A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships
We had a GIG at Sounds & Sights, and it reaffirmed that we are all in this together.
It may have started with something like “Hey Chuck! What do you think about bringing GIG to Sounds and Sights?” I can’t remember the exact words, or perhaps it was a text or an email. Those details have slithered off into the jungle of my mind. Sometime last year, as we prepared for GIG 2025 in Jackson, our friend and Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Terris Ahrens, reached out. What started as a conversation about the struggle to get eyes on our visual art exhibition turned into a suggestion. Last weekend, we turned talk into action as GIG 2026 became part of the annual Chelsea Sounds & Sights Festival.
In case you don’t know, GIG is a non-profit organization we started in 2024. The full name is GIG - The Art of Michigan Music Foundation. I regret the addition of the “Foundation” to the name, as we typically refer to it as “GIG” or “GIG - The Art of Michigan Music.” However, when setting up the organization’s name, I thought I needed to make it sound more “official.” In hindsight, I think “Foundation” just adds to the confusion about what GIG is all about.
My elevator pitch when people ask, and boy do they ask, is that GIG is all about showcasing the artists from Michigan who create the visual art in music. That would be the graphic design of album covers, CD booklets, gig posters, flyers, t-shirts, as well as the photography, both concert and promotional. Our mission is to highlight these visual artists and promote their creations.
A typical art gallery or museum doesn’t celebrate this kind of art—GIG does. As with previous years, we invited twenty local artists to participate. We set up an exhibition that shows off their work. There is a music market where visual artists can sell more of their creations. On top of the exhibition and market, we host educational sessions. All of this is free to the public. There is also no charge for vending tables and no commissions for any art sales. Some day I’m hoping we can offer stipends to the artists in the show to help offset the costs of creation and transportation.
If you didn’t read Brenda’s dandy post about her run down the rabbit hole of history regarding the origins of Chelsea Sounds & Sights, please do. For a quick history, Chelsea Sounds & Sights originated as a downtown sidewalk sales event in the late ‘50s. The modern-day Sounds & Sights festival is a two-day event at the end of July which features art markets, a classic car show, chalk art competition, food trucks, and the Social Commons with beer, wine, and live music. Each year, the Chelsea Area Chamber works to keep the festival fresh and fun.
GIG 2026 as part of Chelsea Sounds & Sights was a big old bear hug from someone you love. As much as I dug having GIG in Jackson and especially at the wonderful Art 634, the sweet summer weather vibe combined with meeting so many people who were either curious or quizzical about GIG was exhilarating. I honestly felt like we were doing something important, something meaningful, and something worthwhile. Not quite a Neil Armstrong moment, but for me, damn close.
The GIG exhibition and market was situated in a large tent in the Social Commons. This meant we were in the heart of the action with the live music stage, the bar, and food trucks in front of us. Well, with one caveat: our tent was behind a fixed pavilion and restrooms, which meant you had to be on the lookout for a tent out back. More on that later.
Due to storms a few weeks earlier, we ended up getting a larger tent for GIG. The extra space turned out to be a blessing as it allowed us to have space for the art exhibition with vendor tables around the perimeter of the tent. The smaller tent would definitely have required us to shoehorn in the art and vendors.
For our exhibition, we used wire Display2Go grid walls. They are basically 3 x 3 ft wire panels that you stack together and set into floor stands. After a few moments of head-scratching, we figured out an arrangement with three art walls, each of them four panels long and two panels high. Not being a math-magician, I was concerned at first about having enough real estate to display the art. This led to a bit of overcrowding initially.
If I’d donned my thinking cap, which looked suspiciously like the sorting hat from Harry Potter, I would have realized that three pieces of art for twenty artists works out to 2.5 pieces per panel. In short, no need to worry about space, and while not a perfect layout this time around, it still rocked.
Our music market vendors set up on Friday afternoon. We had a couple of tables of vinyl and CDs from Quarantine Records along with tables for our artists that were interested in selling more of their stuff. The market was rounded out with some informational tables for GIG/Life In Michigan, Manchester Underground Music and Art, and Six Feet Over. It all went very smoothly. Even though the venue was new, I felt like we were running like a well-oiled machine, say a ‘66 Chevelle. We were ready and waiting by our tables when the gates to the Social Commons opened at 5 pm.
After setting up, I ran around getting some photos of the festival and the classic car show before the music. When I returned, we had a pretty good flow of folks wandering through the exhibition and checking out the music market. As we were sitting chatting with our friends, a gentleman asked if this was where the “music art” was. With a wave and a smile, we told him he was in the right place. He then shared something distressing.
Apparently, our music art fan was sent on a snipe hunt around Chelsea. Evidently, the volunteers at the front gate didn’t realize that the GIG tent was in the back. When our fan asked about the “art,” they sent him down to Middle St where the Sounds & Sights art market was happening.
The gift here was our first lesson learned: we need signage and information upfront that will help people find us. As a stopgap measure, we ran some of the GIG programs, which listed what we do and all of our artists, up to the front so that people could see them. We also took them around to all the tables in the Social Commons.
