On March 5, 2007, a car bomb exploded on Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, killing 30 people and wounding more than 100. Along with the human victims, thousands of books were destroyed. The center of the city’s literary and intellectual community, the street’s bookstores and outdoor bookstalls took a tremendous hit. Thousands of miles away, San Francisco poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil decided to take action, founding the AlMutanabbi Street Project. To date, the ever-evolving art and literary project features the anthology Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, and handmade books and letterpress broadsides by more than 400 international artists.
COURTESY OF ANAS MITCHELL
Word on the Street
JUL.24 | MUSIC
Well Composed
BEAU BEAUSOLEIL
COURTESY OF ‘AL MUTANABBI STARTS HERE’
Friday, July 25, 7:30 p.m., at Haybarn Theatre, Goddard College, in Plainfield. Free. Info, 454-8311. goddard.edu
T JUL.25 | WORDS
SEVENDAYSVT.COM 07.23.14-07.30.14
ANAÏS MITCHELL & MICHAEL CHORNEY Thursday, July 24, 8 p.m., Moore Theater, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N.H. $9-18. Info, 603-646-2422. hop. dartmouth.edu
SEVEN DAYS CALENDAR 49
COURTESY OF ANDREA BEHRENDS
here’s something haunting about Anaïs Mitchell’s songs — in a good way. Blessed with a virtuosic ability, the Vermont-raised, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter takes an unconventional approach to her craft. A compelling storyteller, she writes what Pitchfork describes as “absorbing narratives that pull the emotional rug out from under the listener.” Flawless lyrics and pared-down vocals inform a repertoire that ranges from personal to political to her folk opera, Hadestown. Accompanied by her longtime collaborator, Michael Chorney, Mitchell takes the stage with a varied program that draws material from each of her albums.