This August, a new piece of art will grace the Huntington Center, and it will be made of trash. The work, a bird’s-eye-view sculpture of the Maumee River, will be made from hundreds of post-consumer blue, green and purple plastic items.

Standing in front of the sculpture outline are team members Greg Mueller, Sayaka Ganz, Steve Williams and intern Kevin Banek.

A trio of BGSU alumni, called the GMW Public Art Team, is working on the project. The artists, Sayaka Ganz, Greg Mueller and Steve Williams, are building the sculpture piece-by-piece in the Imagination Station, according to Sara Stacy, the group’s public relations counsel.
Mueller said the group wants people from the area to bring plastic items, including old toys, kitchen utensils, tools, baseball helmets and broken chunks of plastic, to a collection bin at the Imagination Station for them to use to make the sculpture.
“Anytime they go to the arena, they’ll see their piece as part of the whole,” he said.
Right now, the group is working on building a mesh frame on which to affix the plastic. Once the frame is finished, around July 1, people will be able to attach the pieces of plastic that they bring, participating in the project.
“The idea is to have a green project that depicts this amazing piece of nature that we have available to us in the Toledo area,” Stacy said.
Ganz said the sculpture will be about 55 feet long. It will have LED lights behind it that will create a stained glass-effect on some parts of the sculpture.
The project is coordinated by the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. Funding is from the Lucas County Commissioners and private donors, according to Mueller.
People can drop off plastics at the Imagination Station on Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The artists will be working on the sculpture Thursdays to Saturdays at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through July 31.

The Ghostbusters are haunting comic racks this summer, and Toledoan Jim Beard is one of the creative forces behind the book. Beard and Keith Dallas have collaborated with artist Josh Howard to create “Ghostbusters Holiday Special: CON-Volution,” available June 23 from IDW.

Keith Dallas, left, and Jim Beard

Beard, a merchandise manager for Tony Packo’s who contributes a weekly comic book report to Toledo Free Press Star, has written for several books, including “Hawkman Secret Files & Origins No. 1” (2002), where he collaborated with Geoff Johns on all nine profile pages. Shortly thereafter came his four-page piece “Stormchasers” in 2003’s “JLA/JSA Secret Files and Origins No. 1,” about the android Red Tornado’s oft-forgotten time in the Justice Society. In only his second outing, Beard not only got to put words in the mouth of JSA founder Jay Garrick, but also fulfilled every comic writer’s dream: he got to write for Superman. Beard‚s non-superhero work includes “Star Wars Tales No. 15” (2003), a story about Luke Skywalker’s first brush with space. He has also contributed pieces for “The All-Star Companion, Volume 3” (2008), “The Hawkman Companion” (2008) and “The Flash Companion” (2008).
It was on this last volume, “The Flash Companion,” that Beard collaborated with Dallas for the first time. Dallas was the driving force behind “The Flash Companion,” and is considered a noted comics scholar by many in the industry. In addition to his Companion work, Keith is the writer for two creator-owned comic properties, “Omega Chase” and “Argonauts.”

They recently sat with us to talk about their Ghostbusters experience.

