Friday, March 19, 2010

NIGHT & DAY

Edited by Megan O'Neil

3/19/2010

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

North Rosedale Park Community House, Detroit.

The Park Players have been putting on shows in Detroit's North Rosedale Park for more than 50 years, transforming from a residents-only clique culled from the then-segregated hood to a multicultural cast made up of members from across the metro area. For its spring production, the group is performing the family-friendly favorite Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. One of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's ubiquitous Broadway hits, the musical is based on the coat-of-many-colors story from the Bible, exploring themes of betrayal, redemption and forgiveness. This weekend features the Park Players' popular food and beverage nights: Enjoy a spaghetti dinner Friday, wine and cheese Saturday and a special "Pharaoh's Feast" luncheon Sunday. Eat up at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at the Rosedale Park Community House, 18445 Scarsdale St., Detroit; 313-835-1103; $22.

3/19/2010

Energy: Charles McGee at Eighty-Five

Center Galleries, Detroit.

For more than six decades, artist Charles McGee has tirelessly contributed to the Detroit artistic community — and to the region as a whole — through not just his work as an artist, but also as a teacher, mentor and promoter of community arts in Detroit neighborhoods. Widely recognized as an early practitioner and booster of contemporary art, as well as a keen social commentator and chronicler of African-American urban life, McGee's achievements have been honored with numerous awards, including being named the first Kresge Eminent Artist in 2008. This 60-year retrospective showcases McGee's artistic growth, from his early charcoal sketches to his later abstract paintings and sculptural works, providing a comprehensive view of the career of one of Detroit's most significant artists and cultural leaders. The exhibit opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at College for Creative Studies Center Galleries, 301 Frederick Douglass Ave., Detroit; 313-664-7800; on display through April 24. McGee will speak as part of CCS's Woodward Lecture series on 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 31.

3/19/2010

Rova Saxophone Quartet

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), Detroit.

Beginning in the late 1970s, ROVA was one of the two groups — World Sax Quartet being the other — that defined the sax quartet as a jazz platform and redefined it as a contemporary classical platform. The West Coast ROVA has been steadfast in, among other interests, extending the post-Coltrane, post-Ayler energy school, including promoting John Coltrane's "Ascension" as a latter-day answer to Handel's Messiah. Although ROVA has come to Ann Arbor in the past, this marks their first Detroit appearance. Friday, March 19, at 8 and 9 p.m. at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-832-6622; $11 for both sets, $8 for second set.

3/19/2010

Hiromi

Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit.

Her debut disc may have had a pop-jazz veneer, but when she recruited a guitarist from the Screaming Headless Torsos, for instance, you knew her ambitions were grander. Hiromi Uehara's new solo piano disc, Place to Be (Telarc), is intense, probing, rife with gestures out of Euro classical music and classic jazz. "She plays blindingly fast, yet flawlessly," opined Jazz Times. In fact, she sometimes recalls jazzin'-the-classics players of years' past (as when she gently swings Pachelbel's Canon on the new disc). The emphasis in the preceding is on sometimes, since she's a pianist as hard to pigeonhole as she is easy to appreciate. Solo performance Friday, March 19, at 7 and 8:30 p.m. at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7900; free with admission.

3/19/2010

Moon Pool & Dead Band

Park Bar, Detroit.

Wolf Eyes co-founder/programmer/vocalist Nate Young and SSM/Doop & the Inside Outlaws drummer/DJ Dave Shettler are Moon Pool & Dead Band, a synth-based outfit with its heart set on the dance floor of the classic underground clubs of the late '70s. It’s the most pop music Young, who takes the cast-off tools and techniques of another age to create his primitive yet futuristic audio and visual works, has ever done. It's also one of the best electronic music releases out of Detroit this year. The band evolved out of southwest Detroit neighbors Nate and Dave hanging out/nerding out about vintage synths and electronic gear. Now, they're making their live debut at 9 p.m. at the Park Bar, 2040 Park Ave., Detroit; 313-962-2933; with Steve Kenney.

3/20/2010

Obscura Day at the Heidelberg Project

Heidelberg Project, Detroit.

You've kissed the Blarney Stone, marveled at the Grand Canyon, and sunbathed on Hawaii's black sand beaches. What's next? For a peek into the world's more fantastical destinations, check out the Atlas Obscura (atlasobscura.com), a compendium of obscure museums, bizarre historical sites and eccentric attractions generally ignored by traditional travel guides. Saturday, Atlas Obscura hosts Obscura Day, an international celebration of these strange destinations. Here in Detroit, the Heidelberg Project will offer guided tours of Tyree Guyton's polka-dot painted houses and surreal found object sculptures. In other locales, participants can tour the world's largest tree house, ogle at curious medical anomalies and explore lost subway tunnels. Tours of the Heidelberg take place from 1 to 3 p.m. at the 3600 block of Heidelberg Street, Detroit; visit heidelberg.org to RSVP.

