Winter, go away.

Downtown Ann Arbor during this cold weather is not fun at all. I am always there and everytime I walk through the streets I ask myself "Where's the old guy playing harmonica?", "Where's the Micheal Jackson dancer?", "What happened to No Face?". All the eccentric characters of downtown Ann Arbor have disappeard because of winter, and it's kind of depressing. Ann Arbor is a fun place to be, but these guys brought some serious color into town. Winter needs to end, because I'm tired of being cold and I want some entertainment when I'm walking down the streets!!

Hook me up@!!!

Does anyone know how to post pictures on here? I think I would have a lot more fun with this if I knew how to.

SOMEBODY ENLIGHTEN ME!!!

thanks.

c-c-c-c-crazy

So I'm hunting for some new information about The Blind Pig and on their homepage they have a section that's dedicated to the venue's history. I honestly thought the place wasn't that old, but it was actually up and running during the 1970's. The Blind Pig was a coffeehouse that was dedicated to nothing but the blues. There was a very diverse group of artists that have played at the Pig before they knew that they were going to taste fame. We're talkng artists like Jimmy Hendrix, Iggy Pop, MC5 (one of my favorite bands by the way!!), Boogie Woogie Red, Hound Dog Taylor, John Lennon, and a lot more. I am a regular at the Pig, and I've seen a lot of tributes hanging on the walls near the entrance but I never really bothered to care. I just thought it was decoration for the Pig since it is a place dedicated to music, but I was obviously wrong. After reading this article I'm definitely seeing the Pig in a whole other light, and I'm probably going to change how I was orginally going to approach my paper because of this new found information.

Java Java

I won't lie, I am a victim of going to a coffeehouse every now and then. I always grab a delightfully warm and chocolatey mocha latte to accompany my endless supply of homework. If my goal is not to do some work, I grab a friend and we sit in those extremely fat and cozy sofas and talk the night away. Unfortunately, I don't think Ann Arbor has been blessed with coffeehouses as unique as the ones Marriott has mentioned. Which really makes me a little envious, because the only coffee shops that I have really been to are your typical Starbucks and Espresso Royal.
What's kind of funny is how I prefer to constantly spend 4 bucks on a fancy cup of coffee and watch my wallet shrink. Even though the drink itself is nothing extremely special, the overall aroma and feel of a coffeehouse is really magnetic and I almost feel that I am obligated to go at least once week. From all the times that I have sat down to read a book and drink a good cup of coffee, I never sparked up or experienced a random conversation with another customer. I'm kind of glad though, because I'm there alone for a reason. I can say that I am an addict to coffee drinks and that I do eat chocolate covered beans. I never considered eating them during class to keep me awake, but it's definitely a good idea and worth a try. I personally don't care if caffeine is a health hazard, because it seems like science has found almost everything you consume to eventually harm your body. I like my coffee, and I like my generic coffeehouses and I don't plan on detaching myself from the atmosphere.

blind pig

So I think I figured out how i am going to write about the blind pig for my paper. I don't really want to say anything about it yet, because I'm not too sure if what I'm thinking is accurate. I am a little behind schedule on what I should be doing, but I'll catch up. I don't know how I came up with how I was going to approach the blind pig, but I am glad that I finally came up with something. I know my interviewing will be easy because I know a lot of regulars that hit up the blind pig and I know a couple of people who are from out of town that go to the venue for certain shows. I think it would be interesting to interview people who are and are not familiar with the blind pig. I am a little worried about the internet/book research for the venue, because I don't think that there would be too many websites of the history of the blind pig. But if I do find anything, I hope it's really interesting.

dFunk

check out this page. This is what I was trying to talk about in class. It has photos of a run down area of Detroit and underneath the photos are comments which in my eyes are pretty entertaining. Even though I had a giggle or two from reading what the guy had to say, I still looked at the photo and seriously questioned what Detroit is thinking. The fact that people actually live in such a rundown place is really disturbing. What I don't understand is why is Detroit willing to save the building from burning, but they're doing nothing about making the building a more suitable place to live in. To me, the apartment complex just got shittier and that's about it. Aren't the people of Detroit important at all? Seeing that Detroit can ignore such a beat up bulding, and only pay attention to it when it needs to be looked at is really a sad thing in my eyes.

