Spinner

They Might Be Giants Capture Detroit With a Cold War Camera

They Might Be Giants have been making music since 1982, a career that includes fourteen studio albums. In 2002, the band released their first children's album and has since recorded three more records for their educational series. The Brooklyn band is currently on tour supporting their latest release, 'Here Comes Science,' and singer John Linnell will be checking in with his thoughts and musings all along the way.

We've wandered halfway across the U.S. this past month to deliver our merry melodies, gloomy lyrics, aggressive noise and amusing chit-chat to young and old. Some places we revisit, like Madison, Wisconsin, are like pleasant old friends who throw an arm around us and press cups of hot cider into our grateful, chilly hands. Some towns, like Detroit, are like unstable, chain-smoking former roommates who behave unpredictably each time we reunite. They may suddenly explode with long-standing resentments, or they may surprise us with an insightful witticism. Detroit, indeed, is a place that even hardened New Yorkers approach with trepidation.

There was nothing unpleasant, however, about the crowd that greeted us at St. Andrews Hall this recent visit. The club has existed in Detroit's blighted center for as long as we've been touring, but the mood inside was warm and friendly. Our guitarist Dan Miller felt comfortable enough after the show to walk the half mile back to our hotel. Afterward, he was informed that he had miraculously cheated being stabbed to death.

I find myself drawn to the eerie specter of the abandoned, boarded up skyscrapers next to where we are staying. The giant ailanthus trees growing like weeds on their upper stories evoke a post-apocalyptic trope. Capturing the abject landscape requires a really wide 21mm lens screwed into an imitation Leica called the FED. This camera was produced in the former Soviet Union sometime during the grim years of the cold war. The FED was named in honor of Felix Edmundovitch Dzerzhinsky, who created the Soviet secret police. It is heavy and clunky. Amid the motor city's ruins I press the shutter and it produces a loud report that echos from the concrete and broken glass in all directions.


Next week: Things get even wider.

All the AOL Music info you want to know

Beyonce, Carnegie Hall: Singer Shows…

The Boombox

Courtesy of Beyonceonline.com Beyonce's daughter Blue Ivy was likely tucked…

Katy Perry Divorce: With No Prenup How…

AOL Music Blog

Jason Merritt, Getty Images It was shocking enough when Russell Brand…

Manraze 'Take on the World': Phil…

Noisecreep

Helen Collen He might be most famous for his guitar and songwriting work in…

See all AOL Music »

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

10 Comments

Filter by:
Lynnette

I am a 62 year old white woman and the area around St. Andrews is not scary or dangerous. That is a myth pure and simple.

I worked for Detroit Parks and Rec in the 60's and in Detroit Public Schools from 69-74. I was born in Detroit and graduated from Detroit Public Schools. My first husband was a roadie for the MC5 for about a year. Detroit is wonderful, the people of Detroit are great. It is the media that distorts the reality because it takes a long time to know a place not a month or a year.

I lived in Colorado Sunrise Ranch in Eden Valley the oldest alternative community in the United States. I live all over New York, Upstate the Catskills, Long Island, Wantaugh, Westchester and I rank Detroit as a equal to those places equal but different. The Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Orchestra Hall, Bakers Keyboard Lounge the oldest Jazz Club in the United States, the incredible Detroit Jazz Festival where I have seen McCoy Tyner, Amad Jamal, Chick Korea, Tah Mahal, Aretha, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock just to name a few all free and wonderful friendly atmosphere. Yes Detroit is a secret jewel and we like it like that!

November 17 2009 at 9:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Saple

Beautiful Writing, but unless there was a specific incident that happened where he cheated death, I doubt he was really in grave danger. As with any downtown of any major city, walking alone on a deserted street in the middle of the night makes you a target.

Detroit's boarded up skyscrapers make me yearn for it's bustling days of crowded street cars and buildings alive with business men and shoppers.

It took a long time for the city to reach this state and hopefully will not take us as long to recover.

November 16 2009 at 11:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
harriet

you might be interested in a blog called sweet juniper, it's about a stay-at-home dad raising two kids in downtown detroit, just a stone's throw away from st. andrew's.

no stabbings reported there yet:

http://www.sweet-juniper.com/

November 11 2009 at 12:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tara Rose

Arg. Please don't believe all the negative hype about Detroit. That neighborhood around St. Andrews is, as Manuel noted, really no scarier than any other American city's downtown. Did a suburbanite tell you that?

Anyway, thanks for coming back to Detroit again and again! Next time you're in the St. Andrews vicinity, be sure to have some gut-busting Greek food (the area specialty).

November 11 2009 at 10:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kimberly Chapman

Wish you would have come to Austin...we've got a 4 year old who learned her alphabet backwards and forwards by 15 months old because of HCT ABCs, fell in love with you all over again with HCT 123s (I've had to knit some John&John puppets), and now is completely obsessed with both the periodic table and paleontologists because of HC Science.

We're all long-term fans and would have come to your show if only you had come to Austin!

November 11 2009 at 1:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Manuel Magaña

John: I have just two quick questions. 1.) which hotel did you stay at? 2.) who informed Dan that "he had miraculously cheated being stabbed to death"?

Trying to think of all the hotels located a half mile from St Andrew's Hall, and none of them have overly dangerous walking routes to your venue. Sorry your guitarist was badly misinformed. If you or your colleagues ever have some free time to spend in the city, I'm sure there are a few folks who would be more than happy to show you around.

November 11 2009 at 12:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Erin

I have nothing to say besides the fact that your writing style is absolutely wonderful.

November 09 2009 at 6:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joseph C. Krause

Your photo is of The Lafayette Building, which is currently being leveled. The Westin Book-Cadillac Hotel across the street was in a similar condition for 25 years before being renovated just before the housing crash.

I live a short walk from that intersection. Detroit is understandably scary at first, but there is a lot of creative energy hidden away. That plus abnormally cheap real estate and a low cost of living makes it an enjoyable place to live once the initial trepidation burns away. Also I can make believe I'm all tough because of my address.

Here's a video I made on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_lci3KcKKc

November 06 2009 at 7:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Emmalee

Sweet picture. Looks like a groovy angle in some hard core music video. Next time you go to that city, bring some bullet proof vests.

November 05 2009 at 8:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
cmiller

Whoa. That looks chilly. Hope that was the aim.

November 05 2009 at 6:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply