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Comment by kstrauser | Hacker News Reader

One big change is that they got better and much more organized. I go to an annual event with a few hundred of my friends and family. We rent a lodge in a national forest, set up an enormous sound system, and dance for 3 days around some very confused deer. There are food trucks and coffee bars and dozens of portapotties scattered around, plus daytime poolside sets while we swim around and listen to 100dB house.

We grayvers still like to have fun, just more comfortably. We have work next week, you know.

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I’m confused. You say that you “go to” an annual event, but then you describe it at a massive private festival that you’re self organizing. Which is it?

Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

As someone who does something similar, it’s easily both

The best festivals are co-creative experiences.

There are all sorts of volunteer roles someone needs to do, from directing parking, to helping in the kitchen, to roaming around at 3am to see if anyone needs help, to working the first aid stand, and a hundred other things. I always sign up for at least a couple of shifts doing something, so feel like part of the "we" helping to put it on, but it's still something I go to as a participant to have fun.

In Australia these are known as "bush doofs" and are essentially community events - they're organised, run and attended by a group of people rather than an organisation.

You can't buy tickets to them, you have to know someone who's in the group chat for them. You can just turn up on the day if you know where the event is; they're always incredibly remote, usually on a patch of bush (forest) on someone's enormous farm or a national park, pitch a tent, join in, help out where you can. Security is "if you act like a dickhead you'll be asked politely to leave by a bunch of people". There's no financial contribution, except sometimes a hat is passed around if someone had to pay for equipment hire or similar. You can buy drugs there, but only if you know the person you're buying from; usually better to sort yourself out before you go, there won't be anyone advertising anything for sale at the doof.

They can look a little like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH_RWBSQ9ic

Note: Burning car and local farm fire truck to stop fire spreading.

That's the Kellerberrin B&S, I think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_and_Spinster_Ball. Hence why the uploader called it a BnS, the girl at the start says "welcome to the blokes and skanks ball", everyone's driving a ute with a sick bullbar instead of mum's station wagon, and they look like they're all fucked up on Bundy and coke instead of MDMA and coke.

Not quite the same thing as a bush doof.

Strictly speaking it's a West Australian Inseminator's Ball (as titled) which were for a while run in parallel with the B&S balls although to the best of my knowledge they've both died down in popularity - Muresk Agricultural College very nearly closed, although it's gotten fresh grant money in recent years which may have changed things up a bit.

It shares a bit of overlap with many other variations of a bush party that I've been to, they've all been a little bit unique, a little bit the same.

There's even been a odd local lesser version of the more famous US Burning Man here - inspired by is perhaps the best description: https://blazingswan.com.au/ and not like a B&S, a bush doof, nor a Burning Man.

None of these things look like an inner city warehouse rave or nightclub either.

> One big change is that they got better and much more organized.

If I'm thinking of the same groups you're mentioning, they were already super organized. Mostly because they've been going for decades now.

If you’re thinking of groups, plural, then you probably know the ones I mean. And yeah, I wear the 20th anniversary tank top to the gym.

Why not just say what you're talking about? Are these some secret festivals or something?

Insider cool points. TBH I find it sad to be doing this at great expense but not putting any effort into making something accessible for younger generations.

They’re talking about Regional Burns.

They’re all over America and I presume the world.

They are making accessible to younger generations - many regional doofs and burn adjacent events I have been to are all ages, existing members bring their kids.

If you are asking why they don't go out of their way to advertise to outsiders, it's because these events do not scale well, and what they absolutely do not want are thousands of insta/tiktok tourists who don't contribute back to the scene or bring extra scrutiny from police.

Nailed it all around. I see lots of small kids at the things. Whatever mental image people have of raves, everyone looks out for the little ones. We want them to have fun in a safe environment. There are tons of 20-somethings having a good time in perhaps a higher production quality setting than they’d normally be around.

The last things we want are people doing stupid crap to make the law have to come around, or to make it all about themselves at the expense of others’ enjoyment.

In this case, it's not so much that it's some big top secret thing, but that it genuinely is something friends invite their other IRL friends to. I brought it up because it was relevant here, but it's not something exactly advertised. As a practical matter, the facilities can only host a specific number of people, and it's already the case that there's always a waiting list for tickets.

(It's not directly a Burner event either, although with a lot of East Bay attendees, there's organically a large portion of people who go to both.)

is that a smiling gearhead i see in the background?

I have one sewn on my messenger bag, yes.

We did that same thing for ten years in a row. Especially fun when some catastrophe happens, like a lightning strike to the house when everybody's in the garden, breaking all fuses, water pump etc. Remember we had probably three years without some crazy accident. Nobody got killed though, so all good.

