I can't help but feel like you guys are directing these comments at me because I know you both read my blog. I just wanted to point out two things
1) I asked the question "IS Paxahau racist?", I didn't claim that they were, necessarily. I am really really glad that the festival is still going on, and Paxahau is doing a great job. 2) The dramatic change in the percentage of black performers to white performers between 05 and 06 is a fact. Whether or not that was a conscious decision on Paxahau's part is clearly unknown. But the facts are the facts, the festival got a lot whiter when white people were given control of it. And I think that's a shame, and I don't see what's wrong with pointing it out. On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Denise Dalphond <ddalp...@umail.iu.edu> wrote: > Me again... :) > > I don't think the Paxahau folks are a bunch of racists or don't care > about Detroit. But that is often the general consensus by many > critics. I am really interested in their motivations and personal > histories with Detroit. I've interviewed one of the Paxahau DJs and > we talked a bit about this. Trying to interview Jason Huvare, but > that probably won't happen until after the festival. > > >>> I think it's way more complicated than just "Paxahau is racist" or >>> they are just a bunch of guys from the suburbs who don't care about >>> Detroit. >>> >> While I might quibble with some of Paxahau's decisions artistically, I >> think it's grossly unfair to talk sh1t about their motivations. >> Paxahau would be just fine without the festival -- in fact >> financially, they might actually be better off not doing it. Paxahau >> does the festival because they want the festival to continue, because >> they believe in it's importance to Detroit, and because doing a >> festival of this scale successfully is a huge accomplishment. >> > > > > -- > Denise Dalphond > Ph.D. Candidate > Department of Folklore & Ethnomusicology > Indiana University > http://denisedjsdetroit.blogspot.com/ > -- peace, frank dj mix archive: http://www.deejaycountzero.com
