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krj
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Top of the Park 2001
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Jun 16 18:28 UTC 2001 |
Here's the annual item for discussing the music and the movies at
Top of the Park, Ann Arbor's 24-day outdoor summer festival.
No one at the Grexlunch today could answer the query: was TOP a
complete rainout for opening night, or did the second band manage to
take the stage?
A full schedule can be found at http://aa.mlive.com/aasf and then
click on "Top of the Park."
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| 93 responses total. |
krj
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response 1 of 93:
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Jun 16 18:35 UTC 2001 |
Saturday night, the 7 pm band is the RFD Boys (venerable local
bluegrass band) and the 9 pm band is The Ambassadors Big Band,
playing 1940s swing-era hits. You can watch
all the senior citizens in the audience sway in unison when
The Ambassadors play Glenn Miller's theme song, "In The Mood."
I enjoy both of these bands, which I guess means I'm sliding towards
geezerhood myself; big band music was the sound of my parents' youth
so there was a lot of it around when I was young.
Note that there is no movie on Saturday night.
Sunday June 17: For music, Dave Mosher plays at 7 pm and Jelly's Pierced
Tattoo plays at 7:45, and I have never heard of either before.
The feature film is "Meet The Parents," preceded by a short film
from the Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Monday June 18: Dick Wagner plays "classic rock" at 7, and the
feature film is "Dirty Dancing."
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other
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response 2 of 93:
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Jun 16 18:53 UTC 2001 |
TOP was not rained out opening night. Kevin Meisels, the Jim Roll Band
and Rollie Tussing were unable to take the stage, but the Cadillac
Cowboys did get a few tunes in before the weather came back.
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senna
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response 3 of 93:
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Jun 16 20:36 UTC 2001 |
I didn't know that the weather came back. It was pretty clear west of town
after the first storm.
I'm not a geezer. I've been a Glenn Miller fan since childhood, though I
don't necessarily hear it that often anymore. Notably, my family sees The
Ambassadors Big Band every year, since one of its players is a relative of
ours. We'll probably see him at the Bilyea Reunion in Thorndale in August,
too.
I'll have to find a new place to park.
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krj
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response 4 of 93:
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Jun 17 05:41 UTC 2001 |
I felt so *happy* as I drove into the parking ramp to hear the RFD
Boys through the open window. I'm so glad the festival is in its
traditional location.
Wow, what a crowd Saturday night; few empty seats for the RFD Boys,
or for the first set by The Ambassadors. After the 10:20 pm break,
the audience thinned out a lot. I spent a lot of time chatting with
ea and senna (met ea for the first time), and after arabella came
down for dinner we hung out with senna until the evening ended.
Eric and Steve marvelled that I could predict what the last RFD Boys
tune would be. (It's *ALWAYS* "Orange Blossom Special.")
And we saw Eric/other, of course.
No Italian sausages from the Gandy Dancer booth this year; they
attempted to sell us on the virtues of their hot dogs instead.
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other
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response 5 of 93:
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Jun 17 06:43 UTC 2001 |
I dined this evening on Oasis Chicken from Rendez Vous and was quite pleased
with it. That, and the Stucchi's ice cream for dessert. Yum!
Thank goodness the Ambassadors brought some of their own gear, because our
full complement of microphones was just a bit short of what they needed.
Fortunately, the 24 channels in the snake was enough.
We had to use an overhead for the rack toms instead of individual mics on
them.
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scott
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response 6 of 93:
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Jun 18 04:35 UTC 2001 |
Spotted y, senna, other, krj, and arabella tonight. Nice evening for a movie!
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senna
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response 7 of 93:
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Jun 18 11:36 UTC 2001 |
Indeed, quite pleasant. I echo scott's spottings, replacing his name with
mine on the list.
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senna
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response 8 of 93:
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Jun 18 11:39 UTC 2001 |
In other news, Dirty Dancing is showing tonight. I recall it being rather
popular with other people of a similar age to mine; that would seem to
indicate that crowds will be reasonable, because college kids seem to be the
least represented age group at TOP.
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krj
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response 9 of 93:
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Jun 18 20:24 UTC 2001 |
Tuesday night there are two local bands who I really like a lot.
I may not be free to go so some of you will have to go and enjoy the
music for me.
The 7 pm band is Delta 88, who straddle the meeting point between
country, rock and folk, with some inspired electric guitar work.
