Top of the Park 2002

Jun 13 04:06 UTC 2002

The music!  The movies!   The Grexer spottings!!
Yes, once again it's time for Top of the Park, Ann Arbor's 24-day
free outdoor festival.  
 
TOP opens Friday night, June 14.  To see a schedule, go to 
http://mlive.com/aasf    and click on "Top of the Park"

response 2 of 35:

Jun 13 04:41 UTC 2002

As of the end of the day today, a good deal of the TOP setup is 
complete.  All the structures are standing, most of the fencing is in 
place, and people have started running electrical.  Just a few other 
minor things left to be done tomorrow and Friday.

(I was one of 3 grexers that was on the setup crew, Eric Bassey and 
Scott Helmke being the other 2)

response 4 of 35:

Jun 13 14:13 UTC 2002

Darn, the booths of Gandy Dancer and the 3 Amigos Mexican place were my 
favorite TOP food stands the last few years.

response 6 of 35:

Jun 13 22:29 UTC 2002

The bulk of the setup is done, somewhat ahead of schedule.  

response 8 of 35:

Jun 14 04:48 UTC 2002

You couldn't have known that the crew of people you hired would work so 
well together.  It was a lot of fun.  Count me in for strike.  (I know 
... emails about that come later)

response 10 of 35:

Jun 16 18:37 UTC 2002

Friday night:  I managed to arrive just in the midst of the opening song
of the TOP season.  Rollie Tussing III is a favorite of mine, I should
get out to see him more; he plays a mean National Steel guitar.
His 20 minute set was too short.  The Ann Arbor Americana Anthology
continued with Jim Roll's band; I do like his electric guitar tone.
And the last of the local quasi-folkies was Chris Buhalis, who was 
bringing back echoes of the 60s with a talking blues about John 
Ashcroft, and closing with Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land."
 
The only term I could make up to characterize the Cadillac Cowboys
was "American Festival Music."  They played a bunch of country-style
music at the beginning of their set; touched folk with a cover of a 
John Prine song; went back to the 40's for a blazing boogie-woogie
rendition of "Beat Me Daddy 8 to the Bar;" into the fifties and 
sixties or "Peppermint Twist" and the dazzlingly morbid "Last Kiss,"
which I just had to sing along with; and finished their first set 
with "Ghost Riders In The Sky."  
 
I was shivering -- had not planned ahead to bring a sweater, and it 
was cold -- so I gave up at the Cadillac Cowboys' intermission and 
went home.  Grexers spotted:  other, dewshine, gelinas and Cindi.

Saturday night:  The Ambassadors Big Band always pull in a good 
crowd from my parents' generation, playing hits from the swing 
era -- Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" is always an audience favorite --
and also some Ellington and other big band songs.  This show is always
a nostalgia trip for me, since there was lots of this music in the 
house while I was growing up.  Grexers sighted: ea, senna and other.
 
Grexer spottings are way, way down this year.

response 12 of 35:

Jun 16 19:23 UTC 2002

I'm hoping for good weather for The Birds tomorrow evening.

response 14 of 35:

Jun 16 23:13 UTC 2002

The Red Elvises are not on the schedule this year.

response 16 of 35:

Jun 17 13:41 UTC 2002

I boldly went up to the stage to try to spot someone.  I found other, who
said some folks were around.  But I didn't find such folks.  

response 18 of 35:

Jun 17 20:31 UTC 2002

dewshine will be there every night.  Just look for the gaggle of young people,
she'll probably be in the center.  She's about 5'8" tall, dark blond/light
brown hair short and a bit curly with long tendrals in front (though you won't
see them if she tucks them behind her ears).  Her eyes are blue, green. or
gray depending on what she is wearing.  She bounces a lot.  dea will be there
tonight.  He's taller than senna, also dark blond/light brown hair, brown
eyes.  He walks slightly bent over (back aches) so doesn't always look as tall
as he is.

response 20 of 35:

Jun 17 20:51 UTC 2002

Last time I measured him he was 6'6", he's grown since then, Staci insists
that he is 6'8".  I can't fully confirm since I can't reach that high, but
I do have to tilt my head back further to give him the "Mommy Glare".  Being
only 5'3" has its draw backs at times :->

response 22 of 35:

Jun 18 03:28 UTC 2002

Useful tips for ea spotting:
- Roughly 5'11"
- Dark hair, (right now a bit longer than I like, I'm planning on fixing 
this problem soon)
- Usually wearing some form of t-shirt, usually not as brightly colored 
as senna's soccer jerseys
- Can probably be found talking to grexers, including (but not limited 
to) dewshine, senna, other, scott, or krj
- if there are no other grexers around, probably lurking in a corner 
somewhere, looking around in a paranoid fashion (due to habits of 
certain grexers to sneak up behind people when they're not expecting it)

response 24 of 35:

Jun 18 08:46 UTC 2002

resp:20  Holy s**t, he's apparently grown a lot since I met him.