The Monday Mix is an occasional roundup of compilations, live recordings, videos, podcasts, and more by Washtenaw County-associated artists, DJs, radio stations, and record labels.

This edition features an interview with Kerrytown Concert House's Artistic & Executive Director Monica Swartout-Bebow on Michigan Creates; a chat with Ann Arbor cellist Thor Sigurdson on Music Un-Tuxed; two short promo videos for Ann Arbor Art Center's 2024 public art projects; Blue LLama concert live streams; and the numerous arts documentaries created for the Ann Arbor 200 birthday celebration.

Michigan Creates with Ara Topouzian featuring Kerrytown Concert House Artistic & Executive Director Monica Swartout-Bebow
Bloomfield Hills' Ara Topouzian is best known as a musician, playing Armenian and Middle Eastern music on the kanun, a 76-stringed laptop harp. But the former Kresge Artist Fellow also hosts the Michigan Creates podcast, which focuses on local artists, and he interviewed Ann Arbor vocalist Monica Swartout-Bebow, who is also the artistic and executive director of the Kerrytown Concert House (KCH). The two discuss the history of KCH, which turned 40 this year, how the venue found its renowned piano, and how Swartout-Bebow programs the schedule.

Music Un-Tuxed:
The Conductor Sees the Future: Strings, Orchestra and Building Community with Cellist Thor Sigurdson 
Cellist Thor Sigurdson spent much of his 25-year professional career in Florida, performing with everyone from classical titan Leonard Bernstein to metal guitarist Zakk Wylde. Sigurdson's been an Ann Arbor resident for many years now, and he was a guest on violinist Michael Jamanis' Music Un-Tuxed podcast recently to discuss his career, his thoughts on orchestras—professional and community—and perform Bach's Sarabande from Suite No. 5, a movement in the Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor.

A2AC Murals - Brian Whitfield's "Blue Monk" Ann Arbor Mural 
2024 A2AC Planters in Ann Arbor
The Ann Arbor Art Center's ongoing public art projects added another mural to downtown in the form of Brian Whitfield's Blue Monk and a series of large planters decorated by local artisans. These two brief promo clips capture the creators as they worked in the sunshine.

Blue LLama live streams
The great Ann Arbor jazz club Blue LLama has plenty of short performance clips on its YouTube page, but it also sometimes livestreams entire concerts by local artists. You can catch three performances from the last month over in the Live section, including Detroit singer Isis Damil, Detroit pianist William Hill III, and Ann Arbor collective UMPH, which is comprised of University of Michigan students.

Ann Arbor 200 documentaries
The Ann Arbor District Library's Archives team produced a tremendous amount of content in 2024 to celebrate the city's 200th birthday. They also contracted local creators to create numerous artworks, articles, and documentaries as part of Ann Arbor 200. Several of those docs deal with music, dance, and theater, which should be of interest to Pulp readers:
➥ Echos of Techno: Electronic Music in Ann Arbor
➥ Was Here / Now Gone - A film by IS/LAND
➥ The French Dukes: Rhythm, Roots, and Legacy
➥ Lumpen Hippie Light Show
➥ Craig Walsh: Monuments
➥ 50 Years of Celebration: The Dance for Mother Earth Powwow
➥ Local Movement: Five Decades of Dance in Ann Arbor
➥ Summer Echoes - An Original Composition Created from Climatological Data
➥ Theater for All: Here Comes Wild Swan!

Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.