| Author |
Message |
Amnesiac
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2002 - 5:55 pm: |   |
Unfortunately, you're wrong about Kraftwerk originating Techno. They originated the whole 'Electronic' genre, under which Techno was an off-shoot. Detroit is INDEED the birthplace of Techno. The fucking word was coined here, for christ's fucking sake.
And I've got to agree with Rimbaud- Fuck Ravers. They're hyperactive little groupies that dance around and wave glowsticks- which I thought were cool way back in cub scouts. So yeah, Rimbaud, FUCK RAVERS!!!
But I still disagree about Detroit. Yeah, I'm probably one of those people that just embraces the city from my vantage point in the suburbs, but I still like its gritty texture. I like the fact that I can live about 35 minutes outside of the Metropolitan ground zero and head in whenever and for whatever reason suits me. I take plenty of marvelously grungy city snapshots here for my photo portfolios, and I've taken just as many awesome video snippets for my video art projects. It offers the wonderful package deal of being able to see urban decay and urban renewal all in the same few city blocks. It's fucking great, is what it is. And where else can you go lurking around in Abandoned buildings like the fucking Train Station down there. Where else can you find a bum named 'Catfish' who will take you on a fucking tour of that abandoned Train Station and NOT kill you. It's fucking great, is what it is.
You heard me. Detroit is fucking great. Maybe it's not for you (and from most of you, I gather it's not), but it's still fucking great. And the only way it'll get better is if more people come down and get interested in the scene. The 'scene' being whatever- 'Bum Watching', 'Club Hopping', 'Picture Taking', 'DEMF', 'Auto Show', 'fill-in-the-blank'.
And what about Belle Isle? Fucking great, that's what it is. Go there on a Sunday at 7 a.m. Take pictures. Feed the white deer. Gawk at the homeless, if you must do so. Pick through ruins and take a fucking souvenir.
Man, go down there and indulge in some Absinthe. Buy a cheap bottle and share it with your favorite corner bum. Get the fucker wasted on the shit. Get him addicted.
Have FUN with Detroit. It's only what YOU make of it. As you can see, I have a rolling good time in this heap. But I'm still getting the hell out and going to California in a year and a half. But I'll STILL love Detroit, and probably miss it.
Man, that's what it's all about. Sure, ICP and Eminem, and Kid Rock- they fucking suck. They are trash and that's the whole of it. I can't stand their garbage music and I can't stand them. But shit, how many fucking terrible acts have been spawned from NYC or LA? A fucking loads more. Creed? Dave Matthews Band? They weren't from Detroit. THEY FUCKING SUCK. THEY ARE TERRIBLE.
Detroit is good, alright? Yeah it's a crumbling wasteland of homeless vagrants, psychotic Eastern Market preachers, and shady evangelist-politicians. But it's also a damn cool city with good Greek food and a nice polish villa. Shit, man, it's the essence of all that it is to be human. Detroit is the worker's city. It has risen and fallen and is now trying to rise again- all in the same sweeping motions of humanity's own triumphs and tribulations. You don't have to love it, but fucking respect it. It's a great city no matter how you stack it.
I'll take you pansy asses on a fucking guided tour, if I have to. We'll all meet for Absinthe afterwards, too. Maybe Don or someone will supply us with some fine Jade to keep our travels interesting.
Detroit- City of all that is Human |
Crowlyman
| | Posted on Sunday, April 28, 2002 - 2:17 pm: | |
I think the White Stripes are much better song writers than musicians. That's not saying that I don't like them though! |
Brett
| | Posted on Sunday, April 28, 2002 - 10:15 am: | |
I was always under the impression that Germany was the birthplace of techno, with Kraftwerk pioneering it in the early 70s. Detroit just refined techno into what we know as house music. Hence the term "Detroit House" a staple at raves. |
Joalco
| | Posted on Sunday, April 28, 2002 - 9:28 am: | |
I've got tickets to Nick Cave on 5/8 here in Austin... I absolutely cannot wait... |
Head_Prosthesis
| | Posted on Sunday, April 28, 2002 - 7:29 am: | |
Just woke from going to see Nick Cave at the State Theatre. Great show. One of the few songsters that can bring a tear to my eyehole even when he's rocking.
This was the tour he postponed after 9-11 and the tickets were a gift from a friend at work. Which made the event even that much more special.
And yes, Detroit hasn't changed. It still sucks.
I avoid "the City" whenever possible. |
Pikkle
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 11:16 pm: | |
Uh, Detroit sucks... Detroit will suck until the urban blight (of which Detroit is at least 95 percent of) vanishes. The city has a very poor excuse for a downtown, the neighborhoods are burned out crackhoods and the crime rate is unbelievable. Certain people (wasp suburbanites who like to claim Detroit as their own yet reside in relatively safe WHITE areas, the same people who claim Eminem, Insane Clown Possse as their own, etc... ) do come to the city for special occasions like the Tiger's games, Red Wing's games or the once in a blue moon fly by night trendy bar but for the most part, the city is abandoned of responsibility, culture and any semblance of reasonable civility. Please, for your own sake, for the sake of the children, don't come to Detroit, it's just not worth it! Unless of course you are looking for a five dollar blow job, I can direct you to just the right intersections... |
Marccampbell
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 11:06 pm: | |
White Stripes remind me of early Rolling Stones and The Kinks. They may not be the future of rock and roll but they sound good right NOW!
