Author: Robin 'Roblimo' Miller
this time around was not part of the show, but was Freedom Fest 2004, hosted by
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) a
block away from LWE at Yerba Buena
Gardens. Freedomfest featured three bands, food, beer, hanging out on the
lawn in perfect weather, and other cool San Francisco-type activities.
Warning: do not click “more” unless you can tolerate the
F-Word,
since it was used a lot during this lovely party… The F-Word in this context is “Freedom,” and EFF spends most of its time
fighing for this elusive condition.
Freedom Fest is not a new idea. EFF has
held these outdoor concerts annually for the last five years. The only new
thing for 2004 was that it was the first one to be held during LWE.
This clever timing helped bring in sponsorships from Red Hat and Intel,
both of whom are
also big players at LWE. Red Hat Vice President of Corporate Communications
David Burney says the idea of sponsoring Freedom Fest came from CTO
Michael Tiemann, and that it “didn’t take much” to talk other Red Hat execs
into going along with the plan.
As Burney said this, he was holding a bottle of beer in
one hand while listening to The Megan
Slankard Band (pictured below), as was this reporter. Indeed, since this
party was better to enjoy than to write about, we will end this story here and
go get another beer before the next band hits the stage.
The Megan Slankard Band under a bright red banner
that tells us freedom = choice = power.
Lots of red caps in the crowd, most of which have the
same “freedom = choice = power” logo as the red banner
above the stage.
Category:
- News
