The Michael Malis Trio performed on Friday evening at the Kerrytown Concert House.
The atmosphere was intimate and the audience was engaged and respectful throughout the entire performance. The talented musicians all seemed to know how to manipulate their instruments. Additionally, the musicians employed silence well and sometimes the silent moments were the most effective as well as most memorable moments.
Bassist Ben Rolston employed some experimental techniques such as plucking and artificial harmonics. Furthermore, drummer Stephen Boegehold performed well and seemed to master the technique of brush-playing. The talents of pianist Michael Malis, however, brightly shone throughout the performance. Moreover, the pianist sometimes performed alone rather than accompanied by Rolston and Boegehold. These moments seemed more intimate because the performance shifted from dialogue to monologue.
Additionally, Malis addressed the audience and provided them with some background information. For example, he said that poetry and literature inspire his compositions. This source of inspiration makes sense because jazz and poetry share several similarities. For example, both jazz and poetry have rules but also make room for improvisation.
Malis will perform again this month at The Raven’s Club. Click here to peruse his website!
If you haven’t heard by now that there’s a new Star Wars movie coming out, you probably live in a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens will hit theaters in a little under a week, on Friday, December 18th, with opening night showings beginning Thursday evening. The film is set thirty years after Episode VI – Return of the Jedi and will feature a mixture of new and returning cast members. Newcomers Daisy Ridley and John Boyega will play a scavenging wanderer and existential crisis-ridden Stormtrooper, respectively. Little else is known about the plot or characters.
Directed by J. J. Abrams, who is best known for his recent, wildly successful reboot of the Star Trek franchise, this will be the first Star Wars film made without the direct involvement of franchise creator George Lucas. However, some argue that this could be a change for the better after the wary performance of Episodes I through III earlier in the 2000s.
Either way, Star Wars fever has taken over the world. Advance ticket sales already forecast the film as easily producing the biggest opening weekend of 2015–likely ever. Popular ticketing website Fandango even crashed for many users the day tickets went on sale, and screenings were already selling out back in October.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan, this is incredibly exciting. I have countless memories of watching the original trilogy with my family when I was little–dressing up as characters for Halloween and even hunting down some of the iconic filming locations when my family visited Death Valley once on a road trip.
This film’s tagline is “every generation has a story.” I can’t wait to experience ours.
The Michael Malis Trio will perform tomorrow evening at the Kerrytown Concert House!
The group will debut their newly-released album, Lifted from the No of Nothing. Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press recently labelled Malis’ music “sumptuous” and “impressive.” He continued to characterize the music as “loose and spontaneous, alert to dynamics and textural variety while balancing formal detail and discipline with freedom.”
The group consists of twenty-somethings Michael Malis, Ben Rolston, and Stephen Boegehold, all Southeastern Michiganders. Malis studied at the University of Michigan with internationally-known pianist and composer Geri Allen, Rolston attended Community High School, and Boegehold studied at Wayne State University.
The RC Student Juried Art Show features several student artists and will run until the end of the semester. Three artists included in the exhibition that I’d like to feature are Casey Jong, Heather Barnell, and Samantha Marks. Their contributions to the exhibition include pen-and-ink pieces, pottery, and sculpture pieces, respectively. The other exhibited artists worked with mediums such as painting, photography, and intaglio printmaking.
Jong’s pen-and-ink pieces, Piece 1 and Piece 2, hang side-by-side on the wall. The former piece features a female figure with a melancholic facial expression sitting on a chair next to a small end-table that supports a vase of flowers. She rests her face on her hand and stares into the abyss. The curve of her head resembles the curve of the end-table. Piece 2 features another female figure. She stands alongside a coat-rack and she raises her arms as well as secures her feet in first-position. The curves of her arms resemble the curves of the nearby coat-rack. Jong in Piece 1 and in Piece 2 combines female figures with everyday objects such as end-tables and a coat-racks. The pieces exemplify these combinations of figures and objects in visually-interesting ways.
Barnell’s Untitled consists of an engraved rectangle of clay. The artist engraved the words “Once a kid” and “Always a kid” on adjacent sides of the four-sided piece alongside childlike silhouettes. The other sides of the rectangular piece feature more adultlike silhouettes without the additions of words. The greyish, goldish, and purplish tones of the piece itself were visually-appealing. Untitled, however, was insufficiently lit as well as insufficiently positioned. The viewer struggles to read the engraved words of the darkly-colored piece. Additionally, the piece sits on its table at hip-level rather than at eye-level. The piece, however, still entices and interests the viewer regardless of the fact that viewing the piece at eye-level in a well-lit area would’ve been more ideal.
Finally, Marks’ life-size piece, Say Yes to the Debt, consists of tape, paper, and printed money. The artist sculpted these materials into the shape of a wedding dress. The title of the piece echoes the title of the well-known reality television series (Say Yes to the Dress). Wedding dresses sometimes cost thousands of dollars and the sculpture reduces the dress to its monetary value. The sculpture signifies conspicuous consumption because dress may indicate wealth. Certainly, the wearer of Say Yes to the Debt would conspicuously display his or her wealth. Ultimately, Say Yes to the Debt attracts viewers because of its life-like size as well as because of its surrealistic nature.
