Brad Ebenhoeh,
U-M Student
OUR
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LEARN MORE ABOUT EVENTS:
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DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION SUMMIT
YEAR ONE: CELEBRATING PROGRESS, ADDRESSING CHALLENGES
NOVEMBER 7
MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM
4:30–6 pm | Opening Keynote
Acclaimed social psychologist Dr. Claude Steele
NOVEMBER 8
STATE STREET (NEAR BETSY BARBOUR/HELEN NEWBERRY
EAST LAWN)
11:30 am | Trotter Multicultural Center Groundbreaking
RACKHAM AUDITORIUM
2–3 pm and 5–6 pm | Poster Session
3–4 pm | Community Assembly
Year One Progress Report update
4–5 pm | Interactive Panel Discussion
With select Bicentennial Alumni Award Recipients
MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM
5:30–9 pm | Student DEI Summit
Student-organized Summit focused on developing actionable
plans to improve campus climate. Dinner provided.
PLUS MORE UNIT-SPONSORED AND CENTRAL EVENTS THE WEEK OF
NOVEMBER 6–10, INCLUDING CLIMATE SURVEY INFORMATION SESSIONS
FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF
6A — Monday, October 30, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DAILY LITERATURE COLUMN
A Halloween Poetry
Playlist for the spooky soul
Poems meant to spook and scare before the holiday is upon us
It’s that time of year again — by
which I mean the absolute best
time!
October is almost over and
Halloween is officially upon us.
We’ve had some truly beautiful
autumn days, and the weather is
starting to get chillier. “Stranger
Things” season two is out, along
with fresh scary movies like “It”
and “Happy Death Day.” Pumpkins
have been carved, and theories
about
potential
Halloween
costumes are finally coming to
fruition.
But if you’re looking to really
round out the season, there may
be one more thing left to check off
the Halloween bucket list: reading
some high-quality spooky poetry.
Spooky poetry is fun anytime,
anywhere, but Halloween offers
many advantages if you want to
get really extra about it. You can
recite the scary lines around a
hearth with your friends, or flip
through them during an afternoon
excursion to the cemetery. I know
what you’re thinking: Where am I
going to find good scary poetry at
such late notice? Don’t be afraid!
(See what I did there?) Here is a list
of some of the creepiest verse out
there to get you started.
“The Homemade Mermaid,” by
Matthea Harvey
This poem starts out interesting
and becomes downright terrifying,
using mermaids and homemade
science as a way of exploring
gender dynamics. Horror can be
a great way of digging into social
issues, and Harvey does this
brilliantly, especially in her live
reading of the poem. She has other
mermaid poems, too, like “The
Backyard Mermaid” and “The
Objectified Mermaid.”
“Ghost Q & A,” by Anne Carson
“Ghost Q & A” is deceptively
simple, but also inventive, taking
the form of a conversation between
a ghost (A) and an unnamed
questioner (Q). The ghost is
surprisingly straightforward and
even kind of sassy, but not in an
over-the-top way. And the poem
invites so many questions that
it’s almost impossible not to read
it more than one time. (Who is
talking to the ghost? And who is
the man who does the zeroes?)
Note: It’s worth checking Carson
out beyond this poem, because
she’s done some really terrific work
in the past with poetry, fiction,
nonfiction, translation — pretty
much everything.
“Scary
Movies,”
by
Kim
Addonizio
We all know the feeling of lying
in bed after watching a scary
movie, not wanting to move out
of the fear that a monster might
be lurking underneath. Addonizio
captures this sense of terror and
more in “Scary Movies.”
“Song,” by Brigit Pegeen Kelly
Probably my personal favorite
on this list, this prose poem is
effective in so many different
ways. There’s horrifying imagery
(a goat’s head is hanging in a tree
in the first line), but even that
doesn’t cut nearly as deep as the
horrors of death, sin and stolen
innocence that eventually emerge
from the lines. What’s more, Kelly
reaches deep into these layers
to explore thoughts about the
meaninglessness of tragedy and
the beauty of life itself.
“Schizophrenia,” by Jim Stevens
This is a haunted house poem
told from the perspective of the
haunted house, in which the
building becomes its own presence
and the rooms become almost like
characters. It’s full of eerie, visual
imagery, and the relative absence
of humans makes it all the more
interesting.
