06.11.09

Detroit Fusicologists had a blast at Midsummer Nights in Midtown and Bravo Bravo downtown last weekend!  Check out some of the photos from Leon Ware at the CHW Museum of African-American History & Bravo Bravo at the Detroit Opera House courtesy Oh!Beatrice Photography, along with exclusive video of the weekend’s hot events courtesy 6 Minutes TV Detroit.

Detroit .:. Memorial Day Weekend:

Being the uber busy world-traveler and action fiend that he is, Derrick May is possibly one of the hardest people to hold down for a solid interview, but you know how the ladies of Fusicology are… making it happen, always. So we seized the opportunity to pin down our old friend Derrick at the Detroit Movement Festival 2009 right around his closing night set for a few, and then again later during a visit to the still-standing Transmat Records HQ on Gratiot Ave aka “Techno Boulevard.”

A full decade has passed since he and his colleague Carl Craig, along with festival producer Carol Marvin, took the reigns and made the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival happen, continuing for the 5 years after the inception of the now legendary Detroit music festival to push it through, regardless of the difficulties they faced.  It seems that, finally, a symbiotic partnership is now taking shape between the Techno forefathers and foremothers, and the current festival production powerhouse and seasoned rave promoters, Paxahau.

We thought now would be a great time to get a glimpse of how Derrick sees the festival and the city of Detroit changing – or changing the face of its environment – during this monumental time in contemporary culture, and the dance music industry in general… (*exclusive video with Derrick May below*)

F:  What is your perspective on Detroit’s role in the music industry as a whole right now?

DM: It’s not in a good a place at the moment… we don’t have the young artists stable like they need to be…  the creative youth need to know they can approach their forefathers and foremothers… and be given the inspiration… Like, I don’t have a single demo from a young Detroit kid right now. I mean, I know that Juan (Atkins’) nephew has been working on some stuff and wants to start making music now, but that’s about all I’m aware of…

F:  We know that the music industry is changing in a major way very rapidly right now… in your opinion, what do current artists need to focus on and/or invest in as a priority if they are looking for longevity in their career?

DM: Well, first of all, you actually have to be making quality music, to start.  Yeah, good marketing is important, but if your music is whack, that’s only going to get you so far.

F: You chose to name the Detroit Electronic Music Festival “Movement” several years ago the year the you became director… do you feel that the festival today still represents what you meant the name “Movement” to mean when you dubbed it that?  Do you see it to mean something else now, the same, or something more?

DM: When I had to re-name the festival, I chose “Movement” because it was this idea of having all these thinkers coming together and doing what it took to make it happen… and that was the whole idea.  But, originally, I didn’t want to do it at a place like (Hart Plaza), originally I wanted to do a festival like this in teh warehouse district and take each building and turn it into a different venue and invite not only Detroit artists, but artists from all over the world to play.

F:  Tell us a bit about what it takes to get your “idea factory” and your “product” OUT THERE… meaning, what are maybe 3 core things someone, especially a Detroiter,  must be sure to do (or not do) to get to the next level (i.e. CONCEPT —> FRUITION), yet retain creative control?

DM: I mean, it’s pretty simple – the basics haven’t changed – you make a record or Cd, master it, invest in some process of promotion… it takes money.  But there’s not real math or science to it… its fairly cut and dry… the formula is still pretty much the same.  It’s the influencers, or the way the music reaches the people that has changed alot.  The DJ used to have alot more influence – they were stronger, their job was righteous.  Radio used to be reliable. Not anymore.

One problem is, alot of people listen only to their own music too much, you have to pull away from it… I don’t listen to other people’s music for direct influence… but I do have to pull away from my own head sometimes in order to get another perspective.

F:  Was there anyone or anything behind you or working in conjunction with you during your earliest phases that you would not have been able to achieve what you have achieved without?  Say 2-3 people or things over the course of your first 5 years or so?

DM: For me, Mojo and Ken & Greg Collier were huge influences on me… them and Jeff Mills and a slew of others… they gave me the guts to really stand up and do it.

F: Why do you still call Detroit home, when you could live anywhere in the world?

I believe in myself and the people around me… and I feel compelled to represent something…

I know that the people give it the potential to be the powerhouse it once was in the 1980s and early 1990s.  Many don’t realize or remember that Detroit was at one time a testing ground for radio – early 80s – (Mojo for example) – there was a much larger population first of all, there were still over a million people here, there were a number of nightclubs playing quality music, varied music… it hasn’t been like that in some time now… but we need the youth to be inspired and motivated to make something like that happen again…

*Exclusive video courtesy 6 Minutes TV Detroit*

— Jocelyne Ninneman for Fusicology.com

Congrats to all the winners (and nominees) of this year’s SoulTracks Readers Choice Awards!!!  Fusicology had a blast this weekend (plus a few surprises with Jay-Z stopping in town for a FREE rally concert with Barack Obama, and a 2nd star-studded afterparty @ Plan B with DJ Premier the same weekend!)  Detroit was on JAM this weekend… -F.

–

Detroit Hosting International Creative Cities Summit  October 13-15
[Register by Sept. 12 for Early Bird Prices!]

–
Detroit will host the second International Creative Cities Summit (CCS 2.0) on October 13-15.  It’s a next-generation look at how communities are integrating innovation, social entrepreneurship, arts & culture and business to make vibrant economies.  Register by Sept. 12, 2008 for the special $250 early bird special.

