Keep Marietta Weird

When my brother was living and working in Texas, I went down for a visit. It was a memorable trip, certainly including the dance hall in the small town of Gruene, the oldest, continuously operating dance hall in Texas.

One evening my brother took me on a tour of the bars in Austin. Austin is the home of the University of Texas, one of the largest schools in the country. Austin is also the capital of Texas. And Austin is one of the biggest musical influences in the world.

The PBS show Austin City Limits has been showcasing some of this countries' best artists for decades. Tickets to the shows are sold out for months in advance.

Along one street in Austin there is bar after pub after club after bar after pub after club. It stretches out for blocks. And every establishment, it seems, has live music. You can jump from blues to bluegrass just one door down.

Mix a large university, with a state capital, with a vibrant local art scene, and you've got a lot of wonderful weirdos.

The wonderful weirdos got together quite a few years back and decided to collaborate against the impeding commercialism that was eating up Austin and stealing away all the great individualism, swamping all the small, sole proprietors with big corporate structures.

Their mission statement has become "Collaborative Fission of Coordinated Individualism."

But their very first mission statement was simply "Keep Austin Weird." LOL

The "Keep Austin Weird" campaign was a huge success: t-shirts; coffee mugs; bumper stickers; you name it. Many of the local businesses joined the campain and sold the "Keep Austin Weird" merchandise.

Then in 2003 the saying "Keep Austin Weird" was trademarked by just the type of organization they were standing up against. And since they've been enforcing their trademark all over Austin.

Ever since we've moved to Marietta, I've always felt that the same campaign would fit here nicely. Sure...this town is hardly the size of Austin. But we do have a lot of the same components.

A lot of people remember the Bradley Academy of Art that started in Marietta, later moved to York and is now known as the The Art Institute of York. This town has always been a mecca for artists, and artists have this tendency for being, well, a little weird.

Marietta also has some of the best, historic pubs in Lancaster County that feature great local musicians every weekend.

We have a gentleman who regularly takes his parrot for a walk, perched upon his shoulder. Santa Claus also drives through town on his automated wheel chair every day. Seriously, it's Santa Claus.

It may be stretching things a bit, but in ways Marietta is a mini-Austin.

But Marietta's business infrastructure is failing. People just miss Marietta as they cruise down the highway to the next shopping mall.

I think Marietta deserves a "Keep Marietta Weird" campaign, and I might just be the guy to start it. (smile)