CriticalMess: Co-writing seems like something that would be difficult. How did you hook up in the first place, and how does your process work?
Jim Beard: I went into this thinking the exact same thing: two people writing one script? How’s that work? I had heard that when Geoff Johns and David Goyer were writing JSA. They plotted the story together, then each took a half of the script, wrote them separately, and then melded the two halves together. That’s what we did. Cool thing is, and I think Keith agrees, we did it to good effect. And we didn’t kill each other. And it reads as if one person wrote it. And my jokes are superior to Keith’s.
Keith Dallas: Jim describes our collaborative process accurately (except of course that his jokes were really lame and thankfully were edited out of the final product). We plotted out the entire issue page by page over the phone (and had a lot of fun doing it), and then each of us wrote half the script. The two halves of the script came together nicely because we both know what’s happening on every page. As far as how we came to collaborate on this Ghostbusters special in the first place, Jim and I have been good friends since 2005. We’ve served as Comicbloc.com moderators together, and he contributed several articles to “The Flash Companion” book that I edited for TwoMorrows Publishing. Back in September, I told Jim I was working on some Ghostbusters pitches, and he told me he was a huge Ghostbusters fan. I then introduced Jim to IDW editor Tom Waltz, and it was Tom who encouraged me and Jim to co-write the comic book. The suggestion made sense to me since we were dealing with a comedic property. By that, I mean collaboration works particularly well for comedic writing.
CM: The Ghostbusters have had their biggest push since the movies, with a game, the comics, the toys and rumors of a third film. Is this just the cycle of nostalgia or is there something else going on in the world right now that allows for the concept to resurface?
JB: Cycle of nostalgia? Sure, absolutely, but I also very strongly believe that the power of the concept is what carries it along — and the incredible talent behind the films.
KD: I wonder if all the current (supposedly) reality television shows about “paranormal investigators” paved the way for a Ghostbusters revival.
CM: Did you find it challenging to write characters that were initially defined by some of the best comedic actors of our time?
JB: For me, yeah, it was definitely a challenge to get their “voices” right and emulate what you see on the screen. I think it’s important for a reader to feel like it’s the same characters in the comics that they know and love. I hope we give that feeling.  Egon’s [Harold Ramis] my favorite, and it was a thrill to write him, but Venkman almost writes himself; you only have to picture Bill Murray’s face and the sarcasm and biting wit flows out of you. I appreciate that in the character.
KD: This is really no different than tackling any other licensed character, whether it comes from a movie, a novel, a stage play, etc. These characters get handed to you already fully rounded and developed. It becomes our job, as the writers, to remain “true” to the characters.
CM: It’s been argued that Winston [Ernie Hudson] was added to the team just to give the group a fourth member, that he didn’t serve a story purpose. Do you find that to be true? What defines him?
JB: His moustache. Oh, what defines him as a Ghostbuster? Well, he’s the “straight man,” for the most part, and that’s a hugely important role in comedy — just ask Bud Abbott. I admit that I went into this wondering what the heck I could say with Winston but I fell in love with him by the time we were done. Keith and I are currently fighting over who gets to pitch “Winston Zeddemore Saves the Universe” to IDW.
KD: He adds a different personality to the group. If Egon is the nerd and Ray [Dan Akroyd] is the geek and Peter is the con man/game show host (as Dana accurately labels him), then Winston is The Every Man.
CM: If we learned anything from “The Real Ghostbusters,” it’s that there is a whole world of stories to be told in that universe. But what is it about those characters and that universe that people find so interesting? Why is everyone so crazy for Ghostbusters?
KD: People remember Ghostbusters because of the magical comedy that’s produced from the characters’ interaction. That’s really
what it boils down to. Remove the character-produced comedy from the concept and you’re just left with a plot about ghost hunting. That’s not enough to sustain decades-long devotion.
CM: We realize that you’re keeping the plot very close to the vest, but is there anything you can tell us, without giving too much away? Why should we pick this up?
JB: Because any actual lifting is good exercise for comic book fans. Beyond that it’s a fun story about comic books and what makes the creators behind them great (except us). I also think anyone who’s ever gone to a comic convention will appreciate what Keith and I have done here — except maybe cosplayers. And demons. And those long-suffering significant others of comic fans.
KD: I feel Jim and I wrote a funny, entertaining self-contained story, and since Josh Howard is drawing it, you know it’s going to be a great-looking book!

Sandra Jane Heard’s latest artistic offering has been a long time coming. The exhibit, on display at River House Arts in Perrysburg, is the artist’s first solo show in nearly 15 years.

