...said alice

Deine Qual ist meine Lust

we're looking good and looking clean it's six o'clock and time for the scene!

i think it's time to shift focus to the area of which i reside. i think it would be best to shed light on what the blog title and the blog description mean. first, "it's time for the percolator" is in reference to a song by Cajmere (a fantastic DJ alias of Curtis Jones).

a friend of mine had once posted on another social site the show "the scene" which was a local access show that my parents remember from way back in the day (mid 70s/ early 80s). saying the scene was an answer to chicago's more popular soul train takes away from the greatness of the show. it was more of a funk based show that also played electro and original detroit techno. the scene was on WGPR which was the first black owned and operated television station in the country. from the mid 70s to the mid 80s, the scene was a popular television show in the metro detroit area. in fact, my father (a dentist in detroit) remembers going to dental school at university of detroit mercy and on various occasions witnessing dancers from the scene lined up outside of certain locales. hosted by Nat Morris, the scene was a one hour raucous bonanza of great jams, fantastic dancing, ridiculous dressing (by todays standards), and the birth of detroit techno (early track "sharevari" by a number of names made its first airing on the scene). around 1987 , the scene's ratings had gone down (for whatever reason) and more electronic based music had moved in to the track list of the scene. the title of the show changed to the new dance show, and, ultimately CBS bought out WGPR and the new dance show was no more. "yeah, i'm freaky" is a track by X-Change (which i still have yet to find online, sadly, but it would make a great song to play at a dance party). The video below is an example of earlier detroit techno (based upon italo disco tracks of the time). also an example of the great show "the scene" from WGPR-TV Detroit, MI. sugar, sugar, salt, salt, if you didn't get off today, it ain't our fault.

BUILDING A GHOST TOWN

L'Acadie L'Acadie (directed by Michel Brault, 1971). His films are best known in Canada as they are French Canadian and lack the respect they so deserve in the English speaking world. Also, his early works have only been released in Canada on video (I had to find a french canadian website to purchase it from). Many of his films were done during the silent revolution in Quebec and deal with a variety of nationalistic topics (such as revolting against the Anglophones). L'Acadie L'Acadie deals with the 1968 occupation of the campus of Universite de Moncton in order to set up a Francophone population in the college town of Moncton, New Brunswick.

The film is shot in Direct Cinema style but mixed with the style of late 60s (leftist/ free form) Godard (chock full of intertitles although not including the bright colors that Godard used at that time period).

something like a phenomenon

just found liquid liquid's self titled album and all is well with the world.

the track "Cavern" was used in "white lines" by grandmaster flash and the furious five (which now just reminds me of the woodward dream cruise, because some ridiculous person decided to play that outside of a Potbelly Sandwich works with a bunch of young families hanging out in front of that area...call me old fashioned, but i don't know if i'd want my kids listening to a song about sniffing vast amounts of cocaine...you know, melle mel was doing that when he wrote the song, right?). the other day, while at Movement '09 (DEMF), another 99 records band was mentioned while i was volunteering with recycle detroit and talking with one of the volunteers at the front. this guy was so cool. we were talking about italo disco and all sorts of music as well as films. this dude used to be a DJ and played the contortions/ james white and the blacks (you know how i feel about them if you know anything about me...just fantastic!) we also talked about ESG while listening to some old school techno. All in all, the s/t of Liquid Liquid is a great listen (as is ESG's "South Bronx Tale," which are both a great blend of funk and punk...or no wave if one feels so bold). The entire 99 Records discography is a real gem if you can find them all (as are the ZE records albums [lydia lunch, lizzie mercier descloux, cristina, the contortions, etc.] so also, i strongly recommend those...you won't at all be disappointed if you just want to dance to some underground (and yet not so underground) music).