bri0715-firstimpress

7:15 PM

First Impressions

words by Louis Brill
photo by Donna Compton

It's the Bridge and it's full steam ahead as the 9th Digital Be-In (DBN) opens and begins its celebration of the art-techno tribe's tuning in, in the late afternoon of the 20th century. The Bridge is not only steaming ahead, but it's also streaming audio & video images of its celebrations as it unfolds with its dance, song, theater, music and art vibes.

The Bridge is the media command post transforming the DBN's party atmosphere into a webcast for the Internet. It's not the U.S.S. Enterprise bridge, but it'll do. There's a row of computers and an image work flow that would drive most people nuts, but hey - it works! Reporters and photographers are encapsulating the DBN into digital bytes that are morphed into web pages and out to thousands and thousands of computers that are turned on, tuned in, and 'bein'n.'

Peeking over the side of the Bridge's second floor deck, the DBN is quite a sight with strobing lights, video images blasting of the walls, laser beams shooting spiraling patterns into clouds of fog and music -- you don't hear this stuff it just vibrates through your body. When they say what's the vibe, they really mean it.

It's non-stop activity at the DBN, from music to speeches to being in and out of various out-of-body experiences. It's the pulse of several differeent art-techno tribes gathering their collective energies for the first time, and sending it out onto the Internet. If you can't be here, you're reading this, and this is the next best place to be.