NOSTALGIA AT
PARTIES
Current reports seem to indicate, here at this chill-out zone at
Outline '05, that once again the Dutch party has been a success.
So much so, that with checking out pictures and other stuff from
older parties over the years, and the fact that it is coming up
to nearly 10 years since I attended my first overseas computer
party, now seems to be the best time for a rundown of these
parties over that timeframe.
And that starts with Symposium '96. Happy memories, despite the
negative aspects of this early party, that only became apparent
later on after more successful parties were attended in later
years.
Symposium 96 took quite an effort in terms of time and transport
to get there. Driving on the continent was still another 4 scary
years or so away and, due to not having a great deal of cash on
us, the decision was taken to travel by bus, using Eurolines'
infamous service, to get over to Hamburg from London Victoria
station in UK.
It really is embarrassing to see, even now, the people who are
travelling on by bus from Victoria, trundling their cases down
the street from the train station to the bus station. I've
always thought that it doesn't exactly present London in as good
a light as other cities, simply because other cities have things
designed better anyways or there are tunnels for this sort of
thing ! I don't know ...
Anyway, we all assembled, that large (7 of us, I think) motley
crew of us in the main entrance at London Victoria bus station.
First delay we encountered there was the fact that the bus
originally taking us had broken down, so we had to wait while
another one was found and brought over to our stand. Next, we
all got on board, sorting out our luggage into the boot area and
taking our hand luggage on board properly. Seating was rather
tight and the bus itself was quite packed out, so we ended up
being perched on the edge of seats occupied by other, mostly
sleeping, foreign students and others who were also on board.
The journey itself went quite well; we had time to wander around
on the ferry journey between Dover and Calais, then back on the
bus again for some rather prolonged overnight driving. This was
a slightly boring bit of the journey, the longer it progressed
overnight. It was impossible to sleep on the coach itself
totally, so it came to us being dumped off at Hamburg's
Hauptbahnhof (central train station) at 5am or some unearthly
hour of the morning. As the party itself wasn't due to start
until 12pm that day, this meant we had rather a lot of hours to
kill. Having missed a night of sleep didn't help either. Some
time later, we entered a fast-food cafe to get some coffee, and
this was where Arnel had his now infamous episode with the
drunken knifeman. Well documented over the years now, and while
it was rather scary when it happened, we look back on it now as
being rather funny. What a twisted sense of humour some of us
have ...
(Some of us present at the cafe found the whole thing rather funny,
about thirty seconds after the drunk dude left! None of those
people were called Arnel though! - Ed Note.)
To cut a long story short, we finally got to the party itself
sometime earlier on that afternoon at Hittfeld. I recall finding
out where the Atari room was pretty much early on and meeting up
with Dutch contacts for the first time as well proved to be a
big hit, with most of these friendships carrying on even to
date. OK, so not all of them have been seen at parties since
then, but on occasions where we have met up the friendship level
is very much there. Sentry23, Slimer (DBA Mag), Bonus,
Wingleader and others helped us along at the party and were also
quite happy to help look after our stuff. The guys from Lazer,
the group behind the successful Falcon demos 'Lost Blubb' and
'Autowaschen Verboten' were there - and pleased to meet up with
us for what was then the first time of a face-to-face meeting.
Plenty of drink was drunk, whether that was beer, wine or soft
drinks. Looking back, the quality and frequency of the food
wasn't too brilliant, but I recall at least one serving of pizza
that seemed to go down quite well. This party was also our first
experience of mass sleeping rooms, where people tended to make
all kinds of noises, not just snoring either, but the famous
'SID-snore' along with the occasional loud fart or two. And this
was well before the days of John Hayward as well, so he can't be
blamed for making that noise at this particular party!
We also experienced here, for the first and thankfully only time
so far, having pre-brought food stolen from us by oddballs
there. Fortunately it was just food that was taken and
thankfully nothing else, although my video camera at the time
was put safely in the care of our new Dutch friends as a result.
Much respect was gained by us of them as a result, as it was our
first party they took us in hand and showed us the way.
The journey back from Hamburg, once again by bus, was very
tiring. Leaving Mr Pink and Tat there for a bit longer, we had
to go before the party finished; therefore we missed the major
competitions. This at the time couldn't be helped, but as a
result we rearranged our travel arrangements for future parties
so we could be there for the full time-length of the party
itself.
