Fortress Party 2015 Retrospective, Part 4: Ann Arbor Street Fair - Non-Profit Row and Civil Disobedience

There is a city block of the famous Ann Arbor Street Art Fair dedicated to booths set up by political, religious, pseudoscientific and community service organizations. It is known as Non-Profit Row, and we did our best to evoke the mix of activism and insanity.

There was an ad running on this computer monitor, enumerating the reasons that Bernie Sanders should be running Fortress Party instead of Zach London. 

This trustworthy-looking gentleman tried to recruit guests to join the Illumanti. Informational pamphlets and application forms were given out freely. 

The last booth was was Indentured Internationale, an opportunity to support the production of international crafts locally. 

Civil Disobedience was a photo booth, in which guests could write whatever they were protesting on a dry-erase sign. 

A slideshow of the protest pictures was broadcast on the wall throughout the night. 

 

Fortress Party 2015 Retrospective, Part 3: Montezuma's Revue

 

Fortress Party 2015 had live music all night at Montezuma's Revue, where the musicians are luchadors, and luchadors are libre.

Skippy built this customized Mexican wrestling ring around our spare mattress.

We set up a tequila bar in the corner, and decorated the room with Lucha Libre posters and brochures.

Mexican wrestling masks and capes were provided for performers, although some brought their own. Because even in 2015, it was a little gross to reuse someone else's skin-tight mask. 

All the band names were delightful Spanish puns. 

This luchador/mariachi stripped down to his full wrestling skivvies halfway through the set. 

Fortunately, his identity was protected by the mask.

After a couple shots of Mezcal, some of the performers found it easier just to kneel on the mattress. 

Others decided it was safer not to enter the ring at all.

Fortress Party 2015 Retrospective, Part 2: Oz (from the Gale House to the Emerald City)

One of the first rooms was The Gale House, home of Dorothy, Toto, their family, and farmhands. 

Everybody on the farm had their jobs to do, which changed every day.

The pattern for Dorothy's famous blue gingham dress apparently was cut from this wall. 

Obviously, everyone in Kansas is a Jayhawks fan. 

For the second year in a row, we had a medical student wearing a GoPro on her head to do a live walkthrough. 

The tornado scene from Wizard of Oz was projected onto the window from the from of the house.

When guests left the room, they would find that they had crushed the Wicked Witch. 

They would follow the yellow brick road. 

And meet some new friends.

And some other new friends. 

And eventually come to the Emerald City. 

Elsewhere in the fort, there was an opportunity to record your voice, reading as the Great and Powerful Oz. This would be Green-ified and projected onto the TV in the the Emerald City. 

Fortress Party 2015 Retrospective, Part 1: Narnia

The entrance to Fortress Party 2015 was from the back porch. Guests coming up there back porch would see little Lucy Pevensie, having a conversation from "The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe."

The only way into the house (and into Narnia) was through this custom wardrobe that was built around the sliding glass doors on the porch. You would have to open he door, and push through the coats to get in. 

The white foam path would lead to the lamp-post, where you would meet the Mr. Tumnus, the nebbishy faun and reluctant sex symbol. . 

If you hung out in this room, you could listen to the conversation between Mr. Tumnus and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, played by our guinea pigs, Faxter and Lemongrass. 

Fortress Party 2014 Walkthrough

The University of Michigan medical school branch of the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) has a charity bash every year. In 2014 I bid on (and won) Party Planning services from a first year medical student named Sarah Marks. 

Instead of asking her to plan Fortress Party, I just asked her to show up and wear a head-mounted GoPro. She brought a friend, and they switched off throughout the night. At the entrance to the party, there was signs entreating guests to give a high-five to anyone wearing a GoPro on their head. 

A Backpack of Smaller, Denser Monkeys

 Dear Friends,

    The Hard Taco song for December is called, "Reel It Back in." This song speaks to a desperate eagerness to move on from a certain head of state with whom I have had an unhealthy relationship. As his tenure ends, I fantasize about a seeing less of him in my newsfeed with each passing day. And yet, it's hard to imagine feeling entirely liberated from the last few years of unpleasantness.

    The 2004 Charlie Kaufman movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is on Netflix this month. It's about a couple who have their memories of each other erased to lessen the blow of a bad breakup. When this particular president steps down from office, I would like that procedure. I could start the new year fresh, without carrying any anger or bitterness. He would live his life, and I mine, and we would never cross each other's minds. It would be like putting down a heavy backpack, or a getting a monkey off you back who is wearing a backpack full of smaller, denser, monkeys. 

    Of course, in the movie, the couple end up falling in love again because their amnesia prevents them from learning from their mistakes. If that's what happens to Donald Trump and I, so be it. 

  And now, on with our Fortress Party recaps and rehashes. We only made it through three years of Fortresses this month, because I felt that many of these rooms needed their own blog entry. 

2012

Mayan Madness

Jordache Dreams

Anarchist's Bridal Expo

A Brief History of Love, The Lily Pad, and Target: Earth

Small World, Spoiler Alert, Bloc Party

2013

Ellis Island

The Legend of Sleepy Challah

1-Up, Cirque du Soleil, Fratlantis

Game of Thrones

Finnegan's Wake

2014

Museum's of Michigan, The Womb Room, and The Devil Went Up to Michigan

It's All Connected

The Bridge to Canada

German Park and Hungry Hungry Hip-Hop

The Nefer-titi Bar and King Tut's Last Science Fair

With warmest regards,

Zach