Jimmy the Exploder
This week, I found myself at two art museums. I didn't mean to.
On Thursday night, I went downtown for a couple of drinks after work. Then I remembered that my friend Andy said he was working the door for an art opening. I had read a little about the place, but wasn't quite aware of the situation. For some reason, I was thinking it was a total DIY gallery in the vein of the Detroit Art Space or the Detroit Contemporary (not CAID, that's been around for decades in various spaces). So I text Andy and verify that he's working and then start walking down the street.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) is serious. Big time. Earlier last week, I drove by and noticed someone on a ladder painting the front of the building with a giant graffiti tag that went from corner to corner and sidewalk to roof. It actually looks pretty cool. But then when I was walking up to it on Thursday (I was drunk, by the way), I saw something odd. I thought I saw a kid hanging off the roof by one hand, with a can of spray paint in hand, bombing the facade. Walking past, I had to go back, and then I stopped and stared for a minute. It was a robot! A freaking robot! But I like the idea.
So then I turned the corner because it quickly became obvious the entrance was on the north side of the building. What I saw surprised me. Suddenly it became clear that this was no little DIY art gallery opening. There were maybe twenty valets lined up at the street, driving off in Saabs and Volvos and high-end VWs. I saw the blazered security dudes, and walked up. As soon as I got in the lobby, someone asked me if I had tickets at will-call, or had to buy. I saw Andy sitting at a table with ten other people and went there. He had acquired a wristband through a friend who didn't have their plus-one, so he kept it and gave it to me. The next day I found out that I was there at a time when it would've cost $125 to buy a ticket at the door. Crazy.
Andy pointed me in the direction of the room with the bar. There were people EVERYWHERE - it was insanely crowded. And right away I knew for sure that this was a big deal. It was all middle-aged white people wearing black, i.e. art patrons. They were doing a ticket system for drinks, but the prices weren't too bad. Unfortunately, the only whiskey they had was Dewar's, and I had been drinking a lot of Seagram's 7 earlier in the night. The Scotch was close enough, I guess. That room was kind of dark, and the most crowded. One wall had the bar, the opposite wall had the food (which I never had the ambition to wade through the crowd to get to), another wall had a table with some t-shirts for sale that were designed for the event, and the fourth wall had a white banner stretching from side-to-side and roof to ceiling that was backlit with the museum's logo. That's also where the Paxahau DJs were at. I tried walking into the other big room, but they wouldn't let me with my drink, and I just got it and didn't want to let it go. But looking in, I could see several installations that looked interesting. After less than a half hour I left because I was drunk and stupid and starting to feel edgy around all these people who couldn't possibly move any slower.
The next night (Friday) was the premiere of James Petix's film "It Came From Detroit" at the DFT Film Theatre (in the DIA). This thing has been in the making for years. It was supposed to be all about Detroit's garage rock music scene, but I think in the making of it, the focus shifted to what happened to the scene.
There's just one problem: it's too soon. I'm not saying he should wait awhile and come back to it or anything, it stands on it's own. But there are so many interesting directions that the scene has taken lately and those are all worth pursuing and exposing in the context of the recent past. For example: Patrick and Jack of the Greenhornes playing on Loretta Lynn's last album, the Raconteurs, Brendan Benson's solo career, Lee Marvin Computer Arm, the Frustrations, the Genders, Human Eye, Saturday Looks Good To Me, and the Terrible Twos.
It was great to see all those bands up there on the big screen and the interviews were great. I wish there would've been more from the people who made the scene, not just the bands.
Some interesting tidbits: Dick Valentine (singer from Wild Bunch/Electric 6) was always shown with Chris Tait dressed as the 'budget devil' which was to support his statement that he sold his soul. Amy Abbot (bartender from the Gold Dollar) was in a bear costume every time she was interviewed. And every profiled band had some live footage or at least a music bed of their own work except the White Stripes. There was no music and no video, only still photos and some voice-over narration. Also, the Jack White/Jason Stollsteimer tiff was noted lopsidedly with a few band members giving their reaction, White explaining things at a press conference, and Stollsteimer defending himself to the interviewer. There was nothing direct from White. It didn't feel fair. There was footage of the Electric 6 playing live in London with Esquire doing the Jack White parts on stage. Absolutely no mention of The Dirtys, and only a brief mention of the Greenhornes. No early footage of the Soledad Brothers when they were especially physical in front of a crowd. No mention of the many bands who never called Detroit home and weren't from here but still loved playing here and recording here and partying here, i.e. the New Bomb Turks, the Compulsive Gamblers/Oblivians, the Lost Sounds, the Mooney Suzuki, and the Bellrays.
As a fan who was at hundreds of these bands' shows, and helped "keep us drunk" as Mary Ramirez (Detroit Cobras/Buzzards) referred to employees of the Garden Bowl in the late '90s, I feel that people like me were sorely under-represented. From being at all those shows, I know there were quite a few others like me who weren't in any bands, and weren't close friends with any of them, but we supported them completely, and without us, there wouldn't have been people at the shows who the bands didn't know. There wouldn't have been fans early on.
Plus there are a few people who weren't in bands, but were close to them and could've been interviewed.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the film, but being not only a film student, and also someone who was there, I feel there are some things that are missing. But if you weren't there, and you love the music, it's an excellent portrait of a time and a place that greatly influenced many a young adult life, including my own.
P.S.: the Dirtbombs played before the film in the Rivera Court at the DIA, and even though the sound was very echo-ey, it was still pretty fucking cool to see them playing in that space.
P.S.S.: I feel I should also note that James himself noted that this is not the final cut of the film and that he will be revising it before submitting it to Sundance and all the other film festivals next year.
LINKS: MOCAD, It Came From Detroit, DIA
