My friend Steve, the publisher of the Hamtramck-based zine, Stupor, read from his new book, at the Shadow Art Fair on Saturday. Here’s a little taste… Those who are interested can buy copies of the book, which was made possible by the generous support of the Kresge Foundation, here.
And, for those of you who find yourselves needing more Steve Hughes, he also makes an appearance in this video I shot of the band Dabenport, who likewise performed at the Shadow Art Fair. (As you’ll see, I was half way through video taping one of their songs, when Steve came up behind me and poked me in the ribs.)
…I believe there is now an economically unpatriotic wing of the GOP. They express partisan joy with every new job loss. They oppose new jobs programs with an obstructionism reminiscent of segregationist senators during the dark days of the antebellum South. Their politics is a cult of unpatriotism in which some Americans die for their country while the wealthiest Americans are not asked to pay taxes equal to those of their receptionist, and the wealthiest companies are not asked to pay any taxes at all.
We miss one of the most revered presidents in American history, who lifted our sights and our standards: John F. Kennedy. We miss that passionate protagonist who united the races behind shared economic interests: Robert Kennedy. We miss the Lion of the Senate who would be roaring today for more programs to create jobs, as he roared in 2008 to elect President Obama: Edward Kennedy.
If God would grant me one political wish, it would be that Barack Obama would fully understand the greatness of Robert Kennedy.
RFK did not criticize the base of the great political party he wanted to lead the nation. RFK did not believe in the false notion that the way to appeal to political independents is to demean, distance himself or triangulate against the heart and soul of this party. This is an insult to the Democratic heritage, an insult to political independents, and the way to lose elections as Democrats lost in 2010.
JFK fought for a rising tide that would lift all boats. RFK carried that torch with honor. He spoke passionately for the poor and profoundly about the dignity of work. The result (are you listening, Mr. President?) is that many white working-class voters who ultimately voted for the racist George Wallace in 1968 stood with RFK as their first choice because they knew he was fighting for them.
What voters want today (are you listening, Mr. President?) are leaders who fight for them as Robert Kennedy fought for them against greedy powers that cheat them, and impersonal forces that crush them, and depress them, and keep them down, and tell them they must quietly acquiesce to their fate of long-term suffering and pain…
My discussion with Pete, if you didn’t catch it in Saturday’s Shadow Art Fair post, can be seen here.
As for the ghost of RFK, I’m hoping that he comes soon, before Obama gives everything away to the monied elite in our country. As much as I dislike the thought that Obama may slash the Head Start budget, maybe it would be a good thing, if it brought back an angry RFK. (Kennedy started Head Start as Attorney General.)
update: Today I learned that, the day after I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, Robert Kennedy arrived there, to begin his poverty tour of Appalachia.
Among the musical acts to perform at yesterday’s Shadow Art Fair was band called Druid Perfume. I know Brewery management wasn’t too happy about the volume, but I found them to be a nice change of pace from the other, decidedly quieter, bands on the bill. (All the bands that I saw were great, by the way, and I think Ian Fulcher is to be commended for putting together another inspired, eclectic lineup that ran the gamut from country to punk and back again.) At any rate, I thought that I’d pass along the following video that I shot of Druid Perfume performing last night before an enthusiastic crowd.
And, with that by way of background, I’d now like to share an interview that I conducted with my friend Andy Claydon shortly after we both watched Druid Perfume perform, on the subject of “what’s wrong with kids today.” I’d encourage you to check it out, as I think a lot of really interesting points are made on the apparent complacency of the younger generation. Hopefully it generates a healthy debate in the comments section.
And, here, for those of you who are unable to make sense of moving images, is an abbreviated transcript:
MARK: We just watched a band called Druid Perfume, and it struck me that I haven’t seen that kind of energy in a long time. And, as you’d mentioned to me, they’re older guys, who had been around for a while… I guess my question is this. Why don’t kids invest the same amount of energy that we used to invest (when we were in bands)?
ANDY: I don’t know the answer to that. That is so awkward. I don’t want to feel old and say, “kids today just don’t have what we had”…
MARK: But it’s true, though, right?
ANDY: It was the 90’s. We had nothing to care about. It was good times. There were jobs. And yet the energy was just over the top.
MARK: But, now, they should be angry. There’s really something to be angry about.
