I know I'm not the only one who parties sober. People generally think I'm high because somehow they've forgotten that our bodies are physically capable of dancing around for hours, and that we're also capable of being cuddly and happy and intense without anything else. So I look around me and think, how many of these other freaks are sober too? Probably more than in a generic bar, where people actually make me feel alienated for not taking any drugs, specifically alcohol. At a rave nobody gives me the weird eye for being sober, and there are other coherent intelligent people to talk to when breaking from the dance floor.

(me in a bar...)
Guy: Hey, you want me to buy you a drink?
Me: Um, apple juice?
Guy: What, you don't drink?!
Me: No, I've never been drunk
Guy: Are you fucking shitting me? Well come on, I'll get you a beer!
Me: No seriously I don't drink. Is this an issue?
Guy: No... I mean... it's just that.. you've got to learn to loosen up. OK, hahaha let's get you some apple juice.
Me: OK now shut up so that I can watch the band.

(me at a rave...)
Guy: (gets out some stuff) Hey, would you like some of my K/acid/mdma?
Me: Hey, thanks! I'll pass :)
Guy: Cool :) Nice party eh?

and (insert rant tone of voice) It annoys me bigtime when people get a stupid smirk on their face and say "aha, so you'r popping pills etc" when they ask me if I'd like to go to a bar or something and I say no thanks, they say oh you don't party? And I say I go to raves instead.

About crystal meth/jib, please for the love of god never do it, my entire community in Calgary was ruined by it TWICE. Everyone was happy and friendly at first then over the course of the drug's destruction, people were robbing one another, physically and mentally dissintegrating, even my boyfriend got addicted to it and started abusing me before I kicked him out. I had a friend staying in my apartment for a few months recovering from finally crashing on it, and it wasn't pretty, and he'd lost his lover and everything else over it too. There was only one other person who didn't get addicted to it out of all of us, and that's because he didn't do it in the first place. A two minute movie summary of that year would make the best most horrific and non-cheesy ant-meth commercial ever. I even wrote an anti-meth folkpunk song, lol

K is not so harmless as people seem to think, either. At least it's not speed but that does NOT make it OK. It's affecting one of my closest friends very badly right now who was/is a bright shining person and it's hurt other friends in the past too, even killed one (injection). It's a very addictive substance, maybe not like heroine or meth but still addictive enough to cause major problems for a lot of people.

I'm not anti-drug persay, and definitely not against people who are using them. It depends on the drug, how it affects them, and the addictiveness of that drug.

I'm sorry but do people generally dance on stilts? (Eclipse 2009)



And in popular society we stick ourselves through geometric art in the forest all the time, right? (Natura 2009)



And a generic bar/club would totally let me do this, right?



And we'd have space deco?

I love it, Mike! Saw it at the party last night and smiled.

WOW

Lumiere Noire is going to be so sick!

Hahaha I never thought that I'd be into a scene that was considered "in". But just like Jimi Hendrix and KMFDM I'm not going to stop liking it because it's famous or popular. And gothic for me has NEVER been about being "different" or non-conforming or conforming. I just like the style, clothing and music and art and whatever else it is to me, whether 10 other people or a billion other people are into it. There's nothing wrong with liking a style that a lot of others like, or even wanting to "fit in" to a group if that's what makes you happy I guess... go enjoy something with a group of others who also enjoy it, whatever.. I think it's pointless to complain about others who are doing things to fit in. So what? Why does it matter to you? Just let them be happy and have their little cliques and do your own thing.

I like psy and other rave parties because I can express myself however I like with whatever style of clothing and dancing and nobody's going to treat me any less because I dress in black once day and bright colors the next, and guys aren't going to grind up on me randomly. I can just do my thing and be happy and listen to a variety of electronic music that gets me dancing. I don't get all the animosity between everyone, just chill the f out and enjoy and have fun and if you don't like some parties, don't go. Nobody's asking you to go to psy parties if you don't like them.. so stick to the dnb and whatever else you like. But whining about it continuously like a jealous baby online is frankly pathetic.

yoshin I love psy parties because they tend to attract some very creative, free-thinking, and reasonable yet fun-loving people like you. Of course there will be idiots who are attracted for different reasons, like everywhere else. I still love to go to psy parties because I can share in the energy of the people I DO like and the music that I DO like and nevermind the people who are bringing their negative drama issues around. I just don't pay much attention to it and focus on the things that I like instead.



