RAVE1: Utah's first rave
Pete Ashdown
What happens when you try to do a rave in a backwater state where 99% of the
underground hasn't heard of techno or raves? Read on...
Myself and a friend (John) decided to throw a rave. Utah's first rave. We
originally planned for a groundhog day rave, but were shafted by the "friend"
loaning us his dad's warehouse in the last week. So, we set a goal for
February 15th, the day after Valentines for "RAVE1 - Utah's First Rave". On
the 8th, I found another warehouse. The guy was completely cool and didn't
care what we did, just as long as we gave him the rent and a deposit. So we
handed out 200 flyers that weekend. People were psyched, and more people than
I thought told me they were bummed at the last cancellation and were looking
forward to the next one.
On Monday, the 10th, I got a call from the warehouse owner. He told me that
he had decided to rent the warehouse to someone long-term, they needed to move
in immediately. I guessed the story was a lie, but what could I do? We'd
been shafted again. Even after we'd handed out even more flyers than the last
time. It didn't matter. I was going to find another place by Saturday, or
kill myself. The latter option didn't sound too appealing, so I started
driving and calling. I found another spot, the owner seemed to be hip on the
idea. It was a 3000 sq ft spot that used to be an auto repair shop. However,
when he showed me the place, it became clear that he thought I was going to
rent it permanently. Back to the drawing board. On Wednesday, I called a guy
who owned a place that used to be a club about a year ago. Sorry, he couldn't
do it it, the place didn't have any power. But he did give me the number of
another agent who did have a place.
I called him and he said he could do a weekend rent. On Thursday, he showed
me the place. It was really cool. Ornate 30's decoration with stained glass,
right in the center of town. However, he wanted $400, plus insurance ($300)
to rent it. This was a bit of a stretch for John and myself, so we said we
couldn't do it. Then he told me that he had another place, right next door
that was still occupied by a tenant. Maybe we could work a deal with him.
In short, this was the coolest club I've ever seen. It was an old boiler room
that had been refinished. Pipes stuck out all over the place. The old coal
pits had been converted into these deep dark rooms with tables. I was
drooling. The club that had been there had been closed for two weeks. The
agent told me that I would have to make a deal with the tenant, but in any
case, we would still need insurance.
I called the tenant and forced him to make a decision that night. He had
actually heard about raves, and told me later that he used to DJ a lot of
techno and house when the club was open. He liked the idea, but asked how
much we were willing to spend on rent. When I told him $200 to $300, he said
he'd do it for $300. I agreed. We'd meet on Friday to solidify the details.
We met with the agent, and I gave the tenant the newly purchased insurance as
proof. The agent had turned doubtful overnight. I think he really didn't
believe we could come up with insurance in 12 hours. He tried to shoot holes
in the coverage, but I patched them over as I pointed out words to him on the
form. The tenant took the insurance to his lawyer and had him look it over.
In the end, everything was OK. We had the place, I'd get the keys on Saturday
and pay the $300 then.
On Saturday, the tenant didn't show up. I was in a state of nervous panic.
On Thursday night we'd handed out another 500 flyers. I could see myself
being paraded through the center of town in a clown outfit with the word
"FOOL" on my chest. Turned out his wife had taken the car. He finally showed
up 2 hours late. This was at about 2:30, the rave was planned for 11:00.
Then our sound guy disappeared. We were getting the sound for free from a
friend, but we couldn't contact him. I picked up the lights and ran some
other errands. At 4:00 I was working on a large ulcer. Still no sound. I
went and screamed at John in his apartment. I told him I was going down to
setup, with or without sound. As I was leaving, the phone rang. Sound guy
showed up with John at the club at 5:30. VERY LARGE SPEAKERS. Brand new, out
of the box JBLs. 800 watt amplifier. When the thing was turned up it was
shaking things outside of the club. We were set.
Incredibly enough, we managed to get everything setup. John had this strange
idea that he could make a fortune off coffee at about 3:00 in the morning. He
bought six pounds of coffee. People were banging on the door at 10:30, we
told them to come back at 11:00.
We finally opened. A large crowd had gathered outside. People started filing
in. I started playing the music. I pretty much stayed in the booth all
night. In that time, I learned what DJ hell was. The booth was right off the
floor, so people could just graze over and complain. "This music all sounds
the same" "Play some Smiths" "Dude, don't you know what modern music is?"
