Winding down, photos and videos

There has been a lot of feedback to Splore, via the website, in personal interactions and emails. Most of it has been positive, the odd pointless grumble, but largely the communications have been high praise for the event and everyone who was involved. Thank you to all who have commented to date.

The organisers are in the throes of wrapping up the postproduction and pretty soon everyone will be taking a well deserved break. Personally I’m off to the beach for a week with my family for a spot of ‘off-season’ rest and relaxation.

Over the next month or so on the Splore site you’ll be able to see some of the images captured by the official Splore photographers. If you’ve caught a few classic moments youself it’d be worth submitting them to the Moments of Immersion  photography competition. Selected images will be exhibited in June at the Centre of Gravity Cafe as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. Entries close March 30, 2008. 

There is already a whole heap of videos up on YouTube including a 12 minute clip of Freddie Cruger, some Pharoahe Monch, Shapeshifter, Kora and Antix.

If you left site with money remaining on your AWOP card please post card with a self addressed envelope to:-
AWOP
452B Tauwhare Road
RD 4
Hamilton
Remaining funds will be refunded via a cheque
Further inquires to info@awop.co.nz

posted by Jamie, 17 Feb 2008 | read 1 comment | comment | link

After the dust settled

Here we all are, back to reality, except for the troopers that are still packing out the site.

I’ll keep this brief. Frstly I would like to thank all those involved in producing this wonderful event, the artists and everyone who supported the wonderful beast that is Splore.

Please send me your stories, your titbits and your insights and I’ll do my best to get them up as soon as possible.

posted by Jamie, 11 Feb 2008 | read 18 comments | comment | link

Seven days and counting down… OMFG

I got a phone call from my cousin Damian in the UK last night. He’s been working too hard, and needs a good party. He told me he’d been looking at the Splore site, reading my contributions, and getting thoroughly excited about Splore. He got to the point of booking a flight and realised it was going to cost him over £1500 for flights ‘cos he’s left it too late. Bummer.

Still, those of us already walking on these hot and shaky isles can just buy a ticket and haul our asses to the best party of the summer. Actually as it turns out Damian is buying his little brother Shane a ticket to Splore (come on up Shane, time you saw what your relatives have been knocking on about for the last decade).

Have you had a look around the site lately? Things are getting updated on a regular basis, and new info is getting added. For example the music lineup is  here and there is a page about the Splore photography competition here here. There is also heaps more info about music and performance in the Butterfly Zoo Butterfly Zooand the Living_Lounge.
  
Something that hasn’t been shouted from the rooftops but thoroughly deserves it is Splore’s favntastic visual media history. Splore has always been known for its multimedia format, and this year will be no different. Specifically, Splore 08 brings together some of the countries best Video Artists  from around the country and as far as the UK.  This years line up of VJ's include –

DurtyMac (UK)
C6 (UK)
Tommy T (UK)
Wonderland
Mike Busy
Ethervision
Hinge
PixelBlizzard
Axis of Weevils
Subcut
Rico
Optrix

So there you go sports fans… When you get to Splore make sure you get your free programme from the front gate. In it you’ll find who’s doing what, where and to whom.

posted by Jamie, 01 Feb 2008 | read 5 comments | comment | link

Arriving at Splore, camping and parking

The gates open midday on Friday. Prior to that ticket holders won’t be getting onto site. I personally like to get my camp sorted as early as possible, so I can understand why you may want to come along on Thursday to get a cracker position and just chill out on Friday – the hard news is it just aint gonna happen. Instead come along on Friday, get in after midday, set up your space and chill out all afternoon on the beach. Sweet.

This year at Splore there has been a shuffling of the cards that make up the parking and camping deck. In the past the camping and parking have been a grab bag of first in first served goodness. The overall result has been a little chaotic and not an ideal use of the limited flat space. All this has been turned on its head, camping and parking have been separated - shocking I know. But don’t worry, for those of you who are addicted to your four wheels of love, your amour will be close by and you wont have far to lug  your original 1969 National Jamboree Scout Tent. If you have a mobile home or caravan lugging wont be necessary at all and you’ll be directed to the mobile home area.

A personal favourite of mine in the new changes to the camping zone is the addition of a coffee joint and a breakfast café. Other features include a camp headquarters, a newly appointed Camp Mistress who’ll be cracking the whip and possibly organising sing-alongs, and a shuttle bus for families to help them between the camp and the party. There is also going to be heaps more loos, two massive tankers of drinking water and a message board for your mates to leave you obscure messages and for you to check to see who’s playing where and when.