Easter of 1997 proved to be a no-party year for me personally,
with external goings-on as a result. Fast forward to Easter of
1998 and the first Alternative Party, held in the then
unfamiliar country of Finland.
Memories of this first Alt Party are quite hazy now, but from
recollections the venue was one of the best we've been to. Held
in Finland's 2nd or 3rd major city, Turku, it was the first
retro-party that I'd been to, and this was before the now-global
retro scene had got going properly in a major way with magazines
such as Retro Gamer being on the shelves. Talking of RG, this
was a long way off into the future.
The first Alt-Party again brought us new friends and contacts
from the Finnish scene, most of whom are still active to the
present day. Originally invited by members of the ST group,
Aggression, we also got to meet completely different people as
well. Viznut for example - the guy responsible for the amazing
demos on the Vic20 - a system which had died in the UK back in
1983 or thereabouts. Our travels to Finland for the first time
were also to include a Canadian contact from the IRC, known as
Q-Funk. He was flying over from Canada for the first time. We
had the amazing stroke of luck to meet him at Heathrow once we'd
got through customs. I seem to recall noticing a small guy with
one of the famous 'IRC #Atari' T-shirts and, upon pointing that
out to CiH at the time, both of us were pleased to meet a guy
who has since become a very good friend to us, also in non-
computer life as well. He since emigrated over to Finland to
live permanently and married a lovely Finnish lady (Solveig) a
little while ago.
We also got to meet the cool members of Aggression, notably
Setok, Wiztom, Teque and Lance. Not forgetting Partycle (not an
Aggression member) too :) Whilst at this time, Diamondie and
others who featured at later parties were not there, they made
appearances to us later on during future ALT parties, as you
will see by reading further on.
Party no 3, during Easter of 1999, was the utterly fantastic and
still to be bettered Error in Line, in its 1st incarnation. Held
in the famous location of Dresden, Germany, this party featured
most of the currently present Atari demoscene today. Although
we'd had the chance to meet Evl / DHS, Baggio / (then with
Wildfire, now Evolution) along with others, this was a chance to
meet the WHOLE scene. Grey and Sqward of Mystic Bytes were there
- and it was so great to meet up with these cool guys for the
first time. Hailing from Poland and with Polish people generally
having high regards for us UK'ers (due to actions in World War
2) we spent one hell of a lot of time with these guys and others
who joined them. EIL # 1 also introduced us to people such as
505 (Nils Feske), No (Normal Feske) of Escape. Re-meetings were
combined with old and new people, who we'd either met in person
at earlier parties or were meeting for the first time. Those who
hadn't met us before were still very interested in meeting us
and giving us a hand as it were; many friendships were forged
here over the time of the party.
The year 2000 was an amazing year in general, with not just one
but THREE parties in total - all of them amazing in their own
way. Travel started off with the long 'trip too far' (in the
words of Matt Smith) to Poland, to a party which Grey / Mystic
Bytes had organised. While, admittedly, there were some faults
with the party itself, these paled into insignificance when we
realised just what Grey had in store for us.
On entering Poland for the first time, after clearing customs at
the border crossings, it was getting late and the group of us
travelling in the car were thinking more of packing it in for
the night and hopefully finding a bed for the night around.
Fortunately because of where we were we located a rather decent
motel abut 5 minutes walk or so away from the border crossing,
where, on realising just what we were getting for our money and
that there were some spare rooms available, we decided to stay
there overnight. For a fiver (8 euro) per night for the 5 of us,
including breakfast the next morning too, this was not a bad
deal at all.
The trip around Gdansk, in the helpfully-provided free bus from
Gdansk's mayor at the time, was an excellent way for us to
explore a historic town and see some of the sights that Poland
as a country are developing for tourism. Respect, even five
years later, still goes out to the mayor for organising this and
respect also comes from us on Poland's successful entry to the
EU last year.
