Sufjan Stevens Greetings From Michigan

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (77 of them)

I'm always disheartened when people say they are from "Michigan" and then they follow up by dropping all sorts of Detroit/AA/L.A. references as if that's the sum total of all that "Michigan" represents. Driving up past the tree line once or twice to stay at a weekend cabin or stopping at a gas station on US-2 on the way back down to Waterford (sorry, Chuck) just doesn't count.

Well, having lived most of my life in Michigan "below the tree line" from Benton Harbor to Ann Arbor to Detroit, I'm not willing to accept the contention that I lack "Michigan" credibility. Detroit may not be the sum total that "Michigan" represents, but it's a pretty damn big part of it.

― webcrack (music=crack), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 14:52 (twenty years ago) link

My point about "Michigan credibility" wasn't meant to invalidate anyone's Metro Detroit experiences -- Chuck's delivery route experiences trump any woods/camping stories I can muster -- but rather to draw attention to the bulk of the state that exists outside the sphere of the Big Three that S.S. captures quite well in the "Greetings From Michigan" record. In my youth, before I had a chance to live in some of the downstate areas described in this thread, any contact I had with Detroit-area folk simply reinforced the "rich snob" stereotype of people who think that nothing of value exists past Exit 160 on I-75. Of course, my sample at the time was biased, and I'd like to think those simplistic views have passed, but every now and again, the ol' reflex kicks in. Sorry to question anyone's legitimacy..."Ich bin ein Michiganer."

― Erick H (Erick H), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

heh, I can guarantee that your 'rich snob' stereotype doesn't fit many Detroiters, though it well describes many 'Detroit area' as in 'I live in bloomfield hills but tell people that I'm from Detroit' residents. Also, I think it's up to exit 180 or so now, the northern 'burbs extend at least up as far as Troy. I take it your point is more rural vs. urban Michigan, which would lump Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo in with the Detroit/Ann Arbor/Lansing triumvirate. I agree that there are two distinct Michigans, one citified and one log-cabin stylee.

― webcrack (music=crack), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 20:20 (twenty years ago) link

For some reason, I put GR and K-zoo closer to the "log-cabin" side of Michigan, although it's probably just me. I think it's all that God business throwing off my radar.

― Erick H (Erick H), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 23:46 (twenty years ago) link

despite chuck disliking it, this record actually isn't much good. the vocal songs just sound like the sea and cake without tunes or direction. I quite like the instumentals based on rivers, though, lots of xylophones playing descant with each other, a bit like the gawky little brother of "In C".

― Dave Amos, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 08:09 (twenty years ago) link

i heard on the radio that while he originally wanted to do all 50 states, he gave it up and made Seven Swans.

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 11:28 (twenty years ago) link

He gave up? I though Dakota or Wyoming was shortly due.

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 14:31 (twenty years ago) link

He's played live stuff from an upcoming Illinois disc around NYC.

― Nick Sylvester, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 15:34 (twenty years ago) link

hmm. i heard it on wzbc in boston mmm about 2 weeks ago. i guess theyre wrong.

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 17:45 (twenty years ago) link

yeah i thought i heard that on WZBC also

― kephm, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 17:51 (twenty years ago) link

C'mon, lighten up. He never genuinely intended to write a
50-album cycle, it was just a publicity ploy, and a good one at
that.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:50 (twenty years ago) link

A friend of mine pointed out that Glass - Music for 18 Musicians must have been a huge influence for Stevens and I think he is OTM.

― egon krenz (slaytrack), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:01 (twenty years ago) link

that would be weird since music for 18 musicians was written by Steve Reich

/asshole music snob

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:06 (twenty years ago) link

six years pass...

Still love this album. What the hell's he up to these days? His states project seems to have stagnated.

― sam500, Saturday, 1 May 2010 02:02 (fourteen years ago) link

four years pass...

I will still rep for this album even though I don't think anything else he's done quite measures up

― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Saturday, 18 October 2014 03:37 (nine years ago) link

ok I can't really say that since there's a bunch of shit he did I haven't even bothered to listen to, got real tired of him years ago, but I'm revisiting Michigan and still like it

― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Saturday, 18 October 2014 03:38 (nine years ago) link

all good naysayers is such a great song, flint too, vito's ordination song...i prefer illinois, and both records are bloated (like the song titles), but yeah it's great, and i wonder where he's been the last four years..

― ET sippin the wig (spazzmatazz), Saturday, 18 October 2014 04:53 (nine years ago) link

apparently he put out a single this year called "A Little Lost" so that seems to answer your question

― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Saturday, 18 October 2014 04:56 (nine years ago) link

it is an arthur russell cover

― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Saturday, 18 October 2014 04:58 (nine years ago) link

oh and I guess it's actually on a comp about to come out: red hot + arthur russell

― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Saturday, 18 October 2014 04:59 (nine years ago) link

I should revisit this one over the winter (but not before)
I wonder if there's as much vibraphone as I remember

― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Saturday, 18 October 2014 16:00 (nine years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.