2B -- Thursday, October 23, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2B - Thursday, October 23, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
0
Grannis takes on
the Blind Pig stage
baked.buzzed.bored.
in this series, three daily arts writers in
varying states of mind visit the same
place and write about their experiences.
this week's destination:
Pumpkin pie?*
Singer-songwriter
talks performance
in Ann Arbor
By AMRUTHA SIVAKUMAR
Deputy Magazine Editor
It was packed on Sunday night
when singer-songwriter Kina
Grannis broughther alltothe Blind
Pig, whisking audiences away
with an entrancing, storytelling
performance.
Alternating between tracks
in her latest release, Elements,
and her 2010 album, Stairwells,
Grannis interspersed her
acoustically based older tracks
with more newer, experimental
music.
"(The newer music is) a little
more mature," Grannis said in
an interview with The Michigan
Daily before the show. "Stairwells
is a very acoustic album, played
on an acoustic guitar, with basic
drums and very basic bass. With
Elements there's some electric
guitar, the drums are just a
little more interesting and less
straightforward, and just have
weird sounds. We experimented
a lot with background vocals too."
Drawing on a band to fill the
stage for the first time on tour,
Grannis's show was a novel
performance. By incorporating
a full percussion and a bass into
her set, she was able to replicate
the sounds on her studio album.
While during songs such, as "The
Fire" and "Oh Father" the band
overpowered her aerial falsetto,
her vocals during "Winter"
pierced through the tenacious
cymbals.
"We're able to experiment with
sounds a bit more," she explained.
"The sound is a lot closer to what
youhearon the album."
As the show progressed, the
audience pushed through the
corners of the Blind Pig to see
Grannis up-close. And as her
voice cut deeper and deeper, the
crowd nudged closer.
Surprisingly, she's also shy.
Grannis's bashfulness took me
aback. The modesty in her words
is unique in a generally loud and
boastful industry. After absorbing
herself completely in each song,
Grannis took a few moments
to recapture the attention of
the audience, never forgetting
to relate her inspirations and
experiences to those that were
made possible because of her
fans.
Grannis is a rarity. Despite
having built most of her
following by singing covers on
YouTube, her original songs
demonstrate a contemplated
complexity, uncommon
in today's pop landscape.
Throughout the show, fans in
the crowd sang along religiously.
Simultaneously, Grannis
had unique ways of engaging
the crowd. Reminiscing on the
moment that kickstarted her
career, Grannis called onthree of
her fans to sing "Message From
Your Heart" with her on stage.
The song won the Doritos Crash
the Super Bowl contest in 2007,
eventually landing her a contract
with Interscope Records. Earlier
this month, Grannis hosted a
poll on social media to allow
her fans to choose which cover
song would make it on her set
list - later announcing that it
would be "Sweater Weather," by
The Neighborhood. At Sunday's
show, the cover was stunning,
showing Grannis's ability to
modulate a song masterfully to
fit a range of emotions.
"It's a strange thing, because
it's something that's going
on in my brain the whole
day," Grannis said of how she
maintains a strong rapport with
her fans through social media. "I
try to involve them in ways that
are more interactive."
As an artist who gave up a
major label contract to pursue
songwriting independently,
Grannis had advice for younger
musicians pursuing a career in
Ann Arbor's arts industry.
"Sing and play and write
as much as humanly possible
because you will always grow
and you will always improve,"
she said. "Do it for yourself. Do
what excites you and hopefully
that excites other people."
0
It was already going weird. We had no pie crust, and I had a
migraine, and Erika was not wearing real person clothing. So here is
my admission: I'm not high on weed, or mary jane, or ganja, or any
other weird name for pot that my dad would come up with. I just took
a pill for my migraine, and it's making me feel loopy and weird and I
may have just used the word "cowboy" when I meant to use the word
"pie." The fact that it's 3:00 p.m on the Tuesday makes it weirder
(EDITOR'S NOTE: It was a Wednesday). So we went to Trader Joe's,
where Alec bought cookies for babies which he later said he "regret-
ted" and Erika bought ground meat because she is no longer a vegetar-
ian like we were back in February for around a week. That's how we
became friends. #Michigals. Anyhoo, the pie-making is a disaster.
Let's just say there was a hair dryer involved. And now the hair dryer
is sitting in the oven with a whole rack of ribs. This is such a mess, and
now we are talking about hickeys. The pumpkin pie is cooking away,
hopefully, but this whole situation hasn't been ideal. But the hard
cider was good. Goddamn what is happening. THE PIE SMELLS SO
AMAZING AND WE HAVE HEART-SHAPED OVEN MITTS. Maybe
there is a God.
-EMMA THOMPSON
This pie is a shitshow. The crust has been thawed with a haird-
ryer, Katie's meat is in the oven, no one has a grindr. Or a grinder.
