Looks like a booger from Las Vegas landed in your town. What’s with the fountain in the middle of the road? Can’t wait til the town drunk runs a Dr. Seuss stop sign, hops a piano, mowes down a few kids, then crashes into the bug anus.
Wowee Yowwee…Cultural Orgasm in EGR
In my city of Melbourne, Australia …we had “The Yellow Peril ” aka The Vault
Now you ..you lucky boy you ..have The Pastel Peril …our beloved vault has a clone
Same reaction from the masses…what the..?
Why must we suffer for creativity…why oh why
Craggles
The pianos were the real low point for me. I thought they looked like piles of horse manure. Maybe that’s part of the whole old-timey scheme- ” Look! Someone must have just parked their horse here a little while ago!”
Yes, as Trevor said: it’s only a matter of time. All I could think was: what about snow plows…?
I loved all the wildly differeing opinions on the glass sculpture – hilarious!
How does having to get up close to a piece of art “defeat the purpose”? And I disagree that everything should “match” in this type of development. The color schemes and signs all “match” at Rivertown Crossings. I love it, and I’d like to see more like it in GR.
Leo – loved the commentary. Now, we have a lot of fountains in Knoxville & I believe the main purpose is just so babies can run through the water and get soggy diapers. As for the larger structure . . . I think it should be accompanied by a poem., and since it seems the city is unwilling to put the kebosh on anyone’s idea/creativity I think you should offer. Write a letter to city hall and tell them you are deeply moved by the formation and have composed an elegy to commemerate it. Be sure to make the poem as arcane as the effigy itself.
wow, gaslight village wins top prize in the most hideous “update” of a neighborhood competition. those piles of pianos take the cake. we had some hideous city-wide ornaments here in Iowa City for a while in the form of decorated “herky” statues–enormous cartoon hawk sculptures painted by local artists. thank god they were temporary. check em out if you want:
The zoomed out view really shows how ugly it is. What that thing is is beyond me as well. I don’t see any of the things mensioned and can’t think of anything else. I like the microphone. It makes the sound 100 percent better.
From the looks of your video you seem to hit the nail on the head. It all does sort of clash. Oh well. It was neat to hear what other viistors thought. Though I get the feeling some of them were just as bewildered by the combination of things that were put together in that place. Thanks for sharing.
Josh:
Here’s a link to the story about the player pianos and their significance to the EGR area. Apparently Reeds Lake is one big underwater landfill! I’ll bet the EGR athletes have no idea what is below their playing fields…
You’re right, they have really mixed visual themes here and it doesn’t really work. But frankly, I would rather have something like this than another cookie-cutter suburban big box court. You’ve gotta give them points for trying to do something different.
The thing that horrifies me is the fact that the fountain seems designed for kids to play in and around, yet it’s placed in the middle of a traffic circle!! Forget the pianos; it’s only a matter of time before some poor kid gets squashed by an SUV.
Yeah…it doesnt really all work together. The vagina comment was hilarious. Has anyone driven their car over the fountain for an upside down car wash yet?
yeah
that is totally bizarre
it does look like a bug’s butt!
everything is in different styles, it’s all messy.
but interesting that they are trying new things i guess….
Egad!!! I…I don’t know what to say! I guess it beats a plain ugly stripmall, but I hatehateHATE that “Manufactured Old Town” look. Too Disney. Too Vegas. It looks like a chunk of Orlando landed in the middle of Michigan. And is it me or are none of those storefronts actually occupied? All I see is smokey glass and no signs. Those tiny piano sculptures won’t last too long…and they remind me a little bit of dog-doo piles. I’m sure that doo-doo was not what the artist was going for.
It’s like that scene in Spinal Tap when the set designer makes that shrimpy Stonehenge replica.
ps: I’m also way biased and cranky about urban change. I watched my old neighborhood change from a cool bohemian place where people could live with dignity for cheap to a creepy, slick mall-like playground for superrich yuppies.
It’s hard for me to look at manufactured neighborhoods fairly.
I think everyone saw something slightly dirty about the sculpture . . . they were just too afraid to admit it on camera. Kudos to vagina-boy!
The weirdest thing about the whole thing is the choice of location. I don’t think it’s so much the non-matching Seussical vagina sculpture and fountain thing, but more of the Grand Rapids trying to push itself into something it’s not. If East GR wants to have a “Gaslight Village,” then maybe it should sit back for five minutes and think about what “Gaslight” really means–how is it historically significant that the place is still known as the gaslight village? How can it use that history to its advantage? How is it even “useful” to the village? It seems like they should have looked at other civic projects like the Fred Meijer Gardens, or the Rosa Parks Circle / Band Shell / Ice Skating Rink . . .
Instead, we get a scene straight from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”.
So where did the money for this project come from? De Vos or Van Andel?
