The Detroitist

The Detroitist is a new anthology of Marsha Music's essays and lyric poems, focused on Detroit's history, mid-century transition, and contemporary changes. This anthology brings together the personal and the historical through writings on John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, and Detroit techno - as well as the 1967 Rebellion, and her years as an activist and labor leader. The Detroitist features “Requiem for a Record Shop Man,” Marsha’s narrative about her father Joe Von Battle’s record shop, Black Bottom; Hastings Street; 12th Street; and the Black experience in Detroit.

Marsha’s essays, poems and public presentations navigate some of the complex and difficult situations emerging from the redevelopment of Detroit and the exclusion inherent in much of that change. Launching at Detroit Fiber Works, Marsha presents excerpts from the book including her acclaimed essay “The Kidnapped Children of Detroit” and her celebrated poem “Just Say Hi (The Gentrification Blues).” The first of several gatherings around the city to introduce the book, this event celebrates and supports the survival of small, creative businesses on the important Livernois corridor (Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion).

Date: December 1, 2019
Partner: Detroit Fiber Works
Location: 19359 Livernois, Detroit, MI 48221
Coordinates: 42.43436, -83.14186

About the Artist

Marsha Music was born in Detroit and grew up in Highland Park, Michigan. She is the daughter of legendary pre-Motown record producer Joe Von Battle and West Side Detroit beauty and music lover Shirley Battle. Marsha is a former activist and labor leader and a noted speaker. She has contributed to significant Detroit narratives, including Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes: An Oral History of Detroit’s African American Community, University of Michigan’s Living Music oral history project, and Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies: Lafayette Park, Detroit, as well as an HBO documentary on the Detroit Tigers. In 2015, she was commissioned to create a poem about Detroit for Tod Machover’s acclaimed Symphony in D, which she read in performances with Detroit Symphony Orchestra. A Detroit cultural luminary, Marsha was the opening speaker for the July 2016 launch of the Detroit '67 project at the Detroit Historical Museum and was commissioned to create a poem for the Belle Isle Conservancy. Music received a 2015 Knight Arts Challenge award and was a 2015 New Museum IdeasCity Detroit fellow. In 2018, she lost her husband, the artist David Philpot, and she feels his supportive spirit in this project.