“The Session,” by Jeanann
Verlee
This poem doesn’t contain any
witches or ghosts or Halloween
imagery; the horror is a lot deeper
and more psychological. It’s also
very sad. I will admit, I wasn’t
entirely sure whether or not I
understood it at first, but this live
reading was pretty emotional and
left me with a stronger sense of
what it was about.
“Ghost
Dance,”
by
Sara
Littlecrow-Russell
This is another one that, while
definitely not about Halloween, is
hard not to include here because
it’s just so haunting. There’s also an
undercurrent of hope toward the
very end, which is both refreshing
in the context of this list and very
powerful within the poem itself.
“my eyes in the time of
apparition,” by Rachel McKibbens
Rachel McKibbens uses a lot
of surprising and sometimes even
grotesque imagery in her work,
but always to deeply emotional and
significant ends. This poem is a
good example of that, using sirens
and witches as a way of exploring
anger, grief and personal agency.
LAURA
DZUBAY
COURTESY PHOTO
ACL takes place once a year at Zilker Park
Best of the Fest: Daily Arts
takes Austin City Limits
Daily Arts recount the wins and woes of the Austin festival
Earlier this month, three Daily
Arts Editors went on an odyssey
to Austin, Texas to attend Austin
City Limits, a three-day festival of
music, art and — most importantly
— breakfast tacos.
Solange
Solange is an artist you must see
live. All the elements that make
her such an important recording
artist are amplified on stage. Her
precision, her joy, her presence —
it’s breathtaking. The visuals, in
all their color coordination and
choreography, enhance Solange’s
sound without overpowering it.
After some travel delays, Solange
and her band took the stage, awash
in orange light. Every aspect of the
show was quietly and soulfully
choreographed; from the sways of
her singers to the grooves of the
musicians, each in some variation
of an all orange outfit. But it didn’t
feel forced. Each motion, no matter
how small or grand, was meant.
Pulling mainly from A Seat at the
Table, Solange moved seamlessly
between tracks. She delivered
the more pointed moments of her
music with grace; striking a balance
between giving the content the
respect it deserves without making
the performance too heavy. The
importance of Solange’s art was
palpable in the crowd; the faces of
those along the guard rails were
nothing if not exuberant. But even
those in the furthest reaches of the
crowd, those just barely touched by
her warm light, felt Solange’s quiet
power, too.
— Carly Snider
Vulfpeck
Jack Stratton guided the crowd
in breathing exercises, six beautiful
boys sang an a cappella to “Back
Pocket,” Antwaun Stanley, Joey
Dosik and Theo Katzman crowded
around a keyboard and harmonize
to “Birds of a Feather, We Rock
Together,” and Stratton finished
it all off with a handstand in the
center of Honda Stage.
All of these things, these images
were faroff myths to me before
Friday, October 13th. I’ve been
listening to Vulfpeck ever since
my sister played “Back Pocket”
for me back in 2013 and despite
going to their alma mater, I always
managed to miss my chance at
seeing them live. But somehow,
that chance came to me in Austin,
Texas, hundreds of miles from
where the group formed. And it
was so, unbelievably worth it just
to see “Beastly” live.
Opening
with
the
clipped
chords
of
Cory
Wong
and
Stratton’s guitars on “Cory Wong”
Vulfpeck took the stage after their
pre-recorded introduction in the
style of Don Pardo. Stratton yelled
something about taking it “down
south the coast of California” and
my heart stopped as the first notes
of “El Chepe”’s piano progression
began.
Antwaun
brought
the
“Funky Duck,” “Aunt Leslie,” and
“1612,” and Dart, of course, brought
the bass. I wish there were more
words to describe the experience
of watching “Beastly” and “Dean
Town” performed live, hearing
the small fraction of the crowd
who were down with the music
singing along to the bass notes
and chord changes as if they were
words, lyrics, stories. I was worried
the set would be identical to the
week before’s; I shouldn’t have
underestimated them like that.
Because even after performing the
previous Friday and two shows at
Emo’s in Austin, the boys were still
their magnetic, charming selves.
— Natalie Zak
Whitney
I saw Whitney frontmen (and
certified cute boys) Max Kakacek
and Julien Ehrlich play ACL back
in 2013 and 2011, while they were
playing with Smith Westerns. I
was in high school and their music
made me feel impossibly cool.
Now that they’re playing as
Whitney, they make me feel — like
all good bands do — very cool and
very, very uncool. But, I didn’t fall
in love with Whitney until I saw
them live for the first time at a small
show in Burlington, Vermont.