As was mentioned in an earlier blog, the family camping has been segregated from the general populace and is the farthest possible from the amplified sounds. This is for multiple reasons which include the sanity of families who need to rise with their cockerel like nippers, and for the sake those party goers who have only just laid their heads down and don’t really want to hear the innermost secrets of four year olds at 6.30 am. Also for those Splore goers who don’t have kids, please keep in mind that humans are a sexually transmitted disease.

For more camping info check out www.splore.net/camping.html

posted by Jamie, 24 Jan 2008 | read 2 comments | comment | link

AWOP A OK?

On 11 Jan Splore announced via the website and the email newsletter that the festival would be moving to a cashless system called AWOP (Another Way of Paying). The announcement ran like this: "For the first time at Splore an onsite cashless system called AWOP will be introduced for fast, easy monetary transactions at bars, merchandise, drinks stations, food and market vendors. Read about it here…"

If you clicked through you'd read about how to use AWOP cards and how at any time you could refund the money on the card, either at the festival or afterwards. The overall idea is that vendors and the crowd would not need cash or eftpost. This sort of thing has been done before, sports clubs, schools and community groups have been using a similar system for years. You used to go to the School Faire and buy 20 tickets for $10 and everything you'd buy was a minimum of $0.50. Now you might say this was a money making conspiracy on behalf of the local Church Fete and you might be right. But please, take it from me,  Splore management does not have any nefarious plans to sell you out to the highest bidder, your spending record is wiped at the end of the gig and Splore does not stand to make wedges of cash out of money you don't spend. You get the money you don't spend back and the kiosks where you upload and have money refunded will be open until the last audience member leaves on the Sunday evening (music finishes at 5pm and kiosks will be open until 9pm).

So what is the big advantage? In the dark of the night when I can't sleep I tend towards conspiracy theories too. So I've resorted to talking to Amanda the producer of Splore to set the story straight.

Jamie: OK Amanda, first up why have you gone with AWOP at all? We both know people who have had bad experiences with similar systems at other festivals.
Amanda: We want to make Splore the most user friendly positive experience possible. And part of that is providing a market and bar system that is guaranteed to work. We've been talking this through for over 10 months now and we've come to the conclusion that AWOP will be good for everyone involved. The bars, drink stations and merchandise stand will be AWOP only, however the market and food vendors will have both options if they choose – cash and AWOP. We are aware that some people are annoyed that we have chosen to go with this system, we are mitigating any issues that may have occurred at other festivals and certainly do not want bad experiences for our audience members. There will be plenty of information on site to read all about it.

Jamie: Wouldn't EFTPOS have been just as easy to use?
Amanda: EFTPOS is troublesome. In the past we've had problems getting a reliable EFTPOS connection onto site, and we've run out of cash at the cashpoints. It's not an infallible system, there have been points where our bars haven't been able to serve anyone because EFTPOS is down. And if you really want to roll out the conspiracy theories go and ask your bank what happens to your spending records at the end of each year.

Jamie: But it is going to cost me $3 to use the scheme and EFTPOS or cash wouldn't cost me any extra at all.
Amanda: That's debateable, most banks actually charge you every time you use EFTPOS. But yep, AWOP will cost you $3 to use at the festival. We realise that will upset some people but we're confident that it is a good system.

posted by Jamie, 15 Jan 2008 | read 8 comments | comment | link

Leaving only footprints on the beach

I heard recently that the average New Zealander's carbon footprint is over 8 tonnes per year and that we're the 12th highest producers per capita of greenhouse gases – hang on a minute! Good ol' clean green NZ?

 Yep, seems it's all true. Weather or not you believe in global warming, you must surely recognise that the less pollution we can produce the better it will be for us and our children. Not only can you reduce your carbon footprint at home and in your workplace, you can do it at Splore.

