Just when you think the hype on this event can’t get bigger - it does!  My list of the huge number of online resources for this year’s Detroit Electronic Music Festival is the tip, but this is a big iceberg!  Wikipedia does the ‘Fest justice, giving the history and current stats, Paxahau is a big promoter this year, along with Synthtopia, get the details at the official DEMF BLOG and of course the DEMF site itself.  Videos and attendee info can be found on MySpace, last.fm and afterparty action at detroitluv.  One more reason the ‘D’ owns the music world!  Don’t miss this party!  $40 for a early purchase weekend pass, $25 per day, $50 weekend at the gate, $175 VIP!

We’re not gonna take it!  No!  We’re not gonna take it! We’re not gonna take it, anymore!!!  For you Beastie Boy fans old enough, those words may have been your adolescent right of passage, but we are re-adapting them for the ‘D’!  Let’s all join hands, sing Kum-bye-ya and stop the negative press on Detroit!  Naw, forget that!  Just click and digg this article to raise the positive awareness on Detroit!  Thanks to 313rd for getting the movement going!  Go HERE to see the top ten list of Detroit goodness, and add more!

Urban Forest is the name for AIGA’s national project to enhance awareness of ecology, the negative effects of suburban sprawl, and the value of green space in urban areas.  To accomplish this noble task, the design community is challenged to design banners that will create an urban forest in the city center being targeted.  A discussion on Detroiter Online provides more on the sponsorship chairs perspective. (more…)

Only in Detroit will you see the likes of the The Stooges, White Stripes and Kid Rock relegated to the category ‘Outstanding National Single’.  That leaves plenty of nominations open for the tons of local talent showcased at this year’s Detroit Music Awards!  The range of music and categories being celebrated Friday night at the Fillmore are only surpassed by the talent themselves!  Check nominees for 2008 awards, determined by nominations from local musicians and music industry professionals and voted for over the web.

The DMA has featured performances and guest appearances by Eminem, Kid Rock, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent and many others.  Tickets for this year’s event are $20, and you can either get tickets through ticketmaster or at the door.  Thanks to Detroitcity.com for the heads up!

We are in the process of launching a great new interactive site called the Detroiter Online.  The site is in beta test now, and is not even available at it’s planned URL, detroiteronline.com, but that hasn’t stopped some impressive content from being added by the site’s early adopters.  The headline above is from a post by Tim Smith that sums up the feelings of many in the existing creative community these days.  It is really nice that some of the communities leadership are willing to put up some significant funding to attract new creative talent to the Metro Detroit area, but it is confusing that they would need to spend money on research to figure out how.  In essence, Tim makes the point that the focus should start first with support of the incredible amount of creative talent that already exists in the region before worrying about how to bring more this way.  And to do that, he recommends hiring local.  Here is his post - (more…)

Corrections and updates to February 22 post on Creative Cities Summit from Eric Cedo, CEO, BrainGain Marketing:  “The event will be held at the Renaissance Center. The first Creative Cities Summit was held in Tampa 4 years ago. The one referenced in Philadelphia is not affiliated with Peter Kagayama, Creative Cities Production or Cool Cities. We’ll be adding new functionality to the site in coming months. If you are on Facebook you can join the CCS2.0 group here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8705139076. Also, Peter’s company is Creative Cities Productions - formerly Sextant Marketing.”

There has been a lot of hype in the local Detroit media about hosting this Second Creative Cities Summit October 13-15th since Governor Granholm announced it and blogged about it February 15th. No location for the event has yet been identified. Neither the link in the MiLifeMiTimes article nor the Cool Cities page of MSHDA seem to provide any detail. MiLifeMiTimes goes on to say the first Summit was held in St. Petersburg Fl. in 2004, which is also listed in the Freep article released in the same media salvo on this issue. Digging in a bit further, I find that an organization called UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) hosted what they thought was the first one in Philadelphia last year, partnering with a local organization called Innovation Philadelphia. So I am confused - when was the first summit? From MiLifeMiTimes, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s (MSHDA) Cool Cities Team is a key organizer of the event. Freep also mentions Creative Cities Productions, which doesn’t seem to exist, at least to Google. Peter Kageyama, who is mentioned in conjunction with Creative Cities Productions is very active in Creative Class activities, more of which you can read about here. I am hoping to get some people engaged in this worthy effort, so I hope more information on this event is provided soon!

Detroit Renaissance wants to know what you think and where you live - if you are creative.  They have asked New Economy Strategies LLC to conduct a survey to gauge obstacles to build a creative environment and Crain’s Detroit to survey the community to create a map of all the creative sector businesses in our Metro area.

For the Creative Business Climate survey (which they will email you the results of) click here.

For the asset map survey (which they won’t send you results of), you can read Mary Kramer’s intro to the survey, or jump to the survey.  If you even remotely suspect that you or someone you may work with can loosely be defined as creative - take this survey.  This survey is aimed at business, not individual, so fill it out for your company, even if you are a company of one!

There are few options (1) if you are in the music industry, and there may be others that are not completely represented.  Go ahead and pick the ‘other’ checkbox - don’t be intimidated to explain how you don’t fit into any of the pigeon holes!  What is most important is to stand up and be counted!

No, this isn’t another Die Hard movie. A geeky group in Detroit called Motor City Connect is sponsoring a Red Cross drive called ‘Red, Green and Warmth to provide blood, money & blankets in this holiday season that is a dry spell for the Red Cross.  The day to act is Friday, December 21.  Check out either site and do what seems best.

Another celebration of urban living is happening again this Friday at Willy’s Lofts, 444 West Willis in Midtown. Illuminate highlights recent urban residential developments in Detroit. Starts at 7, lasts till at least Midnight, and showcases food, music and art - what more do you need?

Making it happen: Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Slow’s BBQ, Majestic Cafe, R. Hirt Jr., Cost Plus wines and music courtesy of Detour Magazine.

$10 at the door helps StandUp for Kids and CAID. If you can’t afford the ten bucks, volunteer - Detroit Synergy can still use help on the day of the event.