Friday Five: Same Eyes, Warren & Flick, Cereza64, An Angel Submerged, Gusmão
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This edition features synth-pop by Same Eyes, European folk duets by Warren & Flick, a videogame soundtrack by Cereza64, imaginary movie soundtracks by An Angel Submerged, and Latin-steeped hip-hop beats by Gusmão.
Ypsilanti's Brevity Shakespeare makes the Bard accessible to all
When Karl Sikkenga was teaching middle school students, he began writing pared-down scripts of Shakespeare’s plays. He developed a plan to make it easier for his students to understand Shakespeare’s plays by streamlining the Bard without changing the language or meaning of the plays.
“When I had the idea of doing it in community theater rather than in school, I thought if I’m going to do this, I might as well see if it will work or not,” he said.
In 2019, Sikkenga launched Brevity Shakespeare in Ypsilanti with a production of Hamlet in 2019, just as the pandemic hit. When the theater started up again in 2023 with As You Like It, Sikkenga had a clear vision of a new approach to Shakespeare and community theater.
“The idea behind Brevity is threefold,” he said. ”One is we are deep lovers of Shakespeare, but for me, frequently when I’m watching Shakespeare, I don’t have any idea what people are talking about. The language is the most gorgeous and at times the most obscure. When I was doing Shakespeare with secondary students, I started distilling the play, retaining the language, retaining the plot, and telling the stories in ways that we make sure everyone there understands what’s going on at all times.”
Trimming scripts also meant weeding out nonessential characters.
Human Depth: Danielle Leavitt's "By the Second Spring" covers the first year of the invasion of Ukraine through the eyes of seven people
When the Russo-Ukrainian War intensified with the invasion and occupation of Ukraine starting in 2022, the conflict not only permeated the news but also people’s lives. The stories of the Ukrainians affected by the war are what historian Danielle Leavitt tells in her new book, By the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine.
By the Second Spring begins with a preface in which Leavitt describes how she found the stories and corresponded with the storytellers. She shares that through an online platform provided by her parents’ project, the Leavitt Institute for International Development, Ukrainians wrote online diary entries. Leavitt got in contact with some of the diarists, who then began communicating about their lives directly with her.
As Leavitt writes about her subjects and the book, “They would recount, in intimate detail, their first reactions to the invasion, why opposition to Russia was so fierce, and why and how such a sudden and shocking spirit of mass volunteerism arose. I concern myself less with the movement of military forces and more with exploring the daily realities of war in a relatively developed country.”
Leavitt’s time growing up partly in Ukraine and studying Ukrainian history informs her book, too. To give context as the events of the year unfold around her subjects, Leavitt intersperses the history that led to this moment in time.
After the preface is the “Dramatis Personae” listing the seven names and descriptions of the subjects who are featured by Leavitt: Anna. Maria. Polina. Tania. Vitaly. Volodymyr. Yulia.
Each Ukrainian in By the Second Spring makes their choices of how to respond to the war. Some maintain a semblance of life before the invasion:
Ann Arbor-filmed comedy flick "Hometown Summer" premieres at the Michigan Theater
Comedies come in cycles. There was a time in the late 1990s and continuing through the early 2010s when movie theaters regularly welcomed rated-R-for-raunchy flicks with over-the-top humor.
But as social mores changed, and movie theaters struggled to get people into their buildings, many of those movies went straight to streaming.
Wolverine Productions' Benjamin Vomastek misses when salty comedies with no-holds-barred japes populated the cineplex, and the University of Michigan grad is doing his part to bring them back.
Vomastek's film debut, 2024's Rosetta Stoned, filmed in Ann Arbor on a $30,000 budget, features a pothead who convinces a socially awkward classmate to exchange homework answers for weed.
The new Hometown Summer, also filmed in Tree Town, premieres at the Michigan Theater on Thursday, May 22, at 7:30 pm. The cast and crew will appear after for a Q&A session.
In Hometown Summer, three young pals spend the warm months in Ann Arbor, and all kinds of mayhem happen when they get mixed up in a crazy business plan and indulge in all sorts of vices.
Vomastek makes no secret that his films are indebted to outrageous comedies of the past, such as Superbad and There's Something About Mary, so I asked him to discuss some movies that were direct influences on Hometown Summer.
"Each of these films carries a theme of human authenticity and realism that has inspired me as a filmmaker," Vomastek said.
Friday Five: Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet & Elden Kelly, Loss of Life, Scoops Lively, Normal Park, Pajamas
Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.
This edition features jazz by Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet and Elden Kelly, metalcore by Loss of Life, hyperpop by Scoops Lively, emo-punk by Normal Park, and live jams by Pajamas.
Inside Story: Jess Merritt's new songs display a bold, transformative mindset
Jess Merritt no longer silences her inner voice.
The Ann Arbor singer-songwriter follows her instincts and unleashes her authentic self on Wild in Me.
“It’s been a big journey,” said Merritt, aka Jess Oberholtzer, about her new folk-rock-soul EP.
“Over the past five years or so … I went through a divorce, the pandemic, and coming out. It’s been a real transformative time. I look back, and I’m so grateful that I took those steps because I feel so much closer to my true self now. Even though things are a little bit scary as far as what the future holds, I just feel solid in myself.”
