Blowout Recap (part one of two...) Photos and preemptive strikes at over-intellectualized analysis

So, here we all are......again...
The bright-eyed dreamy enthusiasts among us will marvel at the concentration of talent, the camaraderie, the music...

(Schedule)

The dedicated idealists among us will take it a step further and ask, what next? Can we unite as an artist community? What are our potentials? 200 bands riding around like bumper cars, jiving off of each others ideas and each others art...What can we create? (Should we have a town-hall meeting and discuss?)

And, the more curmudgeon-ey types will keep bringing out the muddied and bloddied shank of shit-talking and present a, at times healthily realistic, view of things - that we're all just stuck here becuase of the economy and we really don't have any motivation beyond ourselves or our own bands...

Or, you don't give a bleeping ballyhoo about any of this scene stuff and you realize that a few pockets of people just make it bigger than it should be.......(or not big enough?) All of this always comes up around big local festivals in Detroit...we all want to place the scene on a couch and psychoanalyze it...scrutinize it, beautify it...whatever...

My own 2 cents? We've got the potential...but we need to do more than run around seeing 2 songs of each band and over-drinking. We need to put our heads together.

For now, in the thick of things - let's just relax and sip safe amounts of Budweiser and take in the good music...Have some fun with the two days of Blowout we have left. We can sift through the rubble later.

To all who I have seen...it's bittersweet - with Blowout I'm able to see you all, but usually only spanning 43-second conversations of slight-to-moderate inebriation...Hope to see you all soon, in the daylight.

Photo-recon so far (all pics by Mike Milo)
Descending from most recent performances to the opening sets from Wednesday:
The Silent Years (with "snuggie chorus" - unveiling flavorful, experimental art-punk leaning songs from their new ambitious EP(s))
Zoos of Berlin (stately and tight, devastating, when's their full-length coming out?)
Deastro (battling a cold, but dynamic, exuberant as ever)
To The Bat Cave (first new found treasure of Blowout, 90's alt-rock vigor with 70's Roxy-type prog)
Devilfish (surf rock taken to jazzy Sea & Cake heights, with Minutemen-recalling punk-esque gusto)
Child Bite (dependably noisy and invigorating, debuting new songs...stay tuned)
Electric Fire Babies (rap and funk and booty-shaking glory - played it like they were already headliners)

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