Allan Ester, Made in Detroit Stage, Sunday #Movement2011
Allan Ester, a longtime Detroit DJ and the progeny of Detroit’s first generation of underground DJs like Ken Collier, gave a sermon on Sunday at the Made in Detroit stage. It was one of the finest sets I have ever seen him deliver. Singer Michelle Weeks joined him for one song and he finished with…
Morris Mitchell, Detroit DJ Since 1971 #Movement2011
Morris Mitchell began DJing on one turntable in 1971. Within a few years he began promoting and DJing parties as “True Disco” with Renaldo White and Ken Collier. Mr. Mitchell, who has been retired from DJing and promoting since 1998, is the only living member left of that original disco crew. Yesterday was his first…
Shea’s Lounge! This week: Southwest Detroit on an old Schwinn …
A Sketch from my Bike (which isn’t easy) of SW Detroit I rode my Schwinn eight miles through Southwest Detroit last week. Along Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd were several low-cost medical facilities, playfields, schools and gardens that weren’t there when I rode the street 20-plus years ago. These indicate considerable funding put into the…
New Sounds for Tenured Festival
Outside of traditional techno acts and strictly minimal DJs, this year’s Movement lineup includes some rather spirited groups encompassing the far corners of electronic music, wooing audiences with disco-infused soundscapes, electric soul, and melodic synth funk. Stripped down four-on-the-floor techno’s great, but it’s refreshing to have an array of styles, sounds and personas to take…
The Vinyl Comeback or Hipster Format Snobbery? Neat-O Graph Alert!
Here’s some perspective on the much-ballyhooed comeback of vinyl albums, which we all love and adore. Last year in the U.S., based on RIAA stats — here from Digital Music News — vinyl albums and EPs sold 4 million copies, which is roughly the population of metropolitan Detroit. In 1977, vinyl albums and EPs sold…
Fun with Ken and Jane: When Cockrel Sr. met Fonda
Looking to catch up on my reading, I dipped into a growing pile of recent New Yorker magazines last night and pulled out the May 9 issue. Though not usually big on celebrity profiles, I got to Hilton Als’ in-depth piece about Jane Fonda and dove in. About midway through, I found an unexpected local…
Rock ‘n’ roll town hall
It doesn’t take much to get Drew Bardo talking. Sitting outside of Midtown’s Garden Bowl on a nippy Monday evening with his bandmate Chris Krzeczkowski, the strong-voiced writer-musician pulls from a beer, talking of ham-headed politicos. These guys are all grins — on the outside. But on the inside they’re fuming about the political landscape,…
Farewell to a hero
For generations of peace activists, Al Fishman seemed somehow indestructible. It was easy to sort of imagine that he would always be on the job, trying to make this a better, more just and less violent world. Two years ago, I remember chatting with him as his main cause, Peace Action of Michigan, prepared for…
Charter chatter
It’s often said that the two things people don’t want to see being made are sausage and laws. In the case of the Detroit Charter Review Commission, though, it might be better to use headcheese as analogy, because the commissioners made a decision following a public hearing Saturday that has many scratchin’ their noggins in…
Sacramental herb
I’m crossing the English Channel on the Stena Line steamship as I write this, moving on from London to Amsterdam for the next 10 days, and then on to Italy. It was a rough April in the Motor City with one cold, gray day after another and the Tigers foundering until I left, but London…
Sonic reducer
As we sit here pondering the filth and the fury of the next five days, we pause to reflect. And daydream in reverse. It’s been 11 years since the parties within the parties began to roll in and around Hart Plaza. That was 2000, long ago and far away in techno years. Life tends to…
Summer CAMP
When Paxahau’s team took control of Detroit’s annual electronic music festival in 2006, they didn’t have time to think about enhancing the weekend’s artistic elements. They had just two months to produce a global techno event. Music was the only priority. "We really only had a few weeks to execute," says Sam Fotias, Paxahau’s operations…
Salad tossers
$=$5-$10; $$=$10-$25; $$$=$25-$50; $$$$=$50+ Al-Ameer 12710 W. Warren Ave., Dearborn, 313-582-8185; 27346 Ford Rd., Dearborn Heights; 313-565-9600; alameerrestaurant.com: This Lebanese fare isn’t Americanized factory food. Instead, Al-Ameer stays true to the Lebanese table, offering fresh bread, serving no pork or liquor, and preparing food that’s made to order, and not overwhelmed by spices and herbs.…
