Hi all - my immediate thoughts on Movement 03:
>>Overall
This was my first visit to the festival. I will definitely be back next
year. It was a wonderful way to spend 4+ days! The weather was not so
bad as I thought it might be: very little rain, mostly cooler with some
sunny days made for decent dancing and fun. The setting was lovely;
multiple outdoor arenas nestled between concrete & grass, bordered by
giant city buildings and the river with a view of Windsor across the
way. Walking into Hart Plaza with thousands of multi-culti-nationals
united by music was inspiring. I found the crowd mostly peaceful &
respectful - kinda like tech-hippies. It was great meeting new friends,
peeps I've known for years but never met in person and also hanging with
my cousin from Seattle (who I was traveling with).
>>Town
I enjoyed exploring the section of Detroit within walking distance to
Hart Plaza. There were so many old buildings with beautiful architecture
& detail on them. One I liked especially had a lot of colourful tiles,
marble & indian motifs on/in it. We went inside and explored the ground
floor & basement where there was an enormous multi-section bank vault
which had been converted to a cafe & sitting area. The GM buildings
totally rocked - enormous cylindrical structures with a semi-metallic
sheen in the proper light - how very techno! It was nice how the
buildings were large but not all squished together like in NYC, Philly
and places in northern NJ. It was sad to see so many of them empty and
run down, however it looked as though they are fixing a few. We saw a
bit of that riding the People Mover train.
>>Lodging
We stayed at the Pontchartrain hotel. I think it should have been called
the Party-train hotel. As for location it was fantastic - within walking
distance of Hart Plaza and many surrounding things. The room service
food I got was decent and the rooms were typical chain hotel stylee. The
staff was really nice and dealt well overall with having a packed hotel
for the weekend. Our first room had a loud buzzing air conditioner so we
got a new one. They both had a smell of stale smoke in them even tho'
they were non-smoking rooms. We ended up on the 16th floor overlooking
the deck where they had the parties. I heard some bad things from ladies
cleaning the rooms & also the hotel staff. They ran out of towels on
Sunday (this is a large hotel mind you). The lady cleaning our room that
day said kids stole her towels while she was trying to work. The desk
staff said there were too many people in some rooms so they didn't have
enough towels and had to keep washing them. There was rumour of a fire
somewhere in the hotel but I didn't see it (or hear it). I was also told
that kids took fire extinguishers & rolled them down stairwells (in a 24
floor hotel). An exit sign on our floor got ripped off and busted all
over the floor. I saw two people having sex in a hallway but didn't
stick around to watch because they were kinda gross looking. hehe Hmmm,
let's see what else... we saw kids get kicked out for spitting out the
window. They looked pretty young. Every time the elevator stopped at the
Terrace level (where the deck party was) the doors would open, you'd
smell mega cologne & perfume and the chicks looked all skanky-ho-bag &
the guys were super bling-bling. When I was leaving on Tuesday the guy
at the desk was saying members of the hotel staff felt many guests were
disrespectful of the hotel and also the staff, acting like spoiled white
kids. I have to agree with him. He said that the city takes that stuff
into account when deciding whether to have another festival for the next
year.
>>Transportation
OK, is it just me or do many cab/taxi drivers in Detroit have no clue
where things are in the town? 75% of the cabs we took the guys had no
clue where we were going and these were venues or buildings on main
streets. I found that kinda odd. The People Mover was a curious thing -
it seemed to go around an area I'd consider "walking distance" but I
guess if you're tired or wearing shoes that hurt it's a good thing to
take. They had some nice tile work & designs in the little station
stops. We mostly walked everywhere unless it was mega-blocks away.
>>Music
I was able to catch:
Kevin Saunderson & Kenny Larkin
Ectomorph
Derek Plaslaiko
Speedy J
Matthew Dear
Eddie Fowlkes
Francois K.
Dan Bell
Anthony Shakir
Carl Craig & the Detroit Experiment
Jeff Mills
Amon Tobin
Prefuse 73
I saw others as well but either I cannot remember who or wasn't there
long enough to say I really saw them play. Out of all the stages I
enjoyed the Underground one most, but that's my style preference. I
thought Derek Plaslaiko played a fabulous set at the paxahau event.
Matthew Dear was great there & also at the Underground stage. Eddie
Fowlkes was fantastic live - I've never heard him play before. He really
had people rockin' in a style I am fond of. Francois K was like a mad
scientist and played a nice set at the High Tech Soul stage. Amon Tobin
was fun to see live - it was just him using an Apple notebook, Final
Scratch (I think) & mixing his stuff. He was very laid back. Prefuse 73
was pretty wild to watch with the two main guys using equipment & decks,
scratching and then another dude drumming. I enjoyed that many of the
shows were not all fancy & spiffed up with the setup & presentation of
equipment - like guys just putting stuff up on cases & tables with wires
hanging all over, some even had things propped on bricks. It gave it a
genuine home-cooked, slightly rough feeling vs. something big & super
slick for the eyes. Of course the larger events had screens & lights &
cool stuff which was fun too.
Friday night I went to the Green Light, Go!! party & the Corktown Tavern
which was a good time. The place was down Michigan Ave in a somewhat
desolate area of town (at least it seemed that way at night) with few
street lights. The building was an older brick structure with ripped out
ceilings and semi-finished construction in the back. Part of the fun of
being upstairs was wondering if the floor would collapse from so many
people dancing and jumping around (you could feel it moving). Whoever
played between 2 & 3am that night did a wicked set, imo. All of the
music was very bangin' good. The sound system downstairs inside was a
bit harsh on the highs however it was fun to watch the dudes using Final
Scratch. I didn't catch much of what was played on the patio however
heard some tasty groovy stuff while waiting in line to get in. The party
was still going close to 4am when we left.
Saturday we went around the festival & checked out stuff. We were bummed
to miss Liquid Liquid as they didn't go on at the time on the event
flyer (we waited for 45 minutes then left in search of food and other
music). In the evening we went to the paxahau party where Speedy J was
playing, which was quite packed. Of the three floors I enjoyed the
basement the most as they seemed to play more rough/edgey stuff there.
Speedy J was bangin' and kept the floor on the middle level packed.
Upstairs was an eclectic mix of ambient & chillin' stuff (with some
non-ambient as well). Unfortunately we arrived after Stewart Walker had
already finished. Oh well!
Sunday we started out by grocery shopping somewhere down Jefferson. I
enjoy doing that in cities to see what different items they sell vs.
where I live in NJ. We then visited the exhibit at the Detroit
Historical Museum "Techno: Detroit's Gift to the World". It was a
one-room, nicely laid-out exhibit showing many roots of techno. I must
admit I felt giddy & like a part of history as I have about 70% of the
stuff which was displayed there, having bought it when it came out it -
lol! I hope the exhibit continues so people can give tribute to & learn
about Detroit and techno godz.
Monday we mostly went around the festival, walked the town and slept
from so many days of dancing, partying and walking around. We did
finally find a place that served hummus & falafel so we were happy about
that after too many days of pizza, hot dogs, grilled meat & fried food.
I hope Movement 03 was a success for the planners & they were able to
recoup their $ and meet the requirements of the city to throw it again
for next year. As a participant, it felt like it was a success. I am
thankful for the opportunity to attend something like this - and it was
free! Much respect to anyone who helped made it happen and to the city
of Detroit for being open to doing this.
Finally, massive thanks to the 313 list community and also the
Technotourist site & folks for all the wonderful info. It was invaluable
during the events & getting around to the parties! :)
I'll have pics up in a gallery soon ...
lisa