To help keep Splore environmentally friendly you can:

1. Share a ride to Splore. Come in a full car – go to http://www.rideinfo.co.nz/ and call out for a ride together. We are offering incentives to those vehicles that arrive with 4 + people
2. Bike to Splore. It's radical and crazy I know, but it's a great ride around the coast from Auckland. Bit harder if you're coming from Nelson though… And there are great mountain bike trails at Tapapakanga Regional Park to adventure out into if you're keen
3. Reduce the amount of trash creating 'stuff' you bring to Splore – do you really need that glow stick? Leave your packaging at home – if your bringing in food stuffs, shop before you come, take it out of the package and put in your Tupperware containers.
4. Recycle your rubbish either at Splore or take it home (use those cardboard boxes that you have bought your food in to sort your rubbish out)

What is the festival organisation doing?
To find out more about what is Splore doing to reduce its carbon footprint I interviewed Festival Director Amanda Wright.

Jamie: How is Splore dealing with the whole carbon footprint thing?
Amanda: If you have a quick Google of festivals and carbon footprints you'll see that heaps of them are heading towards being carbon neutral. One of the main ways that this is being done is by carbon offsetting – which means that once you've calculated your carbon footprint you can then buy some carbon credits and balance out the carbon scorecard. In July 2007 approximately 30 Splorers headed out on the annual tree planting day at Tapapakanga Regional Park and planted approximately 1000 natives These are the type of steps we are taking to head in the right direction.

Our total footprint is created by the activities of the organisation and by the audience. In the future we aim to come up with a true figure for the festival's carbon footprint and then we'll do our best to completely axe it.

 Jamie: I guess recycling would be one of the first things you'll deal with?
Amanda: Splore has always had a strong environmental ethic and we've always recycled from the very first Splore back in 1998/99. Following on from Splore 06 a new Trash Manager and her merry team will be cracking the whip and keeping a tight system in place. Our recycling systems only work if the Splore audience responds to the systems in place – as an organisation we need to get those systems going but its our audience that needs to really think about what they do with that piece of trash in their hand, tent or car. Also its really important that Splore attendees think before they pack the chilly bin with packets of chips and punnets of fresh strawberries about the vessel they transport their food in. If you can put in a Tupperware container before departing then it reduces the rubbish and packaging before you even arrive on site.

Jamie: Splore has always needed big generators to keep the festival running. Are you looking at Biodeisel or any alternative energy production?
Amanda: We definitely looked into biodiesel as an alternative to fuel our generators, but unfortunately there appears to be a lack of generators that can handle the jandle here in NZ.

Also biodiesel is not the perfect sustainable resource at this stage due to the amount of energy and resources that need to go into producing it. Hopefully by next Splore the modern pedal generator will be in place!
 
Jamie: What about transport to the venue?
Amanda: Well, we are encouraging Splorer’s to carpool and bring as many people to one vehicle as possible. Those that arrive with 4 + people or more in their cars will be given a bonus incentive eg preferential parking. We will be running buses from Auckland and you need to email info@splore,net to book a place. Also check www.rideinfo.co.nz to talk to others about carpooling.

Jamie: Around New Zealand we're seeing a move towards farmer's markets which are all about getting your food from local sources. Is Splore looking at this kind of thing?
Amanda: Gene our market organiser has made a great effort to make sure that there is a diverse marketplace at the festival and where possible he's been encouraging the market vendors to buy their produce locally. All vendors will be using bio-degradable serving plates and cutlery and drinks at the bars will be served in bio-degradable drinking vessels where required.

Ultimately Splore is a place where we can showcase forward thinking and progressive practices that support the longetivity of our beautiful planet. Its not considered a hippy philosophy anymore to be green and sustainable – in fact its critical that peoples change this into the norm and include green living in our everyday practices. At Splore we expect our audience to adhere to some simple practices and Splore management also acknowledge that it is expected by our audience to have systems in place to carry out green practices.

posted by Jamie, 10 Jan 2008 | 0 comments | comment | link

Loos, showers and not using soap in the lagoon

I thought I’d pass on a comment overheard in an inner-city supermarket. The actual details have been obscured to protect the innocent ‘n all that:

Girl 1: “Are you going to GenericFestival this new years?
Girl 2: “ I’d love to, I mean its going to be huge. ImportantBand totally rock and it’d be wicked to see them outdoors. But I went to GenericFestival last year and the toilets were terrible, there wasn’t enough and they weren’t cleaned.”
Girl 1: “Ugh! That’s the biggest drawback about festivals. The organisers should get their shit together… so to speak”
Girl 2: “Ohh you’re terrible”

DON’T PANIC! Smelly toilets will not be an issue at Splore. How?  By providing twice as many as last time and by changing the service provider, so that the level of service is improved and more frequent.

