Stark Raving Mad (aka Some Stuff I Did At A Place)

[Krogith]

Well - SOL parties were'nt all like this. This was just ATH, who was affiliated with SOL & played only some of their events. I think David (the head of SOL, he used to carry around a childrens lunchbox with him everywhere, total candyraver) was the only one who'd take a risk hiring ATH & dealing with the aftermath, ect...

These were degenerate parties though EF... not legal, not dependable, not completely reflecting of the midwestern rave scene back then, ect... not generally my style. But I did work a lot of these shows & was forced to ride the 'tailspin' down with them when things went that way

Well it's nice to meet you again EF. Thanks for sharing those pics too I aspire to do what you're doing today with lasers sometime in my not so distant future :beer:

Thats is just "warped" that people like that kinda stuff. This world is getting really sick. Thats Crazy....

Good for you ElektroFreak thats a good thing your doing, (no offense to you danefex. We all choose our own path and I'm not trying to rag on your choices. It's just not something I'd ever do personally, is all) those are some Awesome Laser shows and The fact that your not forcing your self to watch or aid to something debase is really commendable. Thanks for showing us this show.

 

[danefex]

None taken Krog, no worries man. These 'shock value' shows weren't my particular interest btw, just parties I had worked at & things I'd witnessed that stood way out from the norm. People also didn't generally go out of their way (aside going to a rave) for these performances either, they just happened. Shock value... I'm not some sick, sadistic, dormant serial killer that'd get off on anything like that though, I swear its the truth

 

[Krogith]

None taken Krog, no worries man. These 'shock value' shows weren't my particular interest btw, just parties I had worked at & things I'd witnessed that stood way out from the norm. I'm not some sick, sadistic, dormant serial killer that'd get off on anything like that - I promise

NO i knew you didn't sound like you enjoyed them, it's no problem lol I didn't think that

 

[rvrh3]

@ElektroFreak:
Dont mean to derail thread, but was that by chance Infected Murshoom?

 

[ElektroFreak]

You're certainly not derailing the thread by asking.. The main room lineup included Infected Mushroom, Krafty Kuts and Donald Glaude. The main room experience was one of the best I've ever seen in STL.. music was incredible. I had never seen Infected Mushroom before (had opportunities, but never actually made it happen) and they blew my mind. Absolutely amazing!

 

[rvrh3]

Nice! I saw them in Kansas City last month. Been a fan of Infected Mushroom for a while. The best in their genre IMO! The KC venue was also a theatre like the venue in your photos, so I thought maybe I was at that same show. The fact that they're more like a band than just a guy with a computer makes them even more awesome!

 

[ElektroFreak]

I had heard about the KC show.. how was the production? Good sound lights lasers etc?

My good friend was on that lineup, and the promoters made him not only pay for himself and his wife to get in, they refused to pay him afterwords. They basically said "tough titties"

Too many shady promoters.. makes it real hard to determine who to accept business from. Fortunately I know most of the folks involved in entertainment here in STL personally, and I'm friends with most of them. I've found out over the years who is good people and who ain't.. Get me outside of my city here and it's a whole different ballgame. Things get much more risky..

 

[Krogith]

@ElektroFreak They didn't pay him for doing the laser show for them? When they had to pay for them selfs they should of said naa you get no lasers today..

 

[ElektroFreak]

He was DJing, so no lasers were involved. If I'm doing work for someone I don't know personally, I require 50% pay up front.

 

[danefex]

I had heard about the KC show.. how was the production? Good sound lights lasers etc?

My good friend was on that lineup, and the promoters made him not only pay for himself and his wife to get in, they refused to pay him afterwords. They basically said "tough titties"

Too many shady promoters.. makes it real hard to determine who to accept business from. Fortunately I know most of the folks involved in entertainment here in STL personally, and I'm friends with most of them. I've found out over the years who is good people and who ain't.. Get me outside of my city here and it's a whole different ballgame. Things get much more risky..

You aren't kidding Elektro.. I agree with you from my own personal experience. Since a few years ago, whenever I'm booked for something like this now I insist getting paid up front before the show. No deposits, no exceptions. Otherwise you find yourself chasing someone around all night tying to square off - which is a pain for them because they're busy doing 100 other things & a pain for you because you're 'that guy trying to get paid'. If your friend doesn't usually do shows like this, pls suggest it to him.

 

[rvrh3]

I had heard about the KC show.. how was the production? Good sound lights lasers etc?

My good friend was on that lineup, and the promoters made him not only pay for himself and his wife to get in, they refused to pay him afterwords. They basically said "tough titties"

Too many shady promoters.. makes it real hard to determine who to accept business from. Fortunately I know most of the folks involved in entertainment here in STL personally, and I'm friends with most of them. I've found out over the years who is good people and who ain't.. Get me outside of my city here and it's a whole different ballgame. Things get much more risky..

The lasers were pretty mediocre. For the most part I only got to see a few green projectors. One of the less "important" DJ's working at a different stage had a pretty nice setup with red, green and violet.

What really made me mad is that they promoted the show to start at 8 and headliner (Infected Mushroom) was said to begin at 10pm, and they didn't end up getting on stage until 1:45am. By then I was exhausted from 4 hours of heavy dub-step and began wondering whether or not I could handle staying for the entirety of their set.

I think they could have been a little more organized so the people that weren't rolling on E and/or LSD had a better time.

 

[rvrh3]

I should add, the sound was pretty well done. And I did see several people with ~100-200mW violet and green hand-helds waving them around. I thought about bringing my 405nm but decided that at <200mW it was still a bad idea. Do you agree?

 

[ElektroFreak]

Yes I definitely agree.. I'm not a fan of high powered laser pointers at concert events. They are dangerous and all too often people shine them around carelessly. There was at least one reported incident of eye damage due to a laser pointer at a huge festival in Belgium. Don't need that happening here.. Most events I work ban laser pointers at the door AND search people for contraband, but occasionally I still see them. Never had a problem with anyone shining them at me, but the risk is still there for everyone around the pointer-wielding individual IMO.

It's crap that their set times weren't set in stone prior to the event. Around here we typically have a fixed lineup with fixed times, and that's how it goes every time unless one of the performers fails to show. Based on what I've heard about the KC event it sounds like it was done by a bunch of amateurs, and shady dishonest ones at that.