After spending several weeks trying to secure an interview with Harry and Jake of Harry and Jake Speak Politely, we managed to conduct a short interview.
January 21st, 2012. A superb evening of music (High School Girls, Broken Light, Mid-American) at the Knickerbocker Saloon in downtown Lafayette. High School Girls finished their set. Broken Light was adjusting the stage for theirs. I bumped into Harry and asked again for the interview. He agreed. Jake showed up a few minutes later.
We learned that despite the environment, it was not too loud to conduct an interview, why Harry and Jake Speak Politely was created, what happens when the microphone is turned towards one of our News Channel Internet journalists, First Amendment rights, how you find out about other people, how Jake influences Harry, Jake’s super smart phone, and Jake’s habits with a mobile Internet device.
This is the first installment of the series with these two independent media creators, Harry and Jake.
Bridget Johnston. Lover of scotch whiskey, dogs, photography, skirts and dresses. Lives vicariously as a New Yorker through Woody Allen to fulfill her childhood dream of living in the city. She decorates her walls with art by Pollock, Ginsberg poems, posters of Mile Davis, cards, and cut-outs from magazines (which she subscribes to none). She fears becoming crotchety, being over bodies of water, dreading her job, and terrible accidents to loved ones. She was a features editor for the Purdue Exponent. She recently moved to Washington to start an internship at the glorious media empire known as C-SPAN. We spoke with Bridget recently over Skype to get her story.
After the noise, we interviewed Angela about the upcoming line-up at Lala over the next year or so. Some topics include:
Look. Learn. Create. Collect.
Look. Learn. Collect your creations. Collect other art.
September 16th Gallery Walk Second Space Gallery!
Beat Your Knuckles on the Door
How does one bang their knuckles the door to get showcased?
Market the big dogs!
Apply for the South Gallery
Middle of September, call for entry!
Risky. Shaking. Style.
I’m just loving it. Lala Facebooks.
Look ahead. Shaking it up.
Lala will continue.
Angela Vinson’s Interview in the Fall of 2011 about the upcoming Line-Up
Download the West Lafayette Stadium Square Strip Mall Development Interview (35:39) MP3 | OGG
We had the pleasure of speaking with Marc from Boilercribs about their development plans for the Stadium Square Strip Mall (currently housing Mad Mushroom Pizza, Jimmy Johns, Taste of China, University Bookstore, Emporium Hairstyling Center):
Marc, from Boilercribs, and his real estate development company are planning a 10-story high rise in place of the Stadium Square strip mall (~13,000 square ft) and adjacent apartment building (see map above). The new building will be (and these are just approximations since everything is still in the planning stages):
The main floor would be commercial retail space (~30,000 – 40,000 square feet)
Floors 2 – 10 would be apartments ranging from 1 bedroom to 4 bedrooms
In conjunction w our development plans across from Mackey, #BoilerCribs will contribute $250,000 cash to support the neighborhoods.
This prompted a flurry of interest from all over, including us here at the Media Collective. We scheduled an interview and have the audio available below.
In discussing the $250,000 announcement, Marc learned that the city of West Lafayette and surrounding neighborhood would like to see projects that focus on protecting, revitalizing, rehabilitating, rejuvenating the neighborhoods. The individual projects are still being discussed as this is very much in the early planning stages.
According to Marc, in tandem with the recent new construction and renovation of Mackey Arena, the Purdue Athletic Department is also trying to develop an environment where locals do not come just 30 minutes before a game, but spend a couple of hours in the area beforehand.
A specific area of concern for us is the particular commercial entities that would call this new building their home. Marc stated in the interview that several commercial enterprises already established on other Big Ten universities have expressed interest in this new development. Due to the proximity of the structure to the New Chauncey Neighborhood, the types of businesses (chain, franchise, original) will determine the community and culture that will develop there.
We understand that the term local business is not a binary, but a scale. Studies have been done that show the more locally-minded the business is, the greater amount of their capital is spent (on goods, services, wages, taxes, etc.) in the local economy. We would like to see original (not chains or franchises) businesses move into this new development. Especially ones that maximize spending their capital in the local economy. This, along with the cultural and community impact, should be at the forefront of the business recruitment process.
One idea we forgot to mention to Marc was to approach established local businesses (e.g. Triple XXX, Greyhouse, Von’s, Vienna, etc.) and see if they would be interested in pursuing a venture in this new space.
Thanks to Marc’s determination and appreciation of the benefits in transparency, he is encouraging everyone with an interest in this project to contact him (Facebook, Twitter, website). Along with input, he will also release the plans for the development to the public. With an emphasis on an open and democratic process, the new development will, hopefully, fit the cultural, community, and economic needs of the people who live in the New Chauncey Neighborhood and not just those of the outside businesses that have expressed interest.
UPDATE 2011-06-20
There was a brief question on Twitter about Mad Mushroom losing it’s location:
bwheaton07: No more Mad Mush? http://t.co/WSrxbsv
Boilercribs: quite the contrary, hoping they want to be part of new development. Love mad mush! RT “@bwheaton07: No more Mad Mush? http://t.co/GVQMIV5
This story has also caused WBBA and J&C to take notice:
Boilercribs: Phone interview with @wbaanews @mikeloizzo at 10:15am today regarding our stadium development and $250,000 neighborhood contribution
amandahamon: Just spoke with Marc from @BoilerCribs. The company is planning a 10-story high rise at Stadium Square mall in WL. More @jconline soon.
The Media Collective recently had the pleasure of attending the Ye Olde Drunkards Medieval Spelling Bee on March 26th, 2011. The event was held at the Black Sparrow Pub, the ashiest bar floor in town™.
We recorded some of the noises, interviewed the spelling keeper (Kate), runner-up, the queen bee speller, and bore witness to a birthday speech. All of which is contained in the audio below.
