> Detroit itself is a fairly small city, population wise
Detroit's population has decreased. It was the 5th or 6th largest city in the US around 1980, iirc.
> Detroit techno producers and DJs spent most of their time touring in Europe (where they could get paid), not here in North America.
> The Detroit Electronic Music Festival events were kind of a rare acknowledgement by a larger audience (I went to the first two only, though).
Yes, they were virtually unknown in Detroit. I also remember the first DEMF. Detroiters had no idea what was going on - what was this music? Why were people coming here from all over the world? One of my favorite memories was Derrick May finally taking the stage as the headliner:
> One of my favorite memories was Derrick May finally taking the stage
That was a great moment. I recall the Stacey Pullen set being great, too. I'd seen both those people before and not been impressed, actually. But at DEMF it was amazing.
> the Belleville Three [0] were from a more affluent part of Detroit at the time
Nobody in Detroit has ever called Belleville affluent (or 'more affluent' or whatever), and I go back to those days. I will politely omit the lol because you (obviously) aren't from around here.
Techno was indeed the music from middle-class African-Americans. It's too bad the world demanded that young Black male artists must act like the white world expected - like gangsters - to sell hip-hop records.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triplets_of_Belleville
(Could that be a subtle reference? Was the director or writer a techno fan?)