Well struck, sir: 14 July 2013

A little over a week ago, the Monitor Base Ball Club of Chelsea made the arduous journey to Greenfield Village to take on the Lah-De-Dahs. What’s that? You seem to recall it was outrageously hot and humid that day? You, sir or madam, are correct. Those of us who chose to be outside that day weren’t breathing oxygen so much as we were inhaling a giant invisible wool blanket that someone had soaked in water and put in an oven. It was like some southern state had decided it had a surplus of terrible summer weather and had decided to export its decidedly unappealing natural resource to some unsuspecting northern state. WE DO NOT THANK YOU.

Anyway. If you’ve never been to Greenfield Village, I recommend a visit — it’s a thoroughly enjoyable historical experience. But we’re here to recount the vintage base ball experience, so…here we go.

The field they use for base ball is spectator-friendly — there are plenty of trees providing shade, and there’s a hill that offers comfortable viewing of the action. There was a good crowd present for the match.

In the above picture, it’s safe to assume anyone in a yellow shirt is a Monitors fan. (I was wearing my yellow Monitors shirt as well, but I didn’t take a picture of myself.) Also, there were more fans to the right.

As if we needed another reminder that Greenfield Village is old-school, this gentleman moseyed past the field during the match:

Fielding a ball without a glove really isn’t that easy. Take a look at this sequence:

My dad made the trip with me to watch the match:

At this venue, right field is cut a bit short by railroad tracks. The tracks carry this:

The tracks run in a loop around the village, and the train pulls a set of cars carrying visitors to the park. When the train approaches the field, the umpire stops the game and the players salute the train and its passengers with hearty huzzahs.

When the game ended, the teams lined up and offered huzzahs to the crowd.

The afternoon ended with a group photo in front of the scoreboard.

If you’d like to catch the Monitors in action, the club has a home match at 2pm this coming Saturday, July 27. The match will be at Timbertown. Come check it out!

Sounds & Sights: 11 July 2013

After a break for Independence Day (the actual day, not the movie), Sounds & Sights came back just in time for last Thursday’s gorgeous summer weather. The comedy on the library lawn wrapped up at the end of June, but the library lawn didn’t go quiet: there will be music at that spot each week. This week was one of my favorites: Annie and Rod Capps, accompanied by the fantastic Jason Dennie.

This is Jason. He’s looking at you.

Half his face is unusually radiant because it was a sunny day, the last place I’d taken pictures was relatively dark, and he spontaneously posed for that picture before I’d adjusted the settings on my camera. Here’s how he looks when he’s not giving off an unearthly glow.

Here are Annie and Rod.

One of the younger audience members was in the mood to chew on a Slinky.

When she finished that task, she decided the Capps’ music was good for dancing.

Last Exit was by the courthouse.

The Sarah Swanson Band was a block down the street.

Mike Vial was in the alley.

The alley can be a challenging place to get photos. The sidewalk by the alley is narrow, and since it’s in the middle of downtown, there’s a lot of foot traffic through that area during Sounds & Sights. That means you can be taking pictures of the singer in the alley without a care in the world…

…and then it all starts to go south (which is odd because the pedestrian was headed north)…

…and you find yourself taking an entirely different photo.

Hello, side of someone’s face. It’s nice to meet you.

Despite my trials and tribulations, Mike kept singing like nothing happened.

Back at the library, Annie and Rod Capps and Jason Dennie were still performing. One member of the audience was sporting an unusual hat.

More young audience members decided the Capps’ music was good for dancing.

Sounds & Sights will continue in downtown Chelsea this Thursday from 6:30-8:30pm.

Sounds & Sights: 27 June 2013

Despite a downpour just before 6:30, Sounds & Sights went on as planned. The rain cleared quickly, but the library decided to move the comedy indoors just in case. This week’s comedy showcase was the last of the summer — it’ll be music on the library lawn the rest of the summer.

As always, it started with Kevin Kramis.

This gentleman found Kevin to be highly amusing.

I wish I had audio to go with this next photo. This was a funny joke.

Mark Sweetman was next.

The crowd enjoyed his comedy.

