sl e 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.