Monday, May 12, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
9
SUMMER FESTIVAL PREVIEW
Matt Roney I Daily Arts Writer
Ann Arbor is a far different place in the summer. Some would call it boring, but there's a lot going on, both in town and nearby. Music fans are especially in luck - Michigan is within
driving distance of some of the most exciting music festivals of the summer. And it's not like you can spend five days watching great bands play in a dusty field during the school year.
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Manchester, TN
June 12-15
$209.50- $244.50
www.bonnaroo.com
Speaking of;Bonnaroo, it's looking
to be another great year for the festi-
val giant. The inclusion of Metallica
is a tad mystifying, but is itself illus-
trative of Bonnaroo's impressively
diverse lineup. Robert Plant and
Alison Krauss will be there, continu-
ing their acclaimed collaboration, as
will Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Wide-
spread Panic, M.I.A., Iron & Wine,
B.B. King, the Raconteurs, and, hon-
estly, way too many more to even try
to list here. Whether you really want
to watch Sigur R6s play outside on a
hot Tennessee day is your preroga-
tive, but either way the show will be
worth the drive.
Blissfest
HarborSprings, MI
July 11-13
$63-$85
www.blissfest.org
This one's a little dif-
ferent. Blissfest is a long-
standing tradition in
Northern Michigan, and
brings together some of the
best folk and dance music
musicians around for a
weekend of peace and love.
This year's festival will fea-
ture Ann Arbor darlings
My Dear Disco, along with
area favorites Seth and
Daisy May and Steppin' in
it. Blissfest is a great place
to sit in the sun and enjoy
some great, obscure music.
I MAGE COUURTIESY OF ROTKU R Y.BUZN ETI.COM
Rothbury Festival
Rothbury, MI
July 3-6
$244.75 $475
www.rothburyfestival.com
There's a lot of buzz surrounding the
inaugural Rothbury Festival in Roth-
bury, Mich. A mere three-hour drive
from Ann Arbor, Rothbury is a four-day
festival boasting acts like the Dave Mat-
thews Band, Widespread Panic, Mod-
est Mouse, Primus, Yonder Mountain
String Band and the Black Keys. Tick-
ets are kind of pricey, but the show's a
whole hell of a lot closer than Bonna-
roo and has a water park. And who can
argue with a water park?
Pitchfork Music Festival
Chicago, IL
July 18-20
$30/day,$65/weekend
www.pitchforkmusicfestivaltom
If Rothbury is too expensive and Bonnaroo is too far, Pitchfork
Media's third annual festival may be just what you're looking for.
All Tomorrow's Parties's "Don't Look Back" series continues this
year on Friday with Public Enemy, Sebadoh and Mission of Burma
performing their newly released albums. The rest of the festival
is just as impressive, and will feature Animal Collective, Vampire
Weekend, Spoon, Dinosaur Jr., M. Ward, !!! and the Apples in Stereo.
At $65 and only three hours away, you have no excuse to miss this
show.
Comerica Cityfest 2008
Detroit, MI
July 2-6
FREE
http://www.newcenter.com/cityfest/2008/
home.html
It's hard to get much closer, and you
can't get cheaper than free. The festival
formerly known as Tastefest is, accord-
ing to its website, "a five-day outdoor
food and culture rich entertainment
street festival in Detroit's historic New
Center over each Fourth of July week-
end." More than 40 restaurants will
be selling samples of their cuisine, and
the band lineup isn't bad, either. Ann
Arbor's own NOMO, Great Lakes Myth
Society, Lightning Love and Mick Bas-
sett will be in attendance, as well as
oldies legends the Zombies (they sang
"She's Not There" - trust me, you
know it), as well as George Clinton and
Parliament Funkadelic. And if you're
looking for (inter)nationaltalent,you're
in luck - Calexico and Broken Social
Scene will be playing as well.
Ann Arbor Summer Festival
Ann Arbor, MI
June13-July 6
Prices vary by event
www.annarborsummerfestival.org
I'd tell you to go to this festi-
val, but you won't have much of
a choice - it pretty much domi-
nates downtown Ann Arbor for
a month. The Mainstage events
are quite good this year, with
Willie Nelson and A Prairie
Home Companion with Gar-
rison Keillor the main attrac-
tions. Top of .the Park will
feature their usual outdoor film
showings and musical perfor-
mances also, though the sched-
ule hasn't yet been released.
Movement: Detroit's Electronic
Music Festival
Detroit, MI
May 24-26
$40-$175
www.myspace.com/detroitmusicfest
This one's coming up pretty
fast, so you'll want to get on
it. The current incarnation of
the DEMF will once again get
Detroit moving this Memo-
rial Day Weekend with a long
list of electronic producers and
DJs, including Detroit Techno
pioneers Carl Craig and Kevin
Saunderson. Mash-up master-
mind Girl Talk will be playing
live, and Moby will be spinning
a DJ set.
Weak characters derail taut drama
BRANDON CONRADIS
ManagingArts Editor
From the opening scene of "Red-
belt," it's clear we're in the graces
of a truly gifted writer. Whereas
most films hinge
upon big events
to jumpstart the
story, writer/ REDBELT
director David
Mamet ("Homi- At Quality16
cide") cranks Sony Pictures
up the intimacy. Classics
Small, seemingly
disconnected
anecdotes - a broken window, a
pawned watch, a bar fight - gradu-
ally fit together like pieces of a puz-
zle, pulling the viewer deeper and
deeper into the story of Mike Terry
(Chiwetel Ejiofor, "Dirty Pretty
Things"), a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
trainer who becomes immersed in
the corruption of Hollywood and
corporate business. It's an absorb-
ing film, one that refuses to pan-
der to its audience by revealing its
secrets too early. But it makes a
simple, albeit significant, mistake,
one that threatens to negate the
power of its overall message.
Terry, a former soldier and
renowned mixed martial arts spe-
cialist, befriends hotshot actor
Chet Frank (Tim Allen, "Home
Improvement") after an incident in
a bar. With mounting debts and a
bitter
end")
Terry'
Ti
s,
str
rE
the wit
But as
people
wife (Alice Braga, "IAm Leg- new shades of their personalities
demanding more support, and motivations, he realizes he
s happy to be taken under must choose not only what kind of
life he wants to live, but also what
kind of man he wants to be.
Thematically and structurally,
ightly wound "Redbelt" is a typical drama. It's
the classic story of David vs. Goli-
uspense and ath, or, for a more contemporary
analysis, the idealistic, honorable
gong direction underdog going up against the evil
corporate empire. The film bears
edeem script more than a passing resemblance
to an earlier Mamet screenplay,
1982's excellent "The Verdict."
Both films address the theme of
ngs of the rich and powerful. maintaining one's integrity, and
past events intertwine and both feature male protagonists
in Terry's life begin to show ultimately betrayed by their clos-
est associates. It's a powerful, uni-
versal scenario, and it's rarely done
with more subtlety and grace than
it is here.
The film as a whole is a master-
ful exercise in sustained suspense.
For much of the running time we
are as much in the dark as Terry
is, confounded by the events that
are circling around us and growing
more and more hopeless with each
new turn of events. Mamet, who
has always been a solid screenwrit-
er but an erratic director, is clearly
a lot more comfortable behind the
camera now. "Redbelt" could very
well be his crowning achievement
as a director.
See REDBELT, Page 12