Comments on: Off The Record :: Rodriguez (Detroit, MI)

By: Jeffry Lapilio

Jeffry Lapilio — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:37:14 +0000

In your research understand to tell the distinction between antique European household furniture and antique furniture coming from America.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:16:47 +0000

Actually, a lot of history has been made in those buildings, and they remain significant sites. Whether via tragedy or trimuph. I was born in Detroit but have lived in the suburbs since a very young age. I can recall how vibrant the place used to be–there used to be retail stores, newsstands on the street, people everywhere, buildings occupied–and these days, I don’t have much desire to visit the city for any reason. After a person visits other US cities that both preserve aspects of the past and maintain their infrastructure and develop for the future, you see how a city is supposed to be. Chicago, New York, and on and on. Detroit used to be a tremendous center for the arts, but only skeletal remains of that are still evident. Office buildings which were fully occupied only twenty to thirty years ago are vacant. That’s sickness in evidence, not a sign of a thriving or active city, and the divisiveness that many see between the city and suburbs (which I’d argue has little substance at all) is basically just a variation of territorial rivalry. Younger people who never saw Detroit, even as it was in the ’60s and ’70s, have no idea what has been lost. What came earlier will blow those little minds, if they ever bother to check out old photo books of Hastings Street and other cultural areas. The region in general is by far the richest in the country for musical talent and invention, nowhere else even comes close to Michigan. I forever post corrections at websites, always those operated by people who clearly never lived here, about the myth of ‘Detroit rock’. Not only due to their obsession with the term ‘rock’, but their error in associating everything from Michigan as being linked with Detroit. As we know, MI music has elements of soul, blues, jazz, rockabilly, punk, bluegrass, and anything else you can name. The city of Detroit has really had very little to do with rock music, although Motown’s presence here was remarkable and directly inspired many, many other performers. The older class of MI/MI-associated rock musicians–let’s say, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, The Rationals, Alice Cooper (an Arizonan?), etc. didn’t necessarily live in or record in the city, or even close to it. The MC5 lived in the city, were harassed by the “authorities”, and then went to Ann Arbor and nearby area. The Stooges were from that area, too. Stevie Wonder was from Saginaw. Etc. Interesting that the area was so incredibly rich in talent that we never heard of Rodriguez, Death, and others until decades later. Even bands like the Algebra Mothers (a personal fave, circa ’78) took flak from many back then, but now people realize how amazing they were.

By: Dann

Dann — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:47:41 +0000

I like Rodriguez’s music, but he’s done little to shed light (or darkness) on my town. I am proud to be a Detroiter. I have lived in NYC. I have lived in Seattle. I have never been happier than right here in the D. It’s not a city for everyone. It’s not a city in which to raise a child. But it is an amazing place. I agree with the other comments here, but I give Rodriguez a pass. He failed commercially and was left to fend for himself, a folk musician in a gritty urban metropolis that can chew up the weak. He was forced to work in factories instead of follow his dream; a machinery accident cost him part of his finger. What I’m trying to say is that he’s a bitter, bitter man kicking a great town that’s already down, though I guess I can’t really blame him.

By: scott

scott — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:15:12 +0000

i am very embarrassed to have grown up in detroit and just now be finding out about this. anyway, thanks for the post!

hopefully i’ll be able to catch him in nyc next month if it’s not already sold out.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:36:19 +0000

For another perspective, here is Jack White's poetic take on Detroit: Courageous Dream's Concern

By: gaston monescu

gaston monescu — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:19:23 +0000

pretty cool tracks, and the photo is a killer.
im glad the album is being re-released, and the end of ‘sugar man’
is pretty compelling.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:10:53 +0000

a lot of cities

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:10:12 +0000

WORST. OTR. EVER.

It does sound like a hell-hole. But I guess a lot of city’s wouldn’t sound too appetizing if you took a tour of city court buildings. Here we see the main circuit court, the criminal court (Frank Murphy), the actual city court (36 district), plus a stop at a bus depot (Capital Park). Even if you wanted to be limited to the city-center, it seems like a really odd selection of spots.

There’s a lot to both like and dislike about Detroit. This does nothing to shed light on either.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:26:02 +0000

Sounds like a real Hell hole.

By: barry

barry — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:49:21 +0000

Yuck. Doesn’t this guy go to record stores, eat lunch, see movies or do anything with his time besides listen to other people bitch? The purpose of this feature is to have an artist “and choose a handful of places they could not live without.” It sounds like he could do without a lot of these places. In fact, I can’t think of a single reason why anybody would want to go to these places.

I’m sure drinks at Corktown, a show at the Stick, touring the DIA, kielbasas in Hamtramck, any of the millions of coney islands, and the DEMF at Hart Plaza would be too obvious. Instead we got whateverybody already thinks Detroit is: minorities being kept down by the man.