The time between the music sets on Friday night was the busiest time for us in the GIG tent. Lots of people wandered over. All of these folks were interested in what we were doing, but not quite sure what we were all about. Our second lesson learned: We need a quick and easy blurb on what GIG is. This has been a struggle for me. I have my elevator pitch for use during conversations, which is all fine and dandy. However, it is clear we need a short phrase we can put on the signs and posters that says something like “Hey, we’ve got music posters and photos over here!”
Our Saturday sessions were fabulous, yet sparsely attended. The folks at Ugly Dog went above and beyond, providing us a welcoming space and even a large display for our presentation. They say good things come in threes, and after reflecting on the sessions with Brenda, our third lesson learned appeared: Move the sessions where the action is. No amount of signage is going to explain what the Saturday Sessions are about. If we can move them into a small tent close to the main GIG exhibition and market, we can inform and keep a cozy networking space for anyone and everyone interested in learning more about graphic design and photography in music.
Once again, as the music got rolling later on Saturday evening, interest in seeing the art and checking out the market increased. It wasn’t as busy as Friday, but still cool to see. The only bummer was that we shut things down around 7 pm, which may have cut down on visits. There is probably a fourth lesson learned lurking in the shadows here: Keep the doors open later.
As I mentioned earlier, GIG 2026 was delightful. Imagine your favorite pizza, cooked to perfection, packed with toppings, and everyone that you share a slice with says “Oh my God! This is the best!!!” That was GIG 2026 for me. Our artists seemed thrilled, and everyone I talked with who visited mentioned that GIG was either the most unique or most interesting thing they had seen. I know that all of us who were part of putting this thing together felt the love. If you ever get to a point where you wonder if the things you are doing to support your community matter, take a few minutes and ask. I’ll bet you’ll find that they are blown away by your support and that feeling of appreciation lifts us all up. Check out Life In Michigan for more photos and a full recap of Sounds & Sights.
Upcoming Events You Won’t Want to Miss
Our events calendar on Life In Michigan is a treasure trove of events we’ve scoured the interwebs to bring to you. There are a ton of great events coming up. From that list, here are a few highlights:
Herd Meditations at Red Horse Center in Fennville on Aug 7.
Ozena, Room 101, and Cavalcade at Mulligan’s Pub in Grand Rapids on Aug 7.
Fun Fest at Frog Island Park in Ypsilanti on Aug 8.
In Other News
During the wildfire smoke screen that enveloped Michigan, we went to see our friends Annie and Rod Caps with Jason Dennie playing at The Crazy Diamond as well as Fangs and Twang over at the Rumpus Room in Chelsea.
I’ve also got a recap of GIG 2026 and the Chelsea Sounds & Sights Festival.
Life In Michigan Podcast
We had a terrific conversation with our friend Liz Barney. She is a fantastic visual artist and storyteller who has created a wonderful community at her Open Spoon gatherings.
Liz Barney’s Magical Full Moon Potlucks
In this episode of the Life In Michigan Podcast, we sit down with our friend Liz Barney. She is the visionary and community organizer behind Ann Arbor’s beloved Open Spoon gathering. But that is just the start. She is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, and so much more. From her hilarious recap of growing up in what she lovingly calls the “Amish Mafia” …
Substack Restack Attack
Substack is where it’s at. Check out these other superb publications:
Jason P. Odell 📷 shares photos of a super vibrant bird called a Honeycreeper along with info for us photo nerds on his settings and most importantly, his post-processing!
Marty Slagter has a fun interview with the band Sleep Tight Tiger (such a great name!).
Keith Meyers shares some notes and excellent photos from Canyon Falls - I need to get back there soon!
Adventures Yet To Print
On Brenda’s birthday, we visited the River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe. Brenda is busy working on a recap. While in Monroe, we stopped by Venture Brewing, and I’ll be working up some thoughts on that experience (spoiler alert: this brewery is awesome!). Finally, we are currently in New York City for a short vacation run that includes all the tourist traps. While there, we checked out some band named Rush. I’m sure there will be stories to share from that adventure.
Sunday Sip Flashback
Now that we have a couple of years of Sunday Sips under our belt, I thought it was time to dip into the archives for a Sunday Sip Flashback.
🦉 Sunday Sip
Hello Friends! Ever wondered where hobbies end and obsessions begin? It's like trying to spot a line drawn in invisible ink! Figuring out when a simple pastime morphs into an all-consuming passion is tricky.
Sunday Sip
Anytime is the right time for a good story, right? Does that include Sunday mornings for your Sunday Sip? I think the answer is yes and yes. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it.
What Are You Reading? What Are You Spinning?
With all the GIG excitement, I’ve not had much time to spin many records and books. More next time, friends.
That’s A Wrap
As my buddy Sturgill once said:
“Keep your head out of the clouds
And remember to be kind
And just stay in school
Stay off the drugs
And keep between the lines.”
Thank you for reading. Seriously, thank you! I hope your week is excellent! Don’t forget to kick out the jams!
Now, here is your moment of zen:
So cool. Talent, skill and aptitude on multiple fronts to pull these things off. Lot of work and labor. Bravo Marshalls! Checked out what I’m assuming is the Convulsive. Whoa! Wish I could work a detour to Michigan on 8/8 for the record release.
Chuck and Brenda, I am so happy this went well for you. It's really cool what you are doing. Can't wait for some photos.