From mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Sat Dec  5 11:05:13 1992
Subject: AP article on raves

This Associated Press article ran in the Dayton Daily News on 25 Nov 92.

Young escape through parties called raves
Use drug, sway to music

By Dana Kennedy
Associated Press

  NEW YORK - Shortly after midnight, in a warehouse on the West Side of
Manhattan, teen-agers wearing backpacks and stocking caps slowly filled a
dark dance floor.
  Swaying to a hypnotic, throbbing beat, they danced either in clusters or
by themselves, eyes shut, hands moving like snakes in the air.  It was early 
yet -- most would stay until 8 or 9 a.m.
  They may look as if they're dancing, but that word is rarely used at the 
impromptu parties that pop up every night in large cities across the country.
They're "raving."
  Set against a background of rap-influenced techno or house music, raving is
a growing social movement that first surfaced in England about five years
ago.
  Alcohol is banned but the drug of choice is Ecstasy, an illegal psychedelic
designer drug that ravers say blends in with the pulsating, 165 beats per
minute music and creates a peaceful, harmonious atmosphere.
  "The ravers have recycled the hippie mantra thing," said Scott "Scotto"
Osmond, a rave promoter who travels to various cities and organizes raves.
"We've kind of sylized it for the '90s.  It's a very hippie oriented thing.
It's got the whole vibe."
  The biggest rave cities in the United States are New York, Los Angeles,
and San Francisco.  The purest raves are the most spontaneous.  Ravers learn
about the events through fliers or special phone lines just hours before they
occur.
  In England in the summer of 1988, some raves drew up to 10,000 people.  
Most U.S. raves are smaller, especially in New York where space is at a 
premium.
   "Storm" raves take place outside, under bridges or at racetracks, and draw 
even more people.  "Every week we'll travel to Baltimore, Rhode Island, D.C.,
Long Island, anywhere there's a rave," said Michelle DiBella, 19, of
Montclair, N.J.  "It's the best place to meet great people who are into the
same thing you are: music and positive energy.  It's like we're part of the
Traveling Techno Rainbow Family."
  DiBella stood near the dance floor at a recent rave with one of her best
friends.  She wore 5 1/2-inch black glitter platform shoes, green
bellbottoms, a black shirt, vest and beret and a nose ring.  Her hair hung
in a braid. 
  Gus Gonzales, 18, came to a recent Friday night rave with two friends from
Brooklyn.  They got to as many raves as possible.  They come soon after the
raves begin, at 11:30 p.m., and stay until morning.  They reminisce about
raves that last until noon.
  Gonzales wore typical rave accesories: a whistle around his neck attached
to a flashing red strobe light.  Gonzales said the red light is visually
appealing to someone under the influence of Ecstasy.
  Ravers also wear what they call "Dr. Seuss" hats, which look like stocking
caps, and dance with backbacks on.  Most ravers are in their late teens to
early 20s but organizers say they can be as young as 11 and as old as 45.
  "Raves are an escape, it's an adrenaline rush," explained Gabriel Hunter,
19.  "You go to be close to the music.  My mom was a hippie, a Deadhead.  I
figure this is the equivalent of what she was doing.  Mini Woodstocks."

(end of article)