LavenderMenace Posted January 29 Report Share Posted January 29 Battle over beats brewing in Detroit By Gary Graff - From the Life & Mind DeskDETROIT, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A battle over beats is brewing in the city of Detroit.Shortly after Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced that the city has awarded the contract for the fourth annual Detroit Electronic Music Festival to a team led by artist Derrick May, the producer of the first three festivals announced the formation of a new company, DEMF Inc., in partnership with boxing champion Thomas Hearns.The event -- which annually draws more than a million people and is one of the largest free music festivals in North America -- is slated to take place in downtown Detroit during Memorial Day weekend, but the question now is who will actually put it on.During the opening of the new Techno, Detroit's Gift to the World exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum last week, Kilpatrick announced that May and his group -- which includes fellow electronic musicians Kevin Saunderson and Carl Craig, who was the artistic director of the DEMF's first two years -- had beaten out Carol Marvin and her Pop Culture Media, which co-founded the festival with Craig in 2000.But after the announcement, Marvin distributed press releases announcing her new partnership with Hearns Entertainment Inc. that claimed Pop Culture Media still "owns the commercial rights" to the DEMF and had secured permits for Hart Plaza for the next three years on Memorial Day weekends.A spokesman for DEMF Inc. said that the company will consider seeking an injunction against any Memorial Day festival with the DEMF name produced by anybody else. Marvin's claim did not diminish May's excitement at receiving the contract from the city -- which he said was for three years, though the city said it was only for 2003 and would be reviewed after this year's event. The musician promised to "first and foremost, put (the DEMF) back in the hands of the community and ... show the perspective of where it came from and began, where it is now and where it's going."May also said that this year's DEMF would go beyond the music to include exhibitions of music-making technology and other aspects of the electronic music culture. "We want to do a festival of technology," he explained. May said he was confident the DEMF will come off successfully even though there are only four months left in which to plan the festival.While May, Saunderson and Craig will handle many of the artistic decisions for the festival, the DEMF's primary point man will be Richard Maher of May's Detroit-based Transmat Records. May will actually be spending much of the next fourth months in Japan, where he was hired as the resident DJ at a new nightclub.The city -- which supervises the DEMF through its Department of Parks and Recreation -- became disenchanted with Pop Culture Media during the planning of the 2001 festival, when Marvin abruptly fired the well-liked Craig, spawning a breach-of-contract suit that's still pending in Wayne County Circuit Court. The move also created a schism in the artist community; while May and Saunderson have supported Craig, two other techno pioneers -- Juan Atkins and Eddie Fowlkes -- served on the advisory board that replaced Craig for the 2002 festival.Despite the large attendance and Marvin's claim that the 2002 DEMF pumped $94 million into the city, Detroit officials say the festival actually lost about $356,000, with production costs of $1.1 million and concession revenues of just $710,000.The 2002 festival was also hurt by the loss of the Ford Motor Company as a major sponsor.Detroit officials said the city was looking for a 2003 deal that would free the city financial liability. Marvin claims that her partnership with Hearnes "secures the independent funding needed to continue" the DEMF, and that she has kept the city appraised of her intentions since the end of the 2002 festival.Marvin also claims that last September her company successfully reserved Hart Plaza for the next three Memorial Day weekends for the DEMF.In addition to the festival, she promises that DEMF Inc. will build a world headquarters and a nightclub in Detroit, start an electronic music foundation, and produce a weekly radio show and a quarterly newsletter.Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press Internationalhttp://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID...24-044240-4419r Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barvybe Posted January 29 Report Share Posted January 29 dag, politics politics politics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xpander Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 And all that crap mean what if the city awarded the production responsibilities to may?Too bad the city can't just pull the rug out from under them and produce DEMF somewhere/some time else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lasix Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 Originally posted by xpander Too bad the city can't just pull the rug out from under them and produce DEMF somewhere/some time else. if I book my flight + hotel, no one is moving anything! this messy bullshit will be worked out. may + co deserve the festival. carol marvin & co are just money hungry and in it for the business.. would they be doing it for free like may is?? hmmmmm i doubt it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crosspatrick Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 if I book my flight + hotel, no one is moving anything! Correct and Right, I'm really looking forward to this ,plus i hear Laurent Garnier might be coming over for it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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