An old friend of mine who teaches at a public high school in Minnesota just got word that he’s inherited a 12-week elective course on film, and he’s reached out to me, asking if I might help him design the curriculum. All that he’s been given to work with thus far is a list of […]
Posted in Art and Culture, Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged 1957, 1974, A Face in the Crowd, Algeria, Algerian War of Independence, Andy Griffith, Billy Wilder, Blade Runner, bugging, celebrity culture, curriculum, Dan Richardson, Donald Trump, Double Indemnity, drifters, Elia Kazan, Eugene McCarthy, film criticism, film history, film school, films, folksy, foreign film, France, Francis Ford Coppola, Gene Hackman, Gillo Pontecorvo, Glenn Beck, great films, Harrison Ford, Harry Caul, high school, Hot Channels, House Committee on Un-American Activities, Italy, Lonesome Rhodes, M, Martin Stett, Mildred Pierce, neorealist, populism, privacy, red scare, simple truths, small town America, social media, Sunset Boulevard, surveillance, surveillance culture, terrorism, The Battle of Algiers, The Conversation, The Killing, The Night of the Hunter, torture |
By Mark | November 6, 2016
Later this afternoon, muralist Dave Loewenstein and filmmaker Nicholas Ward will be at Ypsilanti’s Cultivate Coffee and Tap House. The two artists, who hail from Lawrence, Kansas, will not only be sharing their new documentary film Called to Walls, which is about the power of collaborative, community-based public art, but they’ll also be answering questions […]
Posted in Art and Culture, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged activism, Amanda May Moore, Amber Hansen, animation, Caleb Zweifler, Called to Walls, Chicago, collaborative art, Cultivate Coffee and Tap House, Dave Loewenstein, Detroit, development, Diego Rivera, Film, Gaia, gentrification, graffiti, Grand River, Grand River Creative Corridor, Highland Park, Jermaine Dickerson, Joplin, Kansas, Kayj Michelle, Lakota, Lawrence, Lynne Settles, Mid-America Mural Project, Missouri, murals, Nicholas Ward, Oklahoma, Oscar Howe, painting, Port Huron, public art, Sintex, Tonkawa, tornados, University of Kansas, Vincent Chin, Wall of Respect, Will Spotts |
By Mark | February 4, 2016
A month or so ago, we had local entrepreneur Steffan Graf of on the show, talking about his life on the road with Grand Funk Railroad, and how he went from opening for Led Zeppelin to designing residential lighting systems for the likes of Keith Richards. Well, after we turned the off the mics, Graf […]
Posted in Art and Culture, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Anne Brown, Bee Roll, Beezy's, Berlin, CBGB, David Bowie, David Rutledge, Iggy Pop, Ivan Kral, Jim Cherewick, Michigan House of Representatives, Michigan's 54th district, music, oral history, Patti Smith, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, punk, punk rock, Stefan Graf, The Blank Generation, Ypsilantian of the Year |
By Mark | January 26, 2015
Almost a year ago now, I received an email from a reader of this site by the name of Bob Nolan, who, knowing of my love for the Ramones and Stooges, suggested that I talk with a friend of his named Brendan Toller. Brendan, he told me, had been working on a film about Danny […]
Posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Detroit, History | Also tagged 16 Magazine, A Day In The Life, acid, Andy Warhol, animation, archives, bible belt, Bob Nolan, Bob Rudnick, Boswell, Brendan Toller, Brian Epstein, Brooks Brothers, butts, CBGB, Christmas cards, crowdfunding, Danny Fields, Danny Says, Datebook, David Bowie, Dennis Frawley, Dolly Parton, Edie Sedgwick, Elektra, Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Fred Sonic Smith, Funhouse, Harvard, Harvard Law, Hedwig, I Need That Record, Iggy and the Stooges, Iggy Pop, Jesus, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Judy Collins, Kickstarter, LBJ, Lenny Bruce, Linda Stein, Lou Reed, Mark's big ideas, Max's Kansas City, Mayor of the Sunset Strip, MC5, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, New York City, Nico, Paul McCartney, public relations, punk rock, Ramones, Rock and Roll, Rodney Bingenheimer, San Remo, Search and Destroy, Seymour Stein, slacks, Stooges, The Beatles, The Doors, the music business, The Stooges, Timothy Leary, Tommy Goodwin, Velvet Underground, WFMU, Yale, Yale University, Younger Jewish Set |
From an outsider’s perspective I realize that this video, shot over a few days during last April’s Totally Awesome Fest, probably makes Ypsi look like some kind of post-apocalyptic nightmare, but I find it really quite beautiful. I specially love the footage of Patrick and his crew walking single-file through downtown, behind a wheelbarrow full […]