Sunday, February 3, 2008

Chicago is the place


Chicago is where I have spent the past and first eleven years of my life. I arrived in Chicago from Western New York in summer of 1997 at perhaps just past the height of rave popularity. Thousands of bizarrely dressed folks from every corner of the city and suburbs would turn out to places like Cavallini's, Dolton Expo Center, and Route 66 to see DJs called Huggie (is he the one from the UK) and Huggy (wait, isn't he from Florida?). Huge, 22 inch leg phat pants reigned supreme. The flyers for parties had evolved from copy shop cut-outs into glossy, eight page fold-out pamphlets, complete with color photos of the performers and sections touting psychedelic video displays in every room and 20 foot walls of sound. It was a golden age of consumption, individuality, fun, and naivete. Peace love unity and respect didn't change the world, but they could have.

So here are two items I unearthed from a 1990s time capsule: a site where a geriatric raver painstakingly archived rave zines from the 90s from Chicago, Milwaukee, UK, and Canada.

http://ravearchive.com/

And also Disco Dust's 1998 seminal house track, "Feels Good", remixed by Brian Tappert.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/7129363a91b970/

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