----- Original Message ----- From: "armin holzgethan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <313@hyperreal.org> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 7:51 AM Subject: Re: [313] Black techno artists]
> i still don't get it. > > what are you aiming at? how & where should this recognition express itself? on > mtv, usa today? how many people know stephen king? and how many know malcolm > lowry? I'm aiming at recognition in the electronic music underground. How to quantify recognition? Sure it's oblique... How about references in histories of house (AV and textual) for one. Prolly a lame definition, but you get what I'm on about. > all those you mention are more or less known to people into this music. some > will reach a certain status as "innovators", some will be forgotten. some will > blow up by accident because the time is right and/or because they work towards > it. maybe this has sometimes to do with the quality and the aim of their work > too? to blame it all on the circumstances seems to me as banal as the opposite, > which is to blame it all on the lack of marketing skills. I don't think that's the whole cup of tea. There's a mythos attached to the term "Chicago House DJ" that is not parallel to "Detroit House DJ" in the mind of the average club-goer who is somewhat in-the-know. For instance, "Chicago's Gene Farris" immediately has a credibility to the average house club-goer that "Detroit's Terrence Parker" does not. To see this in effect, look at a poster for Gene Farris' "Booked" CD. > tp has a relatively huge fanbase in germany because of his djing. all of his > records i know of are mediocre. alan oldham's stuff lacks originality big time. > just to be a detroiter and having started in 1988 is not enough. Yeah. TP has built a dedicated fan-base in Germany over the years, but he is relatively unknown and hasn't played in Washington DC in years (if ever). This is a house music city and has been for over a decade. Ron Trent has been here (but he's known here for his work living in New York) and Alton Miller has played here once. At the same time, at least 10 Chicago house DJs have played here, not to mention endless DJs from New York (although they have a geographical advantage to DJs form the midwest). In addition to that, most "scenes" in the eastern U.S. "buy into" a New York version of the history of house/garage. Statements like "everyone knows house came from New York" would not be uncommon, and generally reinforced through local promotions/myths/regional email lists, etc. Not only is the Chicago history of house downplayed if recognized at all, the Detroit history of house is completely absent. You could almost flip the coin and apply all of that to Chicago - but not to the same degree, and again Detroit is missing from the puzzle. History's are being written today, and it takes a history of house and techno *in Detroit* to recognize Detroit House, although the impact of Detroit house from the 80s was just as lasting as any other. Couldn't we put the Music Institute right near the Warehouse and the Paradise Garage in terms of legendary clubs that defined and nurtured scenes? You can't try to tell me this is even 1/10th as recognizable as either of the former in today's music histories. > self-esteem is not supposed to grow because of one's name in the paper or a > certain number on one's bank statement, but because one feels that he/she is > doing the right thing and maybe because one lifts the artform to new heights. > the name all over the paper and the big bucks in the bank are most of the time > & and as long as this capitalist etc society stands a sign that one submitted & > adapted oneself successfully to the expectations of society. same as good marks > at school. same as any institutional or mainstream recognition. in this sense > most of the time mainstream success can be used as a sign for irrelevance. What I was noting with my list was people who generally don't get the same acclaim as their peers from the '80s in Chicago and New York in the histories of house - not specifically in terms of bank rolls. Detroit house is something that most people into house can't even recognize. Tristan ---------- http://www.mp313.com <- Music http://www.metrotechno.net <- DC techno + more http://www.metatrackstudios.com <- DC DJ/Production studios http://phonopsia.tripod.com <- Hub [EMAIL PROTECTED] <- email <FrogboyMCI> <- AOL Instant Messenger --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
