Berlin - Day 8 + Movement Weekend in Detroit
No photos from this day, I want to treat this post as I’ve normally been doing, to make some artifact of memory for myself, but also as a way to reflect on my past weekend in Detroit for Movement.
Our day began late, we rode for maybe a half an hour to RSO.Berlin for an outdoor, 100 hour non-stop rave. The mood was so good, in this sprawling industrial complex was a massive stage which brought out a huge crowd that afternoon even at a pretty off time like 3:00pm. The music was upbeat clubby/house stuff. We ate burgers for dinner in a dungeon like maze of seating before heading over to Cake, a perfect bar recommended by my friend Darby when he was in Berlin just a week or so before us. What I really love about places like Cake is just how effortless it is, no fussy branding or overly thought out vibe, just a bunch of old shit spread across the sidewalk that is perfectly fine to sit on and talk. I think these two places, RSO.Berlin and Cake have the characteristic of why Berlin, and I’ll extend to the city’s American friend, Detroit, continue to have a grasp on us. In short, these cities allow for spaces which encourage a mutual agency: over the environment, body, and mind.
Movement weekend is that time of year to make the pilgrimage to return to a major source of creative and developmental inspiration for myself growing up, as well as the ground zero of a beating sound that reminds each of us of the warm cave in which we were forced from at birth. In Detroit, the heart of America thumps and drones like the ever-present mother of nature which undermines our reality. Showing her pervasive demeanor, the crumbling buildings are filled with life once more, just as the ancient Mid-west parries bud new grasses after the periodical fires. The news cycle has been dwelling on the city’s rise for as long as I can remember and I believe should be ignored. To plot these places, Berlin and Detroit, on a timeline of progress breeds nostalgia that creates shells of the past. I believe that Mother Nature will never leave these places, she permeates the soil until all that is built on venture capital collapses once more.
Staying in Hamtramck for the weekend, we were pretty close by to a lot going on. Saturday we had Yemen Cafe before heading oversto Paramita, Submerge, then Wall of Sound into Sunday morning. Sunday we had lunch at Trinosophes before resting up for Zagc’s set and Control VI. Best set was probably Richie Hawtin at Russell Industrial Center. Never heard a sound system and space working so well together.
I’m running out of steam with this post and I’m failing to remember how I was going to tie everything together (interrupted by work). I’ve been imagining the photos to be most important to these re-caps so focusing on writing like this is totally new and potentially cringe-worthy for future me, regardless, I’ll continue.