REVIEW: TEDx UofM 2017

Before I begin, here’s a link to the full conference in case you want to see it in its entirety.

TEDx UofM 2017 was as busy as ever, adding to the disruption part of this year’s theme: Dreamer’s and Disruptors. The army of volunteers running the independent conference have by now created a finely-tuned machine with the perfect mix of emotional roller-coaster, thought-provoking ideas, and blissful entertainment.

The student group Groove = bliss

A student jazz band played in the minutes before the conference started. Their grooving, polished performance was a reminder that so many students at this university are talented and sound like professionals even before they’ve graduated.

Then the first speaker took the stage. Koen Vanmechelen came all the way from Belgium to talk about chickens. Specifically, about how breeding various species of chickens can be used to teach us important lessons about human nature.

Next was Sophia Brueckner, a brilliant woman who was a preeminent software engineer at Google until she suffered an injury that prevented her from using computers for two years. She argued that we as a society have developed a dichotomy of looking at technology as either a complete disaster, or as completely awesome. Instead, she asserted, we need to approach technology with critical optimism.

Ironically, Sophia Brueckner pointed out that making an app to solve all our problems is a fallacious idea, but the 2017 TEDx prize went to a student that developed an app called FoodFind. Meant for low income families to find free food, you have to wonder how many families can actually afford and use the smartphones that the app runs on.

Caitlin Holman proposed three things we need to learn: autonomy, competency, and belonging. Videogames, she suggested, provide all of this. With that in mind, she founded GradeCraft with the purpose of making learning more “gameful.”

Erika Newman–a pediatric surgeon–talked about both clinical and personal experiences with cancer. She was introduced to the lack of information on neuroblastoma when one of her patients asked her about the disease and she realized how she didn’t have any answers. The only surprise here was that she was having trouble getting funding from the NIH to treat the cancer using DNA repair mechanisms.

Rollie Tussing and the Midwest Territory Band played during the break. Although they were a stereotypical band you’d hear in Ann Arbor (at least one instance of well-manicured beard, a cello, and music reminiscent of vintage records), they were entertaining. Their sound was both stripped down and full, and antique without feeling archaic.

Next was Abdul El-Sayed, the current Executive Director of the Detroit Health

Department. In case that didn’t already tell you what a monumental task that entails, he cited several facts about the city of 600,000+ people such as a life expectancy of 70, an asthma rate of three times that of the rest of the country, and vision and other problems that far surpass the rest of Michigan. His argument was to think about pathophysiology in the social realm so that we can help people prevent health problems from developing. Abdul was also one of the best speakers of the night and I highly recommend watching his talk at least.

Next was Jeffrey Veidlinger, a historian who went to Eastern Europe to interview survivors of the Holocaust as a way of preserving their culture via understanding Yiddish. He challenged the audience to “Ask your loved ones about their life. Ask them about their dreams. Ask them about what they cherish.”

The most heart-wrenching talk of the night came from Scott Matzka, who was a talented athlete and is now a husband and father battling ALS. This is another talk to watch, and to check out his organization MyTurn.

Documentary filmmaker Sophia Kruz was the last speaker of the evening. Showing clips from her latest documentary Little Stones, she showed how sharing individual stories is important, as well as using culture to address problems in society. 

 

 

REVIEW: Stamps Speaker Series- Joe Sacco

I had heard rumblings that the night’s guest would draw a larger crowd than usual but I wasn’t prepared for how large the crowd might be.  As we filed into the theater from the packed lobby area, it was difficult to find an ideal seating spot. This presentation was co-presented with the University of Michigan International Institute’s Conflict and Peace initiative, and the official Stamps website contains a full list of the sponsors for the night.

Tonight’s event was not a formal speech, but more of an open discussion between the guest Joe Sacco and a host from the International Institute’s Conflict and Peace Initiative.  As the discussion proceeded different images of Sacco’s work were projected onto the screen behind them, and while switching from photo to photo could be highly distracting it was a nice visual supplement to the presentation, and often was used as a conversation point.

Joe Sacco, as we gradually came to know throughout the course of the talk, had originally received a degree in journalism at the University of Oregon, before finding that creating comics was both a way to indulge in his passion for art and to reach a wider audience that are put off by long history books and dense articles.  He approaches his subject matter in the same way a war correspondent might.  He traveled the world, and his very first comic, Palestine, was directly based off of his personal travels through Israel and the West Bank.  Some of his award-winning works include Footnotes in Gaza, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt and Safe Area Gorazde.  He is highly regarded by comic lovers and news junkies alike for his careful research and thoughtful approach to delicate and politically charged subjects.

When asked what inspired his work and the topics he chooses to work on, Joe Sacco responded quite succinctly that anger above all else was the driving force behind his comics.  He looked for topics that created a sense of frustration or injustice in him, and just as importantly ones that he would maintain a passion for the many years that it takes to finish a single piece.  He also discussed his dislike of the word “graphic novels,” because of how his works are not novels despite fitting under that subcategory.  He admits, however, that the word is here to stay and will use it himself when describing his occupation to others.

One of the very first panels from “The Great Wall”

One piece that was discussed quite thoroughly was Sacco’s 24-foot-long graphic tableau “The Great War.”  Sacco spoke briefly about how fascinated he was with World War I while growing up in Australia, where that war takes up a large part of their cultural identity.  His inspiration for this specific piece was The Bayeux Tapestry, and he wanted to create a similar narrative scroll that told a story when read from left to right.

middle segment of “The Great War”

As an artist, I also found the discussion of the artistic styles to be quite interesting.  Sacco talked briefly about his upcoming project and how he will be turning traditional comic styles on their head in order to better convey the meaning and message that he wants to.  He’s working on a project about the indigenous peoples of Canada, and as such is experimenting with creating comics with no borders and an aesthetic style that focuses heavily on nature and natural forms.  He believes this will better fit the ideology and tone of the work itself, as the groups he will be focusing on have a specific way of thinking about nature.

