who sorts through dozens of scripts at the beginning of each semester, choosing a handful of scripts that we like enough to produce.

Consequently, I might be a little biased. I may be more apt to appreciate the work that goes into these films, but I am also more prone to see the wide range of errors that student films can make.

Despite a technical difficulty at the beginning of the festival, M-Agination is one of the best student film fests, if not the best overall film festival on campus. Compared to student festivals such as Lightworks, the venue of the Michigan Theater is a thousand times better than the cramped space of the Natural Science Auditorium.

On top of that, the films shown this year were consistent high-quality films—you can go to this festival expecting enjoyable films all night rather than a collection of hit or miss pieces. While the festival doesn’t quite match the Ann Arbor Film Festival, it’s free and you get a free t-shirt if you show up early.

Now on to the films themselves.

There was a nice diversity of films: comedy and tragedy, narrative and experimental, ancient and modern.

“Pinkie Promise” was a classic feel-good love story about a boy and a girl getting together after promising to do so when they were teenagers. “696” takes a polar opposite approach of a married man lamenting the death of his earlier love.

“Dream Girl” was an experimental piece on the simple premise of a guy seeing a cute girl at a party, while “Initiation” dealt with the grim subject of hazing of college athletes. This was especially powerful because it added overt messages offering help to those who may need it. As far as I know, it will be used as a powerful tool to show to students experiencing alcohol addictions.

“Price of Art,” about two women stealing artwork to make the headlines and finding out that no one cared, was an interesting commentary on the status of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The two films that truly stood out were “Calvin” and “Crook’d.” Not only were these films made by talented students, but they had professional filmmaking equipment at their disposal and Kickstarter dollars as well. With long steadicam shots, incredible sound mixing, and top-notch script writing, these films were phenomenal partially because they could almost stand alongside Hollywood films.

I have heard that this was one of the best years yet for M-Agination. If this festival keeps improving, then it will easily become one of the best film festivals in Ann Arbor, period.

Student Video

PREVIEW: What the %@&*! Happened to Comics? Art Spiegelman at EMU

Jeffrey Sun

Who: Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, legitimizer of comics as a medium.

Where: Eastern Michigan University

What: A talk about the history of comics as a medium, and commentary on their current state.

When: Thursday, April 10, 7:00 pm.

Art Spiegelman, who wrote Maus, is appearing at EMU. It’s an interesting reminder that EMU, which is a short bus ride away on Route 4, has a lot going on as well.