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!