Notes and News from Day 2 of Movement

From the Detrot Free Press

Techno fans grow up -- and introduce their kids to the music

May 28, 2006

BY TIM PRATT
FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

Music is known for creating — or exposing — generation gaps. But that doesn’t seem to be the case this year at the Movement techno festival.

As the annual Memorial Day weekend electronic music event enters its seventh year in Detroit, the techno generation is aging, and a new trend seems to be emerging.

There appear to be more young parents than ever in attendance at Hart Plaza, eager to introduce their children to the percolating electronic music beats they grew up with. Many people who’ve attended the previous six festivals — or were part of the city’s dance music scene well before that — now have kids of their own.

Curt Malouin, 34, of Northville has attended every festival since their inception in 2000 and decided to bring daughter Maya Malouin, 6, to the festival for a second year.

“I’ve been listening to techno pretty much since it started,” said Malouin, wearing a beat-up Underground Resistance T-shirt, a longtime Detroit techno collective known for its militant and political stances concerning the genre. “I thought x this was good chance for her to get exposed to the music and have fun.

”Malouin said he likes to bring Maya down during the daytime so she can run around and check out the various stages, making sure never to get too close to the speakers because of the high volume, “though we do have earplugs for her.”

“Maya occasionally does some dancing but mostly she’s running around having fun,” Malouin said. “And her favorite style of music is house.

”Several parents agreed that the bass-heavy, soulful rhythms of house were what got their kids going.

“She dances to a lot of music,” said father Stephen Roginson, 29, of Royal Oak, of 4-year-old daughter Ayla Roginson. “But she likes house music best of all. It’s a little more melody and more rhythmic that she can latch onto.

”Tamara Rinehart-Lee, 32, of Royal Oak brought her 14-year-old niece, Kim McGinnis of Novi, and her 3-year-old daughter, Grace Lee, to the festival to introduce them to electronic music.

“I think it’s really important to expose to all kinds of music,” Rinehart-Lee said. “I grew up going to house parties and listening to house music, but don’t listen to it as much as I used to, so this is a great way experience a wide variety of music.

”Meanwhile, Grace was busy running around the bowl in front of the Main Stage, dancing to the sounds of Niko Marks.

She “dances and runs around pretty much nonstop,” Rinehart-Lee said. “Earlier, she was playing hacky sack with some kids. I spin her around a lot when we dance and house and techno is perfect for that. I love it.

”Grace then wandered over and sidled up to her mom, exhausted from her intense spin moves.“

I like the music,” Grace said. “And that I can dance to it.”

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News and notes from the Movement festival

May 28, 2006

BY BRIAN MCCOLLUM
FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER

A late-arriving crowd pushed Saturday’s Movement attendance past the 16,000 mark, festival organizers said.

Precise audience figures won’t be available until after the event’s finish tonight, producer Jason Huvaere said Sunday afternoon as the festival rolled into its second day at Hart Plaza.

But Saturday’s preliminary number showed that Movement could be on pace for a three-day total close to 50,000. That would be a solid increase from the 42,000 at last year’s festival, the first to charge admission.

In one what merchandise vendor described as a “dinner crowd,” fans began arriving en masse after 8 p.m. Saturday.

Huvaere said many people were still lined up to buy $20 day-passes when ticket booths shut down at 11:30 p.m. — 30 minutes before the festival closed for the night.

As they were on Saturday, the afternoon crowd was relatively light Sunday.
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Food and beverage vendors reported a solid uptick in sales Saturday and Sunday as compared to 2005, Huvaere said. Steamy temperatures certainly helped move drinks.

Vendors with the festival’s Vitamin Water operation said they scrambled Saturday to ship stock to Hart Plaza from Ohio after nearly selling out their three-day supply of the flavored drinks in less than 12 hours.

On the festival grounds, crowds sought shelter Sunday in the Beatport Stage tent, where Detroit’s DJ Godfather performed as temperatures neared the 90s.

Others were drawn to the Plaza’s large fountain, ducking their heads underwater or simply standing nearby to catch the spray.

Among them were Chicago residents Kris Schield, 28, and his girlfriend, Meghan Davis, 25.

They stood by the fountain for more than a half-hour while watching a mid-afternoon Main Stage set by Donald Glaude.

“It’s great sound off the Main Stage from here,” said Schield. “These might be the best seats in the house.”

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The sound and spirit of J. Dilla flowed across the riverfront Sunday evening as a crew of hometown DJs and rappers paid tribute to the late Detroit producer, also known as Jay Dee. The memorial was more celebratory than solemn at the Pyramid Stage, where several hundred fans gathered for what was promised to be a six-hour hip-hop performance in honor of James Yancey, who died in February from complications from a rare blood disease.

The marathon set kicked of with DJ House Shoes backing MC Nick Speed, an in-house producer with 50 Cent’s G-Unit Records. As the sun set over Hart Plaza, beats from Dilla’s solo work and his Slum Village days helped drived performances by local rappers Baatin, Ta’raach and Big Tone. They were among the more than a dozen artists who agreed to play for free with Movement performance fees contributed to the J. Dilla Foundation, created to help support Yancey’s two daughters.