“Steel Matriarch” by Heard. PHOTO BY WILLIAM JORDAN

Heard is a member of the Young British Artist Movement, which includes artists born between 1960 and 1970. In addition to completing foundation training in art at Braintree College, Heard also studied the science of textiles at Huddersfield University in Yorkshire, before completing a BFA degree from the California College of Arts and eventually moving to the Perrysburg area in 2007. She has since exhibited her work at three fiber arts shows at the 577 Foundation, as well as the 2010 Ohio +5 show at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio. Heard’s last solo show was in Sonoma, Calif. She has also shown at venues such as Penn State University and Mesa Arts.
“This show came about out of a friendship with Bill Jordan and Paula Baldoni, who own River House. I first got to know them around the local community; our kids go to the same school. One of the reasons why I hadn’t done a solo show in so long is because we were moving every other year for like 10 years and there wasn’t that closeness,” Heard said. “I started helping curate for the gallery and they just thought that I should put together my own show. I would be happy to work in my basement, but Bill and Paula said, ‘Hey, this needs to be out there.’ I created around 20 pieces over a seven-month period. I just allowed the work to be fluid and tried to use the materials in different ways to convey my message using a repetition of movement. I don’t really make traditional art, but instead let my work follow the journey.”
For Heard, who took a hiatus from exhibiting her work to raise her family, the River House exhibition highlights the journey of her life, not only as an artist, but also as a human being.
“My work exposes the inside to the outside; it’s about those things in all of us that you just can’t touch. This exhibit includes vessels inspired by Native American dream catchers I saw while living in Phoenix,” she said.
The exhibit runs though July 30 and is free and open to the public. River House Arts is located at 115 W. Front St.
For more information, visit www.river-house-arts.com.

If you were to ask any college football coach what the toughest part of his job is, most would probably say that it is recruiting.
Having been around college football on a personal level for more than 10 years, I can tell you that recruiting can seem like an endless odyssey at times. Tapes for tomorrow’s college football stars are always pouring in to football offices throughout the country. Coaches are constantly in contact with coveted talent during the season and when the winter rolls around, college coaches live out of a suitcase during the week and then have students making official visits on the weekends. The process repeats itself for the better part of two months until signing day. Then it is time to get started on the next year’s crop of talent.
Coaches never get a break.
Recruiting can be even tougher when you are the head coach at a school like UT. Competing with two big nearby schools, who also just happen to be two of the most storied programs in college football, can make the task of recruiting that much harder.
It is easy to see why many don’t envy Rockets head coach Tim Beckman one bit, at least as far as recruiting is concerned. But the second-year coach and his rebuilding program have continued to work hard during these summer months.
Beckman and his Rocket staff have been criss-crossing Ohio these past few weeks hosting incoming high school seniors from across the Buckeye state at one-day football camps.
UT has already hosted camps in Cleveland, Youngstown, Columbus, Cincinnati and Detroit, as well as a few at the Glass Bowl. The camps on the road aren’t necessarily a novel idea. I’m sure many other coaches have employed similar tactics, but the camps speak to a deeper understanding that Beckman appears to have about college football.
It’s no secret UT is in the business of winning and that is exactly what Beckman was brought in to do. But along the way it appears that the coach is trying to turn UT into a brand that stretches far beyond the boundaries of Northwest Ohio.
I’m sure the Rocket staff would love to be able to recruit in and around Toledo for its team, but unfortunately that notion is not realistic. Sure, the Glass City always boasts a few talented warriors on the gridiron, but there is plenty of talent to be found elsewhere, too.
The state of Ohio is always bursting at the seams with some of the best football talent in the country, and while the top 5 percent will more than likely head to a powerhouse football program, there is still 95 percent that will select a place to continue their playing careers.
That is where the Rockets come in, and what is even more important is that Beckman recognizes that. Many of the students who attended the Rocket’s one-day camps probably did not know very much about the UT football program or the university in general.
Some may not have even heard of UT prior to attending to the camps.
What’s for certain is that they didn’t leave the camp without knowing about the school and its football team after.
The other bonus, of course, is that Beckman and his staff got a chance to see talented high school athletes who they had on their radar for the 2011 recruiting class and some that may not have been, too.
It paints a bigger portrait of what college football is these days.
Beckman and his staff understand that a football program isn’t just whether you win or lose on Saturdays in the fall and whether you win a championship or not. Sure those are the most important things, but in the cutthroat business of college football, it is all about what you are going to do for an encore as well.
The successful programs have a visible presence statewide and nationwide to attract talent year in and year out, and the only way a program can do that is by being present in those areas.
Beckman’s strategy paid dividends this year, when his first full recruiting class was ranked No. 1 out of all the MAC schools by several recruiting services. While a high ranking doesn’t ensure on-the-field success, it is a major step in the right direction.
While fans expect better than the 5-7 record the Rockets posted last season, the midnight blue and gold will still have question marks heading into the 2010 season. But Beckman and his staff are doing all they can to make sure that no coaching staff in college football will outwork them.

