Detroit can often feel weary these days. Things aren’t good, folks. The economy has tanked, and if the country sneezes, Michigan gets the flu, and Detroit gets some kind of rare disease that the doctors of economies will only understand decades from now.
Personally, I’ve been feeling pretty down about where things are and where things are heading, but today I feel a curious sort of pride about my hometown and its rich culture (currently one of the only ways Detroit can be thought of as “rich”).
This feeling came from spending an evening at Brad Hales’ People’s Records mp3 blog. Hales is owner and proprietor of People’s Records in Detroit, located on Woodward at Peterboro. The blog hasn’t been updated in some time, but the archive of fantastic soul, funk, and jazz tracks, recorded directly from the vinyl, is well worth hours and hours of anyone’s time, particularly if you rely upon a daily dose of music to make life worthwhile (If it’s in you, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.).
In his blog bio, Hales describes Detroit as “one of the most musically magical cities imaginable” and I believe him. Such unironic sincerity is welcome to my blood-pushing, beating heart, especially in a city where often our only defense against our real hardships is an uncanny knack for sarcastic naysaying.
My favorite song so far is Bobby Patterson and The Mustang’s “Broadway Ain’t Funky No More,” which I’ve listened to six times in row as of the writing of this post.
Spend an evening with Brad at People’s Records blog and an afternoon at the actual, physical store in Detroit, and perhaps you’ll feel a bit more reinvigorated about the spirit of Detroit as well.
Related Links:
–An excellent MetroTimes article “Groove is in the Heart: Peoples Records, a time capsule of D-Town musical history, is back” by Laurie Smolenski
–Martin Freeman (”Tim! Tim-Bo! The Archbishop of Canterbury!) of the British The Office fame visits Detroit, and Peoples Records. The best part of the video is the moments when Freeman and Herman Weems just stand and listen to the music, around 3:27. The smile that rises on Freeman’s face–the unconscious manifestation of joy in a human being arising from the experience of music–is a moment that we seldom pay attention to. Watching a smile lift itself in such a way is a wonderful thing to experience. Thanks, Music! I think you’re great!
2 Comments
I like how fat Martin Freeman was in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Is that Bobby Patterson track supposed to be a rebuke to Wilson Pickett’s “Funky Broadway”? Hate to rain on your parade, Scotter, but Mr. Patterson and his Mustangs ain’t got nuthin’ on Mr. Mustang Sally.