I know I shouldn’t take on another project at the moment, and I don’t think these kinds of things are generally undertaken until well after the death of a great person, but seeing this Johnny Ramone memorial makes me think that we really need to get our shit together as a community and build that Iggy Pop statue in Riverside Park. And we need to act quickly, before folks in the Township make good on their threat to erect one in the Babies ‘R Us parking lot.
As for what shape the statue would take, I’m thinking that we could go with either the iconic Raw Power pose or something more like this. The latter would be particularly effective, I think, if it were done at 500-times life size, and served as a walking bridge between Depot Town and Riverside Park… Surely there’s federal stimulus money for something like that, right?
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For additional inspiration, see the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue in Austin.
That second link didn’t work, BTW.
So, just to be clear, because I have heard different things: was Iggy from Ypsi or from Ann Arbor, or that sort of no man’s land of the township? Is the trailer park of his youth the one on Carpenter sort of across the street from Home Depot?
nah, it’s gotta be the classic crowd surfing one with the outstretched arm and the silver opera gloves.
I’m in for working on a fundraiser if you’re serious. I’ve always threatened to put together an Iggyfest to crush the stupid Elvisfest anyway.
If you believe
http://arborwiki.org/city/Iggy_Pop
then you’ll believe anything. Coachville Gardens is in Pittsfield Township, in the Ypsi-Arbor demilitarized zone.
You’re on, Bob. I’d love to have an entire festival of Iggy impersonators. Let’s do it. And, I think you’re right about the pose. It would be pretty expensive, as we’d have to also make the statues of all the people in the crowd as well, but I think it could be really cool. We could have the crowd holding him up composed of local celebrities like James and Jambo Mann, Puppet Mark, Elijah McCoy, Preston Tucker, etc.
He’s form our side of Carpenter, Steve. It’s technically the Township, but in his autobiography he says he’s from Ypsi.
Genius. I bet you could get some heavyweights from the Detroit garage/punk scene to do a benefit show for the cause. As much as I love the idea of ANY Iggy impersonators, getting bands to do one or two Stooges songs might be more realistic. I bet if you threw up a website to accept donations you would get response from across the globe, maybe even some bigtime celebrity hipster monies. Jim Jarmusch is doing that documentary, he might love the angle of a Iggy statue effort.
This is the pose that haunts my dreams:
http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal01/2010/8/5/15/enhanced-buzz-10502-1281037068-18.jpg
Mark Maynard stop spreading the lies and misinformation!!! James Osterberg Jr, the inventor of punk rock, is from Pittsfield Charter Township, MI. It is clear from multiple sources that this is the accurate information, but you insist on spreading your “Iggy was from Ypsilanti” re-education while demonizing the fine citizens of USPS-defined Ypsilanti but technically Pittsfield as the “township” associating us with those tax-hating NIMBYers in Ypsilanti Township when all we want is ONE Ypsilanti for all Ypsilantians, highway to airport.
As for the statue proposal, we feel it would be disrespectful to erect a Iggy statue before a Ron Asheton statue. Ron’s legacy is much more in danger and since he is deceased and Iggy’s in from the golf course to re-enact in its entirety the album Ron refused to play any songs from. As such, we propose: ALL 4 STOOGES in formation, in downtown ANN ARBOR, with signage indicating that Iggy was really from Pittsfield Charter Township.
Where ever we put the statue, it should also serve as a needle exchange.
Respectfully disagreeing with Toblerone Bananas, I strongly feel the Ron Asheton statue should be in the little triangle of land at Gralake & the Jackson road split. Just east of the Weber’s complex.
This reminds me of a friend I had in college. He used to tell everyone he was from Detroit, and ridiculed everyone from Oakland County who identified with Detroit. He even used to say he went to Detroit Catholic Central. It wasn’t until we found out DCC was in Novi, and he was actually raised in Livonia, that he stopped. The son of a lawyer.
An Iggy statue in Ypsi, would represent the same fiasco. He is from Pittsfield. Not Ypsi. Clinton ate at Abes. Maybe we could erect a statue of him in the burned out store next door? Or maybe Mark, sitting on the Water Tower, in deep thought. How sweet would that be!
There’s a very nice statue of Jimi Hendrix in Seattle, too.
How does one commission a statue? How much does it cost? Anybody know?
We should get the bending over backwards one and make it big enough that little kids can run underneath.
Also, we could build the Punk Rock Hall of Fame on Water Street. My concept for it would be basically a giant pair of restrooms. The men’s room would basically be a long line of urinals, each “featuring” one of the honorees’ bronze busts. The ladies’ room, of course, would be a mirror image with stalls.
Take it up with Iggy, who said in his autobiography that he was from Ypsi. Sure, technically he lived in the Township, but that, at least to him, fell under the umbrella of “Ypsilanti,” which is to say, “not Ann Arbor.”
If you want to get all pissy about it, Stevie Ray probably never stood on that plot of land in Austin either.
If it were up to you assholes, nothing would ever get done in this world.
I’ll help too. At the very least I can help make the statue tactile so that our visually impaired friends can enjoy too. I know that sounds obscene but I don’t mean it to be.
A life sized statue will be about $100,000 (more if it’s tactile).
If someone starts a kickstarter, I’ll donate $100.
Edward, who are the “assholes” to whom you’re referring?
Once again, Iggy was from umbrella of postal Ypsilanti, which is the unit around which we should be rallying. The area in question is NOT part of Ypsilanti Township at all. Turning this into some city vs. township issue is not helpful at all, especially to those disenfranchised Pittsfieldians who live on the wrong side of US-23. The suggestion of Babies R Us was made by someone posting as “Piggy Op” here on markmaynard.com and in the spirit of cooperation, the Diazotrophical Meowkestra did some footwork getting reference photos of the proposed site. The original proposal was for somewhere in the downtown park complex.
Please cut it out with this intra-Ypsilanti divisiveness! We need to come together to make this happen before Bay City realizes that it is the birthplace of punk rock (? and the Mysterians were the first band referred to in print as “punk” in the modern sense.)
Iggy was from Pittsfield Township anyway.
Can we program it so that it flings shit at people from Ann Arbor, and opens up and bleeds on the hour?
I was going to vote for the iconic raw power pose but then I clicked on that other link. That one would be more fun for the kids to climb on. We could even give him an uh rather large package to use as a handle. I bet he would enjoy that idea.
The statue must be exactly five foot one. And it must me located and the nearest methadone clinic – not sure where that is, but my guess is that both Ypsi proper and Pittsfield have one … or more.
Baltimore got a Frank Zappa statue.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/music/bs-frank-zappa-statue-dedication-pg,1,4410862.photogallery
I think, given how Iggy has described Ypsi in the past, you’ll have to wait until he’s dead.
I’m all for it. I’d be happy to help make it. I’ve got a number of pictures and a super 8mm movie of him from the 80’s. Also Ted Telvite made a awesome iggy marionette – maybe he and I could collaborate on the statue.
Andy always wanted to erect on the intersection of Liberty and State back when there was a traffic island. He wanted the statue right in the middle of it all. Alas the traffic island is gone.
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