Jonty Skrufff's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘rave’

Click on the picture to buy Rush Hour: the compilation

American trance star Christopher Lawrence chatted to Skrufff about his new compilation series Rush Hour this week and also revealed he’ll shortly be quitting Australia to move back to Los Angeles.

Chatting to Skrufff when he relocated to Australia four years ago Christopher stressed his preference for bringing up his child there, though this week revealed he’s found it ‘very difficult living in Australia and keeping up my touring schedule’.

“My life is complete chaos, I have no permanent time zone,” Christopher complained.

“It has also been difficult to find time to work on original productions and in particular I never see my family. For that reason we are moving back to Los Angeles. I love Melbourne but it is just too far away from the rest of the world.”

“I have to go out on tour from three to five weeks at a time. I am away more than I am at home,” he continued.

“Back in Los Angeles I could travel anywhere in the world overnight. I was home four days a week. LA is a much better base for my career.”

Ironically, his career since moving to Australia is if anything,thriving, in particular off the back of his heavily syndicated/ web distributed radio show Rush Hour. Focusing on upfront trance, progressive and techno the show has recently spawned a compilation (called Rush Hour) the first issue of which is out now via US label Moist Music.

Christopher leaning against a wall

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Promoters behind Los Angeles electronic music event Fresh Squeezed Music Festival 2010 succeeded in hosting their party last weekend, despite twice being forced to change venues at the last minute after council officials pulled their license.

Promotors from Fresh told KTLA News they’d received ‘incessant calls’ from officials pressuring them, which KTLA said were prompted by concerns sparked by the ecstasy related death of a teenage reveller at the Electric Daisy Carnival last month.

“There’s nothing more important, from the position of a municipality, than looking after the health and safety of our people, particularly our youth,” Pico Rivera Asst. City Manager Jeffrey Prang told the New channel, explaining the council’s reactions.

Much bigger electronic music event Hard LA also called off their planned event this weekend which was to have been headlined by MIA and said they’ll be combining the party with a future event scheduled for August.

Though numerous LA newspapers linked HARD’s last minute cancellation to the crackdown sparked by the Electric Daisy Carnival death, promoter Gary Richard category denied it, despite admitting that additional red tape “resulted in unforeseen costs to the event.”

“HARD LA M.I.A. Saturday July 17th has been cancelled, but not due to the lack of support or the full approval from the personnel at the City of Los Angeles and California State Parks who have signed off on our comprehensive security plan,” he insisted in a statement posted on HARD’s website.

“We have decided to instead produce one massive event on August 7th at the same amazing location, the Los Angeles State Historic Park in Downtown Los Angeles.

“We continue to work closely with LAFD, LAPD, City of Los Angeles, and California State Parks who continue to support all HARD events and have approved our plan to operate the HARD SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL at the Los Angeles State Historic Park on August 7th 2010 featuring Soulwax, Crystal Castles, Major Lazer, Erol Alkan, Diplo, Digitalism and more,” he added.

The LA Times, meanwhile published an in-depth report on MDMA this week which despite its title (‘A Closer Look: How Ecstasy harms’) was reasonably balanced in its assessment.

Noting that most pills sold as E no longer contain MDMA as well as the dangers of dehydration, the paper also pointed out that ‘people take the drug to feel mentally stimulated, physically energetic, emotionally positive and to experience a level of enhanced sensory perception’.

“Ecstasy seems to have a rather unique capacity for inducing states of empathy — powerful empathogenic experiences, where people feel very bonded,” acclaimed UCLA drug expert Dr. Charles Grob added, “People often have very positive experiences,” he said (LA Times)

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Hardfest, July 17

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LA authorities voted to establish a ‘rave task force’ to ‘enhance rave safety’ this week in response to the death of a 15 year girl from a suspected drugs overdose at last month’s Electric Daisy Carnival.

The LA Times said the task force will be considering locations, opening times and the size of electronic music parties held in the city with a remit to ‘raise awareness about the potential dangers of rave parties.’

The task force will also ‘develop countywide recommendations to enhance rave safety by mandating that rave promoters and sponsors incorporate public health recommendations into their event planning,’ the Times noted. “For example by requiring the use of private emergency medical staff.”

More ominously, the paper hinted that upcoming ‘multiple electronica-focused events’ such as Hardfest (headlined by the likes of Soulwax, Tiga, Switch and MIA) and Love Festival (headlined by Badboy Bill) could face sanctions, ominously referring to both in the past tense. (LA Times)

Love Festival, Los Angeles

The Rave Task Force’s emphasis on the provision of emergency medical care coincided with a report in Newsweek examined the continuing unresolved debate over  whether ‘good Samaritan’ laws allowing people to call 911 when friends have bad reactions to drugs without fear of arrest, should be introduced.

Newsweek catalogued numerous incidents of people allowing friends to die and dumping their bodies rather than seeking help to avoid being busted while others who called for ambulances instead ended up in jail.

“As it now stands in most states, people who dial 911, drop a friend off at a hospital, or otherwise try to get care for someone in the midst of a drug overdose are subject to prosecution for use, possession, or distribution,” Newsweek noted.

