ARTS
The Michigan Daily Friday, July 24, 1987 Page 13
Art Fair stages fil the streets with music
By Alan Paul
BopbopRebop...whaa,whaa,whaa
aaa...bumdebumbumdebum....
Position yourself just right
somewhere in the Diag and you
may find all these sounds crashing
down on you. There are three sanc-
tioned Art Fair stages, providing
entertainment of all types everyday
all day.
The Michigan Union Stage,
presented by Eclipse Jazz and
WIQB focuses on, surprise, jazz.
At noon today, Corinne
Schat-Hillebrand and Jim Lidgett
play early music for recorders, lute
and other seventeenth century
instruments. This is not jazz.
However, at 1 p.m., Richard Work
and the Strand, a contemporary jazz
quartet take the stage and are fol-
lowed at 2:30 by the Paul Vorn-
hagen Group's Latin-tinged jazz.
At 4 p.m., the modern "easy going"
jazz and fusion of Fast Tracks can
be heard, followed at 5:30 by Hot
Club, one of Detroit's best jazz en-
sembles. R&B rockers Jeanne and
the Dreams close down the stage for
the day at 7 p.m.
The Prism Productions/Miller
Beer stage located on Church street,
across the street from Rick's in,
front ofPizza House, returns for its
eighth Art Fair featuring the town's
most popular club acts; the bands
that play regularly at Rick's and the
Blind Pig.
Today, the Blue Front Per-
suaders, probably Ann Arbor's old-
est and most popular party
rock-R&B band, take the stage at
1 p.m. What would an Art Fair be
without them? They are followed at
4 by Map Of the World, considered
by many to be Ann Arbor's finest.
band. They are led and fronted by
the singing of Sophia Hanifi and
the guitar work of brother Khalid.
The Graceful Arch Stage, near
West Engineering and the Dennison
Building, is sponsored by the
Washtenaw County Council for the
Arts and features a particularly di-
verse lineup of entertainment rang-
ing from children's music to jazz to
theatre troupes.
At 1 p.m. today, Maxton Bay,
an acoustic trio, performs. At 3 the
Common Ground Theater Ensem-
ble, a long lived group based around
exploring social and political issues
takes the stage to raise some con-
sciousness. They are followed at 4
by the traditional jazz of the Carl
Alexius Trio. At 5, the Lunar Glee
Club, one the area's most diverse
bands, hit the stage, playing every-
thing from jazz to juju to jump
blues. Peter "Madcat" Ruth closes
down this stage at 8 p.m. Ruth is
an Ann Arbor legend, playing har-
monica that will raise your eye-
brows and drop your jaw. Yes, he is
that good.
A couple of University Music
School ivory shiners open up
Saturday's festivities at the Union
stage. At 10 a.m., classical pianist
Christopher Keen takes the stage,
followed at 11 by David Flippo,
who plays a unique combination of
jazz, new age, and classical music.
At noon, Althea Rene, a fusion
flute player who is fast gaining a
reputation in Detroit clubs, per-
forms with her top notch band. At
1:30 the Washtenaw Community
College Jazz Orchestra, led by the
charismatic Dr. Morris Lawrence,
plays. The stage's Art Fair festivi-
ties close down with yet another
Local faves The Chenille Sisters perform Wednesday at both the Union and Graceful Arch Stages. From left,
they are: Chryl Dawdy, Grace Morand, and Connie Huber.
performance by the Blue Front Per-
suaders.
The Graceful Arch stage contin-
ues its diversity Saturday as it
opens up at 11 a.m. with Classical
Dances of India, performed by Ma-
lini Srirama and her students. Susan
Baker, a local choreographer and
dancer performs at 11:30, followed
at noon by Chris and Bill Barton,
who play traditional acoustic Irish
and American music. Bill is a
member of Footloose, a local blue-
grass institution and wife Chris a
member of the children's music duo
The Song Sisters...who perform at
1 p.m. The Graceful Arch stage
closes down at 3 with the Stark
Raving Revue as Madcat Ruth
joins Peter Stark and band in an
"open ended jam session," which
could well feature any and all of the
stages' performers.
Tracy Lee and the Leonards get
the Prism stage going Saturday at 1
p.m. with their own rock and roll
sound. Featuring the twin guitars
and songwriting savvy of roots
rocker George Bedard and folk rock-
er Dick Siegel, and sharp vocals by
Tracy Lee Komarmy, this band
boasts a unique sound. If he gets
loose Bedard is about as fine a
player as you'll hear anywhere.
They will be followed by popular
Lansing reggae white boys (Bop)
Harvey.
There's plenty of hip'sounds to
he heard so pull yourself away from
your people watching and art
browsing and wander around to the
different stages. Shut your eyes,
open your ears, and eniov!
'Medieval Festival offers change of scene
By Brian Bonet
If you're sick and tired of
pushing and perspiring your way
along the hot, crowded streets of the
Art Fair to catch a closer glimpse
of yet another exhibit, there is a
creative escape for the romantic at
heart that posseses an artistry all its
own.
A short walk to the 18th Annual
Ann Arbor Medieval Festival will
thrust you back hundreds of years to
the times when chivalry was far
from dead and bountiful feasts and
mystical mysteries flourished.
Drama will be at the heart of this
spectacle of royal pageantry where
' jesters will be jesting, jousters
jousting, and jugglers juggling. A
giant, sixteen foot puppet show
will keep the kids smiling as well
as make the muppets look like
wimps.
"It's very lively entertainment,"
commented Medieval publicist
Katie Heiser, who added that the
Festival usually draws between five
and ten thousand people.
"It (the Medieval period) was so
long ago, you can even romanticize
more than say the Colonial period,"
she said.
For the first time in the
Festival's history, nighttime
entertainment will be offered. A
Medieval Masque, The Forest
Princess , will be performed.
Saturday night at 7:30 and
highlights the Festival's theatrical
line up. The Forest Princess has
been described by some as a unique
cross between A Midsummer
Nights Dream and Snow White.
In authenic Masque fashion, it
interweaves music, song, dance,
poetry, along with audience
involvement.
Don't be alarmed at the crashing
and clanging of metal upon metal
as Knights clad in full aromor
engage in unchoreographed
tournament combat. This Medieval
excitement, brought to you by the
Society of Creative Anachronisms,
is combined with courtly social
dances and recreated medieval
artifacts.
If Medieval cuisine is your
fancy, or maybe your curiousity,
then introduce your tastebuds to a
tid bit of wild boar sausage, or if
poultry is your thing, try a sample
of grilled quail. Both delicacies can
be washed down with a cup of cold,
crisp apple cider. The festival also
offers a large vegetarian menu, as
well as salads, fruits and cheeses.
The Medieval Festival will be
held east of the Burton Tower on
Saturday from I p.m. to 5 p.m.
with a showing of the Princess at
7:30 . It will continue on Sunday
in the Nichols Arboretum from
1P.m. to 5 p.m.
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