Hooks essay

The essay was pretty interesting. Hook mainly talked about African American women during a horrible part of America's past. She mentions "homeplace" a lot throughout the essay and how it's mainly a place to resist racial domination. From what I was able to understand about a homeplace in the reading is that it's kind of a responsibilty for black women to construct a warm atmosphere from a harsh reality. It was a sign of resistance from the political position that people were thrown in, and that it should taken credit for and not ignored.It was also seen as a struggle in Hook's eyes for these women to take their own initiative to work hard and make a home for their families, and that it is a very honorable thing to do.
Not only that, but African American women were just as powerful and just as helpful as the men who made a difference during such a racial struggle. Reading the essay I got the feeling of sexism a little more than racial prejudice, even though the two topics did go hand in hand in her argument. She was definitly fighting more for women being recognized. and just how great women really are during bad times.

Grammer.

don't mind the poor grammer skills that are below this and in the futuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure!!@!!!!!

Today I was a little bored, so I decided to go downtown and walk around and eventually sit and read in Borders. As I'm walking, I ALWAYS run into this one "bum" and he does the same thing everytime. As soon as I would get near him he says, "Spare any change my good friend?" with this massive toothy grin. Then I say a simple "No" and while he still shows off his unforgetable goofy smile he says, "Well, you have a nice day".
Everytime I see this middle aged guy I just know what's going to happen, and the funny thing is that it's been about 2 years of me seeing this dude and he's still saying the same exact thing. What's odd is that he's definitly not dirt poor. I kind of wonder if he does it for shits 'n' giggles instead of actually needing money. Because he goofing around with some guys around his age, and sharing his big white set of teeth with a massive gap right smack dab in the middle for all of downtown Ann Arbor to see.

Analysis paper...

I'm not 100% sure on what I want to write about exactly. The moment I heard about this assignment one place came to mind, and that's the Blind Pig. Along with the Blind Pig, there is the 8 Ball that is basically the basement of the Blind Pig that's turned into a bar. So those two go hand in hand, but the only issue is that I don't know what to write about that isn't already obvious.
The major points about the venue is that it's small, underground and local bands perform there almost every night, and The Bang! occurs every couple of months. There are also random themed movie nights, and a comedian would come by once and a while, but overall the place really targets people in high school and college (even though a majority of the nights are for 18+ only). The more I talk about the Blind Pig, the more I also remember how everytime I go to the Blind Pig it gets ridiculously hot and when I travel down the stairs the it begins to reek of stale beer,cigarettes, vomit, sweat, and I really can't put my finger on the rest. It's a very overpowering smell in the 8 Ball and it's disgustingly hot upstairs, so I could talk about how poor the ventilation system is. But that's not really good, I could talk about no matter how much the place is cleaned up the Blind Pig could never be anything else but a bar and a venue. I still feel that they are weak ideas, hopefully I'll figure something out.

Nikki's Window

Essentially, Herron complain's about how people attempting to bring back what Detriot was doesn't exactly help relive the past. Not only that, but it seems like he doesn't appreciate how areas of historical value are being ignored and used for more contemporary things. For example, Herron talked about how there were arcades and more modern and generic restaurants were taking over the city of Detriot. It seems like the only reason Detriot is hanging onto places ,like Greektown, is because newer generations crave for what was of their past, and no one is ready to let go just yet. There is no real sense of history in Detriot because a majority of older buildings have been revamped. It's like having a friend buy a pair of irreplaceable sunglasses from the 50's and gluing rhinestones on it. Not only did those awesome pair of shades lose it's value, but it's looks ridiculous and you want laugh at them for doing something so silly. And it's basically how Herron feels about Detriot. The greatness of what was Detriot and having it remade is the wrong and embarassing way to go. There is no concrete feel of the past, and it's a shame because that's the one thing people seem to want to somehow relive.