************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* Mid-West Raves #4 ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* Moderators notes: Remember when I said the following: >This list service, done by hand by me, will continue until one of the >following conditions is met: > > - my graduation (May 1993) > - a permanent site/host/moderator is found > - my sysadmin get's peeved at me (although he did give his > approval) > Well, as it turns out, we now have a permanent site with a mail reflector. What this means: - I will no longer digest mw-raves * - if you receive this, you should be auto-subscribed - this is the last mw-raves digest Mail sent to this new site will be sent individually to everyone on the list, one at a time. Like a normal mailing list. The new addresses are: - for REQUESTS (aka, subscribe, unsubscribe, etc.) mw-raves-request@engin.umich.edu mwraves-request@engin.umich.edu - for normal, run-of-the-mill posts, send them to: mw-raves@engin.umich.edu mwraves@engin.umich.edu "Why two addresses for each", you ask? Well, as it turns out, Andrew Crosby (ndc@engin.umich.edu) is now responsible for it, and that's how he set it up. Personally, I'd like to see the "mw-raves" version, but that's not my problem. Andrew set them both up to cure the possible confusion, which I guess is a good thing... So, as your moderator, I'm sorta sad to see it go. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work too. But it's good to see the ball rolling. Definitely. The mail reflector will give a more immediate, unique feel to the whole concept. Plus, you won't have to wait days to hear anything... On to the submissions..... Some okay stuff. No rave announcements, so I'm gonna pull in last issue's calendar, with old stuff deleted. Some good chat about a Chicago rave bust, and the "failed" Ravin Bran in Cleveland. **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** From: IN%"mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu" "Mike J. Brown" 22-NOV-1992 20:52:21.01 To: IN%"ajbennett@MIAVX1.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU" Subj: MW-Raves Calendar #2 The Midwest Raves calendar #2 compiled by Mike Brown (don't blame me!). [ editted by Andrew Bennett. Don't blame me either!!!!! ] Send additions, corrections, etc. to BOTH the list and to me, mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu. Note this list is Ohio-biased; that's where you come in. Keep your eyes open for flyers and let everyone know what's up in your area. Also, call the numbers and see if you can get more info. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAT DEC 5 - Groove To Moove 2 (Youngstown OH) 10pm-230am at Cedar's, downtown Youngstown. Call for directions 216.743-6560. Cedar's is a little bar in BFE but the first Groove to Moove night was a BLAST so you'd better come out for this one. Live performances by Body Release, Big Engine DJ's: Mike Filly (Cleveland), Nik Popa (Akron) Email me if you want to meet there or carpool from Columbus. SAT DEC 12 - Sonic the Rave (Cincinnati OH) Info: 513.860-6039 DJ's: 3 from Cinci, 1 from Columbus, plus 'surprise djs' THU DEC 31 - Smile (Cincinnati OH) Location: possibly at the Coliseum Info: 513.860-6039 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >I called the number 313.433.2129 and here's the dope: >Every Saturday night 2am-? VOOM hosts a rave >at 2948 woodward in the Bankle building >in downtown detroit. > >They don't list DJs, so go at your own risk. >fred wolf@newfoundland.rs.itd.umich.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** From: IN%"mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu" "Mike J. Brown" 29-NOV-1992 13:01:53.45 To: IN%"ajbennett@MIAVX1.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU" CC: Subj: Ravin Bran Ravin Bran 27 Nov 1992 It started out innocently enough. Struggling Cleveland rave promoter Mel-Ske Dread wanted to throw a rave on the holiday weekend. He lined up 3 Ohio techno bands --Orgaz, Body Release, and Theory Collapse-- and headlining DJs Rob Sherwood & Mike Filly, dieselBoy from Pittsburgh, and Ian Mariano. Todd Sines (of Body Release) volunteered to do the flyers according to Mel's instructions, which meant yet another supermarket-item rave theme, something we were all getting a little tired of by now. Nevertheless, the flyers turned out alright, and over the two weeks prior to the event several hundred were distributed in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Luckily the misprinted phone number was corrected before the majority of those went out. Then the problems began. Todd's home phone was added as an info line as well, although there wasn't much info to disseminate, since Mel, who isn't the most trustworthy of fellows, hadn't made arrangements for a venue until the 26th. He phoned the bands at 2am the night before the rave and told them it was going to be at the club Metropolis, and that the bands had to be there by 2pm at the latest. This didn't go over too well with Body Release and Theory Collapse, who both had to come up from Columbus, a good 2.5 hour drive. Theory Collapse scrambled like mad and made it up there in time for their sound check, Orgaz had no problem with it since they are from Cleveland, but Body Release didn't show for a number of reasons. Todd was spending Thanskgiving with his family in Cleveland but had to come back to Columbus so he could get his musical equipment and practice the set with the band a few times before going to set up in