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New Segment to Distinguished Detroit: The Connoisseur’s Corner
Hello to all of my fabulous readers! I hope all is well with you and I wish you all a blessed holiday season! I want to present you all with a great opportunity to be a part of the Distinguished Detroit family and help give feedback to the readers, as well as maybe promote yourself as a writer/ connoisseur. This is what Distinguished Detroit is all about- promotion! This site isn’t catered towards LiLi Sheree or my success but to spread it around. You can call me a socialist in that aspect when it comes to helping Detroit garner the national accolades it deserves. Now, lets make sure we are making ourselves worthy to receive the accolades and stay on our ‘A’ game at all times (talking to myself as well).
Not only does our city hold a lot of talent but we also have a lot of discerning eyes, ears and hearts to the fine arts. So what better way to help us grow in our own than to receive constructive criticism from the home-team? Now let me say that having an opinion and hating are two different things- let’s be VERY clear about this. What I will not accept is material made to solely bring down someone’s spirits or purposefully written to be mean-spirited or harsh. The main goal is to help one grow as well as a way for the artist to know what their audience would like to see more of. Don’t highlight weaknesses without an honest solution and please do not disrespect the artist’s craft. We are a community of respect and are here as iron to sharpen each other.
If you have a noteworthy commentary/ review about someone’s artistry, business, or event please feel free to send it to submissions@distinguisheddetroit.com and we will gladly post them to The Connoisseur’s Corner. Below you will read the first submission and example as to how you should rate the artist, business or event (on an A-F grading scale). If you wish to remain anonymous, please sign the end of your review with a funky pseudonym as “Music Lover 313″ did below. Enjoy!
RATE THE BAND
I had the pleasure of attending the Acoustiq Musique show at the Jazz Café inside of Detroit’s legendary Music Hall. The show consisted of about six acts but the one band that definitely grabbed my attention was Matt Reed and TGP. I was not prepared for their set which was diverse, energetic, and unique but lacked cohesion in their sound- the most important element of a great band. Here’s what I thought:
LYRICAL CONTENT- C
Mediocre at best with songs such as “I Got Soul” and “We Got Style”. I wasn’t impressed with this group’s ability (or lack thereof) to deliver lyrical content that is full of soul and funk as they claim. All of the songs are “catchy” but nothing possessed timeless lyrics that can be played decades from now.
STAGE PRESENCE- B
The stage presence of the group was highly entertaining! As they approached the stage and began to set up, they appeared socially awkward and I immediately thought of a ‘B’ version of Hootie and the Blowfish. Front man Matt Reed, although standing about 5’3, has a large presence that captured the audience. Standing to his right on vocals and keys is a bad Remy Shand look alike that may have actually had the most soul in the group. Matt Reed and TGP really got the audience going when they each spit sixteen bars during the song “We Got Style”. I will go out on a limb and say that more people were probably laughing at them then cheering them on. However, the fact that the group had so much fun and energy on stage was great to watch. I caught myself laughing and smiling the entire time.
VOCALS- C
Vocals from Matt Reed were just sub par. Considering his boisterous personality I expected him to come with more “umph” vocally. The other band mate on vocals was Jeff Trasin and his vocal abilities did nothing for me either.
SOUND- D
I can describe the sound of the band in one word: LOUD! Equipped with keys, drums, bass and electric guitar, the band also brought along an MPC player and voice box. Instead of creating a masterpiece with the machines and instruments they bore a monstrosity that was at some times in the show quite hard to listen to.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE- C
This band has some work to do. In their case, less is definitely more. I would like to see them work on vocals and creating a sound that is unique but equally consistent. Matt Reed and TGP scored poorly in a few areas but the energy and passion that they had for the music almost made me like them. Almost 
Signed,
Music Lover 313
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MATT-REED-TGP/203515905520#!/pages/MATT-REED-TGP/203515905520?sk=info
