The Party 1993
Party Report
Submitted by hedning (hedning) on September 28 2015
Written by Incubus / Antic
REPORT (From the fifth party album by Incubus/Antic)
Since the Light party in Alingsås 1992, my first party, Ive never missed a major event. I've had an
extremely good time at every party I've attended io; Light '92, Brutal '92, The Party II and TCC '93. Parties
are really something special for me. They are the only opportunities for me as a scener to meet so many
contacts and friends for real, watching demos, copying lots of disks and simply mingle. I get delirious just
thinking about it. And when I read about The Party III, I got bubbles in my stomach; I was going to visit this
party, no matter what would happen. It was to be held between the 27th and the 29th of December in a city
called Herning, situated right in the heart of Denmark. The C64 organizers were Camelot, Just like last
year. According to the Amiga organizers Silents, Spaceballs and Lemon, this party would be the greatest
party ever, with lots of nice compos, performances and everything that is possible to make a computer freak
happy. Boy, hadn't I heard this kind of bragging before? But since The Party II was such a success, I
believed them a little.
The transport to the party was, as a couple of times before, arranged by Spirou/Fairlight and Creeper/
Antic, who'd fixed a bus straight from Stockholm to the partyplace, return journey included. They must be
credited for this, because they make the trip so much easier (and cheaper and funnier!) than going by train
or car. We certainly hope that they will continue with this in the future.
After a couple of hours of waiting in Stockholm the bus arrived, a double decker that allowed 75
passengers, and almost all of them joined in Stockholm. Some of the C64 names were Trasher+Riddler/Active
Motley+Scope/G*P, Bacchus+Vodka/FLT, Pommac/Hoaxers and of course Spirou and Creeper. The bus was
also to pick up some guys on the way to Gothenburg, where the ferries leave from, like Depeh+Exalt+Zyron/
Antic, Bappalander/FLT, Unifier/Spirit, King Fisher/Triad, Tchad/Jam and some more.
After some 20 hours of nonstop travelling I could finally see the partyplace. The time was now 16.00 on the
27th of December. Since the party had been open since 10.00, we were a little late. So now there was no time
to lose.
The first impression I got of the "messecenter" was that it looked like a school or something. But when I
got inside I had only one word for it; huge. Only the entrance hall was like a building itself. Anyway, there
weren't many guys at the information counter, so checking in only took a few minutes. Quite a difference if
you compare it to the Party II, where just checking in took about two hours ...
After some minutes of running around in corridors I finally entered the main party hall. And it was really
a wonderous sight; the hall was at least as big as a football ground, and it was almost full of people,
computers and loud noise. The three elements of a party! I put up my things among the Antic guys in the
corner of the hall, picked up my camera and started to explore the halls.
The big screen for showing demos and such stuff was really big this year, and the sound system was also
very good. The stage was just below the screen. I walked through the corridors again, and afterwards I must
say that I was impressed. There were two restaurants, two kiosks and a stand where they sold diskettes and
equipment. There was also a hall where different Danish companies (including CBM) had exhibitions and
selling stands. A really great thing. I also passed two smaller party halls before reaching the sleeping halls.
Like the other halls it was really huge, and would easily fit hundreds of tired sceners. All in all, the
partyplace couldn't have been better. Enormous areas everywhere, and the whole building was probably
newly-built, because the architecture of it was so modern. There was even a fountain in one of the halls!
After some hours of walking around and chatting with contacts I and some local friends shared a bottle of
'Jägermeister", that I had bought on the ferry. We had to pour it into coke bottles first to avoid getting
brown out (alcohol was forbidden at the partyplace). It tasted really great in the beginning, but after a
while it was almost terrible, because it had turned warm. Yuck! So I gave up the idea of getting drunk and
decided to take a nap instead. After some calculations I found out that I had been awake for almost 43 hours
a personal record! Just thinking about this made me even more tired, so I quickly rushed off to the sleeping
hall. It was very dark, so I had to walk carefully to avoid stumbling on any sleeping guys. The most popular
places to sleep on was along the walls, and after some searching I found a place, an entrance with a closed
door. Unfortunately this place was lightened up by a lamp in the roof (perhaps this was why this place
wasn't occupied!), but I was too tired to care. I went to sleep immediately.
