Sixto

Because I had already introduced the Sixto Rodriguez story to students in my Honors colloquium Detroit: Arts City, I mentioned him when working with those students to create a map of the city's points of interest. They were developing a map for the BSU delegation that traveled to Detroit for the annual meeting of the AAG, and I wondered aloud whether there might be some kind of monument to visit. It took the students less than a minute to find the building where he had worked in anonymity for decades. 

I was able to take this photograph a few months later, and to include it in my presentation at that conference.

For years, my friend and colleague from South Africa had been telling me about the 2012 film Searching Sugar Man. When I finally got around to it, both my spouse and I were big fans. I ordered a Sixto Rodriguez CD before we even finished the film. The trailer is full of spoilers, but the story is riveting, even if you know how it ends.

A very nice introduction to his music is the orchestral performance of Crucify Your Mind on Late Night. As David Letterman remarks, the story is fascinating and impossible and true, all at the same time.