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SSMOKING!//YOU
UPGRADEmag// may 22
2001
SSMOKING!
(Chapter 5 of Raving Lunacy.
Adventures In The Rave Scene by Dave Courtney -
***PARA YOU RECOMMENDED***Let me tell you what I think the addictiveness of raving was, and still is (and this little explanation probably ain't going to be something you'd first expect). By raving I mean what you'd probably now call just clubbing, something like that, since the word 'rave' has gone in and out of fashion. But it's all the same thing. I'll still use the old word but you know what I mean. What the rave scene actually meant - and you can call it what you want and have different strains of music and all that - but the reason for its success was that for the very first time in the modern history of Great Britain they actually made a building where people could go to smoke dope/ cannabis/ weed, whatever you personally call it. Me and mine, we just call it 'puff'. So now you know. See, there's always been millions of people in this country - between about five and ten million they say - that smoke puff. But never had anywhere to officially or safely do it. And that's a fuck load of people waiting for something to come along. Most people hide it from their mum, their workmates, their boss, their kids, the manager of their pub. They can't show the world that they smoke it so they're always having it in secret. Even in the pub you couldn't puff. If you did everyone looked at you like you were a proper junkie. It was horrible. And if you looked up the list of laws against it, and the offences you could be charged with, and the powers the police had against you if you were caught with it - for something that is, when it comes down to it, just the leaves from a fucking plant - then you got some idea of why people who smoked puff could get paranoid. It weren't the puff, it was the laws against it that did your head in! Then, all of a sudden, in the 80s, along comes raving and the rave scene and the whole drug culture thing that comes with it. Now, forget the hard drugs, cos that's another matter: what it was was for the first time ever there was this venue - y'know, be it a tent, a cellar, a warehouse, a club, whatever - where all these people who were normally doing something they'd have to hide in the shadows, could go to a place and smoke openly in front of loads of other geezers doing the same. Touch! It was the only place where no one looked at you, and you could go up and say, 'Got any large Rizlas, mate?' without them going 'What!' And THAT was the attraction of the building. The fact that they played music there, initially, was secondary. If they'd taken all the music out but kept the building, people would've still gone there and they would've called it a 'chill-out' room. Like they do now! They have them in clubs still. But that's just another excuse to go and have a smoke of puff. And as puffing is addictive, so that room became addictive because you wanted to puff there more because you weren't hiding. Because you could do it openly it was like being set free. You didn't feel like a leper in society, like the odd one out. That, actually, that one thing, was an awful big thing behind the rave scene; a real big booster that helped get it all started. Cos all the people that puffed were sort of like-minded people anyway, even though they might be from different walks of life, puffing was founded in the sort of anti-establishment, don't-give-a-fuck side of society anyway. And loads and loads of young kids were into it and they brought the music. I mean, imagine that cigarettes now were thought of in the same way as smoking puff was then, and everyone had to hid their twenty Marlboro in a drawer, and only buy them from certain people, and only smoke among friends hiding in someone's bedroom, stuff like that. Then this rave scene comes along where you could go and get a cig out, blatantly, light it up and do it with loads of other cheery, happy fuckers who were also glad to get out of their mate's bedroom! You would be well and truly pretty fucking chuffed, wouldn't you? Well, that's what it was like and so much other stuff sprang from that little foundation. 'A mighty tree grow from de roots!' as they say. Amen to that. And in the beginning - fuck me, listen, I'm starting to sound all biblical now! - 'In the beginning … there was one word and the word was "puff!" No, actually, it was 'God'. But not a lot of people know that God only rested on the seventh day of creation cos He'd been smoking puff all day and He thought, Oh fuck it … I've done enough. (Think we might have just lost a few of our Christian readers there, don't you? Fuck 'em. I'm a Satanist anyway. Not really.) Anyway, in the beginning of raving they didn't clamp down on the drugs like they do now. The laws were more lax and getting out of it seemed more acceptable. Back then the thought of you being searched on the club door and your drugs being taken off you on the way in seemed fucking barbaric! You know? When you'd actually driven all the way there to stay till ten in the morning and smoke and get off your tits, and to look at each other and go ACEEEEIID! with a load of other people who wanted to do the same and not feel stupid - and then, before that, if your gear had been confiscated … imagine. Also, the feeling of not having to be embarrassed about being out of it in front of your mates or the geezer sat next to you, that was a big thing. Because before, in pubs and clubs, it weren't really like that. Now suddenly you were in a place where you could puff all night long. That was addictive to those people, the feeling. That's why people go to football matches so they can stand in the middle of ten thousand blokes and go 'WHOAAAHHH!' It was the same as that. And you started to live for your raving or clubbing weekend like the football hooligan lived for his little clashes on a Saturday. (And if you Peace and Love clubbers could never understand the football hooligan then just think of it that way I've just described: