Woodbridge Gallery, Saturday, March 8, 2008

The day after going out is a rough one for me. My three boys are always up early and ready to go. I made the mistake of taking them all out to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art) today and was barely able to think clearly. I should probably just stay home with them the day after I spend all night dancing.

So, last night's party was excellent. It was a Still Music show (record company).

http://www.myspace.com/thestillmusicrecordcompany

http://www.itstillmusic.com/

From their myspace page, there is a flyer for a show at a club called S.O.B.'s in NYC. I was so surprised to see that - I used to go to that club when I lived in New York about 8 or 9 years ago. Anyway - DJs last night were Cordell Johnson (Chicago), Jerome Derradji (Chicago), Rick Wilhite (Detroit), and Karizma (Baltimore). I got there pretty early, usually electronic dance music clubs don't fill up until about 1am or 2am if it's a late night show. Some clubs close at 2am here, but some parties go until at least 4am. So getting there early, I guess that's all part of me being an "outsider" and a field researcher. I end up doing things that make me conspicuous -like getting to events early, early, early. But, I'm going to keep heading out early because it gives me a chance to experience all the different stages of a night in a club. Plus, there's often good music being played early in the night and I would definitely miss out on this part of the night if I tried to be cool and not arrive until 1am.

Cordell Johnson was pretty nice - I think I heard a Kenny Dixon track in there. I didn't get to hear too much of his set though. Jerome Derradji was pretty good too. He was definitely having fun. Played lots of vocal tracks, r&b and disco. Rick Wilhite was, of course, fantastic. Played some perfect Stevie Wonder tracks and a Marcellus Pittman track, always love his sets! Karizma was pretty interesting - only used CDs. By this point in the night, I was pretty wiped out so my attention to detail like tracks and performance description was pretty minimal. Also, I really didn't recognize a lot of what Karizma played. It's going to take me a while to be able to recognize what people play in clubs on a more regular basis.

I tried to start meeting people that I have been seeing around town at other parties, but with minimal success. People look at me like I'm goofy when I introduce myself - but so far, when I actually get the chance to describe what I am doing in Detroit and describe my research, the person I am talking too gets interested and agrees to do an interview with me. Just one more aspect of being a field researcher - being conspicuous and different from the norm. I wonder how many different ways someone can feel like an outsider and isolated as a result of difference.

Later,
Denise