Bus for Art’s Sake
If you’re riding the Link on a Tuesday, be prepared to contend with puppet shows. “You think that anytime you get on the bus, something will happen,” says the art professor who’s organizing the event. Like, say, a broken back door that has to be manually closed at every stop, or a trip that terminates prematurely after a collision with a car? (Okay, those were experiences we had on blue U of M buses, not the Link.)
As the News says, “A bus is nothing if it’s not an active venue for art.”
Why I walk everywhere downtown.
posted by tom on December 9th, 2005 at 12:38 pmWe were on the Paris Metro once an there was a guy on there doing a puppet show. The business model was that he was so annoying that people paid him to go away and perform for somebody else. Fortunately, my French was weak enough that I really couldn’t follow the puppeteer’s rapid fire ‘wit’, but our fluent friend was in visible agony.
posted by mw on December 9th, 2005 at 12:39 pmWas the News serious, or speaking tongue-in-cheek? … You know, for my sanity, let’s just assume the latter.
Personally, hearing only one half of a cell phone conversation is all the entertainment I need on the bus. What is a bus if not an outlet for me to direct my irritability quota of the day towards the kid going “yeah… YEAH… I’M ON A BUS. THAT’S WHY IT’S LOUD. SPEAK UP. OH, I WAS TOTALLY TRASHED LAST NIGHT.”
Sometimes I don’t miss the UM buses.
posted by Jen on December 9th, 2005 at 1:17 pmI’m glad I went to school before cell phones became massively popular.
posted by James on December 9th, 2005 at 1:37 pmI just hadn’t really lived until I had to listen to a girl yelling “F’ you Grandma don’t you F’in F’ with me about this” in math lab…
posted by stella on December 9th, 2005 at 4:17 pmIf it were an “active” venue for art, then they wouldn’t need to organize it, now would they?
posted by Daniel on December 9th, 2005 at 4:26 pmI disappointed in all of you.
Isn’t this the perfect opportunity to say, “Puppets! Finally, a reason to get on The Link!”?
posted by Chris on December 9th, 2005 at 4:44 pm“I am disappointed” rather than “I disappointed,” of course. I hope you can see past my experimental grammar.
posted by Chris on December 9th, 2005 at 4:45 pmThis is like having a roving band at a restaurant, who you have to pay to get to rove somewhere else. It’s lame.
I don’t think people on busses should be subjected to anything above and beyond what they already have to deal with while on the bus.
What is a bus if not a venue for art? It’s the much-lusted-after PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, that’s what, the thing that will magically make everything Better(tm) when it exists.
posted by Hawk on December 10th, 2005 at 4:10 pmPhilistines.
posted by Dave on December 12th, 2005 at 9:02 amHee hee hee. Hee hee.
I, um, know most of the class in question.
AAiO, I too had the entertaining blue-bus-getting-hit-by-car experience. The bus didn’t even appear to be damaged, but of course we all had to get off and sulk on the sidewalk until another one came along to pick us up… I assume it’s a liability if they kept the rammed bus running. Good times with public transit.
posted by Boston Fan in Michigan on December 15th, 2005 at 4:53 am