Well, at the beginning of the video I was immediately taken back to Elkhart IN (the buildings resembled downtown Elkhart in my mind, as I spent my first 7 years in that area), however as the story moved on…I found I begin to feel stabbed repeatedly…who was in charge? The we make an eye-sore of town department???
Woah. You didn’t ever come by the Lakeside house I lived in I think, but we lived just a block north of Gaslight Village – and it appears that it has changed considerably since those days when I rode my bike through several times a week. I’m not sure what I think of all the changes, but I think you’re right about it all clashing. Anyways, nice video and whatnot. If it were up to me, you would win the Oscar – but you probably wouldn’t like being famous. Hope all is well with you.
Imagine what these same critics would be saying if this project had taken a different turn. No clashing colors, no controversial sculpture, and everything built to match the buildings across the street. I can hear them now: “The colors are all the same, just like the boring strip malls you see in suburbia. What a mistake to try and match everything and imitate the look and feel of the old buildings across the street with new construction — fake, fake fake! Why couldn’t they put in some original artwork instead of that boring sculpture of President Ford? East Grand Rapids is so averse to risk and this shows a total lack of imagination.”
By the way — the sidewalks and pavement surrounding the fountain are heated for snow melt, so you can quit worrying about snow plows hitting the pianos. And the fountain is not in the middle of a traffic circle, this isn’t even a road you are looking at in the video — it’s a parking lot! I would wager a large sum of money that each one of those brass pianos (which are bolted in to concrete) will outlast every single person who has commented here.
yeah the whole thing is just kinda ugly when you put it all together…jacobson’s was wayy better than this. no stores can even survive anymore cause rent is to high. i have gotten used to the sculptures but still would rather not have them. the other side of the street with roses and foo yen is fine i like that side, but it doesnt go together with the other new buildings
I agree ! Seems like a sad attempt at revitalization. They should level the whole place and just let everybody shop on 28 St. This is what happens when you choose the wrong people to spend public money and award contracts. That fountain is so sad.
Wow, I’m glad I didn’t make those things. They really do clash with each-other.
Maybe they just haven’t finished yet, they are going to paint the streets neon to bring it all together.
Looks like a booger from Las Vegas landed in your town. What’s with the fountain in the middle of the road? Can’t wait til the town drunk runs a Dr. Seuss stop sign, hops a piano, mowes down a few kids, then crashes into the bug anus.
Looks like a recipe for disaster. It’s only a matter of time for those pianos . . . .
Wowee Yowwee…Cultural Orgasm in EGR
In my city of Melbourne, Australia …we had “The Yellow Peril ” aka The Vault
Now you ..you lucky boy you ..have The Pastel Peril …our beloved vault has a clone
Same reaction from the masses…what the..?
Why must we suffer for creativity…why oh why
Craggles
Sorry ..here is link for Yellow Peril if yr interested
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_(sculpture)
Craggles
The pianos were the real low point for me. I thought they looked like piles of horse manure. Maybe that’s part of the whole old-timey scheme- ” Look! Someone must have just parked their horse here a little while ago!”
Yes, as Trevor said: it’s only a matter of time. All I could think was: what about snow plows…?
I loved all the wildly differeing opinions on the glass sculpture – hilarious!
How does having to get up close to a piece of art “defeat the purpose”? And I disagree that everything should “match” in this type of development. The color schemes and signs all “match” at Rivertown Crossings. I love it, and I’d like to see more like it in GR.
Leo – loved the commentary. Now, we have a lot of fountains in Knoxville & I believe the main purpose is just so babies can run through the water and get soggy diapers. As for the larger structure . . . I think it should be accompanied by a poem., and since it seems the city is unwilling to put the kebosh on anyone’s idea/creativity I think you should offer. Write a letter to city hall and tell them you are deeply moved by the formation and have composed an elegy to commemerate it. Be sure to make the poem as arcane as the effigy itself.
wow, gaslight village wins top prize in the most hideous “update” of a neighborhood competition. those piles of pianos take the cake. we had some hideous city-wide ornaments here in Iowa City for a while in the form of decorated “herky” statues–enormous cartoon hawk sculptures painted by local artists. thank god they were temporary. check em out if you want:
http://www.herkyonparade.com/thestatues.asp
gives me shivers just to remember.
The zoomed out view really shows how ugly it is. What that thing is is beyond me as well. I don’t see any of the things mensioned and can’t think of anything else. I like the microphone. It makes the sound 100 percent better.
Evan (http://e-vlog.blogspot.com)
From the looks of your video you seem to hit the nail on the head. It all does sort of clash. Oh well. It was neat to hear what other viistors thought. Though I get the feeling some of them were just as bewildered by the combination of things that were put together in that place. Thanks for sharing.
Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Josh:
Here’s a link to the story about the player pianos and their significance to the EGR area. Apparently Reeds Lake is one big underwater landfill! I’ll bet the EGR athletes have no idea what is below their playing fields…
So apparently the link didn’t work. Trying again:
Reeds Lake Landfill
Great piece, Josh!
