11. MERRY PUSH-MAS, A Holiday Party

I’ve never been to anything more similar to an old fashioned warehouse style rave than the Push show at World Pieces Gallery. Although it was promoted for far in advance the space was very obscure. To locate the door I was forced to look for the door man collecting money. Inside it was a very cool space. It has high ceilings; it’s very open, and includes a sweet stage that is easily three times the size of the one at circus. At the back of the stage is a third level where the DJ’s played, their equipment safe from the dancers.  

It was BYOB, but also contained a well stocked bar. We not only were allowed to smoke inside the space, but encouraged to do so. That way we could keep the party on the down low. I also discovered that once inside, you had to stay inside. No re-entry. The bouncer said it was to keep the cops off our backs, which is totally legit, but I am sad that I left my glow in the car in the first place!

The line-up was fantastic. Rocketnerd, Push, Network EDM, Carma, Zucco from Digiraatii, Ginsu and Push were all lined up to play.  I walked in to Arthur (DJ Rocketnerd) spinning tracks and nodding his head to the music. Not only was the music perfect for his early time slot (fast enough to dance to but relaxed enough for everyone who just wanted to talk and hang out) but Arthur has a way of spinning that I love. He’s really just in it to share his music and have a good time. He always has complete confidence in his selected tracks, and he has skill to back it up. Out of all the Dj’s in Columbus, I would say that Rocketnerd is by far the most pure.

Before I go any further I’d like to compliment Columbus on have Dj’s that care. I recently went to a show in Cleveland and there was one HUGE difference that I noticed, shows in Columbus tend to be about the music. Winter Warm Up seemed to be about each particular DJ. They stopped tracks in the middle of a chorus to talk to the crowd, they cut out of songs to try and encourage people to sing the lyrics, they stopped playing music entirely in order to monologue for a minute or two about themselves. I’ve never been to a show in Columbus that had music being so fully disjointed. These guys felt like they were constantly trying to remind us who they were, and I found it extremely hard to dance when I kept having to stop randomly while they were busy “pumping the crowd up”. 

So I was paying particular attention to the flawless transition between Rocketnerd and DJ Push. This show, more than any other was about bringing people together to relax and have a good time. There was no self promotion (which I am absolutely not against by the way) just Dj’s spinning music that they love.

By the way, I’d like to thank DJ Push for throwing this kick-ass party and for spinning a great set! Push Productions, I will remember this party as one of the most fun that I have ever been to!

Next came Network EDM a local duo of incredibly fun and likeable dynamics. The two friends really got me dancing with some hard tracks that made me want to head bang. Seriously, for a minute I really did head bang metal-style because I was so into the music. It was fun, slightly aggressive, and made me want to move lots ;) Remember how I said they were likable? Don’t let me misguide you into thinking that they are nice when it comes to being Dj’s, it seems to me that they have a penchant to fake out drops! They are very nice people, but I am pretty sure that Matt at least gets a huge kick out of watching people misinterpret a drop. I caught his eye on a couple of occasions (after I had just got done slamming my arms down and banging my head to punctuate…a chorus), he looked to be having a grand old time. And yet, something about this pair made me unable to summon any rage at the deceit! It was all in good fun, and even better music!

 After that only two more Dj’s got to play. Nameless brought on the dubstep sounds for his set and then at 2:30 Zucco started his solo. During his second song the police showed up. What’s fun is that they showed up and got to hear “You blocked me on facebook; and now you are going to die”. What isn’t fun is that they broke up the party, supposedly for noise complaints. Rocketnerd ended the night by telling me that this is how raves end. Sad, but true. So although this party got broken up at 3 instead of 5, I still consider it a raging success. The people were great, relaxed and knew how much alcohol they could tolerate, the music was pitch-perfect, and the dancing was pure and fun. I had a great time and will definitely be keeping my eyes open for more shows at World Piece and Push Production events!

10. Fight Club

I’m sorry for taking such a long time to come out with this post for Rave Bright, but it is for reasons that I actually plan to explain within the bulk of this post. Basically, drama. Something that I have spent my entire life turning away from.

