Thousand Words (Chicago, IL); issue no.9 Summer 1996
Letter from the Editor
by Chad Sommer
(page 5)

"Can You Feel It? Can You Feel It? Can You Feel It?" Well the "It" that we've all heard in countless rave anthems finally happened. "It" occurred at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, May 26th in a tent packed with over 4,000 people in a remote campground in the middle of Wisconsin. "It" was felt at Even Furthur and "It" was achieved as The Daft Punk tweaked the acid line of their trademark track "Da Funk" to its highest possible pitch. After years of trying to obtain "It", "It" happened.

For me, and I think I can speak for most who were in attendance, what happened on that Saturday night/Sunday morning was a milestone for the rave scene in the Midwest and quite possible the world. After years of trying to make things happen by countless dedicated people the original goal was achieved. 4,000 individuals magically became one. No one was dancing by themselves or with their little circle of friends, rather all 4,000 were dancing together. Even Furthur will go down in the history books in the company of very few events (maybe Mayday-Rave Olympia and some of the legendary parties that took place in England circa '89) as one of the greatest and most intense celebrations of all time.

If you've been following the progression of Thousand Words you've probably noticed that we have been concentrating a lot more on the music rather than writing about individual parties. Because of various reasons, mainly lack of space, I knew that this issue was not going to have a section of party reviews but I could not let the importance of Even Furthur and the accomplishments it made go unmentioned.

Many recent parties have been executed exceptionally well, but Even Furthur reached a level that I know has never been obtained in our neck of the woods and will be quite difficult to hit again. All the bullshit was put aside. For years we in the Midwest, and America in general, have always compared our scene to other parts of the world. "The parties in Europe have 10,000 people." or "I hear L.A. parties bring in 5,000 people". What made Even Furthur so special was that it revolved around Midwest pride. Ravers came from all over the Midwest just to take pride in themselves. That is why "It" happened. There was no comparing ourselves to anyone else. It was as if everyone said "Take notice world, we're the Midwest and this is how it's supposed to be done!" The greatest example is when Phantom 45 hit the decks for his jungle set. We all know the majority of the crowd were not all hardcore junglists but when he dropped that first rolling breakbeat the entire mob sent out a roar of approval, just as loud as any concert crowd would send to their favorite band, not because they were all major jungle fans but because Phantom was one of our own. It was out of respect and it was out or pride and that is what happened.

By the time the sun set on Saturday all the other crap that holds down the communal vibe of a fantastic event was put to bed. All the fliers for upcoming events were done being passed out, everyone got themselves situated with their surroundings and it became party time. That's what we all have to remember when we head out for a night of raving-keep it party time. When everything else is put away only then can the "vibe" rear its head. Even Furthur proved that we can do it better than anyone and let's not forget "It"!

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