NXNE - Day 2

NXNE
Toronto, ON
June 12-15th

After the somewhat tame events from the first evening of the fest, I was fully aware that both personal as well as professional acquaintances expected more from me on this evening. Knowing this, I opted to cancel a bulk of the events I had planned throughout the earlier portions of the day (meaning everything up until 6 in the evening). Not only was I representing a library worth of magazines, I was also trying not to seem like a small fish finally learning to swim upstream in the river of reality. As I find out later, I didn’t miss much throughout the day. The big event I was most hestitant to skip out on was the NXNE annual conference, which is exactly what you think it to be. However, from years past, I distinctly remember these “gatherings” to be a little more… what’s the word? Constructive. Instead, from what I hear, the day consisted of little more than a plethora of industry people yelling and pointing fingers at everyone else in regards to the current struggles of the industry to maintain the staggeringly spoilt standards set upon itself. The funny part was that the afternoon “workshop” was supposed to be a way for professionals to congregate and work together in order to better the industry. Instead, everyone was in crisis mode. On any given day I would have enjoyed nothing more than to be there to witness this self-destruction… but the evening had too much promise to waste time and energy on such a pitiful display of the little guys showing their frustrations about not reaching the no longer realistic expectations and quotas put forth by the big-wigs who prefer to ignore the realities that the common person no longer has an interest in paying for something they can get for free. Sometimes acceptance of that which cannot be prevented is the most productive thing one can to.

So the day did not start until 6, where I was fortunate enough to attend the world premiere screening of Sam Dunn’s Global Metal. If none of you have had the pleasure of ever seeing Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, I suggest you find a way to see it. Global Metal is the sequel, if you will, in which Dunn and crew trek to areas around the globe where one would think metal wouldn’t be relevant (or even existent!). While I, nor my partner in crime for the moment had passes to this event, I was fortunate enough to get a call from an amigo in Montreal who was currently on his way to the show. Somehow he managed to arrange for passes for the two of us two the event. However, these weren’t just any passes. We were bestowed golden tickets in the form of all-access wristbands for the entire event. This became an absolute blessing as the entire three months prior I kept telling myself to arrange for such passes only to dismiss it until it was too late. Up until then, I was hoping to use my charm, my credentials and, most importantly, my rugged good looks to get me into the dozens of shows I was hoping to attend. Now, I didn’t have to, allowing me to freely make a fool of myself (even though, apparently I’m even more charming when intoxicated and, in my opinion, I always look better when I see myself in a mirror whilst drunk). Living proof that I can get what I want without having to do anything. Let that be a lesson to all you lazy, freeloading aspiring journalists out there. Don’t bother trying… you can get it anyways. But mooching isn’t something that can be taught – it’s innate, like the Force.

Again, I get to spend another opportunity exploring an area unfamiliar to my eyes. Ok, not necessarily true as the showing was held at a theatre not too far away from the Mod Club from last night (actually same street, but a couple of blocks away). But, as always, surroundings can seem vastly different between night and day. During the hours of the sun, one can get an impression of the type of normalcy that exists, while at night, the vampires come out to play. A brief chance to tour the coffee shops and mini-trend restaurants littering the area was enough to fully clear the cobwebs of isolating oneself indoors for close to 20 hours.

Eventually we make our way to the showing of the movie. Where I was fortunate enough to again run into a mixed bag of various industry players both in my field and in others. Consider this Media Whoring number 2. The movie slated for start at 7 didn’t until closer to 8. I’m starting to notice a trend regarding start times and actual start times.

An enjoyable 2 hours later and I was enroute to what I hoped would be the first of many SKUNK co-presented concerts. A friend, Brent, who runs one of the biggest promotion companies out of Toronto, Just Entertainment, has always been an enthusiastic supporter of the magazine along with sharing the mutual loathing of High Times. And with the Toronto Cup currently inhabiting the city, it seemed beneficial to all parties involved to create some kind of link between the two festivals. It certainly didn’t hurt that the organizers of NXNE had practically begged Brent to involve himself with the festival, to bring in a sound atypical to the standard rock n roll/punk sound that seems to constantly be at the helm.

The first show was to feature famed Boston DJ Statik Selektah amongst a whole crew of b-ballers, breakdancers, MCs and the likes. However, in a complete show of disrespect, the club (I won’t name names, even though it was mostly the fault of the NXNE organizers) was mistakenly double-booked. Naturally the private party/ house music extravaganza received precedence because of the clientele most likely to spend more. Overly dapper (read: swanky, smelling of too much overpriced cologne) college guys and dressed to the nines chickies looking for the big score. This always wins out both economically and photogenically against the blunt-smokin’, beer hording posse of the white hip-hop community of Toronto. Lacoste 1 – Adidas – 0.

Poor Brent spent a bulk of the evening frantically trying to make things happen and what was supposed to be a 10:00 start in the main hall ended up materializing into a post midnight start in the dungeons of the place. Without any kind of visible clues outside as to the mere existence of any kind of show, not to mention the late show and many many people who walked away either disgusted or confused as to what exactly was going on, the crowd was, well… impressive. Not the pre-expected 500-plus impressiveness, but the fact that more than ten people were still there to witness the wax wizardry of Statik is a lot more to boast about considering the circumstances. The show went into the wee-hours of the morning and even though the crowd never really swelled beyond a few dozens, there was enough of a vibe to give the clientele their own sort of camaraderie against the mundane-ness of the sheep dancing upstairs to Britney, Fergie and broken record house DJs. Unfortunately I never had the enjoyment of basking in the glory of this co-SKUNK debut, and hopefully this wasn’t a sign of things to come.

Tomorrow night continues with the SKUNK promotions experiment, not to mention visits to the world (ok more like Toronto punk rawk) famous Bovine Sex Club, El Mocambo, the Phoenix and drunken stupidity of Bedouin Soundclash among others