The Musician... see you among the stars

Denver is very beautiful and peaceful. I could not believe how much business there is driving a cab. I was making very good money in Denver. Much more than I ever made in New York. I then began hanging-out at a wonderful coffee house downtown called, The Market. It turns out that all the hip people in Denver hung-out there. It became a meeting place for everyone who was into the arts. I hung-out there everyday for three hours to relax before I drove a cab for the evening. It was at The Market that I began to meet many creative people, as well as make new creative friends. At The Market, I met an extremely handsome guy named Jeffrey. He always had many beautiful girls after him. Anyway, Jeffrey and I became good friends and we joined together at The market every time we were there. On one occasion, which seemed to be at the right place at the right time, Jeffrey arrived with one of his female friends who is also a banker. While talking with her openly about my credit condition, she told me that she would open a checking account for me at her bank, and also present me with a Visa Debit card. I was excited, because I had trouble doing that in the past as well as, it interfered with applying for an apartment, and she kept her word and made it happen. I had finally felt like a new person with a new life, which would eventually inspire me to clean-up my credit report later on. I owe it to Jeffrey for making a very difficult task happen in my life solved.

I didn't know it at the time, but I eventually would learn that Jeffrey is a Raver. He was heavily into Denver's underground Rave scene, which at the time, I never knew anything about. Jeffrey attended them all the time but spoke little about it. Jeffrey knew that I was deep into music, and so he invited me to experience this underground music scene called, Raves with him , which I did. Jeffrey then explained to me the entire process of how the raves worked.

Apparently, some young person would travel around downtown Denver on a Friday night, and or Saturday afternoon, or evening, looking for particular people to hand out these beautiful colorful rave flyer's with a telephone printed on it. This solicitor would give these flyer's to specific persons they thought or viewed would be of a type of person to attend a rave. On Saturday evening, around 9:30pm, which was explained on the flyer, the person who received this flyer who was interested in attending would call that phone number on the flyer at the exact stated time. They would be connected to an answering machine which would convey a message that gave the location called, Map Point, where to buy the, usually $5.00, ticket to the Rave. Thus, they would then proceed to the location given, usually in an obscure dark quiet dingy area of Denver and would buy a Rave ticket, which would also contain a map giving and revealing the location with directions to where and how to get to the Rave being held. An obscure difficult process to avoid being tricked by the Denver police.

Jeffrey took me through the entire process, and I thought this to be a very interesting new kind of way to do things. After that, Jeffrey and I would arrive at the Rave, which was held in some obscure old funky abandoned warehouse. We would enter the warehouse to find it decorated with massive beautiful art work, and a great sound system and lights. It was truly beautiful and unbelievably well done. The warehouse was jammed with people and the music was fantastic. I saw people of all ages there. From as young as ten years old to people my age. This Rave would literally go on until 9:00AM the following day. I had never experienced anything like it. Jeffrey wore a thick string around his neck which contained all the Rave passes to all the Raves he had been to. The security people at the entrance would see all his Rave passes around his neck, and let him in for free. Jeffrey never needed to buy a pass for a Rave, because he attended so many and that was also apart of the scene culture. To show-off all the raves you have been to. All Jeffrey needed to do was to find where the Rave was being held and he would get in for free. So, I too began collecting passes and Jeffrey had copies of others to give me and after a month, I was getting in for free also. Jeffrey knew everyone associated with the Raves and everyone knew him also, but he is not hard to miss because he is an extremely handsome man. I would too begin through Jeffrey to know everyone associated with the production of the Raves. Jeffrey was not as sociable as me so I progressed rapidly getting to know everyone

The Denver cops would eventually learn where these Rave parties were happening, and they began a campaign to stop them. Some of the Raves I attended were busted by the cops which appeared to me for no good reason and I eventually thought as a writer, musician and artist as myself that this situation would be a great story to tell and would make a great documentary. This, I decided to contact my good buddy Jim Bergstedt who is a also videographer and told him about the Rave scene, and I asked Jim if he wanted to video tape this great musical underground story. As an incentive, I told Jim that I would pay for all the recording tapes and that I would provide the access into the Rave scene and split the proceeds if any 51-49%. Jim became interested and we began to videotape the Raves. I knew everyone in the Rave scene in Denver including the top promoters, and most of all, I had their trust.

