carmeee

aloha!

dea

I'm excited now, it's coming up soon, and I've been looking forward to it forever... I just managed to book work off today, and now there is like nothing stoping me from going... see ya all there, I'll be the one in orange, and barefoot...as always... hehehe.


Well maybe not barefoot this time.

Kate

Klubmasta Will

July 26, 2000

A dance lesson for Mel Lastman
Rave fans to lobby City Hall to reinstate safe venue protocol

Don Wanagas, City Hall columnist
National Post

Toronto ravers may not be the reincarnation of that Sixties counterculture known as the Woodstock Nation. But, like the rock 'n' roll-influenced activists of another generation, fans of rap, hip hop and other forms of electronic music seem more than ready to flex some muscle in order to change the world they live in.

"We want to show the powers that be that even though people involved in the rave scene really don't want to get political, if our culture is being threatened by a lot of misinformation, we can and we will be a strong political force," Will Chang, an articulate spokesman for the Toronto Safe Dance Committee, declared on Monday.

Just how much of a force youthful devotees of the huge dance party scene hereabouts have the potential to be will likely be determined Tuesday evening when they hold a rally outside City Hall to persuade the politicians inside to lift their recent suspension of the safe rave protocol they adopted last December.

Considering upwards of 50,000 young people head out every weekend looking for places to dance the night away, it is conceivable that Nathan Phillips Square will be packed with gyrating bodies intent on making a political point while a stable of deejays provide musical inspiration.

"I don't think we have any choice but to reinstate the protocol," says Frances Nunziata, a councillor who has steadfastly supported the city policy. It was intended to provide ravers with safe city-owned facilities for their events on condition promoters agreed to hire off-duty police officers for security and had ambulances on hand in case of medical emergencies.

It was Ms. Nunziata who took the lead in criticizing Mayor Mel Lastman back in May for stampeding a slim majority of councillors into suspending the protocol after Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino criticized it for, among other things, supposedly turning a blind eye to the use of illegal drugs such as Ecstasy.

The councillor for York-Humber and her Downtown colleague, Olivia Chow, had urged council to postpone any decision on the initiative until after a coroner's inquest into the drug-related death last October of a 21-year-old Ryerson University student. Allen Ho collapsed during an unsupervised rave in a subterranean parkade in the city's west end.

But the Mayor, who conceded that he didn't even know what a rave was when he first supported the protocol, won the day. And council was left with more than a little egg on its face when, days later, the inquest recommended the continued use of city-owned venues such as Exhibition Place for raves in order to provide a safer environment for young party-goers.

The coroner's report has provided much of the impetus for rave enthusiasts to mobilize in support of the protocol. And just how organized they actually are was evident when a group of them called a news conference at City Hall Monday to promote next week's rally with the release of a CD that lampoons the mayor for the "misinformed" stand he took against the popular dances.

Whether Lastman will see the humour in the disc remains to be seen. But already last week he appeared to be softening his position on the rave protocol even though he seemed no better informed about a phenomenon that attracted 17,000 people to one all-night dance at the Ex earlier this year. "I never had a problem ... except I did not feel good about them the way they were because there was no water, because they were bringing in Ecstasy," the Mayor advised.

"Nobody knows what Ecstasy is," Lastman claimed. "Nobody knows what's in it. Even the scientists don't know and they don't know why it kills people. We don't know why and I don't want this to be a place of Ecstasy and raves is Ecstasy. I don't think you have a rave without Ecstasy."

For future reference, the Mayor should know that Ecstasy is the street name for methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Scientists do know what's in it. They also know why it can kill people. And rave organizers insist they would be more than happy if the police concentrated on arresting the characters who push the drug so everybody else can just enjoy a dance. If Lastman bothers to put in an appearance at the rally, which will take place a stone's throw from his office window Tuesday night, he might just find this out for himself.

Everyone has the right to party

With Mel Lastman, Julian Fantino and Mike Harris on the dance card, ravers can't get no satisfaction

RINALDO WALCOTT

Wednesday, July 26, 2000
The Globe and Mail

The Beastie Boys said it first, "You got to fight for your right to party." And the party is under siege. So I slipped Nefarius into my CD player, hit repeat, and sat down to write. In what is arguably one of the most pointed political songs in recent Canadian memory, Nefarius's hip hop track Strike Back, on the CD It's About Freedom to Dance, independently produced by Toronto's beleaguered rave scene, will go down in the annals of Canadian music history as a most significant contribution to our right to dance. In fact, the entire CD, which is ripping with homegrown creativity, is one of the most significant events in a long time in Canadian music.

Mayor Mel Lastman and Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino will find themselves having to be much more accountable for the misinformation they so frequently put out about those they think are "special-interest groups" in the wake of this musical strike back. The silliness of both Mr. Lastman and Mr. Fantino can be heard by all on the seven tracks on the CD. And if the CD works politically, it may mean that many more 18-year-olds will be voting in the upcoming municipal elections. Imagine, a co-ordinated youth vote could help bring Mr. Lastman's reign to an end.

The rave scene in Toronto has been under fire since the death of Allen Ho in October of 1999. Mr. Ho's death from complications related to ecstasy intoxication resulted in a coroner's inquest into the rave scene in Toronto, and the province in general. Ecstasy is a drug linked to the rave scene and while legitimate rave promoters do everything possible to prohibit drug dealing at their events, they cannot and should not be held responsible for drug-related deaths -- of which there have been few.

The coroner's inquest, completed this June, was much more favourable in its conclusions than most thought it would be. This flew in the face of the city's quick attempts to ban raves or control them by requiring the hiring of paid-duty officers in unfair proportion to crowds, resulting in promoters being unable to afford to mount the parties.

For those who don't know, a rave is a large party, usually of thousands of youth and youthful people dancing to electronic music. It's as simple as that, believe it or not. Sure, ravers have a distinctive style of dress but you can't always tell them by their style. Today many wear "rave styles" and don't rave.

So why so much trouble for ravers these days? Part of it has to do with the fact that it has been difficult for contemporary raves to leave their history behind. There are many competing stories of the beginning. But any legitimate beginning would start with the black and gay clubs of Chicago, New York and the legendary Detroit. By the mid to late 80s, the circuits of global music had replaced what has come to be understood as the "original" rave scene in Ibiza, Spain, led by expatriate Brits. Starting out in abandoned buildings, fields, barns and other legendary and assorted places in the early days, raves have been unable to leave the mythic elements of their beginnings behind.

The problems that that rave scene is experiencing in Toronto should be not seen as isolated. It is very much a problem of the changed and increased role of policing in restructuring public spaces. Last June, before Mr. Fantino's arrival, gay men were arrested at the now-famous Bijou -- a gay porn cinema and bar. Police claimed to be checking for liquor infractions in what, for many, was a reminder of the bathhouse raids of the 1980s. Recently, the long-running Naked Dance at a nightclub in Toronto's gay ghetto was shut down. Laws were not being broken but the persistent questioning and visiting by police prompted the owner to decide to avoid legal costs and court appearances by not hosting the dance.

The police are being used as an arm of the state to shut down cultural expressions that some don't like or understand, and to shut up and put out of business organizations that challenge the provincial government.

These are new times and new times call for new actions. The Toronto scene has responded with musical intelligence, demonstrating why the scene in Toronto is world renowned. In a city obsessed with having world-class status, we should be thanking ravers for bringing it to us without the sponsorship of du Maurier.

The ravers have organized a party rally at Toronto City Hall for Aug. 1. DJs from across the city, the country and the world will spin their musical magic. While the partiers dance and listen to speeches, Toronto's councillors will be meeting inside City Hall.

Hopefully the music outside and the thousands who will gather to have their voices heard will penetrate this time. Instead of outrageous and silly remarks about raves, such as Chief Fantino's statement about "kids rolling around in their vomit," this is an opportunity for a different discussion to occur. In fact, this is the opportunity for City Hall to work much more closely with councillors such as Frances Nunziata and Olivia Chow (a causality of the new policing) and the Toronto Dance Safety Committee. In the long run, the booming electronic music scene might continue to bring more tourists to Toronto than Mel's moose ever will. Mel should take a lesson from Detroit and see how the music and rave scene has helped in the rejuvenation of that city.

What is really disturbing about Mr. Lastman's and Mr. Fantino's attempts to shut raves down is that in Toronto we are synchronizing with Giuliani time. A kind of moral policing exists that targets only the poor, squeegee kids, the homeless, people of colour, youth, and anyone who doesn't fit the Banana Republic style catalogue. We should be wary of this kind of moral policing that criminalizes a large cross-section of our province.

We should be aware and alarmed about the ways in which police in this city are continually attempting to restrict the use of public space. Whether we are talking about the targeted policing campaigns to drive the homeless out of our parks -- where they take their shelter -- or the Mayor's desire to control raves, the overarching issue is the role that policing is increasingly playing in how we enjoy our city.

The ravers have fought back by sampling both Mr. Lastman and Mr. Fantino making statements that demonstrate their lack of knowledge. Both of them have stated that they know nothing about raves. When questioned by Frances Nunziata about his attempt to ban raves, Mr. Lastman literally responded, "When I went along with it, I didn't know what a rave party was. I thought we could control it."

Nefarius makes good use of the Mayor's ignorance to teach him and many others about the history of electronic music and raves. But what makes the track Strike Back so politically important is that, in the midst of Mr. Lastman's attempt for election as this city's mayor, his comments on banning something he knows nothing about should give us alarm. Let's hope that Nefarius's booming sound gets the sonic vote out in the upcoming municipal elections.

In Ontario, the triumvirate of Mike Harris, Mel Lastman and Julian Fantino will (if Mr. Lastman is re-elected) continue to make the province and, especially, Toronto one of the least-democratic places in North America. Those three will continue to implement a conservative agenda that seeks to limit all kinds of social, cultural and political space in the province and city.

