Scene and Heard

Detroit parties to Pure 11

Photos by Jacqueline Garet » Last Friday, Pure Detroit celebrated its 11th birthday with a show at the Magic Stick. 11 local bands, 11 local artist, 11 dollars. Ohtis cancelled, and there ended up being 10 bands. But still.

Text by Jacqueline Garet
Posted on December 22, 2009

Black Lodge down

black lodge detroit band

Catfish Mafia

Charlie Slick

Crowd at the Magic Stick, Detroit

old empire detroit band

Phat Kat hip hop detroit band

Prussia band detroit Prussia

Scarlet Oaks band detroit

Silent Years band

Sister Lucas band detroit

The Great Fiction band detroit

The Juliets band detroit

In one night, there was Charlie Slick’s synthesizer/beats/light show/glitter/bubble and smoke machine party, the best bluegrass east of the Mississippi (Catfish Mafia), Prussia’s psych rock, Scarlet Oaks’ boy-girl country harmonies. The show alternated between two stages, and drastically varying styles flowed seamlessly, one after the others. (The others being Old Empire, Phat Cat, The Silent Years, , Sisters Lucas, The Great Fiction, The Juliets, Black Lodge)

Ryan Patrick Hooper, cultural arts coordinator at Pure Detroit emphasized the need to give back to the community where Pure Detroit started over a decade ago. “Detroit talent needs to be shared with the public. We don't want to just follow cultural trends here within the city — we genuinely want to create them and share the amazing talents of the artists, musicians and authors that join us along the way," he said.

Pure 11 also brought in eleven artists: Gwen Joy, Tony Roko, Tracey Nawrot, William Juice Singer, Michael Segal, Cedric Tai, Justin Ames, Jesse Jacobi, Kill Taupe and Marianne Audrey Burrows, all curated by local art critic Robert del Valle.