w w w w
BLIND PIG
Continued from page 4B
Not only that, they managed to make the panes of
glass for the sunroom roof in the pizza ovens of neigh-
boring Del Rio pizzeria.
"We had to go through the historical society," Wells-
Goffett said of the terrarium's problems. The roof "was
leaking like a sieve."
Because they owned the whole building, the Goffetts
replaced the sunroom with suitable brick and mortar
and knocked down walls on the basement level as well
as the ground floor.
"(Before) when you walked in, no one knew how to
get in!" Wells-Goffett said.
The structural alterations allowed for a full-fledged 8
Ball Saloon downstairs, and the Blind Pig began book-
ing shows in their now 400-capacity venue.
The Pig has stayed more or less the same in set-up ever
since, with a stacked rectangular stage pushed in the back
corner, diagonal from the long, creaky bar. Bar stools and
counters line the mirrored perimeter, including the area
previously deigned as home for industrial machinery.
A quarter century after the Goffetts transformed the
Pig and 30-odd years after its blues-and-booze birth, its
charming, dive-bar nature still lures in artists and their
audiences alike.
"I don't know if there's any other place in Michi-
gan like it," said Faith Wood, general manager. "The
U U
sound is amazing here - there's just something about
the sound. People like the intimate (setting), everyone
doesn't necessarily want to play arenas."
The Blind Pig is similar to other famous college joints
like Toad's Place in New Haven, Conn. Berry also com-
pares the feel of the venue to the 40 Watt in Athens,
Georgia, the Troubadour in Los Angeles and the 9:30
Club in Washington, D.C.
"We're part of the most elite clubs in the country,"
Berry said.
The Blind Pig may not quite have the means of the 9:30
Club - which fills to a 1200 person capacity, and has a
retractable stage - but Berry says his club's focus is to book
promising acts before they explode into the mainstream.
2005 buzz band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is slated
to play later this spring, as are the Silver Jews.
"The Silver Jews have never toured - and they want
to end their tour here," Berry said.
Berry recently passed on Imogen Heap (regrettable as
she just blew up with "Speak For Yourself"), and said
bands sometimes reschedule and rework their tours to
fit in key venues. Such was the case for John Mayer and
the North Mississippi Allstars with the Blind Pig.
"It's well known that the U of M student body is rep-
resentative of every campus in America," Berry said.
"If it works in Ann Arbor, it'll work elsewhere."
Though bartender Kevin Price boasts that the Blind
Pig is "the cheapest bar in Ann Arbor," there's obvi-
ously more than beer on tap.
wV
PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily
A member of the Blind Pig audience shows off his breakdancing skills.
POINT 00UNT.ERPOINT
Drugs and drinking
With the G.I. Joes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
r
By: The Real
American
Heroes
By: Heroes
In A Half-Shell
There's nothing we hate more - besides those
cowboys in "Brokeback Mountain" - than econ-
omy-draining, lowlife stoners.
Every time we go to the bars, there's always
some group of high school punks sitting around
getting blazed. Why waste unordinarily high
amounts of money on weed, when getting a fake
I.D. is cheaper, and alcohol more delicious?
Sure, their lazy Mexican drug lords keep us in
business, but at the same time they're clogging
our jails. There's no room for those damned out-
law cowboys.
And seriously, lung cancer just isn't cool any-
more. And that shit is everywhere now. Cancer's
the new Ugg boots - absolutely terrible but
everybody's got it.
So let's go get a keg, get crunked and go break
some mathlete's legs. COLLEGE!
Who doesn't love rolling up a blunt, order-
ing some pizzas and sitting around the sewers
in ; cloud of smoke and cheer?
When you so-called soldiers get completely
trashed, you can't operate a vehicle let alone
fire one of your precious guns. You're com-
pletely useless - not to mention unable to
appreciate fine cinema through your hazy veil
of homophobia.
So
how are we in the wrong? Sure it's illegal,
but what good thing isn't illegal anymore?
Besides, Master Splinter has taught us the
infamous karate bong-style used by Shaolin
monks.
Seriously, what can you do drunk? Break
some mailboxes? Enjoy fine Mexican cuisine?
Light up a joint and put on Dark Side of the
Moon - it'll open your mind.
12B - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 26, 2006
p.