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Thursday, May 23, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS
When I first moved to South-
east Michigan, I was not expect-
ing to find a music scene as active
and diverse as the one that exists
today. I grew up in an area where
our local music scene consisted
of a few Sublime cover bands, so
when I moved to Ann Arbor and
experienced my first basement
show, it was unlike anything I
had ever experienced. People here
really do care about music, and no
event better represents this fact
than the infamous BLED FEST.
Starting out as a small basement
show and pool party, BLED FEST
has blossomed into a distinct and
special experience. Taking place
at the Hartland Performing Arts
Center (H-PAC), BLED FEST
invites some of the biggest names
in punk, rock, indie, metal and
other genres to perform in an old
high school gymnasium-turned-
performance-venue. And after 15
years, the festival is finally com-
ing to a close.
The festival stands out for a
variety of reasons, but what is
most notable is how it still incor-
porates a do-it-yourself attitude.
Although the festival has grown
quite a bit over the past few years,
moving from a basement to a per-
forming arts center, the same
sort of independence and passion
found in basement shows is still
very much present today.
In an interview with The Mich-
igan Daily, Nate Dorough, presi-
dent of Fusion Shows and one of
the chief organizers of the festi-
val, said BLED FEST is “sort of
like a big family reunion that just
keeps getting bigger and bigger
every year.” Dorough attributes
this atmosphere to the expanding
diversity of genres present at the
festival, stating that “back when it
started, there was a lot of drama
between punk fans and metal fans
… but it seems to be a little more
acceptable now to like rap, metal,
indie rock and whatever else. As
we’ve developed the things over
the past twelve years I’ve been on
board, there’s been a natural evo-
lution for us to continue to diver-
sify the festival and turn it into
this esoteric mix of all different
type(s) of music and walks of life.”
Along with having such a
diverse lineup, the physical space
of the festival looks drastically dif-
ferent from that of any other sum-
mer festival. Forget your shades,
hats and sunscreen, because when
BLED FEST arrives, school is not
quite out for the summer yet. “It is
in an old high school. There are no
barricades; it’s not your tradition-
al venue where everything is far
away, everything’s off limits and
the bands are backstage. Every-
thing’s just sort of mixed in, no
matter if you’re on- or off-stage,”
Dorough described.
The festival stays true to its
roots though, and despite hav-
ing headliners like The Wonder
Years and Camp Cope, the festi-
val still showcases younger local
bands on some of their smaller
stages (one of which used to be an
actual classroom). Bands from
Southeast Michigan including
Dogleg, Ness Lake, The Doozers,
Complainer. and Mover Shaker,
each of which already has a dedi-
cated local following, are given
the opportunity to share the stage
with over 60 different bands.
In
addition
to
diversify-
ing genres present at the festi-
val, there’s one other aspect the
organizers have been trying to
improve. “A few years ago, we
counted up the bands we had that
year … and the show was awe-
some, but we noticed that there
were only like four bands that had
women in them, and like one band
that has anyone that wasn’t white
in it,” Dorough explained. “And we
kind of had a ‘holy shit’ moment
where we were like, we’ve got to
change this.” And just by glanc-
ing through the lineup this year,
the festival already appears to fea-
ture groups of all different gender
identities, races and backgrounds.
BLED FEST takes a bow
RYAN COX
Daily Arts Writer
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
AXS
Read more at michigandaily.com
The Final BLED FEST
May 25, 2019
Hartland Performing
Arts Center
$35/General
admission
Fiction — science fiction in par-
ticular — is obsessed with the post-
apocalyptic world. From space
odysseys to duels with zombies,
readers and authors alike have a
strange fascination with the world
after the end of the world. But, for
how different each iteration of these
stories may seem, they all tend to
follow a clear formula. Reed King’s
“FKA USA” is no different.
The key to any good post-apoc-
alyptic story is the
apocalypse
itself,
the more popular
ones being envi-
ronmental destruc-
tion, a public health
crisis or some ver-
sion of a space race.
Sometimes, a writ-
er merges all three
(though,
granted,
usually a problem
in space is closely
tied to an environ-
mental disaster). In
“FKA USA,” King
creates a world wrecked by human-
induced environmental disaster
and the government’s poor man-
agement of the country. And yet,
King is still able to draw in readers
with the detailed history he builds
around an oversaturated theme in
science fiction.
Once readers know why the world
as they know it is over, stories need
to introduce the who. In “The Hun-
ger Games” there’s Katniss, “Ender’s
Game” has Ender and “FKA USA”
introduces Truckee Wallace to the
growing number of teenagers and
children contending with a world
left in ruins by previous genera-
tions. Again, there are specific types
of heroes in every post-apocalyptic
world. Truckee is the kind of hero
who was never meant to be a hero,
something King highlights by insist-
ing Truckee has no redeeming qual-
ities, despite successfully surviving
the death trap that is the western
part of the former United States.
Occasionally, betrayal makes an
appearance in these types of sto-
ries. And, when the main character
is betrayed by their close friends, it
can sting. However, Truckee and
his friends only share surface-level
relationships. King doesn’t establish
a strong connection between them,
so it wasn’t heart-wrenching when
Truckee’s friends sold him out to the
government. What could have been
an agonizing moment was, instead,
simply a surprising revelation.
But what is a science-fiction story,
or a story in general, without a love
story? At first, it seems like Truckee
is going to be just another teen-
age boy, pining away for one of his
friends, but, as the story progresses,
the love story isn’t really a love story
at all.
Instead,
“FKA
USA”
explores
Truckee’s sexuality
as he grapples with
his attraction to his
android friend and
loses his virginity to
an android prosti-
tute. Each instance
of Truckee’s failed
intimacy
invites
further exploration
of his downfalls,
especially as he gets
farther from his
hometown and dis-
covers the truths about his country.
Truckee’s story is one laden with sex
— if he wasn’t a 15-year-old boy try-
ing to understand his relationship
with women, I would call it misogy-
nistic. That said, I really hope Reed
King has a better relationship with
women than his writing would sug-
gest.
Finally, no science-fiction story
is complete without social com-
mentary. In addition to criticism of
how we treat the environment, King
creates a complex world governed
by corporations. The role of the
president is played by a CEO, the HR
department resembles our Congress
and even the CIA makes an appear-
ance as the research and develop-
ment team of the company. It’s not
a subtle comparison by any means,
and it’s obvious that King dislikes
the power corporations and capital-
ism have in our country. But it’s an
effective way of forcing his readers
to confront their understanding of
our current system, maybe the only
‘FKA USA’ relies
on tropes of sci-fi
EMMA CHANG
Senior Arts Editor
FKA USA
Reed King
Flatiron Books
June 18, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Read more at michigandaily.com