The 8 pm band is the acoustic jazz trio Summers Delaney and Sharp:
two guitars and acoustic bass, performing music shaped by the
French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. At the moment these
guys are my favorite local musicians.
Tuesday's feature film is the animated adventure story "The Iron Giant,"
which was generally well-reviewed.
Wednesday is Dr. Seuss night, returning after a one-year hiatus.
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senna
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response 10 of 93:
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Jun 18 22:00 UTC 2001 |
Rats, inspired electric guitars and I'll be away until the second band.
I get the feeling that tonight will be underattended by people I know. I
wonder how long I should stay.
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krj
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response 11 of 93:
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Jun 18 22:59 UTC 2001 |
Delta 88 might be a little mellow for senna.
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scott
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response 12 of 93:
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Jun 18 23:34 UTC 2001 |
I should be there Tuesday... I haven't yet seen Summers, Delaney, and Sharp,
nor have I seen Iron Giant.
As for Monday... feh. Classic rock and then "Dirty Dancing"? Pass.
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senna
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response 13 of 93:
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Jun 19 03:31 UTC 2001 |
As it turns out, I know the sister of the frontman of tonight's band. It was
a decent show. Sparse attendance until the movie, when teens swarmed the
place. The stage definitely appears to accept a larger capacity of people
this year. I stayed for the first 45 minutes of the movie, and walke daround
for some of the band.
Other was the only grexer I saw, but I did manage to see several soccer
jerseys. Last year's Newcastle, two year old Tampa Bay Mutiny, and an old
Kappa Barcelona jersey, if I recall. I know you are interested to read this.
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ea
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response 14 of 93:
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Jun 19 03:32 UTC 2001 |
Didn't manage to make it to TOP tonight, but as I was driving past the
Power Center on Huron, I noticed a pretty bad car crash ... looked like
it had only happened a few minutes ago ... no emergency vehicles on
scene yet. Later, when I was driving home, the Police had Huron blocked
off in the direction I had been going earlier.
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scott
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response 15 of 93:
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Jun 20 15:06 UTC 2001 |
I'm not sure if the movie last night got rained out or not. It certainly got
delayed by the severe thunderstorm which rolled in at 10:00. A fair number
of people, including balynce, senna, and myself, watched the storm from just
inside the parking ramp. We were standing where we could see the giant cranes
over the construction site east of the parking ramp... I hadn't know that they
leave the cranes in state where they can swing around with heavy winds, so
we got to see them actually swinging around just by the force of the storm
winds.
It was much more interesting than a movie could have been. :)
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senna
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response 16 of 93:
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Jun 20 16:55 UTC 2001 |
It was more entertaining than the movie. If it went off (what's the word on
it, eric?), it wasn't well attended.
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twinkie
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response 17 of 93:
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Jun 20 20:23 UTC 2001 |
re: 15 -- It did. Just before 10:00, they sent everyone home.
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other
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response 18 of 93:
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Jun 21 21:26 UTC 2001 |
The storm not only caused the cancellation of "The Iron Giant" but
it also nearly flipped the north tent into the construction pit, tearing
apart some of its aluminum members and smashing one of our
fence sections.
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senna
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response 19 of 93:
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Jun 21 22:06 UTC 2001 |
We noticed the destruction of the tent. Was there any danger of it seeking
the company of the construction site?
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scott
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response 20 of 93:
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Jun 21 23:40 UTC 2001 |
I wasn't sure about the tent; it either could have been damage or perhaps some
design feature I hadn't noticed earlier (one end had a more open shape).
The really annoying part was when the first big gust of wind blew grit from
the upper level right into my (contact lens equipped) eyes. The rest was
really cool to watch.
I'm torn between the nasty weather tonight and the somewhat interesting
looking movie. Feh.
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senna
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response 21 of 93:
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Jun 22 02:21 UTC 2001 |
Neither the weather nor the movie appealed to me. Did anything make it?
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other
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response 22 of 93:
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Jun 22 02:37 UTC 2001 |
Tonight was a total bust at TOP. The rain was sufficiently persistent
that the whole evening was cancelled.
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senna
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response 23 of 93:
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Jun 22 03:24 UTC 2001 |
Wow, ouch. The weather's hitting TOP hard already this year. What's the
forecast for tomorrow? The combination of the night and the event leads me
to believe that, weather permitting, it will be the best attended night of
the year.
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scott
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response 24 of 93:
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Jun 22 12:48 UTC 2001 |
The next few days are supposed to be dry.
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