My Saturday Nights: Clubs Vs. Raves

It used to be where I'd hit the rave of the week on Saturday nights--especially in spring. Well those days are over. Now, my favorite party spot is a club downtown. Just as if it were a rave, I still bring my repertoire of lights and dress up for the occasion. With my days being boring lately, raving downtown as all I have to look forward to.

My main motive for going to the club is finding a girlfriend who wants a relationship. Is that too much to ask? I don't think so. The way I see it, the club is one of the most appropriate places to hook up. Raves are too, sure, but the kids are so young and often so sexually confused. Right now, I need that older, well-adjusted female with a job and career goals.

In addition, I can be the only one at a rave to spin lights: my true passion. Lightshows make me feel like a movie star with all these people taking my picture. So it comes to lightshows, dancing with hot girls and notoriety as the coolest dude in the club. I'll settle for that any day!

News Release: Just Jay Updates Facebook Profile

UPDATE: Okay people. Since I get so many questions about my relationship status, I thought I'd take the initiative and address it here on FB, since it would be a bit inappropriate to bring up at a press conference (not my own)…

Anyone who knows me knows my lines, so here it goes...Every true story in my life begins with the following sentence: “I met this girl.”

I'm serious about that. Being an overachiever and always having to compete for anything and everything has transformed me into a stuck-up idiot, who thinks he rules the world. But that's not the problem; the problem (for lack of a better word) is my chronic immaturity, which goes way beyond simple eccentricity. In other words, yes, I have to grow up. If you know me, and you probably do, you’d see the living example of a guy who has the emotional maturity of a 5 year old, or maybe 6 on a good day. But I’m working on that…

I'm the kind of person who feels vibes, good and bad. I wouldn't say I'm "emo," but I definitely tend to judge people by their emotions versus their intrinsic qualities. In other words, I’d rather see you happy and hear you talk about cats than see you sad and talk about your new IPOD.  And you'd better believe my emotional attachments have gotten me into trouble; a lot of trouble. Anyway, I like to think old-school: that I'll one day meet a girl who wants to be spoiled; who likes it when I pay for her to go to clubs, concerts and raves; who has the motivation and freedom to travel to festivals all over the country (Ultra, EDC, DEMF, etc.); who appreciates that she is hot, near perfect and loves to show that off to the world...while giving Just Jay is due credit, of course (jk); who isn't afraid of being crazy sometimes and has aspirations that go beyond spending 23 1/2 hours per day on Facebook; who drives a hot car (preferably a blue BMW or other German, luxury vehicle); who laughs and smiles more than yells and frowns; who goes with PDA. You get the idea here, I hope! Oh yeah, she must absolutely love electronic dance music (EDM) with her whole heart to the fullest, where the love is so strong she hears bass in her sleep and treble in her dreams…BooOOooM! Can you feel that Bass yet?

What is a Raver: More Facebook Slander

I love God and my religion but dislike when fellow-Christians spread hate by writing blogs that are pure conjecture, incorrect and blasphemous as is What is a Raver, written by Tyson Bowers III.  You may view this article in its entirety at http://christwire.org/2011/06/what-is-a-raver/

While surfing Facebook, I came across a link to a Christian website with an all-inclusive blog-post about Ravers and the origins of the Underground, Rave network.  In short, the author, Tyson Bowers III, slams this art of perfection by portraying a one-sided argument against fellow Ravers that gives Christianity a bad name.  Not only are his views biased and inaccurate, they are also weak, ungodly and overly subjective. 

The Origins of Rave Culture

He begins the article by attributing the historical origin of Raves to Nazi Germany.  This is incorrect sir.  If he’d paid attention in history class or did his research he would have known that Raves go back to B.C. times when the Pagans partied out to Dionysus—the god of raves, wine and ecstasy.  You can’t blame all bad things on the Nazis, even if you find that a convenient outlet for your slanderous attacks.

