To Rave or Not to Rave? (Electric Daisy Fest)

Seven Dharmachari (Wisdom Quarterly)

I went to this year's massive Electric Daisy Carnival (June 26, 2010). We thought it would be the best way to pretend it was the 60's -- except general admission is now $75. The fireworks were going, the helicopters were buzzing, the techno beats ricocheted off the concrete jungle in the sleazy environs of USC and the California Science Center (with its great exhibit on mummies).

It's not safe to walk, it's not safe to park, it's not safe to eat -- but dancing inside a large sports complex with 100,000 people for 12 hours, why not? As we sweat in our costumes, my friends rave about the transcendent experience to be had. They swear it's significant that the Moon is full and summer's finally here. Every city needs a venue for whirling-dervishes-in-training like us (because Coachella's an expensive dud way out in the boondocks, and Burning Man is for burnouts and voyeurs the next state over).

But the popo (LAPD riot squad) weren't making things easy: keeping ticket holders out, marching in riot formations, and looking for any excuse to shut the event down. Inside, the world revolved on a dance beat. And either we were all united under the umbrella of one enormous Buddha mind or just making some self-centered, small minded bid to be hedonists. I'm not sure which. We had to jump.

I screamed Kanzeon, Kanzeon! (Japanese for Kwan Yin, goddess of compassion, the new Zen mantra my friend Jan gave me) as I radiated my love in all directions. But in the days since, EDC has had a lot of explaining and cleaning up to do.

Six Ways the Dance Massive Can Clean Up its Act
Chris Martins (LA Weekly)
(Photo: EDC 2010, LA Weekly/Tim Norris). Our friends at URB brought you the indispensable guide to the Electric Daisy Carnival last week. So it's only fitting that the L.A.-based electronic music magazine pens a recap of the event that includes a little loving criticism.

At this point, the festival's failings are writ large across the headlines, largely thanks to the drug-related death of an underage patron. Staff wasn't supposed to let anyone in under the age of 16, and yet it was a young girl of 15 who died.

Others were trampled, overly self-medicated, and accidentally drugged (one attendee reportedly ended up in the hospital after sating himself with a stranger's water bottle [and there's usually more than water in a water bottle at a rave]), leading to over 100 people being hospitalized and a temporary ban on "raves" at the L.A. Coliseum.

To get a feel for the music, which was quite good, read our review of EDC. After the jump, URB gets into the nitty-gritty.

After a boisterous weekend, a dark cloud has befallen Electric Daisy Carnival following widespread reports of hospitalized attendees, perilous incidents of fence jumping, and the drug-related death of a 15-year-old girl. While local hospital staffers call for the end of "raves" in public venues and the CBS Evening News picks up the story, here are five ways we thing EDC can improve for the safety and enjoyment of everyone:

• Six things EDC should do to improve (URB.com)
• Death at Electric Daisy Carnival draws attention to E
• California's future governor on Buddhism and governing
• Two-headed calf born in Egypt, called "a miracle"
• UFOs on Independence Day (MUFON)
• Get into concerts FREE (Jack Johnson, Paramore)
• VIDEO: What's a Rave like?

What a rave really like? Boredom and mayhem.

• The Best and Worst of the Electric Daisy Carnival
  With nearly 200,000 attendees over two days, there was plenty to love (and hate) about America’s biggest dance music celebration.

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" dies

(DailyMail) Lucy Vodden, the woman who inspired the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" died at 46 after battling disease. The song was featured on the ground-breaking 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. John Lennon's elder son Julian said it was inspired by a picture he drew of his classmate Lucy O'Donnell when they were at a nursery school in Weybridge, Surrey, in 1966. More>>

UC Berkeley Walkout: TODAY

One-day UC walkout gets underway
Today's walkout is intended to reflect widespread frustration and anger as UC lays off hundreds of workers, imposes unpaid furloughs on nonunion employees... (SF Chronicle, Jill Tucker, 9/24/09)
UC Walkout (Monthly Review)

Walkout planned for UC system (LA Times)
UC walkout could ignite larger movement (SF Bay Guardian)

• Thailand protests: Red vs. Yellow (The Cowl)

(9/24/09) While UC Berkeley might have a long history of noisy protests and student activism, tomorrow’s UC-wide faculty and student walkout [teach in] and worker strike seems unprecedented even within its own tumultuous history.

UC Berkeley student protest, Sproul Plaza. The statewide UC system will walk out today.

As a coalition of faculty, staff, students, and workers across all of the UC campuses arrange to walk out of scheduled classes [today] to protest against state cuts in funding, fee hikes, and changes to the traditional UC system of shared governance, the Berkeley community is expecting thousands to congregate in Sproul Plaza, the university’s traditional hub of student activity.

"Berkeley in the Sixties," documentary on the history of anti-war and other protests on what was once the most radical campus in the country. SEE TRAILER

“The walkout tomorrow is just one milestone on what is likely to be a pretty long road to recovery,” said UC Berkeley professor of theatre, dance, and performance studies, Catherine Cole. “It’s a moment to make visible the cuts and changes that are happening in our University – changes that are of profound importance and not yet necessarily made visible to all.” More>>

Sex & Rock 'n Roll? Berkeley in the 00's

Mock protest illustrating peaceful Sproul Plaza -- until now. The University of California walks out, teaches in, and strikes as classes resume for the other UC campuses

'60s Icons: Where are those groovy cats now?
The Sixties were a time of huge change (and great music). Whatever happened to some of its colorful players, such as The Mamas and the Papas, Scott “Flowers in Your Hair” McKenzie, feminist Gloria Steinem, Engelbert Humperdinck, Bobby Seale, Wavy Gravy, and more? Find out – and see then-and-now pictures. GO TO FEATURE (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images file)

• Incest admitted in the Mamas and the Papas (9/24/09) Mackenzie Phillips is defending her father John Phillips as "a good man" despite her claims that they had a longterm incestuous affair. But her stepmother says Phillips is lying about the affair and is just trying to cash in on her book.
• The Five Precepts are rounded out by abstention from intoxicants which occasion heedlessness. Intoxicated, beings generate grave karma, such as sexual misconduct, that could otherwise easily be avoided.
• Pregnant while pregnant
  In an extremely rare case, an expectant woman conceives another child. But they aren't twins