The RC Student Juried Art Show runs until December 17th. Additionally, the Residential College Art Gallery is open M-F 10am until 5pm. Catch the exhibition while you can!
Even though the snowstorm outside had most of us turning up the heat, making hot cocoa and warming our feet in our rooms, Spring Awakening had me extremely enthusiastic. We all thought how ironic it was that we were going to watch a performance with the mention of ‘Spring’ on the day of the season’s first snow!
The Broadway cast had sent a video to MUSKET telling them that we have awesome lights – and that was the first thing I noticed when I entered the Power Centre. The hues of purple and the grey, ominous trees created the perfect set piece.
The show finally started and the cast ran onto stage in their innocent dresses and school boy clothes. The comic timing and expressions of each character were impeccable – we learned about each one of them and fell in love instantly with Moritz and Wendla immediately. The hilariously cute emotions of adolescents took me back to the days where I changed seats just to get a better look of the secret someone I crushed on.
The first notes of Mama Who Bore Me gave me the goosebumps. Coming from a culture where sex is a taboo, the relationship between Wendla and her mother made me think about how all of us hear about sex for the first time – with euphemisms, symbolic suggestions and things left to our own dear imagination.
The classroom scene also reminded me of a reflection of the education system. This was when I was charmed by the character of Melchior. The highly intelligent, precocious gentleman’s character made me feel like there’s going to be a lot in store from him. It was great to see his character develop yet see such a mature teenager in a show.
However, the highlight of the show was Totally Fucked. As soon as Moritz broke into song, the audience couldn’t stop singing along or hooting to the lyrics. As the audience was dominated by students, the mood around midterms season and finals soon approaching made Totally Fucked an anthem. Furthermore, the choreography and energy of this song were unparalleled. I was in my seat, ready to start dancing and sing totally fucked at that moment!
The portrayal of love in Spring Awakening had some of the purest emotions in my opinion. The scene between Hanschen and Ernst was totally unexpected, but I loved how all the sides of love and exploration came through in this musical. Most of the time, only heterosexual romances take place in musicals like these but this scene seemed like it had been put into place for comic relief, as it was a reprise of the song “Word of your Body” which was performed by Moritz and Wendla. I thought it was still like gay people living in the shadow of straight people on the performance front, but the chemistry was impeccable between the two men.
Spring Awakening highlighted the rises all of us face. Be it not doing well academically, having infinite questions about sex and sexuality, the need to explore to find our own truth, attraction, desire, love and most of all, being spectators to all the problems in the world such as abuse, sadness and injustice. Many parts of it were relatable to me as I come from a very conservative upbringing where I had to find out a lot of things about growing up by myself or through friends.
Finally, The Song of Purple Summer was the perfect ending to the musical. The mellow music yet bright tones to it had a sense of hope yet was so melancholy. I felt like Spring Awakening summed up a very large part of my life, even though I did not have the same experiences as any of the characters did.
I had a great time that night and still listen to the soundtrack for study music (PS: Totally Fucked should not be on your playlist around finals, we should have something more motivational!) It is hard to resist singing along to the entire playlist and relive the experience of the performance on the night of the first snow.
PS : MUSKET is putting up Big Fish next semester and all performers are invited to Mass Meetings in the Union in January!
The Landmarks getting ready. Photo Credit: The Landmarks
We got there early. Maybe earlier than we should–there were three opening acts, after all–but we didn’t know what kind of crowd to expect, and it couldn’t hurt. Neither of us had been to the Bling Pig before–so we had plenty to observe. For those of you who haven’t gone (and you really should sometime), it’s a dingy, ill-lit cramped space, the kind of place that I always take a minute to check out the emergency exits, but it’s got a lot of character. You can look around and get a sense of the history of the place, of the bands that have played, of the people who have danced , of the bodies that have crashed against one another, of the sweat shed, of the drinks spilled, of the voices that have sung, screamed, echoed and echoing. Ann Arbor’s a city full of places like these–places that tell a story that could only be told here–even as high-rise after high-rise goes up (across from the Blind Pig is one of these new high-rises) and chains encroach downtown, even then there remain these hidden flames of the city that still burn.
For the first two opening acts, my friend and I sat on stools to the side of the main floor. There were a handful of people standing in the center, but especially for the first act, The Landmarks, the crowd was still slim. Regardless, both bands grooved with what was there of the crowd, and there was never that moment when the crowd is too loud or too quiet, when the crowd is clearly uninterested or would prefer for that band not to be playing. No, even people like me, who were sitting on the sidelines gave the bands most of our attention. I preferred the more groovy sounds of the local band, The Landmarks, but the acoustic, softer tones of Air is the Arche were a refreshing break from the heavier, harder rocking beats of the night. Both bands are something to watch out for, and I look forward to them popping back up on my radar.
