Delivering Maybes

Detroit is a city divided. In many ways, but this weekend, the division will be based in music. Bleeps and bloops versus pick slides and power chords. Being a fan of many kinds of music, it's all good to me. This weekend will be the Movement Festival in downtown Detroit. The original festival a few years ago was called the Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF), but they had to change the name for legal reasons. The festival has always been on Memorial Day weekend and is located in Hart Plaza downtown. I went the first year, and the year after that, but I soon lost interest. It's always been plagued by bad organization and scheduling issues. The list of acts this year is impressive enough, but it's not enough to get me out there for anything other than people watching. The show is free and it's in a large civic park on the water on a holiday weekend. Why not go and hang out for a little while, ya know? Don't get me wrong, the show is worthwhile, if electronic music is your bag. But, it seems that these days, it's the afterparties that have become more interesting than the festival itself (which is usually the case with any kind of electro-music event like this over time). I know that Plastikman is having a party, of course the location and exact date haven't been released yet, but in the past, his afterparties for the DEMF have been multi-day events running continuously. Paxahau Promotions will be putting on a party on the 29th at St. Andrew's Hall, and that one features several groundbreaking performances including live sets mixed with DJ sets and internet based collaborations. See, this is what makes the weekend so interesting. The actual event itself is less interesting than the peripheral parties spawned from it. I know there will also be events at Foran's (downtown on Woodward) all weekend, info for that can be found at artist Greg Mudge's site. There are all kinds of events going on all over town this weekend in relation to the festival. All you have to do is look. Or, go down to Hart Plaza, there will be hundreds (literally) of people handing out flyers for afterparties. Also, Submerge Records will be hosting an art show in conjunction with the festival. Info on that can be found on the Submerge site. Let me know if any of you have any questions. I might be able to answer them!

I ran out of glow sticks - dammit!