From “Dirtbin” to “the 031”
The Start Of Something More
Interpret Durban 2010: My Introduction back into our awesome scene.
I remember it so clearly, like when you land in an alien environment and are suddenly aware that everything is different and you have no idea what action to take. You know, as you do. The feeling of guilt you feel when you come back from an undeserved holiday only to hear a loved one passed away in your absence. That is how I felt about Durban.
After returning from a 7-year stint in Cape Town that saw me lose a career and a marriage, an apathetic Durban (run by the aged, with a youth that didn’t seem to have the balls or the energy to claim their own city) was not what I was needed from my new home.
It was so different. Actually, it was so.. the same. That was the problem. The same scene, the same attitude, the same everything, as when I had left. I found myself almost giving in to the cynical talk of cool-kid hipsters that the city I loved so dearly, with it’s area code tattooed on my arm, had died and everyone was booking their flights to Cape Town and Jozi.
You can tell I just came back, shirt tan and all.
Are you kidding me? I just came back from those places! I’ve come home to clean myself of their taint, while everyone else is clamoring to bathe in it? Then I thought: How can we make Durban like Cape Town. After a moment of self-loathing and disgust, I re-thought my thought: Screw Cape Town! How can we sing the praises of an already unique city. How can we hear what song Durban is really singing to us under the pink noise of political sagas, name changes, and the clumsy hooves of stubborn and irrational comparisons to our fair, coastal sibling.
Fortunately for me, as if orchestrated on behalf of the city by a caring God, there were a handful of other human-being-people that felt exactly the same and just like me.. were going to do their bit to the revival: the Streets Scenes, the Unit 11s, the Judd Campbells, the Ewoks, the Bob Perfects, the Dusty Richs, the I Art Inks, the Night Markets and of course those who produced the soundtrack of this city.
Ex-set-tara, ex-set-tara.
Unit 11, off Stamfordhill Road, pretty much became the venue of choice over the last few months.
From Dirtbin to 031
Enough with the Cape Town already.
Durban is Durban.
Durban is not Cape Town.
Durban is not Jozi.
Durban is not Margate.
Durban is not Dead.
Durban is Durban.
Who’s going to let the people know?
So started zero31.co.za.
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the conversational reference to “Dirtbin”, these days it’s all about “the 031”- so I must have done something right.
Blessings,
TwoSlice Dré
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Nice style of writing!
Aweh cuz! Thanks for the love. Need to hang soon, trusting the exhibition went well.
You just made my heart happy
and my Work-day a little less crappy 
Thanks Dre-Face!
Ah, our most dedicated comment-leaver-er! Glad I could help!
Durban inner-city needs to be rejuvenated before it can become a livable city again, and I don’t mean in the pathetic exclusionary point waterfront expansion. I mean taking back from the Nigerian drug deals, prostitutes and criminals; taking back the city.
Suburbanisation is what kills Durban – the spread north to Ballito and west to Hillcrest – everyone wants their DSTV and electric fence around their huge garden, nobody wants to create a scene where art and good times can flourish.
It’s the city that we need back. Cities create the cool.
I don’t know if I’m reading to deep into what you’re saying.. but the notion that Durban is currently not a livable city because of the state of the CBD seems extreme. Most cities have “that place”, you know?
But ja, I totally agree that it is something that needs to be done. We are the last of the three (JHB/CPT) to not re-invest and reclaim our CBD. Not sure where the fault lies.. with the council or with us citizens. Take the point, re-development for example.. I personally love it, it’s pricey yes, but still it’s probably my favourite part of the city, or a close second. The transformation is huge. Guys used to kill each other for small change there a few years back and now it’s probably one of the safest places to live. But, price issues aside, I’m still amazed at how people in our city are so reluctant to move there because of 1) distance and 2) a short drive down the beginning of old Point Road.
Distance! Really? I often wonder how these people would survive the cities they so badly want us to be like if they actually ended up moving there. I don’t care where you live in Durban, if you’re going to any other area in Durban, it’s not a long drive. Want to know what it’s like to put decent mileage on your car, just by going to work and doing grocery shopping? Move to joburg (I love that town, honestly).. or by heavy socializing? Move to Cape Town.
And then this spirit of fear thing that seems to own a certain part of our population, again I tend to notice it’s peeps that don’t have tons of experience in our other cities. Have we not learned by now that, in our country, you’re pretty much as safe where you are, as any other place you could be. Sometimes, kak just goes down, and it really doesn’t matter where you are.
Anyway, my point is, I totally agree with you.. Our inner-city has to, has to, has to, be rejuvenated. I actually can’t even begin to imagine how alive Durban would become if that had to happen. A beach town with a vibrant CBD.. yes please!
However, where this model of rejuvenation has been successful in other cities, the citizens (as well as the council obviously) have taken risks and put their assumptions aside. For that to happen here, we can’t have Umhlanga peeps thinking a 15 minute drive to town at night is a mission. And we can’t have guys thinking they’re going to get gang-raped if they drive to uShaka. At the risk of sounding like a toss: I think this city will become whatever we believe it to be.
Its happening brothers and sisters. Street Scene has its offices on Point road, we’ve made the move, we’re grabbing Durban by the short and curlies and taking our city back. Come join us! Come see what the point has to offer, come suss out our new offices and when your rent comes to an end get a spot down this side. Lets move people by moving ourselves!
Max love Mr Slice
ye mark…. tho cities create conflict and division by their very nature, there are now more people living in cities in the world than outside of them.
its interesting to note that both cities and rural areas hold keys for each others’ survival and success.
urban greening, more food production, more public and shared commuting, less of the corrupt bullshit we see in people tasked to ‘serve’ the city inhabitants…
now we must integrate the two in an infinity loop that bears no stack overflow errors
;@>