Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at E13 Components? This recap of my weekend adventure should help to give you a better idea.

The brain behind E13 is Dave Weagle. He is credited with designing the now
industry standard Lexan bashguard, the Iron Horse DW-Link suspension, and tons
of other major products. So where does all this design work happen? On an
island.

Dave lives on Marthas Vineyard, which is about 30 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. He and
his wife are some of the select few that choose to live there year-round.

Every summer Dave throws the "Big Top" party. He gets a big white
circus tent, roasts a pig, and over 100 people show up to get obliterated. The
pig they roasted this year was the size of a 10 year old child. It was without
a doubt the best pork anyone had eaten in a very long time. There were kegs and
bottles of Jaeger stashed all around the property and a kiddie pool filled with
bottles and cans of beer. Inside the tent were cases upon cases of wine. There
was even an old Jeep Wrangler that had been converted into an ice chest to
store two more kegs.

Out in the yard people played bocce, croquet, badminton and assorted yard games
while trying their best to drink every ounce of liquor available. Inside the
tent was a local cover band called Money Shot. These guys were actually super
good and had the place going for a non-stop two hour set.

I also got a chance to see Dave's work space. This is the spot where all the
design work goes down. He's got a 30" Apple Cinema display which is oddly
enough, plugged into a Window's computer. What surprised me the most were the
turntables. Dave has a setup that any hip hop DJ would be proud of. Two Technics
turntables hooked up to a Dell XPS laptop running Serato Scratch Live.

At around 12 AM during the party we found Dave sitting at his computer updating
his iPod. It was at this time that he dropped some vinyl on the 1's and 2's and
started mixing. For about 15 minutes he spun mixes of DJ Shadow, Bill Cosby,
Lady Sovereign, Star Wars, A Tribe Called Quest, and the Fugees.

The party then went on to rage until 4 AM. People were passed out all over the
place. The next morning it was hilarious to see people who had fallen asleep on
deck chairs, on the hammock, and in my case under a table. Good times were had
by all.