The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, September 23, 1993 - 3
Laugh within city limits
You don't have to drive to the Motor City for a good laugh
By RONA KOBELL
Second City may be revitalizing
Detroit's comedy circuit, but you don't1
have to drive that far out of town to
catch some great laughs. Both ama-
teurs and professionals are gracing Ann
Arbor's local comedy clubs these days,
and the discounted prices are no joke.
To catch some famous locals in the act
without denting your budget, try these
nearby favorites.
Mainstreet Comedy Showcase(314
E. Liberty): The old stand-by is still the
best and only professional stand-up
comedy club within the AnnArbor city
limits. Some of Mainstreet's more fa-
mous recent visitors include "Saturday
Night Live"'s Father Guido Sarducci,
Judy "The Giver Goddess" Tenuta and
Malone and Nootcheez, a duo who
recently appeared on MTV, Nickel-
odeon and A&E. Next month,
Mainstreet will resume its open mike
night, where students and other local
amateurs are encouraged to perform.
Shows usually cost $10 and begin at
8:30on Thursday andat8:30and 10:30
Friday and Saturday. Open mike night,
of course, is free. For more information
call996-9080.
Laughtracks (University Club, the
Union): Jennifer Davis, chairman of
Laughtracks, believes that "there are a
lot of funny people on this campus."
Anyone who has people-watched in the
Diag on a warm day, pondering the
idiosyncrasies of our student body
would have to agree. To prevent all this
humor from laying dormant, UAC's
comedy program encourages students
to take their jokes to the U-club on
Wednesday night for almost two hours
of stand-up comedy fun. Every fourth
Wednesday from 10:00 to 12:30,
Laughtracks hosts featured comedians
as well as informal open mike nights.
The laughter begins on September 29
with headliner Bill Thomas, a Detroit
DJ and veteran of Mainstreet Comedy
Showcase. Laughtracks will also co-
sponsor Dennis Miller's October 21
visit to Hill Auditorium - tickets are
$10 and go on sale tomorrow.
On November 10, Laughtracks will
host a Letterman-esque night of stupid
frat tricks. Other programs in the works
include apseudo-Star Search for funny
people on campus and a pissed-off
women's comedy night. Seniors Jason
and Randy Sklar will be emceeing the
shows, and returning comedian Dan
Abrams will also be performing. It
only costs $3, a real bargain for the
chance to laugh at your friends onstage.
Those interested in performing should
attend the mass meeting on Sept. 28 at
8:30 in the UAC office on the second
floor of the Union. For more informa-
tion, call 747-4113.
Chaplin's (16890 Telegraph Road,
between Five and Six Mile just off
Route 96 in Redford): Although it's a
bit of a trek from Ann Arbor, Chaplin's
lures its fair share of students with
popular headliners, group discounts and
occasional complementary tickets. On
September25, comedy buffs andmelo-
dramatic mavens can look forward to
watching the observational humor of
Walt Willey, better known as Jackson
Montgomery on ABC's "All My Chil-
dren."
Shows at Chaplin's run Sunday
through Thursday at 8:30, and Friday
and Saturday at 8 and 10:30. Monday
night features Kirk Noland's Comedy
Camp, a mixture of stand-up routines,
video and improvisation. Tickets cost
$5 per person Sunday-Thursday and
$10 Friday and Saturday. For more
information call 533-8866.
What are you waiting for? If you haven't gone yet, go to Borders Book Shop and immerse yourself in literary heaven.
'Border rng on perfection
By WILL MATTHEWS
On dusky evenings in Ann Arbor,
it is hard to walk along North State
Street without being drawn to the
golden lights that flow and pour like
melted butter from beneath the mez-
zanine at Borders Bookshop. Step in-
side, the sounds of traffic and crowds
on the street vanish, and warm silence
abounds in yellow light. The options
are numerous: catch up on current
events and the First Family's hair-
styles in the magazines and periodi-
cals. Glance across the covers and
spines of the bargain books. Look
through the posters and artwork. Watch
the horn-rimmed intellectuals gush
about revolutionary politics of sym-
bolism in the post-Freudian age. Or
read a favorite chapter out of a favor-
ite book - be it Danielle Steele's
"Letters from Nam" or Thomas
Hardy's "Tess of the d'Urbervilles."
Regardless of your favorite Bor-
ders section or pastime, it is clear to
any Ann Arbor-rite that Borders
Bookshop is, and has been for some
time, an important fixture in the Ann
Arbor cultural and social scene.
Borders Bookshop began as the
brainchild of two brothers, Lewis and
Thomas Borders, who opened a used
bookstore in Ann Arbor in the late
1970s. Lewis, a computer buff, de-
signed in his spare time a computer-
ized book inventory system that not
only kept track of current titles and
current stock in a bookstore, but also
made ordering and restocking titles
relatively easy and efficient. The com-
puter program was developed and the
Borders brothers began to sell new
books, growing in size, inventory and
fame.
The book inventory system be-
came known throughout the book-
store world, and was marketed and
sold to other, non-affiliated stores.
The Borders Corporation was formed
to meet the demand for the inventory
system, as well as expand its own
marketing base.
The Borders Corporation itself has
opened over 30 company-owned
- . . -_ _- -- Io TV T« a.. C...
"One of the things Borders is
known for is customer service and
having a highly trained staff and well-
educated staff who is willing to go the
extra mile to find a book for you,"
explained Dallas Moore, community
relations coordinator for the down-
town store. "[The staff will] look in
Books-in-Print and our inventory, and
beyond that. The special order depart-
ment will go out of its way to find
things, too."
Borders works with European dis-
tributors to attain foreign books and
periodicals - a fact well-known to
browsers who have noticed the col-
lection of French, Spanish, British
and Asian language books as well as
European newspapers and magazines.
"People come here to find things
that they're pretty sure they couldn't
find anywhere else," said Moore.
"Customer service and the depth of
our collection are what draw people to
Borders. We have not just best-sellers
but a lot of back-list titles from a lot of
different publishers." This is what
'separates Borders from so many other
bookstores who deal mainly in mass-
marketpaperbacks and bestsellers, and
whose customer service reflects it.
Borders, in conjunction with the
University of Michigan English De-
partment, also sponsors the visits and
readings of a wide variety of writers
who read from their work. In recent
years, Borders has hosted such big-
name writers as Norman Rush, Gra-
ham Swift, and most recently, essay-
ist Annie Dillard, as well as sponsor-
ing the readings of local writers and
lesser-known national writers such as
Sylvia Watanabe and Thomas Lynch.
Borders will be making a move to
the now dormant Jacobson's building
at some time in the next six to nine
months - a move which will provide
not only increased space for a larger
and even more comprehensive collec-
tion, but for a music section as well. If
it is possible to forecast the future by
looking back on history, Borders
Books and Music (as it will be called)
will continue to be an important fix-
ture in Ann Arbor's cultural and social
life.
_
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