TORIES RAGE AGAINST THE RAVE

Ontario's enlightened Conservative government has never given me a shortage
of reasons to despise it.

Now that our elected Fun Police have turned their policies of bullying the
powerless towards raves and even, by the sounds of things, towards
after-hours clubbing - pastimes I and tens of thousands of other young
Ontarians favour over the more traditional Tory diet of golf tournaments
and expensive fundraising dinners - I've added a new one to the list.

Maddeningly, the fallout from Consumer Affairs Minister Bob Runciman's
recent proposed police/government crackdown on raves is upon us long before
any actual action has been taken.

After spending a decade more or less completely oblivious to Toronto's
bustling scene, the news - always hungry for something to arouse
middle-class paranoia - is suddenly awash in talk of a city-wide "ecstasy
epidemic" and lurid tales of deviant goings-on at parties. Politicians like
city Councillor Tom Jakobek, who's now trying to shut down Lifeforce's New
Year's Eve party at Exhibition Place, are milking the hysteria for
dirt-cheap political points.

And the events themselves, still reeling from a summer that witnessed three
allegedly rave-related fatalities (drugs, not the parties, killed those
unfortunate kids; do you shut down the Toronto Symphony Orchestra because
three people ingest a fatal mix of booze and heart medication in the
lobby?), are coming under intense scrutiny that borders on persecution.

Witness last weekend's aborted Kompress bash in Windsor, the catalyst for
my latest surge of anti-Tory rage.

The release party for internationally revered Windsor DJ/producer Richie
Hawtin's new Decks, EFX And 909 mix disc, Kompress - featuring a six-hour
DJ set from Hawtin, the best and most innovative 'jock this country has
ever produced - had been the object of anticipation for weeks. Hawtin's
globe-trotting schedule rarely brings him home, and the events thrown by
his record label, Minus, have an almost unparalleled reputation for
artistry. This was gonna be a good one, and like 500 or so other ticket
buyers, a posse of friends and I were pumped for the road trip.

Windsor had a different sort of homecoming in mind for its local
boy-made-good, though. Late on the Friday before Kompress was to take place
in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, I got a call from Minus' Clark
Warner telling me the party was off. The professionally minded Minus has
always enjoyed a reasonably friendly relationship with the authorities, who
usually settle for a quiet police presence at Windsor parties. But the city
- - either frightened or emboldened by a week's worth of Runciman's rave
bashing - this time sent an army of police officers, building inspectors
and fire officials to the site "just looking for every permit in the world
possible," says Warner. Already a day into decorating the space, the Minus
crew had to abandon its plans.

A frustrated Hawtin ("I'm kind of sick of talking about it right now," he
says of the scuttled party) has already left town to tour again.

The Kompress debacle is pretty consistent with Runciman's stated plan to
tie promoters and property owners up in so much legal red tape that it'll
be impossible to get parties off the ground. This is galling, since his
proposed "anti-rave" strategy summit with police and various levels of
government doesn't appear even remotely concerned with consulting the young
entrepreneurs who actually throw the parties and who stand to be put out of
business and/or criminalized by any crackdown.

Aside from that, though, the affair illustrates the cultural cost of the
government's present witchhunt.

Hawtin, who was just commissioned by the French government to write two
pieces of music to mark the millennium, enjoys a rabid global following.
His career grew up alongside the Windsor/Detroit area's rave and club
scene, and his experience isn't unique - scores of other Ontario DJs,
producers and promoters owe their present gigs to the province's thirst for
dance music and culture.

I don't expect the Ontario Tories to show much respect for culture, least
of all one of Canada's least acknowledged cultural ambassadors. If they
understand anything, though, it's business. So, do the math: You cripple
our scene, you're gonna put a lot of people out of work or send 'em packing
elsewhere.