Shortround going away party

Last night I went to a going away party at Sakana Sushi Bar in Ferndale, a suburb just a bit north of Detroit. The party was for Vince Patricola, aka DJ Shortround, a Detroit DJ who is the editor of Detroit Electronic Quarterly and used to work at the Ferndale Record Time, an important record store that closed down in March of this year. I just met Vince about a month ago at Sakana when he was spinning with DJ WhoDat and DJ Raybone. I never got a chance to interview him, and he is moving Saturday, so I don't think that I will get to, but he definitely seems like someone with a lot of knowledge about Detroit music, and a lot of love for the music and for the city. A lot of people came out to the party, Vince is definitely a person who is loved and will be missed.

I'm pretty sure that I met him once over a year ago on a December visit to Detroit. My husband and I went to the Ferndale Record Time to listen to records and maybe even buy some records, even though we didn't have a turntable! Anyway, I picked out some records to listen to and got set up at a turntable to listen. And Vince, I'm pretty sure it was him, came up to me and took a look at the records I picked out (they were all Detroit techno and house records). He asked me what I was into and then picked out some more records for me to listen to. I just remember being surprised by his friendliness and his willingness to share knowledge.

At the party last night, I met Carla , an American studies scholar. She wrote her dissertation on Detroit electronic music and did ethnographic research also in Detroit. She and I have been in email contact for a while, but never actually met. I was sitting talking to DJ WhoDat (Terri) and Carla came over to say hello to Terri. She introduced me to Carla and we soon realized who the other was. She was so friendly and open to talking about her and my research, and not at all bothered by the fact that our research focuses on generally the same subject area. That's so refreshing. Yeah, sure we both study Detroit techno and house, but we come from different disciplines and have completely different perspectives and approaches to the research. There is certainly no competition and nothing to worry about between us. It's great to be able to have support and respect among scholars. It's also great to be able to talk with someone so knowledgeable and local.

Also saw Rick Wilhite, DJ Raybone, and Mike Clark at the party. I saw a lot of people thatI recognized from other parties, but I don't know who they all are yet. Hopefully I will get more opportunities to talk with fans, not just DJs. I want to learn from DJs about the music, but I also want to get a good understanding of the community as a whole.

Oh yeah, I have an interview with Theo Parrish tomorrow!! Freakin' exciting - I'm loving my interviews so far!