Driving over provided its own entertainment. Stopping off in the
pre-firework factory explosion city of Enschede to stay with
Havoc in his rather cool high-rise flat a short distance away
from the city centre, followed by a long drive across Germany,
into Poland via the Szcezcin border (I hope that is spelt right)
and back again a few days later was an experience in itself. A
good experience though, I must insist :)
Amusing times were had at the party, most notably the time when
the film 'South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut' was shown to the
audience there. This even had the (largely Polish) visitors in
stitches too, despite it also being an English language version
of the film. From what I recall of the entries at the compos,
these were not too bad, although the toilet habits of some of
the visitors left a lot to be desired!
On our return home from this party, it has to be noted at this
point that it began to get a little bit worrying during the
early & middle part of May. We had begun to get reports on local
radio and TV, telling us about an explosion in a Dutch city
'about 120 miles or so east of Amsterdam'. A day or so later, I
was in Cambridge with friends from my church, idly reading some
of the Sunday newspapers that were available at the University
Centre or Gradpad. Suddenly I got a shock - after focusing on a
picture in one of the newspapers, I realised where the picture
had been taken and how far it was in relation to where the
explosion occurred. The picture included Havoc's tower block and
streets nearby, which I was familiar with, having just visited
recently. Going home that evening, I saw the TV news - and this
was when the footage of the explosion itself was shown. This, to
me at least (and it was a year or so more before 9/11) was
shocking, even compared to that footage. I recall that I
frantically called up CiH and a few of the other guys to see if
anyone knew the whereabouts of Havoc. Fortunately, he was OK,
having been out of town that day. There also had been no damage
to his flat either, which was a relief.
Fast forward to the summer of 2000, and we had the second
Alternative Party to visit, back over in Finland. This was the
first Alt party to be held in Helsinki, although not at Gloria
just yet. It was held in a basement outroom, with rather decent
if a bit narrow long chairs to sleep on in the sleeping area and
also rather dark too. Some of the Finnish regulars did indeed
remember us from the first Alt party, so they were happy to meet
us again and see how we were doing. Having not been able to take
any computer equipment with us (this was in the days before
laptops were so readily and cheaply available) we were able to
watch and communicate with the other Finnish teams who were
there. In the main, most of these guys spoke excellent English,
which was a big help.
2 Alt was where we got to know just what it was like to organise
a party, in terms of getting equipment and other stuff to the
venue. We were staying at the residence of Setok (Kristoffer
Lawson) and helping him to cart his caboodle over to the party
itself. Plenty of lifting and carrying was done, even after the
party, with us being involved with taking the used desks and
chairs back to where they came from elsewhere in the building.
We also got the chance to talk and meet with most of our now
excellent Finnish friends on a more personal level. Pahartik
made himself known to us as well - even though he had been at
the first Alt party we'd not been introduced, for no specific or
particular reason as far as I know. He became more and more
known to us as time and parties went on. I think we might have
also spent more time with Nosfe as well, although not clear on
that - but one thing I do recall is sharing (in my case a couple
of mouthfuls, in CiH's case more than one or two glasses) of
rather excellent whisky from Teque, Aggression's resident (and
very talented) musician.
Flights both to and from Finland at this point had dumped the
rather pricey British Airways and the rather dirty, smelly and
horrible Heathrow Airport for the lovely, clean Stansted Airport
and Buzz Airlines, respectively. Being close to Cambridge (where
I live) Stansted is not too far to get to from here, about an
hour or so at the most and the price of long-stay car parking
there is also decent. Buzz are now sadly missed but provided for
us a very good flight with excellent seating arrangements for a
very decent cost. I think we paid around 80 ukp or so each for
the return direct flights between Stansted and Helsinki.
Moving on to early December 2000 and another trip via the famous
Harwich-Hoek van Holland bound ferry service, from Stena Line.
This party was STNICCC 2000, the follow-up to the original first
STNICCC party held back in 1990. Although CiH and I hadn't
attended the original, we'd become firm friends with Rich
Karsmakers (editor - ST News & organiser) a little later on
during the 90's. We first got the chance to meet him very early
one morning at Amsterdam's bus depot on our way back home from
Symposium 96. Odd meetings have occurred as well before and
since STNICCC 2000, the most memorable of which, I think, was
before one of the Error in Line parties, but more on those later
on ...
