JoCo at The Ark: Dinner Plans

[filkertom]

Those of you who are going to be at the Jonathan Coulton concert at The Ark this Friday: Do any of us want to try to get together for dinner beforehand? If so, let's discuss it here. Points to consider:

• Showtime is at 8:00 p.m.; doors open at 7:30 p.m.
• It will likely be very busy along Main Street, as it's supposed to break 50° Friday.
• Parking will be interesting, for exactly the same reason.
• The more people we have, the earlier we should get together... but some of you are coming from out of town.

So the basic questions are, on Main Street by The Ark or not? Where exactly? And where do we try to park? (I'm shootin' for a handicapped space on Main, myself.)

ETA: Choices along Main Street include: Marnee Thai (which we haven't been to yet); BD's Mongolian Barbecue (very good, but VERY loud); Middle Kingdom Chinese; Gratzi (Very expensive Italian); Palio (different Italian); The Real Seafood Co.; Shalimar Indian (which I'm not even sure is still there); Conor O'Neil's Irish bar; Parthenon; Prickly Pear Southwest Cafe; The Chop House (VERY expensive, uppah crust); and Cafe Felix (another I haven't been to).

Places I'd recommend a little further away include: Zingerman's Deli (by Kerrytown); Miki Japanese (just two blocks off Main); Gourmet Garden Chinese on Stadium; Pizza House on Church (which may also be crowded); Knights Restaurant on Ann Arbor-Dexter Road (the sign is a big chess-knight, no words on it).

Comments

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

Parking on Main sounds good. Food before sounds good too, only thing would be where.

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Goodness, I wish I were going to be there! Oh well.

The name of the one restaurant, Palio, made me think of Siena in Italy. It's a beautiful city, and the horse race named Palio is run twice a year. Gorgeous, gorgeous place.

[tommytoony.livejournal.com]

Shalimar is indeed still there...unless they've closed in the past week.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Not going to be there, though I wish I were. I'll be thinking of you guys, though; my tickets for the March 27 show here in NY just arrived today, and I am excited!

[que-sara-sara.livejournal.com]

John and I are going to dinner down there Friday night, even tho we're not going to the concert, but I suspect we'll be getting into dinner about the time you get into the concert. Damn.

Tho I would also mention Arbor Brewing Company and Grizzly Peak, both of which are just off Main and quite nummy. :) I think we're aiming for either ABC or Red Hawk but if he's getting down quickly enough I'll check to see where you'll be. :)

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

You're in for a great show! Have a wonderful time.

If you get to talk to JoCo after the concert,

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

try to convince him of the benefits of coming to GaFilk (http://www.gafilk.org), OK?

[hearth-spirit.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend Middle Kingdom, especially if you have a (Mandarin? Szechuan?) speaker in the party. They've got some good stuff that's not on the standard menu.

Also, don't forget Silvio's Pizza on State - they're further away, but they have OMG-it's-good pizza, homemade pasta/soup, and desserts, and you don't have to pay an arm and a leg. http://www.silviosorganicpizza.com/

Disclaimer: I'm not connected in any way to Silvio's, except that I've probably a few cells made up of post-pizza molecules.

[ebenbrooks.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with JoCo, but I have a question for you.

When you release filks (and in this instance, I'm using the definition "humorous parody of a popular song") on CD, how do you go about securing the license?

Thanks.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ha. Long, long convoluted explanation. Short form is, for the most part, I don't. And it's not because I don't want to pay. Best approach is to either pay 'em for a cover and don't tell 'em it's a parody, or just go ahead with it and claim fair use. What do you have in mind?

[ebenbrooks.livejournal.com]

Well, I want to release an EP CD of my City of Heroes filks (Don't Wanna Be Defeated, Beat Up the Scum, Regeneration, and Personal Archvillain), but I want to make sure that I'm paying the copyright holders of the original songs (I Wanna Be Sedated, Soak Up the Sun, My Generation, and Personal Jesus).

The "pay for a cover and don't tell them its a parody" is a good idea. I may just do that.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

A lot of it also depends on if you want to actually sell the thing, as opposed to just releasing it into the wild for free. Unless you're blatantly offensive or trying to pass off your song as the original, no one will likely care, so long as you're not personally profiting.

[ebenbrooks.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, you see, I *do* want to sell it. That's going to make things more difficult, I'm sure.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

I have done a lot of research on this. Contact me offline if you want further info. Sum it up this way: reality is what you can get away with, but if you have visions of taking your material beyond the filk community, the choice is trying to obtain permission from the copyright holder or being open to potential-but-unlikely lawsuit.

[jss]

I'd love to do dinner first. I'll probably keep my car parked at work (either the Thompson St. structure or adjoining surface lot) and just walk to Main Street. Personally I'm not a huge fan of Indian or Thai, but can make do if that's what folks want. I'd prefer not Pizza House, but only because I just had lunch there today.

So just say when and where and count me in.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

http://www.knightsrestaurants.com/menus/dinner_kbr.pdf

Some of the stuff at Knight's seems a tad on the pricey side. Especially if their burgers don't come with fries. For what they're charging I'd hope so but not sure.

My vote would be Conor's as, looking at their website (http://www.conoroneills.com/annarbor/foodmenu.php) their food sounds good and is in my price range.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Conor's does indeed look decent, but in fairness click on "dinner menu". The prices jump a touch. On the other hand, you acquire a few more entrees.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

It does get a little higher, but not much higher than I've seen at other restaraunts, well at least the ones I usually eat at.

I'm hoping you can still get the sandwitches beccause the grilled chicked sounds really good. Other than that I'd probably get the fish & chips.

[blindaurora.livejournal.com]

Jealous! I wish JC was in MY town!

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

Go to http://eventful.com/demand and put in a vote for JoCo in a large metro area near you. He actually pays attention to the demand levels in various towns and uses it to book shows - I had all my local friends demand him in Denver, and when he finally got here in January it was a sold-out show.

Too bad there's not a way to demand him at a filk con. He's been to one - Confluence in Pittsburgh - but that just isn't enough. Still, I can see where an artist who can sell out a show at a 400 seat venue might not find it economically viable to spend an entire weekend lounging about at a filk con for the price of a badge and a hotel room.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

From the sound of things, that's exactly why he doesn't come to more cons. We are, as we have always been, a very small pond, and he's in a decent-sized lake right now.