photo by Zach Weinstein
by Luke Winn “This isn't your average concert. This is Dillo Day with heart and soul,” Jij De Jesus remarked before Saturday's PhilFest at Patten Gym.
Don’t jump to any rash conclusions, though. There isn't a controversy here; PhilFest has not accused Dillo Day of lacking a soul. There will be no fight for NU spring festival supremacy, in which one event perishes in a hailstorm of Frisbees, environmental literature, more Frisbees and stacks upon stacks of unsold Mighty Mighty Bosstones CDs.
But De Jesus, a '01 graduate and friend of the late Phil Semmer, whom last weekend's PhilFest memorialized, wasn't just tooting his own event's horn. PhilFest, in just its second year of existence, is all grown up, with a following large enough to fill Patten Gym and a musical lineup that boasted notable jam bands Sound Tribe Sector 9, The Slip and Robert Walter's 20th Congress. What started as a small-scale memorial has evolved into an event with appeal well beyond Semmer's circle of dedicated friends, a bona fide festival for NU and the Chicago-area jam band masses.
 | | CDO plays its 1 p.m. set at PhilFest. - photo by Zach Weinstein | | "It's amazing to me," De Jesus said. "The concept of PhilFest started as simply a party with Tippler [Contingent], CDO and a keg. Then it progressed into an actual festival. Now, we come back a year later, and it's a major campus event."
Semmer, who died in car accident in Australia in August 2000, would have graduated last year from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He left behind a group of extremely close friends at NU and in his hometown of Wayzata, Minn., and a charismatic legacy that inspired the undertaking of PhilFest in spring 2001.
"If Phil were to throw a party, it had to be big, and it had to have a theme," said Wes Weidenmiller, a '01 graduate and another friend of Semmer's. "He wanted everyone to be involved and it to be a memorable occasion. So we had to do that for him."
PhilFest 2001, held inside Norris Center's McCormick Auditorium due to inclement weather, featured a lineup that included Merl Saunders and His Funky Friends, Cornmeal and Rebecca's Statue, as well as campus bands Tippler Contingent and CDO. Semmer's friends, including De Jesus, Weidenmiller and others, worked with Students for Environmental and Ecological Development (SEED) to successfully convert the group's annual Earthfest concert into PhilFest. Before the headlining act took the stage, Semmer's mother, Joan, told an audience of about 300 people, "I was going to say, 'Phil would have loved this if he were here,' but I won't because Phil is here. Phil believed in the environment, he believed in helping others, but most of all he believed in unconditional love."
While a large portion of Semmer's closest friends graduated a month after the inaugural Philfest, the event didn't burn out or fade away – it expanded, thanks to the continued funding of SEED, A&O Productions and the hard work of student volunteers. Senior Leif Moravy, who handled the booking and production for both PhilFests, said about $22,000 was allocated for Saturday's eight-band lineup, compared to $10,000 for five bands in 2001. Derek Supple, co-chair of SEED, said his group was able to contribute $14,000 to PhilFest, while A&O covered nearly $80,000 more for one Saturday band and Friday night's deejay-heavy A&O Experience, which featured Kid Koala, Project Logic and BT.
 | | The Porch Band, in Patten Gym's lobby. - photo by Luke Winn | | SEED's involvement was instrumental in keeping PhilFest alive, according to Moravy. "I originally thought it was only going to be a one-year thing," he said. "But Derek [Supple] and SEED asked if we wanted to do it again. They had the money to keep putting on a concert, and it ended up being a great match."
Supple says the event has staying power on campus. "We thought it would be a respectful, awesome thing to keep doing Philfest," he said. "It's definitely something that's going to continue. It grew immensely as far as the bands go because we had more money, and in the future, it's going to be a really big and fun event."
Philfest 2002, like its predecessor, was forced indoors due to harsh spring weather, but attendance and spirit appeared unfettered by the venue change. When headliner Sound Tribe Sector 9 took the stage after 10 p.m., an energized Patten Gym crowd had blossomed to more than 1,500 people. Among the dancing throngs were Semmer's graduated friends, who made the trip back to NU from Wisconsin, Minnesota, California and even Guatemala; his high school friends, sporting matching "Corkers" visors to advertise their Ultimate Frisbee tournament entry; hundreds of NU students; and gobs of spinning hippies with undisclosed origins.
According to De Jesus, that made this year's PhilFest a success. "There's been a good vibe here all day," he said. "The spirit of PhilFest is to enjoy the company of your friends. All of us came back. It's not just time to listen to music, it's time to appreciate life and appreciate your friends."
 | | Robert Walters grimaces at the keyboard. - photo by Braeden Rogers | | Senior Byron Kahr, guitarist for campus jam band CDO, said PhilFest was equally rewarding for the bands involved. "It was the best playing experience I've had, because it was so positive," he said. "This is a testament to the fact that people make such good friends here – and we put on a great event for that reason." CDO, who performed at 1 p.m., and the Porch Band, who played an evening set in Patten's lobby, were the two campus acts on PhilFest's bill.
The proceeds from the concert and a Sunday Ultimate Frisbee tournament – approximately $2,000, according to Supple – will be donated to the Phillip Austin Semmer Memorial Fund, which provides an annual scholarship at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Old Snowmass, Colo. Semmer, an environmental science major at NU, had dreamed of working at RMI, an environmental think tank, after graduation.
PhilFest, for a weekend, really did have the heart and soul that De Jesus envisioned - a testament to the heart of great friends, inspired by the passionate soul of a lost friend. And his spirit lives on through a worthy cause and a budding annual campus event.
So will it be better than Dillo Day? It's not even a discussion worth having – there's more than enough room for another festival at NU.
Luke Winn can be reached at l-winn@northwestern.edu. Got something to say about this article? Post it on the NUcomment message board. Back to the top of the article |
