List

I have been thinking about music that has become meaningful to me since being here in Detroit. I've been here for just over a year now, moved here last February. Here is a list I started about particular songs that have connections to Detroit, and even to electronic music here, that have taught me something about this place.

Captain Rapp "Bad Times (I Can't Stand It)"

I went down to see DJ WhoDat play at Record Time in Roseville one day last spring. The whole family went down so my kids could meet her and see yet another cool ass DJ play. They liked it alot. WhoDat played Captain Rapp, I had never heard it before, because when I grew up in a small town in Indiana, there were no cool radio stations that played music like they did in Detroit! I asked her what it was and she told me about the song being a Detroit jam back when she was young. Apparently it's such a Detroit jam that Felton Howard won't even play it any more! Oooh! I loved the song and downloaded it shortly after...no I did not seek it out on vinyl, I didn't even have a turntable then. Quickly made a CD with that song on it so I could play it in the car and now it reminds me of driving around Detroit in the spring with the windows open.

O'Jays "Use Ta Be My Girl"

I hear this song on the radio alot here. There's not too much exciting going on on the radio in Detroit in 2008-2009, but when we moved here last February, I found a station that has "Flashback" programming on the weekends. In any other place, flashback could mean a whole lot of things, but in Detroit, it means old funk, disco, and r & b. This was just one of the sonic ways that I got to learn about living in Detroit when I first started this research. Incidentally, this same station plays Christmas music (not Holiday music) 24/7 from November 1st until just after Christmas...yeah, we got tired of that in my household after about a week!

Isley Brothers "For the Love of You"

Again, a song that I did not grow up knowing, but love as an adult. I first heard it in a class on Motown that I was the course assistant for as a grad student at Indiana University. I have loved it since hearing it then. Last year at the Movement festival, 2008, I heard Kenny Dixon, Jr. playing it as I was waiting in line to pay to get into Soul Skate. I just had to do a little dance in line because I couldn't skate to it!

Earth, Wind, & Fire "September"

Another Detroit "Flashback" radio song that I sing in the kitchen while doing dishes.

James Brown "Body Heat"

Rick Wilhite played this, and sang and danced to it, at the 2008 Mojo Tribute Party last February at Bert's Motown Room in the Eastern Market district. Awesome party! Got there early when barely anyone was there yet and heard some excellent music - another DJ, S.G. Detroit, played Christopher Cross "Ride Like the Wind" super loud, and it was one of the hottest songs of the night. I wrote about that party here.

UR "X-102 Discovers the Rings of Saturn"

Talk about education, the amount of knowledge that I have gained by studying Detroit electronic music intensely has been really incredible. Sadly, I admit that I did not know about the Rings of Saturn until I did an interview with Brian Gillespie last summer. I've never been one to remember record titles, release or catalog information, or even song or track titles. I'm not a DJ and have never really collected records, so my relationship to techno and house music was through going out and dancing. Learning more about important releases and getting into musicians catalogs has been invaluable to my understanding of what this music means to Detroit, in Detroit, and around the world. Gotta love Underground Resistance!

Roland Appel "Changes"

I heard this played out a few times in Detroit last summer, but didn't know what it was. Then, when I started my DJ lessons with WhoDat, she got it out for me to practice blending with some other records and I just had to listen to it all the way through, a few times I think. I failed on that lesson because I didn't want to mix anything with it, just wanted to listen to the hot, dirty goodness of it!

Drexciya

Once again, another group that I didn't know much about. I had heard a bit about the mystery surrounding them, but couldn't connect the name to music yet. Talking with Mike Banks about them and reading up on them some more sparked my interest to investigate and their music is wonderful. It's just really innovative and exciting to listen to and the fact that the impetus and inspiration behind some of their music comes from strong feelings of hatred toward white people makes it even more interesting! Especially because alot of what I have learned about them here comes from Mike Banks, who is one of the most generous, open, supportive, and innovative people in Detroit - and clearly not motivated by racism or anti-white/anti-outsider sentiments in his musical endeavors!

