Muskegon, MI, February 12, 2019 — Movies+Music, the Wednesday night series at The Block that premiered this winter, concludes at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 13 with Searching for Sugar Man. This documentary highlights the strange career of Detroit folksinger Sixto Rodriguez, whose low profile in the U.S. was in sharp contrast to his status in South Africa, where unknown to himself he became a pop music phenomenon.
Music+Movies explores the creative marriage of movies and music. Each event features a notable panel of film scholars and music experts to introduce the films and lead follow-up discussions. Searching for Sugar Man will be emceed by John Schmit, Associate Professor of Film at GVSU and himself a documentary filmmaker; and Mitch Anderson, host and founder of Black Circle Radio. The series was conceived by Block Board member Kerri VanderHoff, adjunct professor of film and video at GVSU and Executive Director of the Coalition for Community Development.
In the early 1970s, Sixto Rodriguez was a Detroit folksinger who had a short-lived recording career with only two well received but non-selling albums. Unknown to Rodriguez, his musical story continued in South Africa where he became a pop music icon and inspiration for generations. Long rumored there to be dead by suicide, a few fans in the 1990s decided to seek out the truth of their hero’s fate. What follows is a bizarrely heartening story in which they found far more in their quest than they ever hoped, while a Detroit construction laborer discovered that his lost artistic dreams came true after all.
The doors open at 6:00pm. Patrons are invited to arrive early, grab a drink, and settle in for a good movie and good conversation. Searching for Sugar Man is rated PG-13. General admission tickets are priced at $8. To order, call 231.726.3231 or visit www.TheBlockWestMichigan.org.