Most of you probably know
John Hodgman as 'The PC Guy' in all those MAC commercials. A few of you probably recognize him from appearances on
The Daily Show. But the real pop culture geeks know Mr. Hodgman from early contributions to
This American Life and his hilarious encyclopedias of misinformation:
The Areas Of My Expertise and, now,
More Information Than You Require. (Ultra nerds like me also know he appeared as a brain surgeon on an episode of
Battlestar Galactic) Personally, Hodgman always reminded me of Dr. Bunson Honeydew from
The Muppets and I was glad to discover
I wasn't the only one.
The only thing you really need know, however, is that John Hodgman is very smart and very funny. He's the guy who pointed out how President Obama was a geek at heart. He used to be a professional literary agent and has served as the Humor Editor for the
New York Times Magazine along with a bunch of other eggheady positions.
But mostly he's funny. And he'll be at Ann Arbor's downtown Borders, no doubt reading funny stuff, being politely gracious to fans, and, from what I hear, yelling out the number of books he’s signed --a la the deli counter at Hiller's-- as he signals the next fan to approach. Go, it's free. And buy a book. Borders could use the business.
And speaking of geeks... computer, board, and role playing gamers will be descending on U-M's Student Union this weekend for
U-Con, an orgy of gaming delights. It's just one more in the week's long list of groovy events... from the high brow (
The Berlin Philharmonic, a gallery show for artist
John Cogswell) to the low down (albino-muslim hip hop star
Brother Ali) to the blues (
Keb' Mo'). And it's all good.
"What," you say, "no FilterD-worthy shows at The Ark?" Well, sensitive avant folkster
Devendra Banhart almost made the cut (as did Detroit pop rockers
The High Strung at
Elbow Room in Ypsi) but, hey, every body gets a turn at bat, right?
Coulda Shoulda......but didn't. Sometimes we catch wind of an event too late to add to FilterD.
Vistaraa is one of those near misses.
Put on by U-M's Indian American Student Association, the show has, over its 22 years, become the largest student run cultural show on the continent... or so the ISSA says. And why would I have any reason to doubt them?
An elaborate and colorful celebration of Indian culture, music and dance,
Vistarra: An Eternal Progression explores the concept of time through artistic expression. It's the kind of unique cultural event that doesn't come often to Ann Arbor and it deserves your look-see.
The show is at the Hill Auditorium on Friday night (7PM) , and if past years are any indication, the crowd should be huge. Proceeds from the concert go to Pratham, an Indian charity dedicated to ensuring that poverty stricken children receive an education.
Tickets available at the Michigan Union Ticket Office or at
Ticketmaster.com. Check out their
Facebook site or go to www.umiasa.org
Creative spaceSo, last week's musings on Ann Arbor's lack of affordable, accessible space for nonprofits and arts groups generated a heckuva lot of email. Weirdly, the most emails any single topic covered in
Concentrate has ever received. And lengthy messages too.
A small percentage didn't see creative real estate as an issue. I was even pointed to
this wiki, devoted to the very subject (we'll get to that in a moment). The vast majority of the emails (nearly two dozen), however, were from members of arts and culture groups and local nonprofits, all lamenting the lack of community spaces. Clearly I had struck a chord.
There are a variety of reasons why space is important to these groups. From holding fund raising events to interacting with the community to networking with peers to holding performances, local groups are clamoring for access. From my point of view, Ann Arbor has plenty of space if you're looking for a conference table to gather around. Otherwise, the options are very limited, far flung and usually quite expensive.
Perusing the wiki listings, nearly half are eating establishments of one kind or another. Hardly the kind of place you can rehearse, mingle or perform. So, let's whittle what's there down to an empty space for, say, a small theater troupe.
Gallup Park offers a
meeting room for $28/hr. (or $90 for a 2 hour party!) Now, let's say you're said performance troupe, hoping to rehearse your post modern take on Shakespeare's
Hamlet. Most plays require roughly 20 rehearsals of 3 hours or more. At the Park District's rate our little company of thespians would need to lay out nearly $1,700... before they've spent a dime on costumes, sets, props, programs or a performance venue. And let's say, by some miracle, they land a performance space. Oh, say,
The Kerrytown Concert House. Rent for a Friday and Saturday performance would be $800. There are 110 seats. To break even, this nonprofit group of ambitious amateurs would have to charge at least $25 a ticket and hope for a sell out crowd if they wanted to break even.
Get the fiscal picture? The creative real estate in our city needs to innovate if it is to help nurture a vibrant, evolving nonprofit and arts scene. We should be providing opportunities for these groups to flourish and grow because, ultimately, they contribute to the quality of life for all our citizens.
So, what does that mean? Well, from my perspective it seems that the issue is two-fold:
(1) A diversity of cheap, open meeting spaces need to be made available to nonprofits and arts groups. They don't necessarily need to be downtown but they do need to be flexible in terms of their use and hours of access.
(2) Community spaces for events and performance need to be available in Ann Arbor's downtown. They should accommodate more than a hundred people and be oriented toward affordability. This is particularly important because it is access to mid-sized venues that allow an organization to grow its audience, membership and/or profile. Similarly, the space needs to be downtown, because of its density, activity, and exposure to the public.
So, how do we get from here to there? Well, expecting the city to just build a community arts and culture venue in its downtown, even in the best economy, is a hard sell. Innovation will mean tackling the problem from a variety of angles - both private and public.
...Which is where you come in.
Email me your best ideas. I'll take your suggestions, do a little research on my own and put them together for a future column.
Until then, support the area's nonprofits and remember to consume your entertainment locally.
Jeff Meyers
Editor
Want your event in FilterD? We only pick six each week!
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