B
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, March 12, 2015
the b-side

There’s no handle? There’s no handle. How the 
hell do I get inside? I’m supposed to be interviewing 
the talent buyer of The Blind Pig at 6 p.m. and it is 6:03 
and there’s no handle on the door to get in. I feverishly 
check my e-mail to avoid being later than the three minutes 
I’ve already lost. “I’ll meet you in the 8 Ball.” I trudge down 
the gravel hill to the graffitied door of the 8 Ball, The Blind 
Pig’s basement bar, to meet Jason Berry.

I step into the 8 Ball Saloon, multi-colored Christmas lights 
wrap around ceiling pipes, and the dimly lit room is filled with 
dart boards and pool tables. Two men at the bar alternate be-
tween popcorn and beer, their eyes fixated on Alaskan Troopers 
busting a coke house on a TV. My phone says it’s 6:20 when Berry 
walks into the saloon. He is clearly busy, fumbling papers in his 
hands as he goes to shake mine.

“Can you ride with me to the post office?” he 
asks. “I’ve got a few errands to run.”

Berry has worked at The Blind Pig as talent buyer for 
more than 17 years and is an essential part of the 
smooth running machine that is Ann Arbor’s 
premier music venue. The Pig puts on more 
than 200 shows per year, a mixture of live 
bands and DJs, with an average ticket price of 
$15. Berry chalks up his 17-year tenure to the 
support of his boss, Blind Pig owner 
Betty Goffett.

“Buyers don’t last more than 
two years on average. 
They’re under tremen-
dous pressure, from 
the community, from 
the ownership,” 
Berry said. “So, if 
the owner doesn’t 
have your back 
or is some sort 
of flake, then 
you’re go-
ing to burn 
through 
buyers. The 
owners 
have got to 
have your 
back. I’ve 
been mega 
lucky that 
I’ve had 
Betty.”

Goffett and 
her late 
husband 
came to 
own the Pig 
in 1981. Roy 
Goffett grew 
up in Liver-
pool, England, 
witnessing The 
Beatles gain trac-
tion in the Cavern 
Club. Owning a 
music club was 
his dream. After he 
made a small fortune 
in the steel industry, 
his wife, who also 
came up from money, 
bought him the Blind Pig 
as a gift. Roy passed away 
in 2001.

The Blind Pig’s history 
can be seen in two dis-
tinct phases: pre-Goffett 
and post-Goffett. Prior 
to the Goffetts’ ownership, 
the Pig was a much smaller, 
strictly blues club.

“They were the ones who said, ‘Yeah, 
we aren’t just going to do blues. We’re 
going to do everything, so that’s when 
The Blind Pig became what it is today,” Berry said. “No one 
remembers the old Blind Pig except the old-school hippies. 
That was all Betty.”

Design by Shreya Razak

See BLIND PIG, Page 2B

