The Venus Festival - What happened? Part one.
From VenusFestival.com, the flier.
It has become my [illogical] goal to either attend or throw a rave in North Carolina, and possibly get a consistent scene going where I can enjoy my music with others. As many of you might know, I like the kind of music you’d be hard pressed to hear on the radio or in a club.
As a result, recently I’ve taken an interest in the NC electronic music scene. After going around Ravelinks and finding some pertinent threads I decided to venture out to my first big electronic music event: the Venus Festival. I figured that with acts like Planet of the Drums (featuring Dieselboy!), End: The DJ, and the legendary Charles Feelgood, there was surely going to be some kind of showing. Besides, it would be nice for my first big foray to be at a legit event and not some abandoned warehouse with a scene I wasn’t familiar with. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’d at least like some names first.
Two days before the showing, I coughed up $45 for an advanced day-pass ticket, and looked forward to what I expected to be the experience of a lifetime.
So I drove out with my girl to Harmony, NC (about 2.5 hours from where I am) on Saturday, October 10th, 2009. I followed a spray-painted sign to a grass parking lot, and a small stand with a few people standing around. A tractor was about to ferry about 10 people somewhere. After waiting around and talking to a couple burly security guys and a woman handling money, we were instructed to walk down a nondescript mud/gravel road.
After walking around a couple bends and seeing a golf cart whiz by with some security on it, I found the Venus Festival:
The Open Area
A few vendors selling food, a couple CDJs set up next to a barn with top 40 blaring, and some people wandering about. After walking around for a while (and talking to the nice folks at Harmony Farms, the host), I managed to find two small stages and a large indoor arena type area. I was told by the Harmony folks that the national acts would be playing there sometime around 7 PM, and that I should explore and go see “where everyone is.” After walking down to the large arena, thoughts bounced around in my head of the massive party that would soon be here.
This is where it’s going down.
Off the side path, I found a tent farm with some music booming and a few clusters of tents. I saw a few people dressed in rave gear (the first I’ve seen outside of the internet! Wow!), some great tunes playing, and people practicing poi.
The tent town.
So then we waited. We practiced some poi, I got out my flowlights and made sure that later on that night, I wasn’t going to completely embarrass myself. We walked around. We waited some more. And more. And nothing happened, no one seemed to be setting up or doing much of anything. The biggest signs of life were the glassblowing booth in that big arena I posted up there, and the vendors packing up. After talking to a few of the vendors and asking what was going on, I got my first inkling something was up.
They were packing up because “no one was here, and turnout was terrible.” Apparently, yesterday had been even worse. I learned from talking to some other attendees that, the day before, Planet of the Drums had played to a crowd of 150 people. To give you some perspective, that’s a smaller crowd than what shows up in most clubs in downtown Raleigh routinely for alcohol and top 40 bullshit. Planet of the Drums. World famous Drum and Bass DJs drawing a crowd one third the size of the line for Pixar swag at SIGGRAPH.
After being told to raid the food as I saw fit by the vendors (”We’re gonna have to toss it all anyway.”), I gave a generous tip and left with some sausages. And a couple bags of buns they were going to toss (ducks gotta eat too!).
At this point, things were beginning to coalesce in my head. The party paradox: no one was here because no one was here. Vendors were packing up because business was bad and they weren’t making money. DJs weren’t showing up because there was no one to play to. I wandered down to the arena where the only official looking people were milling around. Besides, there was a huge, white bubble inflating down there that wasn’t there a while ago.
That’s ominous.
I talked to the first guy who I saw setting stuff up. As to who he is, he’s the guy that the Venus Festival contact e-mail goes to. His name eludes me at the moment, but I’ll update this when I get that again. Long story short, he told me that turnout was extremely low, people are going into debt as a result, and all the people that were “good, and still showed up” were congregating in this area. Not surprisingly, most of the DJs bailed because they’d heard no one showed up. Really incredible shame. I heard that one headlining group was still going to be playing that night, though: Astral Projection. And they were putting on a private concert for the faithful inside of the igloo pictured above. Awesome.
Stay tuned for part two with the resolution to the Venus Festival (for the time I was there), and some more commentary. Not to mention… An inflatable igloo! DJ Psilonaut! Further speculation about the scene! And a private show by Astral Projection. I promise it will be interesting.
Chrome Metropolis Review
Around a half a year ago, I purchased a Chrome Metropolis messenger bag. Since items like these are not only judged on looks, function, and feel, but endurance, I figured I’d wait a bit before posting a review.
Logo and buckle
I have to admit, the thing that really caught my eye about the Chrome bag was the buckle and the overall sense of style. After doing more research, I found that they had a lot more than a shiny clasp to offer. The buckle setup is very functional; that triangle shaped piece on the end lets you adjust the tightness of the shoulder strap one handed. Pull it up to loosen the bag, and pull the loose remainder of the strap to tighten. Very convenient. It’s an improvement on the old d-ring setup some of the older Chrome bags have.
The bag
According to the Chrome website all Chrome bags have 18 oz. weatherproof truck liner, 1000d Cordura shell, and nylon 69 thread. What this adds up to is an incredibly sturdy bag that water will never seep through. I’ve worn my bag through a few rain showers, and nothing inside ever gets wet.