I'd much rather that bands return to a cool raw garage sound than to continue relying on loops and drum machines.
When I started a punk band in 1976, it was my way
of saying fuck you to the artsy progressive rock of the mid-70s. I couldn't stand shit like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes and Genesis.
The White Stripes, Strokes and Andrew W.K. are
doing the same thing. They're saying fuck you to
N Sync, Creed and Dave Matthews.
This country has forgotten how to rock! |
Rimbaud
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 9:03 pm: | |
I never said the White Stripes were anything new or groundbreaking. They're pretty good, though. As far as VU..."We're not worthy, we're not worthy!!!" |
Verawench
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 7:41 pm: | |
That's more like it. |
Giovannigray
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 7:41 pm: | |
WE DO! WE DO! |
Verawench
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 7:39 pm: | |
Uhh... what, we don't? |
Giovannigray
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 7:38 pm: | |
Yes, Vera, how we still love the Velvet Undergound. |
Verawench
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 7:30 pm: | |
"White Stripes and the Strokes are nostalgia. I like them, but, no..it's not new."
Agreed... just because they're a derivative, doesn't mean they're a worthless one. I do think the Strokes in particular have an overblown sense of their influence. The Velvet Underground they ain't. |
Giovannigray
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 7:10 pm: | |
I really think it's fascinating (as an old coot and rock and roll fan) that any group that tries to sound like a 60's garage band 40 years later is considered to be "the future of rock and roll"
Uh-uh..
Been waiting for something new for years now. White Stripes and the Strokes are nostalgia. I like them, but, no..it's not new. |
Joalco
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 7:02 pm: | |
I may have to go dig up a couple of sample mp3's and at least give 'em a fair shot.
if i want indie rock with a blues tinge, i usually stick pretty close to old JSBX stuff. I wasn't too fond of Acme, but their new record more than makes up for it.
This summer is shaping up to be a damn good concert season.
*Disclaimer: Author is a grouchy, opinionated, cantakerous old coot. Take all posts with the appropriate dosage of sodium chloride. |
Rimbaud
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 6:55 pm: | |
Oh, and I almost forgot...FUCK RAVERS!!!!! |
Rimbaud
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 6:54 pm: | |
The White Stripes are way bluesier and grittier than The Strokes. A totally different sound altogether. Don't count 'em out until you've heard 'em... |
Joalco
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 6:38 pm: | |
If it looks like shit, smells like shit, has the same consistency as shit, and dropped out of an asshole...
I think it's a safe assumption...  |
Giovannigray
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 6:34 pm: | |
kinda like bashing absinthe we haven't tasted. |
Joalco
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 6:05 pm: | |
I haven't heard them, but don't really care to. They're often mentioned in the same breath as the Strokes, and that's one band I'd pay money to see... for the sheer pleasure of a) spitting in their faces or b) pelting them with my own freshly-made feces.
Their big radio hit shamelessly rapes Tom Petty & the Heartbreaker's still-warm corpse, yet we're supposed to believe that they're the future of rock and roll?
Bullshit. I don't buy it. Especially when you find out that the singer's father is an influential head of a modeling agency, and supposedly pulled some strings to get lil' Julian press and a shot at a major-label contract.
It's a boy-band for the hipster crowd. |
Giovannigray
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 6:02 pm: | |
..and the White Stripes... |
Joalco
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 5:59 pm: | |
Yeah, but Detroit also gave us Eminem AND Insane Clown Posse. That alone is enough to make the rest of the country hold a grudge.
And, every goddam time I have to fly through Detroit, I have a bad airport experience...
But, like I said before, I'm an opinionated asshole... |
Amnesiac
| | Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 5:50 pm: | |
That's really not fair. Detroit has a gritty sort of realism that's kind of charming. I think you'd be surprised if you checked out the DEMF. There are WAY more ravers there than inner city thugs. But there are even parents, grandparents, and small children. It's an eclectic mix of individuals who are out to have a good time and nothing more or less. It really is a sight to behold.
Hart Plaza is actually quite nice now. They added a riverwalk (I should say that the old riverwalk was just remodeled) that is very charming.
It's a FREE festival, and it has a hell of a lineup. Even if you go just to experience a millisecond of it, it's well worth it.
You might laugh and jest, but Detroit IS the birthplace of Techno. This IS where it's still happening to this very second. And it IS definitely worth paying homage to. |
Pikkle
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 9:08 pm: | |
Oh yeah, nothing like Hart Plaza in the summer... suburban idiots and inner city thugs... I'm still waiting for the rest of Detroit to burn down, then I'll have a reason to go back. |
Amnesiac
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 3:08 pm: | |
Hell yes. This is what 'free' is all about. This is the Detroit Electronic Music Festival's THIRD year!!! The first two years were excellent. This year, GEORGE CLINTON will be there!!! How superb is that??? And the festival is 100% FREE!!!! It is truly kick ASS.
I live right outside of Detroit. I love this festival. I will be sad when I move to L.A. in another few years. Detroit is good. Really.
You should all come. Introducing Absinthe to the ecstacy crowd could make for some fucking hilarious results.
The festival takes place on Memorial Day Weekend. Noon to midnight. For more info check out: www.electronicmusicfest.com.
Has anyone here ever gone before??? Thoughts??? Comments??? |
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