The pie stuff or whatever it's called that goes in it smells good but
this crust is a lumpy son of a bitch. The meat is still in the oven but
we're gonna put the pie in anyway because time is of the essence
and we gotta get to work. The pie will not chANGE IT'S BEEN AN
HOUR JUST BAKE ALREADY WHAT IF IT STARTS TO SMELL
LIKE KATIE'S MEAT. It's gonna taste like ribs and at this point I'm
ok with it. Ughhhhhhhhh we gotta leave now and we never made it
to the roof. I've still never been on my roof and now I probably never
will.
So now we're at the Daily and all I can focus on are Adam's hick-
eys and how my pie is doing no pun intended that pie is generally
fine. It's now 6:00 p.m. and I've texted Katie to get the Id that stands
for low down. She says it will be another 20 minutes. Wait, no she
says it's ready now. Now we gotta walk back to my house and even
though it's sunny it's kind of cool out, which is bullshit.
The pie is back. It's in the fridge and it looks amazing. I can say
this with confidence because news looks jealous as shit which is
honestly all I've ever wanted out of my life. Tonight we will feast on
this pie with vanilla ice cream and Alec's weird trader joe's ginger
snaps. And the only non-arts person who will join us will be Pistol
Pete. Because he is perfect.
-ERIKA HARWOOD
I didn't think this was actually goingto happen, but here we are,
driving to Trader Joe's to get a pie crust. When we get back to Erika's
though, it's clear this is not going to be a smooth operation, given we
only have one hour before work. As Emma Thompson mixes the ingre-
dients, Erika and I read the directions on the back of the pie crust
box. "Let crust defrost for 1-1 1/ hours. DO NOT MICROWAVE." And
since we all wouldn't dare break a rule, the next thing I know Emma
Thompson and I are in the bathroom, hair-drying the frozen pie crust,
trying to unfold it without it breaking into a million pieces. But despite
our inventive defrosting technique, the crust nevertheless broke apart.
We only have one choice - Emma Thompson and I grab the hair-dried
pieces of raw crust, mush it together and spread it out again. Not too
shabby. We pour the filling over the crust and put it in the oven. Erika's
roommate's ribs are in there too, so we can't raise the temperature to
the right level. But with time, patience and a bit of luck, the pie actually
turned out pretty good. (It looks good; we haven't actually tasted it yet).
But we've got the pie, the hard cider and some of that other stuff left
over, so everything should be just fine. Easy as pie.
-ALEC STERN
0.
9
R superposition
Ryoji Ikeda
Concept, direction, and music by Ryoji Ikeda
Friday, October 31, 8 pm
Saturday, November 1, 8 pm
Power Center
superposition is a performance created by visual and sound
artist Ryoji Ikeda. Inspired by the mathematical notions of
quantum mechanics, Ikeda employs a spectacular combination
of synchronized video screens, real-time content feeds, digital
sound sculptures, and for the first time in Ikeda's work, human
performers.
MEDIA PARTNERS
WDET 101.9 FM
SUPPORTED BY THE
Renegade Ventures Fund, established by Maxine and Stuart Frankel
ENDOWED SUPPORT FROM THE
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund
FUNDED IN PART BY THE
Japan Foundation through the Preforming Arts JAPAN program
"0 to 100 real quick"
describes the speed at
which Drake's new single,
"How About
Now," starts
to suck copi-
ous amounts How About
of ass. Now
Drake has
established Drake
himself as Cash Money
an innova-
tor in the
hip-hop world, and his
most recent work has been
top notch. Nothing was the
Same set a high bar that
was always going to be dif-
ficult to maintain - yet,
on singles like Lil Wayne's
"Believe Me" and his own "0
to 100," Drake met the high
expectations he established
for himself. However, "How
About Now" is horrendously
boring - one dimensional
in production and a lyrical
tragedy.
This song has literally
one of the worst hooks ever
- "Girl, How about now.
Because Pm up right now,'
and you suck right now."
God damn. Sounds more
like the script to a Viagra,
commercial than rap lyrics.
Girl, whatever you did, take
comfort in knowing that you
don't suck as badly as this
song. Drake's fans are going
to be crying tears of shame -
and those aren't the Drizzy-
induced tears he's going for.
In terms of production, this
song started with poten-
tial - 40, Drake's producer,
rarely fails to.deliver some-
thing unique. But in this
case, even he struggles to
change up the pace. When
you combine Drake's lyrical
face plant and 40's momen-
tary lack of inspiration, you
get a really shitty song. And
"How About Now" is just
that. Fellow fans - don't
despair though - I'm sure
he's just feeling a little
hazy after serving as a prop
in the "Anaconda" music
video. He'll be back.
-NICKBOYD
U.S
Emums
BE PRESENT
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
734.764.2538 1ums.Org
I I
4
I
f
/.,