Who: Stu Helm | www.cheesygraphics.com
What: DIY: Drone Summit of the Carolina Mountains 001
When: Friday, January, 28th, 2011 9PM - 2AM
Where: Downstairs at Stella Blue in Downtown Asheville, WNC

Guest Submission by: Stu Helm

One day I was sitting in a local cafe/bakery reading. Patsy Kline was playing on the stereo, and I wasn't paying much attention. When her song ended, there was a moment of silence and then a subtle droning sound that went on for several minutes, until I took notice, and looked up from my book. "Wow, what a great song," I thought to myself, "but pretty avant garde for this place." Then I realized that the stereo had stopped playing music altogether, and the "song" I was enjoying so much was the hum of the refrigeration unit synching up with the whir of the mixer in the kitchen to create a pleasant and harmonious oscillating drone. I didn't want it to ever stop.

To me this is modern drone music in it's purest form: the accidental music of machines.

When human hands control those machines -- in the form of guitars, pedals, keyboards, synthesizers, computers, and amplifiers -- drones can be created, combined, mixed, manipulated, layered, and elevated to awesome pinnacles of sound and vibration that will numb the mind, and massage the body with tonal tides of audio-kinetic goo.

Ahhhh... gooooo... Drugs can enhance the experience. So can flashing lights and shit like that. Wahhhh!

So, anyways, I love drones -- they sooth me -- and come to find out some of my friends love drones too, and so do some of their friends, and now I know it's wicked hip, because Jamie Hepler is playing Drone Music at after hours parties in Montford and shit. You know, Jamie Hepler from Soft Opening. Soft Opening? Only the best band in Asheville. Sorry, other bands. I did a poll.

Okay, so I've decided to put on a show. A drone show, with music and flashing lights and shit (BYOD) and I decided to call it "The Drone Summit of the Carolina Mountains 001." There's some festival here in Asheville called The Drone Valley Festival, but sadly it has nothing to do with Drone Music, so forget them, I'm putting on a Drone Summit.

I used to book Stoner Rock shows when I lived in Chicago, so I know it's a pain in the ass, but also a relatively easy thing to do.

First, I contacted Stella's on College Street, and asked them for a Friday or Saturday night, they very graciously gave me Friday, Jan 28th, 9pm - 2am.

Next, I booked three bands:
NOOSE 10pm - 10:30
Jamie Hepler 10:45 - 11:25
Zach and Abe 11:45 - 1:00 or 1:30

And a visual artist:
JSF, Projectionist

Then, I recruited a couple helper bees: My buddy Eric and my friend ohia who is great at networking and promotion.

Got some sponsors:
Blackout Effectors
Henco ReproGraphics
Monkeyfist Design

Then I did a bunch of graphics and built a web page (It helps that I'm a graphic designer for a living) | www.cheesygraphics.com/dronesummit
And a Drone Summit Facebook Page.

And then I wrote a press release, and an article for MAP, and then... oh wait, that's now! I am currently writing that article for MAP. And smoking drugs. And listening to Drones. Wahhhhhh.....

Things I still have to do include printing and distributing posters and fliers, printing T-shirts, showing the space to JSF, Projectionist, loading the bands in, doing sound check, and producing the actual show on the night it all goes down. Fun? Not really, it's a lot of work, and I hate people, so being at the show will kind of suck for me, but it will be a shit-ton of fun for the people who attend, care free, grooving on the drones, Man. My satisfaction will come from having done it.

You can do it too! All you need is a concept and some social skills. Bands are easy to deal with, artists a little less so, but still not impossible, and venues are looking for shit to fill their rooms. Just remember: the more people involved with organizing, the more headaches you will have. Be a tyrant. Run your own show. Make those helper bees work! But be nice, because you'll catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Have I mentioned that bees make a pleasant droning sound when they swarm? Bzzzzzz....

For more info read the Press Release.