DJ SMOKEYreal life underground DJ's blog: "you knw when your a raver when"

The Raver Manifesto: Our emotional state of choice is Ecstasy. Our nourishment of choice is Love. Our addiction of choice is technology. Our religion of choice is music. Our currency of choice is knowledge. Our politics of choice is none. Our society of choice is utopian though we know it will never be. You may hate us. You may dismiss us. You may misunderstand us. You maybe unaware of our existence. We can only hope you do not care to judge us, because we would never judge you. We are not criminals. We are not disillusioned. We are not drug addicts. We are not naive children... We are one massive, global, tribal village that transcends man-made law, physical geography, and time itself. We are The Massive. One Massive. We were first drawn by the sound. From far away, the thunderous, muffled, echoing beat was comparable to a mother's heart soothing a child in her womb of concrete, steel, and electrical wiring. We were drawn back into this womb, and there, in the heat, dampness, and darkness of it, We came to accept that we are all equal. Not only to the darkness, and to ourselves, but to the very music slamming into us and passing through our souls: we are all equal. And somewhere around 35 Hz we could feel the hand of God at our backs, pushing us forward, pushing us to push ourselves to strengthen our minds, our bodies, and our spirits. Pushing us to turn to the person beside us to join hands and uplift them by sharing the uncontrollable joy we felt from creating this magical bubble that can, for one evening, protect us from the horrors, atrocities, and pollution of the outside world. It is in that very instant, with these initial realisations that each of us was truly born. We continue to pack our bodies into clubs, or warehouses, or buildings you've abandoned and left for naught, and we bring life to them for one night. Strong, throbbing, vibrant life in it's purest, most intense, most hedonistic form. In these makeshift spaces, we seek to shed ourselves of the burden of uncertainty for a future you have been unable to stabilise and secure for us. We seek to relinquish our inhibitions, and free ourselves from the shackle's and restraints you've put on us for your own peace of mind. We seek to re-write the programming that you have tried to indoctrinate us with since the moment we were born. Programming that tells us to hate, that tells us to judge, that tells us to stuff ourselves into the nearest and most convenient pigeon hole possible. Programming that even tells us to climb ladders for you, jump through hoops, and run through mazes and on hamster wheels. Programming that tells us to eat from the shiny silver spoon you are trying to feed us with, instead of nourish ourselves with our own capable hands. Programming that tells us to close our minds, instead of open them. Until the sun rises to burn our eyes by revealing the dis-utopian reality of a world you've created for us, we dance fiercely with our brothers and sisters in celebration of our life, of our culture, and of the values we believe in: Peace, Love, Freedom, Tolerance, Unity, Harmony, Expression, Respect and Responsibility. Our enemy of choice is ignorance. Our weapon of choice is information. Our crime of choice is breaking and challenging whatever laws you feel you need to put in plac e to stop us from celebrating our existence. But know that while you may shut down any given party, on any given night, in any given city, in any given country or continent on this beautiful planet, you can never shut down the entire party. You don't have access to that switch, no matter what you may think. The music will never stop. The heartbeat will never fade. The party will never end. I am a raver, and this is my manifesto.

YOU KNOW YOUR A RAVER WHEN ? The total amount of sleep you get on weekends is the sum of how many times you've blinked since Friday night. ? You grin like a dumbass whenever you see a comercial for "E News" ? You navigate your way around the city by using 24h petrol-stations as landmarks. ? You can't pass a warehouse, big open field, barn, airplane hanger, phone booth, etc without getting that far off look in your eye and saying "Wow, what a great place for a rave!" ? You're willing to spend $30 on a ticket for an event you might not even get into, $50 for something that might be asprin, but you're not willing to part with $2 for a bottle of water. ? You have sleeping patterns that would kill normal human beings. ? Almost every letter of the alphabet has a different meaning to you. ? You forget about your dream of becoming a Doctor and start to wonder what it would be like to be a cartoon character... ? You are dead against drinking alcohol, but will snort horse-tranquillizers without any prompting needed. ? You wallpaper your room with old fliers. ? All your friends have names like Gee Whiz, Marko, Fenix and hyper...etc... ? You've got a huge pile of dead glow-sticks in your room which you can't throw out because of 'sentimental value'. ? You don't own a watch, and if you do its either edible or able to hide drugs inside. ? You lose 10 lbs in one night and the last thing you think about the next morning is food. ? You can live for an entire weekend out of your backpack. ? You think perhaps Bill Gates was thinking of something else when he designed the Internet Explorer logo... ? You're happy when there's a recession because it means more empty warehouses. ? You've got so much glowing shit in your room that you can't sleep because of the brightness. ? You've been close friends with someone for weeks without actually knowing their first names. ? You get home and you've got absolutly nothing that you can talk to your parents about from your weekend. ? You automatically migrate towards anything florescent because you think it might be someone with a glow stick. ? You buy clothes based on texture, and whether they are reflective in the dark. ? You don't give a flying fuck what you look like any more and just dance, dance, dance... ? You can stand in front of a 12,000 watt speaker for an hour and be loving every minute of it. ? You won't spend any money on things you need, but if someone at a party needs $5 , you'll give it to them. ? You can wear out a pair of shoes in only a few days. ? You can't carry out normal day to day activities without having little lights to play with. ? You have a one-track mind, and it goes Beep-Beep-Boom-Boom-Beep-Beep-Boom (or... oountz, ountz, doof, doof, ountz, ountz, doof, doof!) ? You carry enough flashy electronic-things in your bag to light a small city. ? When you are driving your car home you feel like you're in a video game. ? You start to think of lollipops as a seperate food group. ? Chewing gum becomes a necessity. ? Random tripping is the best way to describe your weekend (or indeed your life) ? You start coveting all of your dad's old 1977 polyester sweatsuits. ? The mere mention of a 3 digit number with a "0" in the middle of it causes you to drool uncontrollably. ? The odometer of your car increases in big chunks over the weekend. ? You have to fight back the urge to beat the hell out everyone who thinks raves are like the club scene in Basic Instinct. ? You can keep a straight face when you tell people "really, not that many people are on anything....i'm serious!" ? Food, water, air, Vick's...all are about of equal importance. ? You are no longer just a raver...but a promoter, vendor, DJ, etc... ? You have trouble naming 5 friends who are not pierced SOMEWHERE. ? When you see Capn Crunch 4 times in one week! ? You not only notice that household appliances like washing machines can generate a funky beat, you also argue about whether it's tribal or trance. ? You know where to buy glowsticks at 11pm. ? When shopping you just buy clothes that will feel cool on Ecstasy. ? While you were out dancing your mom was up all night because you stole your baby brothers binky. ? You can talk to your friends for hours about drugs and never once say an actual drug's name. ? You've ever watched a rave report on Inside Edition and saw yourself. (hasn't everyone? :) ? You know where to get a back-up generator at 2 a.m. ? You've asked for every Friday and Saturday off of work for "religious reasons." ? When your parents ask where you were the night before you honestly don't know. ? You bust out glow sticks at your senior prom.