Next, Bowers (the author) again attempts to portray Ravers as dirty by saying: “… [Ravers] dance while they shove pills of ecstasy drugs up their rectums and suck on cherry flavored ring pops.”  Now, I can’t tell here if he’s being literal or not, but I do know this, I’ve been to many thousands of Raves and I’ve known maybe two or three Ravers who have actually shoved an ecstasy pill “up their rectum.”  Sorry to say, it doesn’t happen that way.  The way I see it at least, it is a waste of a good pill, despicable and very inconvenient to plug pills; it also causes severe medical problems (as you could imagine!).  In my experiences, I’ve learned that 90% of true Ravers are smart, very smart, and would never stick a pill up their asses.  Sorry!
Bowers continues, having the audacity to blame an influx of abortions in Russia to Ravers as well.  Why not, right?  Wrong!  Well, here’s his direct quote: “These phase in UK history is also known as the ‘Abortion Plague,’ as the rate of abortions shot up to 74% in girls from the ages of 14 to 19.”  First off, learn how to spell; “this” is spelled t-h-i-s, not t-h-e-s-e.  Okay?  Second, you didn’t even cite a legit source for this stunning, speculative and stupid statistic.  And the reason for that is, you couldn’t locate one!
Bowers again oversteps the boundaries of rhetoric by claiming that “Raves didn’t become popular in the U.S. until the LATE 1990s.”  Wrong again.  Raves actually declined in popularity in the late 1990s.  They were most popular in the EARLY 1990s but dropped off in the LATE 1990s!  Get your facts straight.  And, by the way, “Happy Hardcore” music played a role in this, but it had more to do with eclectic, underground music that you wouldn’t recognize if it slapped you in the face.

Blame the Music and Ecstasy!
Bowers goes on to claim…

“Rave DJs (Drug Jockeys as he refers to them as) knew the American’s loved more of a ‘pop’ sound and developed this music to entice American’s to come to their hidden desert parties and get them hooked on the newly developed drug MDMA, also know as ecstasy or “The fuzzy sex pill”. The first popular Happy Hardcore song in American was called “Groove is in the Heart” by a Los Angeles band named ‘Deee-Lite.’

Wow!  All this guy’s misspellings are distracting, I know, but this direct quote speaks for itself.  He tries to bash DJs by calling them “Drug Jockeys.”  The truth is however, I’ve met more Ravers that would want to be a DJ than would want to be pro athletes.  As a Christian myself, I wouldn’t go as far to say, “God is a DJ,” but the truth be told, this is how all music lovers look at good DJs; not just Ravers.  Again overly biased and subjective, Bowers joins the blame game by attributing the popularity of Raves to MDMA.  On this, I have to say, he actually may be on to something.  MDMA, a derivative of methamphetamine, does contribute to the influx of Raving, yes.  However, I may be in denial here myself, but come on; it is severely hard to get “hooked” on ecstasy—on a physical level.  That’s why I like to say ecstasy is bittersweet, collateral damage that comes with the territory of being a Raver.  

Moving on…Bowers returns to the “all about the Ecstasy” argument with the outlandish statement that the drug turns these kids into “raging” sex fiends, wherein they’d have 12-17 sexual partners in one night.  Isn’t this just a tiny bit blown out of proportion here?  Look, I’m an industry-expert in ecstasy, so I’d be the first to know if the drug turns one into a hyper-sexual dynamo with 17 partners.  Maybe, Bowers, could this be wishful thinking?  Is say so because, I’ve taken more than my share of ecstasy (which I am not advocating here!), and I’ve had 1-2 sexual partners (total) over the span of my near 20 years raving.  An exception to the rule?  Maybe.  But there is no way you can attribute 17 partners a night to Raves, or even drugs.  Anyone with half a brain knows this, but you, the expert does not?  Why is that?

Bowers reaches more when he blames the DJ for giving names to the different types of ecstasy.  For my readers here who don’t understand, here’s how what I like to call “branding ecstasy” works: ecstasy comes in pill form, all different sizes, colors and shapes.  Unlike its despicable sister drug, crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy is unique in that there are several types or brands.  For example, Blue Superman, Mints, Pink Snowman…well, you get the idea.  The dealers (not DJs!) do this of course for the same reason Pepsi has so many different types of soft-drinks—sales, sales, sales!  My point here is that there must be a distinction between DJs and drug dealers, because they are not one-and-the-same.  Are there DJs who also sell and/or promote ecstasy?  Yes.  Are most DJs drug dealers?  Absolutely not.  Get it straight, sir!

Candy Kids

Next, of course, Bowers begins his attack on “Candy” kids.  Some of his hate-filled characterizations on this subculture include:

            Candy kids wear bright clothing and beads, and you can recognize them because they all wear ring pops on their fingers. 

Well, I was one, a candy kid, not a ring pop, and I never saw a problem with wearing colorful clothes. Sure, the beads (which ravers call kandy) were a bit eccentric, but what’s wrong with this type of artistic expression?

“Each candy kid collects beads, these beads are signs of how many bi-sexual sex orgies they have been apart of.”

What in the world is he talking about here?  First of all, beads aka: kandy, have really nothing to do with orgies.  The beads, which are usually worn as bracelets by ravers of both sexes, symbolize memories that full under the raver mission statement of Peace, Love, Unity and Respect (or PLUR).

