The A2 Vertical View for 3/11/25: Rich Retyi, Communications Director, Ann Arbor District Library
Find details at aadl.org
NEW PODCAST
Talkin’ Music: Celebrating 50+ Years of the Willis C. Patterson Our Own Thing Chorale
Talkin’ Music is all about Ann Arbor’s Our Own Thing Chorale and Instructional Program and its founder, Dr. Willis C. Patterson, plus past and current members spanning—more than 50 years. Following the inception of the Instructional Program in 1969, the Willis C. Patterson Our Own Thing Chorale has preserved and performed traditional African American spirituals and contemporary choral arrangements and compositions by African Americans and other musicians of the diaspora and continues its legacy today through community engagement and education.
This podcast covers each of the five decades the Chorale has been around, telling their story.
NERD NITE
This Thursday at LIVE (102 S 1st Street) AADL presents Nerd Nite—7-9pm—featuring three talks from three giant nerds. One speaker will present You'll Shudder to Learn the Origin of Your Phone's Shutter Sound, a second speak will present From Lead to Gold: How Alchemy and Computer Wizardry Create Better Drugs, and then king nerd, RICH RETYI!, will tell the story of the Billboard Bandits who in the early '70s chopped down and chain sawed an estimated 167 billboards in and around Ann Arbor.