Ah, good ol’ type 2 fun, where afterward someone can sell “ride the lightning” tshirts as a fundraiser.

I still remember the first one I was supposed to go to. They didn't tell you the location until the day of.

It was a high school gymnasium.

Didn't work out so well.

In Oakland we still have plenty of renegades!

Hey, neighbor. You sure do, and I'm happier for it!

can i get on the list?

Foopee and 19hz

Start going to shows and look for fliers

Also check out spaz parties.

I naively assumed that https://19hz.info would have a terrible search ranking, but it actually ranks #1 for "19hz". Fantastic website, been using it for a while.

So, basically, everyone grew up.

I imagine it's more than just the deer who are affected by 100dB sound pollution and "confused" is probably quite an understatement.

Hmmm

Raves died in the 90s for a few reasons.

1. They made dancing illegal (look it up before rage comments).

2. Corporate sponsors moved in.

3. Glow sticks / candy ravers

4. Drugs

5. Police tactics and not being able to be paid off by promoters.

6. The internet (remember map points and info lines?)

7. Models, actresses, famous types going and demanding special service / VIP.

8. DJ as GOD sick gross

9. OG promoters cashing out and not caring. Think Drop Bass and Daft Punk (google it).

10. Techno mainstream / a la hip hop. (DRUGS/S&M)

What sound pollution? There are permits and everything, and woodlands are really, really big. A couple hills over you wouldn't be able to hear a thing.

Perhaps humans wouldn't be able to hear a thing, but what about birds, rodents, and other animals? 100dB is something only humans can produce. To assume that other species aren't negatively affected seems wrong to me. I don't have the data to prove it, however.

Any concert amphitheater probably has 100x the sound power. Our speakers are very loud when you’re dancing next to them, but they’re not strong enough to be ear-splitting to a seated crowd of 80,000 people.

In the scheme of things, this is nothing.

lol @ grayvers

I left it all behind years ago but your event sounds awesome. Glad some people still keep the vibe alive.

Honestly, you won't find me on the dance floor. I'll be meandering around listening to the music I love at seismic sound levels, looking at the art exhibits people set up, and chilling with my friends. I just want to soak up the vibes and love everyone and the world for a few days, not dance myself to exhaustion.

Are you me? lol. I'm in SoCal though, and we still do our own family-style desert parties and we sometimes go to bigger desert parties (Moontribe still going strong), and sometimes go to the mountains in the central valley too. Slinky (which was near Fresno) was so much fun until it ended recently after 21 years :( My friend group doesn't have anything in the mountains quite like Slinky to replace it, but it sounds like you keep your invite list small, and for good reasons I know.

My wife still dances all-out, and she goes every weekend to see Doc or Farina or DJ Dan or whoever is in town. She can't live without getting sweaty from dancing, and I admire her for it especially as we're getting older - I'm in my 50s now, my knees are not what they used to be.

Have you seen the recently released documentary about Wicked Soundsystem? I'm guessing you're probably familiar with those guys. We saw it in a theater in LA and then went to the after party, it brought back so many memories.

California is a last bastion of sorts socially, because los Angeles is an extrovert magnet.

Ironically to the north, an opposite social civilization has attracted all the introverted people.

Entertainment must extrovert to gain eyeballs, but it uses the technology of the introverts to do so.

But underlying this ironic alliance is a force that cares not for the social polarity, it simply will nihilistically predate on both spheres to produce the maximal profit while eating away at the fabric of a functioning society.

The matrix really is the endgame goal: pods plugged into a VR machine. The matrix struggled with plausible explanations for why the machines kept humans in that state, and the endgame of capitalism likewise has no solution how the world would function at the end of its road.

A much more plausible take was that the matrix used human brains as coprocessors, credit to (who else?) Neil Gaiman for the idea.

The difference is with capitalism people are climbing into the pods of their own accord, having deluded themselves into believing maybe someday they’ll be the machines.

Lol at grayver. I guess my beard now counts.

In my corner of the woods back in the 90's, we also had the occasional "graver" (no y) who were mixing up rave and goth aesthetics.

Where's my invite?

How much does it cost (not to organize, but for someone to attend)?

There’s a wide range, but the specific one I described is around $200 for a 3 day weekend.

I was up there this summer, great weekend :)

Right on! I missed this summer and the fall classic, but plan to head back to at least one of them this year.

(My social media profile pic is me wearing neon glasses there one year.)

Where do you live?

I'm in NorCal near Oakland.

A yeah the deer are just confused, no need to worry. Keep partying!

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