Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

"Last Dispatch" for indie-rock pioneers in Boston

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 2. August 2004

Boston, MA—On the last day of July, in what can only be described as sweltering midsummer heat, as many as 100,000 dedicated fans came from as far away as Australia to bid indie-rockers Dispatch farewell at a free performance that was as memorable as it was important.

The park was packed, water was a precious commodity (and, at times, a form of currency), and the sun blazed from across the river. The band played for nearly four hours and left the audience satisfied, but somber. It was their favorite band’s final concert.

In addition to playing nearly all of their songs, the band took the opportunity to advocate responsible citizenship, urging all their fans to “use their voice” and vote in the fall. Later in the concert, the group took a less ambiguous position, shouting “rage against Bush” and asking its fans to “take back the country.” The group’s most popular song, and the only to ever gain mainstream airplay, is “The General,” a hopeful anti-war song about a seasoned war hero who discharges all his troops when he realizes that “this fight is not worth fighting.”

Dispatch formed in the late nineties when three friends who all sang, wrote music, and played guitar, decided to cooperate to form a uniquely dynamic independent rock group. Pete Heimbold, Chad Stokes, and Brad Corrigan each learned new instruments and started a rotating performance style that made them a hit on campuses across the country.

However, it was their promotion of internet music filesharing that gained them notoriety within the music industry. Having no desire to find a major distributor, the band relied on the early users of Napster to spread their music across the globe (you can still listen to all of their music for free on their website). The band even appeared at congressional hearings on the subject, but lament the fact that only major-label musicians were granted floor time.

Several years ago, the members decided that they wanted to end their journey while it was still fresh, and each went on to pursue their own projects. Occasionally reuniting for mini-tours, the band decided to throw one last party in Boston—their so-called “base camp”—as a part of Boston’s summer festival. The band secured the famed Hatch Shell outdoor park performance venue (just across the Charles River from Cambridge) for their farewell, and let the fans come for free.

This humble blogger (who, if you couldn’t tell, was at the concert) wishes the band well in the future, thanks them for the good times, and will surely and sorely miss them.

> Boston Globe: Dispatch goes out on top at giant farewell show
> DispatchMusic.com (official site)

Comment [2]

Fight Wave '04 Escalates

Posted by Brandon on 2. August 2004

The Summer of Brawls continues. This time, innocent bystanders were caught in the crossfire, today’s Ann Arbor News reports:

An argument about respect between a man and teenager led to the man throwing the teen’s hamster cage and turtles in the yard, and the teen hurling a brick at the man, Ann Arbor Police said.

The 24-year-old Ypsilanti man said he went to visit his girlfriend in the 2100 block of Hemlock Drive Saturday and ran into the teenager, reports said. He said the teen was talking about getting into a fight, so he told him not to be disrespectful, reports said.

The man said he threw the teen’s hamster cage in the yard because he felt disrespected, and the teen threw a brick at him and missed, reports said. The man said he then grabbed the teen’s turtles and threw them into the yard, and the teen hurled another brick that struck him in the right thigh, reports said.


No word on whether the teen learned to respect his elders.

Comment [3]

Another Giant Development Proposed Near Milan

Posted by Brandon on 1. August 2004

If you thought the Greenbelt was going to save us from sprawl, think again. A Developer has proposed another large development in the Milan area, just north of the city. Combined with an even larger project planned south of Milan, these developments could add about 30,000 people to the Milan area, currently home to 5,000 residents. This would leave Milan with a population approaching that of Novi, and a lot more in common with it, too. The Ann Arbor News reports:

Just miles north of a mega development proposed for thousands of acres of land south of Milan, another developer has unveiled plans to develop about 1,700 acres of land in York Township as a housing, commercial and industrial community with 4,000 dwellings.

The plan for the Riverbend Master Planned Community calls for 2,500 single-family homes, 1,500 multiple-family homes, 1 million square feet of commercial shopping center and a corporate, industrial and research park with 5 million square feet of floor space.

While the name “Master Planned” may attempt to brand this as intelligent growth, terms like “commercial shopping center” and “corporate, industrial and research park” are foreboding, and describe conventional auto-dependent sprawl of separated uses, at a mere 2.35 dwelling-units per acre, moreover. Apparently city leaders don’t feel the will to demand anything different, either, despite their control of the very infrastructure on which such a development would depend:

Milan Mayor Jose Owen Diaz said the development isn’t going to happen overnight. Stretched over 20 years, Milan can handle it, he said.

