Midbrow

The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music By Colin Asher W.W. Norton & Co. Music, as musician and producer T Bone Burnett has said, might be America's "greatest cultural export," and has been for at least a century, from blues, folk, and country to jazz, rock, and hip hop: "We’ve spread our culture all over the world with this music. Music is an important part of our national identity. ...

Cool metallic edges and soft ribbon, like the elements of "조각딜 (10)" (Fragment #10) shown here, recur throughout the show. Lee Kyo When Memory Expires, It Becomes Translucent Ark Gallery Gwangju Through Aug. 26, 2026 Where do late-night thoughts go when they're done swirling around in the dark? According to Gwangju artist Lee Kyo, they might get stuck in the sheets. That's not even the hard part; at least bedding is washable.

“eXponential” Season 13 Concert ConteXture Dance Detroit Redford Theatre Detroit Aug. 23, 2026 As the lights went up in ConteXture Dance Detroit’s “Dream State,” a sea of dancers draped in ghost-like black sheets appeared on stage. The somewhat unnerving opening gave way to a more frenzied energy as the dancers, now revealed in contrasting cream nighties, explored the realm between wakefulness and dreaming — or perhaps even between life and death.

Wolf Harbor & Becky Camille The Cannon 135 Dwight St. Aug. 19, 2026 The two sets I saw at the most recent original local music night at The Cannon were complete opposites of one another. Both sets were part of the weekly Wednesday night performance series put together by Carlos Wells, formerly of the State House. Becky Camille, one half of Violent Mae opened the show. Wolf Harbor closed it. Despite being diametrically opposed to each other, they worked well together.

Boring Asian Female By Canwen Xu Berkley To be a high-achieving Asian American applying to college or grad school is to know that the elite college admissions system is broken, but you’re not the person getting screwed over by it the worst, and no one wants to hear your sob story, which is the First-Worldiest of First-World problems. Except ... what if we do? In Canwen Xu’s debut novel, Boring Asian Female, protagonist Elizabeth Zhang is the model student Asian parents dream of.

R2 Collective Nostalgia Fishtown 14 Jefferson St. Philadelphia Aug. 20, 2026 Unlike many of the great musical movements before and after it, jazz fusion did not happen as the result of a new generation of musicians emerging to challenge or completely destroy the old guard. Instead, fusion developed as a result of older and younger musicians working side by side to introduce a set of new ideas to the genre.

Kevin Copeland, Paul Spring, Kendra McKinley Harmonie Hall 4372 Fleming St. Philadelphia August 20, 2026 Is Harmonie Hall Philly’s most slept-on DIY spot? Surely it’s one of the coziest – pews and couches, colorful and bright, with big windows letting the natural light in and a great-sounding room. When I arrived (three songs late) I scooted next to a friend in an otherwise-empty pew up front, and between songs she whispered, “Have you been here before? This place is amazing.” Hard agree, folks.

Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters Pardee-Morris House Twilight Concert Series 325 Lighthouse Rd. New Haven Aug.19, 2026 Musician Amy Gallatin told the tickled audience gathered on the lawn of the historic Pardee-Morris House that her band would perform a love song, then a fighting and cheating song, “because that’s how it is.” Wednesday evening was the final show for Pardee-Morris House’s Twilight Concert Series.

Midbrow's Kulcha Vulcha Frederick Noland vacations in Europe ; third in a series. Day one of Barcelona finds The Vulcha stumbling blindly past cultural heritage landmarks in Sant Joan Despí to the city center in search of awe.

Uncle Blender, Clibbus, Problem Addict, Lo-Fives Dumpster Out Back Philadelphia August 15, 2026 There's a lot said through a name. I thought about that after seeing a band named "Uncle Blender" this past weekend at DIY venue Dumpster Out Back. "Uncle," as a title, doesn't really carry with it a sign of respect or superiority, but it isn't necessarily a diss. It has a sense of familiarity to it, possibly even a sense of embarrassment (drunk uncle).