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The Freaks Come Out at Night
Written by Editor Thursday, 11 February 2010 04:45
I guess the question really is, 'What is a freak?'
Darin, one of FreakFest's organizers has the answers:
I think the answer to that is a person who is an outsider, people who
aren't part of the status quo. There are tons of freaks in Taiwan, both
foreigners and Taiwanese. Chinese New Year is one of those
strange times when everyone is supposed to have someplace to go and
something to do. It's a time to spend with family and close friends and
all that good stuff, yet, there is rarely much to do other than watch
some TV, eat til you pop, then maybe brave traffic and head to the
hills or the ocean. So, I thought it might be a good idea to give
people a focus for travelling. Lots of foreigners travel out of country
for the holidays, and most Taiwanese have family obligations, so the
freaks who have no particular commitments now have a focus for their
freakitude. The second day of new year is traditionally the day to
spend with your wife's parents, but if your aren't married then you
usually wind up just watching more TV and eating too much."
The other thing about freaks is that although they are individuals,
they seem to have a bond with other freaks, so we are holding the
festival on a huge campsite so that everyone can get together and freak
out as a community. In other words, it's a great chance for people who
enjoy the same kinds of lifestyle and music to get together and share
some good times.
This is probably the tenth festival I have
organized. I have been involved in Peacefest organization back in the
early years, I have done a few cultural festivals working with art
professors and students. As part of the Resistance, and the G.O.S.F.
I've organized outdoor parties and raves over the past 12 years. I even
did one of the first electronic parties during Spring Scream weekend
back in 1999 or 2000 I forget. Probably the biggest event I've
organized was the ArtStreet Carfree Festival in Taichung where we shut
down a street to car traffic for two days and partied in the street.
That was awesome.
We're really hoping that people bring their own
unique ideas and creativity to this party to give it a burning man kind
of feel.
On such short notice, this year we realize it'll be hard to organize
any kind of art installations or extra performances other than what is
happening on stage, but we are hoping for that kind of audience
participation and involvement. On Tuesday we are having a freestyle
session so that anyone with beatbox or rap or vocal skills can have a
chance to express. We're also encouraging hand drummers, fire spinners
and swallowers, and performers in general to get their freak on and
make this festival an audience created one.
As we have done these
past years at Spring Scream, Tin Pan Alley, our restaurant in Tainan,
will be serving up crazy gourmet pizza by the slice. We're also
collaborating with Spiked to serve our smoked Andouille sausage hotdogs
on frenchbread buns. The food should be delicious and the beers will
only be $100 even though we got Tetley's tallboys et al. We'll also have
a stocked bar. We would like to let everyone know that there is a huge
pile of driftwood that must not under any circumstance be used as
firewood. There must be NO FIRES lit on site. BBQ grills will be
controlled by the organizers, so please be safe and don't light
anything except cigarettes.
All the info about DJs, camping, address, directions is here.
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