MONEY, DRUGS BECOME RAVE SCENE FOCUS

San Jose, Calif. -- They began as all night dance parties hidden in
abandoned warehouses, drawing dozens with the promise of an underground
thrill. But savvy promoters and easy access to cheap drugs, especially
ecstasy, are luring huge crowds to heavily hyped parties across the country
and pushing raves into mainstream youth culture.

From Miami to Chicago to the San Francisco, raves are all the rage.

Underground parties that once drew crowds of 20 have mushroomed into
massive all night events that draw tens of thousands. But raves are also
creating problems for cities across the country, and some are taking
drastic action.

After a recent party in San Jose that drew 20,000 ended in eight arrests
and more than a dozen reported drug overdoses, Santa Clara County officials
booted a rave set for last Saturday, prompting promoters to Change the
venue to the Fresno County Fairgrounds.

"Cyberfest," billed as the largest rave west of the Mississippi was
expected to draw 80,000 revelers, mainly teens and young adults. More than
6,000 tickets to the event have been sold in San Jose alone.

For some partygoers, the draw is the promise of complete acceptance.

"They have something for everyone, so everyone has a good time. They're
incredibly popular with everyone, not just teens, not just old folks.
Everyone is going," said Michael Ortega, a 43year old contractor from San
Jose, who said he raves at least twice a month.

Ravers and promoters have come up with a buzz word for the rave culture -
PLUR, an acronym for peace, love, unity and respect.

"It's all about just loving one another," said Andrew Ng, a college student
from San Francisco, who spent hours dancing at a recent San Francisco rave
called "Trance Force." "People here really care about each other, treat
each other with dignity and respect. It's the only place you're going to
find such beauty and perfection.

"And the music ain't bad either."

But the Widespread popularity of raves, driven by a wave of publicity that
drenched the rave culture, has morphed PLUR into profit:

"The scene has been taken over by people who don't understand what it's all
about. They come because they want the drugs," said Julie Jaciuk, a
21yearold from Fremont who was at last month's rave held at the Santa Clara
County Fairgrounds. "When they grow up and realize that it's about the
music, the people, things will be better. Raves have become this big,
trendy thing. It shouldn't be that way." Part of that trend includes the
popularity and availability of ecstasy, or E.

"A rave without E is like a car without wheels. It just doesn't go
anywhere," said Jess Dunton, 22, as she sat on the floor during last
weekend's San Francisco rave.

Christopher Kwok, who will be a junior at San Francisco State University
this fall and a rave regular said E is simply part of the rave scene.
"People who take it consider it an added bonus to the music and stuff,"
Kwok said. "I don't need it, the music is enough for me."

The prevalence of E at the dance parties is obvious to law enforcement
officials.

"Our people there estimate that between 40 and 60 percent of the people
there were high," Sgt. John Hirokawa of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's
Office said of last month's rave in San Jose.

Ecstacy is a synthetic amphetamine derivative that produces feelings of
euphoria and typically sells for $20 to $30 a pill, San Jose police said.
The illegal substance also can cause depression, severe anxiety, paranoia
and in some cases, death.

"How are you going to arrest 4,000 people in three or four hours? Our
people can't act because they are outnumbered 20 to 20,000. We can only
make sure things stay in control," be said. Of the eight, arrests during
last month's event, two were for selling drugs, the others for minor
assault and being under the influence.

In the aftermath, Santa Clara County supervisors decided the risks were too
, great and told the promoter of several Santa Clara County Fairgrounds
parties that all future events were canceled.

Veteran. ravers who attended under. ground parties years ago said today's
raves have changed dramatically for the worse, drifting far from their
original purpose.

'The raves I go to draw really friendly people who treat each other with
respect and that's what it's about: the music and everyone being together
for the music," said Jennifer Irmes, who has been going to raves for three
years.

"People know that although drugs are a part of the scene, no one has to
take them... It's being turned into a scene about drugs rather than music."

For more than a decade, the rave scene consisted of clusters of small all
night parties where people danced to electronic or"techno" music. Locations
were kept secret until the night of the event; partygoers picked up clues
that typically led to abandoned warehouses.

But as word of the underground parties spread, and raves received publicity
focusing largely on the prevalence of drugs and underaged teens, the
parties grew so large that they moved to legal public venues and Promoters
started cashing in on the trend.

The rave culture has spawned a huge new market for the rituals, fashions
and music.

The fashion takes snippets from other fads like grunge and punk and
hiphop and created a subculture where just about anything goes.

Glow-inthe dark plastics sticks hang from people's mouths and adorn almost
everyone's arms and neck. Pacifiers, which some say help E users who/rind
their teeth, a side effect of the drug, are also big. Bottles of Vicks
Vapor Rub, typically attached to necklaces or smeared on disposable dust
masks are also a rave staple. The vapors help open the nasal cavity, ravers
say, accentuating the sense of smell, which E is said to heighten. Vendors
set up booths at raves and sell the glow-in-thedark jewelry for $5 and
accessories such as pacifiers and Vicks Vapor Rub for up to $10.

The dance based culture has inspired a rave dress code. Cargo pants four or
five sizes too big, with wide flared bottoms allow ravers to vigorously
dance to electronica a mix of contemporary music and computergenerated
sounds hours at a time. Small tank tops and tees in psychedelic colors with
imprints of East Asian Gods splashed on the front are popular with the
girls. As for hair, anything fluorescent works.

"They wear the raver jewelry glow in the dark and fluorescent beads,
Teletubby backpacks really weird, cute stuff. Some have orange hair.. They
want people to know that I'm a raver, it's in your face," said Andrew
Belov, 21, one of the promoters of the San Francisco rave.

Popularity of the rave scene have turned smalltime deejays into hot, new
commodities. Moby, who started out as a deejay mixing music at raves in
Europe, won two Grammy nominations for his latest compact disc, "Play."
William Orbit, also a rave deejay, won a Grammy for his work on Madonna's
album "Ray of Light." And Paul Van Dyk, perhaps the most prominent deejay
still working at raves, has worked with New Order and Tori Amos.

Several films on raves and the rave culture have also emerged, including
"Groove," which looks at the Bay Area rave circuit.

As raves become mainstream moneymakers, promoters are cashing in. Tickets
that once sold for $10 to $12 now go for as much as $.50. Tickets for last
week's "Cyberfest" in Fresno sold for $30 to $50.

Coolworld.com, the event's promoters, say their parties are dance
entertainment music festivals, not raves. But that concept is lost on the
ravers who consider Coolworld parties the ultimate rave.

And while the event was not being billed as rave, Marco Traversa,
Coolworld's vice president of marketing and operations, said they welcome
every, body.

"There are many positive aspects to the rave community," Traversa said. "So
many of these events bring people together. It's the new rock and roll"

David Chen, operates www. ravepic.com. He takes pictures of dancers,
revelers, deejays and the decorations at a recent San Francisco rave, then
puts them all on his popular Web site.

"I've been going to raves for about four years," said Chon, a 20yearold
from Milpitas, Calif., as he snapped dozens, of pictures at the rave. "I
like taking pictures of people interacting. All of my friends go to raves,
so I take pictures here to hang out with them and have fun."

Nearby, hundreds of teenagers maneuvered glowsticks in the dark to form,
intricate light shows that captivated crowds of ravers, some of them who
said they were on Ecstacy.

"I think people on E really just got a kick out of the light cause they're
so sensitive to it when they're high," said Marl Tranh, who said she had
not taken drugs, as she spent 30 minutes waving red and blue glow sticks in
front of her friends.