So I picked up a ticket for the Identity Festival www.idfestival.com that came through DTE Friday (FYI, for future reference DTE will always be Pine Knob to me) . While there were a lot of DJ’S on the bill that can actually induce vomiting it was stacked with several that made the 20 dollar ticket a real bargain (sorry those of you that paid full price), including a personal favorite of mine DJ Shadow. But first things first lets get to the amazing breakfast/brunch I had before hand. I met up with friends in Ferndale and they took to me to Mae’s in Pleasant Ridge http://www.maesdetroit.com/. While I have been to Royal Oak plenty of times as well as Ferndale I had never heard of Pleasant Ridge which was kind of odd and funny. Anyways my meal was amazing. It was called the Hillbilly and featured two buttermilk biscuits topped with southern fried chicken (by the way whoever decided it was ok to serve fried chicken for breakfast is a genius), two perfectly poached eggs, and their creamy sausage gravy. It is then smothered in cheddar cheese and Franks Red Hot (however I substituted with my go to hot sauce Siracha). All this for only $7.50 which is a bargain well worth it compared to some other trendy diners I have been to that are not as good. I had a very delicious plate of hash-browns on the side but may go for the home-fries next time after having a bite of my friends. I love that they do their best to incorporate local products such as Faygo and Better Made as well as other fresh local ingredients and I especially love their story of love and spontaneity you can read at http://www.maesdetroit.com/ as well under “our story”. I honestly want to try everything on the menu after enjoying my meal so much and seeing everything being served around me including the the monster “hangover” breakfast my friends enjoyed and the unique looking aebleskivers which are a Scandinavian fried pancake delight (a house specialty I doubt you will find anywhere else around). I had the opportunity to have a delicious homemade oreo but lost my opportunity to try a chocolate chip cookie which I was told were amazing as well (don't sleep on the baked goods). I can't wait to take my beautiful girlfriend there because I know she will love it and all of their vegetarian options.
Hillbilly Breakfast @ Mae's
Now with a pleasantly filled belly I was glad the venue was still a 30 minute drive away because my friends and I just picked up a few sixers of dank Michigan beers and I needed to make room. I grabbed my recent favorite Huma Lupa Liscious from Shorts Brewery www.shortsbrewery.com(more on Shorts Brewery, their delicious food and beer, and our obsession with Ween in the near future) We enjoyed our delicious beers in the parking lot while listening to tracks including classic Beastie Boys, Pop Levi, DJ Numark and DJ Shadow just to name a few.
One of the best things about Identity was that my group had zero schedule conflicts, we all wanted to see the same acts and none of them over lapped (this is pretty much unheard of in the music festival scene). Modeselektor www.modeselektor.com was on point and I enjoyed the hand visuals in the background you will be able to see in my video below. Crystal Method was better than the previous two times I had seen them and my first time seeing Booka Shade was a real treat www.bookashade.com. I do a lot of listening on Pandora and it seems that many times when I go to thumbs up a song it ends up being Booka Shade depending on what channel I am tuned into so it was nice to see them live after regretfully passing them up a couple years ago at DEMF. The Disco Biscuits www.discobiscuits.com did an excellent job of packing a nice high energy and upbeat set into an hour that left everyone all smiles and wanting more. In the words of my friend "the Disco Biscuits own the Jamtronica sound" and I cant argue with that.
On to the man, the myth, and the legend DJ Shadow www.djshadow.com. He has really stepped his game up with the whole Shadowsphere (see video below taken in Chicago last fall) element to his show and brought a nice change of pace and something fresh to the lineup which was stacked with mostly pseudohouse/trance/clubby/dubstep music I don't normally care for. Shadow never disappoints in his live shows as he is a master of constantly updating his classic instrumental hip hop beats so they are new and fresh for each tour and performance as well as incorporating new material. I love that he furiously scratches non-stop over each track so the whole time you are moving and shaking. It is always a great idea to throw in a nice Pharcyde blend in the beginning (which he has been known to do on occasion) to make people that much happier because thats what The Pharcyde does is make people happier when they hear them. Over all Shadow did what he does best which is leave heads wrecked and faces melted. I was happy to cop his new EP on vinyl and a dope picture/poster of him taken by B+ (one of my favorite hip hop photographers along with Ricky Powell). All in all a great day of food and music. Enjoy the professional video taken for the Shadowsphere tour show in Chicago I was lucky enough to attend, a non professional video taken of Modeselektor by myself last week at Identity fest and a picture of Shadow and myself in the streets of Chicago just before the Jump Off at Park West.
DJ Shadow Live From the Shadowsphere Highlight Reel Chicago
DJ Shadow Highlight Reel from Tribeca Flashpoint on Vimeo.
Modeselektor Live @ Identity Festival
Shadow and I
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