RUB IT IN - Three shows you shouldn’t have missed.

Dearborn Homecoming Festival
August 4th, Ford Field - Dearborn

The Dearborn Homecoming Festival at Ford Field featured much of the usual summer fare as other municipalities - but was about ten times the size of any event I’ve been to this year. Pulling out all the stops, The City of Dearborn included a beer-and-polka tent, various raffles, arts & crafts and organization displays, tons of food, live music, and best of all (according to my six-year-old daughter) a full-size carnival complete with roller-coaster, tilt-a-whirl, fun-house, game booths and many other activities for familial fun. And if that wasn’t enough they included a fireworks display at night. By 3pm, Ford Field was packed, shoulder-to-shoulder with festive freaks of every race, creed and color.
Live musical guests featured Dearborn’s own alt/country group The Wrenfields who delivered a flawless two-set performance of their newly release debut, “21st Century Pioneer” on stage B to a generous crowd who braved the intense heat of the mid-afternoon sun. The band’s Customized 1963 Fleetwood Limousine, which they will be raffling-off to benefit the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation, was parked stage-side and attracted many curious car enthusiasts.
Although I didn’t stick around for the , a-hem, main musical attraction of the evening, I’m sure Tony Orlando’s performance didn’t disappoint the “blue-haired gerries” who began laying claims to folded chairs for his 8p.m. show at 5 p.m! He’s still got some staunch fans out there. “Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree. . . “

Dearborn's WHFR from Henry Ford Community College made their presence known at the festival, giving away cow magnets, bumperstickers and information for their "Moove" campaign. "Jazz Horizons" DJ Earl Jones passed out the folders packed with goodies and solicited donations to help the station that regularly features independent music of all genres. You can tune in locally at 89.3 FM or catch their webcast at whfr.hfcc.net (note:don't type in WWW when surfing this url).

Club of Faith’s 21 Band Salute
August 4th, Whitmore Lake, Mi
Barnstormers presents

Whitmore Lake never had it so good as when “Club of Faith,” promoted by the Infamous “Heatmiser”, Rob Miller (I’m guessing the nic-name comes from the hedgehog hairdo with the day-glo pink stripe down the middle), brought twenty-one of Detroit’s premier bands to Barnstormers for an all-day jam. Filling three stages simultaneously (two for bands and one for the MC’s & DJ’s) with some of Detroit’s best independent acts, The 21 Band Salute began at a sobering 2 p.m. and drifted into the wee hours of hotel-motel time. There were so many musicians there you couldn’t spill a drink without soaking the “who’s who” of the Detroit music scene. Nicole 11:11, Superdot, Jocaine, Face, MC Mario, DJ Jay Lange, Sweaty Suede Lips, and Soot were just some of the acts who performed - and that was all after 10.p.m! From mosh pits to MC’s, this gig was kept in perpetual motion by Miller who weilded his mighty bull-horn, donned a glow in the dark gorilla mask and pulled give-aways out of a mysterious black bag to foist on the many wandering patrons. Our hats off to Heatmiser who pulled-off a helluva show. Keep your eyes and ears tuned for future “Club of Faith” events.
A quick shout out to my home girls, the beautiful Chis Bone and the feisty Julie Felix (thier maiden names). My old school chums were workin’ the gig at Barnstormers, keepin the urban animals well-fed in this rarity of farm-country concerts. Julie donated a pen and a staple to this absent-minded writer and Chris donated a burger and a chicken sandwhich to Mary and I, two-thirds of the poor and hungry MA administrative staff. It was comforting to see my home girls so good after all these years. Thanks for the sweetness.

“Back To School Hip Hop Party”
Emerald Theatre, August 9th

Billed as Mary’s Last Show (she sick of working for free - and who can blame her), The Back To School Hip Hop Party featured: Dead Poets, Sandman, P.M.S, Back Stab, Flamingo Gla'ce, Tri-Force, Blade & Phly Hunnies. I showed up to show my love, though I felt about as comfortable at a hip-hop show as If I’d accidentallly wandered into Cambodia. About two to three hundred people showed up at The Emerald Theatre in Mt. Clemens to check out the acts and give Michiganartists.com their support. I sat in the corner, alone, while Mary wandered about networking as usual. The girl can’t help herself.
Although I don't know Jack about Hip-Hop, this aging rock-n’-roller did learn a couple of things by observation: 1) Hip-Hop requires the use of exaggerrated hand and body gestures that make it more entertaining to watch than most instrumented groups (I mean, how interesting would it be for a rapper to stand still at a mic?); 2) your ears have to be re-calibrated to high L.P.M’s (lyrics per minute) to understand anything- I don’t know how they do it but several audience members seemed to shout the innumerable lyrics word for word. All I could understand were the occassional refrains shouted in unison - sign of getting old; 3) grabbing your crotch and throwing water on the audience seem to be tradtions - as almost every act demonstrated at one time or another; 4) Hip-Hop audiences and rock audiences are more similar than I thought- both rely on directly confronting the audiences to get a reaction (shouting “Detroit!” for example or “Get the F*ck up!”), both types of audiences are mostly made up of poseurs who are there to be seen and mull about in the latest fashions until their favorite group arrives, at which time they mull-about in front of the stage; 5) and last but not least, both types of music, for their time, are sure to piss-off and irritate parents - that’s as it should be.
I will say, to Hip-Hop’s credit, that I’ve never seen a more racially integrated audience - certainly not at a rock show - and in the long run I think that’s good for everybody.
Although it’s not my chosen poison, the acts at the “Back to School” show at the Emerald Theatre were sharp - er, I mean “phat” - every one. How the hell do they remember all those lyrics? Your teachers would be proud.