For the next year and a half, Jim and I shot 22, 2 hour SVHS video tapes. Jim is an incredible videographer and thus footage turned-out truly fantastic.

Denver is a very weak city for entertainment. The city is basically split into two areas. One area, the West Side, is mostly Hispanic. The other area, the East Side, is mostly white Americans. There is a small black population on the slightly northern East Side of town.

Gangs, are very prevalent in Denver. One of the reasons for the gangs I thought, is because there is nothing to do or nowhere to go in Denver. The clubs are expensive, and one must be 21 years old to drink. In addition, the clubs close very early at 1:30am. Thus, in my opinion, the younger generation has nothing worthwhile to do.

One new promoter came to this town before Jim and I began video taping and his name was Mike E. He was a very energetic black man who knew how to put together a fantastic Rave party. He simply search and found these old abandoned warehouses and threw a Rave every weekend, which lasted all night long. He charged $5.00 to get in, and he hired the best DJ´s and many times brought in famous Dj's from around the country to spin in Denver for the evening. With Mike "E" rapid success, another promoter came into the picture, his name is, as he was called by, The Messiah. The Messiah was a a very nice well groomed Spanish Mexican guy from the West-side of Denver and he, before Mike "E" arrived, Messiah was quietly throwing Raves for the large Spanish people he knew. Mike E. had a great personality and quickly joined forces and worked together with The Messiah to bring the Raves to a new level and to integrate Ravers with the same goals of dancing and having fun to join together for a common cause. It was a great idea and it was Mike "E" that made this all happen. It was ,that the Raves became so spectacular. Eventually, within a very short time after Mike "E" and Messiah came together, that all the smaller promoters joined with them also and the Raves became a very strong movement with all these people working together for, again I mention this, a Common Goal.

Now through Jeffrey, I was introduced to Mike "E" as all of this was beginning to unravel, and Mike "E" and I became good friends instantly. I told Mike "E" about my musical and artistic background and all the black artists I had worked with and that I was impressed with his actions and desire to coordinate all these different types of groups and people together from different cultures and backgrounds. I told him that I was interested in documenting this process and thus I had the knowledge and ability to film this if he allowed me to do so. I also told him that I can do it, but that I can't guarantee that it will ever be released and also told him that I wouldn't be able to give him any copies of it, although he could view at anytime the footage. Mike "E" told me without hesitating, "Yes... Do it! I'll give you full access!" Thus the shooting of the movie will begin!

One of the hidden problems with these Raves that I did not know at the time when I began filming, but eventually I would learn, was that the promoters were breaking-into some old abandoned warehouses, illegally. They would break into the warehouse, set it all up with decorations and sound, throw the Rave, clean-up in the morning, and split. In this way, they would avoid having to pay money for rent. This was not the case in every Rave, but I would eventually notice, with the full access that I had, that indeed, it did go on. In some cases, they would find a warehouse that they liked and try to contact the owner and offer the owner some cash to do it and the owner would except. In other cases, they couldn't locate the owner so they broke into it and threw the rave and left. In both cases, they never did any damage to the warehouses. The promoters were very careful and mindful to leave the warehouse in the same condition or better when they left. So it was very strange to learn this, but it was a very interesting medium, process, and outlet for the people who wanted to dance, all night long. To actually put on a Rave at an old abandoned warehouse could never be legal with the owners permission or not due to all the regulations, permits (taxes) and security one had to legally provide. Some of the owners that were compensated, didn't want to be associated with it so I think in my opinion, even if they were compensating the owner, the promoters were not given a key and had to break into the warehouse anyway. Thus relieving the owner of any associating responsibility.