I have become very adept at staying away from, and dealing with drama in my life. Which is why it was so surprising when drama broke out among the Rave Scene, all among the rave scene. I’m not talking about one incident; I’m talking about at least a dozen of them. My friend Tom was talking to be about how he has this theory that fights don’t happen among rave goers very often because if truly provoked they would kill each other. And while I can almost assure you that this is an overstatement, I can tell you that fights in the scene can and do get bloody. 

Between scuffles at after-parties, strong words at the club, fights among close friends, and misunderstandings between acquaintances, tempers are running high these last few weeks. I don’t know whether it’s the weather, the moon, the fast approach of the year 2012 (which at least some of us are wary of) or simply the stress of listening to Christmas carols in gas stations and drug marts, but this anger and hostility to driving a wedge into the center of our community. 

A wedge that I know we can heal from. But I’d like to propose that we start trying to mend this wound right away, the sooner the better. Whenever someone gets angry at my mother for some reason or another, she just pretends like nothing happened and treats them the same, like co-workers and friends. Pretty soon, or at least eventually  she smiles at them in the coffee room and they smile back because they have completely forgotten that they were upset in the first place. 

Am I asking that guy who got his ear bitten off at Winter Warm Up in Cleveland to try and be besties with the perpetrator? Absolutely not. Probably though, whoever your fighting with (And I have no doubts that almost every single one of you has been feeling the pinch of aggression lately) has NOT taken a chunk out of one of your body parts. You might want to thank them for that.

 A  great way to dissolve an argument is with humor. So it might help to literally just say “God I’m so angry at you! … But I am grateful you haven’t chosen this moment to bite off my finger”. It would help if they also read this article, because common knowledge is also a good way to break down anger. Try quoting a tv show you both like, something relevant, like what character A says to character B when they are fighting. It helps to remind both of you why you are friends and it rarely fails to invoke a sense of humor if the movie your quoting was a comedy in the first place :p  

So, again, I am sorry that it took so long to put up this post, I have been dealing with my own personal drama lately. Drama that is not as simple as a spat with a friend, so if you have been reading this post and thinking “God, this chick has good ideas but its not always that simple!” Let me tell you that I understand completely, some drama cannot be dealt with all that easily. Some of it even requires the authorities or ending a friendship that had lasted you 12 years. And these I do not take lightly, but with all of that crazy type drama already in our lives, who has time for the high school variety? Please, lets remember that we are a fun loving community and lets get out there and dance our asses off. Literally, that way if anybody tries to tell us we have a fat ass, we can laugh because wouldn’t you know? Its on the ground.

9. In the year 2012...

Okay, so I'm going to have to come clean with you. I have the Rave Plague. I am feeling quite sick and quite unhappy about that, and to top it all off... I just took a nighttime cold medicine to try and make my cough go away. So if the ending of this post starts to ramble a bit, blame the plague.

I want to use this post to thank all of my steady readers and to welcome all of my new readers. So, thank you very much, Rave Bright would mean very little if it weren't for all of you that read it each week.

I'd also like to share with you my plans for Rave Bright and let you all in on what I am doing all this for. For one thing, I am planning on upping the ante a little bit in the future. I will be having more informative posts on topics relating to the scene, more interviews, and I plan on promoting more for everybody. I will also have plenty of product and website reviews. I want Rave Bright to be a cultural catalyst for Ravers, a wealth of information, kind of an encyclopedia of what we of the EDM scene are all about. I want to document my journey in real-time, and share with everybody the lessons that I learn. (For example, I just learned the Raver handshake!)

My goal is also to entertain you, I want Rave Bright to be a fun stop during your week. So please offer your feedback to me, you can do this by commenting on my posts, answering my weekly poll, or e-mailing me. (ravebright@gmail.com). The Raver populace is all about community and co-promotion and I want to make sure that is a part of this blog as well.

At any rate, that is what I have for you this week; plans for the future, and a note on why Rave Bright is so important to me. I feel like it is important that we are on the same page as we start out together through the complexities and intricacies of the scene. A group of people of all ages and backgrounds with passions for different types of dance, music production, musical and visual execution, fashion, business, and all the rest of the skills that we own. And we are all brought together by a great and powerful force: music.

