Since this website launched, we’ve debated several times whether or not, as Ypsilantians, we can legitimately claim Iggy Pop as one of our own. I’ve argued for years that we can, as I seem to recall having heard him describe himself years ago as having been from Ypsilanti, but I’ll admit that the connection is a bit tenuous, given that he actually grew up in the shadowy no man’s land between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, just off of Carpenter Road, in what’s still known as the Coachville trailer park. Well, thanks to my friend Matt, we now have one more data point to consider. It would appear that, in March of 1976, when he was arrested with David Bowie in Rochester, New York for possession of marijuana, Iggy identified himself to City Court Judge Alphonse Cassetti as James J. Osterberg, 28 of Ypsilanti, Michigan.
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I can remember the pre-Trump world where this post would have led to a heated argument. The things we used to fight about seem silly now, don’t they?
Today, the next Iggy would much more likely come from Ypsi than Ann Arbor. Back then, the 2 cities were much more alike in their seediness.
This is a ridiculous concern. We know precisely where he grew up. We know where he went to high school and camp. We know where he lived afterward. Both Ypsi and A2 were very different places then, and I don’t see why it matters. I will never understand the Ypsi insecurity around Ann Arbor. Ypsi is in many ways a better city now. I know Ann Arbor has a legacy of condescension (because A2 is generally just fucking condescending), but it seems that Ypsi’s rep is much improved in the last 20 years. I don’t understand is why Ypsi is so defensive. There’s nothing to be defensive about. They are both their own distinct places, still. Thank God.
I’m okay with Iggy Pop living in Ypsilanti and going to school and hanging out in Ann Arbor, especially if that’s what Iggy feels is the best description of a past than happened quite a while ago. But why are we stuck on adolescent Iggy, if not for a nostalgia about our preferred version of our own pasts? As times change, our view of art should change with it.
https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/11/the-uncomfortable-disregard-for-legendary-rockers-sexual-misconduct/
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/what-about-the-breakfast-club-molly-ringwald-metoo-john-hughes-pretty-in-pink
Yeah. I agree. This seems like a stupid argument these days. :) but to settle it, I will now just say that Iggy Pop is from Washtenaw County!
I just wanted to put this somewhere, in hopes that Bob Seger might find it.
And thank you, Jcp2, for that Molly Ringwald link. It’s a great article. I just wish I could get audio of her watching those old movies and doing commentary.
And, yes, I know this is a stupid argument to have as the world is burning down around us, but, on occasion, I just need to retreat back to simpler times. And, last night, I just couldn’t bring myself to write about Scott Pruitt and his bulletproof desk, which is what I thought that I should be writing about.
I don’t think the world is burning down around us because Trump. If you look closely, the Trump agenda is not significantly different than what a Cruz agenda, Rubio agenda, or even Jeb! agenda would have produced. If impeached, then we would have the Pence agenda, which would be materially similar, just in a different wrapper. The man is uncouth, unknowledgable, and petty, something that we haven’t seen in a modern American president, and maybe that’s what’s really driving a lot of people crazy. While other presidents may have put on an act of concern, he is incapable of pretense.
Anyway, Mark, you wish is my command. Molly Ringwald did record audio of her watching the movie with her 10-year-old daughter Mathilda, and was completely floored with what her daughter got out of it. It’s the third act of this episode of This American Life.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/526/is-that-what-i-look-like
As a rule, I don’t listen to This American Life as I’m allergic to the cadence modeled by Ira Glass, and adopted by everyone pulled within the TAL universe. I will, however, give this a shot.
As for Trump not being the singular problem in our world, I’d agree. He did not come to power in a vacuum. There were many factors that contributed to his ascent. And they all need to be eliminated. We, as a nation, need to approach the Trump presidency the way the NTSB approaches domestic airline crashes. We need to figure out exactly what happened, and ensure that it never happens again.
The old Ypsi rivalry goes back a loooong time. There were even some crimes like townie fights and associated crimes.