WMUK Culture

Encore Magazine editor Marie Lee enjoyed putting together an all-things-summer issue, from her own profile of Jamie Jannusch, Camp Director of Pretty Lake Camp, to editing an article on the rise of hammocking brought to her attention by Encore intern Maggie Drew, a journalism student at Western Michigan University.

In early July, the Kalamazoo Film Society is sponsoring four films at Celebration Cinema. Two are currently showing: Janicza Bravo's Zola and Questlove's (Ahmir Thompson's) Summer of Soul (...Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised). 

Starting Tuesday, July 6 and running through July 18, the Barn Theatre will present Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 The Musical, based on the 1980 revenge comedy in which three mistreated women turn the tables on their domineering boss. The stage version features the hit song from the film, plus another dozen written for the adaptation by Parton herself.

At 7 pm on Wednesday, June 30, the progressive folk band with Celtic roots The Founding will give a free performance in the Plainwell Bandshell, where the Plainwell Music Society hosts a concert series all summer. Joel Myers, who plays mandolin and fiddle and composes most of the original songs, tells Cara Lieurance that the show will feature the full original lineup and will focus on music from their debut album, Form. He also describes how the pandemic affected the members of the band and the group as a whole. Some learned new instruments, some became new parents, and enough music was written for a new album to be recorded in the next year.

Dr. Chris Ludwa joins Cara Lieurance to discuss a filmed performance of Faure's Requiem, featuring soprano Jessica Louise Coe and baritone Gerald Case-Blanchard, the Kalamazoo Bach Festival Chorus, and the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, which will stream online at 8 pm Thursday, June 24.