Oh, and yes I realize that this post is kind of a cop-out, thats why I have a sweet posting on my featured events page! Check it out Featured EVENTS!

8. Generation K

As I spend more and more time in the Electronic Scene, there is one thing that becomes increasingly obvious. We are divided. It appears to me that people of the EDM scene and Ravers are two different species, each with its own quirks and style. It makes me wonder, is my blog really for the EDM scene? Or is it for ravers? I would like to be compatible with both.  

As shocking as it is, I am beginning to think that we are we really two different sub cultures that just merge together on a regular basis. Columbus is dominated by the EDM scene, and by that I mean, the ragers, the dj’s, etc- people who exist for the music. I’ve been hearing a lot that the Rave scene is dead in Columbus, and until I noticed that actual Ravers are few and far between, I didn’t believe it. I mean, our music scene is booming! It’s getting bigger on a regular basis; we even have a party for almost every night of the week. But in reality it seems that Kandi-Kids and Glow Babies are a dying breed. 

Never was this so apparent to me than at Dub 101 this past Friday. I was thrilled when at the very beginning of the night, a group of glow dancers popped up on the floor. As the night progressed I found myself surrounded by more and more ravers. We networked together giving and receiving light shows, dancing together and celebrating the night. I saw for the first time (and yes, it has taken me this long to witness this event) a raver with a pacifier in his mouth, strung on a beaded chain and everything. We willingly shared our vibrant energy, and generally had a great time. I met up with an acquaintance of mine I haven’t seen for awhile and when I found out he was rolling, I invited him upstairs and gave him a back rub. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that night giving massages! 

 This sudden surplus made me realize what I had been missing for so long. Cumulus Entertainment brought out the ravers from surrounding cities like Cleveland and showed me what Columbus was missing.

The difference between Rave-ING and being a Rave-ER is like the difference between a person that loves hard core music, and a stoner-rocker. They both go to the concerts, but whereas the draw for the music buff is the band, the stoner goes to be with like minded people and share an environment. Both are equally important to the scene, but they are a bit different. 

Now, I am not writing this to further divide us, quite the opposite really. It wouldn’t even be a remarkable occurrence if the ratio wasn’t so awfully biased to one side.  I would however, totally like to see more raver-types around and about the Columbus venues, but I love seeing all the other familiar faces just as much!

 Even though we all look very different, and we all have different passions, we are all part of an ever changing whole, kind of like... Kaleidoscope Kids.We are all essential to the promotion and the success of the EDM scene, I don’t want anybody to forget the importance of their own individual contribution.  So if you want, throw on some beaded bracelets, but if not-  I still expect to see you out at a venue, tearing it up on the dance floor! 

What do you think? Comment below! Also... like Rave Bright on Face Book

Thanks goes out to D Photography for the photos!

7. Winter Survival Guide

 

The winter can be a harsh and unrelenting time for Ohioans, especially for the ravers. Raving in general is viewed as a Summer sport. Usually we are worried with keeping our body temperatures down, not freezing to death! Parties like the Electric Daisy Carnival come to mind (see a video HERE!) and most guides instruct you to dress cool. But this dynamic changes slightly when you risk frost bite in the walk between your car and the club!

Fortunately for you, I have compiled some hints and tips here, as well as some encouragement to get you out to the club, despite the cold! Winter raving is just as good as summer raving as long as you do it smart… which basically means not getting hypothermia and not trying to break dance on ice. 

Winter time is a time of comfort. And in years past that has meant that people either stay in, or else they go to the places they feel the most at home. As a result, the scene becomes more dense and homier itself! People don’t like to explore too much in the winter, so the scene gets to take a collective breath and heal a bit from the assault of non scene members infiltrating the clubs. The summer is a time of growth where new people are exposed to and possibly join the scene, which is both necessary and exciting, but this is the season where we get to relax a bit and build community. 

The problem remains though, that the temperature outside is below freezing, but the club is so hot the windows are completely fogged up. So what is a dancer to do?

