I'm sure you're all aware by now that the global electronic music scene is currently under attack. The battle is especially hard in the United States, where some of our most legendary dance clubs are being shut down, owners and promoters are being prosecuted under the "crack house law", and "raver profiling" has police officers searching and harassing anybody with a crate of records in their back seat. What's worse is that a major precedent in Florida could turn this club harassment into outright robbery. The case against Club La Vela indicates that the government is planning to seize thier assets. The law allows asset seizure prior to a guilty verdict in cases against "drug offenders".
The truth about this club, and most of the other clubs under public scrutiny, is that they have a zero-tolerance policy towards patrons who bring drugs into their clubs. Club La Vella is particularly professional in the way they conduct their business. Anybody caught with drugs is immediately expelled. Anytime there is a medical incident, the club dials 911 and gets an ambulance on the scene immediately. Just what you'd expect a club to be doing. Not what you'd expect criminals to be doing though. The officials see all those 911 calls as a sign that there is something criminal going on. Keep in mind that Club La Vella is one of the largest clubs in the US, and they easily pack the club for events like raves, bringing in more dancers than any other club in the area. It's a numbers game. More people equals more ambulance calls. The same thing can be said of early morning commutes. Much of the reason for all these drastic measures comes from political pressure and negative press. It's fairly common these days to see a newspaper article about raves or club closures, and it's rarely painted by the press as a bad thing. They talk to the police, rather than club owners to get their information. Many groups have sprung up in hopes of combatting the tide of anti-dance legislature, taking their battles to court and raising funds to fight the war on the front lines. There are other ways to fight though. I've been thinking that the best way to fight politicians is to get their voters on your side of the cause. The best way to do that is to stir up positive press and educate the public on what the electronic music scene is really about. So what can you do? If you rave, rave responsibly. Teach the younger kids that the scene is not all about drugs and rebellion. Show them the spirit of PLUR, and teach them through your example how to treat people and property with kindness and respect. This will help us clean up the younger crowd who have flocked to the rave scene hoping to find the drug haven portrayed on T.V. The next step is to get involved in positive action groups. Organize charities and put donation jars at party booths and raver hang-outs. Large contributions can get on the six o'clock news. Probably the easiest thing you can do though that will make a difference on a global scale is to participate in the Global Dance Culture Collective's search for a cancer cure. The idea is to get a very large group of ravers, electronic music producers, dj's, and supporters to contribute a resource they're not using anyway -- their idle CPU cycles. If our group is large enough, it's national news. If somebody in our group finds the cure, it's the positive press opportunity of a lifetime. I started this article talking about the situation of the dance music industry because that's what this forum is focussed on. What's really important to me though is that we contribute to a cure for cancer. It is still today a leading cause of death in the U.S. Chances are you know somebody who's suffering from cancer. My little brother developed a tumor when he was only 9 years old. A childhood friend of mine has cancer that has threatened to spread to his vital organs. I've watched people loose their hair, their voice, their skin, their beauty, and their lives in their struggles with cancer. This is a chance for us to help them - even if it's only to narrow-down the possibilities, every little bit counts. All you have to do is download a client, let it run during your computer's idle cycles (every computer has a lot of those), and join the team. You'll be participating in two very worthy causes. You can help to ease the suffering of millions of people world-wide. From my perspective, there's no other choice. http://www.mp3.com/stations/globaldanceculture - eric ===== -- download my music: http://www.raw42.com/cgi-bin/featuredartist.pl?artist=341 help us search for a cancer cure with your CPU's idle time: http://www.mp3.com/stations/globaldanceculture __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
