What a shame it was that the Ark was only half full last Thursday to see Dan Bern perform; the concert was absolutely amazing.
For those of you who have never heard of this guy, let me try to sum him up for you. Think Bob Dylan overloaded with sarcasm, satire and despair, but intertwined with humor and social messages.
Dan Bern fires up Ark with intense concert
Starving artists - we all know that metaphor quite well. Jack Kerouac, uncooked ramen and an empty apartment. That's the romantic view ... starvation equals art.
And then there's our own community of artists here in Ann Arbor, a community that somehow gets missed in those romantic descriptions. The woman with her Urban Outfitters and/or Speedo bag, which she has had for at least three years, somehow just isn't as cool as Diane DiPrima's autobiography of starving in an NYC flat.
A2 Writers Harvest to help fight poverty
It's nearing that time of the year again. Time to pick out a costume, carve those pumpkins and stock up on that candy. Halloween is just around the corner. Not quite in the Halloween spirit? Checking out the Residential College's production of "Giovanni the Fearless" will alter anyone's mood.
'Giovanni' brings Halloween spirit to East Quad
All right, I know your first name ain't baby, it's Janet - Miss Jackson if I'm nasty - but it has been a decade since you reminded everyone of this fact.
And in that decade you've changed immensely as an artist and as a person: Starting as a shy child star striving for "Control"; then becoming a confident dance drill sergeant, leading the writhing masses of your "Rhythm Nation"; and next asserting your sexuality, your first name and your washboard abs on "Janet.Miss Jackson gets nasty inside her sexy 'Velvet Rope'
For anyone who sees modern poetry as a personal, vague, and unreachable form of writing, poet Jane Hirshfield is the perfect remedy.
This evening at 8 p.m., Hirshfield will bring an imposing scope and energy for poetry to Ann Arbor in a discussion of her two new books, "Nine Gates" and "The Lives of the Heart."Hirsheld shares her cure for common poems
10-22-97
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |