It was my fifth year attending the World Electronic Music Festival. Each year as I overhear snippets of conversation and gaze upon the somnambulist, zombielike expressions of the masses, I come to the same painful conclusion. This festival ends up being more about the people and the drugs than about the actual music.

I've definitely seen some killer sets at WEMF over the years and I think the organizers do a terrific job at pulling in much-desired talent (for example, Astral Projection, Mampi Swift and Mixmaster Mike this year). However, I feel as though I've missed a lot of sets I had really wanted to see due to DJs arriving late, sets going over the scheduled time limit, and DJ no-shows. "You know those giant boards at airports that show delayed and cancelled flights?" my friend Rich asked me. "Well that's what they need at WEMF to keep us up to speed!" True words, friend.

This year we missed the hard, dark sounds of John 00 Flemming, but with good reason. As stated on his website, he was involved in a boating accident not long ago and is still recovering. That is an acceptable reason to miss the party.

On the other hand, DJ Superstar Keoki was missing in action. His booking agent confirmed that Destiny did in fact book Keoki but whether or not he even caught his flight and made it into the country is disputable. But it's no big surprise that Keoki likes to get pretty fucked before his sets. I was thinking that snagging an interview with him would probably be out of the question but I didn't expect him to completely no-show!

I have to wonder how many other gigs he's missed entirely. I've heard several similar stories in the past few days of people who got their hopes of seeing "The Party Monster" in action, only to be dashed out by pure selfish negligence. Is that what makes you a superstar?

Keoki's probably living his life high on a delusion of grandeur, "Yahhhhhh I'm SUPERSTAR DJ KEOKI!!!" But the reality? He's just a stylish fucking joke. He's so high he's lost all concept of priority and lost touch with the fact that people are not paying him thousands of dollars to pass out... they're paying him because they BELIEVE in him... when perhaps it's all a waste because he doesn't TRULY believe in himself. If he did, would he really need to hide behind a facade of drugs?

Maybe he's not just a "really cool DJ"... maybe he's escaping the pain of what happened with his friend Michael Alig (*see the movie Party Monster for more details). Does he see himself living how Michael wishes he could be living if he weren't in jail... Or is it a self destructive path that will lead him in the same place or even worse?

Perhaps I'm overreacting about Keoki. I don't know his situation for sure but his little MIA stunt really had me contemplating the possibilities. When you're consuming copious amounts of drugs, you need to check yourself! And when these drugs are spilling over into your professional life, maybe you should chill out.