THE REVIEW!! The week had been long. I was moving into a house 45…: lostagainstwill

lostagainstwill

(no subject)

Jul 17, 2008 15:41

THE REVIEW!!
The week had been long. I was moving into a house 45 minutes away from my old apartment, and traveling back and forth, packing, and cleaning was extremely tiring for both myself and my buddy Luis (Blitz Kid) who helped out a lot especially during the last few days.
We were exhausted beyond belief, but we did at least finish everything and I was fully packed and ready to fly out to California by about 11pm June 27th. All both of us wanted was to go to sleep for more than the few hours we got that week…but our flight was leaving at 6 in the morning so we had to be leaving for the airport around 2am…looks like no sleep again tonight.
Lindsay, my girlfriend, saw our exhaustion and made us some stuffed peppers before we had to go which was awfully nice of her. I kept her company while Blitz hurried up and finished packing before we sat down and ate.
We finally get out the door at about 2:15am so Blitz could drop off his car at his dad’s house which was close enough to the airport that he himself just took us over there. We didn’t have to wait long - just a few minutes through security and then a few more waiting for our airplane and we were soon headed for Miami.
Yeah, our flight layover was in Miami. It didn’t make sense to us either, but that’s how things work. We flew from Orlando to Miami and both of us were out cold the measly hour or so it took to travel down there. Miami layover wasn’t long at all which we found out the hard way because they were announcing our flight for Los Angeles almost as soon as Blitz finished smoking a cigarette in the smoking area.
The entire 5 hour and 15 minute flight we were out cold. It felt good to finally sleep even though sleeping on a plane is rather cramped and uncomfortable. It was really hard to wake Blitz up even after we landed!
We took the fly away bus to get closer to downtown LA and then two of Blitz’s friends-Jackie and Gabby-picked us up from the fly away bus stop and took us to our hotel. It was a real nice drive because Jackie drives a convertible so you were able to feel the warm (and very familiar) California breeze on your face as she zipped down the highway.
The hotel took a little longer than we thought getting a room at because we were told from one of the managers that works there (and Blitz is good friends with) that we would have a room reserved and it’d be a lot cheaper than the regular price. The guy behind the counter could not find us to save his life, but eventually Blitz’s good buddy Eric was called and got everything straightened out. We got a nice suite room in the middle of Burbank.
It’s June 28th, and we were 100% ready to embrace Los Angeles at around 11:30am…just a few hours away from The Electric Daisy Carnival’s start time. We did what we could in that time, basically getting food we so badly wanted and a couple hours nap in there too. I started talking to Ryan and Erica, two friends of mine from Las Vegas who were in LA for EDC as well in hopes of trying to meet up with them whenever I got to the massive.
When we did wake up around 3pm we were trying to get ready as fast as possible…but we still had to rely on Jackie to take us, which means we had to wait for Jackie, Gabby, and two other friends of Blitz’s named Remi and Taylor. This unfortuntately didn’t get us out the door until like 6:30pm (the party started at 4pm) and because of LA traffic and trying to find a parking spot so late around the Los Angeles Coliseum we didn’t get INTO the party until almost 8 which sucked hardcore.
Blitz and I got in there at some random side entrance we originally thought was the VIP entrance (VIP tickets get a separate entrance area and we had VIP) but nobody gave us any bracelet or anything and they didn’t pat us down. If I had known I would have brought in a lot more things like my backpack with the water bladder in it so I wouldn’t have to carry so many water bottles I grab from VIP but that didn’t matter it was great anyway.
This entrance posed a problem later though…
The first thing we saw when we entered was the vendor village where most of the playthings and selling items are. Here, there was a house of mirrors and a few carnival rides such as the ferris wheel and a ride that drops you really fast. To the left - some house music playing on a decent sized stage. To the right - another stage right up against the side of the humongous walls of the Coliseum that seemed to be playing really great Deep House tracks. We were making a beeline through the crowd trying to get under the arches into the giant bowl of the Coliseum as fast as we could when I stopped Blitz for a moment because I ran into an old familiar face. Tigger from www.tiggerlovesyou.com was standing there taking pictures as he always does of tons of ravers in front of the arches and that was definitely something I wanted to be a part of. I grabbed Blitz and the two of us chatted it up with him for a little bit just enough for him to snap a few pics of us under the arches and let us be on our way.
Now this is always the most memorable part of any massive I go to: The overlook. The Electric Daisy Carnival had these huge Coliseum arches you went under and then were greeted by an overhang that said INSOMNIAC on it. INSOMNIAC is the rave production company that throws massives such as this one and Nocturnal Wonderland every year. This giant overhang blocked your view of the inside of the Coliseum just enough so you’d have to walk to the very start of the endless staircase to look out.
It kind of felt like a curtain was rising as I stepped up to this very location that revealed one of the most beautiful sites of my life. The sun was setting and the California sky was casting shades of pretty colors over every edge of this massive bowl. Thousands and thousands of ravers crowded down below me. It was a massive sea of people, all moving-all dancing. Glittering lights from glowsticks and other rave toys seemed like fireflies and bright stars twinkling in greeting as I started to make my journey to them. Two giant carnival rides burst through the living floor and threw ravers in every direction in what looked like two of the most frightful and exciting rides this place had to offer. It was magnificent, breathtaking, and just like every overlook I’ve been upon before…I will never forget what I felt at that moment.
Screaming and cheering drowned out the music far below from people all over the staircase excited about what they were laying eyes on for the first time, and I must say it was a awkward struggle to get down the long staircase and onto the main floor of EDC. Blitz and I got as close to the front of the stage as possible and danced for a little while, but we just arrived so dancing for more than a half hour would be too much for our curious little minds to do. After all, just arriving at the massive rave usually constitutes running around scoping out the entire area so you can access your favorite DJs faster!