Winter Tip #1  For one, don’t risk your valuables. It’s just dumb to try and not wear a coat to the club, but since you are going to have to set it down somewhere, don’t choose your priciest or most beloved one. Chelsea Baker does it right, rocking a cute coat she got on sale for 20 dollars. There is a risk it will get stolen, so make it cheap alright! 

Winter Tip #2  You can also cut down on risk by keeping your keys on you, rather than in your jacket. For guys this is easy, but for girls this is a little bit trickier.  I like to take just my car key off the ring and tie it in my shoe laces. Make sure you double knot it so it doesn’t come loose, (also, the key comes first, before the knot and before the bow). Leave the rest of your keys in the car. That way, you don’t have to worry about getting your keys stolen either!

Winter Tip #3   As a final option to minimize the chance of you getting a nasty surprise when you look for your things at the end of the night, bring a large bag with you. A great option for girls is a bohemian bag, big enough you can fit your coat into. For guys, a backpack works as well. The point of this is to make your luggage bulkier (and it protects your gear from dirt and spilt drinks). It’s pretty easy to steal a tiny clutch or snag a jacket, but evil doers will think twice about trying to lug stolen property out the door.  

It’s important to stay warm in the winter, so having a coat is important. Now would also be an excellent time to get used to wearing pants out, rather than shorts or skirts. Not everyone has this problem, but I find that I overheat way too easily in jeans. Instead I wear very thin pajama bottoms in fun prints, there is some protection for my legs, but it isn’t confining either. 

Another  big risk in the winter is getting sick, and nobody likes to be ill when they could be out dancing. But do us all a favor okay, don’t go out if you’re sick! We don’t need a pandemic going around our club. Let me emphasize that one more time…

Winter Tip #4 IF YOU’RE SICK, STAY HOME.   

It won’t do you any good, and it certainly won’t do the rest of us good either. Speaking of which, Vitamin C isn’t just for when you’re rolling. Stock up on it and keep dosing. As for when you ARE rolling, remember that you can’t feel temperature very well so keep it in mind not to stay outside for too long. Which leads us to the next tip, courtesy of David Terrill…

Winter Tip #5  The human body isn’t meant to change temperatures rapidly, doing so puts you more at risk to get sick, and no BODY wants that! Do yourself a favor and cool down after dancing inside first, before you head out for a smoke or for some fresh air.

Then there are a few others that I thought of…

Winter Tip #6   I don’t really think I need to mention this, but just for good measure… Girls, please leave your heels at home! Ice and snow and muddy dance floors are not the appropriate terrain for cute wedges or spiky stilettos. 

Winter Tip #7  Keep an extra outfit in your car, that way, if you get wet you won’t have to go home, and if you decide to go to an after party you can bulk up  a bit. 

This is a great season for ravers. It is also a great time to get into the scene if you’re not already. It’s more about the music and the dancing in the winter and a great grounding for newbies to ease into the different dynamics. I myself joined the scene in the winter and it was a very smooth and pleasant transition. Of course, then I learned to rage my face off… but that takes time :p 

What are your Winter Rave Tips? Please, let us know in the Comments section. Also, check out Rave Bright on Face Book HERE and like it, as well as check out my new pages, Featured Events  and Connect!

6. Leboom!!!

LeBoom is often described in a nutshell as the largest monthly dance party in Columbus, and that, I have to say is an understatement. Every third Saturday of the month Skullys is always crammed full, but it’s never been as packed as it was this Saturday. It is thrown by local production company My Best Friends Party MBFP , if you haven’t heard of them its about time they make it into your mental dictionary. If you want to go to a great party, check out what these guys are up to. Other than throwing LeBoom, they also throw Thump, my favorite weekly party at Circus. They are even expanding all across the map next year with what they call The X Tour. 