Cleveland. He is also keeping his involvement in Body Release a secret from his mother, who disapproves of his fooling around with music and just wants him to get good grades. When he got to Columbus at 2pm, Titonton informed him of Mel's ridiculous orders. They called Mel and told him not to expect them until around 6pm. Mel said there was a high school reunion going on at Metropolis from 4pm-10pm, so they couldn't get in until rave time. Of course at this point the "rave" had degenerated into "rave nite at a bar", its only saving grace being that it was at Metropolis, a large warehouse in the Flats (an old, now-trendy industrial district near Lake Erie). Mel's info line message was pathetic; he couldn't remember the name of the other band from Columbus (Theory Collapse), and he said Body Release were from Pittsburgh. About a dozen people called the Columbus number, which had a hilarious message cooked up by Titonton and whistle-tweeting roommate Joe Cicman. Titonton had to borrow an EPS sampler from James Towning (Fact 22) to use because his has been in the repair shop for the last month. After a quick trip to the repair shop to get the system disk that had been left in the broken EPS, it was discovered that Matt of Theory Collapse had erased a disk of samples he borrowed. The song "Real Life", which heavily samples "Real Life" by Tones On Tail, was no more, and the 909 kit had been altered significantly. After a lot of cursing and shouting, it was decided that they would just pack up everything without practicing, and take it all up to Cleveland and figure out what to do from there. Real Life couldn't be re-sampled on the spot because the Tones On Tail tape was with Mike S who had quit the band and moved away already. So we got all our shit loaded up into our cars; Joe went with Charles, Todd & Titonton went with me. We stopped by my house "on the way" (actually, 30 minutes out of the way) to pick up my Tones On Tail records so they could try to get them sampled in Cleveland. Then things started getting better again. We were finally on our way at 4 o'clock. We got to GoldenBoy's house at 6:30 and immediately set up all the equipment there. Titonton spent the entire evening constructing a new version of Real Life. Todd and I went to the Smart Bar in the Flats to wait for Damian (dieselBoy), who didn't know how to get to anywhere else in Cleveland. We waited in the cold outside the Smart Bar for half an hour. During that time, we met a reggae band from Cincinnati that was waiting for the bar adjacent to the Smart Bar to open so they could get in. Ian of Cincinnati rave clothing company BANG showed up with his girlfriend Tash --they were just driving by when they saw us and stopped to talk; and Theory Collapse showed up and talked with us, too. They apologized profusely and even whipped out a portable cellular phone, called Titonton to apologize, and promised him some disks and samples to make up for it. Then Damian and his friend Ryan arrived. It amazed me that in Cleveland, which is a pretty big town, all these ravers could bump into each other almost entirely by chance at this one inconspicuous location. Damian and Ryan came back to GoldenBoy's with us while Theory Collapse and BANG went off to kill time on their own. After making a run for the border and hanging out at GoldenBoy's for a while, we packed up everything (no time for the band to practice) and headed down to Metropolis. When we got there this little twerp played the attitude game with us and said we couldn't use the side doors - we had to go through the front (i.e. past all the people waiting in line, get hassled by bouncers, carry heavy boxes all the way up to the stage, etc) and he told Ian that no one but his (the twerp's) store was allowed to sell shirts at Metropolis. Then Mel drove up and was immediately set upon by angry bands and vendors. In a simple act of redemption for his past sins, Mel told us to 'fuck that guy; he's from New York' and he'd take care of all the problems. After a few minutes we were allowed in the back entrance and BANG had a prime spot near the front to set up their table. At 11pm as the doors opened, Metropolis was still packed full of beer swilling, formally dressed 28 year-olds wondering what the heck was happening to their high school reunion. Hard, loud techno was banging out of the amps and 200 casually dressed young people were taking over the dancefloor. A fair percentage of the reunion crowd stayed until 2am. Most of them hung back near the main bar, but some did mingle and dance with the ravers. The ravers were energetic from the start, and the atmosphere was positive, though nowhere nearly as intense as it could have been. All of the dj's were hot, and I didn't hear Sesame's Treet once, nor any other crap besides Poing. dieselBoy's sets were the best, and I'm not just saying that because he's my friend. He paid me to say it, too. No, really, I am impressed by Damian's mixing and his choice of tunes... the dude is smokin. There was some drug use going on: some of the ravers including Ryan were on X, and the smell of pot was drifting from the chill out rooms. It was Ryan's first time trying Ecstacy and he said it was well worth the $30; it was much different than acid - no visuals, just good feeling. There was one, maybe two cops on the scene, but they were apparently just Metropolis security and the only thing I saw them do was chase people out when they closed the place down at 5am or so. I didn't pay attention