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The Motor City has been declared dead more times than Rasputin. But over the last few years, while The News Media (and Dutch tourists) were hemming and hawing over a few neglected streets that had started to look more like meadows, a bunch of creative badasses were quietly buying abandoned 9-story buildings, filling them with everyone they knew, and making Detroit actually pretty fucking incredible. Our old buddy Johnny Knoxville paid a visit to the D to explore for himself.
watch this watch this watch this.
Trust me. Worth every second.
“Are we ready to testify? It only takes 5 seconds, people, 5 seconds to decide: Are you going to be part of the problem or part of the solution?” - Brother A.C.Crawford introducing The MC5 1968 Detroit
Take 30 minutes even. Watch this. Detroit’s hurt is felt across the nation. Baltimore. Buffalo. New Orleans. Asbury Park… really it goes on. The suburbs are soulless, but they took a lot of life from these places. What are you going to do? Shop yourself to happiness? More and more the big cities are turning into giant malls. Just try moving to NYC with $1,000 and a dream these days, and see how far you get. If you don’t like whats happening around you, if you think nothing is happening around you…now you have a responsibility. Make it happen. You don’t have to throw out the baby with the bath water. Find the beauty in what came before you, and add your voice to what comes after. There is a world around you that is available still. There are still diamonds in other generations waste. And there are always great people that fall through the cracks. Those discoveries could be yours…
(Source: satans-advocate, via milessmiles-deactivated20111225)
Posted on January 12, 2011 via satans-advocate with 101 notes
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Plays: 4[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Sonic Rendezvous Band - “City Slang” : Life is unfair. Rock and Roll is a great example of that maxim. Elvis is the King… while Gene Vincent dies in alcoholic obscurity and Johnny Burnette is barely remembered. However in Fred “Sonic” Smith’s case, he just didn’t give a damn. Only a few years after leaving The MC5, he assembled a crack Detroit band comprised of ex-MC5, Stooges, and Rationals members. They put together a killer set of songs, yet beyond recording a single and some demos, he could not be bothered with the major labels. He just did it because he loved it…so the hell with it. In addition to being the best unheard band of the American punk scene, they also backed Iggy for a short tour of Europe. Perhaps the best band he had after The Stooges.Then on the brink of stardom herself, Patti Smith married Fred. Together they split for a family, hiding out in plain sight in the suburbs of Detroit. This is a taste of greatness denying acceptance.
“The fuck what you think…I do this for myself”
Posted on June 19, 2010
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The MC5 - “Kick Out The Jams” : The MC5’s most famous call to arms is actually one of their least political. It was really inspired by the drubbing/beatdown they handed out to bands like the Who and Cream when opening for them in Detroit’s Grande Ballroom. Still Kick’s Ass.
Posted on May 1, 2010 with 18 notes
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Posted on March 21, 2010 with 1 note
Whatever floats my boat...
Come on in and make yourself comfortable. The paths I follow sometimes tend to be non-linear and diverge into other altogether different places. I'm still not sure if this is a pop culture blog with art, or a historical one with nature or really what it is. In my mind it somehow works. I will tell you however that I do hate the dull, predictable, and the common...and if we share that as a common ground, then we'll have some fun.
That being said, many of these posts are photos that I have acquired over the years. When possible I will post credits or re-blog them if from another point of origin. If there is something of yours that needs to be credited or removed, I will be happy to do so if it is your creation or copyright. Otherwise, please just let me spread the love.
I am also a guest blogger on the super "Fuck Yeah Lou Reed" page here on tumblr. There I'll be putting up the odd live/rare/unheard Lou tracks, as well as whatever cool photos-videos-and of course anecdotes that I may have. So do come on by.