“A candy kid is also know[n] for their “glow stick” skills and often battle with other candy kids to see who can do the better light show dance. Most battles are for drugs or to win a sex session with the other crews…”

Again, Bowers could be on to something here even if he is dead wrong.  I am the king of glowsticks (or so I like to tell myself that), have battled many different people and it’s never been about winning any type of prize let alone sex or drugs!  True ravers battle for platonic love and positive vibes and instead buy their drugs like everyone else in society.  With all the battles I’ve won over the years, I’d probably have a metropolis of families had sex been a prize for winning.  It just doesn’t work that way.

“… [A] violent clan of the bunch, with their afro-angry drum beats and Zulu dance moves. Mostly made up of “Yellows” and blacks, Jungle Lists go to these parties to stir up trouble, cause fights and rob other ravers. This should not be a surprise as we know communist Asians and blacks due the same thing in American society.”

Even though Bowers exposes himself here as racist (big surprise, right?), he is way off in this claim.  Ravers are targeted for robberies more than other party populations, sure; but it has way more to do with the Ravers’ passive views towards violence and wanting to be peaceful to their communities than their races!  Also, ravers often have divergent views from that of their police counterparts.  And I have no idea why.

To Sum…
Bowers ends his insane, delusional depictions of innocent kids by characterizing another rave sub-culture (PLUR babies) as:
“… rich suburban white kids who hide their homosexual activities from their parents and live it up at local raver gay bars.”

Now, come on.  Are you serious here?  Do you expect my readers to believe they’d want to meet you, Mr. Bowers, in a local gay bar?  You’re a Christian and I respect that, but you’re a loser; you spread hate through one of the most one-sided, offbeat blogs I’ve ever read.  And aside from all the grammatical errors, your research lacks merit, your statistics are inaccurate, and your opinions are pathetic!  And yes!  I’m a Christian, as are many of my Raver friends, and we’d all rather be the lowest class of raver than the upper class of hater…like yourself.

Peace.

Written by Just Jay et al.

Sources: Bowers, T. III. “What is a Raver.” http://christwire.org/2011/06/what-is-a-raver/

PLUR Defined by Just Jay

Although I am a die-hard raver, circumstances and fate led me away from the parties I love—at least for a while. Ravers have a unique code and outlook on life that sets them apart from the mainstream electronic music audiences and party-goers. They call it PLUR, which is an acronym for Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect.

There is real no way to describe the meaning of PLUR. The way I see it, it is a way of life and a set of ethical values that the raver follows in order to sustain and protect a way of life for the people (like me and many of my friends) who will walk to the end of earth for a good party, as long as it has those good vibes. In reality, one must first become a raver before he or she can truly understand what the PLUR phenomenon is all about; or so I thought. It took me many years of parties all over the United States to have the ability to understand this notion.

Well, more to the point, I had to leave my beloved (Chicago!) rave scene in order to attend to some personal eccentricities; one of which was a bad break-up from a great girl. Anyway, the fact remains that I have a passion for electronic music, lightshows, dancing, awesome DJs, bass, and the awesome people who share those likes.

If you would have told me that I could find people like this at a club versus a random warehouse (the usual domain for rave parties), I would have laughed. But it happened. I went to my usual club spot at which happens to be one of the top-rated night clubs in the United States. Located downtown (Chicago!), this club often caters to the Chicago elite: DJs, business men, movie stars and athletes. The party people at this club are of all ages (over 21), men, women, black, white, Oriental and Hispanic, for it prides itself on diversity, much like the Chicago rave scene.

I had been going to this club on and off for many years after me and my friends paid off a bouncer to illegally enter the club when I was 17. Ever since then, I consider this place one of my very favorite Chicago destinations to have mega fun! Well, last Saturday night at this club was prenominal! It was the first time in many months I have seen people letting loose, dancing, jumping and raving to the DJs. I mean, it was indescribable. The vibes were amazing, the music was near-perfect and it all came to together ever-so-perfect.

Of course, being true to the raver code, I had to bring my glow sticks and show off one of my God-given talents to my new group of friends: lightshows. And as it turned out, the clubbers absolutely loved it! To return the love, I gave one of my spare glow sticks to a group of kids and it made their night (as well as my own)! They must have taken over 100 pictures showing off this glow stick, which I'm sure will be posted on their Facebook pages the next day. I loved it all, a lot! An if you think that it couldn't get any better, you're wrong! When I went to take a break from being on my feet and waving lights around, I decided to check Facebook on my phone. Boom! I had a "wall post" from a girl who I really like and respect. She just said hello, but it added to the perfectness.

This, readers, is what I mean by PLUR. Actions and emotions, collectively and independently, coming together to heighten one to the point of intense euphoria. I'm down for that any day, anytime, anywhere and it doesn't have to be at a stuffy warehouse on Chicago's west side either.