"It looked like a bunch of high schoolers commandeered an old, abandoned K-Mart. The music was insane. They had these stacks of speakers that I only saw at huge venues just blaring rhythm. It rocked that night, and I was hooked."
For some people the events in nightclubs lack the community that the old school raves had. Phoenix sees the scene as fragmented and compartmentalized between subgenres of electronic music, DJs and personalities. At age 24 he wishes for the days when the parties featured strangers in a room having fun. For Phoenix, the respectability of being in a club loses that old school, underground feel of the late '90s and early '00s.
Phoenix is not the only one who sees disunity in the scene. Anne Schmader, Leavenworth senior and longtime raver, says there are not as many people who are willing to just have a good time. Politics and personal differences between people are preventing good times that were happening a few years back, she says.
Away from the clubs of Kansas City, one Lawrence production company is still pulling all-nighters like a No-Doz popping college student. Tribal Vision, informally led by Tim Hjersted, Douglas County resident, is well known in the electronic music community for throwing small, outdoor summertime all-ages parties. In its four years the group has thrown eight parties that attract people from all over the Midwest to Hjersted's country home on the outskirts of Lawrence.
Tribal Vision seeks to create a tribal atmosphere and a strong sense of community by having parties with no admission price, filling cheap water to cover the relatively low expenses (average $250), having bonfires and maintaining a positive attitude.
Hjersted says that the younger generations of ravers were influenced by the mass media telling them that raves were places to do drugs. He hopes young ravers will embrace the values of community, respect and love and that raves will not be seen as a place to do drugs anymore.
Todd Comer, Gladstone resident, tries to shake the "raves equal drugs" image through his photography. Comer, 37, has been documenting the local rave scene from behind a photo lens since December 2001. He has archived about 30,000 pictures on his Web site, Phocas.net, which he updates regularly.
"When I started, I wanted to show that people are dancing and not doing all these drugs," Comer said, "There is this Bible Belt image that kids should stay at home with their families, which is good, but kids need to go out and have a good time and forget about their jobs and problems for awhile."
For the future of raving and club music, Lee looks to the coasts. He says there are clubs in Seattle, New York and Washington D.C. that have events where people dance until dawn. Kansas and other midwestern states have laws requiring that the party has to stop at 3 a.m.
This law reminds Lee of the '80s movie Footloose. Hjersted also sees a future from the coasts. He says that raves as we know them will disappear but emerge in a different form. Hjersted has heard of raves in San Francisco that focus more on spiritual ideas through music and dance. Those parties avoid the drugs that gave raves a bad name.
— Neil Mulka can be reached at nmulka@kansan.com.
---
2.5.04 Testing
25