MBFP doesn’t just throw the parties, they play them! I’ve been dancing to Attak and Carmas spinning since my very first day in the scene.  And as local photographer Bryan Barnes says, “They are a pleasure to work with.” Bryan is the official photographer for Leboom and shows no signs of wanting to quit, actually he says that “Leboom is my passion”. And it shows because each album he puts out has a unique feel to it, which isn’t surprising considering that he likes to “keep is fresh with new techniques”. He plans on including some photos that are in a style of black and white that he has been reading about in a book that was written in 1985. “The thing is older than me, older than digital photography even”, but he still plans on utilizing the techniques on the next Leboom album. You can see some of his photos right here in Rave Bright! You can also check out his face book page Lite Brite Image.

Another key player in capturing Leboom for the masses is Videographer Mike Harmon from Mike Harmon Ent. As he says, discovering EDM and the rave scene was a key part of his life, and he has been expressing that by being involved with all the Lebooms. “What we all push for is helping the local scene”. Mike releases video promos of all the Lebooms. Since I he hasn’t had a chance to edit the new one yet, I have included last months video. This guy is a king of editing, check how he edits drum beats to actual drums! Incredible!

The greatest thing about Leboom is how many people it brings in. I was talking to Tom Kolassa and he was joking around how Roevy has turned into Broevy with all the guys they bring in (his words not mine!), but in reality, although I could pick out the Bro’s in the crowd, they were remarkably well behaved. I think perhaps we have been influencing them a little bit. EDM, saving the world one bro at a time! Tom actually just got a twitter account running for MBFP with is @MBFP614. 

This Leboom was crazy though! I got in at 9 to listen to local Dj and live painter Heady Ruxpin play and even at the very beginning there was a group of people on the dance floor. And plenty were dancing. By just 10:30 the party was in full swing and as busy and crammed pack as it has ever been! Sure, you could still walk through to the patio without having a minor panic attack, but that was fixed later on in the night! I guess people realized how fantastic the party is and decided they didn’t want to miss any of it! I know I will be getting to the show early from now on!

There are a variety of reasons to go to Leboom, the largest being the incredible music, the dancing and the fantastic environment. But he reason I love Leboom is the people! You never know who you’re going to get to talk to. I met some incredible people last Saturday. Leboom brings in a crowd from all over, including way way out of state! I met a girl named Jenna out of Cali at Leboom, an incredible person and raver! She will be heading back home in about a month but until that time, Columbus has to show her how fantastic our scene is! 

I also met a guy named TJ and his friend Domo. I could tell right away that these guys were empathic, they truly knew how to feed off the energy of the crowd. So, I tried feeding my energy to them. TJ really got into it, he closed his eyes and I sent waves of energy at him, describing the sensations I was feeling at that moment. Although I broke off talking several times, it wasn’t until I pulled back on the energy that he immediately opened his eyes. I got him rolling for a few moments, even though he was SOOOOBERRR!!! Would that have worked on everyone? Absolutely not. But that’s what’s cool about the variety of people at Leboom. Certainly I couldn’t have had that experience without meeting these guys. 

Leboom is a huge party and a lot of fun! It is through the efforts of MBFP for booking the amazing Dj’s they do that is responsible for the constant amazing crowd. Next month is its one year anniversary and I refuse to miss it! Plus, I heard Crizzly is playing and I’m already pumped! With as big as Leboom is getting it should possibly think about expanding. Mike Harmon thinks that by next spring we could push the Newport into throwing a Leboom. Maybe not every month, I’m feeling kind of selfish at keeping them at least relatively small scale, but a few times a year a huge Leboom would be amazing!!! 

What do you think about moving Leboom to a bigger venue???
Also, like me on Face Book! LIKE ME!

5. A shift in the wind

When I first started my blog, and even when I first started thinking about writing it, I had one post that I wanted to do in mind… A long rant about how much I hate the break dancers that come into our scene. Think about it, they are cocky, arrogant, and they take up space. They were using OUR club as THEIR playground and not showing it any respect. 

 At least, they used to. I’ve been keeping an eye on them since day one, and although I made friends with the liquid pop dancers of the group quickly, it was Deo Martinez, the break dancer of Chemical X that I loathed. A show off if I ever saw one, his method of dancing was doing as many tricks as possible, regardless of the beat. And regardless of the size of the crowd, even when the club was packed full he insisted on doing floor tricks. I got kicked by him that way once, which, come to think of it… may have sparked the hatred for him, more or less. 

