iheb-sie 1 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.comI Thursday, February 11, 2010 Dick Siegel: 0 musician and 'U' alum found " his way back to the University, weekend essentials Feb. 11 to Feb. 14 AT THE MIC To most, the Grateful Dead will forever be associated with psy- chedelic dancing bears, tie-dye and a certain flavor of ice cream. But it doesn't take a Dead- head to appreciate Jerry Garcia's guitar filigrees and bluesy songwriting. Dead Again, "Detroit's premier Grateful Dead tribute band" accord- ing to the Blind Pig's website, graces the Pig tomorrow night, ensuring a strange trip through classics like "Bird Song" and "Sugar Magnolia." Tickets from $7. Doors at 9:30 p.m. - ror's ON STAGE Having "Dancing with the Stars" with- Music M an drawals? Come see the local stars of the Michigan Ballroom Dance team in the 10th Annual Michi- gan Ballroom Dance , =rACompetition. Watch the Wolverines as they waltz their way to vic- tory. The competition goes all day at Saline Middle School on Sat- urday with the Rose Ball Finals starting at 6 Written by p.m. Tickets from $5. hink of your favorite song. It probably has a chorus, a few verses, maybe a bridge, a melo- dy and perhaps some harmony. But that's not why you listen to it. According to Dick Siegel, "A song has a very sim- ple purpose. It's taking a feeling that you have - joy, remorse, love, anger - and capturing it somehow in this melody-rhythm-lyric tangle, and exposing someone else to it." The University graduate and Ann Arbor folk com- munity mainstay has been refining the craft of song- writing for more than 30 years. He's a member ofthe Detroit Music Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Best New Folk Artist award at the Kerrville Folk Festi- val and, perhaps most notably, has a ham and turkey sandwich named after him at Zingerman's Deli. And now he has the title of University professor to add to his resume. Constructing a career Considering Siegel's biography, college-aged stu- dents are the perfect fit for the course he's teaching, "Singing Out of Our Minds: A Songwriting Work- shop." He started writing songs while attending the University as an English major, with the aid of some inspiration from Bob Dylan. "At some point in college, I rediscovered Dylan," Siegel said. "When I first heard (him) when I was a kid, I just couldn't stand (him). But when I started listening to (him) in college, all of the sudden it was like 'This music is just so visceral and so bare-bones - with just a voice and a guitar.' And I played guitar and I had a voice." Soon Siegel was playing at a weekly open-mic night called the Hootenanny at the Ark in its old Hill Street location. He used this as a jumping-off point to concentrate more time and energy on songwrit- ing. "One day I took a trip out to California after I graduated in my VW mini-van, and on my way back I thought of some experience I had with somebody - some weird experience," he said. "And I started making up this song ... and it was fun. (I thought) 'Wow, I just made this up,' and I liked it. It sort of made sense of something that I was feeling, and when I came back to Ann Arbor, I performed it at the Ark. "The reception was very good. It was probably better than any other songI was singing." This newfound love for songwriting snowballed, and Siegel started to consider his music as the main focus of his life. He was able to maintain this life- style with a job in construction on the side. "I struck some kind of a balance that worked for me," he explained. "I was doing enough music, per- forming enough, moving around enough, getting music out to the world enough, and at the same time I wasn't starving. And I was actually enjoying build- ing things, building houses, being a carpenter." Another key factor in the success of Siegel's music career is the support of the Ann Arbor community and its respect for the "endeavor of being creative." This rich cultural atmosphere was especially notice- able to Siegel, who grew up in New Jersey. "Ann Arbor was one of these places that was very friendly to a Bohemian existence, and so it was com- fortable to stay here," he said. "And I've lived here ever since." "It's a community that, at least to a greater degree than a lot of places, respects art and music," he added. Not only did this culture provide an enthusiastic audience, it also produced a number of talented musi- cians. Siegel recruited some jazz musicians to form a band called Dick Siegel and the Ministers of Melody. He recorded Snap!,'his debut and best-selling album to date, in 1980 with the five-piece. The album produced instant classics including "When the Sumac Is On Fire," "What Would Brando Do?" and "Angelo's" (an ode to Ann Arbor's favor- PHOTOS BY TOREHAN SHARMAN/Daily ite little breakfast place), which can still be heard every Saturday and Sunday morning on 94.7 WCSX, Detroit's classic rock radio station. - Since then, Siegel has recorded two more full lengths and an EP varying in style and subject mat- ter that showcase his versatility asa musician. In honorable company In his latest project, he now serves as this semes- ter's Helen L. DeRoy Visiting Professor in the Hon- ors Program, a position that has been held by some impressive figures, including a Nobel laureate, a for- mer Secretary of the Treasury and a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. So how did Siegel end up in the presence of such formidable company? Siegel's relationship with the Honors Program started in November 2008, when he was a guest speaker in the "Lunch with Honors" series. This experience, along with an itch to teach song- writing, led him to his current position. "I've done some songwriting and I've been a part of these songwriting retreats where you go and people who are amateur songwriters come and they spend a weekend and then I'd be hired as one of the faculty songwriters and I'd teach them and perform ... and I enjoyed it," Siegel said. Although the outlet for this teaching endeavor wasn't initially evident, it became obvious after some contemplation. "I just began thinking about what that might be like to actually teach songwriting here in Ann Arbor," he said. "I went through a bunch of ideas, and finally I thought, 'Of course, the University."' But.does a songwriting class have any place in a liberal arts college? Timothy McKay, director of the Honors Program, thinks so. See DICK SIEGEL, Page 4B FILM "The Hermitage Dwell- ers" is a look at Rus- sian attraction The Hermitage Museum. It examines the employ- ees and the artwork of this museum that was founded by Catherine the Great, analyzing the complicated rela- tionship that Russian citizens have with the touchstone of Russian culture. The film will be shown in the Helmut Stern Auditorium at 7 p.m. tonight. Free. CONCERT In celebration of Val- entine's Day, UMMA is hosting a performance in honor of Alma Schindler Mahler Wer- fel. "Everybody Loves Alma" celebrates this woman's vivacious love of the 1900s Viennese art scene. 'U' faculty will perform works created by Alma and her many lovers, friends and husbands, including composers Gustav Mahler and Alban Berg. The per- formance will be at 8 p.m. in the Apse. Free. DESIGN BY ANGELA CHIH/Daily