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CRACKDOWN ON RAVE // GREAT NEWS! //YOU UPGRADEmag // feb 6 2001The UPGRADEmag is a global edutainment round-up which is ‘broadcast’ weekly to =[9178]= Trance// New Age// Alternative// Activist folks who have been recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity/ Megatripolis Dance Dept as "showing signs of life". Many choose to forward it to their own lists, making an estimated 18,000+ recipients. And, because of its less 'specialist' content, it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide, making a total ‘readership’ of, conservatively, 135,000+ HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GREAT NEWS! AMERICAN GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON RAVE CULTURE! (YOU 2283) HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH <RUMOUR MILL: we're hearing incredibly exciting and apparently very solid rumours that Megatripolis will be launching a new fortnightly club in early april. it's called The Den of Enlightenment, and who can doubt that the minds that gave us The Warp Experience will push the envelope of clubland edutainment further than ever before! watch this space! > "Those who make a distinction between education and entertainment don't know the first thing about either. " Marshall McLuhan. FEB 2 Imbolc was on Feb 2, and was the official pagan start of Spring. The end of winter in the celtic calendar. Watch our for Maypoles. <sent in by Scoopy Dogpoo> YOU 2280 UK FRI FEB 9-11 http://www.bigchill.net YOU 2281 New York FEB 22-24 - hosted by Social Research Journal Keynote Address by Jonathan Miller, M.D. - director, physician and author. Other participants include Ethan Nadelmann, Director of The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation; Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Frits Staal, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and South and Southeast Asian Studies at University of California-Berkeley; and A. Alvarez, author. A concluding panel discussion on Alternatives to the War on Drugs will be moderated by Jerome Jaffe, M.D., former Director of the Special Action for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Nixon Administration. New School University, New York City. $100. Full-time students free. INFO: 212.229.2488 or wolinskm@newschool.edu www.newschool.edu/centers/socres/altered. Vancouver MAY 11-13 Entheobotany Shamanic Plant Seminars, P. O. Box 4, Sierra Madre, CA 91025, USA. (626) 355-9585 http://entheobotany.com/vancouver/ Berkeley, California MAY 25-27 Visionary Plants & Drugs, Virtual Reality, Nootropics, Nanotechnology & Artificial Life, Art, Music, the Internet, and more . . . International House in Berkeley. Mind States, POB 19820 (Dept. MW), Sacramento, CA 95819, USA. http://www.erowid.org/mindstates. Nepal SEPT 22-28 & OCT 1-7 Dhulikel Mountain Resort, Nepal www.psychoactivity.org YOU 2282 GREAT NEWS! AMERICAN GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON RAVE CULTURE! During the Thatcher Decade, we older, wiser activists would rub our hands in anticipation because we understood that what the miniscule Alternative Culture most needed was a good Hate Figure to grow and unite against! Now, with Rave finally taking over America's youth, a similar sign is being seen there which, despite sounding so ominous, actually proves how rapidly the new culture is spreading, and simultaneously massively speeds up the process! "STOP THIS CRAZE DEAD IN ITS TRACKS I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT JUST DO IT!" Three young New Orleans rave promoters have been charged with violating the 1986 federal "Crack House" law, which applies to any building "created or maintained for the purpose of illegal drug use. Yes, the dinosaurs are trying to stamp out the dancing green shoots of shamanic rave culture by abusing a law made for quite another purpose. On January 12, less than 2 weeks into the 3rd millennium, U.S. Attorney Eddie Jackson announced the indictments of Robert J. Brunet, Brian J. Brunet and James D. Estobinal, describing the rave they organised as "one of the most unconscionable drug violations I have ever seen. They used these raves to exploit young people by designing them for pervasive drug abuse." He underscored the point by concluding that, from now on, anyone using the term "rave" to promote an event could face similar prosecution. Things are getting seriously dirty in the Land of the free. If you'll excuse the pun, Word has clearly come down from on High: "STOP THIS CRAZE DEAD IN ITS TRACKS I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT JUST DO IT!" Raves "designed for pervasive drug use"? Nice spin, boss! Though these young promoters face a $500,000 fine each and 20 years, they're not even charged with possession of any drugs! I'll leave you to decide whether the "Crack House Law" was intentionally cast widely enough that the cops could apply it in any situation that might arise. An activist demo perhaps? "NEVER MIND IF THE CASE IS WINNABLE, JUST BUST 'EM AND CLOSE 'EM DOWN!" Wise heads have long understood that UK laws against porn or the coverage of drugs are deliberately kept vague in order to leave the perpetrator in the dark while maximising the threat of the authorities. Think about it: why is there no successful drug magazine in this country? Because no serious businessman will risk the required investment in a gray area where he can be closed at any time. For here's the most insidious point, as witnessed by this comment of Gerard Rault, Loyola University's Professor of Criminal Law, to a reporter: "Just the very prosecution of these people becomes very costly to them … The very fact of the indictment would deter rave parties." Yup, even if he's acquitted of "creating a venue for pervasive drug use," he'll have tied up several years and a large sum of money in his defence (with zero chance of compensation or even costs since he'd have to prove "deliberate abuse of the law by the police.") Meanwhile (which is the real intention) it's one less promoter on the street. And that's not the end of it. As one reporter put it: "Smelling blood in the water, other federal prosecutors have reportedly asked for copies of the case in order to initiate similar prosecutions in their own districts, indicating that these arrests represent only the opening salvo in the U.S. government's new war on rave." Yes, fellow Ravers, every single American promoter now has the threat of being arrested hanging over him! YOU CAN SHOOT ALL THE MESSENGERS BUT YOU'LL NEVER STOP THE FUTURE! Why are they going for raves rather than the drugs themselves? Witness DEA Special Agent George Cazenavette (New Orleans Field Division) last May: "Drugs have become such an integral part of the rave circuit that there no longer appears to be an attempt to conceal their use." For "attempt to conceal" read "we don't have the fuckin' manpower to stop so many people making free choices!" Remember the Hippy Movement, Mr. President, it started as a small bunch of druggies but it damn near changed the world. This shamanic rave culture (the last great idealistic, communistic, democratic, ecological, ancient/futuristic hope of the planet) will soon start influencing the general public to join their vibrant, happy, spiritual new lifestyle. Stop the actual raves and you stop people gathering and creating what I have long called Megatripolis, a pre-flash of the Future Perfect State HERE NOW. IT HAPPENED WITH THE HIPPIES IN THE '60S, IT HAPPENED WITH UK RAVERS IN THE '90S, AND NOW IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IN AMERICA Yes, seen from a historical perspective, and a personal one too actually, this 'Crackdown' is the best news imaginable, and long predicted by myself and some other older hippy/ravers. For it's undeniable evidence of how influential the new culture is becoming. Under pressure, authority always increases legal penalties without the money or manpower to assert them. After all, budgets for Drug Wars must now step aside for Star Wars, and Bush's tax cuts. And there, bang on cue, is your Hate Figure! The very same process happened here in Britain in the early Rave days. At my very first "acid house party", there was one old zippy (moi) and everyone else was basically a yuppie. I'll never forget this young zoomed up, eeee'd out office-working raver buzzing at me: "Isn't it great?! You work really hard all week and then you dance really hard all weekend!" She wasn't rebelling against anything! Nor did the "Acid House Kings" of Sunrise or NRG consider themselves as anything but smart, upcoming entrepreneurs. It was only when Mrs Thatcher, the great advocate of Free Enterprise, cracked down that these yuppies were politically radicalised! I remember writing that these early promoters should be given OBEs for enterprise, and that the UK should export this dynamic new youth culture around the planet. Instead, when these young ravers suddenly had the authorities busting their beautiful events, they were forced to ask themselves for the very first time: is this really MY government?! "YOU CAN'T HAVE A PERFECT CLUB IN AN IMPERFECT SOCIETY. YOU HAVE TO CHANGE SOCIETY" That's how I'd been expressing it at the time, but it was only after Thatcher's Crackdown that ravers started listening. And, as will now happen across the Atlantic, the Big Money operators will be forced out, and the scene will massively disseminate 'downmarket,' 'underground,' onto the shoulders of those who really believe in it, and moves into warehouses and less legal venues. But crucially, and I had a big hand in this, connections must be made with the radicalised, law-scorning, hippy culture (I christened it the Festi-Rave Crossover Counter Culture). It is they, after all, who know the free fields, the cheap sound systems and, above all, are possessed by the anarchist chutzpah to JUST FUCKIN' GO FOR IT, MATE! Yes, though ultimately Nike co-opts the language, that's because the Rave Spirit captures the culture. In Britain this politicisation continued right up to the Street Activism movements of today. Suddenly America is going to find that all those fledgling alternative political movements are going to swell massively with Dancing Green Evolutionaries! And remember this. America is not a tiny island like Britain. The culture is both mobile and fully conscious of its rights, and every town is surrounded by huge, unsurroundable national parkland! THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE A CHANCE OF STAMPING IT OUT! fraser clark. feb, 2001. For many of Fraser's other predictions on Rave Culture check THE BOOK OF RAVeLATIONS on: http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/fraserclark/ Several key facts in this article came from an excellent piece by Damon W. Root. YOU 2283 SHIT IN A PARTY DRESS?! (YOU 2265 feedback) Receiving the YOUniversity info' is nice cause I've fairly recently decamped to Holland and it's good to hear about nights in London etc as, although I can't go to them, I can tell me mates! Obviously some stuff is of more interest to me than other stuff I find in the news, but I do wonder if the listings/info etc is vetted in any way? I can see that you are deliberately maintaining an open-minded approach & trying to present alternative/ contrasting /juxtaposed viewpoints, which is fantastic in my book. People have to become intelligent enough to decide for themselves what's shit and what's not. However some things are deceptive, sort of like shit wearing a pretty dress ... such as the Coolsavings.com that I had a look at after reading it in the UP. On closer inspection it's a classic big brother blag (corporate con?) & I reckon that deserves a cautionary mention. Is this really