6E — Fall 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers at the Pig
Like it or hate it, the holiday
season is undeniably upon us. A
walk down Main Street offers
proof of this: bright lights wrap
themselves
gracefully
around
trees, Christmas carols ring from
inviting Kerrytown shops and
couples walk hand-in-hand with
a seemingly newfound sense of
happiness.
If you’re like me and love the
spontaneous
comradery
that
springs up during this time of year,
or just need a way to escape the
mounting stress of finals, you’re
in luck. The classic holiday special
“The Nutcracker” will make a
reappearance this Saturday at the
Michigan Theater.
This performance of “The
Nutcracker” is presented by the
Academy of Russian Classical
Ballet,
based
in
Wixom,
Michigan. The Academy is made
up of talented ballet students from
Michigan and Ohio who learn the
traditional Vaganova (Russian)
style of classical ballet. The
Academy also holds a Professional
Trainee Program for students
intending to pursue ballet as a
profession.
This is the third time the
Academy
will
perform
“The
Nutcracker”
at
Michigan
Theater, and they intend to keep
the performance as close to the
Russian Bolshoi Ballet Company’s
rendition as possible.
As a way to follow the original
ballet, this particular rendition
doesn’t “have a specific wooden
Nutcracker doll. We have a
younger dancer who performs
the role,” said co-director of the
Academy Jessica Morschakov in
an interview with the Daily.
The dancers are excited that
their version of “The Nutcracker”
stands out from other modern
interpretations. “For the Spanish
(corps), it’s really interesting to do
the original choreography rather
than something newer,” said Nina
Schotland, a dancer in the Spanish
dance sequence. Schotland, an
LSA freshman, performs in the
Waltz of the Flowers and in the
Spanish corps as a soloist, in
addition to other roles.
Professional
ballet
dancers
from Moscow Ballet in Russia
will join the cast of local ballet
students on Saturday. “Our young
Clara and young Nutcracker are
Michigan students,” Morschakov
said. After Clara, the main child
protagonist of the play, enters
her dreamland, the Nutcracker
is transformed into a handsome
prince. The Russian professionals
will perform “the grown-up
version of Clara and the Prince.”
Tchaikovsky’s score for “The
Nutcracker” is timeless, even for
the dancers who’ve performed it
many times before. “I listen to it
a lot. I wake up to it,” said Luke
Eller. Eller will play the role of
the Fritz, Clara’s mean brother
and the Nutcracker in the first act,
among others.
The
Oakland
Homeschool
Choir, a local children’s choir that
gives homeschooled children a
chance to participate in musical
education, will provide live music
as per the original. “The music
of Tchaikovsky ... was written
with the Children’s Choir of St.
Petersburg singing during the
Snow scene,” Morschakov said.
They aim to parallel this effect
with the Oakland Homeschool
Choir.
“To let people enjoy the beauty
and artistry of classical ballet
is a really unique experience,”
Schotland said. The performance
boasts
beautiful
backdrops,
intricate hand-sewn costumes
and
a
mystical
ambiance
combined
with
that
of
the
Michigan Theater.
The passion of the Academy is
sure to whisk the audience away
to a wonderful winter dreamland.
Saturday’s performance of “The
Nutcracker” promises to add
a magical touch to the holiday
season.
TRINA PAL
Daily Arts Writer
Chick Corea to bring an electrifying performance
Few artists have electrified
Ann Arbor audiences like Chick
Corea. His 2015 performance
with Herbie Hancock was one
of the most recent University
Musical Society performances
of the past couple of years. His
historic performance at Hill
Auditorium during the Great
Blizzard of 1978 (again with
Herbie Hancock) was released
as part one of “An Evening
with Herbie Hancock & Chick
Corea: In Concert.”
This
coming
weekend,
Corea partners with the Jazz
at Lincoln Center Orchestra to
present an evening of Corea’s
music
at
Hill
Auditorium.
