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The c Daly I michigandaily.com Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Daily Arts
guide to the best
upcoming events
- it's everywhere
you should be this
weekend and why.
AT THE ARK
This Saturday at the Ark,
celebrate the sounds of
Michigan as North featur-
ing Brian Lillie and Jim Roll
visit Ann Arbor.. The CD
premiere show features
over a decade's worth of
musical colaboration. Make
sure you do not miss this
event. Tickets are $12 and
the doors open at 7:30.

w

AT
SHAMAN DRUM
It's poetry night at Sha-
man Drum as Zilka Joseph
brings her unique brand of
poetry to the area at 7:00
p.m. - Joseph combines
experiences of her home
in Calcutta and blends it
together with her expe-
riences in the Midwest.
Joseph will be featuring
work from her latest book,
"Lands I live In." Admis-
sion is free.

AT THE PIG
Celebrate and embrace
your love for the Ann
Arbor music scene
tomorrow night when the
Pussy Pirates perform at
the Blind Pig for their CD
release, party. The group
combines elements of
jazz and punk to create
a whirlwind of sound.
Doors open at 9:30 and
tickets are $5 or $8 if
you're under 21.

MY 'TRL'
DREAM
CAME
TOO
LATE
By Blake Goble
Daily Film Editor

Summer 2002.
I was 15 years old, and just coming off my pre-
pubescent reliance on "Total Request Live" - as
we all did - in assuming music lived and died by
Carson Daly's word. I started to like "obscure"
and "meaningful" music. In New York City, as
part of an English seminar excursion, I was to
discover true art and culture.
Somehow, amid an NBC studios tour, our
group wasoffered a rare chance to be part of the
live audience on "TRL." It seemed preposterous.
Conan, or even Dateline, it was not. Hell, even
one of our colleagues was so self-conscious of
the idea that he refused to participate. This was
"TRL" for God's sake.
We were not told who'd be hosting, or who
the.special guests would be. Dicey, seeing as it
could've been an Osbourne kid or a WB star,
and what good would that be? Yet, there was no
reason not to go on. I just tried to think of it as
"Bozo's Grand Prize Game" for my generation:
So who winds up being the host for the day?
Carson freakin' Daly. The musical guest? Good
Charlotte.

OK, so that's not the most engaging or insight-
ful group of people to watch. I fiddled, fidgeted
and freaked before the end of the taping. Arms
folded in disdain, I sat in my seat and glared at
the middle-aged security officer demanding we
scream for the show. If we didn't? Banishment
from the audience. And shots of dancing patrons
would be minimal, likely to avoid the acne and
awkwardness that was ever-present.
Daly kept pacing around, working on one-
liners, while Good Charlotte made sure their
mohawks looked good on TV. Their first single
was kind of catchy. (I didn't sayit was good.) And.
the giggling Gap, Mossimo and Polo-clad youths
of the audience ate up every bit of it.
But it was fun. Maybe it's the cancellation, or
six years to think about the whole ordeal, but
"TRL," in actuality, was important. Like the
"American Band Stand" of our generation, Daly
gave big names their hype, while even pushing
the lesser-known artists into higher rankings.
"TRL" was a unifying pop cultural phenom-
enon. I wouldn't exchange that experience for
anything.

ON DISPLAY
Be sure to check out one of
the last exhibits ever at the
UMMA Off/Site building
as the museum presents
"The Infinite Landscape."
The photography exhibi-
tion displays some of the
most prominent nature
photographers of the
past century, including
Ansel Adams. This world
renowned collection runs
through Jan 9, and admis-
sion, as always, is free.

It