"I've never heard of any of these groups" and the inevitable "DO YOU HAVE ANY
NINE INCH NAILS?" One guy would not leave until I had placed Psychic TV in
the player. Another couple sat and bitched at me for an hour about what to
play. "Smiths? Depeche Mode? Cure?" I finally got them to go away when I
threw on the Keith LeBlanc remix of "Primary", and even then I got complaints
because I was playing a REMIX. Another guy who was completely X'ed kept
coming over and saying "More smoke" and "Techno techno techno". The
compliments made it worth it though. "This music is incredible!" "Guy, you
are doing a great job!" "No place in town plays techno and you play it the
best."
I met a kid from Manchester that night. He was staying with a friend on a ski
vacation. When he told me he was from Manchester, I felt the urge to ask him
about the typical Manc stereotype band, but resisted. Then he said, "Have ye
got any Stone Roses?" I just about bust out laughing. I threw on some
Charlatans and Primal Scream for him and he went crazy. He told me that he
used to DJ raves last summer, but it was getting harder to have them in
England. He told me that we were doing a good job.
At 12:30, the tenant showed up. He started to shit bricks because there was
alcohol all over the place. Realize that here, it isn't X it's beer. If we
had been selling beer, we would have cleaned up. Instead, we made it BYOB.
The law isn't clear about people bringing their own, but still the tenant
wanted it gone. We had to have our bouncers go through and clean up the cans
and bottles by 1:00. He finally left and things returned to normal. The
police showed up at 2:00. John locked the door on them. Amazingly enough,
they just pulled on the door and left. They never came back.
Other highlights: Someone climbed out on the pipes, 20 feet above the floor.
A guy and his girlfriend got into a fist fight and left with completely bloody
faces. And the local punk/performance-artist took off all his clothes and
pissed on someone. Another person also took the toilet paper out of the
bathrooms and shot it around, I thought it was sort of cool actually, it was
hanging all over the place. At about 4:00 I was so tired I was having trouble
reading the tracks and counting to ten. At about 5:00 there were ten people
on the floor. They were leaving fast, so I wrapped it up. We stayed and
cleaned until 8:30 in the morning. Myself, John, and my friend who did
security for us. We were all so tired we could hardly see straight.
Overall, it was a success, especially for a new idea in this state.
Monetarily, we came up short, about $200. 120 people paid the $5 and about 20
people snuck in or were on the list. It got to the point where John would
take just about any amount for admission. One guy had only 50 cents and got
in on that. If we didn't have to pay for the ridiculous insurance, we would
have been in the clear. When we find a decent warehouse, I think the next one
will be even better. The summer will bring a lot of possibilities. We
already have a 10,000 capacity airport hanger that we can use, along with some
great desert/mountain spots for outdoor raves.
--
"I am an infinite number of monkeys with USENET access." - David Vacca
DISCLAIMER: My writings have NOTHING to do with my employer. Keep it that way.
Pete Ashdown pash...@javelin.sim.es.com ...uunet!javelin.sim.es.com!pashdown
Erik Ramberg
> Myself and a friend (John) decided to throw a rave. Utah's first rave. We
I tried to send mail to this guy put his postmaster said he didn't exist.
Anyways if you read this I'd appreciate an email before your next attempt.
I try to get out to SLC one weekend a month to ski and any coincidental
timing would be great.
Thanks
-Erik
Pete Ashdown
>In article <1992Feb17.2...@javelin.sim.es.com>, pash...@javelin.sim.es.com (Pete Ashdown) writes:
>
>> Myself and a friend (John) decided to throw a rave. Utah's first rave. We
>I tried to send mail to this guy put his postmaster said he didn't exist.
Try again. Things were funky with sendmail this morning. I do exist. :-)
As an aside, if you're interested in upcoming raves here in the City of Brine,
call our number, 801-461-3375. Ignore the teaser for "something this
weekend", we decided not to do that club. Right now, things are tentative for
middle of March, spring break time. There's also another pair of guys calling
themselves "Zeitgeist" who will be doing something at the beginning of March.
We'll probably say something about it on the phone number to be nice.