This walk around actually had a purpose: When we wanted water it took us awhile to find out where the heck the VIP section was…and THEN we had to run around for about 45 minutes trying to find the correct entrance to the massive so we can get the VIP bracelets we were supposed to get but didn’t because of that weird side entrance!
It was a clusterfuck, but we got the bracelets and found out the VIP section was really huge. It was a whole section of the stadium seating area overlooking the main floor’s massive ocean of ravers. What was great about that is we didn’t have to go up the regular ticket holder’s super crowded staircase because VIP had their own access to and from the main floor, and even though I ran into some Vegas friends like Josh and Jordan on that staircase it felt great to be away from the smushing force that took forever to get up and down on. Once we got into the VIP area, one of the first people I saw was Chelsea, one of my Vegas friends. Talking to her for a moment made me run into a bunch of other Vegas friends including Brandon, Erica, Jarrod, Jayse, and even my good friend Ryan. It was great because Blitz and I hung out with them for a great portion of the night as they ran around different areas showing us some neat toys EDC had to offer such as this weird bubbly blob thing that had cool effects if you stuck your head in a bubble and a giant cube interactive lightshow thingy. (Haha EDC has weird stuff man is it fun!). They tried to get a giant group picture of as many Vegas kids as possible out by the ferris wheel but someone mention Rabbit In The Moon was playing on the Circuit Grounds stage so everyone abandoned that idea and went there. I didn’t really want to go at first because being in Florida had me see Rabbit In The Moon so many times it wouldn’t be a big deal to see their crazy trippy shows anymore, but Blitz had never seen the show so I went with them.
We split from the Vegas kids almost as soon as we got into the Circuit Grounds mainly because I get easily distracted and this place was definitely bad for my attention span. There were more carnival rides, a weird clown-car float, and ribbon twirlers dancing high above us. Rabbit In The Moon put on a fantastic show as they always do, and I was actually really glad I saw them because they played some of their older stuff and I also managed to get REAL close to the front of the stage so I was able to take great pictures and even better videos.
During Rabbit’s last song I ran into Jellybean and Spongebob! These two kids were ravers from California that I had only known previously online and then met them at Miles of Smiles rave back in May of 2007. I hadn’t seen them since! It was great running into them because I was able to give Jellybean the kandi I made for her and we both were wearing reflector pants so pictures were taken.
After that it was a lot of running around to the different areas to dance but mostly to the VIP area because it was a lot more open of an area to dance and had the best view (not to mention all the water). I hung out with my Vegas friends a bit more there too until they left to go see Moby on the Main Floor. Blitz Kid and I ran off to the Circuit Grounds again where DJ Dan and Donald Glaude were playing bangin Electro music and also to hang out with Blitz Kid’s Cali friends yaknow because we haven’t seen them since we split away once we got into the rave hours ago.
After hanging out with them we found where Armand Van Helden, a really popular house DJ, was going to be playing and since both of us hadn’t seen him before we stayed there the whole time. THAT SET WAS BANGING! He played really heavy bass oriented house music with thankfully little Electro (this is the era of Electro so that’s all you pretty much hear EVERYWHERE it gets redundant) and even threw in a whole lot of Speed Garage! Blitz and I were dancing and giving lightshows the entire time! I definitely have a lot more respect for that DJ, he blew me away. That guy was the highlight of my night.
After all that dancing and everything we decided to spend the last couple hours left of the rave in the VIP room overlooking the Main Floor just relaxing and enjoying Paul Van Dyk’s set. We both have seen Paul Van Dyk play so much that instead of focusing on burying ourselves in the heavy crowd and dancing as hard as we could we’d just sit back and appreciate the music and the surrounding area. It was real real nice. We sat in the grass under a set of Cabanas and talked to a bunch of random ravers sitting around nearby us as we watched the set and took it all in. I couldn’t tell you how many “moments of Zen” I had, which my moments of Zen are the sudden realization that I am alive that I get at every rave I’ve ever been to since the very first one. It’s the whole reason why I go to raves, for that quick sensation that I am alive and having the time of my life, just letting everything around me sink into my senses. It’s fantastic.
The party ends at 4am but the ravers still want to keep going. Blitz’s Cali friends kept trying to get ahold of us and meet us somewhere but everytime we tried even to make it to the car we got distracted and wound up chatting it up with a random group of raver kids for a good 15 minutes each! We thankfully wound up at the car before Jackie and them did though, because we figured they’d be pissed at us for waiting so long but they were also out talking to random ravers haha!
They took us back to the hotel and we spent the next day just lounging around the hotel and downtown California, leaving with a purpose only to go to Blitz Kid’s mother’s house to meet her and hang out for awhile with Jackie there I got a bunch of Hookah supplies because Eric said he’d give Blitz one of his many Hookahs. Jackie came the next day too, and this time Eric had given Blitz Kid his very own hookah which we then hung out with Jackie and Remi smoking Hookah and just having a good time until going yet again to Blitz Kid’s mom’s house for some really awesome cooking. From there it was a zip off to the fly away bus and then to the airport again, where we slept all the way back to Florida and then had my girlfriend pick us up from the airport.
The weekend was really a lot of fun and I had a really really great time at EDC overall. I did leave Los Angeles with a few regrets however: A lot of our original plans did not happen at all, and next time I go over there for a Massive Rave I want whatever we plan to actually happen. Even the rave itself which was a lot of fun seemed to zoom by because we didn’t have a set course of action and we also got there later than planned. EDC was really great because I got to see old friends I hardly ever get to see and got to once again experience the awe of a massive but you can bet the next time I go to one I’m sticking to following artist lineups and also anything we do outside the rave in town (like go to Disneyland like we were supposed to this time). This rave did however establish a new travel buddy to raves. Luis, AKA Blitz Kid, who has only traveled across the state of Florida with me to raves before, is now among those that have happily and eagerly jumped at the chance to go cross-country to experience the joys of the most amazing scene on the planet: The Rave Scene.
THE PICTURES!!