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw him flow-glowing last Wednesday at Circus. Never in a million trillion years did I ever believe he would ever pick up a pair of glow sticks and then dance with them for the entire night. And he wasn’t the only one, Chemical X members Colin Cousins and Andre Currie both armed themselves with brightly colored chemical reaction sticks that night, which is actually an ironically nice tribute to the name of the troupe.  And they were also not alone. When I first walked in at 11pm the first thing I saw was 3 or 4 new girls glow sticking and flow-glowing in the back corner. 

I had the pleasure to talk to the most skilled of the new raver-chicks, a short brunette with a killer body named Layla. Despite having such a small body, the greatest thing about Layla’s dance was her strength; all the power she controlled. Last Wednesday was only the second time Layla had ever been to Circus, but needless to say she is now going to be a regular.

Suddenly, last Wednesday, I wasn’t the only flow dancer, I wasn’t a novelty. And in an EDM club, that’s the way it should be! I walked into Circus and finally, it felt like home. The break dancer that I used to despise for walking into my club and ignoring or probably not even noticing all the amazing things that make it great, was dancing with glow and socializing and having a great time without feeling like he had to show off.

 My friend David Terrill said the other day, “You do it to be with the music, you do it for you”. Finally, I sensed that Deo understood the value of that, and as it turns out he's a pretty cool guy  :) Not to mention that there were at least four more girls with glow, three crew members and two more male poi dancers all intermixed with the rest of the crowd. The energy was super high and everyone was just keeping it cool. I felt a dramatic change that night, a true shift that I hope is permanent that tells me that we are accomplishing what we set out to do in the scene, that it is getting bigger and better and in the right way.

Editors Note: I have added a new feature "Rave Tips" located at the top of the page, check it out!

Have you felt the change in the scene yet? What do you think about the break-dancers? 

4. Make me a masochist

As much fun as the Rave Scene is, it has a gritty underbelly. Not in crime (like in some other scenes) but in the music and the environment itself. It feeds on us, it relies on us to provide it with the energy it craves, and yet it abuses us. It is the most violently rewarding thing I have ever witnessed. We go to the clubs and allow it to wrap us up so tightly we can’t see straight, and right when we love it the most it drops us hard and gives us a thrashing that leaves us weary. It has made most of us masochists for the music, slaves for the sound.

Even when I first joined the scene I subconsciously knew this.  I naively wrote about the violence lovingly. I wrote about how it takes control of you, it possesses you, but it leaves you strong enough to control yourself amongst other humans. It teaches you the strength to be independent from those people that would like to control you, but all in exchange for some amount of your helplessness towards it. Going through one of my composition books I found a passage that reads like this…

“The sound beats the crowd across their collective face, arms raised in expectation fall, as one [to the drop], dubstep is about power. I am within the influence of the sound. The bass grinds on my body, so I allow it to maneuver my hips into long flowing figure eights. Its hold is rough, forcing me back and forth. The weight of the beat bears down on me, my legs collapse from the pressure, but the sound buoys me up. I merely twist low to the ground and back up. Control. The bass and the beat controls me, the grind and the glitch constantly pull me towards them like twins fighting. The drum occasionally steals me from them all…” 

It goes on. 

As much as I love the way it controls and empowers us, I don’t know that is needs to be quite so mean sometimes. I’m into it for the expression, and even though someone raging out is contributing, there should be more room in the scene for the hoopers to move around in. And I’m not talking just about physical room.  I would love to attend a party that is made out of pure fun and lights and bright colors. A place that awakens the imagination. 

I am seduced by the darkness of dubstep, but I want to fall in love with the joy in electro and moombah. There is so much more the scene has to offer and I don’t want to miss out on any of it, sexy AND silly.  

What do you think? Are we getting a little to gritty or is the scene just right? Would you like to go to a happy go lucky rave?

Take a second and answer my poll!  

3. Exclusive Interview with V.j Oz

I recently had the pleasure of sitting V.j Oz down for an interview. Walking into Blue Moon studios I was very impressed. It is decorated lushly with black leather furniture, plush carpets, and mood lighting along the walls. I was even more impressed with his equipment ;) Seriously, he has a sound board longer than I am tall with more knobs and buttons than he has hairs in his Mohawk!

