F*** ART, LET'S DANCE. I didn't get to the end of that piece I almost fell
asleep trying to get to grips with its faux-intellectual weightiness.
Don't be so pretentious ferchrisakes it's dance music!
-----Original Message-----
From: Mxyzptlk [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2002 3:53 PM
To: Toby Frith; Cyclone Wehner; 313 Detroit
Subject: Re: (313) 100 BEST DJ IN THE WORLD (Mills)
While I respect your opinion and understand that your comments are made in
the context of this discussion (and also that dance music is ostensibly
made for dancing), I have to say that I find the notion that someone gets
to say how *I* need to react to something else in the sense that I can be
marginalized when I don't is reductionistic and at least as problematic as
a person who doesn't respond in the way dictated by whomever. I don't dance
and I doubt I ever will; perhaps it's childhood trauma or an ill formed
sense of self - whatever. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the music nor
does it mean I have to be saddled with restructuring a performative context
or bumming out a DJ. It would seem like the fact that I haven't left the
venue should say something.
In an age where all kinds of criticism (literary, etc.) has freed
art from static notions tied with the artist, I find it interesting that
the monolithic notion of "must-dancing" still rules. I do understand the
need for it and I understand how it creates a necessary symbiosis - but why
does *everyone* need to be dancing in order for them to enjoy and
appreciate something?
We aren't all dancers, we aren't all as comfortable with dancing as each
other. As a qualifier, I am not saying that any behavior or reaction to art
is equally appropriate, nor am I saying there is no tie between art and
artist. I just find it a bit tyrannical and quixotic to dictate behavior to
a set. Again, my comments are not directed to this particular post (as I
can see the connection you are making vis a vis the trend), but rather
towards the notion that seems to underlie it : if I don't dance, I am
unappreciative and some kind of pariah. If it's really about the music OR
the mix, then I should be left to appreciate it in a way which is genuine
to myself and doesn't shipwreck someone else's enjoyment. .02.
jeff
At 08:09 AM 11/4/2002, Toby Frith wrote:
>This is somewhat of a double-edged sword I think. In one respect, people go
>to see a DJ like Mills so they can dance. In the other respect, they go to
>watch his craft, which then takes the DJ out of his normal context and into
>that of an artist, because you are viewing him/her rather than interacting.
>(another argument which I'm not going to pontificate on here) So you get
>one half of the audience dancing and the other just watching. This has
been,
>IMHO, the downfall of techno turntablism and the like in recent years. Too
>much watching, not enough dancing.
>
>I went to see Mills in Zurich a year ago and there was far too much of the
>latter going on. You could see him actually looking rather annoyed as one
>absolute classic after another (Final Frontier, Magnese) was being dropped
>only to see a leaden-footed and mute reaction from the crowd. How must a DJ
>feel when they are faced by banks of motionless people looking at them spin
>some records?
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