3/20/2010

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

North Rosedale Park Community House, Detroit.

3/20/2010

Randy Weston's African Rhythms Trio

Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor.

The pianist is the composer of such classics as "Hi-Fly" and "Little Niles," one of the greatest interpreters of Monk and Ellington, a jazz bridge to the music of the Africa and the Caribbean, and a thundering presence at the keyboard. His trio of bassist Alex Blake (a master of flamenco-style bass strumming) and percussionist Neil Clarke works with the highest level of rapport. Saturday, March 20, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor; 734-769-2999; $10-$30.

3/20/2010

Glass, Cinder & Thorns

323 East Gallery and Boutique, Royal Oak.

3/20/2010

Andre Williams

Park Bar, Detroit.

The virtuoso of ripe and raunchy R&B, Andre Williams' legendary career includes penning hits "Shake a Tail Feather" and "Twine Time," producing records for the likes of Ike & Tina, Stevie Wonder and the Dramatics, working at renowned labels Motown, Chess and Fortune, and recording his own sleazy cult hits "Bacon Fat," "Greasy Chicken" and "Jail Bait." His career stalled thanks to struggles with drug addiction, but, by the late '90s, Williams had ditched the drugs and was enjoying Round 2 of his career, thanks to his rediscovery by white-boy garage rockers. Since then, he's recorded a handful of albums, worked with everyone from the Dirtbombs to Jon Spencer, been the subject of a documentary, written a seedy pulp novella, and even launched his own brand of perfume. Damn! The 74-year-old Williams will perform with his signature smut and swagger at 8 p.m. at the Park Bar, 2040 Park Ave., Detroit; 313 962-2933; tickets $10 advance at thecrofoot.com; with Jeff Meier and Michael Hurtt's Party Stompers. Williams will also sign copies of his book, Sweets, at 5 p.m. at the Book Beat, 26010 Greenfield Rd., Oak Park; 248-968-1190.

3/20/2010

The Hot Club of Detroit presents Djangofest

Cliff Bell's, Detroit.

Torchbearers of the gypsy jazz tradition, Hot Club of Detroit call in out-of-town help to pay homage to the sainted guitarist Django Reinhart in this the centennial of his birth. Guitarist Howard Alden, who overdubbed Sean Penn's strumming in Sweet and Lowdown — as he played an unrepentant Reinhardt worshipper — returns to play with HCD again. Joining them for the first time is the much-lauded Israeli-by-way-of-New York clarinetist Anat Cohen. HCD's new disc drops next month, so a preview would seem likely. Saturday, March 20, at Cliff Bell's, 2030 Park Ave.; 313-961-2543; $15.

3/21/2010

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

North Rosedale Park Community House, Detroit.

3/21/2010

La Marche du Nain Rouge

Third Street, Detroit.

According to local lore, Le Nain Rouge, aka the Red Dwarf, is an evil spirit that has plagued Detroit since the city's founding, first cursing Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac (he was indicted for illegal trafficking and imprisoned soon after), and then periodically popping up throughout history to cause the city misery and grief (explains a lot, doesn't it?). It's claimed that early Detroiters organized the first March of the Nain Rouge on March 23, 1710, to banish the mischievous little bastard from the city and to welcome the coming spring. This year, the purported tradition is resurrected for a special 300th anniversary march; in the spirit of Carnaval and Mardi Gras, Detroiters will band together to symbolically purge the city of evil and revel in thoughts of the warmer and better times that lie ahead. Marchers are encouraged to get their costumed freak on — the more masks, boas and sequins, the better. The march begins at 3 p.m. at Third Street Bar (701 W. Forest St., Detroit) and ends at Cass Park. Info at lenainrouge.com.

3/22/2010

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

The Ark, Ann Arbor.

When lists are compiled of the originators of country-rock, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band are frequently overlooked. Which is criminal because the band — which originally formed in 1966 and has included various members over the years, including, briefly, Jackson Browne — is one of the true originals and perhaps the most important of the bunch. They only experienced real pop/rock 'n' roll and commercial success in 1970, with the release of their brilliant Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy album, a buried treasure that included two Top 40 hits via their covers of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles" and Kenny Loggins' "House at Pooh Corner," as well as a Mike Nesmith cover and a slew of tracks featuring fiddles, mandolins, banjos, etc. Perhaps even more important, however, was the follow-up, an epic three-album set, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which brought them together with a ton of traditional country, bluegrass and hillbilly music artists, including the likes of the remaining members of the Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Vassar Clement, Doc Watson, etc., introducing that music to an entire new generation of hippies and rockers. The first American band to tour Russia, the band has continued to make waves on the country charts over the decades, and this is a rare chance to see a great band — still featuring the original members John McEwen, Jeff Hanna and Jimmie Fadden — in the Ark's intimate environment. At the Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor; 734-761-1818; $35.