The Washtenaw Voice, Section B

MARCH 14, 2011

ROBERT CONRADI THE WASHTENAW VOICE

Dennis Coffey has some quiet time alone before his gig at Motor City Funk Night at the Majestic Theater, Friday, Feb. 25.

A cuppa joe,with Motowns Dennis Coffey

BENJAMIN MICHAEL SOLIS Staff Writer Dennis Coffey is one of the great unsung heroes of Motown Records. But even legends need backup plans. Luckily for Coffey, he had two. Unable to land a new record deal in 1985, Coffey went to work on the assembly lines of General Motors. Moving up the ladder in the auto industry and graduating from Wayne State University with a masters degree in intstructional technology, Coffey became a consultant for both GM and Ford Motor Company. But when the auto industry took a turn for the worse, Coffey returned to his rst love of music and ran with it for the second time. Sitting over a cup of coffee in the heart of Detroits theater district, the 70-year-old guitarist and native Detroiter said it was all about survival. I had to do what I had to do to feed my family, Coffey said, about an hour before he was to take the stage before a packed house at the Majestic Theatre. If you stay in music for too long and it isnt making you money anymore, it becomes really hard to do. I gured I can ride the horse until its dead, or I can get off. And thats what I did. Now, after a 22-year recording hiatus and a break from touring, the session guitarist and Funk Brothers alum is again in full swing. Supported by Motor City Funk Night house band Will Sessions for four North American dates, Coffey is back on the road and is set to release a brand-new, self-titled album on April 25. Brought together through their management teams, Sessions founder and band leader Sam Beaubien said it was all a matter of chance. I was hired to arrange horn parts for his new album, and his management heard all our music and liked what we did, said the 28-year-old trumpeter. The result is a dream gig. Its amazing, Tim Shellabarger, bass player and co-founder of Sessions, said before their rst gig on Feb. 21. The guy was in the Funk Brothers, one of the all-time greatest backup bands in music and now were backing him. This is nothing new for the eightpiece band, which has backed underground hip-hop heavyweights like Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, Phat Kat and Slum Village in both the studio and live settings. Described by their fans as the grimy, groovy love-child of James
SEE MOTOWN PAGE B2

Tapping into opera

ADAM WOODWARD COURTESY PHOTO

WCC Custom Cars and Concepts students entered a customized 2005 Ford Five Hundred GT-R in Autorama at Cobo Center.

WCC students take Autorama by storm again

LEAH RURKA Staff Writer Washtenaw Community Colleges Custom Cars and Concepts program once again out-muscled the competition at the recent Autorama at Detroits Cobo Center, winning eight awards, including four rsts. Autorama is arguably one of the toughest custom car shows in the country, according to Gary Sobbry, who has been department chair of the Custom Cars and Concepts program for 10 years. And this year, other colleges were involved in the show, held Feb. 25-28. We did really well, said Sobbry. We are really proud of all the ladies and gentlemen that built those vehicles. It was another good year. Vehicles at Autorama were judged by three teams of two individuals who examine several aspects of the vehicle, including interior, paint and body work, under hood modications and under body modications. The Ford 500 GT-R, the pride of Washtenaws Custom Cars and Concepts program, was entered in the Radical Hard Top class and did not disappoint. The car really shouldnt have been put in that class, but the judging staff did it. It really destroyed the students because they thought there was zero chance of winning anything, said Sobbry. A long story short, we took rst in that class. The GT-R is a prime example of the grit and determination of WCCs automotive technologies program. When designing the car, Ford Motor Co. engineers told Sobbry that it couldnt be built. He was told it was impossible. Less than a year later, with Ford writing the check, we completed the car and it ran at 200 mph, said Sobbry. Scott Malnar, instructor in the Custom Cars & Concepts program, expressed his pride in WCCs staff and students at the show. They were there the whole time, working the booth, said Malnar. I think Washtenaw had a great presence at Autorama.
SEE AUTO PAGE B5
KO KAIDEN COURTESY PHOTO

Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti managing divo Ko Kaiden poses with a mug of beer before the show at Frenchies Bar in Ypsilanti.

LAWRENCE DONNELLY Contributor Its not hard to miss. From the outside, Frenchies Bar looks like an annex of Sidetrack Bar and Grill, and to a great degree, thats true. Frenchies is, after all, owned by Linda French, Sidetracks well-known proprietor. But what makes Frenchies different is partially the different things that go on in there, and if you walk through the door marked Antiques on a Tuesday night, you might be lucky enough to hear music by Opera on Tap. On the rst Tuesday of every month, General Manager Divo Ko Kaiden and a revolving cast of performers sing and play for whats usually a full house. Larry OSullivan has been coming for more than a year.

Opera was made for audience participation, he said. Its a great way to come out and hear great music. The sound in here, with the hardwood oors, and the brick walls, its just incredible, said Paul Northway, OSullivans friend. When you have someone like Ko singing, you really understand what people mean when they say ring the rafters. Ko really rings the rafters. Doris Waldon recently attended OOT for the rst time. She compared the evenings performance, titled Love is All You Need to a walk through the British countryside. There are usually a lot of familiar faces, but OSullivan points out, theres always someone new, like Waldon. Kaiden has been a musician for years. After moving from Japan to Brooklyn, he found it hard to nd

KO KAIDEN COURTESY PHOTO

Soprano Karin White and baritone Ko Kaiden at Frenchies in Ypsilanti sing La ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni by Mozart.

places to perform as an oboist, and began taking voice lessons. After some time, he encountered OOT, and was able to begin singing. A lot of vocalists struggle to nd places to perform after they graduSEE OPERA PAGE B3