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Michigan’s Mixed Bag

Last weekend we skipped across the state and headed into Michigan for a weekend in both the country and city. Among the highlights were Detroit’s Eastern Market – which literally goes on for blocks and blocks – and the absolutely spectacular horse farm (once visited by a not-so-recently former president) that resides next to our in-law’s house (which, believe it or not, sits on a wonderfully unpaved road in the country).

Wooster Jam

I was listening to WKSU’s local news show on Thursday afternoon when a story about a promising jamboree grabbed my attention.

Organized by students at the College of Wooster’s Center for Entrepreneurship (C4E) under the direction of James Levin (founding director of Cleveland Public Theatre and Cleveland’s IngenuityFest), the second annual Wooster Jam promised to be a slice of Americana I find not only highly refreshing, but one glaringly AWOL in todays’ often too-cool-for-the-room world. The real bait, for me, was that it sounded as if a couple hundred or more creatives (magicians, cloggers, singers, craftspeople, photographers and more) would be participating – and god knows I love diversity.

So I hopped on the Internet to learn more.

According to its Website (www.woosterjam.com):

The Wooster Jam is an end-of-semester celebration of music and the arts that thrive both on and off The College of Wooster campus, consisting of an array of individual artists and ensembles from a myriad of art forms and media.  The gathering will take place at the historic Wayne County Fairgrounds on April 20 and 21, using several distinct and non-traditional venues. One may hear an A Capella ensemble, the Ohio Light Opera, the Cedar Valley Cloggers and the best rock music on campus – all at different venues simultaneously.  The Jam is a unique fusion of language art sound motion music and interactivity.

Better yet, it was free, a fairly short drive away and Friday’s weather promised to near 80 degrees.

As it turns out, the grounds were fun (especially the Grange building, which is a rustic, octagonal building with a slim line of bleachers ’round the perimeter), the people friendly, the acts engaging and the night just perfect. To me, the whole experience kind of reminded me of the first time I breathed in the fresh, Caribbean-cleaned air of the Florida Keys – pure, simple, fresh and real. An “ahhhhhh” kind of high.

While you might not find most of these performers at the Wooster Jam clamoring to debut for a syndicated talent show, I find that that art-for-art’s-sake mentality a cut above the more look-at-me approaches . Besides: When community members (near and far) gather together to support the arts, everyone’s already a winner.