The Six Pack Portrait Project

Shortly after starting the Saturday night radio show, a local photographer by the name of Chris Stranad reached out to me, suggesting that we find a way to somehow collaborate. He said he’d been listening to The Saturday Six Pack from his studio across the street from the offices of AM 1700, and he wanted to know if maybe he could help out in some way. Well, while we still haven’t come to terms with what that collaboration would look like, Chris has been snagging some of my guests and taking them across the street to his place, to have their photos taken. Here are a few examples. [One is Bee Roll, the woman behind Beezy’s. The other is Paul Saginaw, the co-founder of Zingerman’s. I’ll let you figure out which is which.]

Bee Roll

Paul Saginaw 1

[Hear the episode where Bee wins Ypsilantian of the Year.]

[Hear the episode where Paul tells us about his uncle Chickie.]

As for what we do with these beautiful portraits, and all of them to come, I’m not really sure. I could just add them to the posts that I put up on this site about individual episodes, I suppose, but I’m thinking that perhaps something more is called for… something new and different… Maybe, I’m thinking, we could start a Saturday Six Pack blog, or a Tumblr page, where we just post photos of my guests with quotes from their respective interviews. Or, maybe, at the end of each interview, I ask my guests one final question, and then post their photos along with their responses.

As for what the question could be that everyone responds to, maybe I could ask something Ypsi specific, like “What are the three best words to describe Ypsilanti?” Or, better yet, maybe we should go beyond Ypsi, and ask each of these folks for their thoughts on how to better navigate this world that we’ve all been born into. I could ask something like, “What advice do you wish that you had received earlier in your life?” Or, as I suspect everyone will be smiling in their photos, as everyone smiles on The Saturday Six Pack, maybe I should ask something that’s not as likely to be dark. I could ask, “When was the last time that you laughed uncontrollably?” Or, I could pose a question like, “What’s a memory that always makes you smile?”

As I’m somewhat cynical by nature, I’m not inclined to point these questions in a direction where the resulting responses might be too saccharine. I’m not looking to be the next Mitch Albom, doling out hollow, little platitudes. With that said, though, I do have really cool, thoughtful guests, and I’m genuinely interested to hear what, if any, useful advice they might have to offer. And, I think, it could be pretty cool in aggregate to have a bunch of truly interesting people saying what’s important to them, what makes them happy, how they balance their work and home lives, or whatever. It’s just a matter of finding that right question… something that prompts people for good, interesting, perfectly distilled, truly unique words that others might find value in.

If you have thoughts on this, please leave a comment. I’d appreciate it.

[All above photos by Chris Stranad.]

This entry was posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Special Projects, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

7 Comments

  1. anonymous
    Posted March 12, 2015 at 8:10 am | Permalink

    What was your biggest setback and how did you overcome it?

  2. K2
    Posted March 12, 2015 at 9:24 am | Permalink

    What keeps you going?

  3. Kim
    Posted March 12, 2015 at 10:15 am | Permalink

    The questions from Inside the Actors Studio

    1. What is your favorite word?
    2. What is your least favorite word?
    3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
    4. What turns you off?
    5. What is your favorite curse word?
    6. What sound or noise do you love?
    7. What sound or noise do you hate?
    8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
    9. What profession would you not like to do?
    10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

  4. Mr. Y
    Posted March 12, 2015 at 10:53 am | Permalink

    Do you consider yourself more of a toadie or a sycophant?

  5. Frosted Flakes
    Posted March 12, 2015 at 11:21 am | Permalink

    Mr Y’s suggestion or nothing!

  6. idea man
    Posted March 12, 2015 at 12:01 pm | Permalink

    How about shooting some awesome Ypsi stock photography and making it available to everyone, like this?

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/04/vince-vaughn-stock-photos_n_6799858.html

  7. Marty Keeter
    Posted March 12, 2015 at 6:14 pm | Permalink

    replace some of the emu banners along the streets around campus…the ones on the fancy new led light poles.

12 Trackbacks

  1. […] his historic compilation, stop by Chris Stranand’s studio to sit for a photo as part of the Saturday Six Pack Portrait Project, and then do a radio interview with me? Granted, it’s probably an illusion, but I like that […]

  2. […] his historic compilation, stop by Chris Stranand’s studio to sit for a photo as part of the Saturday Six Pack Portrait Project, and then do a radio interview with me? Granted, it’s probably an illusion, but I like that […]

  3. […] The above photo of Nathan was taken as part of our Six Pack Portrait Project by Ypsilanti photographer Chris Stranad. It was taken just after my interview with […]

  4. […] artist Brandon Mitchell, who has been a guest on the show, is having his photo taken for the Six Pack Portrait Project, a collaborative initiative between Chris and me that’s grown out of the radio program. […]

  5. […] open the Ypsi Running Company. And, with Chris Stranad, we’ll be discussing our collaborative Six Pack Portrait Project (which was just featured on the cover of The Ann magazine), and our plans to show the portraits […]

  6. […] as 1:20, local photographer Chris Stranad came by to discuss our collaborative Six Pack Portrait Project (which was just recently featured on the cover of The Ann magazine), and our plans to show the […]

  7. […] [This photo was taken just prior to our interview, by photographer Chris Stranad as part of our Six Pack Portrait Project.] Isn’t it incredible how much they’ve changed after just a few […]

  8. […] Here’s a photo of Trumpey taken just before our interview, taken by Ypsi photographer Chris Stranad as part of our Six Pack Portrait Project. […]

  9. […] Here’s a photo of Trumpey taken just before our interview, taken by Ypsi photographer Chris Stranad as part of our Six Pack Portrait Project. […]

  10. […] of Trumpey taken just before our interview, taken by Ypsi photographer Chris Stranad as part of our Six Pack Portrait Project. [All other photos in this post were taken by AM 1700 staff historian Kate de […]

  11. […] [The above photo of Williams was taken just prior to our interview by photographer Chris Stranad as part of our Six Pack Portrait Project.] […]

  12. […] [The above photo of Pete was taken by Ypsilanti’s Chris Stranad as part of our Saturday Six Pack Portrait Project.] […]

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