NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ DJTrance Productions) - "Power to the People Who Party!" was the battle cry on Saturday at Upper Senate Park as approximately 2,000 people gathered and grooved in resistance to the U.S. government's clampdown on electronica music and its club scene, under the guise of the War on Drugs Organized by ROAR!, the
National Dance &
Music Rights Alliance, with the support of the ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance, and the D.C. Nightlife Coalition, the musical protest featured illustrious DJs such as
Junior Vasquez, DJTrance,
Jesse Saunders, Polywog, and D:Fuse, spinning, from noon to midnight, in name of "Freedom of Expression."
Young, stylish people of varying sexual orientations, ethnicities, and music affiliations danced to the surging rhythms of electronica. Despite the near perfect weather, crystal ball hovering above the stage, and faint sentiments of PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect), the party was nonetheless restrained, echoing the gravity of the federal government's recent assaults on youth culture.
Last year, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) introduced a controversial bill called The Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act of 2002, better known as the RAVE Act, which makes its easier for the federal government to prosecute business owners for the drug offenses of their patrons. Biden argued that most raves are havens for illicit drugs, and that the use of ecstasy was claiming the lives of thousands of American youths.
Club owners and promoters could be penalized up to $25,000 or twice the gross proceeds of the rave, if convicted. Loaded with so much egregious language such as the labeling of bottled water and glow sticks as drug paraphernalia and a discriminatory use of the word, "rave," the bill took 10 months to pass with two orginal sponsors - Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) retracting their support.
Although, the RAVE Act is considerably watered-down compared to its original draft, two new threatening bills have been introduced. The CLEAN-UP Act (Clean, Learn, Educate, Abolish, Neutralize and Undermine Production of Methamphetamines Act) and the Ecstasy Awareness Act make the club owners, event promoters and sponsors even more liable for the illegal drug use of their patrons.
The CLEAN-UP Act would hold concert promoters in violation if they know or "reasonably ought to know" that someone will use illegal drugs at their events, while the Ecstasy Awareness Act would make it a federal crime, punishable up to 20 years in prison or up to $2,000,000 in fines, to profit "monetarily" from a rave or similar event, knowing or "reasonably ought to know" that illegal drug use and trafficking are taking place at the event.
"These laws are so broad and so vague that they can apply to almost anybody within the club scene," said Bill McColl, the Drug Policy Alliance's director of national affairs. "That's a real danger for circuit parties, GLBT clubs, and any other minority community that a prosecutor decides for whatever reason they are against."
McColl points out, however, that the rally concert is not advocating for the legalization of drugs; it's more about civil liberties. "The idea is to protect the art. We're concerned about making sure that this music is out there, stays available and that people have safe places to go."
"I want people to walk away from this rally with a sense of empowerment," said Legba Carrefour, co-director and press liaison of ROAR!. "We want to stop the entire movement of an obviously racist, homophobic and anti-youth culture government that is trying to pushed these laws and use drugs as the smoke screen for it."
The chilling effect not only touches club owners and event promoters; if pushed to their most obnoxious extremes, businesses such as Kinko's could be held liable for printing flyers, while organizations such as the Whitman-Walker Clinic could face charges for co-sponsoring AIDS benefit concert events.
The only outlet we have for our music, are the clubs and events generally referred to as Raves," noted international artist Kris Sweeton, know throughout the Electronic Dance Music Industry as DJTrance.
"If we can't be allowed to perform or express our music without fear of being arrested, you've singlehandedly oppressed our rights as Americans, as artists, and our rights as individuals, not to mention the rights of our fans, their rights to attend music events of their choice, to choose what type of music they want to listen to, or their right to enjoy an event just as someone Biden's age might enjoy attending the Opera or an Elton John Concert.
Personally, I feel Senator Biden's efforts are nothing more then those of a terrorist, and he's misusing his power to instill fear and coercion to suppress the livelihood of innocent artists, promoters and club owners to achieve some hidden personal objective. If this bill was legitimate, or even had legitimate intentions, then why was it enacted in such a deceiving way? Given its acronym, many music lovers tend to think that the RAVE Act only applies to the rave scene or electronica music, making it a bit harder to mobilize an all-inclusive musical coalition, but the fact remains passing this bill is nothing more then an unjustified act to condemn an entire segment of our population, and will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the first steps taken towards the prohibition if not the annihilation of music in the United States.
Since when does music have anything to do with child abduction, shame on you Senator Biden shame on you.'
"Many musicians don't have a clue," said Vasquez. "They just go by the name, 'RAVE,' and that's why few of my so-called associates aren't here today. They didn't show up because they think it doesn't really affect them." Said promoter Mark Lee, "We've already seen the effects of the RAVE Act." Lee runs ATLAS Events, which produces the popular Sunday night party Lizard Lounge. Lee referenced an incident in a Billings, Mont., Eagle Lodge, where a group of college students tried to organize a benefit regarding Marijuana Policy Reform.
"The DEA went to the owners of the Eagle Lodge and said that if you hosted the event and if anyone is caught smoking marijuana or doing any drugs, you would be subjected to the provisions of the RAVE Act," said Lee. The Eagle Lodge cancelled the event.
Closer to home was last year's shutdown of Buzz, the popular Friday night party, held at Nations. Buzz had been under heavy scrutiny since 1999, when the local Channel 5 FOX News did an infamous undercover expose on ecstasy use at the event. Following that was an increased crackdown on Buzz by a collaborative effort of the DC police and federal government.
But just as it's easy for some prosecutors to use the "War on Drugs" as a smoke screen to eliminate certain scenes, it's also easy for some RAVE Act protestors to use the music to distract from the issue of illegal drug use at many of these events.
During a round of rousing speeches from Carrefour, McColl, Harry Williams from the ACLU, and others, legendary house DJ, Sam Burns focused on the responsibility and accountability of the patrons.
"I'm not going to live in a world of denial," Burn said during his speech. "We have to be responsible, because the government wouldn't come down on us if there wasn't something bad going on. That's the bottom line.
You can't come to the club, smoking weed in the middle of floor, doing drugs, falling all over the place; people are not going to take you seriously. You have to take care of yourself and think how important is the scene to you."
