Actually you touched on something that disturbed me greatly, the difference
in crowds between Demf 1 & 2. It was the sight of such a diverse crowd
after the first Demf, all enjoying themselves and digging on the music, that
made it really seem like a landmark to me. That diversity seemed to be lost
at the second Demf, and I'm curious as to why this was the case? Anyone
have any thoughts on this?
In general, I thought that there was a preponderence of ravers at the last
festival who didn't necessarily know what they had even come to see. Now it
seems to me that although raves will probably exist for quite a while, the
rave scene is pretty dead in Michigan (finally? lol). I'm sure that most of
us won't feel too disturbed by this, but there could be a potential problem,
which is that raves have indeed provided much needed bookings and venues at
times when there were no other outlets for techno. What I'm concerned about
is that there will be nothing new to fill the role that raves may have
played in the past. And if the DEMF thinks that it is going to attract
ravers with it's godawful robot poster, as opposed to pursuing the kind of
diversity of the first year, well that clearly seems to be a dead end. The
worst thing that could happen is that curious locals won't attend because
they percieve it to simply be some kind of "rave" thing.
I also do feel that the cosmopolitan edge that Carl Craig brought is
missing, and that may also have some serious consequences--I'd personally
hope that this festival would seek to exist on an international level,
something that one would fly to from Europe to attend with no second
thoughts.
On the other hand, thank God for the afterparties which more and more look
like they will become the real focus. However, I think that for this to
remain true in the future, it is important that the festival itself remain
strong. Anyway, don't take these thoughts too seriously I am just trying to
make sense of what seems to be a slightly messy situation at this point.
/dave
Paul Virilio:
"Resistance is always possible! But we must engage in resistance first of
all by developing the idea of a technological culture. However, at the
present time, this idea is grossly underdeveloped. For example, we have
developed an artistic and a literary culture. Nevertheless, the ideals of
technological culture remain underdeveloped and therefore outside of popular
culture and the practical ideals of democracy. This is also why society as a
whole has no control over technological developments. And this is one of the
gravest threats to democracy in the near future. "
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