The Panther Prints

of the festival. This show was

originally scheduled for Birdland but that changed. A band called Danko Jones was first. They sounded a lot like KISS at first, but bad. I did not like them. Plumtree followed them. They were happy and poppy and really quite good. Carla, one of the guitar play- ers, is getting really good! The Local Rabbits were third. Al- though they did a good show, they played the exact same set as they did the last two times I saw them. I guess they need some new songs. Mavis Piggott were after them. Just your - average Seattle rock band. Then came Elevator To Hell (yay!) who played a dark, gloomy set prompting one dumb person to yell out "play something we can dance to!" I really enjoyed that.

11:00pm _ I skipped the Chixdiggit set to head to Birdland for the wrap-up party of the festival. Rumour had it that the Tim Robbins Experi- ence were playing at eleven. Unfortunately I left for norea- son. The TREheld off their set

for about an hour while

Chixdiggit played the other venue. It was worth the wait though. TRE is three of the boys from Thrush Hermit play- ing classic rock inspired tunes and boy did they belt them out. There were all kinds of special guest appearances too. Greg Tymoshenko (of the late great Leather Uppers fame) stepped

up to sing a Huey Lewis tune

and was helped out by Steven Page of the Bare Naked La- dies, King Johnny Starr and "Montreal" Pete Elkas from the Local Rabbits played ona few tunes. Catronia Whalen (bass player from Plumtree) played some bluesy harmonica

on TRE’s most famous tune, “Countdown tothe Grammy’s”

and Chris Murphy of Sloan hopped on stage to do a rap type song with the band. It was

a pretty eventful set. Danko

Jones and SIANspheric 4 both did reprise sets and both did great jobs. | actually liked the former this time around.

3:00am Went home. Went to bed. I was so tired. What a weekend. So many bands. So little time.

September 24, 1996

Right Outta Left Field

This Week: Becoming Antisocial .

by J Jones

Yes, I’m back. Of course, this is open for in- terpretation, since in fact I haven’t gone anywhere. In fact, Imay not be anywhere at all. Or, in another case, I could be wherever I decide to be. Yes, despite my vague andrambling opening, Ihave picked up quite a bit ofnon- essential information over the summer, most courtesy of high-tech osmosis through computers. To be terribly blunt, Ihave beenso engulfed and absorbed with my ‘virtual life’ that I have practically given up my ‘other’ life, the real one. In fact, I think I may slowly be learning howto live an anti- social life and yet reap all the benefits of a ‘normal’ life. With the exception of food and water, there is no necessity that I require that Icannot find via my compu- ter. Instead of becoming a novelty, ithas become a way of life in a sense.

It was an addiction that quickly attacked my soul and way oflife. Itstarted as E-mail to friends Ihadn’t seen in a few weeks, which lead to E-mail to friends that I saw frequently but forgot to mention something in conversation, which even- tually lead to an all-E-mail conversation. BeforeI knew it, I chose surfing the web on a Saturday night instead ofnormal weekend outings. Not to say that the web or E-mail is bad (when you

Ia Bane es Bde Bs tn ig te in ch ae Disha: ie

consider the convenience and economics, its quite amazing), but if it replaces all other forms of communi- cation between you and the ‘outside world,’ there may be a few problems. Reply- ing to E-mail has become such a habit that now when Ifind myselfin conversation I must repress the urge to reply to each sentence, and wait for the speaker to finish speaking. It’s also a lot harder toignore prickly sub- jects while ina face-to-face conversation. I can also be lead to believe that I truly knowsomeone only by look- ing at their brief bio on their homepage and staring at a

Cyber

Smile

small, grainy picture.

I have become so en- thralled with this high-tech, high-efficiency, communica- tion-intensive instant-access culture that for some reason I cringe at the thought of meeting people in real life. I say this after three months of sending and receiving more E-mail than actual junk mail; of punctuating my jokes not with exclamations

Sta

or ellipses, but with smileys and emoticons; and being ‘virtually present’ for many major events all over the world, yet I rarely leave my computer at home. So what has this experience taught me? Aside from the obvious “If you type too fast, your words willbe slurred,” Ihave come to the realization that ‘people’ and ‘personal serv- ice’ areno longer necessary in my life. In fact, talking to a person in a face-to-face situation is almost a novelty now, since practically every service is automated.

On the burgeoning internet (and no, I have no intent on turning this into a “Wow! Look at the Internet!”-type column), there are no limits on topics ofcommunication. I’ve been to virtual concerts in Ire- land, seen real-time pictures of weather in the Russian wilderness, experienced the much-ballyhooed ‘cybersex,’ received up-to- the-minute sports scores and stock quotes, even meet old relatives that I would prob- ably not have meet in real life. But how does this af- fectsomeone like me, amere drop inthe Island communi- ty’s bucket? I honestly don’t know, but it was certainly an entertaining trip to the ‘other side’ of the web.

Editors Note: We do not force our staffmembers into virtual worlds, they go

willingly. Itis ahappy place. I love virtual reality. :)

Sako e nda Saed slie cbdh al ad ot dove eabvawhets