About seven hours later I woke up. The time was now about 11.00 on the 28th. The first thing I recognosed
was that there was a draught on the floor, and it had made me very cold. This is typical for a party; at almost
every party I've attended to, there has been cold sleeping halls. A very bad and serious problem that must be
improved in the future. Anyway, at the time I didn't care too much, but I decided not to sleep any more in
these halls.
After some hours the deadline for the C64 demo competition took place, and after yet some hours they
showed the demos on the screen: Fairlight, Oxyron, Antic, Dual Crew, Censor, Camelot, Focus, Silicon,
pirit and W.O.W. The quality of most of the demos was really high, especially the Censor, Camelot and
Fairlight demos were really outstanding. I have to admit that I didn't notice too much of the graphics and
music competitions, so I couldn't give any reactions on them until after the compos.
Then it was time for the voting, and I must say that the voting system used couldn't be more unpractical.
When checking in everyone received an Amiga voting disk, that was to be handed in at the information
ounter after voting. Well, that system sucks in three ways:
1. They probably expect everybody to bring an Amiga. If you don't, you have to borrow one to be able to
vote.
2. When you're voting, each demo, song and picture has a certain number that must be noticed when
watching the competitions on the screen. This involved several misunderstandings and mix-ups that were
disastrous for the results.
3. It's so fucking easy to cheat the votes! For example, a certain FLT member collected some 40 voting
disks and voted FLT as #1 on every disk. But he made the mistake not taking paragraph 2 too seriously, so
by accident he voted the Focus demo as #1 instead of his own group. With other words, he gave Focus about
200 votes extra! He who diggeth a pit shall fall therein ...
Here are the results of the C64 competitions:
DEMO:
1. Camelot
2. Censor Design
3. Focus
4. Fairlight
5. Oxyron
GRAPHICS:
1. Oxidy/Fairlight
2. Dane/Triad
3. Deekay/Crest
4. Mad/Padua
5. Creeper/Antic
MUSIC:
1. Red Devil/Fairlight
2. Kristian Rostoen/Shape
3. Zyron/Antic
4. Odysseus
5. Amadeus/Meka Design
These results certainly look strange, but what can you expect with this ROTTEN votesystem. You shouldn't
take them seriously at all. Just look:
* Hein Design and Mirage/Focus came on 18th and 19th place respectively. This couldn't have happened
with a somewhat normal voting system. .
* Antic came 8th with "Beyond Imagination 2", one of their best demos ever, only beating W.O.W. Normal,
do you think? . . . .
* In my eyes the best musician in the scene, P.R.l.ITJA/Oxyron, dodn t get a smgle pomt for hos
ontribution. Normal, do you think?
* Both Oxidy and Red Devil/FLT won their cathegories. No offence against them, but doesn't it look a bit
suspicious?
All in all, I hope now that the organizers have learned a from this mistake, and that NO party organizers rill use this totally worthless voting system again. .
Immediately after the compos the mayhem started. Everyone wanted to copy every demo available, and
they were just running around everywhere. I had an unusually hectic period myself, because I was hunting
for Amiga stuff aswell. Suddenly there was almost no time at all left of the party, and people started to pack
and leave. Soon the bus arrived and we waved the partyplaced goodbye (well, we didn't, but it all sounds
much nicer if I write it like that). In Fredrikshavn we had a couple of hours before the ferry to Gothenburg
would leave, so we (I, Depeh, Zyron, Exalt, Unifier, Bappalander, Creeper, Bacchus and Sporou) went to the
traditional "Tony's pizzas". But the servant was really in a bad mood this time, so we decided to eat
somewhere else.
Finally on the ferry we took a seat in the bar. We ordered in a beer, and another one, and another one ... In
short, we had a really good time, and I took some weird photos. The Antic guys tried to persuade me to
rejoin them, and eventually I said yes. Actually I've been on the verge of doing this ever since I joined Triad.
I have absolutely nothing against them, but I made quite a mistake when joining Triad, since almost all Antic
members are really good friends of mine, and I feel more comfortable being in this group. Yeah, back to the
roots!
The rest of the trip was uninteresting. I slept almost all the way home, except for a few times when I woke
up with a hangover. Finally at 13.00 on the 30th I barged into my home and just threw myself into my bed.
My fifth party trip was over, and as a summary I have to say that this was one of the better ones. I had a
really good time all through, except for the C64 competitions, that made me very angry. But otherwise the
organisation of the party was a success. I took almost three rolls of film, and it was well worth the 2,200 SKR
I spent on the whole trip. lf there is a The Party IV next year, I'll make sure to be there. Will you?
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