“Development is coming, and we cannot stop it,” he said. “I want to get the best of it and minimize the negative of it.”

Broadway Bridges Completed

Posted by Brandon on 1. August 2004

Since Friday afternoon, the Broadway Bridges connecting Kerrytown to Lower Town over the Huron River and Norfolk Southern railroad tracks have been open to two-way traffic. Only minor construction on a few connecting side streets appears to remain. Shave a few minutes off your drive to the grocery store from downtown or your bus ride home from work tomorrow.

Comment [2]

The Walkmen, Wilco to play Ann Arbor

Posted by Brandon on 1. August 2004

The implosion of this summer’s Lollapalooza festival has resulted in some real gains for local music fans. Instead of traipsing all the way to Clarkston to see some of today’s best bands at a bland outdoor ampitheater, then dodging $8-beer-vendors for the duration, we’ll now be able to see a few of these acts in more intimate venues right here in Ann Arbor.

This Wednesday, hot New York indie-rockers The Walkmen land at the Blind Pig for a mere $12 (doors 9:30). Do you really have anything more important to do? Be there.

Then, on October 10, widely-beloved Chicagoans Wilco return to town for the first time in nearly two years. A sign of their mushrooming popularity, this time they’ll be playing the 4,100-seat Hill Auditorium instead of the Michigan Theater (cap. 1,700). Ticket info is still forthcoming.

Comment [4]

I-94 Fatalities Unusually High

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 1. August 2004

The other big story in today’s Ann Arbor News seeks an explanation for the four fatalities so far this year on I-94 between Jackson and Ann Arbor—an unusually high number. The last three years have averaged about 14 highway fatalaties for the entire state.

> No easy answers for crashes

shameless plug: I editorialize about this on my new blog

Murder in Arrowwood Hills

Posted by Brandon on 1. August 2004

The recent spate of violence in Ann Arbor has taken a deadly turn. Friday night a man was murdered in the Arrowwood Hills cooperative housing complex on the city’s northeast side. No suspects have been taken into custody. From the Ann Arbor News:

A late-night argument in the parking lot of a large townhouse complex on Ann Arbor’s north side erupted in deadly gunfire, marking the first homicide in the city in a little more than a year’s time.

A group of people were gathered in a parking lot at Arrowwood Hills Cooperative off Pontiac Trail about midnight Friday when the shots were fired, killing 29-year-old Scott Michael Pfeifer, Detective Sgt. Jim Stephenson said.

Pfeifer was struck several times by the gunshots, and his killer was still being sought as of Saturday evening, Stephenson said. Police don’t think anyone else was hit by the gunfire.

Comment [5]

City Council Likely to Vote on Broadway Village Tomorrow

Posted by Brandon on 1. August 2004

Speaking of Lower Town, the Ann Arbor City Council will likely vote on the proposed Broadway Village project at tomorrow night’s meeting, the Ann Arbor News reports. Attend the meeting, which begins at 7 PM at City Hall, or email the Mayor and members of council to have your opinion on the project made known.

Comment [1]

U-M Exits Lower Town

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 1. August 2004

The University of Michigan Health System, the presumed anchor tenant of the Lower Town project has pulled out according the the Business Direct Weekly.

> Lower Town project loses U-M, gains lease


While the health center is pivotal to the project, the U-M move doesn’t appear to hinder it.

Strathmore has been negotiating with two other health-care providers to set up an athletic club, with the center’s size likely to climb to about 60,000 square feet.

“We expect to have a lease within 30 days,” said Scott Chappelle, president of Strathmore.

The Lower Town project is a large, mixed-use brownfield development planned on the north side of the Huron River, near the Broadway Bridge. Rob followed Lower Town developments at the Goodspeed Update:

> GU post 1
> GU post 2

To get an idea of the layout of the area and some history:

> Broadway Park

Phat dollarz for the College EXPERIENCE!

Posted by dilleym on 1. August 2004

via The S-Train Canvas

“Damn and more damn! By the time my three progeny want to go to college, it’ll be $90,000+ average. That’s over a quarter of million. But let’s get back to today. $60,000 is some serious scratch. And if that child is going to be a doctor/surgeon (or some other intensive field), triple that.”

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