steve indigenou said:
As for the unpopularity, people should start to understand that I really don't care. Courting popularity in circles that are clearly opposed to our work, without even bothering to see it first, is not a priority.
Actually a friend donated some guest list passes for Saturday and I made an effort to pop down for a few hours. After Steve's outburst I'm almost resentful I bothered...
Truth is, it wasn't a bad party. The security was indeed very friendly, the venue decorated well; I've absolutely no problems with the production standards, atmosphere or effort behind the event. Only the cloakroom - was I'm guessing was SE1's responsibiity - left a sour taste, rigorously charging (over the odds) for each and every item.
The music certainly wasn't to my taste. But you can never accuse the loyal psy-trance crowd of lack of enthusiasm. And escaping from the trance gave me a chance to wander around the rest of the rooms. Some good visuals, some stands, some participative painting things and quite a bit more - all fairly nice, if a little familiar if you ask me. I'll give Synergy this though - it's not every Saturday night that you'll catch me sheltering in a teepee, sipping peppermint tea and watching a samba band go past.
OK, so the novelty of the teepee (and trance) wore off quickly enough. But it was far from an event which deserves derision. Each to his own and all that.
Thing is, even after the event, I'm still at a loss as to what Synergy actually achieves. As far as I can see, it's a well put together event, catering mainly for the loyal psy-scene, but at 15 nicker it's hardly pushing back the 'frontiers of dance music' or meeting whatever grandiose claims Steve's putting up. A 'local alternative cultural vanguard' eh? Hmm...
It's ridiculous claims and self important pompousness like this that don't endear me to Synergy one little bit. So far I've repeatedly asked for Steve to give me a little more info on Synergy's projects and achievements, checked out the website, even been to to the event and I'm still none the wiser what they actually do.
Steve's sole example so far, 'With Oxfam, for example, we are training their VJ in how to get their messages across in our environment' - i.e we're helping a VJ show trippy/protest visuals to trance kids caning it in a nightclub, doesn't exactly fulfil Synergy's lofty principles of making a lasting impact on the local cultural environment.
it's not that I've anything against Synergy. In fact, I'm judging it on exactly the same standards as I would any commercial enterprise that continually made unsubstantiated claims (or marketing bullshit) about its achievements and spammed potential helpers without remorse. Steve's also shown little inclination to listen to legitimate concerns, so much so that I suspect that he previously worked in Monsanto's PR department.
It's a shit way of doing things, particularly for an ethical organisation which needs to grow in partnership with the local community. If ever I was tempted to contribute any help to Synergy, arrogant unapologetic assholes like Steve would have put me off long ago...
if you look at the 3 threads in question, the only way in which people could have been said to 'have a go' is a) that dub & others initially thought they were a commercial venture ripping off the cooltan name and 'cred' which steve cleared up in his first post and b) steve's spamming