Chris Schmidbauer is sports editor for Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at cschmidbauer@toledofreepress.com. He also can be heard every Tuesday at 11 a.m. on the Odd Couple Sports Show on Fox Sports Radio 1230 WCWA.

Coleman

Jesse Coleman, a Toledo native, will perform at the Maumee River Jazz Series on June 23.
Coleman began playing saxophone by accident. He said he was “a decent, not-so-enthused clarinet player” in his high school band when his band director decided the group had too many clarinets. The director announced to the students in the rehearsal room that the next male freshman clarinet player to walk in would become a saxophone player; Coleman entered the room and his classmates started cheering for their new saxophonist.
“It changed the course of my life,” he said. “I got enthusiastic about my music.”
He began to learn baritone sax and taught himself the bass lines from some of his favorite bands: Earth Wind and Fire, Tower of Power and Chicago. He also joined his school’s jazz band.
The saxophone was easier for him to play and he liked it much more than the clarinet.
“The clarinet sounds nasal, very nasal, very drab if you’re not great at it,” he said, adding that as a high school freshman, he was not an especially gifted clarinetist. “I didn’t like the tone. When I got to sax, the tone automatically sounded brighter, better. I was like, ‘OK, this is good’.”
He began playing for his friends and in church. After graduating from high school, he began to travel with a gospel band. He was 18, seven years younger than anyone else in the band. Since then, he has been to 35 states, countless cities, Canada and Jamaica because of his music.
“It just bit me like a snake,” he said. “I was addicted to it.”
After 10 years, the band dissolved and he came back to Toledo. He recorded a CD called “The Joy of Sax.”
He describes his music as smooth jazz in the tradition of David Sanborn and Kirk Whalum.
“It’s not yakety-yakety sax,” he said.

Andrew Z of 92.5 Kiss FM is the last guy I thought would put on a two-day Old School Hip Hop concert in Perrysburg at Levis Commons … but he did and I had no choice but to go. I mean, come on! Young MC, Tone-Loc, Coolio and Naughty By Nature?
Friday’s storm prevented Naughty By Nature from performing, but Saturday proved to be a new day. After it was done, I called Andrew Z to wish him a happy Father’s Day and ask him a few questions.
Martini Rox: What made you bring old school Hip-Hop to Northwest Ohio?
Andrew Z: I grew up in LA and this is really the stuff I grew up on. I knew it had never been done, I knew people would like it. Back when you were in high school you were dancing to this and having a good time so I knew it would work.

Coolio and Andrew Z.

MR: What difficulty did you face planning an urban event in Perrysburg and why not in the Toledo city limits?
Andrew Z: About eight weeks ago we started putting this together, and usually for a concert some people work on it for months. I’m a last-minute guy; I tried to get it at Festival Park and the City  of Toledo was behind it, but there had already been a couple of events booked. My restaurant is at Levis Commons, so that’s why I ended up going that route.
MR: Does the Miller Lite Music Fest have a future? Will you do this again?
Andrew Z: Most definitely! I may do something like this two or three times a year. When I envisioned this, I knew I wanted to have a concert and a party. It was great because it was a bunch of people who had never done anything like this and we didn’t know. If you build it they will come, and they did. There were three or four key people behind the scenes who really drove this thing and they did such a phenomenal job and I was lucky that I found them.
NAUGHY BY NATURE
In 1993 I wore open-top knit hats with my hair wildly hanging out and denim outfits from Merry-Go-Round with “Jodeci boots” while riding around town blasting Naughty By Nature’s “O.P.P.” This was a part of the soundtrack to some of the most carefree days of my life. Hits like the aforementioned “O.P.P.,” “Hip-Hop Hooray,” “Feel Me Flow” and “Craziest” were constantly played on the radio and on “Yo! MTV Raps.” The aptly titled “19 Naughty III” and “Poverty’s Paradise” were successful albums that provided urban hits from the New Jersey natives Treach, Vinnie and DJ Kay Gee.
Naughty By Nature still drew a crowd as the headliners of Andrew Z’s Miller Lite Music Fest at Levis Commons.
Acts like Tone-Loc, Coolio and Young MC warmed up the crowd in the hot weather that turned to storms, canceling Naughty’s June 18 appearance. But the group gave a spectacular performance the next day. Within minutes after the show, I was backstage watching the groupies swarm DJ/Producer Kay Gee and a shirtless Treach Quietly, his co-MC/hype man, Vinnie, retreated to a couch alone and with that, I had found the perfect place to inquire about their recipe for longevity.