They’re smooth and magnetic and
crushingly cool. They’re the kind of
band that is elevated by their own
persona. It’s not a persona, though,
that’s acted. Their charm and
energy and sheer talent make them
one of the best live acts currently
on tour.
During their set last weekend,
they played all the way through
their debut album Light Upon
the Lake, which, Ehrlich jokingly
reminded the crowd only clocks
in at 30 minutes. Opening with
“Dave’s Song,” which holds a high
ranking on my list of “Song that
Make Me Want to Dance and Cry
(at the same time),” the band drifted
from song to song. The extra-
album side of their set was filled out
with Dolly Parton and Bob Dylan
covers, and Ehrlich punctuated his
airy falsetto with intimate banter.
He met his girlfriend’s parents last
week, they loved him (of course),
and that morning he was really,
really hungover.
Whitney sounds like summer,
but they also sound like fall and
spring and best parts of winter.
They make sparkling nighttime
driving songs and dreamy lay-on-
your-bed-and-stare-at-the-ceiling
song and (thankfully) swelling,
dizzying, dancing in the sun songs.
And, actually, all of those things
apply to all of their songs.
— Madeleine Gaudin
Angel Olsen
Anything I write about Angel
Olsen should be called “Why
I Am Not A Singer.” Watching
Olsen perform proves something
I’ve long suspected: I’ll never
understand everything that goes
into musical performance. And I
think that’s why I enjoy it so much.
Olsen was bubbly and electric,
increasingly excited by the crowd
and the night and how much she
loves doing what she does, how
much she loves doing the thing that
blows my mind. And that thing
is really just singing. She and her
music are all about her voice and it’s
airy ineffable quality. Olsen swayed
through tracks from her first three
studio albums and played “Special”
the most recent single from her
forthcoming collection Phases.
As the sun set and Austin
started to (finally) cool to a brisk
85, Olsen broke into the opening
notes of MY WOMAN standout
and certified bop “Shut Up Kiss
Me.” The way she smiles when
she sings, the sharp twinkle of her
voice, the electric current that runs
between Olsen and the crowd, each
one requiring the other to live: This
is why people go to shows.
— Madeleine Gaudin
Red Hot Chili Peppers
At this point in their career, the
Red Hot Chili Peppers have live
performance down to a science;
they know exactly what a crowd
(especially an enormous festival
crowd) wants to hear. Anthony
Kiedis and Flea sprinkle in just
enough banter to be charming,
the band rocks just hard enough to
warrant woos and shoves from the
masses. And, despite playing what
is expected, their weekend two set
still proved entertaining.
On top of the hits — “Snow
((Hey Oh)),” “Californication,” “By
the Way,” “Give it Away,” etc. —
the Peppers threw in some deep
cuts and covers to round out their
setlist. Stevie Wonder’s “Higher
Ground” and Tom Petty’s “A Face
in the Crowd” were among the
covers.
But the most notable had to be
The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your
Dog.” There was a pause over the
crowd as tried to decipher the
opening notes, but once those
iconic sleigh bells hit, it clicked.
I could tell that not everyone
recognized the track, but for me,
a punk-centric youth from Ann
Arbor, this homage to proto-punk
made the set. Even after the last
notes of “Give It Away” faded out
and a shirtless Kiedis bid us all a
goodnight, all I could hear were
those opening lines, “So wrapped
up / I want you here….”
— Carly Snider
BadBadNotGood
Have you ever gotten down to
a jazz quartet? Like literally down
on the ground as the band shouts
at you to get low with everyone
else in the crowd? In the final
moments of their set, this is exactly
what BadBadNotGood had their
crowd do, and the intimacy of the
small crowd tucked under Tito’s
Handmade Vodka tent made the
experience all that more incredible.
Because while the music the group
plays may be strictly called jazz,
their foundations were originally
geared toward reworking songs
by the likes of Nas, Odd Future,
and A Tribe Called Quest. And
this becomes entirely clear when
surrounded by a sea of 18 year old
boys in cuffed jeans and oxfords
throwing their hands and jumping
in sync to the instrumental
“Hedron.”
BadBadNotGood has it, that
thing that makes crowds fall in
love with you. It’s in their music,
in their extreme command over
their instruments, their youth and
vibrancy that brings so much life
to their performance. In the small
tent in front of Tito’s stage for the
hour that the quartet played, that
entire crowd was cut off from the
outside world and caught up in
Leland Whitty’s sax.
— Natalie Zak
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