3 Days
Metro Times arts & culture editor Travis R. Wright went to his first rave when he was just 14. DEMF, Fuse-In, Movement — no matter the name, he’s never missed a summer electronic music festival in Detroit. Wright pens features and reviews about music and musicians for local and national media, such as SPIN. 2-4…
Disco Ball primer
Please kill me if you’ve heard this rhetorical question before: But is hard concrete raving at five stages, a mad-rad marketplace featuring local and international specialty vendors, a Noguchi-designed fountain to splash in and the sensation of cool Detroit riverfront breezes to feel against your hot skin after hours of dancing not enough for you?…
Letters to the Editor
Darn good interview Re: Travis R. Wright’s story on Chris Bathgate ("Salt of the Earth," May 11), Chris is a friend of mine and (secretly) has been a huge influence and inspiration to my own music. I just wanted to say thank you for the glowing and provocative write up you did on him. It’s…
L’Amour Fou
L’Amour Fou GRADE: B- Fashion, as a dinner party topic, is generally a huge personal turn-off, yet on screen the results are often a good deal more interesting. As with recent critical success The September Issue, L’Amour Fou steps beyond the frippery and foolishness of haute couture, and into the very private life of an…
Sexy time-outs
Q: I am a bi woman happily married to a straight man, and we both "participate" in hot sexy times with other women during threesomes. It’s hard to find hot 30ish bi girls where we live, but the encounters we’ve had were for the most part excellent. Everything was great until three weeks ago, when…
Wings of desire
City Wings 2896 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit 313-871-CITY Perhaps using his cooking skills honed as a firefighter — or, more likely, learned at his previous restaurant in Washington, D.C. — Grant Lancaster is serving wings fried to order along with a full array of sides. City Wings is the opposite of a fast-food restaurant, though…
Star powered
FRIDAY Richie Hawtin From: Berlin via Williamsburg via Windsor via the Shelter Sounds like: A one-man history of techno, with the coffee table book and box set (Arkives) to show for it, Richie Hawtin was techno’s most post-modern DJ, visionary, gearhead and media dabbler a decade before anyone else was doing it. As far as…
Food Stuff
Grains of truth — Detroit’s Simply Suzanne granola company was one of the vendors showcased at last year’s "Home Slice" event at Eastern Market. Since then, the business has continued to grow, finding a niche with its sweet and savory granola. Next month, the brand will hit the shelves of Michigan Meijer stores. Those already…
Technical English
Like every major league sport, techno has its own language, all but indecipherable to the outsider — hence the need for the glossary before you. A few definitions are obvious, while others are, well, totally effing effed-up. But that’s part of the fun. Remember, this is a music culture meant to be experienced and not…
The usual suspects
The rapture was supposed to happen over the weekend, followed by a series of apocalyptic events. The rapture didn’t happen, none of the believers were whisked away, however, the apocalypse for Republican presidential contenders, which started a few weeks ago, is still claiming wannabes. Real estate developer and reality show star Donald Trump, who trundles…
Cheat Code
Crysis 2 Crytek/EA PS3, Xbox 360, Windows Crysis 2 provides a delightful blend of stealthy, sneaky gameplay with some spooky WTF moments. So, yeah, I’ve been waiting a long time for such a shooter. You’re floored by the visuals from the first level start, not just the major elements of the game, but with the…
Electro Anthropology 101
The tribes drawn to Detroit’s annual orgy of electronica — those looking to get lost in a hypnotic overdose of BPMs travel to the Motor City from as far away as, say, rural Iowa, Montreal, the Netherlands, Japan and … oh, who knows? … Frenchlick, Ind. And Flint and Kalamazoo and Chicago (house kids) and…
Movement 2011 Schedule
SATURDAY Vitamin Water Stage 2pm-5pm DJ Harvey 5pm-7pm Metro Area 7pm-8pm Tortured Soul – live 8pm-10pm Kerri Chandler 10pm-12am Felix da Housecat Beatport Stage 12pm-3pm Matthew Hawtin 3pm-4pm JPLS – live 4pm-6pm Ambivalent 6:30pm-8pm Heartthrob – live 8pm-9pm Gaiser – live 9pm-10pm Marc Houle – live 10pm-12am Richie Hawtin Made in Detroit Stage 12pm-2pm Eric…