Tone-Loc

MR: How did you maintain the dual role as the group’s hype man first, MC second? Most stars would have a problem staying in their lane.
Vinnie: I tend to stay in that lane because when we first started I was the beat box, Kay Gee was the DJ and Treach was our MC. We started the group like that in high school and as we went on and started recording a lot of people liked my voice and said, “Yo, Vin, you need to step up, you need to rhyme more.” Naturally, I wasn’t a writer and just being under Treach’s apprenticeship, especially with Kay Gee on those beats, I just had to step it up and I started to write a bit more.
By this time Treach decided he wanted “in” on the interview, casually sitting on the couch while wiping the sweat off his body. This is where Vinnie, as if on cue, quietly made his exit.
MR: Treach you have been concentrating on film and television for the last 10-plus years; have you found it hard to go back to touring?
Treach: It never stopped. They were both going on at the same time. Whenever I do a movie on my days off, I fly out to do shows. We keep the brand popping whether Kay Gee is doing production, whether I’m doing movies, Vin’s doing websites and the mechanics behind that, we all just bring it back to the brand.
MR: I understand you are newly reunited as a group. Was your appearance on MTV’s “The Buried Life” the first performance all three of you came back to do?
Treach: Kay’s been performing in shows with us for about a year; me and Vin never stopped. We’ve been doing 100 to 150 shows a year worldwide since 1991.

Young MC

MR: How would you advise older MC’s who are looking to get back into the rap game when its focus has changed so much from the “golden era?”
Treach: It’s more of an independent hustle now. With the Internet and everything else you could set your career up that way. You could have record labels, radio stations looking you up if you have enough hits and your website is hot and you are out there grinding.
YOUNG MC
All it took was a phone call. I called; left a message and a half hour later Marvin Young called me back. When we met up in the hotel lobby it was apparent (not just from the phone call) that this man was about his business. I have interviewed many artists but never one who introduced themself using their legal name. Yes, this interview would be different and I decided to have a conversation based on his ability to continuously generate money in his 20-plus years in the Hip-Hop music industry.
You may know him from his hits like “Bust a Move” and “Principal’s Office” or for his role as the writer of Tone-Loc’s hits “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina.” You may just know him from his stint on VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club.” Prepare to know Young MC in a different way as he schooled me on how an artist takes care of business and earns “long money” in the music industry.
MR: Did you ever think 20 years later you would still be performing?
Young MC: None of us did, none of us did, the best way to say it is, my experience with Tone-Loc. He had “Wild Thing” before I had “Bust a Move” and “Funky Cold Medina,” which I helped on before “Bust a Move” came out. Both of us had a local record in L.A., but we didn’t have anything that was near national. When we finished “Wild Thing” we were like, “OK, 30,000 units, 50,000 units, that will be enough for him to get a car and for me to pay off some student loans,” because nothing from the West Coast had blown so big to where we could say not only would it get out of the state, but out of the region and sell enough records.
MR: Can you explain as a writer in this business what publishing or writing for others has done for your career?
YMC: Stage is short money. I come out, I’m doing shows like this, it’s great, I get a check, it pays bills, people feel good and that’s great. Long-term money you’re talking about what you got to put in your will, what you build your future around. That’s publishing, to a certain extent it’s master ownership if you get the deal down.
I have a bachelor’s degree in economics, never wrote it down on a job application but it’s helped me so much in terms of taking meetings with people, and they think, “well he’s as equipped as I am, he knows what I’m doing on the other side of this desk, so I can’t put one over on him.”
The publishing angle really helps when the shows aren’t happening as much, when things aren’t going as well from the traditional artist standpoint. The publishing aspect is the one that takes my records that may not be selling a lot in stores and say, OK, we just got you a nice five-figure license for this project, or we just got these uses or we just got this overseas vehicle to make you some money on your masters.
The Internet has been a great thing as well because I have a bunch of masters that I have not been able to really get a lot of traction with retail that all of the sudden I’ve been able to turn around and get sold online and I own them. Publishing is the thing that I can really focus on and make it a career as opposed to being at the mercy of Billboard or being at the mercy of a radio station.
MR: What advice do you want to give to artists planning to embark on a career in music?
YMC: I’ve been giving the same advice for the last 20 years. If you have a job, keep your job, if you are in school, stay in school. Make music your hobby until it becomes lucrative enough to become your job. The reason I say that is from my own personal experience. As soon as someone realizes you’re desperate and the only thing that can benefit you is them giving you a deal, they will give you the worst deal possible.
MR: Thanks for the lesson.
As we continue on …

