links: Noted in local blogs: sugar beets, music, bikes, media and Iggy Pop

Sugar

The Ann Arbor Sugar Beet Project 2010 is a project to make your own homegrown sugar. Brian Steinberg will be selling sugar beet seeds and starter kits at the Westside Farmers Market this summer, starting on June 3, on Thursdays from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Music

East Lansing-based band the Elevator Conspiracy will be playing a live show on WCBN Wednesday, April 28 from 9 p.m to 11 p.m: "Formed in late 2008, The Elevator Conspiracy fuses their interests in free jazz, R&B, exotica, lounge, bossa nova, ambient, garage rock, downtempo, acid jazz, and 70's AM radio into a dynamic sound of rich rhythms, vibrant textures, and spontaneous delights. Consume live for best flavor."

Music critic Alex Ross has a lovely photo of the backstage at Rackham Auditorium, from his The Rest is Noise performance.

Bikes

Ypsilanti's Mark Maynard has a nice interview with Andy Claydon and Natalie Holbrook from Bike Ypsi about their big Spring Ride on Sunday, May 2: "There will be 2 different length bicycle rides in and around our good city, simple fix it/diagnosis stations for bicycles, chances to talk with folks who ride all over the area in all different kinds of weather, bicycle games for kids and adults, some bike themed crafts for the kids, a bbq featuring hot dogs and veggie dogs and any other goodies that we’ve been able to scrounge up from willing donors, some swag for sale, and general good fun with Ypsi peeps who like bikes."

Media

Julie Halpert writes for the Yale Forum on Climate Change on Without a Daily Newspaper Nine Months Now: Ann Arbor Learning to Adapt. She talks to Tracy Davis, who is now working for Health Media; Geoff Larcom, now working at Eastern Michigan University; and University of Michigan Professor Emeritus of Geophysics Henry Pollack. 

The account laments the difficulty of finding environmental news about the area, and notes that Charles Eisendrath, director of the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows at the University of Michigan, is planning to launch a website and weekly news magazine, The Ann Arbor Rose, this fall.

Iggy

Retro: Kimmer has an essay with photos on Coachville Trailer Park 2010, where he explores the modern day surroundings of the place where Iggy Pop is from: "Washtenaw County is a strange place to grow up for all of us natives. Lately I have had several conversations with people, (some famous rockers) some normal fans, about whether or not Jim (Iggy) grew up with his parents in Ypsilanti. Michigan. He did not. Jim went to Carpenter Elementary School, Tappan Junior High and Pioneer High School all Ann Arbor Schools. My point being.. Jim was never from Ypsilanti he was was Pittsfield Township Ann Arbor . I can see why he rather claim Ypsilanti though! We were much more rebellious, blue collar, and down to earth people. Ypsi had it's own code of behavior and I am proud to be born and raised in Ypsilanti, Michigan."

Filter feeding as a media strategy

There's more like this every single day - it's worthwhile from time to time to go beyond the bounds of what you normally look for news and trawl through search engines finding things that match what you are interested in. I'm generally happy with the results when there's something useful, novel, or interesting on every page or two; when you get to the point where page after page is dull, move on.

It's possible to automate these kinds of searches and have Google send you the same report every day. If your interests are not changing very often, this can be appealing, and I have a search for FOIA set up to help my FOIA Friday reporting. That works when most things that return in the search are on topic, but geographical searches are more sparse, since you have to wade through deceitful blogs that salt in place names to attract searches as well as an entire set of real estate promotion that is topical but not what I'm looking for.

Edward Vielmetti scours the web to bring you news from your backyard. Reach him at edwardvielmetti@annarbor.com.