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The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I Thursday, April 03,2008
The Daily Arts
guide to the best
upcoming events
- it's everywhere
you should be this
weekend and why.
NJ I N J ./ I\ L..L-.I I
Brad Mehldau comes
to Michigan Theater.
Combining jazz and rock
influences, Mehldau
brings his unique style
to the Michigan Theatre
tomorrow. Expect many
different influences in his
performance when he
takes the stage at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $18 - $44.
Students' interests in the classics may come
and go, but Hill's music scene lives on
By Ben VanWagoner I Daily Arts Writer
The Ark is clearly known
for its abundance of folk
music, but rarely does
it bring in such talent as
Charlie King. His songs
have been recorded by
many of the world's top
folk artists. Known for his
songwriting prowess, King
brings his blend of political
and satirical songs to the
Ark on Sunday afternoon.
Doors open at 2:00 p.m.
and tickets are $15.
eethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-
Flor Mojor. Sibelius's Symphony
No. 7. And of course, Mozart's
"Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major," or
as it's otherwise known, K. 333. If
you have any idea what these actually sound
like, feel free to congratulate yourself. The
rest of us will be sniggering and pointing
from the other end of the room. Such is the
lot of classical music.
Almost anyone can tell you that classical
music's popularity is declining. Classical
music lovers will admit it with a tear (punk
rockers with a derisive laugh), but anyone
with ears or a radio knows classical's not
shattering sales records. In fact, recent years
have seen a marked decline in orchestra
attendance, pushing many orchestras, some
of them major fixtures of the art, dangerous-
ly close to bankruptcy: The Toronto Orches-
tra, lOrchestre symphonique 4,: Montrdal,
the San Jose Symphony - the list is growing
every year.
Solo artists aren't fairing any better,
either. Just 40 years ago, classical music art-
ists were powerful figures in popular cul-
ture, with the elusive pianist, Glenn Gould,
commanding America's musical attention.
The closest we come now is Josh Groban: an
exceptional singer, but most famous for one
song - not his best and far from classical
- at a Super Bowl three years ago. Most peo-
ple, especially young people, simply aren't.
interested in classical music.
The thing is, it's not our fault, at least not
entirely - it's classical music's fault. This
might sound like blaming the victim, but
it's not. The fact is, classical music is miss-
ing the boat on the what's arguably the most
important development of the last few hun-
dred years - capitalism.
It may be a slight exaggeration. But in all
seriousness, the classical music industry
- and it is an industry, like it or not - is in
denial of its own role as an entirely market-
able commodity. There's no advertisement
for any CD outside the tiny section of your
local record store. There is no name recog-
nition beyond the tiny community of dyed-
in-the-wool enthusiasts. Classical music has
made for itself a bubble of listeners, and no
one's coming in.
The pieces of music listed at the begin-
ning of this article are truly beautiful, and
yet ask nearly anyone to hum it based on the
name alone and you'll likely only hear crick-
ets. By the same token, asking someone to
sing the chorus of "Sexyback" is more likely
to result in a painful rendition of mankind's
worst/hippest song. It's not because JT can
sing, it's because the man is a branding mir-
acle, and you'd have to be deaf not to have
heard of him.
Classical music has no one with an image
like JT. No one seems concerned with "get-
ting their name out there" or getting any
reputation outside of the narrow confines
of the field. Yet branding should be even
more important for classical music than it
is for contemporary music. Without much
disparity between instruments or easily dis-
See CLASSICAL, Page 4B
Bridging the gap between art and activism
Al IH-HLRUM
Tony Barnstone visits
Shaman Drum tonight.
Barnatone doesn't tread
lightly and will explore
elements of sex, drugs
and ugly street life when
he reads selections from
his latest book, "The
Golem of Los Angeles."
Check out his reading at
7 p.m.
By WHITNEY POW
Daily FineArts Editor
What do you think of when
you think of gender? Female and
male? Skirts and slacks? Uggs and
Axe? Common conception draws
a solid line between the "femi-
nine" and the "masculine." But
what happens when you don't fit
into either category?
The poem "Cocky" by writer,
poetry slam champion, trans
activist and trans woman Julia
Serano, -puts it best: "When a man
is defined as ... not female / And a
woman is defined as ... not male / I
am the loose thread / That unrav-
els the gender of everyone around
me."
Serano will read her spoken
word poetry at the Aut Bar at 8
p.m. and will give a talk tomor-
row called "Transsexual and
Trans Feminine Perspectives on
Sexism" in Lane Hall at 3 p.m.
Serano was born in a male
body, but gender-identifies as
female. In short, she's transgen-
der, and according to the Univer-
sity's Spectrum Center website,
"Transgender is anumbrella term
describing people who do not 'fit'
into traditional gender catego-
ries."
She has lived as both a male
and female. One might think the
difference between seeing the
world through a man's eyes ver-
sus a woman's may be marginal,
but Serano begs to differ.
"When I was transitioning
from male to female, there was a
year of my life where people were
(just beginning to assume) I was
female," she said. "It was definite-
ly a shock to the system."
Differenttypesofgender-based
sexism immediately became
noticeable to Serano during her
daily life.
"There were a lot of things I
could have expected would hap-
pen, like receiving cat calls or
having men talk over me. But it's
another thing to experience it for
yourself first hand," Serano said.
"But I have to say there is also
sexism that I encountered when I
was male-bodied."
The sexism she experienced
in a male body was based on
the presumption that men are
"predators" or untrustworthy
- mothers would become visibly
bothered when Serano interacted
with their children. Now, how-
ever, "These days I'm in the same
situation, but now people see me
as female, I can interact with the
child and it's not a big deal," she
said.
Her own "anger and frustra-
tion" over sexism sparked a cre-
ative and activist urge in Serano.
She's a poetry slam champion in
Berkeley, San Francisco and San
Jose. Her poems (like "Cocky")
are socially and politically
charged indictments of gender
stereotypes.
Serano has also published a
book of essays titled "Whipping
Girl: A Transsexual Woman on
Sexism and the Scapegoating
of Femininity," which demysti-
fies modern conceptions of "the
transsexual" as the spectacle seen
in shows like "Jerry Springer" or
in films like "The Crying Game."
"If you're seen as male or seen
as female, people make assump-
tions about you, and these
assumptions don't always fit who
you are," Serano said. "I think all
of us experience different types
of sexuality assumptions that we
have to navigate, and these create
obstacles in our lives."
Music is another outlet through
which Serano demonstrates her
emotions and opinions. She's the,
lead guitarist, vocalist and lyri-
cist of a San Francisco Bay-area
band called Bitesize, which has
been around since the late '90s.
"Bitesize lyrics are kind of on
the silly or surreal side with a
kind of deeper point," she said.
"They talk about difference a lot,
and this is something that has
always interested me, not only
in lyrics, but in my writing about
gender."
Serano classifies the band as a
"noise-pop or ndie-rock band."
The sound is bass-driven and
almost punkish, and the lyrics
describe the feeling of growing
See SERANO, Page 3B
/-\I i nrriL u
Detroit lyricist Invincible,
and East-Coast upstarts
J.A.M.E.S. WATTS and
Gist, perform tonight at the
Blind Pig at 9:30 p.m. 2006
Michigan Idol runner up
Angela Davis (LSA Senior)
and DJ Graffiti will also be
performing. Party favors
from Motivation, Atlantic
Records, and Universal!
Motown Records. Tickets
are $5, or $8 if you're
under 21.
Julia Serano, a transgender activist, will perform her spoken word poetry tonight at the
Aut Bar at 8 p.m.