After Air is the Arche finished, my friend and I left the safety of our chairs to go in search of a bathroom. We wandered downstairs, through a maze of hallways, into the bar below, the Eightball Saloon, which was reminiscent of the inside of a dirty, vibrant carnival attraction. While there, I took the opportunity to read some of the many lines of wisdom, poetry, and advice that had been sharpied on the inside of the stall by various customers, for your reading pleasure. I was reading a rather crude observation out loud, “anal is good for your soul,” when a fellow patron loudly contradicted me–and well, I wasn’t going to disagree with her. After that bonding experience, my friend and I returned to the surface world to find our prime seating location stolen–but there was only one more opening act, so we decided to stand.
By the time the final opening act came on, Valley Hush, there was a crowd gathering in the center, bodies brewing and shifting to the front, to the middle. Some were like us, and merely seatless, but plenty were getting in position for the main act. Still, you could sense the crowd warming up, and some were even dancing to this band, to their fleeting melodies. I liked Valley Hush and their music, but I was impatient, I was ready for the band we’d been waiting for, and I felt like this last band’s set dragged on, we were so close, we were nearing the threshold–oh, I could hardly keep myself together, I couldn’t stand there much longer. I was ecstatic when they ended–sorry Valley Hush, you were great, really–and the crowd began to thicken, now was the time to cram yourself in, to sneak between as many bodies as you could, to find a place as close to the front as you could. Now was the time to rock.
And, nearly three hours after we had arrived at the Blind Pig, Flint Eastwood arrived on stage.
I thought I knew what to expect. I’d seen them before, about a year and a half ago–and I knew some things would be different, there was a new EP, they were no longer wearing bolo ties, but I thought I had reasonable expectations for this performance. They had only been the opening act then and not the main show, but things couldn’t be that different.
I was wrong.
Unfortunately, not a picture of last night. But you get the idea. Photo Credit: Flint Eastwood
Flint Eastwood started with the usual, “Ann Arbor, are you ready to rock?” shtick, which Jax asked us until she was satisfied with our answer, and then they came to life. They opened with the song “Oblivious,” and as soon as the music started, they were everywhere on stage–they were jumping, they were dancing, they were thrashing–they were exuberant with an energy that I cannot imagine possessing. There was only three of them–Jax, her guitarist, and her drummer–but they managed to stomp around the whole stage (except for the drummer, who still managed to thrash and bang on his drums as well as he could) and Jax was constantly on the edge of stage, right over us, right in our faces, banging her body to the beat. She was constantly moving her mic from stand to hand, strutting the stage, leaning out and over, pointing at members of the audience here and there, commanding them to sing a melody or clap their hands–and they listened, how could they not, they were enamored. When she ordered us to clap, we clapped. When she ordered us to sing, we sang. When she ordered us to dance, we danced. If she had ordered us to jump off a bridge, we would have. The band’s energy was infectious and we were pulsing, we were being pulled into Jax, as if she were the heart of a black hole. She too, was being pulled in, not to us, but to the music–there were parts where she was so caught up in it, caught up in her own dancing, that she would forget to sing. It wasn’t a problem, (nor probably even noticeable for most of the crowd), if anything it was beautiful to watch. For the bulk of the show, they played the rest of the songs from their latest EP, Small Victories, but near the end, they played “Can You Feel Me Now,” an in-your-face song if there ever was one. We were told to put our pistols up, so we did, and we rocked out to the song with our pistols, our hands, our arms, flying, thrashing, pounding the beat. After that, they announced that it was time to end and they would play only one more song: the title track from their EP, “Small Victories.” Before the song, Jax talked to us for a moment, and she told us if we were going through shit, she wasn’t going to tell us what to do or how to get over it, she couldn’t, but for the next few minutes we had to dance. So we did. During this “final” song, Jax jumped off stage and into the crowd, where she danced with us as her guitarist and drummer continued to rock, drenched in sweat, and then she climbed back on stage where the three of them collapsed. While they laid stretched out on the floor of the stage, they audience clapped and hollered and cheered, this rising, roaring, noise that never ended, no matter how long the trio refused to budge. Finally, after a matter of minutes, the band rose from the dead, claimed they needed just a rest, and played us one more song, another oldie, “Billy the Kid,” with the very fitting lyrics: this is the end.
After it ended, as we left that dark and dirty place, every member of the audience was handed this note, this little thank-you card. Because here’s the thing, this show didn’t happen at some 3,000 person venue. It happened at the Blind Pig and the attendance was in the low triple-digits. Currently, Flint Eastwood’s latest single,”Find What You’re Looking For,” has 7,684 views on Youtube. For a band like Flint Eastwood, every view, every member of the audience, every purchase of an album, every individual contribution–all of that matters. They know it, and as an attendee, you can feel it. They’re not a band that can take things for granted and their gratitude overflows their being, their presence. So please, next time you’re looking for something to do, skip the blockbuster or Netflix or Jimmy Johns, and maybe head downtown to the State Theater or Fleetwood Diner, but definitely stop by the Blind Pig sometime, even if it isn’t a band you know. Support the places that make Ann Arbor, well, Ann Arbor, and support the little guy–he’s got a long and difficult journey ahead of him, but with your help, I think he might make it.