QFT

The amount of whining jealousy on here is obnoxious. Do these people even spend time promoting and enjoying the things they DO like or do they just devote all their time to what they hate?

No I don't really like HHC to be honest, it's one of the other types of electronica that doesn't make me happy for long periods of time. But going around on here all day trying to convince everyone else that it sucks wouldn't be right. People are entitled to enjoy it without my verbal abuse. Go out and dance to HHC, enjoy it, be happy! What do I care? Everyone has different tastes and I think it's best that way, gives us more variety. And just because HHC doesn't particularly get ME off doesn't mean that people who listen to it are all idiots. So stop with this BS that everyone who listens to psy and enjoys psy parties is *insert overgeneralization here*. Get the f over yourselves and spend more time focusing on what you DO like and not on trashing the people who happen to like something that is not YOUR thing. You're not the only person in the world and you're not the only one with valid tastes.



Yay

oops meant to say, one of the "only" types of electronia that doesn't get me off, not "other".

Haha I performed at Eclipse for guest list too. It wasn't cool when I spent several hours trying to get through the gates though, explaining that my name was on the ***ing flyer, nevermind the guest list, so let me in please. Couldn't even call anyone. I was so pissed especially when they tried to force me to open my music equipment in the rain and not even under the tarp that was a couple meters away. But that was an issue of the security that was there at the time. I'm sure the promoters are just really busy and practically non-reachable at the last moments before the festival stars, and, nobody can be everywhere at once and can have complete control over all the different people that make up their staff and can't be there for every little issue that pops up so it's understandable at a big party.



Pas vrai, il y a des promoteurs tellements excellentes. Tranceplants/Adam par example. Quelques promoteurs de scene psychedelique travail très forte, avec l'honnêté, et beaucoup de passion et c'est evident dans leurs evenements. & I don't think Tech Safari has ever not paid anyone, have they? Everyone is different, each promoter. There are definitely events that have been organized very, very well and genuine smart people doing parties here in all scenes.



+1000000 :)



:)

It's fine, I mean, to me it looks good and I'm an artistic type. Maybe I'm biased because I like the specific style. Just something original/different for the title on the front side - underneath the flower and now on top of it - and you're good to go. For me, flyers just have to be eye catching and legible.

Ahhhhh! This thread just made my day! I can't help but feel envious though :)

Damn I wish I had the time to promote a party this year! It's always been accepted in my mind that if promoting a party, DJs and sound system and venue etc get paid FIRST (you put up all the money beforehand, before starting the party process in the first place). THEN you might make it back. You might make a little profit, or you might lose everything. If you're throwing a party, you have to be prepared to lose everything.

Example, a friend of mine who throws a massive outdoor fesitval each year. He told me that he lost many thousands of dollars for the first few years, and eventually started breaking even, and it gets better each year so now he's making some profit. Maybe promoting is like school, it takes time and financial investment and eventually maybe you make back the money and if all goes well profit too.

It's not everyone else's fault if you have the money or not. A promoter is IMO, supposed to have the money beforehand, and it's THEIR job to take the fall for it if things don't pan out. Not all the artists and DJs and venue etc.



There are ways. ^^

P.S. it bothers me hearing about workers who, after the fact, don't get paid what they were told they'd be paid. wtf?? Isn't the promoter supposed to be the one who has the money to throw the party in the first place? I didn't think that the workers were supposed to be fronting their work.

If you can't afford to make a big party and you don't have the thousands to throw it already, start small, don't get in over your head.

Oops I didn't mean for all this to sound so confrontational, lol. I just want things to be fair for everyone involved and for there to be some responsability :)

Honoring promises is important on both sides.

Keep the flower unhidden for sure.

I can do up some drawings for the title like rawali said but then photograph them and put them into photoshop and see what happens. Maybe the title can be entirely original art and not from a font.

It's beautiful so far though, what a great combination of colors and imagery.

How about starting with saying why you like YOUR scenes and music, not why to hate everyone else's. Or generally hating people because they like a different style.

Things aren't all in black and white. Not everyone fits into one specific category.

