Feel free to invite others to share their stories too!!!!

My first party hmmmmmm. It was just after my divorce. I had never listened to electronica before nor had any idea what a turntable was. Hell I didn't even know how to dance but I knew that I loved music and always wanted to be a part of something great.

My first real "RAVE" type party was almost 3 yrs ago. I had been to a few house parties and was making friends and one of them wanted me to go to this party In house we trust, hell one of Mattie' s. I remember dancing like I never knew I could and going up to Mattie and Andrew and meeting them for the first time. Who would have thought those relationships would still be intact today. I have starting playing around on the turntables and will eventually get there. But I am just as happy just being a part of something so wonderful. In the 3 years that I have been in the scene I have met many wonderful people and gotten to be a part of many wonderful things and hope it continues forever...


~C~

I was a college freshman in the winter of 1997, walking through the deserted halls of the art building late one afternoon. From the depths of the dusky hallways walks this shaven pated guy who hands me a flyer: Flavorfest 2, jan 98 reno, nv. Now I had been exposed to the glory that is electronica and had been listening to it for about six months.
In the dorms I would dance it up with my many foreign exchange friends who had plenty of tasty music to share, yet I had never experienced a rave.
Finally, the night of the rave happened upon my little posse of partygoers, and I was estatic and nervous. We smoked a bowl or two and entered another realm. Blacklights and white clothing surrounded me. Multicolored lights streamed from above the throbbing speakers. As I wormed my through the sweaty dancing bodies, I found a space of floor I could call my own. I closed my eyes and danced. I knew it was right. I was home.

My story begins when I decided to leave Colorado three years ago. I wanted to make a positive change in my life and escape the small town. I felt changing my environment would catalyse some growth and bring new things into my life.
I had just started really searching for my spirituality and had recently been exposed to my first psychedelic experience.
I was planning on moving to Seattle with three friends from Longmont CO. That fell through about a month later when my friend Kate's grandfather grew ill, and she wanted to stay with him. My parents caught the travel bug and moved out to Portland, and I still wanted the heck out of Dodge, so i moved out to Portland as weel in November of 2001. I lived jobless for about three months until I was hired to do door-to-door fundraising for a few non profit organizations. I did that for 3 more crazy months while I learned alot and met alot of beautiful people in Portland, then I got another gig petitioning.
I was leaving the office one evening when a beautiful dready woman comes up, gives me a flyer for a Summer Solstice party and tells me I should be there. I couldn't dream of saying no.
I had a few friends in Colorado who listened to electronica and had been to some raves but I had never been to a party or seen a DJ, and only heard a tiny slice of some mainstream music.
When I got out to the party I was amazed at the beauty of the land and the spirit of the people. There were two main areas on the land, a huge open area that was an old quarry with house and downtempo and stuff and down close to the river there was a wooded lowland with tall grasses where the trance area was.
All the colorful artwork and huge music seemed to harmonize with the land.. like the trees were vibin and dancin too in their way. Later in the evening I took my first-ever dose of MDMA, it was really special to have that first experience at an outdoor event.acrazy changing experience of community and love. Since then I knew I belonged.

First off I need to apologize in advance for a long post…….

My story is like the parable of the frog in a pan of boiling water. When I was very young probably circa 1987-88 my neighbor won tickets to a club night at a place called "The Depot", I remember being blown away by beats but very socially shy, and not knowing exactly how to dance I tried with my best to let go of any social programming and let the music carry me away. After that night the experience carried with me till I was a senior in high school when I started going to the quest, it was hard talking my friends into going dancing but it was always what I wanted to do, after a stint in the coast guard when I came home I started dating an ex-girlfriend again and she was hooked on eighties classics, but whenever we were given fliers to raves she complained over the notion of going outside her private bubble and trying something new. Another 4-5 years passed and I found myself single with a very small core group of friends, I had gone to the grateful dead 6 times when jerry died, and was looking to meet new people. I started hitting the club scene again in my mid twenties when on Valentines Day I met my next girlfriend; she was a raver from Spokane WA. Who had just moved to P-town. She took me to my first party (Terry Mullen if I remember right) at13 NW 13th, it wasn’t impressive to me, it felt like another club although I remember meeting Matie that night. Couple of months later she took me to another party called “Come Alive” this time was different, I met a ton of people danced my ass off and overall ad the shizznit time of my life, but that spark was still superficial in nature, a couple of parties latter (good times lots of drugs, etc) we went to an outdoor party out by Estacada , I remember being slightly disenchanted over uneven ground, I had a very hard time dancing and couldn’t see much of the terrain. Then as twilight turned to dawn a trance song called binary finery came on as the sun rose, we were on the top of this hill looking down on this fog filled valley. Words cannot describe the emotions when you stare at the face of God. It was the fist time the music tapped me on the shoulder and said this is for you. The chronology of future events is kind of unclear for me however a substantial time latter I had an emotional break down, broke up with my girlfriend and started doubting a lot of spiritual aspects of my life. I remember being in the depths of despair. I had been friends with all the temple kids and went to a party in March of 2000. I went up stairs took off my shoes and danced to one of the most spiritual sets by Manoj. I truly feel his set saved my life that night, I call this event in life “my phoenix” around this time I started dating lady Jasmine and she suggested I move into the temple of sound, I had no idea what was in store for me, how that would bring me into such close proximity with the music and our dance community, My only regret from this time is that I didn’t keep a diary, some of those moments are simply lost to my own past, yet they live with in me……..

So here I am older, wiser, and at my last estimate I have worked over 300+ gigs, by the way I think it’s the bass ;)

Lol
Matthew

My story differs, as I was born into "the scene." Raised on a pagan commune on a farm in rural Ohio in the 70's, and the whole bit. At the hight of the commune, we had about 16 adults and 10 kids, and about the same number of animals. The adults were into serious Crowlean magick and sacred hallucinogens; they attempted to keep us out of it, but it wasn't easy for them to send mixed messages. But here's my favorite story....

I was about 12 and my brother 14. I hadn't done any hallucinogens yet, but my brother had once. That night, Mom told us to go to bed, even though it was a weekend, because the adults were going out to the barn where the ritual space was set up. So, like any hippie kids, we interpreted the rules loosely and sat in his room and played cards till late in the night.

At some point, my brother says "Shhh...listen!" We went to the window and opened it up, and we could hear the voices of all the adults singing. At the far end of the one-acre garden field was a line of trees, and in front of this line of trees we could see a moving line of torches, about a dozen of them, moving in time with the singing we heard...

And what were these serious Occultists singing in the dark as they marched through the field?

Remember Bugs Bunny's foray into Operatic music? They were singing "Kill the Waaaabbit! Kill the Waaaabbit!"

It was just a few months later when my brother and I asked Mom if we could be included in the next round of mushroom tea...