October 1, 2001

For Immediate Release

Official Coolworld Press Release

Houston, TX --- On the evening of Friday, September 21st, 2001 at 7:45PM an unjust injunction was granted to the Waller County District Attorney's office in an attempt to stop the Cyberfest Music Festival from opening its doors on the following day, on the grounds that the event at the Riverbridge Superpark outside of Houston, Texas was not safe. Specific items reported in the injunction included the number of bathroom facilities and the amount of drinking water available to patrons. At the time that the injunction was granted, production at the venue was a week underway and the majority of the artists, performers, DJs and bands scheduled to perform, had arrived or were already en route to Houston, Texas. Up until this 13th hour, Coolworld had no notice or indication from any entity that their event would be sabotaged. All of the local authorities and Waller County officials were aware of the planned event for the previous 4 months. Coolworld had made arrangements to hire Sheriffs, State Police and other local health and safety agencies to work in conjunction with the festival. Coolworld held the event in conjunction with the venue owner. Coolworld had everything planned and in line to stage what was scheduled to be one of the biggest and best dance festivals to hit Texas.

Coolworld views this injunction as bogus and legally not valid on the grounds that they were not given fair notice to argue, comply or to make the necessary arrangements for their event under due process of the law. They feel that the Waller County District Attorneys' office injunction was granted with total disregard to their civil rights and blatant discrimination against electronic music fans, artists, DJs, promoters and producers. Coolworld states that the local authorities made it very clear that they believe that all people who listen to electronic music and/or attend electronic music events are on drugs and that rave-style events are unsafe.

Coolworld continues, "State and local government and law enforcement officials did everything they could do to cripple our event and keep patrons from attending. Roads were blocked, freeway exits were diverted, designated parking areas around the event were closed, entrances were barricaded, all in a deliberate effort to inconvenience patrons and stop production, thereby putting us out of business. They could not legally shut down the event, so they decided to sabotage the event and put thousands of young peoples' lives at stake by making them walk 5 miles down the side of the freeway. Artists, production people, vendors, patrons and thousands of others were turned away by law enforcement officials, creating a snowball effect which continued through out the entire event. All of our efforts to pull together and produce the festival that we had worked on and invested over five hundred thousand dollars for the past five months, were in vain, as we could not efficiently and effectively produce the event due to the unjust acts of law enforcement and the County. Bands and sound companies could not bring their equipment into the venue, leading to fewer stages and no sound checks or performances by many of the bands. Luckily, The Crystal Method and Uberzone arrived the evening before by bus, and therefore, already had all of their equipment within the confines of the venue. Kevens, Madison Avenue, DaRude, Galaxy Girl and the rest of the bands were all on-site and ready to perform but could not, because their gear had not been able to get through the gates."

"All of the artists, minus the Spitkicker Tour and Christian Smith, were in town and ready to perform as planned. DJ Skribble, Dave Ralph, Christopher Lawrence, and dozens of other artists waited patiently backstage to perform. However, because of the uphill battle of fighting the 300 or more law enforcement officers from dozens of different agencies, as well as the district attorney's office, we could not physically pull the lineup together and time was not on our side and artists were understanding, but uncomfortable. We applaud the performances of Adam Freeland, Crystal Method, Aphrodite, Uberzone, WishFM, AK1200, Dieselboy, Planet B and others who pulled out all the stops to make the best of a dire situation."

"It is evident that dance culture and electronic music is consistently targeted by government officials nationwide as "nuisances" or "drug parties" and September 22nd's unfolding strengthens the argument that the time has now come to fight back, as we are not only fighting for our right to stage and attend music festivals, but for all our rights guaranteed to us under the Constitution of the United States of America."

Coolworld, like all of the patrons that attended Cyberfest 2001 Houston, is completely outraged at the actions taken by local and state government and law enforcement authorities, as this was the worst display of prejudice that they have ever seen in 15 years of promoting and producing music events.

Coolworld is filing an action against the local and state government officials involved and needs your help in documenting as many situations of harassment as possible. Please email your name and contact information with a brief description of the situation to unity@coolworld.com.

Coolworld asks that you continue to support electronic music festivals, as well as, EM:DEF (Electronic Music Defense & Education Fund) and the ACLU, as they continue to invest in the dance music community. Remember, dancing IS a political act. Coolworld would like to sincerely apologize to all the dedicated fans, artists, producers, production staff, vendors, friends, volunteers and others who helped and worked very hard to make this festival happen. Coolworld would also like to apologize for the acts of the ignorant who clearly don't understand electronic music and dance culture. Through Perseverance, Unity and Strength we will win this battle as no one has the right to discriminate against music or dance culture.

Coolworld Office: 510 273 9542 Email: unity@coolworld.com

For press inquiries, please contact Stephanie Smiley @ Push Media Group / pushpress@earthlink.net

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