It was becoming rather routine, with the ferry trip over to
Holland being booked and us setting out on it from Harwich in
the usual way. I recall from this party that we took the Friday
evening sailing, that was slightly delayed anyway (not sure if
it was a headwind or something, crossings have not been that
bad). We disembarked easily enough and made our way straight
over to Utrecht and, after some to-ing and fro-ing, met up with
Rich K at some petrol station. John Hayward also accompanied CiH
and myself on this trip too - and no, in case you ask, he wasn't
blowing off too loudly just yet ...
This party may well also have been our first time into the
wonderful city of Amsterdam as well. Walking down the Damrak for
the first time, particularly when all is new to us was an
amazing experience. Having noticed that we were 3 Brits
travelling together, various maps were pressed into our hands,
clearly indicating with a big red circle and directions as to
just where the infamous Red Light District is. So we toddled
briefly around there in a not-quite 'window shopping' mode
(although some of the ladies might have thought otherwise). This
day was also (I think) the time where we seemed to come into
contact with a mad person in one of the major department stores
in 'Dam.
Fast forward a few hours, and we returned to the car, which we
had thoughtfully left parked at Schiphol airport. Although
prices were rather high security was the main reason - and it
was still in one piece with four wheels in the right places when
we got back too. We drove down to Leiden, stopping just after we
left the airport in amazement and wonder to see a passenger jet
actually taxiing over the motorway to the runway. This is
definitely a sight for sore eyes :) Leiden itself wasn't too far
away from the airport, and we got there in a relaxed state and
ready to party.
STNICCC was different to all the other parties we'd been to and
since. It was mainly a reunion party for all the old Atari scene
guys who we'd read and heard a lot about over the years. Some of
them recalled having heard about us too, which was a help. Mike
Schuessler (Sammy Joe / TLB) was one of the first to be found at
the party. Big hugs all round I think and a good chance for Mike
to introduce us to the other guys there, most of whom we weren't
familiar with in person. Alex Holland was also there; also I
seem to recall 505 and other newer members of the scene being
there. There was, as you'd expect, a rather large Dutch
attendance there, this included people such as Earx, D-Force,
Havoc, Nut (I think) and Comp7 too.
Stefan Posthuma, who was also one of the guiding lights behind
ST News over the years, was also there, having just flown in
from Canada just for that weekend. Stefan is now working for
Electronic Arts, who Mr Pink and others also now work for,
although he's based more in their Vancouver - based division.
Introductions to him were good, although he was more
concentrating on getting some of our more successful coders out
to work for EA as well. I'm not sure to this day whether he
succeeded or not!
STNICC was a party to be enjoyed, very much. One thing that was
present at this party was free food (included with the entry
price IIRC) and good food, at that. It made a big change from
the junk food diet that we tend to get into at parties, with
stuff from one night in particular being a huge selection of
freshly cooked Chinese food.
Jump to Easter 2001 now, with the welcome return of the Error In
Line party. It was great to get over to Dresden again, this time
in the car too. We made the now familiar crossing on the ferry
from Harwich to the Hook of Holland and drove to Enschede.
If memory serves me right, this was the time when we also met up
with the now infamous Nut (Barry) from FUN. We took him down in
the car to Dresden, stopping on the way to pick up Creature XL
as well. This particular drive down to Dresden was rather
interesting, as once we turned off the main east-west autobahn
to go south, the weather started to throw all sorts of
interesting obstacles at us. Heavy hailstones being at least one
of the weather formations that we ended up (I think I was
driving back then) having to pull over in a parking area for a
while until that passed, as it was impossible to see anything on
the road. I also recall driving through a snowstorm too at some
stage, once again having to pull over till it passed over. We
fortunately weren't the only ones doing this, however, it turned
out that many other drivers surrounding us were also doing the
same thing.
We got down to Dresden, despite all this, and found the party
location easily, bearing in mind it was at the same place as the
first EIL, in the underground student bar place. As it had just
started to rain, many willing Atari sceners who were already
there helped us to unload our stuff, along with the Frenchies'
stuff too, as they arrived around the same time as we had.
My memories of EIL #2 are rather hazy for some reason, although
the journey itself was noted for one thing, that we were
travelling when the foot and mouth outbreak was still ongoing at
home. This meant that all British cars coming into the
Netherlands were stopped at the port and forced to hand over any
food they might have.
And as this article gets bigger and bigger, well, this is just
Part One. Stay tuned for another instalment!
Felice for Alive,2005-10-10
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