anabolic frolic

I received this email today about it:

514 Press release below

The rave scene. A culture of its own.
It has become the strongest force in the global dance community.
Injustice has struck.

Everything you will hear or read surrounding the Swirl subject will most
probably be couched in a "legal" context. But here is what really went
down.


INJUSTICE

Police and the RACJ have decided to stop raves in Montreal and punish
music lovers. They want raves to go into illegal venues where the
necessary emergency exits and cold running water are not available.

They decided to deny our request for the suspension of the alcohol permits
of the Big O, permits absolutely necessary to make sure the party will
continue after 3 am. These are the same permits that they have granted us
(without a problem may we remind you) for last 6 events we've held at this
same venue (Olympic Stadium) and three previous times at the Molson
Center. And now, here¹s the thing: because authorities have arrested
people for drug charges at the latest Black & Blue event and at the Bal en
Blanc (wich are not even produced by 514), they decided to take it out on
us.

NOTE: First of all you have to understand that there's not any more drugs
at raves than any other type of music show. You can probably find more at
a rock our hip hop show. The only difference is that we like to dance
electronic music.

Don¹t get us wrong, we do have the utmost respect for our industry
brothers but being accused falsely and taking the blame for drug seizures
that can happen just as much at any other type of music show just ain¹t
fair. The police are complaining that they can't control drugs at raves so
they want to shut them down, well the police can't control drugs in
prisons either but were not closing them down. The point is that if
they're so concerned about drugs in society they should work with the rave
community and not against it. Loving music and dancing is not a crime. 514
Productions has always accommodated for rave's steady and healthy growth.
For all the best that our Montreal scene has to offer, we brought it to
the people, and without any problems or issues.

We had the choice to move the event to a warehouse or a hanger but none of
these venues offered a safe environment with satisfactory emergency exits
and cold running water that we think is important for the safety of our
clientele. We refuse to endanger our scene so we decided to postpone
SWIRL. We're announcing all the information about the postponed date at
our press conference Thursday May 24th.

Take action

This is discrimination and matters have been taken to court and we are not
done yet. The party will go on and the Montreal rave scene will not be
victimized. 514 production extends an invitation to all promoters to join
the RAVE ON ! program and support the Montreal electronic music community.

You can join the RAVE ON ! program and contribute your voice to the
movement by filling out the petition. The e-mail version of this petition
is available here (http://www.514productions.com/html/formswirl.html) and
by filling it out it will be sent out automatically to the Culture
Minister Diane Lemieux. Also a postcard petition is available at all
ticket outlets and the usual flyer stores. All you have to do is fill in
the postcard and mail it. **************************** 514 Productions

3575 St-Laurent suite 132
Montreal, Quebec
H2X 2T7
Tel: 514.282.0065
Fax: 514.282.9557

http://www.514productions.com/