The Cla-Zel Theater in Bowling Green will kick off its blues music series June 25 with blues singer/harmonica player John Németh.
The Cla-Zel, a major venue for live entertainment in downtown Bowling Green, often features live musical acts a few times a month and will continue to do so throughout the summer.

Németh

Banan Alkilani, director of public relations, said the Cla-Zel wanted to do a blues music series because it is an interesting genre that has been popular all over different parts of the country.
“It certainly has a history in Toledo and other places in Ohio, as well as the Detroit area,” he said.
Nicknamed “magician of the harmonica,” Németh, 34, is originally from Boise, Idaho.  After extensive touring during the past decade, he has earned a reputation as a phenomenal blues singer and a virtuoso of the harmonica.
According to his website, Németh’s style is reminiscent of B.B. King, Ray Charles and Junior Parker.  He has toured with famous blues acts such as Robert Cray and has performed in major music festivals across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia.  In 2007, Németh released his debut national album “Magic Touch.”
Németh will perform at 8 p.m. June 25 at the Cla-Zel. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. The concert will be a CD release party for his second national album “Name The Day.”
Alkilani said the Cla-Zel has continued to book blues bands through the summer and into the fall.
“The blues series is sort of a non-ending series at the moment,” he said. “We are going to have probably one to two blues shows a month.”
While the Cla-Zel has bands scheduled for the rest of the year, it is not limiting itself to only certain types of music.
“We’re not sticking with one particular genre,” Alkilani said.  “We are also interested in bringing in lots of New Age music as well.”
Coming up during the summer, the Cla-Zel will feature blues acts such as Bryan Lee, Andrew “Jr. Boy” Jones and John Lee Hooker Jr., son of blues legend John Lee Hooker.
For more information, visit www.ClaZel.net or JohnNemethblues.com.

Few comic book writers or artists rise to superstar status within the industry — to witness two such luminaries on one project is a rare thing. One of those sainted projects is being collected in one volume for the first time by Dark Horse Comics and should be cause for celebration among discerning comic fans: “The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century.”
Paul Shiple of The Game Room zeroed in on the hefty tome as his pick of this week’s offerings, describing it as “a massive 600-page dystopian political satire brought to you by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons. This coming of age story follows the life of Martha Washington, a young African-American woman, who attempts to survive in a fractious and polarized United States of the future. Highly recommended.”
Miller is, of course, the creator of the infamous “Sin City” and the legendary “Dark Knight Returns.” Gibbons’ place in comic book history was cemented by his artwork for a little project known as “Watchmen.” Separately, these two guys rocked the comic industry with their previous work; when they got together on “Martha Washington,” they created something truly special … and the kind of narrative that demands examination and slow savoring.
This collection brings together stories of the titular character ranging from 1990 to 2007, including three miniseries and three one-shots. Martha’s tales are fascinating, yet also horrifying, existing in one of those science fiction futures that’s often-times a bit too familiar for comfort; there are also echoes of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” here for those of a conservative bent. This isn’t a pretty picture of the years to come, yet Miller and Gibbons make it wonderful to digest. It’s a pricey book, but it’s an investment that will reward you every time you pick it up.
This week also sees the arrival of a minor footnote in comic history called “Superman” No. 700. If you’re so inclined, you can put it on the shelf next to the previously released “Batman”  No. 700 and the upcoming “Wonder Woman” No. 600.

