Fred Heutte wrote:
Really nice weather today -- a few sprinkles but mostly
sunny/partly cloudy. The crowds are down just a bit
but better than I expected so the $10 admission didn't
really hurt things at all. This is an excellent sign for the
financial health of the festival.
Really - I thought it was actually a little more populated than usual
when the fest first started (it's always sparse on day 1 at noon) and it
got pretty crowded as we got into nighttime. And y'know...I know I'm a
year older. I know I've put on some weight. I know I must be a bit grayer.
But my wife and I had 3 different sets of high school age kids come up
and ask us... "are you enjoying yourselves?"...."is your son spinning
here?"..."do you like techno?" As my wife is a High School English
teacher and we occasionally run into kids she has taught/is teaching
(and it was pretty loud, so if they said something to her, I wouldn't
have caught it), I just thought she knew these kids. I then realized
that we were a curiosity for them - "those old fogies at the techno
show". Of course, part of me wanted to give them a pop quiz on techno
history and ask "who's your daddy", but they already thought I WAS their
daddy's (or grandfacther's) age. It was harmless - and even funny. My
wife isn't so pleased by it (and she's 10 years my junior).It's
interesting to see so many youger people just discover techno and think
it is their secret. Ah, youth. I'm sure I was probably more naive when I
was young. Maybe not. I have never appreciated stupidity in crowds, I
have to say. I almost took someone's glow sticks away, I must admit (she
had them on long ropes and was swinging them in a 15' swath in a tight
crowd - "...but that's why we came down here!" re: "why? to clip people
upside the head? If you came down here to swing those, go stand in the
middle of I-75 and do it there!"). As Kent said, I'm turning into the
old man at the screen door yelling "You kids get offa my lawn!!". :-)
It wasn't as bad as this sounds - really it wasn't. I didn't even make
her stand in the corner. I'm getting ready to head back down in a few
and I'm taking my paddle with me this time, so if you're a young
whippersnapper and you want to get sassy, you best get a head start. I'm
a lot faster than I look. ;-)
jeff
