[this was forwarded to f8 from an sfr post. the first two paragraphs are by tom slik. the guy who wrote the flame after is andy w, an old school producer.]
> I would like to thank everyone that came and supported > Skills on Saturday April 6, 2002 @ the Bill Graham > Civic Auditorium. We at Skills feel this is one of the > best events we have produced over the past 4 years, > but I would like to chat about something a little more > serious. The events that transpired that night outside > of the venue were a complete and utter tragedy. Lets > face it, if you saw what was going on, you know it was > a war zone outside. This kind of behavior is the > reason why we are shorthanded on venues. If you have > no intention of paying, being searched, or being IDed then > you are putting everyone, inside and outside of the > building, safety at risk. I have just come out of a > long discussion with Captain Gallagher and Officer > Kilgarrif of the Northern Police station, and I can > tell everyone that the future of events in San > Francisco does not look good. I hope everyone can > take a moment and think about how their actions not > only represent themselves, but other people as well. > About how just a few people can ruin the reputation of > thousands. Our scene has just taken one huge step > back. Our scene, not just our events, is labeled as a > potentially violent situation. Why is it that *my* scene took a huge step back because a promoter across town had a crowd control issue? I'm sorry, but I haven't done anything! Skills advertises the shit out of a party (wedging a huge ass flyer into my motorcycle's seat? Where the fuck am I gonna put it!?!?! I'm on a mo-tor-cy-cle), Skills makes Lo0T, Skills has a line/crowd issue, and now everybody has more of a problem throwing a party and we as a community have to change our evil ways? Stop selling the scene outside the scene pal! There's some ugly people out there! You wonder why you're getting people who are clueless to the underlying ethics of the scene that you fell in love with, look at who you tell your party about? Oh wait, you have no idea... you guys never see them. Why don't you get on the same radio stations, ads, promotional spots, and huge ass flyers you used to tell people about your event in the first place and share this little bit of info... tell people about mutual respect and self sustaining communities and a basic trust, and what a temporary autonomous zone is, and how we can use the insights we've gained through shared experience to reach a higher level of unity, understanding and tolerance, and how our actions as individuals reflect on the community... and not to riot no matter what, even if you're stuck in line and Mars is about to go on, you're starting to clench your jaw and you're pissed about getting your chapstick thrown away. I honestly doubt the problem can be effectively addressed by sending a quick e-mail out to a list of a couple hundred people, many of whom I know for a fact weren't at your event that had an attendance of several thousand. Sorry if that seems a bit abrupt, but this cry of "our precious scene"seems most often burped up by those making the most off it. I undertand I probably seem really annoying, but hey... I'm annoyed! This kind of stuff _is_ a real issue, and the perception of ALL events (no matter how inimate or carefully planned) suffers as a result. But getting on this list and scolding the people probably least likely to have been part of the problem does not seem like you're taking responsiblity for what you have helped bring upon us all. andyw