Many burgeoning visual and performing artists make the trip to the City of Angels, but only a select few grow their own wings upon arrival. A local man managed to do just that when he made the cross-country trek three years ago.
Nick Amrhein, a 23-year-old Clay High School graduate and lifelong resident of Oregon, drove to Los Angeles to pursue his passions of photography and video and found a place among some of the biggest names in the media industry. He has since returned to Northwest Ohio and now runs his own media company. But it didn’t start out so easily.

Amrhein

“I worked at Marco’s Pizza and worked my butt off and saved money just to buy this camera,” he said, referring to his Sony VX-2000 camcorder, his first piece of video recording equipment. The first camera he used for photography was a Pantax that took black-and-white photos.
During his freshman year at Owens Community College, Amrhein found out he was diabetic. It was a discovery he did not make until it was almost too late. A normal blood/glucose level should remain below 180 milligrams per deciliter in diabetic adults, according to the American Diabetes Association. Amrhein’s blood sugar topped 1,000.
“It was pretty gnarly,” he said. “The doctor told me if I showed up an hour later, I might not be here today. That really persuaded me to take actions and follow my dream.”
Amrhein had wanted to go to Los Angeles ever since he began skateboarding at age 13, but it was not until a friend came back to Northwest Ohio that his dream became was realized. A high school friend, Mico Montes, had returned to Toledo but was planning a trip back to the West Coast. Amrhein saw this as the perfect opportunity to act on his aspirations.
“I decided to go out there together and give it a shot,” he said.
The duo’s trip was anything but luxurious. Amrhein drove to L.A. in a Honda Civic with 200,000 miles and with just $1,000. He spent several hundred dollars on gas and didn’t have a steady job waiting for him when he arrived.
“We lived in Orange County for about a month couch surfing,” he said. “For the first couple months out there I survived on peanut butter and jelly, just barely scraping by.”
Amrhein networked with photographers he met and began earning $50 for assisting with small-scale photo shoots. Eventually he, Montes and a third friend found a one-bedroom apartment 15 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles. Amrhein and Montes shared the bedroom, and their friend slept in the kitchen. It cost each of them $375 a month.
Amrhein then found two jobs, one as a hotel worker and the other at a Los Angeles clothing store. He continued this line of work for the better part of a year, but then he realized his dreams were not being fulfilled.
“I kind of took grasp of why I’m really out here,” he said. “I’m not able to pursue what I came out here for.”
That was when he caught his first big break. While working at the clothing store, Amrhein noticed a very fashionable customer.
“There was a guy — he had a crazy style — walking in the store,” he said.
Amrhein was the cashier on duty, and he noticed signs that the customer might be a photographer from the images on his credit card. The man proved to be Jim Jordan, who does photography for some of the best-known magazines in the country. Not much time later, Amrhein was helping out with photo shoots for Vogue.
“After that it was like, ‘this is it,’” he said. “I ended up leaving both jobs and started doing freelance photography at that point.”
Amrhein went on to photograph and shoot video of a number of celebrities, including professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdrek, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), West Coast Customs and Guns N’ Roses. He wound up with a photography internship with Loyalty Creative and moved to within a block of the beach. He made some extra money by working at a Mexican restaurant.
“People started recognizing some of my work in L.A.,” he said. “Being there for three years, I felt I got a grip on what L.A. was about and what the industry was like.”
Amrhein’s internship ended when Loyalty Creative had to make cuts. At that point, he decided to come back to Toledo.
“I was just kind of worn out. I wanted to be with my friends and my family and kind of take in all that I’d done.”
Since returning, Amrhein has worked on starting his own studio to expand his company, 3byOne Media. 3byOne operates out of Toledo and Los Angeles; he still makes regular trips to the West Coast.
Amrhein reconnected with the local skateboarding community and helped start the group 4 Down 4 Life. The group meets weekly and uses Toledo-area skate parks to build community. Local skate shops sponsor the group.
“I was the guy who was always taking photos at the skate park,” he said. “Now that [my friends] are older too they’re really supportive of me.”
“Skateboarding will always be in your blood no matter how busy you get or how busy you will be.”