Merritt embraces that bold mindset through an honest and inspirational collection of songs about self-discovery, growth, and freedom. The four tracks on Wild in Me come to life through soulful vocals, cathartic lyrics, and soaring instrumentation.
Singer-songwriter Joe Reilly lets kids know there's a place for them in the circle
Joe Reilly has been a big hit with the Ann Arbor-area kids for nearly two decades. They know him from his many performances at local schools, libraries, and music workshops, and they love him for his songs celebrating awesome animals, the wonders of nature, and the importance of our connection to the earth and each other.
On Saturday, May 17, he’s throwing a free family concert at The Ark that will pair his big-hearted, interactive show with a celebration of Indigenous culture. Joe Reilly and his band, the Community Gardeners, will perform alongside the All Nations Dancers, a group of Anishinaabe pow-wow dancers from Mount Pleasant.
The University of Michigan grad's music is gentle and generous in spirit, drawn from traditional folk and blues to encourage sing-alongs, and spiked with the lyrical flow of hip-hop to keep it real. His easy rapport with his tiny audience members leads them to learn while they play, like a Buddhist Mister Rogers whose essence is his greatest lesson.
Sponsored by Ann Arbor Public Schools, The Ark event launches at 11:30 am with a catered lunch provided by local Indigenous vendor Anishinaabe Meejim, followed an hour later by music and dance. Per The Ark, pre-registration is “strongly encouraged.”
I asked Reilly a few questions about "There’s a Place for You in the Circle" featuring Joe Reilly and The Community Gardeners with the All Nations Dancers.
Michigan Murders: "1969: Killers, Freaks, and Radicals" documentary makes its Ann Arbor debut at Cinetopia
"Well, it's 1969, OK
All across the USA"
—The Stooges, "1969"
John Norman Collins was arrested in Ypsilanti on July 31, 1969, for the murder of Karen Sue Beineman, an 18-year-old student at Eastern Michigan University. It made national news because a serial killer had haunted Washtenaw County since 1967, and eventually Collins was under suspicion for five other Michigan murders (as well as one in California).
But the story was knocked out of the country's consciousness just over a week later when Charles Manson and members of his cult killed seven people on August 8-9, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate, the wife of acclaimed director Roman Polanski.
The Manson murders were a cultural touchstone that some think helped usher out the hippy era, making way for a grittier 1970s where the idea of peace and love were swept into the dustbin of history.
This overall portrait of America in transition is the backdrop for director Andrew Templeton's new documentary, 1969: Killers, Freaks, and Radicals, which makes its Michigan debut on Friday, May 16, at Cinetopia Ann Arbor (Michigan Theater and State Theatre, May 15-18). It features new interviews, vintage footage, and re-creations.
The film focuses on Collins' crimes, but unlike John Keyes' 1974 book The Michigan Murders, Templeton analyzes the story through the lens of social upheaval and how the local police force stumbled through its investigation by targeting the "freaks and radicals" when looking for suspects.
Cult of Personality: Omar Hussain's psychological thriller, "A Thousand Natural Shocks," explores how far people will go to forget their pasts
What does it truly mean to "become the best version of yourself?" To find meaning, to overcome obstacles?
In Ann Arbor author Omar Hussain's debut novel, A Thousand Natural Shocks, a charismatic figure offers a unique solution: Don't try to overcome trauma, but excise every trace from the conscious mind. To "detonate the past" you must "liberate the future," but only the most devout followers will access this obliterating salvation.
Dash, a reporter intent on forgetting no matter the cost, is determined to rise through the ranks of the faithful. But who will he be when he comes out the other side of his altered history, and how will Dash cope with the revelation of the cult's true purpose?
Under Hussain's pen, Dash's narration is frenetic, rich with ripe anxiety, and fractured by our hero's sleep deprivation, self-medication, and general mind-destroying tactics in his pursuit of erasure. From the very first pages, it's clear how the cult's mantra would resonate with a man in his state: "God is love. God is life. God is a bomb."
I spoke with Hussain about A Thousand Natural Shocks, which he is reading and signing at Literati on May 13, and his work with Defy, the communications company he co-founded.
Neighborhood Theatre Group's "The Stranger in My Breakfast Nook" is a hilarious musical send-up of Lifetime movies
The Neighborhood Theatre Group (also known as NTG) is ending its 9th season with an off-the-wall and hilariously funny send-up of the always predictable Lifetime movies.
The original musical trauma comedy is called—take a breath, the title is long—The Stranger in My Breakfast Nook: A 90’s Lifetime Original Musical Parody, written by Kristin Anne Danko and Kylista Geiger. Geiger is the director and Danko, the founder of NTG, directs the music.
NTG’s minimalist approach to theater is a necessity in the tight confines of the Back Office Studio. Those limitations only add to the laughs. Another interesting quirk is something called the Tree County Universe—very Marvelish. The universe was created in 2019 and centers on the sister cities Shouting Oaks and Whispering Pines, home of the Silverspoon’s Serving Spoons, South North University, and a lot of trees.