Occasionally, Ears To The House receives stories telling us what happens when the people we write about read your favourite dance music website. And although we sadly can’t verify many of these, discovering that Derrick May ranted angrily when he first found out of our existence fills our editor’s heart with joy.
Another person who certainly isn’t a fan – yet always seems to know whenever we’ve been writing about him – is Juan Atkins. Yes, that would be the very same Juan Atkins who threatened to sue us for “defamation of character” some months ago – and all for the crime of having the temerity to ask legitimate questions.
With this in mind, let’s go back to a question which we asked a number of months ago – can Juan Atkins play the piano? The ever mischievous Michael James has even offered a $2000 bounty to the first person who can provide footage of Atkins doing precisely this – but even a promise from a fellow collaborator to match this offer has yet to bear a result.
So, did anyone have any luck at his performance at Movement Detroit last weekend? Viva Acid posted footage on Instagram taken as Cybotron played – you know, the band that Atkins walked out of 1985 yet somehow claims he now single handedly represents. Anyway, it’s the fifth slide below…
This clip has had the Ears To The House team scratching their heads. Atkins appears to have a synthesiser in front of him, although we’re unsure as to the model. Elsewhere, two other men are busy looking down at their own synthesisers and working hard – whereas Atkins doesn’t seem to be working as hard on his, to put it politely.
The final word here goes to the aforementioned Michael James, who recently said “Imagine the man whom you taught and mentored, who you shared your futuristic music and vision with, who even took the name you called your band and used it to elevate and enrich himself – playing center stage without you. Imagine that almost nobody celebrating the 2023 Movement Festival knows your name or even cares what the truth is.”.
He is, of course, referring to Rik Davis – the man who essentially made Cybotron into a thing. And we could not agree more…