their Saturday afternoon was your Saturday night.) The authorities tried to work it out and got it all wrong and said IT'S DRUGS - RAVING'S BAD. They didn't realise that a lot of people didn't give a fuck whether you were playing Beethoven or Big Beats. That club was their fucking release. It meant that at the weekend you were the bollocks. A fucking millionaire. Another mistake the authorities make is that, while puff is illegal, dealers are essential. Howard Marks told me how true that is. The feeling of unity and power and all-of-us together was a very powerful motivation in clubland, and a real proper buzz. That feeling's addictive and it keeps you going back. More so than any drug, really, cos that feeling is your drug. And all the time without realising it had all started because of puff. That was one of the real deep motives behind the first wave of raving. Just because there was a safe, friendly building that allowed millions of people to smoke their little lump of puff. And then you only had to go once to get hooked on the building, or on whichever bit of what happened in there made you feel most free. So you'd get people coming out in a kind of awe and thinking things like - I don't have to smoke puff and zonk out in the pub anymore because I can do it openly in that building; just ten quid away; I can't dance and neither can any of these other cunts but I take that pill and I'm King of the dance in that fucking building. Or a girl that liked black guys didn't have to walk down the street getting looks from people for just holding hands when in that building they could actually fucking snog without anyone batting an eye! And gays, who had to hide their feelings outside, could kiss in front of everyone and no one minded. In that building where the rave was. That's why it was so popular, because it was so many different things to different people. That's why for young people it became almost their church. The real church would have rejected or condemned most of the people in that rave. So fuck God and put your arms in the air! - Chooooon! Look back at the two most popular images on T-shirts and caps and bags, and anything else you could stick a patch on to help sell it: the yellow smiley acid face, and the green marijuana leaf. Northern Ireland says it all about the whole thing. I put on club nights there. And raving made Catholics cuddle Protestants. When they came out the next morning they were shooting each other. But when they were in that building … A lot of superstar DJs and a lot of big venues got the credit but … let me tell you - it weren't them that did it, mate. It was you lot. (extracted from Raving Lunacy. Adventures In The Rave Scene by Dave Courtney / Virgin) YOU 2389 San Francisco THURS MAY 24 And yes, they've brought in a fresh batch of club brats to regale you with tales of deviance and debauchery. Host, Billee Sharp, brings you performances by Tomas, UFO!, Felix the Dog, Shobhan, Holly Roberts and Amanda Nowinski. Musical stylings by resident DJ Jonah Sharp. Environments and visuals provided by Yamaguchi of Ozone Rocks and Del Ray. They're still bored, but their attempts to "get off our collective asses to show you more than a bunch of lazy, drugged-out clubbers" have gone all the way to Tokyo to find Ken Machines (former Shamen keyboard player) and Mesheen (ex-recording artist for SF-based Reflective Records) to present: "UNA SERA DI TOKIO" - complete with a stunningly-attired geisha as your guide, raw footage of blitzed salary men out on the town, as well as Kabuki-cho dripping in iridescent neon. Learn the dance steps of the Para Para girls. Ken Machines and Mesheen will be accompanied live by the fierce flow of MC Girau, another founding member of the Neoteric Collective. 26Mix, 3024 Mission Street. 9pm - 2am, 21+, $5. TheBoredCollective@hotmail.com. YOU 2390 Dear Fraser, I have been trying to raise awareness on the Usenet newsgroups (including uk.environment) concerning the links between ill-health (not least cancer) and electromagnetic pollution. EM pollution comes from overhead power lines and transmitters of all kinds, not to mention a variety of everyday electrical appliances (especially striplights and cathode ray tubes). In particular it has come to our village of Ruabon in N. Wales in the form of an unwanted Orange mobile phone mast, right by the junior school. Please could you invite readers to visit http://www.powerwatch.org.uk and http://www.feb.se/index_int.htm just to see what all the fuss is about, and then write to their local MP and/or the PM if they feel that the unquestioned mass deployment of microwave phone masts is still a good idea?? Orange HQ's phone no. is 01454 624 600, where they'll fob you off with their favourite bits from the May 2000 "Stewart Report". Powerwatch have a critique of this report on their site. Several UK communities have so far managed to repel masts from their area, we hope to be the next. Matt <mrr@spherica.demon.co.uk> YOU 2391 DEN OF ENLIGHTENMENT GOES FORTNIGHTLY! Yes, folks, so great was the last party, with numbers and smiles almost doubling that Fraser has taken the decision to go fortnightly from June 2. Dates thereafter will be June 16 (Cannabis Carnival), July 7 & 21 etc "Shaman and rave culture theoretician, DEN promoter Fraser Clark is a passionate believer in collective global consciousness-raising, party-style." S-X mag London SAT JUNE 2
1. DIN OF ENLIGHTENMENT DANCEFLOOR - enlightening psi-fi trance Youth (Dragonfly Records) Zebedee (Restless Natives, Trancentral) ULTRA (Area 51) 2. TRIBADELICATESSEN Pok Star, Now Age Radio, New Space Goats + Renegade Spinners 3am After Party with DJ Frankie Dee 3. CROW'S NEST THEATRE Tantric Cabaret @ Scenes from John Constable's Southwark Mysteries, with Jahnet de Light (Living Goose and Tantric Priestess), Niall McDevitt (Sorcerer’s Apprentice, troubadour), Shona (Visionary Violin), Sam Dodd (playing Goose, tbc), Siobhan (Faerie Hostess), Stuart and Pauline (Tantric Hostesses), Matt Brown (Fat Clown, shamanic juggler) & kateEkaos (Ground Control).