The concert will also feature
the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra, another ensemble
that has proven to be extremely
popular among Ann Arbor
audiences.
This concert also marks
the end of the Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s first tour without
Wynton
Marsalis,
the
accomplished leader of the
ensemble who is currently
taking a brief hiatus to pursue
other projects.
“This was a good first foray
into touring without Wynton,”
said Jason Olaine, Director
of Programming and Touring
for Jazz at Lincoln Center, in
an interview with The Daily.
As they enter their last couple
days of performances, “the
band and Chick have been
really happy.”
Jazz at Lincoln Center is a
notoriously busy organization.
I interviewed Olaine as he
arrived back to New York
from
Shanghai,
and
as
the
ensemble
moved
from
Arizona
to
Chicago.
With
this hectic schedule, it’s easy
to understand why Marsalis
might have stepped away from
the ensemble for a little while.
“Usually our Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra with Wynton
Marsalis tours between 13 and
18 weeks every year,” Olaine
said. “Wynton scheduled a
short sabbatical and our agent
happens to be Chick’s agent.”
While the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra and Chick
Corea go on tour all the time,
Ann Arbor is lucky to have
hosted 18 previous Jazz at
Lincoln
Center
Orchestra
concerts and five previous
Chick Corea concerts.
“This concert does speak to
your in-house-programming to
have been able to secure this
date,” Olaine said.
Corea is perhaps best known
today for his versatility. He
has performed throughout his
career with a huge number
of artists, collaborating with
everyone from Miles Davis
to Bobby McFerrin. He has
worked frequently in the past
with the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra and is quite popular
among the members of the
ensemble.
Last time he worked with
the orchestra, “Chick had a
great time and we loved it,”
Olaine said. “Victor Goines
has been working with Chick
as
co-music
director,”
he
continued,
and
there
has
been “lots of great energy all
around.”
Corea and the ensemble
have gone on to develop a close
relationship, performing not as
soloist and orchestra but as a
coherent ensemble.
“It’s a little bit different than
coming up with a new setlist
every
night,”
Olaine
said.
“Chick is such a grandmaster,
and it’s been to be pretty
special (to work with him).”
In the past, the ensemble
has collaborated with Corea to
perform newer compositions.
They
also
worked
quite
extensively on the music of
Thelonious
Monk.
During
this tour, however, they’re
“primarily
focusing
on
(Corea’s)
music,”
Olaine
explained.
Saturday’s
performance
marks the end of the tour that
started in Provo, Utah on Mar.
20. Given what he has heard
of the first portion of the tour,
Olaine seemed confident that
it will be a magical event. The
Final Four basketball game on
the same night recently pushed
the concert back a half hour,
and he predicted that this
would only add to the energy of
the performance.
“The concert in Michigan
on Saturday is gonna be a
great one,” Olaine said. In
their previous collaborations,
“Chick has had a great time
and we absolutely loved it.”
As for future performances
of both the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra and Chick
Corea in Ann Arbor, Olaine was
hesitant to make any promises.
“When it works out next, we’ll
see,” he said.
As for the end of the tour,
however, he predicted a great
performance.
Saturday’s
performance will mark the
end of a fantastic tour and
(hopefully) the beginning of
a new collaboration between
artist and ensemble.
“Chick has been having a
great time, and our guys love
Chick,” Olaine said. All in
all, it promises to be another
exciting evening for these two
ensembles in a city that has
played host to some remarkable
concerts from them over the
past 40 years.
ECM Records
SAMMY SUSSMAN
Daily Arts Writer
“You
can
have
these
really crazy, intense shows
there. That kind of grungy
environment just propagates
intimacy;
it’s
a
special
kind of intimacy. Some of
my favorite shows of all
time have been at the Blind
Pig,” said Joe Hertler in an
interview with The Daily.
Fresh, funky and a little
far-out, the pop band Joe
Hertler
&
The
Rainbow
Seekers is set for a two-
night
return
to
the
Pig
this weekend. I’m dancing
already.