Mike Bobbitt was the headliner. When I took a photo he stopped and told me to take another one when he wasn’t looking down. This is how he posed:

I hope that’s satisfactory, Mike.

Seven Bridges was performing in front of the courthouse.

Blue Seven was down the street.

Sounds & Sights took the week off for Independence Day, but it’s back on this Thursday at 6:30pm.

Chelsea History Fest: 23 June 2013

Last Sunday was the first-ever Chelsea History Fest at Timbertown. There were antique cars and craft demonstrators…and vintage base ball! It may come as no surprise to you that I spent most of my time watching base ball.

The first match was an exhibition between the Monitor Base Ball Club of Chelsea and a collection of locals given the name Scrub Nine. This is the Scrub Nine:

The team included representatives from Chelsea schools, the Chelsea library, Vogel’s & Fosters, and the Chelsea Alehouse. None of the players had experience with the vintage game, so Honest Jon game them an overview of the rules.

After the usual intros…

…the game got started.

(That’s Chelsea library director Bill Harmer swinging for the fences. Well, he would have been swinging for the fences had there been fences. Don’t worry: he doesn’t carry a bat in the library.)

The second match was against the Lumber City Base Ball Club of Flint. Here are the two captains having a chat during the exhibition match.

Are vintage base ball uniforms the best? Yes. Yes they are.

There were other cameras out, but unlike the ones at Sounds & Sights, they weren’t pointing at me!

After a break, the intros for the second match started. Uniform + mustache = YES.

They modified the bat toss just slightly for this match:

Then the match started.

As I mentioned at the beginning, there were other events happening, too. Many of the other events were wrapping up by the time I pried myself away from base ball, but there were still a couple demonstrators working.

The above gentleman was weaving the official tartan of the state of Michigan. Did you know there was such a thing? There is!

Sounds & Sights: 20 June 2013

Another week of Sounds & Sights. This time I felt like I was being watched:

No need to call the police, though. That’s just one of our marvelous librarians getting photos of the happenings on the library lawn.

Hey, guess who was there again? That’s right! Kevin Kramis! Hi Kevin.

Comedian faces:

Seriously though, Kevin is great. I’m always glad to see him here.

Did you notice Kevin’s shirt? I have one of those shirts too. It’s one of my favorite shirts, even though I feel like I should have to give it back because I got it from the library and everything from the library has a due date…right? (I’M NEVER GIVING IT BACK.)

Los Dingos Del Norte was down the street.

They decided to take my picture too. WHAT IS GOING ON.

Also entertaining the crowd was Creole du Nord.

One member of the audience caught my eye.

Stroller Dog: just chillin’.

Liquid Plasma was at the Sylvan building.

The Anthony Lai Band was by the clocktower.

Do you know what’s across the street from the clocktower? Why, only another iconic Chelsea structure:

The Jiffy silos: always deliciously standing watch over Chelsea.

Under the clocktower gazebo was the Michigan Academy of Dance and Music.

Finally, Mitchell Curley was in the East Alley.

Sounds & Sights will continue this Thursday from 6:30pm-8:30pm in downtown Chelsea.

Sounds & Sights: 13 June 2013

Look! It’s more Sounds & Sights! Once again, let’s start at the library with Kevin Kramis.

I enjoy seeing the expressions comedians make while they’re working.

I’m sorry, Kevin. I couldn’t resist.

Elsewhere, The North Creek Fiddlers were hanging out by the courthouse.

This member of the audience was especially enthusiastic.

Others were enjoying the music more sedately.

And others were taking pictures.

(What, were you expecting a picture of me? Dream on.)

Up on East Middle was the Dorkestra.

When I arrived, they had a volunteer helping with percussion.

Kari Holmes was in the alley on Main.

She was singing…

…and singing…

…and then she saw my camera…

…and she was singing and smiling for the camera! #multitasking

Back at the library, Mike Green was making the crowd laugh.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I enjoy comedians’ expressions.

Sounds & Sights will continue in downtown Chelsea this Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30.

