Nerd Nite Detroit

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Join us for an evening of songs in Nerd Major!

Nerd Nite 313 is celebrating the Motor City’s rich musical heritage with its first ever music-themed nerd nite! We’ll have a super-sized nite with check it – FOUR presenters talking Motown, scratching, freestyle rap, and musical improv. The Michigan Science Center will be bringing a sound-themed pop-up science exhibit, too! So get down and boogie with us….who knows, we just might have a dance party after.

When: Thursday, May 30

Where: Tangent Gallery / Hastings Street Ballroom, 715 E. Milwaukee Detroit, MI

Time: Doors at 6 Event at 6:30 (this is different than before!)

Cover: $5 in advance or at the door (cash/credit)

What will we be talking about? 

Justin Fitins – A Brief History of Scratching

Justin Fitins is a DJ and musician. He has been performing as a DJ since 1996. Since then, he has DJed for KRS-One, various members of the extended Wu-Tang Clan collective, and had a reoccuring slot on the Vans Warped Tour as a DJ and with his musical counterpart Michigan rapper Dante. Justin has taught DJ classes as part of free after school programs for high school students, as well as elective class for the University of Michigan’s School of Music.

Ian McGill – The Same Old Song: What Modern Startups Can Learn from Motown Records

Ian was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Roeper City and Country School in Oakland County and a small boarding school near Mt. Pleasant.  He then worked and studied in nearly twenty countries before returning to Michigan to continue his education at Andrews University and later Wayne State. He has helped a number businesses and non-profit organizations  discover new tools to help to them reach their goals more quickly. For the last five years, his responsibilities have included the coordination and development of Social Media strategies for Motown Museum.

Teddy Abrams – Generating Music: What is the creative process that allows the abstract language of Western music to be meaningful and cohesive?

Teddy Abrams conducts, composes, and performs as a clarinetist and pianist. Currently, Abrams is the Resident Conductor of the MAV Symphony of Budapest, and serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He was the Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony from 2008-2011; recent and upcoming performances include conducting engagements with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, and the Marin Symphony.

Erik Torenberg – Anyone Can Freestyle Rap

Erik Torenberg likes to write, read, rap, think, and host events that bring people together. He hails from New Jersey, studied economics at University of Michigan, and founded rapt.fm. We believe rap has the positive benefits of any other art or instrument and, just like any other art or instrument, with enough practice anyone can learn how to do it to a certain extent. Unfortunately, people feel too uncomfortable rapping although they wish they knew how. We aim to break those barriers and encourage people to have fun freestyle rapping — regardless of skill level, or lack there of.

And….we’ve got a special treat!

Pop-Up Science from the Michigan Science Center: The Science of Sound

Mi-Sci’s sound activities and demonstrations will break music down to its elements. Waves and vibrations can be experienced in a simple yet fascinating way. We’ll use tuning forks, singing aluminum rods, dancing oobleck, boomwhackers,and other tools to demonstrate the science of sound.

313nerds, Let’sa go! Nerd Nite is back for more and, trust us, you don’t want to miss out. For those of you who are new to the fold, Nerd Nite is a monthly social event where nerds of all disciplines talk about their passions while the audience drinks and learns along. Your mission objectives:

 See what people are saying…

Dr. Seuss, MBA, Charlie Curve

You can learn a helluva lot more from studying Star Bellied Sneetches, Brown Barbaloots and South-Going Zax from the Prairie of Pax instead of studying how to recontextualize and reintermediate paradigm shifting synergistic architectures in a traditional business school program. Also, the Seuss books have much better infographics.

Charlie Curve opened the doors at Curve Detroit Marketing Strategy & Creative Design after being thrown out of several well respected ad agencies. Along with a bunch of cool friends, he produces the annual TEDxDetroit conference and runs a professional network for area business peeps called Motor City Connect. He loves big ideas, big mountains and big sandwiches. He hates poorly designed billboards, speed limits and people who flick cigarette butts out the window. Charlie craves bacon and chocolate, but not chocolate covered bacon. Last year, he was named the second best PowerPoint Karaoke presenter in the world. This year, he hopes to win something that people have actually heard of.

“So, you have the pelvis of a hominin…”: What human birth was long ago, what it is now, and how it might be in the future., Helen Stockton

When humans evolved a lot changed for us. Our pelvises changed as we learned to walk up right. Eventually the size of our heads changed too. This had a tremendous impact on the way we give birth. It was not long before we realized that giving birth went better with a little help from a friend. The practices and people that helped us give birth remained largely the same for over a million of years, but then over the last hundred and fifty years or so they began to change  drastically. What happened to our bodies, our society, and our beliefs that caused us to take birth out of the hands of mothers and midwives in the home, and bring it into the world of doctors and hospitals? This talk will cover the basic mechanics and physiology of human birth, and tell the story of how birth left the home and entered the hospital while also asking the question, “Is there anything we can  learn from the past that would help us provide the best birth outcomes today?”

