The Magic Purple Scene-Bag

Written by Avalanche

This is the story of "the magic purple scene bag".

Naturally speaking, this wouldn't be a story if I didn't explain to you what the magic scene bag is. Okay, hold on...

It all started at a German party called Evoke '98. I went to that party and forgot my bag in which my passport resided at the party place. Yes! I lost my passport. Some of you might know how expensive it is to have your passport replaced. And hey, it doesn't help when you are a poor Dutch scener like me.

So I contacted Poti, the main organizer of Evoke. And I asked him if he could mail me the passport. He was more than happy to work things out and said that he would mail me the passport, he could also send me my bag, but that would cost money (postal service and all). As I had no need for the bag anymore and since it was old and broken anyway, I told him he could throw it away. Being the good little scener he is, Poti has never done so.

Later, at Ambience'99, Poti and I met each other and had a lot of fun, as you can read in the party report in this same Hugi issue. However, towards the end of Ambience, Poti said he had my bag with him. So we went to his car, and out came my whacked little black bag. Black? What happened to purple? Yes, I'm coming to that.

Besides pulling that black bag of mine out of his car, Poti also gave me a purple sleeping bag (at least I think it was a sleeping bag). I told him it wasn't mine, I'm not much into the purple gay scene. So Poti decided to hand it to the party organization.

Then it struck us both, and it wasn't a lightning.

No, in fact it was more of an idea. Here's what struck us exactly:

We somehow managed to decide that this was a magic purple scene bag, and that it should travel through the world, or at the very least Europe. Therefore we gave the bag to the organization and told them the following story along with it:

"This is the magic purple scene bag, it represents the unity of the scene, it is a legend, and a new tradition. We give this magic scene bag to you, and you must give it to the organizers of another party, thus sustaining this newfound tradition. Handle the bag with care."

They accepted it, with a somewhat puzzled look on their faces. Who could blame them?

Later on, on IRC, I met Thunderstrike, the main organizer of Ambience. I told him about the scene bag, about this new tradition. And he was glad to be a part of the line-up. He said he would take it to Mekka&Symposium and present them with this glorious bag.

The magic scene bag should travel through all the European (and perhaps even ALL) demoparties. Every party which the magic scene bag visits will from now on be known as a "magic scene bag" demoparty. At least that is our goal.

So, organizers of Mekka&Symposium or any other demoparty, don't be suprised when you suddenly find a purple sleeping bag in your hands while listening to some speech you hardly understand due to exhaustion. Follow the tradition and take it along to another party, perhaps even mention the bag in your ending ceremony. That would be something to be proud of.

All that you have just read is NOT fiction, it is reality, the magic purple scene bag truly exists, currently, when I write this, it's in the hands of the Ambience organizers, perhaps at the same time next month, it will be in the hands of the Mekka&Symposium organizers. To all you organizers out there: be a part of a new tradition. Follow the scene bag.

- Avalanche & Poti