ANDY: They don’t. They don’t. Now they should be angry and they just don’t care. They just noodle and stand there. I detest the bands of today. They have now raw power. And, unfortunately, it’s why I’ve turned to metal these days… I don’t know why (people in bands) don’t get upset. They’re not going to find jobs… I don’t know what it is. It’s what’s happening. It’s what they’re liking. There will be a re-lash. There will be a bam back.
MARK: I don’t know that it’ll happen.
ANDY: …I’m hoping that it’ll happen again soon. I’m hoping that it’ll kick into gear. Because kids rebel. And somebody’s going to rebel against the crap that’s happening now. But (kids today) are rebelling against what was happening right before. It’s always a rebellion. Billy Childish said it best – “punk rock is a crab – it crawls sideways” – it never grows, or gets bigger. Punk bands never get big. Once they get big, they’re done. It crawls sideways, like a crab…
MARK: We’re in an environment now where things suck. For young kids coming up today, I’d be pissed the fuck off. I’ve got a job – I’m alright. But, where are the angry fucking kids? Are you seeing them anywhere?
ANDY: We are the last generation that can fall into jobs like we’ve fallen into. This is it. Essentially, they’re going to be fighting over service jobs.
MARK: Do they not realize that? Why aren’t we seeing anger on their part?
ANDY: I think they’re cocky. I think they just don’t understand. I don’t think they’ve grasped it… We grew up at a time when you could work at a coffee shop and pay rent. And that was acceptable. That’s gone. You’re not going to be able to work at a coffee shop and pay rent anymore. And you’re not going to be able to fall into work like we’ve fallen into. I don’t know… (Maybe it’s) denial. Who knows?
update: I knew this post would be contentious when I posted it. I thought, however, that it would be a good thing for us to discuss… Before we go any further, though, I’d like to apologize for being somewhat less than artful in how I presented the subject. I kind of conflated a few different things that I was thinking about, and I’m afraid that, as a result, a lot of my meaning was lost.
Let’s start with what I wasn’t saying.
I wasn’t saying that Druid Perfume was political. And I wasn’t saying that music had to be loud to express anger. And, perhaps most importantly, I wasn’t saying that a band had to have a “message” to be worth a damn. Most good songs, after all, are just about the biological urge to unite moist sex organs. And I think that’s fine. What’s important, it seems to me, is that people are engaged in the creative process, and working to express their thoughts in some way.
What I was trying to express in this short video clip wasn’t so much about music as about youth culture in general. I just don’t get that kids aren’t in the streets, yelling their asses off, like they are in Egypt. Druid Perfume just provided the spark to get the conversation going.
Anyway, I just think it’s good to get people talking about his shit.
Oh, and here’s my favorite comment, left by someone on Facebook, where links to this video are being shared.
“What I think is pathetic, is old guys who landed in good jobs thinking youth should lead a rebellion. Thinking that because they (old guys) pierced or ripped something in the 90s they did their part to inspire deep, lasting cultural change.”
This, of course, is completely wrong, but I like being called a pathetic old guy.
For the record, I don’t think that I’ve done anything in my life that inspired cultural change, either lasting or fleeting. I was just wondering about why kids today don’t seem to play with the same intensity. And, what’s so bad about a guy with a job urging kids to rebel? Would you rather have a pathetic old guy urging kids to be complacent?
Anyway, I love you guys, and I welcome your criticism. In fact, I thrive on it… Now if you could just channel some of that passion into your music.
2:51 AM: Was just chased from a drag show by a screaming woman wielding a cupcake. Not sure what else to say. Seems like a pretty appropriate end to the day, though… Oh, we ended up locating Donald’s laptop, which we’d thought had been stolen. Now we just have to find Patrick Elkins… Thanks again to everyone who came out to this year’s Shadow. I hope you has a much fun as I did.
10:15 PM: Getting ready to judge the Cinemasports film competition. Lots of good video coming later… I just haven’t had a chance to upload it.
7:00 PM: The special Shadow Brew, which just went on sale, is incredibly fruity and delicious. Logan did one hell of a job.
6:20 PM: My third interview was with another regular of this site – a fellow by the name of Peter Larson. The end of our interview, sadly, was lost due to a dead battery. I think you’ll enjoy what there is of it, though.
6:10 PM: My second interview of the day was with MM.com regular, Teacher Patti.
5:50 PM: The Dirty Brothers present the Nervous Dental Patient.
5:50 PM” My friend Pete apparently got a photo of me interviewing Teacher Patti. The video should be up soon.
I’ve realized that I smell different on Shadow Art Fair days than on any other days.