to what time it was at the end. There were only about 10 ravers left dancing and the reunion crowd was long gone. The energy peaked when the bands played. Each band played for about 20 minutes and the dj's spun for the hour or two between each performance. Orgaz played one song live and faked the rest to a tape, which really didn't make much sense since their music is monotonous 909 type stuff that they could at least sequence live if not actually played. Orgaz are very vocal and energetic on stage, encouraging people to 'come on, come on, put cho hans in da air'. Their set was good and the crowd loved it. Theory Collapse were surprisingly good as well. Unfortunately they had mixing problems and every other song was barely audible. When you could hear their stuff, though, it was good, although the meat of their music was repetition of excellent, easy-to-dance-to breakbeats. The crowd responded favorably except when the sound dropped out, but no one seemed to be upset over it, and the guys in Theory Collapse were laughing at themselves on stage as they pounded on the mixer and looked desperately up at the dj booth for some help. Luckily they brought their own crowd noise. Body Release didn't get to play until 3am when there were only about 75 people left dancing. They opened with an incredible pseudo-ambient song that prompted Damian, who was standing next to me at the side of the stage, to run off to the dj booth to find out what record was being played. He didn't realize, as didn't most of the people on the dancefloor, that the band had begun playing. There were about 10 people up on stage dancing in front of the band so no one could see. The dj's didn't announce Body Release, which turned out alright, as the energy kept going for the start of their set. Body Release's songs were not monotonous at all, with changes happening right and left in the songs, but unfortunately their songwriting style is to often have the beats drop out, which confused and disoriented the ravers who were trying to keep up with the unfamiliar material. In the middle of the set, Titonton couldn't get all his samples loaded in time, so he told Todd to 'play something'. Todd ripped out a 303 solo that lasted 2 minutes and had people scratching their heads and thinking that Body Release were getting artsy-fartsy, making a song entirely out of squiggly acid noises. Titonton's attributed his awful piano solo in one of the songs to the lack of monitors; they couldn't hear what they were doing. The last song of their set got the crowd going again, as it featured some uninterrupted killer breakbeats. While their set ended on a positive note, I have to be honest and say it didn't sound that great. They just need to figure out a way to keep the dancefloor energy level from fluctuating, even if it means sacrificing some variety to keep the beats going. As far as raves go, Ravin Bran was kind of pathetic. It wasn't much more than rave night at Metropolis. Despite the efforts of the people involved, it was lacking in spirit. If it had been less above-ground, maybe things would have been different. The crowd was almost entirely white, which left me thinking once again about the racism in the Ohio club and rave scenes. I don't mean anyone was trying to keep anyone else out, but just that things are too seperate. House music is black, techno is white, etc. There has to be a way to overcome this. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be a priority on either Mel-Ske Dread's (who is black) or Thome Tomato's lists. They just want to make money and get their names out, boosting their egos and fattening their wallets. Don't be afraid of Mel's or Thome's raves, or rave-nite-at-a-bar, like Ravin Bran or the upcoming Groove To Moove 2 this weekend in Youngstown. Just take it with a grain of salt and know that it's not as bad as it could be, not as good as it should be. See you next time. **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** From: IN%"deb9@po.cwru.edu" 30-NOV-1992 21:26:44.75 To: IN%"ne-raves@silver.lcs.mit.edu" CC: Subj: RAVIN BRAN..YUMMMM ! AND THIS IS HOW THE STORY GOES..... On Fryday the 27th todd sines and BODY RELEASE get in touch with me so that they can come up from Columbus (I'm in Cleveland) and rework some of their material before playing at Ravin Bran that night, and just hang out and listen to some TECHNO. It seems that someone wiped some important samplez from their disk(s). Todd was not pleazed, az a matter of fact *stressed* iz a more accurate term. Anyway they get to my place about an hour after their ETA, which I'd already expected. We hang out for a while, they set up some of thier equipment and start reworking samplez while todd goez to pick up dieselBoy. The next thing I knew I had a house FULL of RAVERZ ! All munching the food of choice *not* .Taco Bell. Except one dude (sorry forgot your name), he said he wazn't having trouble with hiz movementz ( :-0 ohh noo ) so he opted for Burger King. Thier were about 10 people from Columbus to Pittsburgh. Eventually they got thier stuff together and we all headed down to Metropolis for the RAVE. I guess I could say that it waz unfortunate that Ravin Bran waz held in a club, but it wazn't. Except for a couple of dumb thingz it waz pretty kool. I think some dweeb got smashed in the head with a bottle. I can't verify thiz because I was dancing so hard, you'd have thought I waz trying to bring rain !!! Also there were no damn SMART DRINX. That waz a bummer. Coke (a cola) iz no substitute for a Smart Drink ! I think we sort of freaked some people out that were already there from a high school reunion. I'm sure they were trippin ! Some even stayed and got into it. =) I guess it'z just me, but I don't really give a shit where a RAVE iz held. Of course I'd prefer an underground climate but I think it'z the music and the atmosphere that make the journey worthwhile. And at Ravin Bran the music waz GREAT !!! dieselBoy waz totally hyped, so were the other DJ'z. The first band waz good (I forgot thier namez) but they kept having a problem with the sound. ORGAZ jammed ! They really got the crowd going. Extremely hype. Then BODY RELEASE came on and really went off. I must have looked like I waz having canniptionz becuz even though my mind said "REST YOU FOOL !" my body wasn't having any of it ! I couldn't have stopped dancing if I wanted to ! And I don't mean just on the dance floor. I danced to the bar, to the bath room, around the club, through the crowd, on the stage, on the stairz, etc ! At about 3:30 am dieselBoy came back on and not only jammed again but took it up another notch ! By this time I'm soaking wet and in a state of total euphoria ! *DAMN I LOVE THAT MUSIC* All and all I thought that thingz turned out great. And I commend BODY RELEASE on being able to produce such fantastic music on such short notice ! Oh yeah, thanx for the crew badge, I DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY ! Just carry some equipment. ;-> HAPPY RAVING IZ A STATE OF MIND ! _Golden_Boy **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** From: IN%"smithm@stolaf.edu" 1-DEC-1992 14:13:49.05 To: IN%"AJBENNETT@MIAVX1.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU" CC: Subj: Minneapolis OK, I give up... Does anyone out there know of ANY raves upcoming in Minneapolis / St.Paul or the surrounding areas? Also, since I am somewhat new to the area, does anyone know what sort of publications might possibly have info on area raves? Thanx for the time Gumby **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** From: IN%"psd1@MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU" 29-NOV-1992 04:50:21.44 To: IN%"ajbennett@MIAVX1.BITNET" CC: Subj: The Rave in Chicago tonight Hello Andrew, I'm a subscriber to your MW-Raves list, I really enjoy it... thanks for making it available But, the topic of this is: one of tonight's three (11/28/92: Deliverance, Animotion Razamataz, and some B-96 thing) raves in Chicago was busted; I wondered if you could send this out over the list... The time was 12:30ish, and things were really great at Animotion, a lot of people were there, it was not too aboveground, the lights were just a couple of strobes and some color beams which were used with discretion. The mixing was great, and it was really warming up! I had been talking to one of the people near the nitrous tanks (none was being sold, 4 undercover police officers had been seen) and he refused to sell any nitrous to any of the many people who asked for some due to "respect" for all the ravers, and not wanting to get the place busted. In short, it seemed a legal event, which was quite GOOD! Suddenly (I was near the dj) the dj starts a long loop, and unplugs his earplugs, then he fades the music out, and people start murmering, "bust, bust." There's a semi-rush for the door, and people all head for their cars. My friend and I drove over to the place tickets were set to be sold (from 10pm-1am, this was 12:45 or so) and found that the people who had sold us our tickets were gone, and people were still around looking to buy tickets (I did save about 3 people from sticking around by telling them it was off) My questions for the list are: 1) I realize that you pay the price for the ticket and that it includes the risk, but I figure that some sort of refund was in order, more likely a free entry to the next event by this promoter (Mr Happy, Peter Purex, and Turbo) [a side note: Purex' last event (Pulse) was so over-sold that they started refusing entry at the door like some club or something] However, my friend and I began thinking, since they took our tix, what proof did we have that we actually bought 2 tickets besides the direction sheet that they gave out... Any promoters: how do you usually handle this? 2) I tried calling the phone # just to see what was going on, and received nothing (more like, silence, followed by a humming, and finally a static discharge) and thought that at least an apology message could be given... 3) I was enjoying the rave a great deal, and am more p*ssed off at the police for busting an apparently legitimate rave, (admittedly, I had seen some beer bottles outside, but that was largely because some newbies were there and probably figured drinking was part of the scene) but still think that two in a row bad events are reason to give some thought to attending another Purex event If he or a friend of his reads this mailing list, please feel free to respond via e-mail... Pratik Dave ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** End of Digest ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** End of MW-Raves as a digest It was a blast folks... Truthfully.... Orb be in you all, Andrew --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Bennett (ajbennett@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu) Oxford, Ohio (abennett@apsvax.aps.muohio.edu) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hot tune: Electroset's "How Does it Feel?" from the UK FFRR cd5.