Where is the Love?

I've heard about a place called Love in Manhattan for a while. The venue hosts the Dub Wars. Although I had a good time (I have a good time anywhere), I will not be going back. I had a million complaints about the place.

My overal review of this joint is that it tries to pass itself off as being part of the underground scene, yet in reality it is just another over-priced, over-rated place in the village. There is no sign, and there was a line of about 30 people waiting to get in at 12:30 or so. The doorguy came up to each person and said that the club had nearly reached capacity, and there was not a good chance many people on the line would get in. My friends and I prodded him a bit, and he said they did not want a long line to draw attention from the cops. Some people left, and we were in the door within 5 minutes.

In general, most of the staff I encountered were nice.

The cover was 15$. Beers were 8$, and shots and mixed drinks 10-12$. Water was 6$. The bathroom had a nice attendant and a short line, if any. The coat check had a ridiculously long line.

I wanted to buy this girl a drink, and she wanted water. At the moment, they were out of 6$ bottles of water, so this guy, who was like security, wanted to charge me 2$ for tap water. THAT IS NOT LOVE.

There was a nice, chill area to hang in, which I did for much of the time, since the place was ridiculously packed. AS usual, much of what was supposed to be dubstep was not (This is a seriously annoying fact at the moment here in New York. Bay Area people would flip out at what is played here at events that are advertised as dubstep).

There is only one dj playing at a time, and you can hear them throughout the place. Which is cool when the dj is good. When the dj is not so good.... not so much.

The speakers were excellent (and are apparently one of 7 in the country or something, as told to me by the owner or manager of Love. I complained to him a few times. I was in a complaining mood).

At one point, we were not allowed to go outside to smoke cigarettes.

I heard there was an arrest. I was also told there were undercover cops. I believe both.

Finally, it cleared out, and the regular DJs of dubwar played dubstep.

So, basically, if the dubstep/electronic/club/party scene is new to you, you would really enjoy Love, since you don't know any better. But, from the beginning, I felt exploited. I also felt like the establishment is exploiting a culture and music that I and other people hold dear to our hearts. I know what dubstep and techno parties elsewhere in the country and world are about, and Love does not care to be a part of that community. It is all about the dollars. It is obvious that Love wants both the benefits of being an underground loft party place, but it also wants the profits of a public, legally-ran club. Which is fine for some, but I got other places where I can spend too much money for a better time.

MY LIFE IS COMPLETE!

Well, I did it. I played dubstep in San Pedro. In the four and a half years I have been living in this small, strange town on the lake, both my music taste and identity have been gradually evolving. Psy-trance has dominated parties and bars here. I used to think that all electronic music was psy-trance, and so I hated what I thought was electronic music. Then drum and bass and trip-hop started to alter my thinking.

Freedom is the name of a dance/live music venue; sort of the only danceclub in San Pedro. A handful of my friends have taken turns owing it/co-owning it over the years. The two owners are away at the moment (one lives in Canada, and one is from Denmark), and there is a chill local lady Rosa who is running it. I got set up to dj the day before new year's eve, and wrote down my information for a guy to make a flyer. I wrote:
DJ MAGENTA
dubstep
electro-house
newest music from california&burning man

The next day, I picked up the flyers (the way it works at a lot of places in San Pedro is that the artists do their own publicity for the show they are doing). I was both pleased and amused with the flyer.

From California
Burning Man:
DJ Magenta-
dubstep
electro-house
newest music

The flyer was done nicely... it was just funny that it said I was from “California Burning Man”. And the guy who did it used pink and teal! my favorite colors!

So, my friends accompianed me while I put up some signs and handed the stuff out. The computer I use at the moment cost $125 on craigslist, and I don't trust it to work the greatest for djing (it is circa 2003, the processor is way slow, etc.) so I burned what I could using my friend Jo's computer. My old friend Ric came to town with his girlfriend Leslie, whom I have heard great things about but have never gotten the chance to meet.

I played music. I used a mixer. I don't know how to use a mixer. But I did, and it worked. A few days before, there was a small bar-owning naysayer who said “They are not ready for dubstep here”. WRONG. At the point when the most people were dancing, I was playing dubstep. My life is complete.

Desiderata...A New Electronic Music Festival

I was fortunate enough to get to go to the first year of this electronic festival. My friend Veronica's fiancee Joey, whom I first met at Mountain Jam 2008 and really liked, had a gig doing glassblowing demonstrations.

So glad I went. I had the most amazing live music experience to date during Adam Deitch and this Dj Muran or something to that effect. They started out with dub step, which happens to course through my veins, and they ended up at one point incorporating what seemed like music from every culture, into one song, into the same moments.

It was also an absolute ball to hang with Veronica (&Joey, aka Jewseppe, and his friend Jeff who is also cool). I have known Veronica for years, and we have the same circle of friends, have hung out many times in group form, but it was especiially excellent hanging out of our usual element after both of us having more insight into ourselveses.

I also met some amazing people from upstate/Utica area. This chick Angel and I really hit if off. She is awesome. Seriously.
By the way, the festival was on this estate with an old, dilapidated castle. I guess the property is owned by Jamaicans now, but it was owned by a Russian guy. There were some beautiful views. The security seemed to be done by Russian people, and there were a lot of people of Russian or Eastern European descent, and lots of Israelis (I believe that hacidic Jews or Israelis were organizing the festival). Anyhow, what was really strange was that Crystal Method got their power shut off, and for a half hour, the two Crystal Method guys were really upset and waiting for it to get turned back on. They were pissed, as they should be- here they are, performing as the headliner, and for some strange, fucked up, politically-fueled reason they can't play. Such is life.

It was the strangest festival I have been to ever- there was no atm, there was no ice for sale, there were 2 tents selling food and one had beer in bottle for sale. Trance dominated latenight into the day on the main stage, so of course I enjoyed the Renegade stage with the electro, breakbeats, etc. It was kind of like taking a vacation to Europe for a festival. So is this the sort of thing that Rainer and Larsen are used to? There was also this fabulous area with all this art& fun stuff, organized by these nice freako people from the Copycat Theater in Baltimore. Should I ever go through Baltimore, I will be sure to check them out. At the main stage, they also had these globes for visuals to be projected upon..- pretty cool.

All in all, it was a very special time at a very special place.