Day for Night Peeks Over the Horizon: Two Cool Pieces of DFN-Related News (+ Stupid Online Controversy!)

As mentioned a little while back, this year’s edition of Day for Night — which yours truly was lucky enough to check out last year, and which made me kick myself for not going the first year of the festival, as well — is approaching at long last, just about two months out (it’s December 15th through December 17th, at Post HTX, happily, the same very cool location as last year).

And the past few days have produced a couple of excellent bits of info about the festival, which is already getting a lot of well-deserved (in my opinion, anyway) hype from way, way outside Houston city limits.

First up, single-day passes are now available. So if the 2-day admission (currently $205) looks too pricey, or hell, you just don’t give a crap about a bunch of the people playing one day or the other, you can pay $105 for either Saturday or Sunday, and tack on the Friday “Summit” for $105, as well. $100 ain’t bad, in my book, for a festival like this.

As part of that announcement, by the way, you’ll notice that the flyer’s now broken out by day, at least for the bigger names on the list (a lot of the local Houston folks, people like Hescher & Deep Cuts & Pearl Crush, aren’t listed in this particular flyer, although they are still playing, thankfully, according to the official website).

Not that that helps me a whole lot when it comes to deciding which day to go, or whether to go both days, or all three, because the folks I’d like to see are spread pretty evenly throughout. I’d dearly love to get to see Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Lights, Pussy Riot, & Laurie Anderson on Saturday, but I’m also dying to see St. Vincent, Justice, The Jesus Lizard, Thom Yorke, & Godspeed! You Black Emperor on Sunday. Oh, and seeing Saul Williams on Friday would be pretty freaking sweet, as well.

But hey, maybe you’re not me, and all you care about is Radiohead, or Trent Reznor, or Tyler, The Creator — in those cases, you’re all set for a mere $105 (plus whatever fees & whatnot get tacked on). Be warned, though, that there’s apparently a limited number of the single-day passes available; if they sell out before you can get yours, you’re out of luck.

Now, for the second part: for the second year running, the DFN crew have allied with Planned Parenthood, helping the organization to raise funds for its operations in and around the Houston area.

What this means is that from, um, yesterday, October 24th, through this coming Friday, October 27th, if you buy a 2-day or 3-day pass to Day for Night you can use the promo code IstandwithPP — that will not only donate part of the festival proceeds to Planned Parenthood, but it’ll give you 20% off the ticket price. So the cost of a two-day pass drops to $164 from $205, assuming I’m doing my math correctly, and you’re helping a good cause, to boot. (Just FYI, it doesn’t look like the 20% discount applies to one-day passes, but just the 2- or 3-day…)

Now, I’ve already started seeing a bit of a backlash on social media against Day for Night’s sponsorship of Planned Parenthood, most likely because the Religious Right in this country have managed to so thoroughly like to people that they now think a worthy organization that helps a whole lot of folks in need are actually agents of Satan who are out to corrupt good, God-fearing Americans and sell the parts of their babies on the black market while cackling fiendishly. Yay, modern society. Sigh.

If that’s what you think, whatever — that’s your right. It’s also my right to think you’ve been horribly, shamefully misled, because that’s what’s great about ‘Merica, amirite? Unlike you, Mr. God-Fearing American, I actually know people who currently work or who have worked at Planned Parenthood centers across the country, and they’re good people, nothing like the vicious, insulting caricature built up over the past few decades. But hey, your beliefs are your own.

On the other hand, the seemingly-surprised outrage I’m seeing is laughable. Seriously? You were somehow under the impression that the creative team that brought both Björk and Damien Echols to town last year wouldn’t be for reproductive rights? Pussy Riot and Chelsea Manning are also on the bill this year, for crying out loud; anybody who’s clutching their pearls and who are shocked — shocked, I tell you — to see DFN standing with PP obviously haven’t been paying attention.

To those people, I have this response: aaaaaaahhhhhhhhHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAyou’reanidiot. Feel free not to come to Day for Night this year, if that’s you; I’m pretty sure the festival will survive without you, and the rest of us will probably have more fun anyway.