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Music 58 results
Creating a community of misfits isn’t what music entertainer Darran Mosley intended or expected. After growing up in a “super-rough” neighborhood in Indianapolis, then working in computer systems in Chicago, he landed in Bloomington, where he works in IT by day and in music by night. | Courtesy photo

Big Mike’s B-town: Darran Mosley, Misfit
Michael G. Glab
Creating a community of misfits isn’t what Darran Mosley intended or expected. After growing up in a “super-rough” neighborhood in Indianapolis, then working in computer systems in Chicago, he landed in Bloomington, where he works in IT by day and in music entertainment by night. Here, Michael G. Glab profiles this karaoke host, DJ, and vocalist. Click here to read the full story.
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David Brent Johnson works in the sound booth at WFIU. | Courtesy photo

Big Mike’s B-town: David Brent Johnson, Jazz Expert
Michael G. Glab
David Brent Johnson’s encyclopedic knowledge of jazz seems to have come from a lifetime of devotion to the music. But WFIU’s jazz director didn’t “see the light” until his 20s — while drinking coffee in a Kirkwood cafe. Michael G. Glab gets the story of this Bloomington legend in Big Mike’s B-town. Click here to read the full story.
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Block parties, summer fairs, art shows, theater, music, comedy, and festivals galore — these define a Bloomington summer. And that’s just the first weekend! | Courtesy photo

B-town Summer Kicks Off with Busy Weekend June 1-3
Benjamin Beane
Block parties, summer fairs, art shows, theater, music, comedy, and festivals galore — these define a Bloomington summer. And that’s just the first weekend! Writer Benjamin Beane gets us going with a sampling of the events and activities on the first weekend in June. Click here to read the full story.
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Tenor Simon Kyung Lee and soprano and founder of ÒperaMaya Mary Grogan sing a duet during the ÒperaMaya summer music festival. | Courtesy photo

Behind the Curtain: Maya and Hoosiers Share Culture Through Opera
Jennifer Pacenza
Mary Grogan, creator and director of ÓperaMaya, is introducing Bloomington to the Maya culture — and introducing opera to the Maya in Mexico. ÓperaMaya tours, festival-like, all over the Yucatan Peninsula, where few have experienced the art form. Writer Jennifer Pacenza talks to Grogan about what this means for Bloomington and the Maya. Click here to read the full story.
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The conference, festival, and symposium called Wounded Galaxies 1968 intersects with Bloomington’s orbit next month. The event looks at the tumultuous year 1968, which included the Chicago protests and riots during the Democratic National Convention. (Pictured here is an anit-war march prior to the convention in 1968.) Wounded Galaxies organizer Joan Hawkins says the event will be more than a museum piece: “We want to confront the whole concept of revolutionary aesthetics, and ask, ‘Where do we go from here?’” | Photo by David Wilson, Creative Commons

Big Mike’s B-town: Wounded Galaxies, Where 1968 Intersects with 2018
Michael G. Glab
Wounded Galaxies 1968 — a conference, festival, and symposium including art exhibits, film screenings, and music performances — intersects with Bloomington’s orbit next month. LP columnist Michael G. Glab spoke to Joan Hawkins, a founder of the group that’s organizing the event. While Wounded Galaxies looks at the tumultuous year 1968, Hawkins says the event will be more than a museum piece: “We want to confront the whole concept of revolutionary aesthetics, and ask, ‘Where do we go from here?’” Click here to read the full story.
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Feeling idle in the post-holiday lull? Writer and LP editor Dason Anderson has compiled a list of 12 happenings to get you out and about this winter season. Indoors, outdoors, alone or with friends, there’s something to do for everyone until spring comes again. | Photo by Tim Gouw, Pexels

Beat the Cold with These 12 Winter Events
Dason Anderson
Feeling idle in the post-holiday lull? Writer and LP editor Dason Anderson has compiled a list of 12 happenings to get you out and about this winter season. Indoors, outdoors, alone or with friends, there’s something to do for everyone until spring comes again. Click here to read the full story.
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Chris Kinnick transformed his 55-acre horse farm into Stable Studios, a music festival venue and recording studio. Pictured here is the crowd from Good People Good Times, a summer festival of jam bands, bluegrass, folk, and rock. | Courtesy photo

Jamming in the Countryside at Stable Studios
Grayson Pitts
Stable Studios began as one man’s dream but now helps other musicians fulfill theirs. It’s also one of the premier music venues in Owen County, a largely rural place that’s experiencing something of a cultural renaissance. Writer Grayson Pitts takes a tour of the former horse ranch that now hosts thousands of music fans a year. Click here to read the full story.
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Busking 4 Freedom: Jesse Slokum, Unintentional Icon of Woodstock [video]
Duane Busick
“Clap your hands, clap your hands!” And a lone figure stands, claps, and dances. Others rise to join him while Richie Havens sings “Freedom! Freedom!” onstage at Woodstock in 1969. In this Duane Busick video, meet Jesse Slokum, Bloomington’s “Busker 4 Freedom” and the man who got multitudes to dance at Woodstock. Click here to watch the video.
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Rachel Sermanni, a 25-year-old singer-songwriter from Scotland, will perform at the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival on September 29 and 30. | Photo courtesy of Ian Wallman

Lotus Time! Part 4, Young Musicians Fill the Bill
Benjamin Beane
The Lotus World Music and Arts Festival is upon us, when performers from around the world fill the downtown streets with music. In part 4 of our series, writer Benjamin Beane profiles a young singer-songwriter from Scotland and an even younger brother/sister Indian-American duo who are rising stars in bluegrass. Click here to read the full story.
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Meklit, an Ethiopian-born, Oakland-raised, Ethio-jazz musician and philanthropist. | Courtesy photo

World Music Trailblazers Bring Innovative Sounds to Lotus
Benjamin Beane
Music speaks. And it can tell stories. Musical acts Meklit (Ethiopia) and Sabha Motallebi (Iran) will showcase their own forms of musical storytelling this year at the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. In part 3 of his series, writer Benjamin Beane explores their genre-bending and -expanding music — and the stories they want to tell. Click here to read the full story.
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The graceful and mesmerizing aerial acrobats of AsaBela WINGS Aerial Academy will perform in both the matinée and evening Va-Va-Va-Vaudeville shows. | Photo by Chris Rall

Behind the Curtain: Va-Va-Va-Vaudeville
Jennifer Pacenza
It’s a juggernaut! It’s a celebration of Bloomington’s amazing talent! It’s an extravagant array of performers — jugglers, dancers, comedians, aerial acrobats, burlesque performers, musicians, and even clever canines! It’s Va-Va-Va-Vaudeville! Jennifer Pacenza takes you Behind the Curtain of this variety show playing this weekend at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Click here to read the full story.
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(l-r) Nyckelharpa player Olov Johansson, guitarist Roger Tallroth, and violist Mikael Marin of the Swedish band Väsen will be performing at their ninth Lotus World Music and Arts Festival this year. | Courtesy photo

Two Lotus Fest Trios Offer Twists on Traditional Music
Benjamin Beane
Xöömei and nyckelharpa … must be the sounds of Lotus! A meeting ground of world musical styles, the year’s Lotus Festival brings Swedish string trio Väsen and Tuvan throat singers Alash, offering an innovative twist on the traditional music of their home countries. Click here for videos and Benjamin Beane’s profiles of the bands, including an exclusive interview with Väsen.
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