The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - 5 All's humanity Rapper Brother Ali brings his body else ... and stay tied in to the family aspect," Ali notes. uplifting hip hop to the Blind Pig Now nearing the end of his Fresh Air tour, Ali has spent the last few months on the road with label- By SHARON JACOBS mates Toki Wright, Evidence and BK-One, so one DailyArts Writer can imagine he's pretty keyed in to that "family aspect." "It's really about showcasing or spotlighting Ali speaks in a thick, melodic tone that could people's greatness in spite of every- easily have led him into preaching if the rap career thing that's fucked up," says rap- hadn't taken off. But after releasing four LPs to per Brother Ali of his music. When much acclaim from critics and audiences alike, Ali Ali takes the stage at the Blind Pig At the is living the good life and isn't likely to turn it in any tonight, concertgoers can expect to Blind Pig time soon. hear rhymes evoking a basic sense of Tonight at Religion is one of two sticky issues for Ali, who human triumph over adversity. 9:30 p.m. converted to Islam as a young man in Minnesota. With songs that tackle tough Tickets $15 The other is race. Brother Ali has albinism - and in issues like homelessness and drug a genre so heavily dominated by race relations, his abuse, Brother Ali doesn't like the racial identity is always a focal point. oft-used term "positive" in reference to his style. But "I've been touring professionally, full-time, his ultimately hopeful message makes Ali one of the since 2002, and that's still in the first paragraph of more uplifting messengers from the underground every article that's written about me," Ali points rap world. out. "He's a Muslim and he's albino, Jesus Christ! Ali's latest release Us explores themes of connec- ... There's obviously so much more to the story than tion and shared humanity with stories from his own that." life as well as those from people close to him. Ali isn't mad, but he does seem tired of the brou- "If your mother has cancer, you don't have can- haha over his condition. And really, his unique back- cer but you live with-that cancer too, 'cause you go ground is only important in its effect on the way he through it with (her)," Ali explains regarding Us. "I sees the world. Ali has said that, growing up, he felt was wondering if I could channel the stories of the more at home among non-whites. Perhaps his songs people around me in that same way, and talk about are all-encompassing because of this - "The Travel- my relationships with people in different situations, ers," for instance, comments on slavery's effects on and hope that the listener feels connected to them everyone involved, black and white. as well." "It's the way that I've always seen it, just by being The subjects Brother Ali explores on Us run the close to both sides," Ali says of the track. "Everybody gamut from annoying neighbors to sexual abuse, involved in a terrible crime like (slavery) is affect- with time left over for some lines proving his "Bad ed... (and) we've never examined it in a comprehen- Mufucker" status. sive way." And his themes of shared experiences and com- That may be so, but Brother Ali's message-driven munity persist outside the studio - Ali records on music delves into that conversation and many oth- the Rhymesayers label along with the group Atmo- ers. His personal, spiritual vibe may not leave audi- sphere, whose producer Ant collaborates in writing ences feeling "positive" per se. But it's hard not to Ali's music. be impressed by the doctrine of human "greatness" "(Of the Rhymesayers crew) I've seen the most - the amazing ability to survive and connect - that success in the artists that really stay close to every- Ali preaches. Inspiration: Devendra's perspective A moment in thyme his past weekend I went to New York City for 36 hours for a museum stud- ies class. While I was there I ate at Lombardi's, the self-proclaimed "first pizzeria in America," and tried the white pizza, which was sauce-less, dotted with giant florettes 'WHITNEY of ricotta and POW drizzled with garlic-infused olive oil. I ate soft pine-nut-studded pignoli and tri- colored, chocolate-lined rainbow cookies at Ferrara, a patisserie in Little Italy. I ate French toast- flavored rice pudding from retro- looking space-saucer-like bowls at Rice to Riches, a rice pudding shop on Spring Street. And while the city itself could be described in so many ways - through