June 19, 2002

Night of laughter aids litigation

Tree Huggin' Talent Show fund-raiser for Boardman River Valley lawsuit

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       With wry humor, outrageous satire, moving music and a catch-all of acts, the Giant Tree Huggin' Talent Show was a feast for the senses.
      Held Saturday evening at the Milliken Auditorium, the show was hosted by Bryan Crough and featured 21 acts plus a video presentation about the Boardman River Valley. More than 200 people attended the show to laugh at themselves and show solidarity as bunny-lovin', Birkenstock-wearin' environmentalists. Forget a tie and sport coat, flannel shirts were the attire of choice.
      United by a common concern about the proposed Boardman River Valley development, members of both the audience and the acts enjoyed the chance for some lighter moments.
      "These are serious issues and take a lot of work and a lot of energy," said Monica Evans, chair of the Traverse Group of the Sierra Club, whose members fielded an act at the show. "I go to sleep thinking about the litigation [to stop development of the Boardman River Valley] and wake up thinking about it. It was extremely helpful to get together and laugh about it; humor always helps because no matter how grave a situation you can always use some humor."
      Ken Smith, chair of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, conceived of the Tree Huggin' Talent Show as both a fund-raiser and a way to raise awareness about their effort to protect the Boardman River Valley.
      One of the litigants in a lawsuit against the Grand Traverse County Road Commission to stop the construction of a bridge and four-lane road through the valley, members of NMEAC decided to hold the unique fund-raiser to help defray costs of the suit. The event raised $4,000 with more checks still coming in this week, all of which will be targeted to the lawsuit.
      The talent show was organized by Christine Smith, daughter of NMEAC's chair Ken Smith, who pulled it together in fewer than three months.
      "My father sort of had this vision of a gym with a bunch of guys doing stuff, sort of like an amateur night," said Smith, who recently relocated to Traverse City after living in New York City for eight years to pursue an acting career. "He was kind of floored as he was watching the show."
      The father-daughter duo also brought down the house with their number, "Mark Dillenburger, Public Servant," a take-off of Garrison Keeler's ongoing skit Guy Noir, Private Detective. Ken Smith authored the number and spared no one his biting humor.
      For example, when Dillenburger was confronted on the phone by Mayor Mary Dodsworthy about the unexplained disappearance of some local beavers, he noted that he kind of admired the creatures.
      "You have to respect creatures who cut down trees and build damns," said Smith as Dillenburger. "If they were humans, we'd give them honorary engineering degrees."
      Other acts included an eclectic assortment of music, drumming and singing plus a Star Wars spoof featuring Darth Dillywack and Lois Treehugger. Local musician Robin Lee Berry also performed four numbers. In keeping with the show's variety theme, children studying at a local martial arts academy gave a demonstration of their work and a local elementary school student performed the Chicken Dance.
      A running gag by host Crough featured Rent-an-Environmentalist commercials, exhorting patrons to call 1-800-TREE-HUG.
      Employees of the Michigan Land Use Institute sang their own adaptations of popular songs, such as "I Want to Swap Your Land" sung to the tune of the Beatles song "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The Institute's Jim Lively said the three songs were a group effort by staff, who also skewered the proposed Boardman River Valley development and the Perrier water controversy.
      "We just decided to pick some of the topics we're working with at the Institute that are pretty high profile and seem to have strong public consensus," said Jim Lively, a planner with the Michigan Land Use Institute's Beulah office. "We were concerned about going too far but we were all having fun."