Last night should go down as one of the greatest in Seattle techno history. I wish that statement meant more to more people in this city.

To a depressingly sparse crowd at the Showbox (admittedly, it was the 9-10 pm slot), local DJ dynamo Jerry Abstract spun a killer set of leftfield techno out of wax that seemed to come right of my own collection, bless him, but it was mixed with infinitely more finesse than I could ever muster. Bruno Pronsato previewed the live set with which he's planning to devastate Europe on his imminent tour of the continent, and the Showbox floor proceeded to become a slippery mess of sweat and other bodily fluids (by this point, the venue started to fill up a bit, but attendance was still much lower than expected). Bruno's music has become increasingly more texturally adventurousand funky as hell, too. Record labels and club promoters worldwide are taking serious note. Richie Hawtin himself requested that Bruno extend his slot an extra 15 minutes because he was enjoying it so much.

Then came Mr. Hawtin, looking like Eminem's sleeker, meeker brother. After an awkward pause due to what were probably technical difficulties with the notoriously volatile Final Scratch, the Canadian DJ/producer embarked on an epic journey (sorry for the cliché, but no other phrase will do justice to what he threw down) of the most transporting underground techno available to world-class DJs with high-speed connections in 2005. The set was all peaks and no valleys. I kept waiting for even a middling moment, just to see if Hawtin were fallible, but that sort of mediocrity never materialized. I had to stick it out to the bitter end on a school nightwith no earplugs yet. But on this night, there was no need for regrets about sleep debt and hearing loss. On September 1, 2005, techno history was made. It's a shame that fewer than 500 people witnessed it, though those who did show up were mad for it. The dismal turnout for one of the world's biggest techno stars bodes ill for Seattle's electronic-music community.

"It is unbelievably frustrating how much fuckin' work we put in to promoting shows and what we get in return,” says Wake Up Productions talent buyer Steven Severin, who booked Hawtin along with the Decibel organization. "We spend countless hours and dollars to bring good electronic music to Seattle, but people won't come out to support it.

"Maybe we're just fooling ourselves in thinking that more people like this stuff than they really do,” he continues. "Seattle [occasionally] has shown times that they really care about electronic music, but, overall, it's like we're just bashing our head into a wall. I know that may seem a bit dramatic, but the promoters [who] are going through this (Decibel Fest, Sensory Effect, Wake Up, and others) know exactly what I'm talking about. Promoters can't continue to lose as much money as we are so the community can come out and have fun at our expense. I'm very passionate about what I do, but there comes a point when you have to re-evaluate what you're doing. I'm not saying shows are going to stop completely, but I am going to be extremely selective about what we do.”