buildings on the skyline, Broadway musicals the Museum Mile and endless stretches of side- walk - I think food is one of the most important elements of place and experience. It's unsurprising that Marcel Proust had one, then two, then three bites of a but- tery madeleine teacake, and was immediately transported to a very specific moment on a Sunday in Combray, watching his aunt dip the cake into her tea. It's simi- larly unsurprising that the taste of sticky rice or spaghetti can trans- port you to-10 years ago when - a few states away, two feet shorter and 100 pounds lighter - you were struggling to look over the coun- tertop to peek at something sim- mering on the stove. I believe in the importance of food as something more than the experience of satiating one's stom- ach, but as something that carefully constructs our conceptions of self. There's a reason whythere is still a hefty allowance of articles devoted to The New York Times's "Dining and Wine" section. And there's a reason why the artsy, literary New Yorker makes room for articles like Adam G cookbo point, a traveler ing and mouthf notewoi by Zaga to be he familial Fortm ated wi couture it is cen humidk .smell of chicken fish ma: crab sit inevitat where 1 yellow- window Thec like the tonese r and the bardi'sj fresh ba cetta. A matelyc and stor Lc def tableclo are reit slice ofI and sou Taste vocabul which v where t complet toes an remind raging I nies tol tracks a milksha remind hole-in- restaur chicken iopnik's recent paean to turned translucent from soaking oks. Food is a cultural touch up the oil on my fingers. Steamed relevant mile marker for lobster with no butter reminds me s, a thing that, while fleet- of Maine's seaside towns, overcast transient in experience (a and gray, where I was cell phone- ul lasts only so long), is still less and quickly speaking on pay rthy enough to be critiqued telephones while worriedly check- t and still intimate enough ing my pockets for extra quarters. d sacred as a personal or We have a version of the Proust- experience. ian madeleine we carry with us, ne, New York is not associ- where even a Chicago deep-dish th Times Square or haute pizza can bring about memories of , but instead with home - last spring or a decade ago. Food tered on my grandmother's brings about anecdotes and sto- kitchen filled with the ries - it's a means with which we f gas stoves and simmering express ourselves, a jumping-off soups, on sour-smelling point for communicating what is rkets where jittery frogs or important to us. And, while our in tubs, waiting for their memories are multi-faceted, ethe- ble demise, on Italian shops real things that are easily forgot- 0-pound hunks of hard, ten on the tips of tongues, in some rinded cheese hang at the strange way, food can revive these V. parts of ourselves, give voice to the city is made of tastes for me, no-longer-existing five-year-old in sweet, burnt edges of Can- us who loved macaroni and cheese 'oast pork tasting of umami or bring back the presence of a thin, chewy crust of Lom- grandfather who has passed away. pizza coated with cheese, In the delicacy of food and its sil and thinly-sliced pan- subtle hints of herbs, meats and ll of these foods are inti- spices lies something incredibly connected with memories substantial. As Proust wrote in "In ries where vivid, checkered Search of Lost Time": "After the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and ocations are smell alone ... bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable ined by food. drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection." Food is important to the way 'ths and table conversations we view ourselves and the way erated in my mind with a we view the places we inhabit and pizza or a bowl of noodles have inhabited. Like keepsake p. photographs, handwritten notes opens up an entire and certain films, it reminds us of ary of experience through things that exist now in memory ye can communicate, alone, bringing back what has hyme or garlic can conjure been forgotten or pushed to the te moments. Roasted toma- back of our minds. Food tells us d fresh pickled cucumbers stories, and through the memento me of Kentucky and its of food, we tell ours - it is a means heat and howI placed pen- through which we communicate, be smashed on the railroad an element of identity we hold fter a belly full of Sonic close to ourselves, just as much as kes. Fried green tomatoes we hold loved ones close. By JASMINE ZHU