{"id":2342,"date":"2013-05-05T20:22:42","date_gmt":"2013-05-05T20:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ajdancelegacy.com\/~ajdance\/?p=2342"},"modified":"2020-10-11T03:09:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T03:09:30","slug":"carl-craig-04-05-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdancelegacy.com\/~ajdance\/carl-craig-04-05-13\/","title":{"rendered":"CARL CRAIG 04.05.13"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

CARL CRAIG<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It is said, the body\u2019s natural response to music is dancing.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The first Saturday in May masquerades as the first Saturday in March.\u00a0 Way too cold and way too wet. \u00a0Electronic Dance Music pathos suggests the month of May belongs to Detroit\u2019s Movement Festival, still dubbed DEMF, as the month of March to the Winter Music Conference.\u00a0 Detroit\u2019s home-grown finest, techno music thumps from Midwest assembly lines down to the outhouses in the Dirty South.\u00a0 One of Detroit Techno’s many distributors, DEMF\u2019s original artistic director, touched down and schooled a certain southern hospitable metropolis-the city too busy partying to hate-on true techno music.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem started with the rain.\u00a0 No the real<\/em> problem dated back to the original E-blast.\u00a0 The boys of Project B announced their one year anniversary gig.\u00a0 Following in the footsteps of their past soirees with Stacey Pullen and Kevin Saunderson, another Detroit Techno legend would grace the hardware at a trendy restaurant turned night club afterhours.\u00a0 The problem?\u00a0 The oblong-shaped, shoebox, restaurant keeps a limited crowd capacity.\u00a0 Not the place for a living legend, who plays packed festivals and stadiums worldwide, to whip his techno wizardry.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Already buzzing ears were on alert to anticipate a few unwanted encounters.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

01:00<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Enter Carl Craig.\u00a0 The forty-something Detroit Techno ambassador appears rock star, looking relatively youthful.\u00a0 He shows face wearing expensive solar shields and sporting an authentic black leather jacket.\u00a0 Style shows the man comes to throw down.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAtlanta.\u00a0 Can I take you on a journey of future sounds?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah!\u201d\u00a0 The drunken debauchery responds.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps the future of electronica rests in the hands of the narrative.\u00a0 Its voice a symmetric hybrid of deep house intersects minimal techno.\u00a0 \u00a0The sound sphere plays excursion to preconceived notions of any expected playlist traded for the spontaneity of open-mindedness.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Obviously, the shoebox is pack, too pack, with bodies slammed from wall to wall.\u00a0 Forget about trying to meander through the density of mass.\u00a0 Forget about busting your favorite dance move.\u00a0 Forget about trying to consume the drink in your hand.\u00a0 Forget about doing anything that falls outside the category of standing stiff and staring directly into the blond hair in your face while you are elbowed in the head, jabbed in the back, pushed to the side and your kicks stepped on.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Over a deep treat Marvin Gaye sings \u201cAin\u2019t That Peculiar.\u201d\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 How peculiar to show up at a dance party and have no room to dance.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One or two printed Detroit garbs dot the room.\u00a0 Some spectators appear to show-up only for the word, \u201ctechno.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Most of the monochromatic crowd appears hell bent to fist pump than actually pop and lock.\u00a0 Later, their wish is granted as the music builds into the atmosphere, disappears into gravity and then drops on their heads like barometric pressure.<\/em>\u00a0 Tomahawks appear. Sorry.\u00a0 A Braves baseball game this is not. \u00a0\u00a0However, the crowd loves it.\u00a0 They respond, \u201cFuck Yeah\u201d experiencing some peculiar eargasms.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the new Moodymann.\u201d Carl shouts into the microphone after the third song plays.\u00a0 Detroit Techno fans in the know respond with enthusiastic cheer.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe year 1995 just called the year 2013 and she wants her house music back,\u201d says a giddy graphic designer wrapped in the arms of heavenly bliss. Her house music compass is only one year off.\u00a0 A dub of Detroit\u2019s Inner City & Kevin Saunderson\u2019s \u201cShare My Life<\/a>\u201d rams into action with classic chords thumping on all fours.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s got to be my favorite song.\u201d\u00a0 The Detroit giant pledges as the song fades into the next track by Suburban Knights.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

02:00<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Planet E imprint founder plays professor to the crowd of students.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m playing the same music that I would play in Berlin.\u00a0 Atlanta, that means I\u2019m being inspired.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Awww.\u00a0 Sweet sentiments.\u00a0 The crowd responds with approval.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier, I played for you my favorite song.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m going to play for you the first song I ever played as a DJ.\u00a0 It was at a family reunion in Athens.\u00a0 Ha.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Again the crowd goes wild.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I lost you on the last song then I will lose you on this one.\u00a0 Atlanta, can I go deep?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The crowd goes apeshit.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, if it wasn\u2019t for this song here, there would be no techno music.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The crowd goes silent.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere would not be half of the hip hop songs you hear.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A pin can be heard dropping to the floor.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, I wouldn\u2019t be hear.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Utter silence.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Egyptian Lover\u2019s \u201cEgypt Egypt<\/a>\u201d the original electro\/hip hop song plays.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What the?\u00a0 The crowd is completely lost in translation. Maybe 1980\u2019s nostalgia is not their song and dance.\u00a0 Sadly, they fail to realize\u2026..\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have no manners.\u201d\u00a0 A local DJ notes.\u00a0 Somewhere within the hour the drunks grow ever obnoxious.\u00a0 Too many drunks in a tiny confide guarantees disturbance of peace.\u00a0 The scene grows bedlam.\u00a0 Someone gets punched in the face.\u00a0 And someone is banned from the venue.\u00a0 Across the room a father dances with his twenty-six years of age daughter.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s a DJ,\u201d the buzzed dad brags.\u00a0 \u201cAnd she\u2019s pretty good.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The daughter\u2019s drunken boyfriend sadly stares in disbelief and tries to make since out of this mess.\u00a0 By the event\u2019s end the daughter\u2019s father ditches her and the boyfriend for the bar as she whips out and spins glow sticks.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe vibe is different tonight.\u201d\u00a0 The local DJ notes.\u00a0 \u201cTill next time. Peace out.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bombastic blasts accompanying sonic sounds bumps and bruises the room.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTurn around,\u201d commands the giddy graphic designer wiping tears from her eyes.\u00a0 \u201cHe played Strings of Life!!!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

03:00<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The tiny room is still pack with flesh.\u00a0 Sweat and sex play in the air.\u00a0 The DJ\u2019s wife offers a round of drinks to dancers.\u00a0 There is an extra inch of dance space as the true dancers gobble it up like the hot commodity it is.\u00a0 Once again, deep house plays host before the night\u2019s explosive Detroit Techno anthem, UR’s \u201cHi Tech Jazz<\/a>\u201d will send a person to the podiatrist with a plantar fasciitis.\u00a0 OUCH!!!\u00a0 That\u2019s the power of house music.\u00a0 It can hurt you.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s the techno?\u201d yells an out-of-towner.\u00a0 This too is the power of Detroit Techno, its sound is not boxed.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Carl Craig\u2019s forward march into futurism proved a promising focal point.\u00a0 Even greater, his educating the audience was priceless.\u00a0 The chaos juxtaposed against the sound track deemed all too nauseous.\u00a0 Next go round, should the music shine solo in the spotlight with greater emphasis on dance space is a must for positive impact.\u00a0 After all, the event\u2019s dilemma left no doubt as to the choice of music or genres played as the question posed, \u201cWhat happens when you experience inspiring music that the body is unable to respond to?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t