BIG-BUCK RAVES NOT ALL THE RAGE TO VETERANS

New Year's Chaos Proves Dangers Of Excess, They Say

San Francisco -- Two deaths at a New Year's Eve dance at the Cow Palace
have drawn into sharp focus the generation gap between old raves and the
newer mega-events.

The rave scene was created largely in the Bay Area by a network of devoted
revelers who merged the psychedelic and cyber eras. As raves have gone
commercial -- in sports arenas and civic auditoriums, with vendors, ATMs
and $5 bottles of water -- some old-schoolers have returned to the
underground, holding rave-style parties in private residences and galleries.

The suspected overdose deaths of Peter Hoang, 19, of Stockton and Michael
James Uveges, 23, also known as DJ Mikey Vegas, of Rohnert Park have
heightened concerns over huge dance parties such as the New Year's Eve
event at the Cow Palace.

The vice mayor of Daly City pledged Friday to tighten restrictions on
future events, while defenders said such measures would drive raves back
underground, where there are no institutionalized health and safety
precautions.

But many veteran ravers have already returned to the underground, or at
least to a smaller scale. They say the enormous, chaotic arena bashes --
10, 400 attended promoter's Coolworld's Planet New Year 2003 at the Cow
Palace -- are a far cry from the eccentric, intimate happenings they first
envisioned.

LOWER-KEY EVENTS PREFERRED

Grant Davis, 35, a Salt Lake City native who manages the Dimension 7 video
gallery and serves as treasurer of the San Francisco Late Night Coalition,
moved to the Bay Area a decade ago to take part in the burgeoning, wildly
creative rave scene. The size and mall-style atmosphere of today's large
dance events hold little attraction for him.

"I honestly can't say I've been to a big event like that in a number of years."

His generation of ravers, he said, prefers their gatherings a little
lower-key these days. "People my age don't need it to be so flashy, so loud."

As raves, first held in remote fields and abandoned warehouses, have gone
mainstream in recent years, they have attracted a younger clientele.

That mainstreaming is precisely the turnoff for Sunshine Jones, whose
raving dates back to the '80s. For him, there is little connection between
the early clandestine dance parties and the huge aboveground events of today.

" 'Rave' as a concept was 10 years ago," said Jones, who runs a San
Francisco record company, Imperial Dub Records, with his wife, Moonbeam.
The New Year's Eve event at the Cow Palace "was just a big event," he said.
"It wasn't a rave."

Many elements of raves -- the sternum-thumping beats, the visual stimuli --
remain in place from the early days. But for some of the old-schoolers, the
organizing principle of "plur" (peace, love, unity, respect) has become
just another selling point.

Once the events become "that pop or commercial," said Davis, "the whole
'plur' thing becomes a commodity item, to sell the event. It definitely
doesn't have that kind of idealism anymore."

DRUG CONNOTATIONS IN 'RAVE'

The term "rave" itself is becoming outdated. Promoters and venue operators
are downplaying the word, which has taken on drug-related connotations over
the years.

Michael Wegher, general manager of the Cow Palace, said he wouldn't
categorize the New Year's Eve event as a rave at all. "It was booked as a
youth festival. This was a mainstream event."

Barry Synoground is general manager of the DNA Lounge, the 11th Street
nightclub in San Francisco that hosts many state-of-the-art events with
disc jockeys.

"There's a big difference between going to a dance party where you feel a
great connection to everyone -- and yeah, maybe a few people are high, but
they're not causing problems -- as opposed to (an event with) a huge number
of younger people experimenting with drugs and a new culture. It's not as
enjoyable to people who have been going out a long time."

But if there is a growing generation gap among ravers, drug use is not
necessarily the issue. Many dance enthusiasts of all ages argue that drug
abuse is no more prevalent in their scene than it is in many other social
contexts. The scene, they say, has always celebrated the euphoria of
high-energy music and the welcoming diversity of the "tribal gatherings."

"Anyone who has been to a 49ers or Raiders game lately can tell you that
there are more fights, injuries and ejections there than at any rave," said
Tomas Palermo, editor of San Francisco's XLR8R Magazine, which covers the
dance scene.

CANCELLATIONS BRING LAWSUITS

Promoter Coolworld, which declined comment, has hosted past events marred
by busy paramedics and multiple arrests, primarily for the sale of
marijuana and ecstasy. The promoter is suing Santa Clara County for
canceling events booked into the County Fairgrounds in summer 2000,
according to Deputy County Counsel Gregory Sebastinelli.

In canceling the shows, the county cited the "predictable and widespread
use of illegal drugs by crowds, including thousands of juveniles" at
earlier Coolworld events. The New Year's Eve event at the Cow Palace was
open to all ages.

Representatives of one safety advocacy group, DanceSafe, say they are
increasingly forbidden to set up booths at commercial events by promoters
mindful of any suggestion that there might be drugs on the premises.

Instead of prohibiting events, authorities should concentrate on enhancing
safeguards, argued John Wood, legal analyst for the San Francisco Late
Night Coalition.

"There's a chain reaction that occurs. Rather than intelligent policy, it
leads to authorities trying to take away people's rights to gather.

"I don't feel that it's in the interest of the city to do that, because
then people are gathering in unpermitted parties. They don't go home. They
don't stop trying to have a good time. And if they're going to do drugs,
they're going to do them."