It's always been an interest of mine to go to an authentic warehouse rave. However I don't know that I was born in the right decade for it or that I've ever known the rave-going person. Do they even still happen anymore? You know, the kind where you make three different stops to get directions to the actual place.
Here's an account of one I was at with ecib and cgod that got busted. http://mw-raves.org/old/lunar/contributions/posts/police.rave.raid.html They came flying in with guns drawn. My buddy said he walked out of the bathroom to a pistol in his chest. That police officer that said "Don't you have parties in my city anymore. This is my city. And I won't have this any more in my city" was actually Gil Hill, of Beverly Hills Cop fame. As I was on my knees with my hands behind my head, I saw a cop's badge laying on the floor. I still regret not picking it up. But, i didn't know if I'd be searched. We went to a Denny's after that and showed some cops our tickets. They said something like "Were you at a brothel?" The Detroit Police dropped the charges against all of us. Good times. I am sure they still happen. EDIT: one of my favorite tracks from those days:
Comparing the article and your version, I agree with cgod.
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.
I'll be damned if I can add anything to that brilliant recount. Pan to my aftermath: Sunday evening. Living room. I quietly read my novel on the couch as my father, ECIB THE FIRST, County Prosecutor, soaks his aching feet in a basin with bath salts, listlessly flipping through channels and settling inevitably on the local evening news. Cut to a commercial as the anchor teases: "SEX, DRUGS AND UNDERAGE TEENS AT ILLEGAL UNDERGROUND PARTIES IN DETROIT. A RAVE IS RAIDED AND CHANNEL 7 IS RIGHT THERE. WE'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS PHENOMENON WHEN WE COME BACK!" ecib: O_o "Dad, you look reaaaaly tired" ECIB THE FIRST: (Yawns slightly) "Hmmyeah. I guess I am." ecib: "Mmm, yeah. You should just head to bed and get some rest. Want me to dump that water out for you?" ECIB THE FIRST: "Yes, thank you. Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning, good night." ecib: "Nite!" ECIB THE FIRST heads up the stairs. I can still see his ankles slipping up from view as commercial break ends and the anchor barrels into the story leading with footage of me and cgod front and center with our hands behind our heads. Probably the closest I've come to shitting my pants during my adolesence. Luckily my dad was a prosecutor for the neighboring county, so he never got wind of the dismissed ticket. Btw, the city sent absolutely the most dickish letter (expertly intercepted of course) stating that the tickets were being dismissed "due to a technicality", the technicality being that we were not breaking the law we were given a ticket for. Good times.
you know this is not the first time someone has called out this name for the caribbean Jack Bandit reference. It's interesting because I chose the name based on one of Doug Funnie's characters Jack Bandit, a bandit/zorro character. But I am actually caribbean in heritage. for the record, my father was amazing.
I'm guessing you attend? I also have Carribean blood, my mother is Dominican.
How often do they occur and how do I go about attending? Despite their proximity, it's very interesting to see how different these countries are.
events in the city? yeah, Jamaican and Vincentian over here
They totally still happen. Rave culture, EDM, and the use of drugs like MDMA (Molly) and ecstasy is wildly popular in many circles. I've never been to a real rave, but I hear a lot about them from a close friend who is deep into the culture- glow stringing, poi, the drugs, the music, the fashion, all of it. I suppose you just have to know where to look- not that I do- but be assured they're certainly still going on. This is in the Midwestern USA I'm talking about. I spent the summer in Germany, and I'd say raves are at least- if not more- alive in Europe than they are here. My classmates stumbled upon a particularly sketchy and disconcerting warehouse about twenty minutes from the city in an isolated rural area that hosts raves almost every weekend where people go and party from Friday night to Sunday afternoon without stopping. That was near Dresden. When we were in Amsterdam, there was a huge rave going on that weekend. We saw people all over the placed dressed to attend- and with the drugs that are often associated at such events.
That interesting how open they are about in those places you listed as opposed to here in the States. I'm originally from the Midwest and am planning to visit this winter. Maybe I'll find one then.
Is that the general trend of them or are there rave hotspots?