Wednesday, February 8,2012

Keeper of the flame

Simone — daughter of the legendary Nina Simone — honors her mother´s musical legacy

by Lawrence Cosentino

People with no filial relation felt the same way. Nina Simone recast the Dylan song as a fragile ballad, dusted with harp and strings, suspended over a gritty gospel groove. She sealed the steal by changing Dylan’s third-person “she” to “I” in the last verse.

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

Advice Goddess

Some unenchanted evenings & once you go Lewis Black…

by Amy Alkon

My boyfriend lacks romantic ambition. In our two years together, we’ve never gone out to dinner someplace I can wear a dress and heels, and he never brings me flowers or does anything for our anniversary or Valentine’s Day. I´ve suggested he pick out lingerie he’d like to see me in and shown him how to set a romantic mood in our apartment.

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

'Our stories are not being told'

Lolita Hernandez writes about living and working in the Rust Belt

by Bill Castanier

If the Rust Belt had a capital city, it would be Detroit, where people have been making cars for more than 100 years. That may sound like a Clint Eastwood Super Bowl half-time ad, but Lolita Hernandez, author of “Autopsy of an Engine and Other Stories from the Cadillac Plant,” insists, “The factory is the city.”

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

The art of love

Gallery 1212 presents work by 'the matriarch and patriarch of the art renaissance in Old Town,' Clif and Jane McChesney

by City Pulse

In August 1966, Michigan State University Art Professor Clifton “Clif” McChesney went to Kyoto on a yearlong sabbatical with his two sons and his wife, Jane, a fashion illustrator and fellow artist. While the children attended an international primary school, Jane McChesney taught art and Clif McChesney painted every day in a home studio. Over the course of the sabbatical, the family took time to tour Japan and revel in the country’s natural beauty.

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

Valentine's Memories

by City Pulse

On a sunny afternoon in mid-March, with snow melting all around, I biked past my little inamorata’s house, giving the usual sideways-eye when she appeared at the gate and beckoned me into the backyard. I had never been in her backyard, or even dared imagine what the dirt in her backyard was like.

Risky business

Despite a few star players, Holt-Dimondale's ‘Company’ doesn't work

by UTE VON DER HEYDEN

Why would that be when you’re dealing with the work of a dominant artistic force like Sondheim and a potentially exciting (if somewhat dated) show like “Company?” And also, how can that be when you have some of the biggest and best names in community theater in the cast?

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

Have knife, will travel

Splendid 'Shoes' finds humor — and horror —in the Old West

by Paul Wozniak

The stakes are higher and the situation more dire in Williamston Theatre’s world premiere of Joseph Zettelmaier’s “Dead Man’s Shoes.” By placing his character’s lives at risk, the renowned Michigan playwright creates real suspense with his latest work. At its heart, “Dead Man’s Shoes” is a comical examination of unlikely friendships and coincidental meetings.

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

Turn it down

by Rich Tupica

Zydecrunch plays a melting pot of American music, fusing New Orleans R&B, Cajun, country two-steps and waltzes, Creole struts and blues-inspired rock‘n’roll. On Thursday, the band releases its new album, “Zydefaux Pas,” at the Green Door. The show has no cover charge. The new disc is a follow-up to 2001’s “Ton Son Ton” CD.

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

Making waves in the airwaves

A cult movie from 1990 becomes a stage musical

by Christopher Horb

Area audiences will have the chance to see something new — and yet perhaps familiar — when the Michigan State University Department of Theatre offers free performances of the semi-staged workshop of “Pump Up The Volume,” a musical adaptation of the 1990 Christian Slater film.

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

'First' base

Staged reading revisits sexual awakenings

by Robert Sancrainte

Writer-producer Ken Davenport (“Altar Boyz”) read some of the stories, and thought they would make an interesting play. He compiled material from the website for the off-Broadway production of “My First Time,” which just finished a two-and-a-half-year run last month.

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