“We probably met, I want
to say, five, six years ago.
We were all in college. Half
the band went to Central
Michigan and half went to
Michigan
State,”
Hertler
said. “We were kind of just
jamming
in
college
and
playing co-ops and stuff like
that, and it slowly developed
into something that was a
little more involving.”
The
group
consists
of
Hertler (vocals, guitar and
lyrics),
Micah
Bracken
(keyboard),
Jason
Combs
(bass),
Aaron
Stinson
(saxophone),
Rick
Hale
(drums),
Ryan
Hoger
(guitar) and Kevin Pritchard
(producer, bass).
Despite echoes of Edward
Sharpe’s soul and Vulfpeck’s
funk, Hertler’s songs often
blossom from alt-rock. He’ll
write a demo, then give it to
the band, at which point the
groovier elements start to
bubble up as they work their
Rainbow Seeker magic on it.
“Growing
up
in
the
’90s, that was the music
I connected to. It was the
music that I first engaged
with, which is kind of how
it is for everyone from age 16
to their mid-20s. You know,
those formative years where
the music you listen to is
what you tend to identify
with,” Hertler said. “I guess
that’s where the love affairs
really started.”
Never having skyrocketed
in popularity, the Rainbow
Seekers have been gradually
expanding their fervent fan
base over the years. Each
show is bigger than the last,
and the group is driven by
pure passion.
“It’s
just
really
fun,”
Hertler said. “All of us do
other things, but so much
of it is just part of your
identity.”
On the band’s off-months,
he works for the American
Cancer Society and teaches
English.
To
keep
their
experiences
colorful,
the
Rainbow
Seekers
try
to
revamp a couple tracks each
year.
“I’ve
never
been
more
excited to play ‘Jetski,’ of
all
songs,”
Hertler
said.
“I’m always thankful that
people like certain songs and
respond well to them, but to
redo them — while the core
of the song is still the same
— to have some things that
have been changed is a fun
challenge,” Hertler said.
Michigan-bred
and
Michigan-based,
JH+TRS
love,
love,
love
their
Michiganders. They’ve built
a
rainbow-seeking
family
through the band, and they
carry pieces of home with
them wherever they go.
“We’ve had opportunities
to leave the state, and we’ve
thought about it, as every
band does … but this is our
home. A couple years ago,
we decided to stick it out
here. If it doesn’t work out,
that’s alright,” Hertler said.
“One of the nice things
about Michigan is that a lot
of people leave and go to
other places. When we go to
Denver or LA or NY — just
a lot of big cities — there’s
always a couple hundred
Michiganders.”
JH+TRS radiate a certain
warmth that lets them exist
in a lane of their own within
the
funk-pop
landscape.
They don’t take themselves
too seriously, and every inch
of their success is welcomed
with nothing but gratitude. I
met Hertler at the Espresso
Royale on State, and it felt
more like catching up with
a friend than an interview.
They’re
a
groovy
bunch,
and everything from their
earnest lyrics to their smooth
rhythms to their name itself
is just one massive bear-hug.
The
Rainbow
Seekers’s
most recent album, Pluto,
is stunning in its existence
as both heartbreaking and
dance-inducing. I’m not a
fan of using the word “real”
to describe music, much less
people, but this album — this
band — is real in every sense
of the word. They’re genuine
in their joy and human in
their heartache, and they’re
all about connecting with
people
through
unsullied
authenticity.
“I
think
the
focus
of
the music has always been
the
live
show,”
Hertler
said. “Music is this form
of
communication,
and
when that communication
is locked in, there’s a buzz
you get. It’s in those tender
moments where the magic
is. I hate to be like, ‘It’s
magical! It’s spiritual!’ But it
is, in a way.”
Welcoming Ann Arbor like
a second home, Joe Hertler
& The Rainbow Seekers will
play the Blind Pig this Friday
and Saturday.
ARYA NAIDU
Senior Arts Editor
‘The Nutcracker’ brings
its magic to Michigan