The biggest obstacle to DEMF becoming as established and respected as Montreux has nothing to do with the music. The primary obstacle from where I sit is the fact that there hasn't been any continuity of management, funding and sponsorship. It's passed from Carol Marvin to Derrick May to Kevin Saunderson to Paxahau, with each transition fraught with drama.
What DEMF needs is to get to the point where there's an office open year round, with a Festival Director who cleans up nice, who can make the rounds of the potential corporate sponsors and sell it. It needs an artistic director -- or a series of 'curators' like All Tomorrow's Party, who contacts artists about performing, starting on June 1st. People show up every year. Performers show up every year. Last year broke the cherry so that there's an admission fee to cover part of the expenses. Now all that's needed is enough continuity of management to ensure that every year isn't a cliffhanger. Oh, and what would _really_ help? A City of Detroit that wasn't a complete clusterf*ck. In any other city in the United States -- most of whom would love to have a festival like DEMF, the city itself would be helping financially. I love Detroit -- I love visiting Detroit, but compared to most American cities Detroit is a failed regime. It's Mogadishu with Michigan Left Turns. On 4/28/06, David Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
How long will it take movement/demf (memorial day weekend electronic festival) to have the integrity of the labor day jazz festival? Will techno have to gain the respect that jazz has--like if it gets its own section in public libraries as jazz does before techno is considered something for intellectuals? 20 years or so?? Does having a rave in heart-plaza make people who are not into underground electronic music hate us fans even more?
