Last night brought the first of the five Stranger Genius Showcases that will be held at the Frye Art Museum over the next five weeks and it was so, so great. Music was the theme, with Stranger music editor Emily Nokes hosting a packed-out group listening party interspersed with onstage interviews with the Music Genius finalists, all of whom were fascinating. Eyvand Kang and Jessika Kenney spoke about channeling sacred text into secular music, Jherek Bischoff spoke of his quest to compose in the key of "Sad Major," and Katie Kate spoke of coming to free-ranging hiphop beatmaking after getting schooled in the restrictive specifics of Bach's fugues. It was such a fun and fascinating night—I especially loved how having the musicians' work represented by recordings (rather than live performance) allowed them to be in the room as reflective artists rather than performers. (And it's fascinating watching musicians sit and listen to their own work.) If you missed it, you missed something special.

But DO NOT FRET, because we have four more Stranger Genius Showcases coming up, starting with next Wednesday's Film Genius Showcase, which will feature film from and onstage interviews with Ben Kasulke, Zach Weintraub, and Scott Blake, and will be hosted by me. Be there or be square. Full info and tickets here.

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