PENCAPCHEW, Moloch doesn't represent every hardcore enthusiast. Some of the nicest and coolest people I've partied with were hardcore-ers. (including me and I believe that most of the time I'm pretty nice thx :)

Host, sooo far out. Mannnnnnnnnnnnn.... :p

Spoiled brats; do you expect doctors or teachers or bike couriers to pay for their bikes and university to get their jobs and then do it all for free? It's unreasonable to expect others to give all their time and energy to you for free just because they love what they do. Artists, DJs and musicians are not SLAVES. They could do other things with their time making more than they do at parties, but they're taking LESS pay to do something that they love. Now you expect them to not only take less, but no pay, and maybe negative pay?

I love my job but LOVING what I do is not going to pay for living expenses.

How would you like to PAY to go to work? Or do it for free? Who is going to pay for your rent and school and stuff?

People who go on free parties being the (only righteous) way to go, do they expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter for nothing... including couches to sleep on, food to steal out of their hosts' fridges, free school payed for by mommy, free everything, making everyone else work for them, the "mememe taketaketake" attitude, CONSUMING AND NEVER CONTRIBUTING. Contribute to your scene, stop whining about events that are actually charging money for their time and services.

Try some positivity. Instead of moaning about how you don't think it's right that others charge for their parties, just promote and be happy about your own parties however the hell you want to do them and stfu about other people's parties.

If someone throws a free party because they have a couple grand lying around and extra time on their hands where they don't have to be working, and they feel charitable, great! If you do and share yout skills for free, thanks. But then don't expect everyone else to do it too.. and don't call others greedy for charging for their time and efforts. Nobody here is expecting to make big $, just something REASONABLE and SUSTAINABLE.

Get your venue, then pay your workers. And if you can't pay your workers/DJs/artists, how about you spin for 10 hours straight on your own, and paint all the canvases by yourself.

//end rant

I wanted to revise a sentence up there to be slightly less confrontational:

Try some positivity. Instead of complaining about how you don't think it's right htat others charge for their parties, just promote and be happy about your own however you want to do them, and don't put down other people's parties.

Does anyone have pictures of him? I want to know if it's the same person who stole from an ex of mine :D

haha last night a downtempo party took me away from my dnb n psy n hardtek. lol

I totally see your point, though excessive bashing of other scenes only makes the ppl doing it look like tools.

& in Alberta if all the scenes didn't come together and support each other at once, there wouldn't BE any parties at all. So I guess I come from a different rave atmosphere & circumstances were everyone had to accept each others' genres for parties to exist altogether. So that's where I'm coming from that I think people fighting over genres is stupid :P The more types of electronica and the more parties the better. People who have never found electronica before can explore the different parties and music and find what they like best.

I like Robocalypse, Robocore, Zombiocalypse, Toonland, and Kandyland (like the boardgame Candyland, with that theme) and the idea for a party with wigs. Must wear a wig to get in. Even if you make it yourself at home out of old materials and strings and things.

Is he really skinny with very long brown hair btw? Maybe goes by the name of Alex, should be 22 ish right now? Hangs out in Vancouver/Calgary?

I crave for swing dancing, that was intense, and very BA back in the day, and at times broke serious cultural boundaries. But there haven't been swing raves in several decades so I guess I'm out of luck.. maybe if I bash every other genre online to try to convince people to stop going to their parties, then they will be more inclined to start making swing parties instead.

Or.. could just NOT bash everyone else's styles. It's one thing to say that it's not your thing, but another thing to go on and on whining about a certain genre and state that they should be erradicated and replaced with others.. when those others already exist and have their scene.

Maybe the folk scene should be bashing electronica because I go to electronica nights sometimes instead of jam nights. Maybe hardcore lovers should be complaining about happy hard core at their parties. Maybe psytrancers should complain about all the other genres that are more popular and draw other potential dancers away from the scene. Maybe tamtams should be pissed off because people go to Picnic instead sometimes. Maybe Picnic should be pissed at tamtams. Maybe everyone should just promote and enjoy what they have and stfu. :)

Why does the map show Saskatchewan not practicing DST? lol

Openmind is one week long this year and it was an amazing time. It's a beautiful place with a very nice warm lake, innovative deco and different sorts of music. There's Natura festival too that looks great, and Harvest Festival in Ontario which was VERY different and cool. There are a lot of festivals in the summer! And Noah if he'll be on the mountain, and Piknik and St Jean Bassiste, El Hal, and Kinetik Festival in May for industrial and hardcore and EBM and noise and stuff.