You’re right, they have really mixed visual themes here and it doesn’t really work. But frankly, I would rather have something like this than another cookie-cutter suburban big box court. You’ve gotta give them points for trying to do something different.
The thing that horrifies me is the fact that the fountain seems designed for kids to play in and around, yet it’s placed in the middle of a traffic circle!! Forget the pianos; it’s only a matter of time before some poor kid gets squashed by an SUV.
Oh, and “vagina” guy was hilarious!
I know this is really lame but I’m sitting at my desk giggling to myself about better names for “Gaslight Village”.
How about..”Parking Brake Village” or “Windshield Wiper Fluid Town”
hahaha sigh *wipes away tear*
good vlog
what’s up with the microphone?
haha Josh, the pianos getting run over? What about the kids!?
Hahaha, a vagina, best interpretation ever!
Yeah…it doesnt really all work together. The vagina comment was hilarious. Has anyone driven their car over the fountain for an upside down car wash yet?
yeah
that is totally bizarre
it does look like a bug’s butt!
everything is in different styles, it’s all messy.
but interesting that they are trying new things i guess….
Egad!!! I…I don’t know what to say! I guess it beats a plain ugly stripmall, but I hatehateHATE that “Manufactured Old Town” look. Too Disney. Too Vegas. It looks like a chunk of Orlando landed in the middle of Michigan. And is it me or are none of those storefronts actually occupied? All I see is smokey glass and no signs. Those tiny piano sculptures won’t last too long…and they remind me a little bit of dog-doo piles. I’m sure that doo-doo was not what the artist was going for.
It’s like that scene in Spinal Tap when the set designer makes that shrimpy Stonehenge replica.
Vagina? Hilarious.
ps: I’m also way biased and cranky about urban change. I watched my old neighborhood change from a cool bohemian place where people could live with dignity for cheap to a creepy, slick mall-like playground for superrich yuppies.
It’s hard for me to look at manufactured neighborhoods fairly.
Great video! Very funny! ! !
Euch….Gaslight Village. Even the name sucks.
Wow. We’re not in Michigan any more . . .
I think everyone saw something slightly dirty about the sculpture . . . they were just too afraid to admit it on camera. Kudos to vagina-boy!
The weirdest thing about the whole thing is the choice of location. I don’t think it’s so much the non-matching Seussical vagina sculpture and fountain thing, but more of the Grand Rapids trying to push itself into something it’s not. If East GR wants to have a “Gaslight Village,” then maybe it should sit back for five minutes and think about what “Gaslight” really means–how is it historically significant that the place is still known as the gaslight village? How can it use that history to its advantage? How is it even “useful” to the village? It seems like they should have looked at other civic projects like the Fred Meijer Gardens, or the Rosa Parks Circle / Band Shell / Ice Skating Rink . . .
Instead, we get a scene straight from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”.
So where did the money for this project come from? De Vos or Van Andel?
Well, at the beginning of the video I was immediately taken back to Elkhart IN (the buildings resembled downtown Elkhart in my mind, as I spent my first 7 years in that area), however as the story moved on…I found I begin to feel stabbed repeatedly…who was in charge? The we make an eye-sore of town department???
Woah. You didn’t ever come by the Lakeside house I lived in I think, but we lived just a block north of Gaslight Village – and it appears that it has changed considerably since those days when I rode my bike through several times a week. I’m not sure what I think of all the changes, but I think you’re right about it all clashing. Anyways, nice video and whatnot. If it were up to me, you would win the Oscar – but you probably wouldn’t like being famous. Hope all is well with you.
Imagine what these same critics would be saying if this project had taken a different turn. No clashing colors, no controversial sculpture, and everything built to match the buildings across the street. I can hear them now: “The colors are all the same, just like the boring strip malls you see in suburbia. What a mistake to try and match everything and imitate the look and feel of the old buildings across the street with new construction — fake, fake fake! Why couldn’t they put in some original artwork instead of that boring sculpture of President Ford? East Grand Rapids is so averse to risk and this shows a total lack of imagination.”
By the way — the sidewalks and pavement surrounding the fountain are heated for snow melt, so you can quit worrying about snow plows hitting the pianos. And the fountain is not in the middle of a traffic circle, this isn’t even a road you are looking at in the video — it’s a parking lot! I would wager a large sum of money that each one of those brass pianos (which are bolted in to concrete) will outlast every single person who has commented here.
yeah the whole thing is just kinda ugly when you put it all together…jacobson’s was wayy better than this. no stores can even survive anymore cause rent is to high. i have gotten used to the sculptures but still would rather not have them. the other side of the street with roses and foo yen is fine i like that side, but it doesnt go together with the other new buildings
I agree ! Seems like a sad attempt at revitalization. They should level the whole place and just let everybody shop on 28 St. This is what happens when you choose the wrong people to spend public money and award contracts. That fountain is so sad.