Daily Arts Writer When n spoke WihfleeD6en- dra Banhat, he was in front ' of a kitchen table Dweflda in Los Angeles Banfhart while Rodrigo Amarante of At The Ark Little Joy fame Tonight at8 p.m. played guitar in Sold Out the background. Banhart was in the process of getting ready to go on tour to pro- mote his new album, What Will We Be. He'll be playing at The Ark tonight at 8 p.m. "I'm not too shabby," Banhart said in his phone interview. "I'm not as happy as a clam, but I can't complain." To mentally prepare himself, he recites poetry. "Let me quote a poem by Nanao Sakaki. It's called 'Please,' " he said. "'Sing a song, or laugh, or cry, or go away.' " "I've been just kind of repeat- ing that poem over and over again in my head. That's been really helpful, it's been really fun," he told me. He lets me in on a secret. "A piece of music trivid is that the cover of (Little Joy's) record, with the woman falling into the water - that's my mother. I'm happy to tell you that little secret." Devendra Banhart has always seemed like he's been full of secrets. He talks in riddles and half-truths. Sometimes, it's dif- ficult to tell whether or not he's serious. Sometimes, however, it's patently obvious that he's not. "I also have a project with Fab (Fabrizio Moretti, of The Strokes and Little Joy) where we just make extreme colognes," he says in all earnestness. "The first one we're making is called 'Ninja Smell."' Another, more likely collabora- tion is "Megapuss," Banhart's proj- ect with Moretti and Greg Rogove. "We have songs that don't fit into each other's respective bands, and the last project, which was called 'Mayor Prints,' was really kind of an experiment and kind of a big embarrassment," Banhart said. "This time we're trying to make songs that aren't trying to be jokes. It's nice to have a serious project." Banhart has a predilection for going off on wild, unbeliev- able tangents. He says he collects ranch dressing from all over the world, and claims to wantto direct a documentary about old people in cocoons, in swimming pools - he regrets that he can't, because someone else came up with it first. He seems extremely eager to talk about music, so long as it's not his own. "I just want to make mum music," he said off-handedly. "Mums are our demographic, you know." Banhart, who's been tpuring and recording regularly since 2002, says that the moms of the world also get to decide how long he'll record music and go ontour. He shows clear disdain for the "freak-folk" label he's been tagged with. "Call it star revival, call it funky junk ... just don't use that nomen- clature," Banhart said. "I don't think anyone that's ever been called that has called themselves that." Banhart's current playlist is extensive. He rattles off a list of Star revival and. funky junk. artists that you might expect - Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes - and then he tosses in some more unexpected names, just for good measure. "I like The-Dream and Mariah Carey a lot," he claimed. "I fuck- ing loooove T-Pain." He drew out "love" so that it sounded like a ten- syllable word. He seemed uneasy about talk-, ing about his own work. His voice quieted, and for once, he wasn't the flippant, creative. jokester he had been throughout the entire interview. "I still haven't figured out how to write music. I'm still trying to figure out how to tune a guitar. Working on that one octave. Work- ing on that scale until it turns into a mode," he said. "I don't really know what I'm doing, and I don't really know how that stuff happens," he added. "It's just very painful whatever it is." "It's just very painful," he said again. As a final question, I asked him what his idea of the perfect date would be. His voice shifted, brightening, and suddenly he played the role of the effervescent hooligan again. "Two people, one fat suit, eight horse tranquilizers and 'Twister.' Of course." Of course. me of Tennessee and the the-wall, cement-floored ant that served fried with cocktail napkins that Pow is recording a song called "Ode to Soy." To hear the demo, e-mail her at poww@umich.edu. University of Michigan's LargestRELH Selection of REALTY Units Avaiable forImmediate Occupancy Off -Cam pus Now Leasing for 2010-2011 Houses up to14 bedrooms gous 6le Church St 7341 955-9200 www.archrealtyco.com eM0 Tuesday, November 17, 2009 8:00 pm Natural Science Auditorium UACef ficRo4ai te LRik c : ARRIVE EARLY? SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED?