You Need Them On That Wall
There are always those stories that a writer wishes he or she had done first, and this Metro Times piece from Detroitblogger John ranks right near the top of my list.
I grew up off Mack Avenue in Detroit and passed these painted signs every single day as a child. Some were better than others, but somewhere in each of them, I always managed to find something affirming about myself and/or our community. (Around my way, when I was a kid in the '70s, a man who went by the name of "Cherokee" was among the best of 'em all. I heard he died a while ago, but you can still see some of his work on cinderblock storefronts along Mack.)
As a hip-hop head, I used to wonder why breakdancing and rap took hold in my neighborhood when graffiti didn't. And I can't help but think that, in some small way at least, it had something to do with the daunting standard these guys set. Hastily scrawling "Darrell Wuz Here" in black Krylon kinda lost its appeal when you then turned around and saw some guy twice your age hand-painting full-on Afrocentric nativity scenes across a giant wall. (And back then, you never EVER painted over their stuff.)
Hand-painted wall signage was standard decades ago. Good to know the tradition lives on here in the D...
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My dad's boss used to hire a guy who worked like this to do all the lettering on the company trucks. No taping, no templates, just a steady hand and a lot of skill and patience.
Detroit does respect art. Even with all the paint that used to fly in Dequindre Cut the best pieces were largely left unmolested.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89119745@N00/512754081/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89119745@N00/512754075/in/photostream/
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My dad's boss used to hire a guy who worked like this to do all the lettering on the company trucks. No taping, no templates, just a steady hand and a lot of skill and patience.
Detroit does respect art. Even with all the paint that used to fly in Dequindre Cut the best pieces were largely left unmolested.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89119745@N00/512754081/in/photostream/
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Beautiful shots from the Dequindre Cut. Most of what's there are straight-up graffiti burners as opposed to the hand-painted style of the storefront signage, though. Still, great flicks...
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Oh, I know that. I was just trying to point out that even in the free-for-all down in the Cut the good works got respected.
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Cool. I think I saw another post from you elsewhere on this site that featured other links to some absolutely breathtaking pix of the D. Feel free to throw that link up over here, too. Any camera that caresses the city like yours deserves the head nod.
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Very good to give a shout out to "DetroitbloggerJohn".
You left out the part where you copped the URL of his website to name this blog:
Good to give credit, but let's give all the credit where it is due.
Poor choices made in naming this blog, and it is my suggestion that it is early enough for you folks to sit down with your thinking caps and come up with an original name for the TIME blog in Detroit.
How about "TIME blog in Detroit".
heh.
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The shout was deserved, as the story was great. But let's be clear: I read the story in MT first so that's what I linked to. Thus, all the credit did indeed go where it was due.
Regarding the blog names, I get the sense you're a little tweaked about it, as I've seen this point raised previously. Fair enough, but you're barking up the wrong tree complaining in my threads. If you've been paying attention to this project -- and clearly you have-- you should know by now that I'm simply a writer trying to create in this space. I have about as much a hand in naming Time Inc. projects as Marvin Gaye had in naming Motown Records.
I'm an old-school b-boy, so my adherence to the time-honored "no biting" rule leads me to sympathize with you on some levels, to be honest. Really, though, if you've got beef with the name, you should tell it to the fellas at the Time mothership.
Honestly, though, I don't think anyone was trying to "cop" that blog name. But since you brought up the point about originality, do you think it's possible that "The Detroit Blog" may not be your most creative name for a blog about Detroit either? I mean, if this were called the Time Model D Media Blog, the case might be a little clearer cut, no?
That said, detroitblog.org does fantastic work. I read it and encourage others to as well. But ain't no biting over here, my friend.
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All good dude, Im not going to keep nipping your ankles on this. Detroit Blog is a local staple, so you can understand the name thing being irksome. Nuff said about the name.
That said, 'John' is a very important resource, you guys should hit him up and call him over to the house. He knows more than you could imagine from just reading the website !
Marvin did get creative control in his later contracts, and did name his albums btw. lol
Cheers
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Eh, no sweat. And I know what you mean re: local staples.
And even though I don't really hang at the company house -- I'm born, raised and living here with my family -- I'll definitely pass the idea along to the folks who do live there. I think any project like this could benefit from having more sources with his kind of knowledge base.
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- <a href="http://twitter.com/TheDetroitHouse" target="_blank" class="beforetweet">TheDetroitHouse</a> After a year of learning, observing and understanding, TIME says goodbye to Detroit. Podcast: All Good Things... http://shar.es/0V3I7 - 2 years ago
- <a href="http://twitter.com/TheDetroitHouse" target="_blank" class="beforetweet">TheDetroitHouse</a> Our Donation to Detroit http://shar.es/0FX2T - 2 years ago
- <a href="http://twitter.com/TheDetroitHouse" target="_blank" class="beforetweet">TheDetroitHouse</a> Read Kristy Erdodi's "How Detroit Became My Sexy City" http://bit.ly/9zG13z - 2 years ago
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