This is going to be something not to miss, with Adham Shaikh and his Dreamtree Project. A real gem of a Canadian producer artist and DJ. [ www.rave.ca ]

If you'd like to go a little farther, there's Motion Notion festival in Alberta, <3 you James :P He puts all his heart into the festival. It's completely absurd and wonderful! Sort of like Eclipse, but maybe wilder.

* that's the Sundari festival presenting the Dreamtree Project with Adham Shaikh & Uwe Neumann. The lineup is WOW.

The Breakfast Club

CANDYCORE

Zombiocalypse OR Robocore

I love Terrafractyl SOOOOOO much! [ www.youtube.com ]

We must save the forest.. the forest is ours!

[ www.youtube.com ]

bwahahahahah

best hangover remedy, cocaina:

[ www.youtube.com ]

heheheh :)

cutterhead sounds like a part of a machine used for trimming gardens ;)

hahahah

XD x100

I was unaware that weed existed outside of BC.

;)

Yess! I like chess! I need.

I found some of my favorite stuff in the trash! Really beautiful stuff. Wash it a few times right when you get home.

That reminded me of the awesome tipi-like pyramid stage at Harvest fest!! That was so epic!

.....anyhoo...

Non-monogamous people don't necessarily sleep with everyone. A lot of them want serious relationships and desire and understand love. Some of the sweetest most loving people that I know are in long term polyamorous or open relationships. I keep hearing "I'm monogamous because I'm romantic" and stuff like that. What, so non-monogamous people aren't romantic by default? Different people have different ideas of romance.

Some types of non-monogamy:

* group marriage (polygynandry)
* polyfamilies - like group marriage but they aren't married or don't call it marriage.
* polyamory - having multiple romantic partners (not just for sex)
* polyfidelity - having multiple partners with sex restricted to a certain group
* polygamy - one person who has multiple spouses/partners (polyandry for a girl and polygyny for a guy)
* open marriage or open relationships - a couple that may be sexually active with others
* swinging - similar to open, but usually done as an organized social activity

Then there are less common forms like line marriages, where get this... it's a sort of group marriage where new spouses are added on to outlive its original members and continue the group. That's interesting! Has anyone ever heard of a "line" family?

:o Don't overgeneralize my gender like that!!! GEEEEES ;)

/jk

I guess I have to get with the times ^.^

So it's balancing out. Are we there yet? :p

I'm not "preaching" polyamory... this is a thread for people to share their views about it and I shared mine. You're acting like you're the only one entitled to preaching your views. I've had monogamy "preached" to me all my life.

My monogamous boyfriends with the exception of one didn't cheat on me (as far as I know) and that one was a looong time ago so no fresh feelings there. I don't harbor any bad feelings towards men at all, this is completely not about emotional reaction. I've already written that a few times. My assumptions about more men cheating than women are based in 1. logic and 2. online communities I'm part of and from conversations with many, many men. 28% cheat? If that statistic is right, that's a LOT. And since women don't in general have as high of a desire to spread their seed/be with many... it makes logical sense. It doesn't make men or women better than one another.

Maybe it means that in general men are more desiring of open relationships but they don't feel like their partners could handle it, so they just hide the intimate experiences they are going to have anyways so that they can keep doing their thing without hurting their partner. I've talked to ALOT of people who are along those lines.

I'm not upset lol I'm just writing down my thoughts... not crying a river over someone being immature enough to use ageism and "retarded" in their insults. but it's stupid as this started out as a civil discussion where everyone could freely express their thoughts without taking chunks out of each other. It doesn't make me weak if I ask for you to not use insults. I ask out of a desire for respect, not because I'm desperate for your approval.

She called me retarded for it, and also related me to another age group, in a derogatory way. I'm not too fond of monogamy for myself, but TO EACH THEIR OWN, I don't think it's right to tell monogamists that they're retarded etc. Even if I strongly disagree with their analogies.

But whatever, think I'm "retarded" for using how I feel about music as an example to help explain how I feel about love. You don't have to understand it, go ahead and insult over it too if it really does something for you.