"Like Shakespeare on acid" Time Out
3am After Party with Ambient DJ Steve Radford (Mr.Night & Mr.Day / Knights Of The Occasional Table) 4. PLAYSHOP Ancient Stonehenge Mysteries & Modern Histories with CJ Stone (author of Fierce Dancing, Last Of The Hippies etc TBC) Susanna Lafond, Faery Queen and Battle Chieftain of Loyal Arthurian War Band, Tales from Stonehenge by Willy X, video footage, Talking Circle, Bards, Priestesses etc PLUS Enlightenment Intensive with Lokabandhu (Buddhist) + Ference the poet etc etc @ Imperial Gardens, 299 Camberwell New Road, SE5 11pm- 6am. £10/6concs INFO: 0207-813-9685 Advance tickets from Access All Areas, Camden. www.parallel-youniversity.com "Everywhere people are actually talking to each other!" Time Out SAT JUNE 16
THE After Cannabis Festi Party Party!!
1.Ultra (resident) Lee Techtonic (Warp Experience) Marco Arnaldi (Megatripolis) 2. 3am after party - DJ Dalaman (Mandala Posse) 3. 4. + Guru Dave + Inter Ference: Oratorio Musicali + Talking Circle "Everywhere people are actually talking to each other, swapping ideas, views, phone numbers. " Time Out
DEN OF ENLIGHTENMENT 11pm- 6am
YOU 2392Imperial Gardens, 299 Camberwell New Road, SE5 £10/6concs INFO: 0207-813-9685 www.parallel-youniversity.com ADVANCE TICKETS from ACCESS ALL AREAS, Camden ================================================== "From Camberwell to nirvana in seven hours, the Enlightenment starts here." Time Out Having read your last newsletter I thought you may be able to answer this. I would just like to know why love, hope etc are often associated with drugs (whether it be hash, E...etc.). Surely everyone must have experienced (either first or second hand) the paranoia, fear, coughing crap out of your lungs, ulcers in your mouth the next day....etc. Even looking into the eyes of friends who are 'loved up' can appear like the blank soulless eyes of a shark. How much longer can we (you, everyone), and me possibly try to convince ourselves that this is spiritually positive! Not sure about you, but I need peace, through and through! A peace that does not bring paranoia...etc. Sorry to land this Question at your door. Not trying to offend anyone, we are all on the same side! I just think we are being tricked into walking the road that drives us insane. God bless you all! lee midwinter - the natural psychedelics, it seems to me, are as much part of our environment as other fruits, the air, water etc. i really can't see a difference. so we physical beings have to work out for ourselves that enough water is good for us and too much can drown us etc etc. that's one argument, the Question being, still, what is their healthy "use". secondly, in a society which, by most standards of sanity, you would surely have to agree is fairly to totally insane (where hope, love etc are not regarded as consumer products and are virtually ignored) and which has clearly been heading towards destruction for centuries now, accelerating geometrically, people are "naturally" moving towards stimulating the higher qualities of love, care, cooperation etc by whatever means is available. right or wrong, that's what they're doing, right? and, in a society which fears such things and has passed severe laws against such use (they used to burn disbelievers but the human species has evolved beyond that now) it's highly likely that such psychonautic explorations will contain a high level of fear and paranoia. it's NOT paranoia. there really ARE people looking for you out there, and there really ARE un-Loving, un-Cooperating people out there who would certainly take advantage if they knew you'd dropped your guard. if your main point is obsession with drugs, then, of course, i completely agree with you. that does lead to problems. the main way to know if you are abusing any or several drugs is if these problems start to dominate. i agree if your point is that THAT is the moment to move to some other means of transport, at least for a time. lastly, the stronger entheogens (including E) have always been employed in human culture, and still can be if used wisely, to reveal a Healthy Vision of what one's life can be, and can become an inner direction for it. if we were (unnaturally) deprived of such visions, i dunno that many people would find themselves there in any kind of merely rational manner. thanks for writing, lee. you do raise several important issues. fraser YOU 2393 THURS MAY 31 contrary to the vicious rumour circulating about the disbanding of the LPA (like all their activities, to test the effects of construction and memory architecture on the mood and behavior of individuals (themselves and those around us) the LPA has not disbanded. since the lpa didn't exist in the first place, it cannot cease to exist. the LPA is a non-existent organisation called on to give credibility to a group of European artists called the Situationist International. As such it should be treated primarily as a literary device. 291 Gallery, 291 Hackney Rd. http://www.c6.org/evol/IMG/lpaflyer.jpg |