So that's my list, maybe I'll add more later.

That last post had 5 exclamation points in it...5

IASPM Conference 2009!

I just got an acceptance email to present at the IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music) conference in May! Along with four other fellow Indiana University ethnomusicology folks, I submitted a proposal for a roundtable discussion about genre in popular music. And I am the moderator...my nerves are being racked here! So...genre and electronic music in Detroit...should be pretty cool! For our roundtable, we'll have as topics of discussion, music store guitar lessons, music and HIV/AIDS in Trinidad, recording studio dynamics, and indie rock music, and, well yes, you know, Detroit electronic music!

Detroit as a landscape for musical innovation

I've been thinking lately about the landscape of the city of Detroit being the backdrop for intense musical innovation and creativity. I’m thinking of a blog post of mine from last spring. Many people involved in electronic music from outside of Detroit describe the landscape of Detroit being one of desolation, abandonment, emptiness and emphasizing the profound suffering and ugliness that they see as evident within the city's borders. For many, this image is a backdrop for the innovation of Detroit electronic music. Now this is sometimes an idea that Detroit musicians espouse, but not to such a severe degree. There admittedly are many problems with life in Detroit; there is a great deal of poverty, the state of the public school system is dismal, and there are pockets of the landscape that are abandoned, destroyed, or simply not being used for their original intended civic purposes. However, like I wrote in that blog post last spring, this city is thriving. Amidst all the poverty and crime and abandonment, there is a profound degree of community development and civic mindedness that many non-Detroiters assume does not exist. Detroit is the second most populous city in the Midwest after Chicago. Detroit proper with a population just under 1 million is larger than Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and other Midwestern cities that don’t get nearly as bad a rap as Detroit does. Here is some of the data:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States

There is this fantasy about Detroit techno music – people imagine it as being a product of a desolate city that is really only imaginable in science fiction. The levels of danger, desolation, desperation, crime, and abandonment that were and are imagined by techno fans who are not from Detroit are so extreme that they really cannot possibly exist in an actual city. Yes, the desolation and crime that have plagued the city and Detroit’s history are real. Many people I have interviewed have described the city as hard, but they also realize and vocalize the many positive things about life in this city. With a population of 1 million, plenty of landscape exists that is beautiful and not abandoned, remaining middle and upper class neighborhoods, mainly in the North West region of Detroit that are maintained and populated, full and vibrant working class neighborhoods as well…all these things provide ample evidence that this city is thriving and quite busy and active in countless positive ways.

So there is a great deal of struggle that inspired Detroit citizens to create amazing and innovative techno music. However, there are many other positive influences that for the most part, hold a more powerful and lasting presence for the musicians and fans here in the city.

Blogging and Writing

I just posted a discussion message to a Facebook group called “Ethnomusicology of Ourselves” which is about doing ethnographic research on topics and in places that are close to home, or that are home. Here is a portion of my post:

This is a nice discussion. As I'm finishing up my fieldwork in the next two months, I have been thinking about how I have had to completely reconfigure my notions of what fieldwork is supposed to look like. I have had to get beyond the image of a single fieldworker going somewhere else and doing fieldwork all the time for a year. For the first little while, I was plagued by insecurities about whether or not I was actually "doing" this right! I'm here with a family of five and homeschooling my boys. I did not receive a grant (still trying :)) so I ended up working full time about 6 months into my time here while James stays at home full time with our boys. I finally realized that I know what I am doing, I know what I want to get out of this research, and I sort of know how to get it, so I just had to embrace my reality and reinvent my own process to suit my situation. It has worked out wonderfully. There are so many diverse models for ethnographic research, it is really interesting to me to hear/read about other scholars field experiences.

