regarding Shadow Woods Metal Fest:
I thought that if I let a week go by, I'd be able to find the words, but I can't. I'm still in a bit of a daze with all of it. Feel like I've barely ever been able to find time to even take a shit for the past month, having been on overdrive getting zud ready for shadow woods, on top of all other things back in the world. Now that at least the fest is over, I feel like I could sleep for a week, but, ya know, some things ain't gonna fly themselves.
Anyways, I'll make it brief (or not). To me, when considering everything that it was up against, Shadow Woods was perfect. I will say that I was skeptical as to whether or not it would be as successful as I think that it was. But, it was and I think if it happens again, it's going to be more successful. I think it is safe to say, cheesy as it sounds, that Shadow Woods may very well have acted as a "tide turning" moment for everyone that was there; in that there is a lot more to this shit than getting drunk and watching horror movies, or even collecting records, or only listening to what NWN! tells you is "evil enough" to listen to.
What was really cool for me about this fest though was not necessarily the music per se (though don't get me wrong, Midnight slayed it as always and Occultation put on probably one of the best live performances I've seen from a modern band since the last time I saw the Devil's Blood), but the fact that to put on this thing was a battle and it was not an easy one, and, it was fucking won. I always feel like an idiot when saying anything between songs (listening to Karl from Earth Crisis piss and moan about how if everyone were vegan than they'd be saving the world, was the beginning of the end of my believing that the world was worth saving in the first place), and I don't know if any of what I said towards the end of the zud set made sense to anyone. But, though I don't think the world, or particularly our shitty disgusting species, is worth saving, we did all wind up here, and unless we choose to "check out" on our own terms, we're still all here and in this shit together. As a 6'2" white dude with blond hair who was brought up by two really cool parents in maine, I know it is easier for me to say this then for others, but I do believe that we are in control of how we go about our lives. I've seen too many people who were not born with the same hand of cards that I was given, achieve more seemingly impossibly gnarly things than I could imagine. Anyways, with that, I find it really inspiring when I'm around people (no matter who they are or where they come from or whatever else) who choose to take risks and follow their crazy dreams, whatever their crazy dreams may be, not giving a fuck what the rest of the world has to say, always charging forward, never giving up. This thing would not have happened without Mary's passion and determination for chasing this dream, and that is why the zud set was dedicated to her. We're all already dead, but we don't know when. Kind of exciting, huh? But, there are those that may choose to simply hang out and wait to die... and then there are those few that know that as fucked and doomed as we are, that they're gonna try and make the world a better place anyways, cause otherwise, what the fuck, huh? I saw a lot of people having a lot of fun last weekend, to the point where I think some were able to forget all to bullshit back in the real world for a minute. That is something special and worth saluting. Thank you Mary. You are fucking rad. -j
ALSO, for those here in town or semi-nearby, one last westbound is set to hi-ball. This will be it for a while. Be there, or don't be.