“Research shows that people consistently list “fear of police involvement/fear of arrest” as the leading reason for failing to seek immediate help for someone thought to be overdosing, according to (drug expert) Meghan Ralston,” they added. (Newsweek)

Hardfest (July 17: Sinden, Diplo, Digitalism, Crystal Castles, 12 noon to midnight: Los Angeles State Historic Park)

Love Festival: August 21: Tom Novy, Swedish Egil, Richard Vission, Cedric Gervais: LA Sports Arena and Grounds: 4pm -4am)

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DJ Tiesto: dead again? (click on the picture for more)

The trance world was plunged into shock this week after news stories appeared on numerous websites reporting that the Dutch DJ had died in a car crash in LA, after racing the car at 95mph in a 55mph zone.

“Witnesses have stated that Dj Tiesto’s car crossed the double lines several times prior to the accident and hit the center lane divider causing the vehicle to flip and roll,” said Global Associated News.

“Memorial services for DJ Tiesto have not yet been announced,” the press agency continued, “The service is expected to be a closed casket funeral due to the severe head trauma.”

Tiesto in fact had been DJing in Ibiza when he was supposedly dying in an accident and Tweeted a message soon afterwards saying “It’s nice to read that people care about my life. Thank you for all the support, It’s good to be alive and to get so much love from You.”

Subsequent web stories suggested the story was probably generated by hoax website FakeAWish.com, who similarly were suspected of being behind a similarly widely reported ‘Tiesto is dead’ story which appeared in 2006.

In more Tiesto news, Black Eyed Peas founder Will.i.am, chatted to the Wall Street Journal about the trance titan’s stupendous earning power, weeks after he reportedly hinted to the Los Angeles Times that Tiesto makes US$20million a year.

Comparing him to pop idol Rihanna he praised his authenticity and firm grasp on fame in today’s internet age, singling out his embrace of new media as one of the key factors behind his astonishing commercial success.

“Tiësto is not old-media machine dependent,” Will.i.am explained

“So who’s (more) financially secure solely off music? Tiësto by miles. See, there’s being a celebrity, and there’s being well known. I’m not a celebrity but everybody knows me,’ he boasted. (Wall Street Journal )

http://FakeAWish.com

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Castlemorton: click on the picture for a film

Britain’s most infamous free festival at Castlemorton Common took place eighteen years ago this weekend (May 21st) provoking a massive police crackdown against raves which eventually led to both the Criminal Justice Bill and the emergence of today’s all night club culture in the UK.

Ironically the location was inadvertently chosen by cops who directed 10 Sound systems including Spiral Tribe, Bedlam, Circus Warp, Circus Normal and DiY to the common on May 20 1992, after shutting down the annual Avon Festival.  With weather conditions absolutely perfect for outdoor partying (hot and sunny by day and crisp and pleasant by night) thousands congregated with numbers growing even faster when the BBC opened their TV news bulletins with footage from the event on Friday evening.

An estimated 40,000 revellers attended the event over four glorious days and nights with most being either inner city ravers living for the weekend or ‘new age travellers’, predominantly young alternative young people who’d quit urban squats for life on the road. Though scores of cops prowled outside the festival’s loose perimeter of trucks and tents, virtually non ventured on site, leaving the Common to become a genuine temporary autonomous zone that remained safe and virtually crime free throughout the long weekend.

Spiral Tribe in the area

As Britain’s tabloid ‘yellow’ press demanded ‘something must be done’ to stop free parties, Castlemorton reveller ‘Richard’ defended free parties.

“There is nothing wrong with what we are doing. We are here to have fun in the sun. We chose to live this way and reject the hassles associated with a conventional way of life,” he told the Daily Express.

“Some say we are dirty, but we are environmentally conscious, we make efforts not to dump rubbish. People generally have it in for us because of our lifestyle. I think many envy us because of our freedom,” he surmised.
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Take 300 or so mainly Berlin and Swedish DJs, artists, revellers and ravers and drop them on a deserted, treeless, infrastructure-less, Swedish island, for a few days or more. Add a sound system, generator, lighting rig, vegetarian café and water container and you’ve got the recipe for Secret Island Nation Festival, one of the best events I’ve ever played at and attended. And toss in a hurricane: a proper serious, fuck off hurricane, one powerful enough to be given an official name (Per) and deadly enough to sink 70 metre Norwegian cargo vessel Langeland, with all hands lost: the result: an experience: one to remember for life…..

Island newspaper The Secret Standard (in reality a photo-copied sheet of A4 paper) has the key details two days after the tempest.

“About 3 sea (nautical) miles away, six persons died last night- in the storm,” the Standard reveals.

“Some 150 more fortunate people have been homeless for the last two days, before arriving on Secret Island Nation. Between ten and twenty people got homeless after their tents were flattened by the wind. The answer could have been hiding in the stones, like two people did.”
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Click on the picture for more details (including tickets)

“Secret Island is different from other festivals, there’s a genuine family feeling in an incredible beauty spot where you’ll have a great time even if you happen to not like techno music. It’s the overall concept of the event that people find appealing, it’s the entire package rather than the whole package, most people don’t care which particular DJs are playing.”

Sunset

Though Secret Island’s 2009 line-up includes Berlin DJs such as Salon Renate’s Peak, Gigolo’s Joel Alter, Tresor’s Fidelity Kastrow and live acts DOP and Yapacc, Secret Island organiser Bjorn is impressively blasé about the key pulling points of his week long event.

“Actually all the artists we book always put a lot of effort into their shows to impress, though as a matter of fact, no DJ will, and has ever been, paid a fee,” he reveals, “Nevertheless I receive way more requests than I could possibly fit into the timetable.”
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