5:10 PM: It’s taking me forever to download the interviews I’ve been taping. I’ve had some good ones though. Here’s the first. It’s with a young woman by the name of Alexandra Dietz.
3:56 PM: AnnArbor.com has a great photo set from this morning… Check it out.
1:17 PM: Next year, I want to set aside one corner of the Shadow Art Fair to do a historic reenactment of the first Shadow Art Fair, where women with bustles and hoop skirts lean over wicker tables, perusing pamphlets on rickets and doilies fashioned to look like monsters. If someone would remind me, I’d appreciate it.
It’s not so crowded right now, which is nice. Lots of people moving through, but the flow is nice and steady, with no huge bottlenecks… Here’s that video that I promised earlier. It finally made its way onto YouTube.
1:05 PM: I had my first interview. She was a nurse at a community health clinic on Packard. We talked about the state of health care in America, and the plight of the ever-growing underclass here in the US. She didn’t want to be interviewed on tape. I wish that she would have. She made some good points when discussing why she wouldn’t be voting for Obama again. Among other ideas we kicked around was the possibility of raising money to buy flip cameras and put them into the hands of inner city kids so that they can document their lives and share them via YouTube.
12:40 PM: note to self: I need to start reaching out to local artists, encouraging them to make make repulsive artwork of me for the header of the site. In return, I could link to their online stores, or something. I got the idea looking just now at the work of Johnny Apricot. My sense is that he could do something even more unsettling than what we have up there now.
12:36 PM: Forest Juziuk won’t be DJ’n alone between bands today at the Shadow Art Fair. I just learned that he’ll be joined, after 3:00, by Jeremy Wheeler, Stephanie Rosen and Geoff Perrin. (A list of bands can be found here.)
11:06 AM: I just took some video of our vendors setting up. I hope to get it up on the web shortly. I also bought my first piece of art of the day, a drawing of a “strange animal” by 8 year old Amelia Marks. Her drawings, priced a $2 each, are already moving fast.
11:06 AM: The Cinema Sports teams are off and running, working on their 3-minute films. There were over 20 people here for the launch, and I’m told a few teams will be participating remotely. The “ingredients” are 1) opening a box, 2) an apple… and I can’t remember the third thing. The viewing of the completed films will take place at 10:00 PM.
10:45 AM: Hey. I’m at the Corner, getting things set up. So far, so good. No broken bones, no cat fights between vendors. In fact, it’s unusually calm. That’s what worries me. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I’d gotten up in time, and that things were in motion. Doors should open to the public as planned at noon.
And I’m thinking about changing the theme of my space to “Ask Me About My Panic Attack”, or “How Seriously Should I Take this Chest Pain?” Or, maybe I’ll just put up a sign that says “Fred Sanford impressions.”
I wasn’t going to do anything at tomorrow’s Shadow Art Fair. I’d intended to have a table, and sell something, but things never fell into place. Actually, none of us who plan the event were going to have a table this time around, which kind of sucks. We all want to do creative stuff again, but the administrative demands of putting the show together just don’t leave us with either enough time or energy. But, I think we may have come up with a solution. Tomorrow, the four of us who plan the Shadow will be taking turns hosting a little area in a corner, where we’ll be inviting visitors to engage with us on different subjects. My friend Melissa, for instance, will be there at some point, quilting behind a sign that says, “Quilt with a Woman Who was Featured in Time Magazine in 2005,” or something like that. My plan, at least at the beginning of the day, is to sit there with a video recorder and interview people. I’m not yet sure what my sign will say, but maybe it’ll be something like, “Be Interviewed by a Painfully Awkward Middle-Aged Man with OCD,” or, better yet, “Be Interviewed by a Man that Jim Kunstler Called an Asshole.” Anyway, that’ll just be the start of what we hope will evolve over time, as we get going, and the beer starts flowing. By the end of the night, I suspect we’ll be counseling people on goatse etiquette, or something equally upsetting.
The setup is pretty simple. It’s just a few square feet of space, set off by velvet ropes. There are two armchairs, with a small table in between. I don’t know if the other guys plan to charge, but I might, at least at the beginning, ask people for a dollar to be interviewed. (I’ll post the interviews online.) So, if you’re around tomorrow, and would like to have me ask you questions, stop by early in the day, before the area morphs into either a, “Clip Mark Maynard’s Toenails” booth, or a “Confess Your Sins to a Stranger” pavilion.
And, remember, when you come out to Ypsi for the Shadow, to bring your coupon for The Rocket.
