Updated and restyled the site because I wanted to get the blog going again, did one post and then life got in the way. Got myself a new place to live in and getting that ready plus moving the immense heap of stuff I have amassed over the years and can’t seem to let go took a lot of my time and energy. But now that things are getting back into the usual groove a second post seems like a good plan.
Certainly because all the fuzz around the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards made me grin all weekend long. People getting riled up over the winners and losers, winners posting their awards on Facebook (even if they only got 3rd place), people angry for not being invited to the ceremony, people questioning the whole thing because the results weren’t what they expected or thought it should be … . It all seemed to incredibly funny to me. As an insider looking in from the outside.
Insider because I’ve both been part of the entire circus (OUR PARTY was nominated the first year of the awards, much to our own surprise) and because I’m part of “the jury” (a select few who steer the ship out of the port into the wild sea that is public voting). Combine that with my natural adversity to networking, marketing and the crazed idiot a horde of agitated people can be and my cynical self and it all becomes top shelf comedy.
Like most of these award-shows it’s nothing more than a way to big up our trade in the form of a networking event used by handy nominees to get some free publicity. This is why I appreciate the event yet don’t think too much of it. I appreciate it because it uses the momentum of I Love Techno to put electronic music in Belgium into the spotlights, something a rock-oriented country like ours can use. It makes what we do more relevant to outsiders. This is also why I don’t mind that the big players win because they make the whole thing more relevant in the eyes of those people. For the little ones it can be a great way to get some publicity.
The reason why I don’t see it as an appreciation of what we do is because we have chosen to be outsiders. The Elektropedia Awards, like any other similar event, is something for those seeking to be in the centre of attention. We know that what we do is unknown to most of the jury and certainly 99% of the public. We do stuff our own way, follow our own taste and not one determined by media with a wide reach. It’s in our blood to avoid the spotlights. We prefer a dark, damp basement over an event hall lit by a spectacular lightshow any day. We sometimes, unwillingly, are far ahead, usually way left but never in the midst of things hip and/or popular. Because we don’t really know what’s hip and popular and we don’t care. The consequence of that is something we have learned to live with (not to say enjoy, héhé).
So big up to Ben and the Elektropedia crew for what they do. I truly enjoy being part of the jury even though I know my influence is only small (and I didn’t attend the show). The occasional nudge we get through posts, retweets or shares is more than enough support for us, the rest we happily watch from the side-lines.