So posting the link to my blog to fellow ethnomusicologists got me thinking about the audience for my blog, again. I don’t know of any ethnomusicologists or scholars who regularly read my blog. As far as I know, most of my readers are DJs, music critics, and fans/listeners. The current post on my blog when I posted this message to the Facebook group was “Welcome to the jungle…” and its partly about people wondering why I am here, and wondering if I’m trying to transcend my racial and ethnic identity and become Black. There’s a bit of sarcasm in the post and if I was successful (I still can’t tell), then it’s a bit humorous as well. I was not thinking of any kind of academic audience when I wrote this post, and I haven’t had that audience in my mind for my blog for a long time. There is a small readership for the blog, but one that I really appreciate. DJ WhoDat reads it, and we talk about it regularly. And since that last post about race and my own identity, she often teases me about how I really do want to be Black. I even brought over the wrong kind of beer one night – beer that was on sale because Black people don’t buy it…(that’s just a paraphrase of WhoDat’s words!) From my sitemeter I can tell that some other people in the Detroit Metro area read it, my brother sometimes reads it in Chicago, there are a few music bloggers/writers outside of Detroit who read it; I get some international readers, but I don’t think I’ve got many, or any, academic/ethno folks reading it. So my posts tend to be geared towards descriptions of what I am doing and learning here, I strive for a bit of humor and lightheartedness. There are some analytical, sort of academic posts here, but most of the time, my writing is more informal because that’s what I think suits this type of blog. It’s also one place in which I can flush out ideas and explore things in writing that are not yet solidified ideas in my head. So after I posted the link to the Facebook discussion, I started to feel a bit apprehensive and insecure about fellow scholars reading my blog. That’s okay though, I think I’ll keep going with what I’m doing, exploring my ideas in an open, honest way. I’m trying to make sure that I maintain a certain openness and flexibility, because otherwise I’ll get bogged down with strict ideas of what I’m supposed to be doing and will feel stuck because I just don’t fit into the standard story of what fieldwork is supposed to be, for a variety of reasons. That’s what I sometimes feel like I’m doing here – making up my own rules, because there is not a step-by-step manual for field research. There are some published works that present ethnographic models, and some scholars include detailed descriptions of their own experiences doing field research, including mistakes they made, their research models, approaches to interviewing, etc. Daniel Reed, an ethnomusicologist who researched Dan Ge performance in Cote d’Ivoire included excellent descriptions of his field experiences in his book, Dan Ge Performance: Masks and Music in Contemporary Côte d'Ivoire. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. Awesome, awesome, awesome book!

I feel like I’m making up rules as I go along, but actually, not really rules, because that connotes rigidity, and I’m not really following a rigid format full of rules (does anyone?). But I feel like I have been creating and developing my own approach to this experience and this research because having a family, not securing any funding, and working full time have a huge impact on the typical ethnographic research model. I am so thankful to have accomplished so much with the Roots of Techno conference in Oct. 2006 so that I could really just delve in to Detroit already knowing people, already having some research completed, and having a strong foundation from which to begin when I came here in Feb. 2008.

Following that discussion on Facebook, there was another discussion topic on that same group, “Ethnomusicology of Ourselves,” that specifically addressed blogging as a tool for communication in ethnographic research. Here is my post to that discussion:

I was just writing fieldnotes about this issue last week! I think the act of blogging, for my research at least, has been a wonderful way to involve some of the people who are participants in my research in the actual process of writing and analyzing experiences and ideas. For me the feedback loop is very positive. (The feedback loop was an issue brought up in a previous post in which the writer was referring to the cyclical process of learning information from people who participate in our research, writing it and publishing it in a public online forum, and the impact that the public representation of field experiences will have on the cultures/communities/people we are working with as well as its impact on our research.) It also feels honest to me to be able to responsibly present my own ideas to my research participants. I think the concept of "feedback" in general, as do many ethnomusicologists, is important to contemporary ethnographic research, in the form of feedback interviews, co-authoring of academic writing, etc.

