maybe i should just lay this down as tersely and clearly as i can lay it down.

i didn't move to detroit because i was interested in the organic arts scene here, which i had little awareness of, outside of knowing that it used to be a punk town. i don't care about motown. i don't care about soul. i don't care about hip-hop. and, i don't actually care about house music, either.

broadly speaking, i don't care about detroit.

so, i'm not interested in taking part in some kind of insular, nativist revival or something - although i realize that this is in the air, here. detroit actually seems to be a very conservative place.

the reason i moved to detroit is that i thought it was a big city that would have lots of touring acts. being that i'm a canadian, and i like being one, i can't really move to a bigger city like new york or los angeles. detroit is the biggest american centre that is easily reachable from ontario.

so, i don't actually want to go to an expression of local culture, or to understand the area, or to take part in the community, or to join the activist network. what i want is a place where i can reliably see touring bands from out of town come through on the circuit, and that is what i'm going to support.

if detroit wants to be a big city, still, it has to cater to these sorts of urges. if it wants to be a small town, so be it - but i may end up turning my interest elsewhere, if it does.