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Archive
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Online
Archive
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| Issue 16 - October 1973 |
| Durham Domefest |
| 20 years ago
they called it a beat generation, there was rock 'n' roll, then a bird
flew in on grass-wings and there was an underground, that went under
and we still got rock 'n' roll ... music has been at the centre of
the cyclone that has torn across the minds of the young white west
... music that can free your spirit and it has raised for itself a
heap of bullshit that ranks very high in the echelons of capitalism,
paternalism and politico-technocracy ... with all the agents, record
companies and other manifestations of show-biz-big-biz, the sound of
musicians souls goes thru too much shit to get to you ... so you got
a buy on your street corner with a gittar, and he sings real good for
free, so you get a lot of these guys together with a bunch of people
and you have some fun. Every little town used to have a bandstand,
and the brass band would play on summer afternoons and that is where
domefest is ... there could be a stage in every town park all summer
... orchestras, plays, poetry readings, dancing, rock music, whatever
anybody wanted to do ... councils have been apprehensive of hordes
of rock fans, litter, noise, but if it was there every week the whole
concept of the pilgrimage to festivals would disappear ... it would
just be there for people to dig and come and go, it doesn't matter
how many people are there, so long as what's there's going and growing,
changing, people playing, people listening, changing round, people
meeting people, exchanging, relating, being together without the connotations
of a scene, an event ... money ... a meeting place in a community ...
in the open air where we belong.
... there have been two festivals this summer ... there were a lot of folk at the first one had a good time, a lot of organisation ... hassling with band times, durham went into free music a little tight and controlled ... the second gig was different ... it was colder less people ... but the tightness had gone, all the 'plans' and 'arrangements' were behind us all, the day flowed into evening, people playing and people listening got into it ... liberation ... flow ... domefest has become assimilated by the community, without being absorbed by the established systems of economics that have come to rule every minute of most people's lives ... and that's the way it's gotta stay!!! first we were a little earthbound as the energy ground around, then we soared into the air, music, dance, lite, love, after lift-off it won't need much energy to keep glowing, the channels have been opened in durham (and south shields) this summer ... what next ... newcastle, gateshead, sunderland, darlington (planning a festival 74) hartlepool ... and south and north and east and west ... it's hard to write about the future, it's ridiculous to report on the past ... putting on a festival is a small step for a man and a great step for mankind ... if we can all try to make those little steps ... we're on our way back home to the sun ... wear your love like heaven, there ain't no mountain high enough ... an' when you get to the top of the mountain keep on climbing ... Rich
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