The birth of a collective...
The Dysfunctional Family Gathering in a rebirthed collective of both past and present party throwers, production gurus, DJ's, artists, nocturnal dancers, tech-geeks, gear-heads, and friends alike. Our original roots span the rave scene's Harmony, Viberation, Children of the Sun, and several other crews of the mid 90's-early 2000's, along with countless others crews/parties that we've participated with back in the day. All of us share something in common, we've all been able to bring like-minded and positive people together into meaningful celebration, so meaningful in which, many of us remain connected many, many years later.
Our efforts are inspired by our late brother, comrade, and friend; Michael Jennings, affectionally known to many as Dysfunctional Mike. He was a part of our eariler collective efforts, and embodied the true party spirit, providing production support at countless events, volunteering his time to multiple crews and supporting his friends from one project to the next.
Mike has proven to be a key link for connecting multiple circles of friends, as his home was central to countless gatherings and celebrations. In the spirit of his legacy, his remaining friends and family on earth have joined together to create an event in his honor, a symbolic gesture promoting friendship and unity, thus giving birth to a new collective, the Dysfunctional Family Gathering.
Event Summary
We intend to put on 2 events a year as DFG. A daytime picnic style party in the Spring, and an all-out all-night rager in September aligned with his birthday. Our inagural event was really Mike's memorial, taking place spring 2009 at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale. Our last indoor event was in Santa Clara, where close to 300 of our friends took over the Venuez(Savoy) with an all-out production. Our ongoing efforts are a jump-starting of old friends, revisiting what we've once done more times we can count, along with a number of new fresh faces that have joined the cause.
Method to the Madness
The DFG methodology is organic and 100% homegrown, with no preservatives or funky doctrines to muddy up the waters. Our collective is inspired by the good will of the community that surrounds us and our sweat equity is an investment to continue the reunion, growth, and legacy of our family. Thus we do not get paid or take profits from any of our events. Most of our talent and efforts are given for free or at a significantly reduced rate, allowing us the creative freedom to create something truly special. We understand that there are some things money cannot buy. And this is one of them. The opportunity to create an environment that brings people together in a positive, meaningful, and long lasting way.
How can I be down?
DFG embodies a true open architecture, inviting everyone from our past to revisit these efforts, while also fostering the involvement to any new people interested in our vision. We welcome and invite all like minded individuals to join in our cause, participate in our eclectic movement, and become a part our growing dysfunctional family.
We are currently running online planning forums to collectively produce this event. We invite those interested in participating in this process to join us.
To contact us just drop a line to: dfgparty@gmail.com
Our thanks to those not mentioned above that have joined or are a part this inspiration
Secret Society, Secret Pyschedelica, Sticky, KJ/Eminent Sound, Phillip/Loud Sound, Forest, Travis/Julz/Venuez, Heroic Robot (Jas/Matt/Ray), First Light/Macadio, ChuckG/Caligrown, Vito/Bionic Bubbles, Grat, Kulaid, Amber, Ocul8r, Michael Liu, Justin Hale, Dina/Strategik, The Old Harmony Crew, SFR, Moksha Tribe, GPXL, Evil Breaks, Epiphany, Nova, Cloudfactory, Ambient Mafia, Friends and Family