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What up at Rose Park Circle

tamias6

By tamias6
in Grand Rapids

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

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For the last three days I've noticed giant white tents have been erected in the middle of Rosa Park Circle and the entire area barricaded off. Anybody know what's happening down there? Does this have anything to do with the new GRAM or is it some other type of event.

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MrsB918 Unincorporated Area

MrsB918

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The gala is tomorrow night, and it's going to be really fancy. The dress code is evening formal - with guys wearing tails and ladies in full-length dresses. The gala has two parts - first, a dinner in the museum followed by the Starlight Ball at Rosa Park Circle. I hear that tickets to the event sold out quickly.

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Veloise City

Veloise

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The gala is tomorrow night, and it's going to be really fancy. The dress code is evening formal - with guys wearing tails and ladies in full-length dresses. The gala has two parts - first, a dinner in the museum followed by the Starlight Ball at Rosa Park Circle. I hear that tickets to the event sold out quickly.
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Veloise City

Veloise

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I'm not at the party (too busy; lathe & plaster demo project captivated me) but I am now on the scene. Practically a traffic jam on Monroe Center, and many parking lots have hung out the FULL sign.

There's a Range Rover parked out front of the Friends. Haven't seen any choppers dropping in.

The single horse carriages are out in force, and there's a two-horsepower open wagon plying the streets. (Civilians in it. I saw U-M shirts on them.) All of them were full.

RPC's trees have sprouted white lights, and there's landscaping outside of the big top. (They dropped the side to keep us peons from viewing the dancing.) Lots of other civilians walking around, riding bikes, circulating. Major GRPD presence (maybe I'll see my night shift bike cop buddies). Light jazz playing, sounds like Marian McPartland-style stuff.

Haven't seen the searchlights on yet, but it's early.

ETA: searchlights turned on 8:50 pm. A passing civilian mentioned the "bat signal."

ETA: chopper sighting 9:15 pm

ETA 9:30 pm, the outdoor tent music starts, with a heavy drum disco version of "Celebration." (If they play "Proud Mary" or "Brown-Eyed Girl," I am hitting the road.) GAACK! "We Are Family," "Get Down Tonight." HOW much did they pay for tickets??

ETA: 10 pm-ish: not bad, Jimmy Buffet, Bob Seeger (big improvement actually).

10:30: "Brown-Eyed Girl." Thank you and good night! (I love good music. This ain't it.)

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the_guy_from_ada Crossroads

the_guy_from_ada

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Just before the Jimmy Buffet number, I was joined at my curbside table by a consultant to the party. Said his company edited the several thousand red carpet entrance photos down to a manageable several hundred, then projected them on the wall of the building. (Facing east, it's on the south facade closest to Friday's, opposite the Louvres.)

Abot the music, he asked the same question. "They paid HOW MUCH for a ticket and that's the best band they could get??"

An Ada resident, he had no idea that GRAM has a Friday night social event thing (he'd picked up On the Town in the Friends). "Where do they have it, outside?" I explained that the existing (former) building has some nice spaces for concerts and music.

We joked about the band's choice of the piece "At Last."

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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When it comes to "gala" events like that, the music is always the same. It's always the "safe" playlist like Kool & the Gang, Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Bob Seger (Old Time Rock n Roll) and all that other garbage, but it has to appeal to (or at least not offend) a broad audience, from 80 year olds to 20 somethings. People aren't paying to see the band, it's just background filler.

BTW: Welcome the guy from ada!

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