Subject:
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Re: Meijers in Grand Rapids
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 15 Dec 1999 17:55:51 GMT
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Viewed:
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861 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Scott Edward Sanburn writes:
<snipped market from the groups list>
> > And Fred Meijer is aces. He MADE Da Vinci's horse happen and those hoity
> > toity coastals didn't even invite him to the actual ceremony. Apparently
> > his money was good enough to fund it but not good enough to get
> > recognition for doing so.
>
> Man, I am clueless. What is this about, Larry?
OK, there's a lot of mumbling coming up here..
It's the talk of GR. :-) Apparently, Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned by
<mumble>, who was ruler of <mumble, a leading <mumble/italian> state> to
design a horse statue. He produced a bunch of design drawings and a small
scale model but <mumble, some historical event> interfered and the horse was
never cast. It was to be HUGE, something like 20<mumble> feet high.
Recently, like 2-3 years ago, the organization <mumble> who is <NEA
funded/leftist/coastal/elitist/insert derogatory term> thought it might be
neat to actually produce it... So they commissioned the leading artist <mumble
but she's asian, maybe the person who did the vietnam wall> to carry out the
work of making molds and arranged for a bronze shop in <mumble> italy to do
the casting.
So they set out to raise money. A year later they had raised some paltry sum.
Fred got wind of it somehow and said essentially "I'll fill the breach here
and pony up (1) <mumble> million dollars to finish the job, but I want a copy
of the horse too.. that is, cast two horses instead of one, I'll put the other
one in Meijer Gardens for the fine people of GR to enjoy".
Much organizational effort, which wasn't getting done before Fred showed up,
got done to make things happen. Fred was instrumental behind the scenes
getting things lined up, getting suppliers found, causing the right things to
happen, etc.
So finally two "casts" were made. Now, imagine if you will, the immense size
and weight of a 20 foot bronze horse, even hollow. So the horses were cast in
pieces. Many pieces... It's not really discernible which piece went with which
piece, the artist's work and the casting shops work were that good. During the
assembly process all the pieces were mixed and matched. So both horses, as
assembled, are essentially identical, indistinguishable, and have identical
provenance and lineage.
Recently there was a horse dedication ceremony in <mumble, some
coastal/elitist town> which got huge press. Fred wasn't even invited. A stink
had to be raised before they begrudgingly at the last minute allowed him to
come. Lots of PR for people who basically didn't do much except beg, and not
all that succesfully either, as was FRED who showed up check in hand to bail
them out. Fred and the artist were pushed into the corner. She's none too
pleased about it either. The national press has consistently stated things
like (in order):
1 - there's only one horse. <bzzt, that was fixed>
2 - the horses are DIFFERENT, because they're different sizes <bzzt>
3 - Well, they're dimensionally the same, but one was cast first <bzzt> and
that's the one that counts
Why? either the national (2) press is
- clueless because they believe what they are told
- lazy because they don't check
- elitist because they want to believe that the artsies did all the work,
grubby Fred did nothing significant, all he did was supply money,
organizational talent, and the vision to make it happen. But that's not
important.
1 - ouch. But it had to be done
2 - NY times, the wire services, TIME magazine, etc..
++Lar
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Meijers in Grand Rapids
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| (...) < Snipped Larry's telling of the horse & Fred Meijer > Wow, that is incredible. Just goes to show how biased the media is, and how entrenched they are in class warfare. Fred has brought thousands upon thousands of jobs and careers to people, (...) (25 years ago, 15-Dec-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Meijers in Grand Rapids
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| (...) That would have been the da Medici's, IIRC, with their lovely political advisor Machiavelli. And Genoa. (...) They died. (...) That would be 6.mumble meters, right?[1] Jasper [1] Follow-ups to _that_ can go to /dev/null. (25 years ago, 16-Dec-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Meijers in Grand Rapids
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| Larry, I love Meijer too, I have since I was little, and continue to do so. Fred Meijer is what America is all about, and I am glad I can work for that store, and shop there as well. A business born in Michigan, I might add! :) (...) Man, I am (...) (25 years ago, 15-Dec-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, lugnet.market.shopping)
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