In response to the concern with our impact as ethnographers, varying degrees of impact is unavoidable. If we operate from the perspective and understanding that culture is contingent and is constantly being negotiated and renegotiated, then our role as ethnographers can be understood within this complex of cultural change. I do not intend to diminish or ignore the actual impact that I am having as I conduct this research, however, whatever participatory activities that I engage in have tremendous impact, from interviewing, photographing, videotaping, sharing my recordings with participants who are present in those recordings, participating at performance events, learning to play, contributing my own assistance to events through volunteer work, etc. I see the act of presenting a portion of my research, primarily through descriptions of my fieldwork experiences, as yet another way that I am having an impact and engaging in a feedback loop.

I think that is a really important to be aware of these issues. Our impact as fieldworkers is quite large, and no matter what we do, we will have an impact. Our mere presence adds power and value to whatever it is we are researching – many people are still surprised to learn that I moved with my whole family to Detroit, not for a job or any financial gains, but to learn about something. That, I believe, has had a tremendous impact. My microphone and recorder have an impact, my video camera has an impact – one of the DJs I videotaped seemed super self-conscious and kept making excuses for why the set wasn’t going well for him and why the crowd wasn’t what he thought it should be. He did give me permission to video tape him, but I felt bad that the camera’s presence had a negative impact in that situation. It’s difficult to video tape DJs performing because their spaces are so tight and it is usually impossible to get any footage from afar that would be useful because I usually cannot see their hands and their equipment from the dance floor. So if you’re still reading this long post, then thanks! Next post I’ll let you in on some of the interviews I’ve been doing and some of the places I’ve been going to…

Welcome to the jungle!

Ha! That's on tv right now - I have been trying to get to posting on my blog for a while now tonight. But I first got distracted by a show on VH1 about the 100 greatest rock songs. Then I made a list of people that I still have left to interview here in Detroit - some of whom have agreed to talk with me but have yet to find a time to meet, and a few of whom I still need to contact. Then I made a list of a few last minute things I need to do before completing this research in February!! Fingers crossed that I can make that deadline. Then I got busy on Facebook...

Anyway, I had quite an eventful holiday season. My husband and brother put together turntables and a mixer for me!!! I am so excited to have my own setup at home. The tables and mixer used to belong to my brother, Gregory Dalphond, who is a DJ in Chicago. One of them is wooden and belt driven and was his first turntable back in 1996!! I'm very excited to have a belt driven turntable - now I can be really authentic! No, kidding, kidding - but it is cool to experience learning on something like an old turntable like a lot of DJs that I interview first learned on. The other table is a Technics and a Technics mixer. They gave me nice needles too. I'm very excited - and to spin on my very own tables...Moodymann "Det.riot". His latest release - it's fraking fabulous.

I've been thinking recently about some things that have come up in interviews or in casual conversations with friends here about my being here doing this research. I have heard confusion about why I am here, why I would move here to study this. Others have even commented, not to my face, about my racial and ethinc integrity - "Does she think she's Black?" or "Is she trying to be Black?" First of all, I have to laugh when I hear those things - have you seen me, have you heard me talk?? I'm a white nerd from Indiana who likes electronic music and appreciates the African American culture from which this music is created in Detroit. It's important enough to me that I chose to move my family to Detroit so that I could complete this research and write my dissertation on Detroit electronic music. This is what ethnomusciologists do - once you complete all your coursework, complete your master's degree, pass your Ph.D. qualifying exams, and get your dissertation proposal approved, then you begin some version of an intesive research project that lasts for an extensive amount of time. My version of this type of research was to relocate to Detroit and spend a year learning about electronic music in Detroit by interviewing people involved in this music and culture here, by attending lots of shows and parties, and by closely studying the performance and production of this music. So I'm not just some crazy white chic who uprooted her family to move to Detroit because I love Black people so much and want to be Black. I have a strong interest in African American history and culture and love Detroit electronic music - so coming here and doing this makes perfect sense to me. It's important enough to make an academic career out of it.

So, I'm tired now, I'm still white, and I am looking foward to extracting video from Terrence Parker's set on New Year's Eve two nights ago!! Yes, I got to video tape his entire set! It was very cool. So Happy New Year and Good Night.