But as Nefarius raps to us, those who want to live in a city that works and is free of homelessness, drug dealing and other social ills must strike back. The first strike should be hip hopping Mr. Lastman out of City Hall this fall.

[i]Rinaldo Walcott is assistant professor of humanities and the interim graduate-program director of Interdisciplinary Studies at York University. He teaches in the area of black cultural studies, and is on the editorial board of Fuse M

Klubmasta Will

.

SiLvERBuBBLEZ

Hey

I'm totay going to I-DANCE and to the after party at limelight! but im just curious what time the after party ends...and.. what the line up is?

so if anyone knows!
that would be cool!

*HUGS*
hope to see you all out on tuesday! this is going to be wikid!

Luv,
Natasha

Monks

It will interesting to see the outcome of the election this fall. That was a well written article.

If I remember correctly from sat afternoon, I think one of the statements we put on the picket signs for the rally is "Ravers are Voters".

see you ALL there.

Echuta!
Kevin

Klubmasta Will

everyone should take the time to read rinaldo walcott's piece in the globe and mail ... especially how he describes the i-dance cd:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>In what is arguably one of the most pointed political songs in recent Canadian memory, Nefarius's hip hop track Strike Back, on the CD It's About Freedom to Dance, independently produced by Toronto's beleaguered rave scene, will go down in the annals of Canadian music history as a most significant contribution to our right to dance. In fact, the entire CD, which is ripping with homegrown creativity, is one of the most significant events in a long time in Canadian music.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

like ... holy shit!

props go out to y-look, flipside and frankenstein who also worked on that track with nefarius. and to all the other artists who worked on the cd.

we're starting to think we didn't make enough cds to cover the demand. we've gotten calls from people who want to distribute the cds at hmv!

in all likelihood, we will be making more copies after the rally but if you want one from the *initial* run, you should come to the pre-party on july 29. or else show up really early on august 1. they'll be collector's items. (and only $10)



Klubmasta Will

immersed

Can somebody tell me what genres will be included on the Freedom to Dance CD? I hope the track mentioned in article above is the only hip hop song, since hip hop isn't (in my opinion anyhow) a music of our scene. I'm sure the song has great lyrics and it's great that it was written by Canadians, but I hope to hear at list one track from each of the main genres from our scene. Thanks =i=

[This message has been edited by immersed (edited July 26, 2000).]

Klubmasta Will

drum n bass, techno, trance, breaks, several genres of house. take a look at the cd track listing earlier in this thread.

we needed a hip hop track because that was the only way to work a lot of original lyrics into the cd.

immersed

thanks Will
I did see the track listing, but I'm not familiar with all the producers so that's why I asked. =i=
(DAMN IT! no HHC!)
Alright Frolic, roll up your sleaves, it's time to do some remixin'

[This message has been edited by immersed (edited July 26, 2000).]

!~*HaZeL*~!

I hope I can make it!!

I hate working grr..

PeAcE
Jess

DJunglette

please people come sober!!!if i see anyone fukt my heart will be broken and hard to fix!!!!

Commander Keen

Holy crap..
that was one of the best written articles I've read in a long time..

great job.

~*Blueberrie*~

yuppity yup
party in the park!

bad boy bill..yumm

this is going to be absolutly crazy, i can't wait!

*-=LeTiT=-*

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Klubmasta Will:
July 25, 2000

[b]DJ MC Flipside said he's been involved in rave events with 25,000 people and has seen no real trouble.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

WTF?!

Jizz Master Zero

I-Dose?

i don't know if it was on here but somewhere jacques or someone was looking for marshalls

what is a marshall

i thought that was for golf courses

Syphon

I already said it once in another thread... but if I see anyone all cracked out on E, I'm gonna beat them with a fun fur bat.... hehehe, j/k...

Jeff

PaRtYKiD!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Klubmasta Will:
July 25, 2000
DJ MC Flipside said he's been involved in rave events with 25,000 people and has seen no real trouble. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That should be DJ/MC Flipside.

Flipside has toured with Freaky Flow for a great deal of time now. Not only MC'ing, but spinning as well. He throws down some really good techno if you ask me.

So I dont really understand what the 'WTF!' was about.

PaRtYKiD
Corey

[This message has been edited by PaRtYKiD! (edited July 26, 2000).]

Klubmasta Will

i don't see what the "wtf" comment was all about either. freaky flow and flipside do more travelling than just about any other canadian performers. the only other canadian performers (that i can think of) who travel that much are richie hawtin and anabolic frolic.

freaky flow and flipside are playing a different american city *every* single weekend now, often playing 2 or more large parties in the same weekend. they also just recently returned from a japan tour.

Klubmasta Will

Klubmasta Will

hey twitch, hurry up and post the flyer for the after-party.

(the flyer he made is gorgeous.)

Klubmasta Will

Bombah

ya Nick hurry the hell up, he makes a nice flyer but takes forever to post it

+tickled pink+

i'm just hoping that no one's selfish enough to do lots of drugs, make it visibly detectable, and get us in trouble by proving fantino's point at our OWN RALLY.