Helen Stockton is a Certified Professional Midwife specializing in homebirth and natural pregnancy care.  She cares for woman and babies with patience, cooperation and respect.

ROUND 3, Locked.

Unlock round 3 Thursday, April 25th at the Tangent Gallery. Level up!

Photo by Jeff Wegner

It seems Nerd Nite is in Detroit to stay! As you can see from the photo above, we got a great response from the community. The debut sold out by 6:45!!

All of this, of course, is only possible thanks to you – thanks for coming out to Great Lakes Coffee, meeting a new nerdy friend or two and learning something new with us. Rumor is you all may have set the record for most audience tweets at a Nerd Nite anywhere! If you missed the twitter feed follow us @nerdnite313 and be sure to watch #nn313 to tweet along at the next Nerd Nite Detroit, April 25th. More details to come soon.

We know there are a lot of nerds out there who heard about us in the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, on Michigan Radio and the Craig Fahle show who didn’t get a chance to catch this month’s Nerd Nite. Not to worry, we will be back next month and already have tickets available on presale! Catch more nerdery April 25, 7 pm – we recommend getting to the venue by 6:30 pm to buy tickets at the door. We will start admitting pre-sale ticket holders at 6:15 pm.

A video and more pictures to come soon! See you in April 😉

Nerd Nite is coming, Detroit! Get ready!

We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Thus, Nerd Nite is a monthly event held in more than 50 cities across the globe during which several folks give 18-21-minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along.  And there are often bands, acrobats, trivia, and other shenanigans as well.  Imagine learning about everything from math feuds or the science of the Simpsons, to the genealogy of Godzilla or debunking beer myths.  Fun, right?  As nerds and non-nerds like to say, “Nerd Nite Is Like the Discovery Channel™…with Beer!” We’ve finally brought this fun event to Detroit, and we would love to have you come or present. Here are some details for our first event:

The very first Nerd Nite in the 313 will be March 28th! Join us for drinks and awesome presentations! We hope that you come and bring your friends!

Date: Thursday, March 28th
Time: Doors at 6:30, event at 7
Location: Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company, 3965 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48201
Fees: $5 Cover, Buttons for a recommended donation, whatever drinks you decide to buy

Get Tickets: nn313.bpt.me

Questions? Send us a message on Facebook or e-mail " target="_blank">.

The Line-Up:

Life’s a Circus, Micha Adams & Matt Buss

Micha Adams and Matt Buss have been teaching and performing circus arts together for over five years.  They have trained at circus schools all over the country and perform a variety of circus acts including partner acrobatics and duo trapeze.  In addition to performing Micha and Matt run a highly successful circus school in Eastern Market Detroit called The Detroit Flyhouse.  They train students from all walks of life and consistently sell out every class they offer.  Their performance troupe, Detroit Circus, has performed at countless venues throughout metro Detroit and Michigan.

Micha and Matt will discuss what it takes to run a successful circus school and performance troupe, behind the scenes and on stage.

Arachnoholics Anonymous, Charles Gibson

Charles was always afraid of spiders growing up but had a strong fascination with the natural world. It wasn’t until about 2 years ago he became interested in these 8-legged critters. After purchasing his first tarantula, Charles’ addiction ran rampant. He now has over 20 live specimens.

The behavior, biology, beautiful coloration, and patterns of arachnids is mesmerizing. Studying arachnids by reading journals and textbooks has become a bit of a hobby for Charles and has allowed him to make a whole network of friends with this similar interest. Professionally, Charles is the Outreach Coordinator at the Michigan Science Center where he gets to share science programming with students from all over the state. Charles is also a regular volunteer at the Belle Isle Aquarium.

Detroit under Prohibition: 1855 – 1875, Amy Elliott Bragg

Before there was the Purple Gang, there was the Carson League. Before there were basement speakeasies, there were illegal taverns — one for every 13 people in the city. Before there was bootleg hooch, there was booze for “medicinal and scientific” purposes. We’ll talk about Detroit’s long-forgotten first Prohibition: why it happened, how it failed, and what it spawned (the Police Department, for one). Drink up.

Detroit history lover Amy Elliott Bragg writes, talks, and drinks about the Motor City before the motor. She’s the author of Hidden History of Detroit, blogs about pre-automotive Detroit history at nighttraintodetroit.com, and is the co-founder of the Detroit Drunken Historical Society. She hosts irreverent tours of early Detroit with the Detroit Bus Company and spoke about Detroit in the 1890s at TEDxDetroit 2012. Fondnesses include old history books, French pony carts, lost cemeteries, eccentric millionaires, and drinking through the ages.

Photo from www.nighttraintodetroit.com