Oz started his career doing singer-songwriter and hip hop “stuff”.  But at the age of 22 he went to his first rave, “It blew my mind. Everything I hated about hip-hop this made up for. The music was progressive and new and exciting. It had this youthful energy to it; it didn’t have nonsense negativity, materialism, hoes, or crime nonsense.”  On October 30^th of last year Oz played his first rave, and after that it just spread. When I asked him about his competition his answer was a simple but passionate, “Honestly, I have gotten just about every gig in town I wanted.”   

As we talked, one recurring topic I noticed was old Hollywood glamour; Oz brought it up over and over again. When we watched one of his favorite videos; a long legged girl just lounging in a chair, he told me “That’s what I want to film day in and day out.”  By the time I discovered that he listens to an Isaac Hayes song called “A Brand New Me” over and over again, I knew he was a romantic. But unlike most romantics Oz knows how to get work done.

What Inspires You?

What inspires me is… a photogenic, attractive female. A girl can have so many looks, like 30 different works of art; maybe the way she turns and looks, something her eyes do. That’s what inspires me, that’s the easiest video to edit. I’m going through the footage and its like “wow that’s a moment right there” so I make a loop out of it.

What exactly is a Vj?

A video jockey or visual jockey is… I don’t know. I consider myself different from everybody else. I don’t have any [Vj] heroes, I have rock star heroes, director/actor heroes, music producer heroes, I don’t have a Vj hero. That’s why I love it so much, I’m defining my own path.”

Okay, what do you do when you Vj?

I like shocking people, I watch faces all the time, I know if someone is watching. I’ll wait until the next DJ drop and I’ll throw something heavy on.  I basically make the party interesting: tightly sinking visuals to the music: textures: flashes: offensive videos- stuff that gets you emotionally attached or at least sticks in your mind.

What do the other Vj’s do?

Most other VJs show random pixels and stuff on the screen. Computer generated graphics. People who are stuck in the 90s do tunnels. Or random footage that makes no sense. They’ll go to a subway and film a subway going by. It doesn’t resonate with you. It doesn’t matter if it looks cool, nobody remembers your name. Roevy does some interesting stuff…...I love the look of the clips and how the words and messages stick in your head.

What are you up to now?

Right now I am concentrating on a demo reel and some high quality VJ mixes. I am about to get the gear to capture HD video in real time so I can edit or compose a piece of music to around 60 seconds and just VJ over and over it until it’s a perfect take.

Where do you think the EDM scene is right now?

I love it because it’s evolving, and there are so many different things to do on any given night. Somebody just showing up and dancing can add something to the scene. People just smiling and womping out can add something to the scene. People need to show some effort, show some positivity and things will get even more interesting. 

How are you helping build the scene? What are your plans?

Dec 10^th is going to mark the time where I actually follow my own lead, because I’m doing audio and visuals instead of following along with a DJ. Eventually when I have the budget… I’m building lights into the rig and other elements. It’s going to be pretty crazy and intense, and I don’t want anyone else involved, this is just a one-man show. The fourth element that I’m going to add is a live camera set up.  Ah, there are so many things I want to tell you but I’m just going to have to reveal them Dec 10^th. 

For an EDM show, I really don’t want to walk into a bar or venue, I want to walk into a different world. That’s what I want it to create. I want it to be like the Emerald City. That’s where I got the Oz name from. It’s somebody who makes himself look larger than life.

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Talking to Oz made me realize just how passionate he is about the scene. I never knew before just how big his plans were, but it isn’t all about his career… Oz is a gentleman, a man with morals. Anybody who has a soul as gentle as his cannot help to be. We discussed his recent residency at Fluer, an upscale club in the city (from August to October 1^st). He was making steady money under contract, but refused to renew his contract after they would not hire body guards, even though the girls were getting harassed. “I told them I’m never coming back. Womp.” Which of course led me to ask him what the hell is Womp? ( A question anybody who spends 5 minutes talking to him begins to wonder about), “Its like the F word only not vulgar, Its like maybe my version of “Amen”. Its like a closing thought.”

