Just curious to see who is going to the 2001 Detroit electronic music festival? http://www.electronicmusicfest.com/schedule/ on the commercialization of a once good thing. from a friend here's more on the story behind Carl Craig's firing: <http://detnews.com/2001/entertainment/0105/16/a01-224860.htm> i should also point out that Carl's statement describing his relationship with pop culture media's carol Marvin as being "very turbulent" is supposedly a huge understatement. i can't speak on that, but from my perspective it appears that this was a move calculated to defame Carl and get rid of him, on the pretense that contracts were not signed in time (a thought which should make any of us who have promoted or performed at a party chuckle heartily - it's usually VERY last-minute!) so who's to say what this means for the festival's future. i've been feeling a little uninspired about it already this year, because i know all too well the forces at work here, and there's simply no infrastructure for our music to support itself yet, without getting major help from those forces. so with the departure of carl, we can expect loveable 'electronica' acts like chemical brothers and moby to replace the caliber of talent that only a man like carl can book. i mean, i have nothing against massive festivals like the ones they have in europe - love parade, mayday, and what have you - and i would not be averse to seeing something like that happen in the US. anything to further develop the infrastructure for electronic music in the US is, in my eyes, a good thing. but the tragedy is that detroit is the forgotten, neglected city that worked so hard to define its own music and keep itself down-to-earth. with DEMF, detroit finally began, hesitantly, to reap some of the attention it deserved, with little artistic compromise. now, however, its 15-year history is threatened by backhanded politics and the specter of corporate commandeering. sadder still, DEMF is the ONLY alternative for many of us who have grown up with techno - it's the only weekend in the US where we get to _be ourselves_, immersed in a huge span of electronic music culture, without having to apologize for its lack of "guitars" or "lyrics." but outside of that, the infrastructure some of us tried so hard to nurture, build, support and maintain has simply not happened. ask any underground techno artist in new york, san francisco, or columbus how often they get to play a decent techno set in front of a decent crowd, and the answer will be: seldom. clearly, we are still very vulnerable, and the likely corruption of DEMF in years to come (though probably inevitable), is a stark reminder of just _how_ vulnerable we really are. a depressing thought, to be sure. but i'm still going. all i can hope for its that, in the wake of this year's event, there will still be ways for us to continue building... + edward luna www.ele-mental.org <http://www.ele-mental.org> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
