Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features indie pop by ness lake, hip-hop from Mista Midwest and the Youth Arts Alliance, horror soundtracks by R1TUAL, and lushly arranged songs by Jonathan Edwards.

When Elizabeth "Connie" Converse was making music in New York City during the 1950s, her peers probably thought of her as a folk artist because she played acoustic guitar and sang songs.

But a new book makes the case for her being the bridge between folk music and what would come to be known as the singer-songwriter genre in the 1960s since she wrote her own songs using personal, poetic lyrics.

To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse by Howard Fishman also documents the musician's difficult life, which may have ended with her disappearance in 1974 at age 50.

Converse moved to Ann Arbor in 1961 to be closer to her brother, Philip E. Converse, a political science professor at the University of Michigan. She worked a variety of jobs and eventually became managing editor of the U-M Institute for Social Research's Journal of Conflict Resolution. When Yale took over the publication in 1972, the intensely private Converse's life started to drift and her depression increased.

Other than a 1954 appearance on the Walter Cronkite hosted The Morning Show on CBS, Converse's music career never took off, and it's thought she stopped playing music and writing songs after she moved to Ann Arbor.

Converse made reel-to-reel recordings in the 1950s, but her music wasn't released to the public until the 2009 compilation How Sad, How Lovely and the Sad Lady EP in 2020. Both releases garnered positive press for both the uniqueness of her sound and songs as well as the mystery behind the woman who made them.

With renewed interest in Converse's music and life, we've compiled numerous articles written about her over the years, including recent pieces covering the To Anyone Who Ever Asks book. Also below is the experimental film We Lived Alone: The Connie Converse Documentary, two brief video reports on her life, and embeds of her two records.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features indie rock by Idle Ray and Post Nasal Drip, hip-hop by HUES, electro-punk by Oblivion Heirs, and electronica by northbad.

Since this is the "I'm on vacation" edition, the write-ups are short, and I'm gonna let the music do the squawking. 

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features indie rock by Blind Liars and Same Eyes, acoustic-leaning grunge by Head Full of Ghosts, and vaporwave/synth-pop by Turtle Heist and Suzuka.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features delicate dream-folk by Henri Bardot, instrumental prog-metal by The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, altered tuning computer music by The Evil Doings of an Intergalactic Skeleton, tweaked tunes by Jib Kidder, and a brief techno-house jam by Gvmmy.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features soul-rock by The Solution, synth-pop by Telesonic 9000, indie rock by Saturday's Cab Ride Home, prog by Cat Lung, and a Dagoretti Records compilation of vintage Kenyan nyatiti music.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features cosmic folk by Evan Haywood, art rock by XV, no wave by Lunch, folk-pop by Timothy Monger, and a compilation of mid-2000s Ypsilanti DIY artists.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features vintage hardcore punk by Minus9, synth-pop by Same Eyes, electronic body music by zagc, black metal by Gossamer, and trip-hop by Benji Robot.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week features the Midwestern power-pop of The City Lines, a jazzy original by Juliette Freedman, indie-folk by Joanna Sterling, jazz-and-blues by The Missing Cats, and folk-pop by Big Chemical.

When watercolor paintings started turning up on Jeremy Wheeler's social media accounts, I initially thought he was promoting the work of a friend.

One piece in particular I remember was of Naru, the protagonist warrior in the Predator series prequel Prey. While Wheeler is known for paintings inspired by science fiction and horror films, his use of watercolors for Naru captured the ghostly mystery of her character, not just her strength.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

The cozy, creamy vibe of watercolors such as this is the polar opposite of the bold pop art that brought Wheeler acclaim.

The long-time Ann Arbor creative is best known for his loud, psychedelic concert-poster work and stark, powerful interpretations of movie scenes. Bold lines, hard edges, and kinetic energy were intrinsic to his style.

But Wheeler's move toward the (literally) more fluid and flowing medium of watercolors happened at a time when the whole world slowed down due to Covid-19. Calling his exploration of watercolors a "respite" during the pandemic, there's a quiet, meditative quality to his works in the medium. While Wheeler used the watercolors to continue exploring portraits and figures of film, music, and TV actors, actresses, and characters who inspire him—he was a critic for AllMovie for 12 years—the results were warmer, lighter, and more delicate than his previous work in other mediums.

Fittingly, the title of his first watercolors exhibit matches the sensibilities exuded in the paintings: Soft Collections runs at the Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC) through March 28, and many works are still available for purchase. While Wheeler is a highly trained fine artist, he used the Art Resources videos made by A2AC, where he serves as the marketing manager, to help guide him in a medium that he hadn't previously worked in very much.

He was attracted by the speed of watercolors compared to the more laborious process of his more standard style, but Wheeler also loved the way he could keep re-wetting the paints until he could find the right balance. That process of trial and error is not afforded in ink washes, which can provide a similar look to watercolors but is more permanent and inflexible in comparison.

I spoke to Wheeler about watercolors and more, and you can see two recent videos he made discussing his work: one with the Detroit Institute of Arts and the other a live painting session he made for A2AC in conjunction with Soft Collections.