I thought it was wonderful, but the Denver police did not.

There was one individual policeman who made it a point to destroy the Rave scene. His name was officer Sergeant Carter. Actually, he appeared more like a soldier to me when I came to face with him than a polie officer. Some people said that he was a white supremacist with a badge. Sergeant Carter made it a point to destroy everything associated with Raves in anyway legally or illegally that he could.

After attending all these Raves, I never in my life have every seen so many happy people. As a musician, and I´ve attended thousands of clubs, the Raves were one of a kind. I never saw any drug use at these Raves, except for occasional Marijuana. The Raves had health booths which served natural energy juices. The promoters would hire artists from the Denver area to decorate the warehouse with tons of art. Thy also hired four or five top notch DJ´s to perform for the night. In addition, they would have an extensive light show with the most fantastic lighting system to set the mood. Add the colorful artistic flyer's to hand out, and one can see that the promoters spent a great deal of money putting these Raves together. It was extremely hard work and a great deal of preparation, and the promoters employed many to make the project unique and happening.

Over time, the Raves played hide-and-seek with the cops for a long while. Sometimes they were broken-up, but most times they were not. Then Sergeant Carter came along and put a lot of presure on the promoters. After awhile, the promoters decided to try and do it legal. Meaning that the went through the process of getting permits and all the documentation necessary to put a Rave together legally. However, the cops still busted them-up even though the promoters had all the required paperwork permitting them to do it by the City of Denver. When the police arrived, ie: Sergeant Carter, the police would reply that they were missing one permit in particular, but would never tell them which permit they didn't have or needed. Actually, through Sergeant Carter, the police would never allow the Raves to exist.

So what is legal and what is illegal? If you want to put an extension on your house without a permit, it is illegal. With a permit, is legal. If you want to invite all your friends to a mountain stream for a party, it´s illegal. With a permit, it´s legal. Since the killing of President Kennedy, it seems that the government has gone haywire. You need a permission to do anything, which made me wonder what happened to the Constitution of the United States! Behold a pale horse. I would eventually find out that the Constitution doesn't really exist anymore.

There is another important element that I´m need to touch on and became apparent to me driving a cab. At almost every club in Denver, an off-duty police officer is hired to be stationed directly out in font of the club. At every club entrance stands an off-duty policeman in uniform. There is no such thing as bouncers at a club in Denver. Instead there are off-duty police officers in uniform. It sounds to me as legal police payoff. My brother John in New York is a police officer. He is not allowed to work off-duty in any capacity without permission from the department. The department will not give permission for a police officer to work off-duty in just about all cases. This, I guess, is to prevent corruption. In Denver, that is not the case. Therefore, if you´re an owner of a club, and you don´t hire an off-duty police officer, then you might have a lot of problems with the Denver mafia type police. This is certainly legal payoff.

Subsequently, the Raves never hired police officers. That would be counter productive. People especially young people, hate the police,and especially the Denver police. The Denver police are very intimidating, even at the clubs. Therefore, the clubs might be constantly busted if they didn´t hire police officers. It was my belief that this was the case.

When the promoters threw a Rave outside the Denver Metro area, they never had any problems with the police. They threw Raves in Boulder, and Golden, Colorado, and each time they were visited by the police, and the police would be very friendly and concerned by asking if everything was alright here, and if the promoters told them that there were not having any problems, then the police officers would just say have a goodnight and leave. In Denver, the promoters would have been extremely harassed and the police would break-up the Rave. Thus, many Raves began moving-shop to other districts for fear of being closed down.

Denver has become shortly after I arrived, a police state! I was told and learned that the police are told in most cases that if they have to shoot someone then they should shoot to kill. This way they can avoid complications in the courts if someone lived.