The organisers also investigated bringing showers onto site, but it turns out the regulations for disposing of the used water are hugely restrictive. As a result there won’t be any showers on site unless you bring your own solar solution. You can wash in the lagoon but it’s imperative that you don’t use soap or shampoo. The alternative is a dip in the ocean (good for the skin and the spirit) or just ride out the weekend and really appreciate the shower at home on Sunday.

posted by Jamie, 29 Dec 2007 | 0 comments | comment | link

Get involved

One of the founding principals of Splore was that the festival isn’t about just coming along and consuming the experience, instead it has always been about getting involved. Since then interactivity has been entrenched into the way the event is organised. At the most obvious level dancing to the music is an interactive experience, but at Splore you’re encouraged to do more than that. There is so many ways to get involved at Splore; Theme Camps, The Living Lounge, the Art Trail, the Kid Zone, and workshops.

The Theme Camps have grown out of the Splore community’s enthusiastic approach to camping at the party. People started bringing along lounge suites, palm trees and their own sound systems, others said “Hey I know what this festival needs it’s a ….” and bought that along. Rather than discouraging creativity, Splore has created a whole arena that is purpose built for the extremely creative campers in the community. If you’re one of these people, best you get your act together right now and submit a comprehensive proposal outlining content, amplified sound and power requirements to info@splore.net by 10 Jan 2008. Please do it, we’d love to see what makes you tick…

The Living Lounge is a multifunctional space that features workshops and acoustic music during the day and becomes a music stage at night. On Saturday night it magically slips a dimension and emerges as The Butterfly Zoo, which has a compulsory ‘dress in theme’ requirement for entry.

Although submission dates for the art trail and the Arts Village have already passed, there will still be plenty of opportunity for interaction with the artworks that have been created for the festival. The artists who have been selected for Splore 08 have either submitted finished pieces or have been given a brief to create works that are ‘site and situation’ aware, environmentally responsive, conceptually reflective and interactively friendly. Sounds good to me.

posted by Jamie, 27 Dec 2007 | read 4 comments | comment | link

Bring the kids

Righto, Christmas has been and gone and I'm wondering how to dispose of the wilting pine in the corner. In a couple of days my family of four are off to Goat Island for a spot of camping, and then in February we'll be packing up the camping kit and heading off to Splore along with several hundred other 'families'. Camping with the family can be a challenge and luckily for us the Splore crew have anticipated a few of the issues faced by those encumbered by young ones. There has always been a contingent of ankle biters at Splore, and they’ve always been welcome, if you've any doubts about taking the kids to Splore, please read on...

I’m one of the Splore fanatics who’re old enough to remember  the 70’s and for me the highlight of that decade was going to the Nambassa music festivals.  My folks were a tad alternative and joined the other hippy types for music, mayhem and public nudity. As well as the entertainment aimed at 'grown ups', Nambassa also had a kid’s festival, which was ace because we knew it was our festival too. In the same spirit of inclusion, Splore has a family camping area and a Kid Zone.

As Splore’s audience has grown and matured the kids have started to appear in droves, at the last Splore over 600 kids tickets were issued at the gate. Splore 2008 has recognised the changing demographic and has increased the kid-friendly aspects of the festival. Children 13 and under can get into Splore for free if they’re with their parents, and the family camping zone is going to be set as far from the music as possible; so that those of us who need a good rest can get it without strains of the mainstage invading our dreams.

I know from experience of the last Splore that it can be a real challenge to get up the hill from the festival to the family camping.  Its a bit like a physical and mental test "Attention all parents can you traverse a gravel path with a fully loaded stroller, sun umbrella, food, picnic blanket and kids?" To decrease this burden on families and to increase the love, there is going to be a shuttle bus to get you and your chitlins up the hill (yeehaa, thanks Splore). Sorry everone else, the service is for families only. What are you complaining about anyway? You can stay up all night getting crazy without having to worry about how to entertain the todler when the sun rises. Which is where the Kid Zone comes into its own.

The young folk at Splore this year have their own area with its own dedicated tent. It’s not a daycare facility though, and parents are still expected to care for their offspring. The ‘Kid Zone’ will be chocka with daytime activities including a Circus workshop, story telling, fairies, craft activities and a lantern making workshop and latern parade. The Kid Zone will be decorated with art that Splore kids have created in a workshop held in late January - if you want to get involved keep an eye on www.splore.net/kids.html and the Splore newsletter for info about the workshop.

