Mekka & Symposium 1998
Party Report
Submitted by CyberBrain (CyberBrain) on February 20 2002
Written by Neotec/F4CG
from News Press #18
NEOTEC'S CORNER as published in NEWS PRESS #18
My dear readers, welcome to Neotec's Corner once again! This is the place
where I can freely express my opinion and where I respond to criticism and
reactions directed at News Press.
Last month I visited the MEKKA + SYMPOSIUM PARTY '98 and I'd like to give
you a report on the event including a very personal visitor's list of mine
and the official party results, I hope you'll like it.
This is a report on the Mekka + Symposium Party '98 held in Fallingbostel,
Germany, from April 10th to 13th. To be honest I did not intend to go to the
Symposium this year (due to personal reasons, call it whatever you want,
timepressure or lazyness!), but several friends of mine persuaded me to
visit the party.
I knew the party place from last year, therefore I was not surprised to find
the hall in Fallingbostel not too crowded, cool and well ventilated.
The organizers (Smash Designs for the C64) had promised improvements, and
they kept their promises. The hygienic circumstances were much better in
comparison with the Symposium '97. The toilets were cleaned regularly, you
could take a refreshing shower once in a while and -above all- compared to
The Party 7 in Denmark last Christmas the Symposium '98 hall was comfortably
empty. The condition of the party area in conjunction with many C64 visitors
and the events created a very special mood, relaxed, comfortable, without any
trouble. The organizers stayed in the background most of the time, except for
Steeler who was the master of ceremony, the one to handle the show on stage
in front of the big screen.
By the way, the events on stage were extremely amusing, especially the
"Most Freaked Out Scener" contest.
Mat of Ozone (who always enters the Symposium free of charge! due to a
special arrangement with the organizers) begged the crowd to give him some
financial support (he asked for money) and really took a heavy toll!
Because all of a sudden a hail of coins pelt down on him and on all others
on stage, the party visitors threw money onto the stage and the coins came
down on Mat like hailstones.
All the freaked out sceners fled from the stage and took shelter somewhere.
It was great, we could hardly stop ourselves laughing!
Another event I still have pleasant memories of was the "SID-Tune
Competition". A A Capella-group (like the Comedian Harmonists) called
"Maybebop" performed old C64 tunes (so-called "SID-Tunes") live on stage.
And the competitors had to recognize the title of the songs by ear.
The idea was great, and believe me the presentation was even better !
Maybebop sang (among others) "Commando" and the "M.U.L.E." title song and I
really got attuned to the sound of the group. Most of us C64 sceners were
stunned that a real-life music group would perform C64 tunes live on stage
and how close they came to the original songs.
What else deserves to be mentioned ? I think the Padua demo was the highlight
of the c64 demo competition, I love Dano's gameboy intro and the new
"Yellow Submarine" lyrics ("We all live in the sixty four scene, the sixty
four scene, the sixty four scene"). The Padua posse distributed sheets with
the lyrics among the c64 sceners and all together we sang the song there live
during the c64 demo competition. It was wonderful, pure fun. By the way
Anonym of Padua is still looking for a video live recording of that jam
session, can anyone help him ???) In my opinion that Padua demonstration
reflects our scene spirit like a mirror image, most of us are members of
different groups, but we are one big family and party together.
Another moment to be remembered was of course AEG of Smash Designs and his
girl-friend Barbara who appeared on stage during the Smash demo
"Our Darkness" and announced that they seriously intend to get married.
All the best to you ! :)
Releasewise you can compare the Symposium '98 with The Party 7 in Denmark -
and you won't notice any difference in quality or quantity - not at all!
And when it comes to organization or entertainment, like for instance the
show on stage, then I have to state that the Symposium was much closer to the
real scene and to the party visitors (especially to us C64 sceners!), the
Symposium is more "user-friendly".
In my opinion that is the big difference between the quite disappointing
party in Denmark and the casual and loosened up mood at the Symposium '98.
You could feel that the party is what really matters, the halls were not
absolutely crammed with people and it's not all about money,
To it seems that the Symposium organizers place special emphasis on the
party programme (on stage and on the big screen!), on an undisturbed course
of events and on having fun.
For me the party was great (strenuous but fabulous) and not just one of these
commercial events somebody wants to make money out of.
-NEOTEC.
Some of the party people I saw / met there at MEKKA + SYMPOSIUM '98...
Anonym/Padua (ich hoffe Du kriegst das Video noch!),
Chaotic/Smash/Hitmen (Thanks! for all! Ich fand es wirklich so geil),
Cupid/Padua/Hitmen ("Yellow Submarine" ruled!)
Dano/Padua (hehe, geiles Demo)
Deekay/Crest/[O] (danke fuer alles)
Acidchild/Triad (war doch wieder cool!)
Fanta/Oxyron (the winner of the SID-Tune Competition)
Didi/Laxity (YO!)
Jack Alien/Remembers,
Weasel/Hitmen (ich fand's wirklich cool auf dem Big Screen!)
Flare/Padua,
Forbidden Cult,
Seven + Groepaz/Hitmen (danke fuer die Results!)
Sebaloz/Lepsi (great to meet you),
Warp 8/FHI,
ned/Accept (fuer mich der mostfreaked out scener auf der Party,aber was solls)
Danzig + Rayden/AFL and all others I forgot!
[RESULTS STRIPPED]
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