As I have been noting throughout this book, it seems to me that no musical movement is allowed to exist. People are not allowed to have fun, or have a process which they come together to gather in peace and harmony. Peace and harmony was what the Raves were all about. People of all ages; all colors and backgrounds; had come together to dance all night long. It was Mike "E's" goal to make that happen. There was never any trouble or any fights at any of the many Raves that I attended and videotaped. However, the cops kept coming, specifically, Officer Sergeant Carter and although this officer was breaking-up many of the Raves, the Raves still managed to continue. Mike "E" was very slick in avoiding and dealing with them. Black men in general are good at that because they have to deal with the police all the time beginning at a very young age.

It was summertime, and Mike E. decided to throw the ultimate Rave. He titled it, "Eden". He would bring all the other promoters together to have a massive Rave.

Mike E. rented this huge ranch in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado. The DJ stage and sound system would be massive. He brought a massive laser light show that would project laser images off the side of the mountain. It was most incredible. It would be a 10 minute drive to the sight from the entrance of the ranch. That´s how huge this ranch was. Mike "E". also did a very smart thing. He hired a few Boulder police officers to cover the entrance of the ranch just to make sure that the Rave would not become interrupted. It went off without a hitch, and 5,000 people attended. It was the most incredible sight I have witnessed in my life and I filmed it all. The Rave went on until 11:00AM the next day. Everyone was happy and there were no problems. The only drugs that were ever present to my knowledge were Marijuana and Ecstasy. At the time, in my opinion, they were two non-violent and non agitating drugs. They were used to enhance the experience and make people feel worry free and relaxed. However, most of the people who used these drugs and it certainly was not all of them, maybe 1/3 of the people who attended, were all violent free. And these two drugs that were used were not supplied by the promoters or Mike "E" to the best of my knowledge. I, in my filming never witnessed anyone selling drugs at this Rave and none of my crew were aware of it either.

The Raves, after Eden, began locally again in Denver. Jim and I continued shooting footage. Since I knew many of the people that attended the Raves, I began to suddenly notice some new, different faces. People whom I had never seen at any Rave´s before. Shortly thereafter, I was witnessing heavy drugs beginning to appear, LSD, and LSD mixed with Heroin. I had noticed this immediately, and brought it to the attention to Mike "E". Some of the people attending the local Raves began flipping-out on these drugs. Mike "E" began ejecting these new faces in fear of infiltration by the "Unknown Force". However, at the future Raves, he was not able to keep these new faces out. The Raves began growing and attracting other people and he didn´t know who was who anymore. The Rave scene, with these new faces and new drugs, began to turn into another type of movement. It turned into a freaked-out, paranoia, schizophrenic, wishy-washy, movement. I knew from my past experiences that this was an infiltration from the Unknown Forces to create chaos. This is what they did in the 60's with my generation. Once someone infiltrate and brings in hard drugs, it gives the government motive and media for destroying the movement. That is for sure!

With the great success of Eden, the promoters decided to do a sequel to Eden called, Eden II, at the closing of summer. It was again, a tremendous success, although there was LSD everywhere. The people were not as friendly and relaxed like the original Eden. People were tripping everywhere. I had never seen so many drugs in one place at one time, and I saw it being sold. The people were paranoid and freaked out, but even though, everyone still enjoyed it and had a momentous time. At the closing of the first Eden, everyone helped in clearing all the garbage off the land. In the second Eden, all the garbage remained and was not cleaned-up. This was, because I believe, of the heavy drug usage. People were so stoned that they didn´t care or even notice.

With the success of the two Eden´s, the Rave scene had skyrocketed. However, Denver was beginning to skyrocket also. Denver was becoming the place to be and a new high-tech airport was being built. Since California was losing many jobs due to the loss of the micro chip industry, the increasing earthquakes, and riots. The people of California began to move into nearby Denver causing a sudden population explosion. The big gangs in California had also began to move-in and they set-up shop here. This caused many escalating violent problems in Denver and many people began to be shot to death indiscriminately while driving their cars, and the police could not contain it. It made me fear as a cab driver.

