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Thread: Good news on the smokestack!!

  1. #1
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Good news on the smokestack!!

    I just received this from the historical society:


    Hi Tim - actually I am pretty optimistic about the stack being repaired. It needs work and the folks who control the building are willing to throw in upwards of $50,000. We are waiting for the inspection report referenced in this article. We may need to do additional fundraising. I have added your email to the list of folks to get regular notifications when there are updates available.

    This came from Sharon Ferraro a long time family friend who is very much involved in preservation projects!

    I will forward any further fundraising information that she sends.
    The last couple of articles much have soaked in for some folks and the owners realize how bad the fallout might be if it's lost forever.
    Thanks for giving me a little kick in the pants and poking my nose in this situation!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  3. #2
    Resonate globally Pete Jenner's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    There goes the barbeque.
    The more I learn, the less I know.

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  4. #3
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Yeah, I know but, they'd make me buy the bricks no doubt. For free I'd build the barbecue, for money, I would need to really think the design through. I would anyway really but, when material is inexpensive (free) you can make a mistake and not feel bad about tearing it back down and tweaking it. When I spend money, I tend to spend a LOT more time in the design phase. I also use Howard I. Chapelle's boatbuilder's "moaning chair" concept.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Butcherer of Songs Rob Zamites's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    So, now's the time to get a crowd sourced funding set up..I mean if I guy can raise $55k for potato salad, surely the mandolin/Gibson lovers' community can do at least that well?
    =============================
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    "Doubt begins only at the last frontiers of what is possible." -- Ambrose Bierce

  6. #5
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Rob, I will post where to send donations as soon as I hear from Sharon if it's a go for rebuilding!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Here's a link to an spot on local TV from Sundays morning news show.
    http://www.wwmt.com/news/features/to...D#.VMZ5CtQo7ct
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  9. #7
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Quick update, I just had a phone call from a friend working at Heritage.
    The latest news is restoration is going to happen! No idea when it will start but, it is supposed to happen!
    Oh, he said he has been swamped with people wanting bricks, I probably never would have had enough to make my barbecue! I may still make one, if I can talk my wife into it.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Registered User Steve VandeWater's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    You should make your BBQ look like a miniature replica of the smokestack.
    Last edited by Steve VandeWater; Jan-29-2015 at 2:40pm.
    It ain't gotta be perfect, as long as it's perfect enough!

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  12. #9

    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Heh, I suppose this is proof that one can put the Gibson name on a tube of bricks and people will still throw thousands of dollars at it.

    --Tom

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  14. #10
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Where do you live Tom?
    Are there no local places of historical significance there that folks have rallied to save? Why casting aspersions at this one? Did you have a bad Gibson experience?
    Rob, I think to get scale right in my back yard, it might only be a one burger grill
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Seeing the interest - Gibson should put an image of the smoke stack on gig bags and tee shirts and hats and maybe us the "brick font" on headstocks.

    Who knows.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  16. #12

    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    It's a joke, Timbo. I'm actually a huge fan of smokestacks... usually ones with wheels.

    --Tom

  17. #13
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    No harm, just felt a little like you had been burned by them, ooh, sorry for the smokestack burn pun.
    Jeff, that's a cool idea, except they would charge a fortune for them and now that the company is in Nashville, why would they care?
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    and now that the company is in Nashville, why would they care?
    Well that is the whole thing right there. If they paid more attention to their history and legacy and impact through time, a whole lot of things would be different.

    But I have to say, I have no idea how to run a business, of any kind, much less one that big. And perhaps sentimentality, or the degree of sentimentality I have, is just not appropriate, .. just gets in the way.

    Maybe this outfit that is saving the stack could raise some money through the sale of stack merch. I want a Gibson Smokestack Hoodie. And on the back? "Kalamazoo Strong". Oh, never mind.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
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  19. #15
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    When I find out more about the restoration group I will see if that is something they might have considered. My bet is they won't do anything that cool but, I have been surprised before. I like the t shirt idea though.
    Stack on the front, only a Gibson is good enough in banner style on the back would be cool
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Registered User darylcrisp's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    When I find out more about the restoration group I will see if that is something they might have considered. My bet is they won't do anything that cool but, I have been surprised before. I like the t shirt idea though.
    Stack on the front, only a Gibson is good enough in banner style on the back would be cool
    +1

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    Resonate globally Pete Jenner's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Preserving phallic monuments to the age of industrial feudalism is a great hobby to have.
    ...or you could just play mandolin around the barbeque.
    The more I learn, the less I know.

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    Registered User Tom C's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    id ask for a donation from Gibson just for the advertisement. Or change it to Givins

  24. #19
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    News from today's Gazette
    KALAMAZOO, MI -- Anyone strumming a Gibson guitar made before 1980 is playing one made at 225 Parsons St. on Kalamazoo's north side.

