When I first got accepted to Michigan (the university, not the state of), I really didn’t want to go that much. (I liked my hometown, man. Get off my back.) But in August — just three weeks before I was to ship off for good — I went to Freshmen Orientation and got into it. What I really dug about that visit was the city of Ann Arbor. We li’l Freshies got to know it a little by doing cornball things like scavenger hunts, running in sprinklers, getting lost like you do in a new town…. We were like little colts (age 18, sure, but sort of), wobbling around right out of their mothers’ wombs. We were like, “Oooh, a NEW TOWN! I don’t… I don’t know what to….” Cute.
Ann Arbor grew on me and after four years (including two funfilledglorious summers), I did not want to leave. I’d fallen in love with that town. As I read in an old book about a kid who also went to school at the U, “Ann Arbor had happened to him.” That’s what it felt like. I was hooked. Ann Arbor had happened to me.
It’s such a peach of a town, it’s hard not to love it. If you DON’T, to quote a friend of mine, “you’re kind of an asshole.” Sure, A-Squared’s got flaws. Of course. But it’s got seasons, and trees and squirrels up the waz. (Never have spelled that before…. waz /wahz/ vulgar n. From the late English “wazoo.” Buttocks, bottom, rear-end. syn: yingyang.)
It’s lively in the fall, dark in the winter and gorgeous in the (late) spring. Then not only beautiful, but C-H-I-I-I-I-I-LLLL in the summer, with a rowdy break for the local Summerfest before the top blows off in July for Art Fair, then, in August? The place is comatose, in a good way. And then… SEPTEMBER, and all the life that brings.
You can bike it, you can drive it, and the hassle-to-amenity ratio is terrifically low. And quality stuff per square mile? An 11. Great chow, especially ethnic food (better Indian and Middle-Eastern than I’ve yet found in New York), excellent events, good solid people, clean air, quiet nights (if you’re not near campus), crickets, frogs, birds, day lilies, fine stores… all that stuff.
I loved so many places there (I get nostalgic right now, sitting at this MacBook in Brooklyn, almost eight years after I moved away) that I’m commemorating them in art. I painted my favorite little corner store (e.g.: the place we bought beer in college) on canvas in “Blue Front”, then created silkscreens of my favorite burger joint (Blimpy Burger, right behind my dorm West Quad) and my fave spot on campus (the courtyard of the Law Quad). Just shipped them all to the Ann Arbor Art Center (on Liberty off Main) last week, and they’re on sale now, there and on my site.
And there’s more to come. I’m following these up with other favorite spots in town, likely including the Michigan Theater (where I volunteered and did freelance artwork), Ashley’s pub (where folks from the radio station where I worked ritualistically headed at the end of the day), Zingerman’s Deli (nuff said), the Fleetwood Diner (one of Colleen and my favorite breakfast joints), Dominick’s (the sweetest tavern I’ve ever known, with the best outdoor seating both in back near the fountain and out front, especially on the upper deck overlooking the Law Quad), and gee… what else? The stadium… Arbor Brewing Co…. the Bell Tower…? You tell me.
18 comments
Happy New Year, John!
As you may or may not know, Blimpyburger is working on a fundraiser to re-open in a new location after the University displaced the original building (depicted in your prints). I would love to use your print in some way as part of our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign-for example, as a perk offered to donors. I was also wondering if you had any additonal Blimpyburger artwork? Please contact me to discuss this further if you have any interest in getting involved with our relocation effort.
Here is the Indiegogo campaign:
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon!
-Rich
Hi Rich. Man, my apologies for totally missing this comment. I should have been notified when it came in, and I was not. I missed your campaign, and I regret that, too, because I certainly would have given. If you do another one (and you should… I’ve seen it work), I’ll definitely give some art. These pieces (and you can see them at the AA Art Center) are the only ones I’ve done for Blimpy’s. Again, my apologies for being of no timely help at all.
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