Which leads me to the end of this interview, womp.

Check out V.j Oz’s  most recent video!

And take a second to answer the poll question on the right hand side of the screen! Next weeks post premiers Monday at 10 AM sharp!

2. Bro-Squad

Although it would have been very convenient to go to Day Glow (the huge paint party last Friday) and then blog about how much I hate all the bro’s the place was filled with, I couldn’t bring myself to actually submerge myself in all the filth. 

Happily; I can write about the scum-butts anyway. If you are wondering what a “bro” is, I assure you that you know what I am talking about. A guy’s definition of what a bro is and my definition are a little bit different, but both are accurate. A guy’s definition is further split into two types: the attached, and the unattached. 

An attached man would describe a bro as a confrontational douchbag that hits on his girlfriend non-stop that he really wants to fight. 

An unattached man see's a bro as a completely sloshed and belligerent jack-off that is aggressive and obnoxious enough that he really wants to fight him. 

Rather than violence, my definition is based more solely on self-preservation. As a female I am required to look suspiciously upon all drunken horny men. Bro’s being inherently drunk, horny and cocky certainly qualify for my radar. I wouldn’t say that most of them are usually dangerous, but a combination of drunk and persistent certainly equals some unpleasant situations.  I once had one that playfully reached out for my hand, then forcefully pulled me close and refused to release me. I ended up having to push him away so hard I fell onto the ground. I think I might have BRO-ken a nail that night. 

On a related note: Bro's are usually preppy white-boys. Just an observation.

To further illustrate what a bro is I took the liberty of making a chart that describes his physiology.

Fortunately, a large portion of the rave scene in Columbus has very few of these “bros”. Venues like Circus are filled with people of a higher caliber. Branch out into Long Street District or The Social Room and it’s a different story. Sometimes the DJ’s are excellent, and it could easily be worth going to. But I’d rather dance to sub-par music in a safe environment any day.  

People of the EDM scene really are quality people. The men are respectful and faithful. And EVERYBODY, male and female, no-matter what they have indulged in, remain in-control and relaxed. 

And that is the key to a good club environment: high energy and low stress.  

Keep your eyes open: Next weeks post will feature and exclusive interview with V.J Oz

How would you describe a bro? Was I accurate? Comment and subscribe!  

Special thanks to Mark Cooper and Jonathan Smith for contributing to this post! 

1. A Music Revolution

 Welcome Ravers, Dj’s, Vj’s, Promoters, Spinners, Glow Babies, Artists, Dancers and Ragers!
 This blog is to bring us all together as a community, both online and off.  What do we all have in common? The biggest thing I can think of is that we are all part of a music revolution!

What does this revolution look like? It looks like us. What do we look like? As a whole, the music beats inside us. We bleed drum n' bass, EDM is dirty, it grinds on our bodies; the sound vibrates over our warm skin; lights play keep away over our arms and legs, our vibrant sweat cools out bodies leaving our cheeks and breasts glowing with the delight of life. We are more than ourselves, we relax the boundaries of flesh and bone and mortality, and host a brothel of delights within us. 

Who wouldn’t want that? Young people today are attracted to the strength and individualism of the rave scene. Lots of the people who rage with us today come from diverse social backgrounds. Somehow we are drawing connections between Punks and Preps. If I were to point fingers I would say that dubstep is the particular genre that is making the scene explode and leak into the others. Listen to Skrillex and Korn’s song “Get up” if you don’t believe me. And I’m sure you’ve heard that top 40’s song “Every day I’m shuffling”. (No links to that one :p) 

I know that a lot of the ravers are not thrilled with dubstep, but we should be! It is bringing the raver culture to the forefront of society making it cheaper and easier for us to throw parties and support ourselves doing what we love. Do we have to deal with some of the aggravating people it flushes into our clubs? Yes, we do. But within that same group of drunk bitches and bros there is easily one or two that have been feeling left out in their clique and will be saved by what we have already found in our community: Individual Freedom.