what you want to promote by association? Here's some info I dug out from a less likely to be looked at part of the site that deals with the business side. In the name of balance and integrity, I think you should post this as well as the advertisey positivist stuff:- CoolSavings provides a comprehensive suite of e-marketing services to both online and offline advertisers focused on building one-to-one customer relationships…. As members redeem the incentives offered, the company gathers extensive shopping behavior and preference information. This information further enriches the member database providing advertisers with a higher degree of targeting. CoolSavings advertisers include leading brands such as barnesandnoble.com, BestBuy.com, First USA, Kids "R" Us, Lenscrafters, JCPenney, and Sears. noelaparty@hotmail.com <noel, u r (more or less) ded right about Coolsavings and i'm gonna stop using their stuff from now on - they (it's phrased like it comes from a groovy young yuppy gal but now i know) send me weekly mailouts. in fact i'm gonna ask 2 b removed next time it comes! thanks for the info. we do our very best, but I do wish we could check these things even better, but no r/evolution can ever be perfect i guess, 'else it wouldn't be necessary! fraser> Ello again, noel again, scrolling down a bit further in this week's UPGRADEmag I happen upon this nugget of info that makes me want even less to give my details to a thinly veiled vehicle of consumerism and organised life-spying! Viz:- CUSTOMER CARE WHAT'S THAT THEN? (YOU 2273) Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that dotcoms are disregarding the most basic of business practices. While nearly half of the 400 companies surveyed regarded recruitment, establishing market presence and winning new customers as their key business challenges, they actually relegated customer care and profitability to the bottom of their priority list. Sound familiar? <yo, noel!> YOU 2284 San Francisco FRI FEB 9 The extended remix of the short documentary `DANCING IS NOT A CRIME!' (about the San Francisco Late Night Coalition & their work defending Dance Culture in S.F.) will air for the first time Late Night at 1.00 am on `COSMOS - San Francisco' KTSF TV 26 - Channel 8 on SF Cable. Featuring the points of view of key members of the SFLNC and such SF icons as Enrico Banducci, Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Former SFPD officers Bob Geary & Brendan O'Smarty, `Pope of Punk' Dirk Dirksen & more, the piece features archival footage of San Francisco nightlife spanning 80 years, from Jazz clubs of the 30s, through Hippie happenings, the Mabuhay/FAB MAB in the 70s, the Digital Be-in & a recent outdoor SFLNC rally. "It's a blatant advocacy piece" says Segment Director/Producer Stefan G. "In fact, I hope it works as a recruiting film for the SFLNC. All over S.F. we are seeing the ordinary displace the unique, The SFLNC is doing vital work preserving hope for SFs Future". (The rest of the program will feature Rare Dance Culture videos & underground Computer Animation) YOU 2285 Los Angeles WED FEB 7 Calling all psychedelic trance lovers! Yaniv (Cosmophilia, Hadshot), Grantly (Flying Rhino) @ Sky Sushi, 7901 Santa Monica Blvd. (corner of Fairfax), Hollywood $5 20+ YOU 2286 PUBLICATION Karl Jansen's book is a goldmine of information, clearly written, well researched and documented, and presented objectively. Useful for all researchers in that it covers all the aspects of Ketamine from pharmacology to its use in raves. "Entertaining, thought-provoking, and thorough.' Rick Strassman, M.D., author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule. Ketamine: Dreams and Realities (ISBN: 0-9660019-3-1) $14.95/copy + shipp/handling Via secure credit card transaction at www.maps.org Send Orders to: MAPS/ Ketamine Dreams, 2105 Robinson Ave. Sarasota, FL, USA YOU 2287 HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH * YOUR PLANET NEEDS //YOU! this HipList grows by recommendation. RECOMMEND SOMEONE 2DAY!!!!!!!!!! * to be REMOVED from the HipList, simply hit REPLY with the word REMOVE in the Subject box * to debate anything in the UPGRADE, dubbleklik: http://www.parallel-youniversity.com/GroupMind/ * we never have space to publish everything, so check the EMAG on our site for the longer, deeper stuff * yes, yes, send us any edutaining news’n views no need to ask! :-) HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH A caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the tekkie asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on the foot pedal and nothing happened." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse. A Compaq customer complained that her brand-new computer wouldn't work. She said she'd unpacked the unit, plugged it in,and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?" Novell NetWire Sysop Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I'm within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tekkie: " I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?" Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer." Tekkie: "Please excuse me. If I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?" Caller: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about it being a promotional. It just has '4X' on it." The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder and snapped it off the drive. A Canon user having probs with her printer was asked if she was running it under "Windows." To which she responded "No, my desk is next to the door. But that's a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window and his printer's working fine!" Tekkie: "O.K. Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager." Customer: "I don't have a 'P'." Tech: "On your keyboard, Bob." Customer: "What do you mean?" Tech: "P" on your keyboard, Bob." Customer: " I'm not going to do that!" |