a pound for a brown on the bus
on monday evening ann arbor held its second annual “townie party”, an event intended to provide local residents an opportunity to stretch out and relax for an evening before being descended upon by many thousands of visitors to the city’s famous, ever-expanding and bordering on out-of-control street art fairs. there was live music, face-painting and other low-key forms of revelry.
what is somewhat funny, or maybe at least ironic, is that your correspondent attended this party without knowing what it was. i had ridden into town on my track bike, all set up in track mode with the sewups and the track drops and no brakes, in an attempt to elevate the town atmosphere to something more like a true urban center (either that or i was simply showing off). so i came upon this scene and thought what’s up with all this? and who’s that guy singing that country song? he sure can play the guitar (it was bill kirchen, whom i guess i should have recognized but really he is from before my time).
anyway i read the paper the next day and lo and behold it was the “townie party”. as if the summer festival wasn’t enough of an ann arbor self-lovefest. a woman was quoted saying “i’m seeing people here i’ve been seeing for thirty years” and i’m thinking “that’s special because...?” everyone’s years of service were noted in this article, none of which exceeded my 46 years, which of course proves nothing. my only regret was not hanging around and listening to mr. kirchen, who was accompanied by sarah brown and rich dishman, for longer. now there’s some serious ann arbor cred for you.
as an aside, it is a popular sport among locals, self-styled or otherwise, to bash the fairs and complain about the inconvenience. in earlier days i did this as well, but since becoming more worldly (that is, traveling out of town more often) i believe that street fairs are inherently a good thing, and that any opportunity to shunt cars off to the side and let people walk around instead should be taken up with gusto. the art fair is a nuisance in the same way as are home football games: you know exactly when and where they’re going to happen so shut up. some folks are enjoying themselves.
what is somewhat funny, or maybe at least ironic, is that your correspondent attended this party without knowing what it was. i had ridden into town on my track bike, all set up in track mode with the sewups and the track drops and no brakes, in an attempt to elevate the town atmosphere to something more like a true urban center (either that or i was simply showing off). so i came upon this scene and thought what’s up with all this? and who’s that guy singing that country song? he sure can play the guitar (it was bill kirchen, whom i guess i should have recognized but really he is from before my time).
anyway i read the paper the next day and lo and behold it was the “townie party”. as if the summer festival wasn’t enough of an ann arbor self-lovefest. a woman was quoted saying “i’m seeing people here i’ve been seeing for thirty years” and i’m thinking “that’s special because...?” everyone’s years of service were noted in this article, none of which exceeded my 46 years, which of course proves nothing. my only regret was not hanging around and listening to mr. kirchen, who was accompanied by sarah brown and rich dishman, for longer. now there’s some serious ann arbor cred for you.
as an aside, it is a popular sport among locals, self-styled or otherwise, to bash the fairs and complain about the inconvenience. in earlier days i did this as well, but since becoming more worldly (that is, traveling out of town more often) i believe that street fairs are inherently a good thing, and that any opportunity to shunt cars off to the side and let people walk around instead should be taken up with gusto. the art fair is a nuisance in the same way as are home football games: you know exactly when and where they’re going to happen so shut up. some folks are enjoying themselves.
posted by cicadashell at
3:14 PM
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