Right before we flew off to Los Angeles Lindsay made us stuffed peppers and the bottom of Luis’s looked like an alien!

The last few times I flew off to the west coast my camera broke because of the cabin pressure. So this time I tried using a few things that withstand underwater pressure and these photos of our hotel room were mainly to test and see if the camera worked…which it did!

More of the hotel we stayed at.

Death. haha

The main floor during Eddie Haliwell

Kickass costume

Chelsea, one of my Vegas friends, happened to be the first one of my old group I ran into in the VIP lounge.

This was a cube made entirely of lights that gave out kickass lightshows and patterns and things.

BIG dragonfly

I have no clue what this thing was but it was so much fun to play in. The dome on our heads had the insides all fiberglassed out so it shimmered and waved really cool.

I am HENNIFER LOPEZ! I LIKE TACOS Y BURRITOS

Ribbon dancers SUPER high above us!

Rabbit In The Moon. After the next two pics of the EDC logo, you will see a buttload of RITM pics. I finally got close enough to take great vids and pics of the show!

I love this pic. Keep an eye on that blue piece of confetti that is almost right on top of Blitz Kid’s hair….it stayed with him for hours haha

Again, Rabbit in the Moon always put on such a great show.

I met up with Jellybean and Spongebob during the last RITM song!!! (Oh and I didn’t know that my hat was incorrectly put on after some random person accidentally knocked it off for like 2 hours haha)

There were a total of 6 rooms and this room always got the most beautiful award.

Me and a buddy from Vegas that always hits up the massives: Brandon! (This is the picture I noticed my hat was messed up in)

Erica and Jarrod (two Vegas buddies)

Blitz Kid and I with my old Vegas friends! Ahh I miss em all!

Jarrod!

Ryan!

Erica!

Ryan was trying to be artsy, but he couldn’t keep the camera still enough.

Then we hung out with Blitz Kid’s California friends! Jackie (the girl to your right of Luis) and Remi (the girl to the right of me) hung out with us a lot outside of the rave and even helped us get to where we needed to go around town.