Thank you for these words, they are quite inspiring... I would like to let you know that I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit my whole life but have never been a stranger to the city... I actually spent last summer/fall working for the thanksgiving day parade welding floats at their warehouse/studio, and I am moving downtown in a few weeks to finish school at Wayne State (hopefully) in addition to numerous other times I've been/stayed in detroit...
My main issue was not that I wanted to sample those artists, because at the core of it I don't really, I just wanted to see how people felt about KDJ's words, people on both sides of the coin... I've been following detroit techno for about 8 years now since I was 15... I played at Detroit parties between the ages of 17 and 19... I know I may not be as learned or knowlegeable as many people on this list but I have done my homework and I do listen and constantly absorb new Ideas... I actually grew up in Canton just a few miles from Belleville and I now live in A2 temporarily, only a couple miles from EMU ( a school I attended), and WCC... I've walked the places where the innovators have walked, both here and downtown... It's just hard to be told by KDJ or anyone else for that matter that I may be too white to understand something.... I just wanted to say that we all can appreciate art... Art of all kinds no matter where it is from, and no matter where we are from... Art is about interpretation and internalization, and I was just saying we shouldn't be so stringent on what people can think and feel about a piece of music... No matter who we are and no matter who they are... It takes a completly open and empathetic person to be an artist IMHO and I feel the same goes for being a fan of art... And as for the 'what would richie do' thing... I would definitely do the opposite... I'm not a very big fan... But besides that I'm actually pressing an EP for the DEMF this year, so I'll have to get you one so you can let me know if you approve... The tracks will be available in Real Audio on my website soon as well... I think you'll find it speaks from my soul substantially enough, without samples at all :-)... I don't really seek to make 'detroit' music... I just seek to make 'scott' music... Detroit just happens to be a part of me because its where I want to be, and the suburbs are a part of me because it's where I was ;-)... We grow up where we're forced grow up... We end up where we want to end up.... Thanks again, - sb One Ear to the Ground Communications http://www.totheground.com (Coming Soon!!)
