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The Remnants Of Truth And Beauty
The Detroit Artist Workshop held rap sessions every Sunday through the mid-60s around the campus of Wayne State University. They celebrated the sharing and collaborating of their untamable creation. In November, 1964, this network of poets, musicians, writers and social activists — or what the fenced-in squares expelled as “beatniks” — forged a strong organic union of support, that worked against the idea of the "starving artist" — establishing their own means of production and distribution for a new, freer art, inspired by jazz and poetry.
That tradition continues today through Detroit label, Loco Gnosis, (headed by Jeff Howitt, singer/guitarist of psychedelic roots rockers Duende), a unique collective of bands spanning rock, psyche, surf, punk and the plainly indefinable; all sharing a reverence for what came before, (namely the DAW). This week, Loco Gnosis and DAW revive the “rap session” event.
May Days will be a celebration of artists’ communities (May 1-2) at The BoHouse (3009 Tillman) near old Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The festival features jazz, poetry, art installations and 30 local bands performing over the two nights, with performances from John Sinclair, James Semark, Pinkeye, Duende, The Friendly Foes, Gardens, Carjack, The Oscillating Fan Club, Bars of Gold and Red China. Artwork by Leni Sinclair, Gary Grimshaw, Carl Lundgren, Robin Veresh, Glen Allen, Chris Kennington, Alaina Carlson and more.
“We consider it very important to reveal or assess lineage in the arts at every turn,” said Howitt. “Like Burrough’s said, ‘Build a shelf that will last a thousand years!’”
John Sinclair, poet and activist, marveled at the artists on the Loco Gnosis roster. “Fast forward 40 years and here I am again,” Sinclair wrote in liner notes of his Pinkeye collaborated live album, “in the same neighborhood with exactly the same sort of people I’d grown up with at the (Detroit Artist’s) Workshop and doing the exact same thing!”
As predecessor to Howitt and his tribal gang of scruffy sound splattering outlaws, Sinclair will read poetry with various Loco Gnosis musicians as The Pinkeye Orchestra. DAW co-founder James Semark hosts a jazz program on the second floor, featuring Duende drummer Laura Willem running through a few Coltrane classics. “We thought ... what jazz did for the expansion of rock’n’roll and just music in general that it be represented ... a haven for our cultural elders in Detroit,” Howitt said.
Vintage merchandise/art installations from Gary Grimshaw (famous for his concert poster designs), and others will also be upstairs, with more art on the main floor by Oscillating Fan Club drummer Robin Veresh and longtime Howitt ally Glen Allen.
For Howitt, this represents the near-culmination of a Robert Frost-inspired “20 Year Promise” to himself (made 18 years ago). to drown himself in culture. “In this last cycle everything has happened so fast,” said Howitt, “but things didn’t stabilize until I recruited who would become Duende. The band will release their second full-length, Remnant of a Remnant this July. Artwork for the forthcoming LP will be on display at the May Day festival. | RDW
For more information: myspace.com/locognosis; myspace.com/duendetroit; detroitartistworkshop.com
May Day • 5/1-5/2 • The BoHouse
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