Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 22:18:46 -0800
From: joesalas (joesalas@earthlink.net)
Subject: Lift last friday night
Posted to: socal-raves list

just wanted to say a couple things about this really nice party that happened friday night

it was at the alexandria hotel. id never been to this place before and i really liked it. seemed like a really trippy place: some old, classy hotel out of a classic hollywood movie, like chinatown or something

there were three rooms. one was on the ground floor in the bar which was where the jungle was being played. unfortunately, the bar was still in operation and so only those over 21 could get in, which absolutely sucked. i could hear the music pretty well out in the lobby so i decided to just hang around out there at the least and dance a little bit, but the security would come along periodically and clear the lobby, making everyone go upstairs to the other two rooms

the second room was immediately upstairs, really dark with low ceilings, lots of pretty moldings on the columns and ceiling edges. most everytime i came in here, i heard house being spun, though once or twice, i heard other stuff, maybe trance and/or techno, not sure. the speaker setup was really nice. it was basically this long wall. on either end it was stacked up about as high as one's head, but in the middle, it went up to just below my mid-chest. just behind the middle, the dj was setup with this semi-circular booth sortof thing that went up to his (or her if there were any girl djs) waist with the tables and mixers spread around him in a semi-circle also. looked really cozy. and when you stood immediately in front of him with the speakers as a barrier between you two, the sound hit your abdomen really nicely, very fuzzy and comforting

for some reason, this room seemed to be the most consistently full and busy. it was really odd sometimes to see all these raver kids (literally, everyone looked like they were still in high school) going off to house. dont remember ever seeing that before, not in la, anyway

the third room, past the second one, was where you could hear your usual assortment of progressive trance, which is where i hung out mostly, partly because i liked the music here a little better, mostly because i just liked this room itself a lot more. it was like a big ballroom with nice hardwood floors, more grand molding, big windows that opened out onto spring street below, lots of lasers, really good ventilation, and a big ole wall of speakers

i especially liked the lighting. the only lights in the room itself were from the lasers, the rest of the light was ambience that floated in from the streetlights outside. it was perfect!

wow, and the sound was vibrating everywhere: off the floors and in the air itself. sometimes, whoever was spinning would play a track with lots of heavy bass, and you could feel it reverberating in your chest and heart. it was just plain heaven

i say: if anyone is going to use the alexandria hotel again, use this room! i love this room!

there is not much i can say about the music i heard. basically the sortof stuff you can expect at most la parties. which isnt to say i didnt like it, i absolutely loved most everything i heard. i heard some good house and one or two really good trancey tracks in the middle room. i believe christopher lawrence and theeo among others were in the other room, spinning some very good, reliable, feel-good progtrance that i still go nuts over whenever i hear it

i just love that feeling you get when you look around at all the lasers swirling, and see all the kids bouncing, and hear the music pounding out feeding you waves of beautiful sound and melody, and it really feels like the room has suddenly become a new and different place, like its transformed into something good and separate from the rest of the world. i witnessed this a couple times (and i was sober the whole night too) and i just felt really good and thankful that this sortof thing exists for people to take part in, because i think that humans in general really need this sort of thing in order to prevent irreversable societal decadence or whatever

so i guess thats what raving is to me, and thats why i rave
needless to say, the vibe was pretty darned good. everyone was very friendly and open, there were no assholes wandering around, so far as i could tell anyway. people on the dance floor looked you in the eyes and smiled and visibly shared your joy over the music

only problems were: 1)the jungle room, 2)there werent as many people as there could have been (though maybe this is actually a good thing, but still there could have been more people for a stronger vibe and it still would not have come close to being uncomfortably crowded), and 3)the thing ended at 5am. as far as i am concerned, it is a *serious* crime to have a party end before the sun comes up, though i understand its particularly difficult during these winter months

i want to say hey to all the scrubbers that were there, havent seen some of you guys in a while! it was good!

late!

joe