th e b -sid e l Thursday, October 5, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 5B DIA DIA Continued from page 1B Attractive D.I.A. exhibit not without failures tribute and a letdown. Neatly divided into six rooms following a rough chro- nology, the exhibit begins appropriately enough with the Mississippi Delta. Quotes from Leibovitz hover above each room, and the first - for the opening room titled "Ameri- can Roots Music and the Folk Tradition" - states simply: "It seemed like a good idea to start at the Mississippi Delta, since that's where the music that meant so much to me started." One can't place enough signifi- cance on the blues tradition as the basis for American musical expression, and Leibovitz fully appreciates that fact. Without diminishing their stature, Leibovitz's portraits of such legends as B.B. King, Pete Seeger (recently honored in Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions), Othar Turner and Eddie Cotton, Jr. (among sev- eral others) are elegiac in their simplicity. It's almost impos- sible for a justly accomplished photographer to capture such iconic figures without letting the culture, influence and lega- cy of the blues take center stage - and Leibovitz certainly suc- ceeds at this. In an exhibit full of portraits, it's ironic that perhaps the best image contains not a soul: "Highway 61." As legend has it, somewhere near the inter- section of highways 61 and 49, Robert Johnson - a legend in need of no portrait to legitimize his legacy - sold his soul to the devil in return for his gui- tar chops. Even though most of Leibovitz's large-scale images appear and trivial, "High- way 61" and its introspective silence demands attention. The minimal composition of the highway diminishing into the horizon is amply weighted by the surrounding portraits. This FROM TOP: Emmylo is where it all began, where the world's rawest form expression, Immediately to the blues, was birthed. Here are image of the New her children. Band, a contem Leibovitz's pared down Orleans group n approach flows well into the hip hop, gospel so next section, "Country and traditional New O Western Music." With the In one deft juxta exception of an enormously products of c kitschy, Rolling Stone-esque expression are r portrait of Dolly Parton, the foundation of the segment works well as a coun- sudden, we have terpoint to the largely black One very big Nor makeup of the first section. Regardless of Willie Nelson's portrait, one Feels Like Hom of the exhibit's press photos, is through a tough an incredible display of artistic shouldn't be an' virtuosity. And with a touch- an image of a reun ing image of Johnny Cash in label musicians 1 his late years with his daughter Booker T. Jone and grandchildren, "Country Hayes or a portrai and Western Music" holds fast Not only is she in to the exhibit's framework: the ity, but also her p development of "American" largest in the sect music, the role of its key play- tion of authenticit ers and its future. the room, and com The third section, "An up in the follow 'American Tapestry': Jazz, "Contemporary M Gospel, Rhythm and Blues and Search for Authen Soul," is without a doubt the In one room, w cream of the exhibit. Granted, musicians. In th I came to this exhibit with a white. Quite sim barebones understanding of of legitimacy is la jazz and its context in Ameri- to judge. And yet can history, and so regardless informational pla of the adjoining plaques, the mention race at al images of such heroes as Max this problematic i Roach, Etta James and Booker sion of the exhibii T. Jones struck a deep, per- complication com sonal chord. These guys were art for art's sake, the next vanguard. After Rob- exhibit's context? ert Johnson, Leadbelly, Son Duane Eddy a House and Charley Patton are duly included, (and, oh Lord, so many others), es of Bruce Sprin these were the musicians who nie Raitt and Ton took "American" music to the John Frusciante? next level. portrait is brillian Leibovitz's image of the ing take on a man Mount Moriah Missionary past. But should Baptist Church Choir - a New With Tom Waits? Orleans church famous for both the exhibit break the starting point of Mahalia of a sudden,, inst Jackson and the fact that it is music as a cultu still standing after Hurricane have a scattersho Katrina - is breathtaking. popular musicians The women are suffused with "Contemporary grainy light, the light of faith, 1980: Hip Hop and regardless of the easy ste- tive Music" is t reotypes of black church cul- section, and the ture, the photograph easily lanche toward me carries its own weight. beyond continues.. M u Harris, B.B. King and Ryan Adams. its left is an Birth Brass porary New nixing funk, ul, blues and rleans music. position, the ontemporary ooted in the past. All of a Norah Jones. ah Jones. the fact that e helped me breakup, she ywhere near nions of Stax that includes s and Isaac t of Dr. John. their proxim- ortrait is the tion. A ques- ty hangs over pletely blows ing section, Music and the ticity." ve have black e next, only ply, the issue id bare for all the section's que does not I. Not only is n the progres- t, but another aes into play: or art for the nd Les Paul , as are imag- gsteen, Bon- m Waits. But Granted, his t - a nurtur- with a heavy he be here? This is where :s down. All ead of using ral lens, we t selection of s. Music after and Alterna- he following exhibit's ava- ediocrity and Shots of The Roots, Missy Elliott and Mary J. Blige look like Rolling Stone cutouts - hell, maybe they are - and do nothing to empha- size the cultural significance of hip hop. The Roots are setup against a forced Philidelphia backdrop, and we're supposed to take away the same meaning as a close up Max Roach? The cultural significance is fall- ing through our fingers. And it doesn't stop. "Musicians in Detroit" caps off the exhibit with an extreme- ly disappointing banality. Why is Aretha Franklin confined to the corner? Not to short-shift The White Stripes, but why the hell do they take center stage? The exhibit's momentum from the first half falls to rock bot- tom with the portrait of Jack and Meg White dressed up as circus performers. In the rest of the exhibit, not one single image is so blatantly staged. Leibovitz herself is quoted: "It seemed to me that a concert was the least interesting place to photograph a musician ... I liked rehearsals, backrooms, hotel rooms ... any place by the stage." Unfortunately, that phi- losophy, which worked so well for part of the exhibit, com- pletely fails in the latter half, and the show dwindles into a parade of eye candy. Leibovitz employs the full weight of her craft through- out the exhibit - each photo, regardless of context, is master- fully executed. But the context is what allows individual pho- tos to ascend their individual frames (e.g. "Highway 61"). But the viewer, after presented with an enormous wealth of culture in the first few sections, is com- pletely let down by the end. Perhaps Leibovitz would have organized it otherwise. Perhaps not. Perhaps it's ask- ing too much of one artist to portray American culture in the context of contemporary music. But both the artist and the curator could have made a better effort. DAILY ARTS. FIRST PHOTOGRAPHED BY LEIBOVITZ IN '77. INNUMERABLE TIMES SINCE.