Commentary : Raves Are a Rite of Passage : Culture: Don’t fear them; help kids who attend them be safer.
Raves appear to be Gen Y’s version of the ‘60s love-ins. Several thousand young people gather for an all-night concert of music that has not yet found its way into a mainstream venue. Raves feature loud music spun together in an original way by disc jockeys.
I attended a rave in San Bernardino last year because my son performs this music style. And as a United Methodist minister, I have worked with youth all my life and am intrigued by the culture they create without us--or in spite of us.
The night we attended a rave, 10,000 people were there. We were clearly the only ones over 40. These kids hadn’t learned about the rave via the mainstream or even the underground media. They knew about it because they are part of a musical scene that doesn’t even register on the adult public’s screen.
No one was selling these kids alcohol. It wasn’t a bar or club scene. Yes, like any Rose Bowl event, there were empty beer cans in the parking lot. But the security at this rave was so strict, you couldn’t smuggle in a shot, much less a joint. No unopened packs of cigarettes were allowed. Lots of the kids appeared to be on some kind of drug high, but I’ve smelled more marijuana and seen more people out of control at the Hollywood Bowl.
I was reminded of the clergy who showed up in collars at those ‘60s events, passing out loaves of bread or reminding the revelers that someone else had taught the message of love centuries earlier.
I would caution adults that we cannot eliminate or even contain every avenue of youthful self-expression. Nor should we try. On the contrary, it would make better policy and achieve better social results to participate in helping it evolve.
So why do raves occur in the remote areas of the Southland? Because more accessible venues are not available to the promoters of these events. A few New Year’s ago, a rave near downtown L.A. was closed down by police, and a mini-riot ensued. Some venue operators won’t even talk to promoters. Other venues aren’t appropriate for all-night, multi-staged, high-volume performance because they are too close to residences. But the more inaccessible the mainstream venues, the more the events are pushed into marginal areas with risky accessibility. The stricter the rules, the farther the drive, and the more likely the tragedy.
Apparently, the road that leads into the ski area where last Saturday’s rave occurred is a recognized problem whether the event is an all-night concert or an all-weekend ski crowd. At such places and for such events, the California Highway Patrol or the Forest Service could lead a convoy cars at a safe speed down the narrow roads to more safely traveled highways. Why not participate in the safety of such events, rather than push them farther from where kids live?
At the rave I attended, I was surprised that with 10,000 captive young people, there was no health booth. No one was giving away condoms or talking about safe sex, much less there in case of an overdose. No one was signing up kids to vote. No one was extolling the forest environment where the kids had come to hear music and party.
As far as I can determine, a rave is simply a way for young people to tell their parents one thing and then do another. They must find a time and a place to prove themselves, to get themselves across some mystical barrier that prevents them from feeling fully adult. Sometimes it’s dancing all night. Sometimes it’s drinking oneself sick. Sometimes it’s trying drugs.
Every time a young person dies--regardless of the connection to any activity--it is tragic. But it is also tragic for society if the energy, enthusiasm and visionary exploration of our young people becomes so contained and repressed that it cannot be expressed.