The shoulder strap has “anatomically correct EVA foam” in it too, which means that it’s incredibly comfortable to carry. It seems like the weight of the bag is distributed more evenly than with most messengers, so it takes longer to cause strain and fatigue. I’ve carried my bag with the below load around campus for hours at a time with no discomfort. The foam is showing no sign of wearing out, either.
Fully loaded
This bag holds a lot of stuff. My standard loadout is my Macbook Pro in its Axio Hardcase, Macbook charger, my iAudio X5 with its charger, my Sennheiser PX200s, standard and small sized Moleskines, pens and pencils, and a large sharpie. I’ve also got a few shirts in there that I just picked up.
The chargers and headphones go in side pouches to the sides of the zippered compartment, and the laptop and other large items go in the huge main compartment. It’s big enough to fit a 14″ by 17″ Graphics 360 pad, in addition to my laptop and large sketchbook. When fully loaded, the main compartment will hold about 2-3 gallon jugs of milk, or at least a couple six packs.
Overall, it feels like the bag was meant to hold a few odds and ends consistently, but to have a large, flexible compartment for carrying various items. Since it was designed with bike messengers in mind, this makes perfect sense.
Front compartments
The front zippered pouch has a huge zipper and pull on it, and has a satisfyingly solid feel to it. Doesn’t feel like it will go off track with any reasonable amount of use. All the other stitching on the front pouches feels solid and hasn’t shown wear after all the months I’ve used it. If I had one complaint about the bag, however, it would be that this is a relatively spartan setup for gadget freaks. In comparison, Timbuk2 bags easily have twice as many compartments and pouches for various items.
Attachments
You have a couple options when it comes to securing it shut. You can either use the generous rows of Velcro on the front to hold the flap down, or use the plastic buckles to really lock it in place. I’ve never had the Velcro fail me, but the buckles are always reassuring to have locked in. The redundancy here is impressively dependable.
Clasps
If you go the Velcro route, there’s an extra buckle next to the adjustable straps you can use to strap other things to your bag, like a poster tube or an umbrella. I’ve found this to be extremely handy, like when I lugged 3 tubes of posters back from SIGGRAPH through LAX with all my other luggage.
Interior view
This gives you an idea of what this bag can carry, and the size of the compartments on the sides.
Sealed up, fully loaded
Here’s the bag with the huge load of books, closed up with clasps fastened. The straps adjust to keep the bag closed even when it’s too full to use the Velcro effectively, which isn’t often.
What’s inside
Here are all the books that were in the bag. All the paperbacks in the top row were in the side pockets.
Frayed buckle
The only wear and tear I can find on the entire bag after half a year of use is a small fray in the seat belt fabric attached to the buckle. It looks as if I could take a lighter to it and seal it off, but I think I’ll just leave it alone. I’m not sure if it will continue to wear at this rate. If this is the only damage its taken so far, I’m sure it will last for years to come. All over the rest of the bag, the Cordura hasn’t frayed, and the truck liner only shows minor scuffs.
I should also note that the way you wear this bag isn’t quite the same as other messengers. It hangs diagonally across your back, which could be awkward for some. Check out the Chrome website for some examples of this. I thought this was strange at first, then I realized that, unlike other messengers, it effectively puts the weight of the bag on your back, not your shoulder. It’s not quite as convenient if you want to grab something out of your bag while you’re wearing it, but with some practice it gets easier.
Overall, I’ve been extremely satisfied with this bag. After considering Timbuk2, North Face, and a lot of other bag brands, this one fits me extremely well. I can carry all my daily college supplies and books with me comfortably. If I need to head somewhere for the weekend, I can throw my overnight junk and some clothes in there no problem. This bag will take anything you throw at it.
However, if you’re looking to carry a lot of gadgets and are looking for a dozen small compartments, this bag isn’t for you. It has its share of spaces to stow things, but the focus is really on sheer volume for the larger items you carry.
Also, if you’re looking to carry a laptop in it, consider that the bag has no hard support in it whatsoever. While this extends its flexibility and makes it very thin when it’s empty, it also means that nothing you carry is protected from bending against your back.
This bag suits me well, and I’d buy it again in a heartbeat. I’d give it a 9/10.
Note:
I looked up a couple reviews before I bought my bag, and if you’re considering it, you should take a look at them as well. They touch on a couple features I breezed over. They get a little more in depth, while I’m giving you the opinion from a long time user.
Unknown Hinson
Unknown Hinson
I saw Unknown Hinson tonight.
At about 9:30 I saw him show up outside, from my seat at the bar, and nonchalantly smoke a cigarette as his band mates inside set up their equipment.
What followed was some crazy awesome psychobilly/blues rock. With such songs as:
“Pregnant Again”
“I Make Faces (When I Make Love)”
“I Ain’t Afraid Of Your Husband”
And so much more. His guitar skills are pretty amazing, and not at all what I expected. I’d never been to an Unknown Hinson concert, but I don’t think I’ll miss another one in Raleigh. After word, I got his autograph on an Unknown Hinson sticker, shook his hand, and got my picture with him.
He called me Hoss!
If he’s ever in your area, don’t miss him. He’s definitely interesting enough to warrant a look.