As I type, Alan Ester is at the podium.....I just woke up and am trying to
decide whether seeing Ester and Stacey Hale is enough to get sick for
(it's raining right now and pretty cold).
I think it is. I hope my wife and kids don't get too upset.
I left off talking about different rhythms and different grooves. This is
the first time I can recall such a disparate crowd all moving to the same
rhythm. Not in the same WAY mind you...you've got the herky jerks in
there, the people trainined in classical African forms in there....and
then the smooth ones in there too. All facing the DJ...something that I
don't usually dig as for me the DJ isn't necessarily an artist...but a
Wizard. And while he's casting his spell (or her as the case may be) I
don't necessarily want to be WATCHING...I want to be JACKING.
But it's all good.
Theo Parrish put in WORK on the CPOP stage. Definitely the most eclectic
set of the day--that I heard. Let me see...he put in some Prince (AMERICA
as well as some unusual syncopated shit that I wasn't familiar with), some
Gil Scott Heron (hadn't heard HIM in damn near 20 years), and some Pfunk.
Around this time I caught up with Cornelius Harris and Hackett.
And then some guy from Groovetech. An Asian brother from Seattle. He's
one of their DJs ("I came with my friends who are technicans...but they
don't want me breaking shit, so I get to hang out"). His name is Masa,
and we hung out for about three hours. At what other time can a brother
like Masa be convinced to fly down to Detroit. He loves it though...he'll
be back. He told me that for a while he was scared of Detroit. You know,
because of the image of crime and drug infestation.
I didn't trip. I just asked him one question:
"How can a city as supposedly horrible as Detroit is, create such a
beautiful sound?"
At this point my legs are aching up to my knees. My back feels as stiff
as Al Gore, and I need to STOP MOVING. But because Theo is putting in
work I just can't.
As night sets upon the city, Stacey Pullen comes up to the main stage.
Though sparsely populated early in the day....the DEMF stage is now
PACKED...under the neon light of the stage. Carl Craig comes up and says
a few words...then lets Pullen come up to do what we all came to see him
do. He starts off with BLACKOUT...an old Lil Louis tune...on the same LP
as FRENCH KISS. Perfect way to start off the set...the crowd immediately
becomes frenzied. This is where I see the midget holding forth...as well
as some 6'9 cat that looked like Marilyn Manson. I can no longer
dance...so I'm just checking out the scene, but the image of ten thousand
maniacs screaming at the top of their lungs when the most powerful refrain
of King's I HAVE A DREAM speech --a speech FIRST delivered in Detroit--is
played is something I'll carry with me.
Off to battle the flu!
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Lester Kenyatta Spence [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Assistant Professor, Political Science
Washington University at St. Louis
"Strive for excellence in all you do, that no
fault may be found in your character...."
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