What else is there? Swathes of little tackers swarming all over the place, so friends to play with isn’t an issue, the swimming beach will have life guards on patrol, and the bar has a ‘Supervised’ licence this year, which means it will be child friendly during the day, so parents who wish to imbibe can have a pleasant tipple.  Finally, good music can be enjoyed by all ages, and we know there’ll be truckloads of that at Splore…

posted by Jamie, 26 Dec 2007 | read 1 comment | comment | link

A Butterfly Zoo? WTF?

Right from the get-go outrageous performance is something Splore has excelled at. Over the years Splore audiences have seen flaming trapeze artists launch into the starry firmament, Buto lovers ensnared in a slow dance while wrapped in a giant cocoon suspended several meters above the dancefloor, and giant insects playing with troops of choreographed freakazoids.  

Mark commented in the previous blog: “Tell me more about this Butterfly Zoo. What is it? It sounds tantilising, but do I need to bring a safari hat and butterfly net? Can’t wait for the festival, Lets get xmas out of the way so the real party can start.” Hopefully this will go part way to answering Mark's questions...

It looks like this Splore is set to offer up another platter of performance delights. Throughout the site there will be random acts of professional weirdness and for those a little more adventurous there is the Butterfly Zoo. Decked out as a good-time venue in 1930’s Shanghai, the Butterfly Zoo is a themed performance area that will emerge from the cocoon of the Living Lounge on Saturday night. Our own comedic whacky man Dai Henwood is set to conduct the proceedings and only time will tell if he’s up to the task of containing the excesses of the international line up of shockers and spangled tease-stars.

Splore has a stellar line-up of performers including the international performer Empress Stah who has quite the reputation as a neo-burlesque legend. She is known for edgy and sexy circus stuff including acrobatics, trapeze, stilt walking, and cabaret performance art. Have a look at this if you are not convinced: www.empressstah.com – but don’t do it on a work computer… ahem…

Felicity - The Songbird of Trafalgar Square, aka Lili la Scala is from another time. In fact despite her youthful appearance she claims to be 82 years old. Songbird has made a name for herself singing and performing at festivals around the globe, all the while dressed to the nines in antique clothes. Her Myspace is worth a look too…

Righto, we’ve established that the Butterfly Zoo is going to be entertaining, but what about the theme? It turns out that you cant get into the Zoo unless you appear in costume. That means you’ll need to do a bit of research into what people were wearing in 1930’s Shanghai. The Splore Performance page can give you a bit of a steer.

posted by Jamie, 22 Dec 2007 | read 1 comment | comment | link

How many sleeps 'til Splore?

It's back! As an avid fan of all things Splore I have had to learn great patience while waiting for the next one to roll around. So to speak, "it's been a long time between drinks". But its back, its back! For those who have not been initiated into the full Splore experience, you might be a little bemused by enthusiasm. But if you have been lucky enough to be emerged in the full visual, aura and emotional spectacle of a previous Splore, you'll totally understand my excitement. From its humble beginnings to an all weekend extravaganza with several sound stages, a burlesque cabaret, and an outdoor art exhibition, Splore has become my favourite festival. Roll-on the 8th of February.

Enough waxing lyrical about the bigger picture, what about the music? Who's got the best tunes this year? Personally I'm really looking forward to hearing what Epsilon Blue has to offer, I've been following the development of his musical career since the early 90's and going by the couple of songs that got radio play earlier this year I'm expecting another cracking dancefloor filler. Tiki is another local highlight for me and I've heard rumors that he's going to be filming a music video accompanied by a full spine tingling Kapa Haka contingent. And then there is the overseas talent; Benji B, Freddie Cruger, Mo'Horizons, Overproof Sound System and Pharoahe Monch ! aye caramba it's going to be wicked.

Anyhoo - The Splore blog lives here, and I'll be updating it on a regular basis as the festival looms large. Check this space to find out about such scintillating subjects as theme camps, the art trail, the living lounge and why you should bring your kids to Splore. Have you got any questions about Splore? Anything you'd like to know more about? If so, post a comment and I'll get back to 'ya on the blog.

posted by Jamie, 02 Dec 2007 | read 8 comments | comment | link