    And anyone who still owns one is a person serious guitarists call "lucky."

    "It was rather prestigious for players to say they were playing a Gibson," longtime Kalamazoo guitar maker Jack French said of the full-sounding, hand-crafted instruments that have become a mainstay for musicians, most notably since the 1960s. "And they were all made here."

    That is why guitar enthusiasts and historical preservationists have rallied around the old factory's aging, 70-foot brick smokestack with its white, vertical letters spelling, "GIBSON." It is the most visible, last vestige of Gibson's Kalamazoo roots.

    Jeff Mitchell, founder of the Kalamazoo Academy of Rock, which uses the former Gibson factory for its students to practice, helped start the "Save the Stack" campaign two years ago. The campaign will have a presence at the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival, being held Friday and Saturday at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

    "There's just a great affection for and passion for and pride around here in the Gibson brand," said Mitchell, whose program helps young people hone their musical skills to become performers. "That Gibson was made here in Kalamazoo -- they're kind of our hometown team that has gone on to be one of the most dominant guitar makers in rock 'n' roll history."

    The "Save the Stack" effort was re-envigorated in January when the owner of the building, now part of a 134,592-square-foot business incubator called the Kalamazoo Enterprise Center, seemed poised to demolish the deteriorated brick smokestack. It has been damaged by years of use and there are fears it may become an untenable safety hazard.

    Talks between the property's owners and managers as well as community members and city officials have been ongoing in efforts to preserve the smokestack. It is, enthusiasts say, an important symbol of Kalamazoo's guitar-making history.

    "To me, and other guitar players, that's hallowed ground." - Kalamazoo's Rex Bell on the Gibson plant
    Some of the custom-made Gibson guitars built at the plant sold for $300 in the 1950s and '60s have become collectibles now worth tens of thousands of dollars. The 1954 Gibson Les Paul known as "Black Beauty," for instance, sold at auction last month for $335,500.

    "225 Parsons is known worldwide," said Rendal Wall, who has worked for Heritage Guitars for the past 30 years after helping to build guitars for Gibson Guitar Co. for more than two decades before that. "Some of the most famous people in the entire (music) industry have walked through here."

    Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Charlie Daniels, Elvis Presley and a host of other famous musicians are mentioned as past visitors by the seasoned guitar makers at Heritage Guitars, a company started in 1985 by a cluster of former Gibson guitar makers who decided to stay in Kalamazoo rather than relocate to Nashville, Tenn., with Gibson.

    Sharon Ferraro, historic preservation coordinator for the city of Kalamazoo, said Orville Gibson was very important to the city "because he was a real innovator" who started small and made reasonably priced guitars that were popular all over the United States. His company grew to become a huge business that is still going, even though it is no longer in Kalamazoo.

    The 98-year-old building that once housed up to 1,600 workers is important "because it was built for that company," Ferraro said, "and because it is still sound and substantially unaltered from the time when Gibson was very involved in making the guitars."

    "To me, and other guitar players, that's hallowed ground," guitar player Rex Bell said of the former Gibson plant.

    Bell, who is also chief executive officer of Miller Davis Co., a general contracting and construction company in Kalamazoo, said the plant originally gave Gibson guitars and now Heritage guitars their tonal mojo.

    "It's like a national monument," he said.

    Mitchell said he is encouraged that something good will happen to preserve the history of the old factory. The property is owned by 225 Parsons LLC and is managed by PlazaCorp Realty Advisors Inc.

    Mitchell said he is encouraged by the efforts PlazaCorp has made over the years to restore historically significant buildings in downtown Kalamazoo such as the Shakespeare Building and the Globe Building.

    "I hope they save the stack," said Marvin Lamb, one of the longtime guitar makers who is a partner in Heritage Guitars. "But to me it should mean more to Kalamazoo, more for what it was and what it has done for Kalamazoo."

    Kalamazoo Gazette reporter Al Jones may be contacted at ajones5@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Well, that is a bit of good news, though things are still in the works. Seems like things are still up in the air, as the smokestack is still up in the air, but at least it's heartening to hear there's a groundswell of support. Hope more people get fired up at the festival this weekend.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  27. #21
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    I find it more than a little interesting that there is virtually no mention of the mandolin history of the company, it's all guitar reference. Oh well, we can hope.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    !) By "virtually no mention" you mean "absolutely no mention?"

    2) At least the writer included phrases such as "important symbol" and "historically significant" albeit obliquely.

    3) What's a mandolin?
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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  30. #23
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    I was trying to be kind and not be relegated back to my corner JB.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    Nobody puts Timbo in the corner.

    (Except Timbo ... )
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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  33. #25
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Good news on the smokestack!!

    No mention of stack merchandise. That would seem to be an obvious fund raiser.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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