Pixar Animation Studios released its eleventh film to theaters this week with “Toy Story 3.” It grossed $110 million dollars in its opening weekend.

Of the studio’s previous ten films, none have grossed less than $160 million in domestic box office. Seven of them have been nominated for Best Animated Film at the Oscars, and five have won. (The number of nominations would probably be higher, but the category didn’t exist when the first three were made.) Last year, “Up” became only the second animated film to be nominated for Best Picture.

The studio’s movies have crossover appeal the likes of which is almost unheard of in modern filmmaking. They are beloved by virtually everyone, young and old, average moviegoer to the most devoted film buff. Even people who hate their parent company Disney make an exception for Pixar.

Why? What is it about this studio’s product that holds such incredible appeal? Why are Pixar movies so much better than any other “family” movies out there today? Well, there are a bunch of reasons. Here are just five of them.

1. The stories are usually based on a simple idea that every child believes. This is not to say they are unoriginal or unimaginative, but rather that they are built on a concept that really speaks to kids, and to the kid in all of us. Of course, our toys come to life when we’re not looking. Of course, monsters live in our closet. Of course, if you tie a million balloons to a house, it’ll fly.

Ideas like these are a basic part of childhood. Pixar’s storytellers remember better than anyone in Hollywood what kind of fable that children really gravitate to. That understanding gives their films an appeal unmatched in modern entertainment.

2. Everyone can identify with their characters. Even in the most fantastic situations, Pixar’s filmmakers craft distinct and relatable individuals to stand at their center. And though their leads often are not human beings, they always have very human traits.

I mean, is “Ratatouille” really about a rat that can cook, or is it about someone following their dreams against astounding odds? “WALL-E” really isn’t about a roving robot trash compactor, it’s about someone who’s been alone a long time, and suddenly finds love. The “Toy Story” movies are all about being a parent. At their core, each one of these films shines a light on some part of life. And no matter how unusual their characters are, we love them, because they’re us.

3. They are true family movies. Most of what comes from Hollywood labeled as “fun for the whole family” is really only fun for their youngest members. Other movies try to appeal to a wider demographic by sneaking in side references that are aimed squarely at the adults in the audience, but totally ignore kids.

Pixar’s movies, on the other hand, are made with everyone in mind. They don’t condescend to kids, but they aren’t juvenile, either. And like the best children’s fiction, they actually grow better with age, as time and life experience gives each story more resonance. That’s why, while most every other piece of garbage that is called a ‘kid’s movie’ will be forgotten, Pixar’s films will remain timeless.

4. They work with, but are not enslaved to, cutting-edge technology. On a technical level, Pixar has always been an innovator. When the company began as a part of the Lucasfilm banner, it was devoted to making advances in computer animation. But as it evolved and grew, the technical aspects of the company were joined by other priorities — creating and crafting memorable stories.

“Toy Story” was the first completely computer-animated feature film. But if the characters and narrative hadn’t been worth anything, who would have remembered it as anything but a footnote in history? With every film, Pixar grows in technical sophistication and expertise. But that growth is always dictated by the requirements of the stories they want to tell — not the other way around.

5. They love what they do. Do you have a Pixar DVD in your house? If so, watch the documentaries that come with the film. I have never seen one that doesn’t convince me that the company would be the coolest place to work, ever.

From creative chief John Lasseter down to the lowest men on the totem pole, everyone speaks with incredible enthusiasm about every project they are associated with. These are people who get the biggest kick out of their work. And when you love your job, that passion comes through in the fruits of your labor. And that love is plain to see in every frame Pixar puts on screen.

E-mail Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com.