Panel from his book “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt”

As the crowds streamed out of the theater and into the brisk night air, we were once again greeted with live music.  A long line of people waiting for autographs trailed up the staircase to the second balcony, further proving the popularity of tonight’s speaker.

If you would like to check out more of Joe Sacco’s work you can purchase many of his books from amazon here.  The STAMPS speaker series is free to the public and is free to the public and is offered every Thursday at 5:10 at the Michigan Theater.  You can find a full list of the upcoming speakers here.

 

pictures from- 1, 2, 3 

 

PREVIEW: The Ark Open Stage (Open Mic)

Have you been honing those keytar skills throughout winter break and want to show off? Want to show off the results of all that practice singing to yourself in the car on your morning commute?

This is your chance!

On Wednesday, January 11th at 8 PM, 15 performers will be invited to the stage at the Ark for 8 minute performances each.

Sign up: 7:30

Selection: 7:45 and 8:30

It’s only $2 for students!

As the Ark states on its web site, locally famous acts such as Dick Siegel to nationally known artists like Gilda Rader have performed at open stage.

REVIEW: Jake Shimabukuro, ukulele

Ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro (photo taken from http://www.jakeshimabukuro.com/home/photos/)

On Wednesday night, the University Musical Society (UMS) had ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro at Hill Auditorium.  Shimabukuro wowed the crowd as he strummed so fast that his hands were a blur.  Him and his bass player Nolan Verner played original songs off of his new album titled Nashville Sessions such as “F Minor”, “Celtic Tune”, and “Blue Haiku”.  They also played popular songs such as the Beatles song “Come Together” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.  Shimabukuro took the stage alone as he paid tribute to Leonard Cohen by playing “Hallelujah”.

Bass player Nolan Verner and ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro (taken from http://www.jakeshimabukuro.com/home/photos/)

My friend and I ended up getting the opportunity to meet Jake after the concert and get a picture and autograph.  He was so sweet and extremely down to earth, even thanking us for coming to his concert!  I told him about how I started playing the ukulele a year ago and as I was leaving he said, “Good luck on the uke!”  Definitely an experience that I’ll never forget!

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Upcoming performances through UMS can be found at http://ums.org/season/.

PREVIEW: Lemaître “We Got U” Tour

Ready to scream into the void about the results of last night’s election? Why not dance your troubles away with the Norwegian indie electronic duo, Lemaître, before launching right back into the thick of things like a true wolverine? They will be performing Tonight, November 9th at Necto Nightclub as a part of their “We Got U” tour.

I have personally been listening to their music for years, and love their sound, but the best way to showcase their music would be to simply listen to it for yourself.  The following video is for “Playing to Lose,” off their latest EP, Afterglow. The video also features some footage of their live show in London, perhaps giving us a sneak peek of what awaits us tonight.

The following music video is for “Closer” off of their Singularity EP. This song was used in one of the first promotional videos released for the launch of Google’s Pixel Phone.

 

The doors will open at 9 PM, and you can buy tickets online or at the door for $18.  You can find more information about the event at Necto’s Website.

Tickets are available for pre-sale here. Note that while online tickets are only $15, there is an additional $3 charge for the transaction.

Featured Image from Interview Magazine. 

REVIEW: Brett Dennen at the Blind Pig

Seeing any show at the Blind Pig, known for bringing relatively famous acts to Ann Arbor, is bound to be an experience.

Even before the opening act took the stage, the place was filled with people ranging from the minors on one side of me to the thirty/forty something couple on the other side. There were no fans running and little ventilation, so people were shedding outer layers like crazy as we waited.

Then Lily & Madeleine took the stage. As the couple next to me put it so well:

“Are they sisters?”

“I don’t know, but they’re cute as pie”

lily-madeleine

A quick Google search for this blog confirmed that they are in fact sisters hailing from Indiana, and they are definitely Midwestern–from “almost went to U of M” to writing a song about the city of Chicago.

The announcer mistakenly announced the venue as the Ark, and Lily & Madeleine’s music would have been a much better fit for that more relaxed atmosphere. I enjoyed listening to their music–I’m downloading a couple albums Flume as I write this–but the acoustic and piano-heavy set was probably not the way to go opening for Brett Dennen at the Blind Pig.

The audience was one of rudest I’ve ever experienced. As you can probably hear in this video, it was hard to hear the music over the sound of everything talking and making noise. Most people weren’t paying attention to Lily & Madeleine, and one woman next to me kept texting in a phone that was on full brightness. It would have been one thing if the music was bad, but Lily & Madeleine proved themselves to be talented artists that didn’t deserve such a treatment.

Luckily the crowd calmed down by the time Brett took the stage.

Somehow Brett Dennen turned 36 the day of the concert, even though he looks like he stopped aging after 25. Brett’s boyish looks and figure make his music all the more endearing. Switching between two acoustic guitars, his crooned slower favorites like “Ain’t No Reason” and “Where We Left Off.” For the faster numbers, he brought out the electric guitar and shredded the heck out of it.

brett-dennen-jams

The crowd sang along to hits like “Wild Child,” “Comeback Kid,” and my personal favorite “Make You Crazy.” Singers like Brett Dennen make it impossible to stand in the crowd and not shake your head or shake your hips along to the music. Performers like Brett know when to point the microphone out to the audience, when to stand at the very front of the stage and jam with his tongue out, and when to take a break and ask the audience for their birthdays.

I freely admit that I am only a casual Brett Dennen fan, but I could easily become of the devoted fans that sang along to every one of his songs at the concert if I let myself. If you get a chance to see Brett in concert, I highly recommend it.