Monitor Base Ball Club: 9 June 2013

On Sunday the Monitor Base Ball Club of Chelsea, our local old-school (okay, okay, vintage) base ball team, played the Union Base Ball Club of Dexter.

The flag was historically accurate:

(And I think we can all agree those hats are marvelous. I like the hats so much.)

If you’re wondering if these sideburns are real…

…it has been confirmed that they are indeed gloriously real. That’s what I call dedication to the team.

Spectator — or “crank” — break:

Okay, back to the action.

Honest Jon was involved in a close play at third:

The throw was low and a bit late, though, so he was safe.

What is it about Honest Jon and close plays? He was involved in one at second, too.

This was one a much tougher call, but they decided he was safe. (In the vintage game, the umpire makes only fair/foul calls. Safe/out calls are made by the players.)

It was a tight match for a while, but eventually the club from Chelsea pulled away and won 21-9.

At the end of the match, the Monitor Base Ball Club gave hearty huzzahs to everyone.

If you’d like to check out one of the club’s matches — and I hope you would, because vintage base ball is a fun game to watch! — there’s a home match coming up at Timbertown on June 23. The full schedule is here.

Sounds & Sights: 6 June 2013

One of Chelsea’s popular summer events is the weekly Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights. It brings live music and other performances to downtown Chelsea every Thursday evening from June through August. Thursday marked the first Sounds & Sights of 2013, so I wandered into town to see what was happening.

My first stop was at the library because the Chelsea Library is great and I always like saying hi to the wonderful people there. In June the library hosts its Comedy Showcase on the library lawn as a part of Sounds & Sights. Here you can see Kevin Kramis looking as friendly as he really is.

I would have liked to stay at the library, but I had to hear the other sounds and see the other sights, so I moved on. Of course, before I did anything else I had to stop at the front of the library to get a photo of the banner that features a picture of mine:

If you’re keeping track, that’s two giant library banners that have featured a picture of mine. That’s two more than I ever expected!

In the alley by Vogels & Fosters I found Dave Boutette.

He might have considered playing under the name Men With Hats, except then people might have expected a cover of The Safety Dance. (If you’re reading this, Dave, I wouldn’t mind hearing you do a cover of The Safety Dance…please?)

Up the street was a group that should be very familiar to Sounds & Sights regulars: Annie & Rod Capps, with Jason Dennie. If you were reading this blog two years ago you might remember a photo of this same group playing on the library lawn. This week they were in a different spot. They always manage to put a smile on my face. In fact, I might have caught myself singing along at one point…but I can neither confirm nor deny that allegation. (They’ll be playing the library lawn later in the summer.)

Here’s a closer look at Jason:

I’ve known Jason for a while now, and I’m a huge fan of his music. You can find his solo guitar work here. I cannot recommend his work strongly enough.

Here’s Annie doing what Annie does:

The Modern Day Drifters were near the railroad tracks. That’s a good place for country music, right?

Every week there’s a place for kids to get balloon animals. Did you know kids love balloon animals? They do. There’s always a crowd in that spot, and there are plenty of smiles from the kids. Like this one:

In front of Merkel’s there was a dancer named Poppet.

I found my way back to the library, where Norm Stulz was in the middle of his set.

Norm is a very expressive comedian.

As you can see in this next photo, Norm is also a funny comedian.

My last stop of the evening was outside the courthouse.

Those folks were clapping for Cold Tone Harvest.

If you’d like to join the fun, Sounds & Sights happens every Thursday evening from 6:30pm-8:30pm in downtown Chelsea from June through mid-August.

Memorial Day: 27 May 2013

Chelsea held its annual Memorial Day parade and ceremony.

Ron Montagne spoke to the crowd:

As you can see, behind him are Boy Scouts holding flags. Off to one side was a Cub Scout holding a flag. He had a bit of help making sure the flag didn’t touch the ground:

Here’s a better look:

Chelsea Alehouse: 8 May 2013

Last week I stopped by the Chelsea Alehouse to get a few photos. If you were reading this blog last summer you may recall seeing the photos of the delivery of the brewing tanks. Well, the place has been up and running for a few months now, and there’s some serious tastiness going on over there.