Super City

You know Hoosiers—we’re a friendly lot. So Super Bowl volunteers probably won’t mind if you ask to check out their official volunteer jacket. And you should. The black Gore-Tex coat is a thing of beauty, sporting a subtle tone-on-tone pattern that’s almost like houndstooth. It’s warm and substantial without being bulky. Even prettier are the arctic-white parkas that some volunteers get to wear. Underneath the jacket, most volunteers will be wearing a long-sleeved Dri-Fit shirt with a zipper at the collar. And yes, volunteers get to keep the swag.

Today staff and volunteers careened down the Super Bowl Village ZipLine, which will open to the public tomorrow after the Super Bowl Village opening ceremony at 3 p.m.

Name: Allison Melangton

Lucas Oil Stadium tours are available sparingly all year round, but Wednesday was my first time inside. What better way to go than as an IM intern with the rest of the local media, as well as some not so local at all? The answer to that question isn’t completely rhetorical: Our tour was shortened slightly. Even so, it was led by Frank Supovitz, the NFL’s senior vice president of events.

This wasn’t just any ol’ stadium tour. This one includes the Colts’ locker room and a view of a “different” field.  It’s the same fake grass, but we just got there in time to see turf workers get down on their hands and knees to wipe the what remained of our home team’s lettering from the end zones.

“We’ve removed the horseshoe,” said Supovitz about the midfield logo, “very respectfully.”

Public tours have begun. The cost is $15 through Friday, so make haste to save. Prices go up to $25 starting Saturday, Feb. 28.

Rare birds among Super Bowl volunteers, those called “quarterbacks” will be in full flight on downtown streets sporting giant orange tail feathers with question marks on them. Think of these vols as roaming concierges. Each will carry a tablet, which they’ll use to answer visitors’ questions. They’ll communicate with teammates, unseen, at a downtown command center, who will be looking up answers as questions come in. “Play-calling,” as the process is known around the office of the Super Bowl Host Committee.

How serious is Rolling Stone about making its first Super Bowl party a hit? The magazine’s publisher, Matt Mastrangelo, has been keeping us up to speed on all the details, and this week he flew in from New York to share some more.

Name: Jill Henry

I took a job at Playboy for the articles. No, I mean it. I remember first learning about Playboy’s groundbreaking writing in journalism classes at IU. Jack Kerouac, Roald Dahl, Norman Mailer, Shel Silverstein, and Indy’s own Kurt Vonnegut contributed pieces in the magazine’s heyday of the 1950s.

Name: Lora Popov

Awhile back we wondered aloud about who would sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XLVI. (Oh, those pesky Roman numberals.) Many weighed in on Facebook and in the comments on that post as to whom they wanted to see perform “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Matt Mastrangelo is a gregarious guy, and certainly when his magazine’s upcoming parties are the topic. Here, the Rolling Stone publisher dishes to Super City about the RS-sponsored (deep breath now) Volkswagen Rock & Roll Super Bowl Fan Tailgate Party.

Last week, the Super Bowl Stage Crew hosted an orientation for those who signed up to volunteer for the Halftime Show, which involves assembling and tearing down Madonna’s stage in about eight minutes. Run by Cap Spence, the staging supervisor for the Halftime Show for the past 11 years, the meeting served as a reality check for some volunteers who expected some nice perks. Here’s the real deal:

Everyone’s doing it—cashing in, that is. Unwitting visitors showing up in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl festivities will find themselves in a fishbowl. With a bunch of hungry cats staring in at them, licking their chops.

Music lovers won’t have any shortage of big concerts to pick from during Super Bowl weekend, and a few more performers recently came to light: Katy Perry (emotional state pending) will rock the DirecTV party hosted by Mark Cuban at Victory Field, Drake will get the ESPN “Next “Party started in a downtown warehouse, and Wyclef Jean will be on the mic at the Playboy party.

The shows noted below are free of charge in the Super Bowl Village downtown at Penn and Georgia streets and Meridian and Georgia streets, on two stages. The Super Bowl Host Committee’s announcement adds that “Additional bands [are] to be announced and can be found on www.IndianapolisSuperBowl.com.”