The summit features an exciting line-up of speakers and activities including Dr. Richard Florida, the author of international best-seller Rise of the Creative Class and the just released Who’s Your City, Charles Landry, author of The Art of City Making, and Majora Carter, co-founder of Green For All, a national green collar jobs initiative.
–

Information on the agenda (which includes an Oct. 12 “unconference”) speakers, sponsors and news about CCS 2.0 as well as registration and hotel information are available on the website www.creativecitiessummit.com.
–

Participants will include architects, designers, urban planners, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, students, educators, community leaders and other creative professionals sharing their experiences, projects, successes and failures as they re-imagine and rethink cities.

–

CCS 2.0 is committed to hosting a green conference and $10 of every conference registration will go toward carbon offsets. The host hotel for the conference is the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. The Sun., Oct. 12 unconference theme is “Detroit 2.0” and will include Inside Detroit Experience walking and bus tours, Detroit After Dark, Taste of Michigan, and Detroit Music Showcase.  An unconference is a facilitated, participant-driven, face-to-face conference around a theme or purpose.  The Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s (MSHDA) Cool Cities Team is a key organizer for the event.

04.09.08

fringe: noun [ frinj ] members of a group or organization who hold views not representative of the group and usually more extreme.

-

-

Based on this definition, this writer and other fringeful souls were treated to a night of pure fringed-out debauchery. Though I missed some of the earlier performances of the evening, my compatriot and I did arrive in time enough to catch Los Minstrels Del Diablo & Afrika Baambaata. Though the crowd was, for the most part, anemic, the visual show and electro/techno contraption-playing talents of the minstrels kept the night going strong. Counter culture images of current and former members of the Bush administration as well as images of Hillary Clinton bounced off the screen. The spotty audience came alive whenever the words “Bush is an Idiot” appear on the screen with America’s worst president.

-

Concurrent to Los Minstrels Del Diablo’s show was random mingling of all the fringesters throughout other areas of the Music Hall. For whose like a little ‘noise’ with their music, The Jazz Café (beautiful body painted Three Olive vodka servers didn’t hurt either). Can’t remember the name of the band or whether it was a one man band or what. I know–oops—sorry! One thing for sure, though, is that if you like the sounds of chalk screeching down a blackboard you probably would have liked them too! Whoever this band was, they were the epitome of fringe, and thus, in my opinion, a very good selection for the occasion.

-

The night wrapped with the legendary Afrika Baambaata, who, though taking the stage minus his trademark garb, wore out the dance floor in the most unpatentable way. Flanked by Hardcore Detroit Breakers break dance trio, he played old school breakbeat and hip hop classics. By the time he was half way into his set folks were movin’, smilin’, and laughnin.’ This solidified in my mind, why Afrika Baambata is a true hip hop icon. He spun classics as well as some songs that many so-called purists would debate the ‘hip hop’ credibility. A tapestry of people danced the night away and it was another great night in the city we hate to love.

-

— Drake Phifer, Urban Organic Lifestyle & Music

—————————————————————————————–

[For this blog, we asked some of the young poets and writers of Detroit Summer to express their thoughts on their experience attending the play "History of the Word" wsg Saul Williams on 02.16.08]

History of the Word: featuring Saul Williams

Last Saturday’s “History of the Word” at the Music Hall [downtown Detroit] featured talent old and new, New York and good old Detroit style poetry.

The night kicked off with some of Detroit’s freshest young poets. They dealt with topics from walking the streets of the D as a young person, to mother nature, to family and spirituality. They hailed from different high schools (Cass, DIA, Southfield, to name a few), and local organizations (city wide poets, team hype Detroit summer, etc).

Going along through the night… History of the Word was a play based off of writings and lives of five gifted New York poets’ experiences of high school. The play centers around a child of the Black Nationalist movement who knows more about the Civil Rights history then the teacher does, and pays for it. The supporting characters are a pleasantly plump and self-conscience girl who always compares herself to the well-liked and well sought-after dancer-type with daddy issues. She, in turn, gets her heart broken by the Iraq-bound “joining the army to get my papers” Thai Muslim break-dancer.

All these characters get nicely fleshed out early on with the help of the beat-boxing, break dancing guitarist student and the one-man facility who plays every teacher from the “wants to have a progressive classroom but falls short” History teacher, to the “devil may care” gym teacher. They set the tone for the scenes and elevate every one’s performances.

As for the play, it gracefully delivers a spoken word ride that puts you into a seat in future high. Though it did feel like some of the story arcs were left unresolved by the end making you wonder if you got the abridged version of it.

On to the feature performance of Saul Williams…Before getting into his amazing set, he said, “Those kids back stage had the nerve to tell me, I’m inspiring. I think they’re inspiring!” (referring to all the youth performers from earlier in the night).

He then went into an enthralling performance that makes you remember he’s a slam champion. Easily stepping from behind the mic to get gradually closer to the audience, we could still hear him with ease because A) he has good vocal cords and B) the music hall isn’t that big.

With a mixture of personal antidotes between poems, he explained things like why he was so angry when he was writing a particular poem. It made the whole night much more memorable, even with great poems that you’d feel in your bones. He ended by making the observation that poetry is really popular right now. He want on to say, if you look back through history, at the moments when poetry was thriving, like the Harlem Renaissance or the Beat Movement, it always preceded great transformations in society, He wasn’t just saying that poetry is some kind of indicator species, but rather, poetry and art have the power to expand the “technologies of freedom” in our consciousness that make great social movements possible. It’s exciting to think that right now we are in one of those moments.

— by Jon Blount, Detroit Summer Live Arts Media Project Youth Leader

——————————————————————————————-