One of the major supporters of the Rave scene was a clothing store in Denver called, Imi-Jimi. They had offered the promoters a venue for placing their Raves flyers in bulk on their counter. Imi-Jimi was owned by a most wonderful couple named Tom and Christine Hollar. Jim and I videotaped a sequence of Rave clothing with some of the girls in Tom´s store with their permission. Tom and Christine were very supportive of the Rave scene mainly because they sold Rave type of clothing. Then one Friday night, as Tom and Christine were returning from a cinema, they exited their car in the car-park beside their house and they were approached by two gang members, who suddenly shot and killed Tom, and kidnapped his wife Christine with Tom´s vehicle. They raped Christine and beat her beyond recognition. The police found Christine a day later in an alley totally beaten. This incident put everyone in Denver in shock and fear for many, many months. The Hollar family gave a memorial to Tom at Washington Park in Denver which I also filmed. This was where all of the people who knew Tom and Christine could come to deal with their mourning.

The police eventually caught the perpetrators and the famous trial began. It was shown on Court TV and was a very big media coverage and the gang members were convicted, but the terror they caused in Denver remained. During this time there were more unrelated killings going on with civilians from gang members. It seemed that in a eight month period many innocent people were being killed. It was the pun, Wild, Wild West, all over again.

In response to all this escalating violence, Denver instituted a curfew for people under the age of 18 and they stepped up and increased their police force. This action, along with many arrests, had put Denver back in control of the situation.

Unfortunately, a month or so after Tom Hollar was killed; Mike E. and The Messiah were both arrested and put into jail, for incidents unknown. The government came down on them like a ton of bricks. Along with jail time and big fines, they had to promise not to hold Raves ever again. Other smaller promoters and many of the workers of the Raves also went to jail. The government finally put the lid on the Rave scene in Denver, forever, but thank God, that Jim and I got it all down on video tape. Everything from the promoters, to the people, the cops breaking it up, the drugs, the great music, the DJ´s, the artists and art work, the permits, interviews with the Rave people, and the Tom Hollar Memorial are all on video tape.

Jim and I spent a great deal of time and money covering this project, and now we needed to get it edited and released.

Once Jim´s videotaping with me and this project was completed, he went on back to his own normal business. He did not want to assist in trying to find editors. This was to me in my impression was because I was the producer and not he. He also wanted to have control of the editing which I didn't really care about, but he sure turned flaky after the project. He appeared to have no further interest in it once it was completed. He devoted a lot of time and effort into it and once it was over and completed he dropped all interest and went on with his normal routine in life. Therefore, I was alone in the task of putting it together. Jim would provide his knowledge and suggestions, but his suggestions had negative evasive overtones so I could not trust and I was cautious about his suggestions. That was it! It was now up to me alone to find persons who were willing to edit the footage.

Jim, knowing many people in the business, would also not get involved in this area. I spent months logging the footage all by myself.

I searched and searched around, and found a few people willing to edit this footage, but in the end, none of these prospects ever worked out. I tried to get Jim to ask some of the people he knew that could easily do this work, but he refused. We argued and argued about it as friends, over and over. Each time, Jim would come back with a defense that he had perfected over many years being in the business as a videogroher. He stated again that this was my baby, You´ll have to find your own way.

As of yet, the footage remains unedited, but still very much alive as a document of history. I could not afford the thousands of dollars it would take to do this and at the moment there is no technology available for me to do it at a reasonable cost.

After a number of years, as technology began improving, Sony released the first Vaio in 1997 which was capable, at a reasonable cost, to be able to record and edit video. Thus, I bought one and was able to finally make available two separate video documentaries from the footage available. You may view of download them free at any Chazzsongs site. Just Google it or simply search for RTD Right To Dance you will find them on Google Video or Utube, but they are also here on this blog.

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