Well here ya go.

The week before we had gone to a Juan Atkins party, it was something else. I don't remember all the DJ's but Juan and Eddie “Flashing" Fowlks were both there. I'm sure that it was a bunch of Metroplex label stable DJ's. The dance floor was pumpin with the distinctive repetitive unadorned robot disco style of the first wave of Detroit techno pioneers. Probably a 30-35 dollar party, at least two hundred people. I had taken some Psilocybin and it was doing it's work. I remember when “They Came In Peace” was played in the chill room the space became a verdant garden blossoming and bursting with vegetative life around me while benevolent UFO's cruzed over head. Any way it was a fantastic party, put on with panache and great sounds.

There was a reporter with local newspaper there. A day or two later a story ran in the paper that girls were being raped and people were openly shooting heroin at the party. I saw nothing like this. Security at the party had been unobtrusive but present, I'd be surprised if the things the paper alleged actually happened, but for the good citizens of Detroit it might as well have been written in stone.

So anyway, week after the Atkins party we go down to a low rent $5 party (think it was a Heckle and Jekyll party, if I remember right they were throwing small parties the weeks when a bigger one wasn't going on). It was fine, there was music and dancing but nothing special.

Can't recall what time but if I had to guess it'd be about 2am when the cops came crashing through the doors. The front lines had riot shields, the next row was sprinkled with shotguns and drawn pistols. I was dancing, pretty much in the middle of the space so I was insulated from that first wave of police aggression. People who were near the door got swept into the space at by the riot shields, wasn't close enough to see it but I'm sure it less than gentle. I had a bag of weed on me, I tossed it on the ground.

It was a pretty gentle scene. You often saw the same faces, dancing was the important part of the whole endeavor, not drugs. Yes there were drugs but it was a community of people who liked to dance and have a good time, gentle, fun and groovy.

Anyways...All us fun loving gentle folks were crammed up, face first against the walls, menaced by shotguns, riot shields, screams and pistols. I remember looking a sad looking cop in the eyes and asking “why are you doing this?” He didn't look like he was having nearly as much fun as most the rest of the vice force, he shrugged and looked away.

After they had us all up against the walls with our hands laced behind our heads they brought in the news cameras. Yup, we made the news but I'll get back to that a little later

As Mark said, Gill Hill was in charge of the operation but he got the quote wrong. I want you to think about Al Sharpton's enunciation when you try this phrase out. Gill was standing on the DJ stand with a microphone when he called out “You will not party (long pause) In my City!” Great false rhyme with Partay and Citay.

After we got the lecture and the news crew out the way we were all placed on the ground, on our knees with our hands laced behind out heads, for what felt like hours, how long was it? No idea, wasn't quick, wasn't comfortable. A kid right in front of me said he was on acid and was freaking out. Did my best to calm him but talking attracted the the mans ire.

After letting us stew for a while they started processing us a few at a time. I was behind ecib in line. The cops wrting the ticket asked the guy in front of ecib what color his eyes were, the kid said “Hazel.” Pissed the cop off, “Your eyes can be green, your eyes can be brown but they can't be Hazel,” he said. Process the kid and it ecib's turn at bat. “What color are your eyes?” Shit eating grin on ecibs face, “Hazel.” Shiiiittttt...couldn't believe his gall, but wte, he made it though the line. He awlays was a smart ass when it came to the cops.

So we get out and go home. We had brought two people who had never gone to a party before, felt a little bad for them, now that they got ticket for a “blind pig.”

Next day we made the news. We would have just been bodies in a crowd on the news shots but nope. I was wearing this ugly ass t-shirt that large alternating dark red and blue stripes, inside those red and blue stripes were two or three bright orange and lime stripes, pretty distinctive. Ecib's shirt wasn't much better. He had on this white silk jersy with bright yellow lettering and distinctive blue stripes. I don't think it was a team jersey but it was easy to spot him across a room. The news shot was of a bunch of kids lined up against the wall with ecib and I standing right next to each other. Our folks knew those shirts and even though our faces were up against the wall it'd be one hell of a coincidence...

Day or two later I went by my Dads house. He was sitting in the dining room drinking a 40oz. Looked at me stone faced and said “Saw you on the news the other night.”

“Yup,” I said.

“That must have sucked,” he said.

That is pretty much it.