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Have you ever been to a rave with a map point? You know, where
you get to some random record store at, like, 11:30 and then
get directions to the venue? Well, that usually means that you
get to the party a little bit later that you expected. Now imagine
that you go to a map point, and get directions not to the party,
but to a Metrolink bus station, where you wait for a school bus
"used for church" to take you on the freeway, and then
to a mountain. The bus then proceeds to take you up a narrow,
winding dirt road to the top of the mountain in complete darkness.
Only then do you get dropped of at the "bus stop" where
you begin a 15 minute hike to the top of the mountain. You don't
even hear any bass until 2:15 a.m., but when you do, when you
finally do, my god is it sweet. Not despite the fact that it
took 5 hours to get here, but because it did. On top of a mountain,
somewhere in Los Angeles, a massive is raging under the stars
and there must not be a single police officer within 10 miles.
You are at Summer Dreams.
Needless to say, this was not for the casual or novice raver.
Just getting to Summer Dreams was much more than any of us had
bargained for. Frankly, just getting on one of the buses going
to the mountain was frustrating. With over 200 people waiting
to go to the party, and a maximum capacity of 50 people to a
bus, most people waited at least a half hour, in some cases over
an hour, just to get on a bus. In our case, we got on the bus
at around 1:30 a.m., and I have to say that I felt luck to on
the bus at all. A half hour later we had traveled over highway
and unpaved dirt mountain roads. Finally the bus came to a stop
and we were on our way up the unlit pitch black trail that lead
to the secret mountain top venue where acres and acres of dirt
and grass were home to four beautiful area of outdoor raving.
It had been a long time (March 17th 2001, HSII) since any of
us had the chance to enjoy a late night outdoor massive, and
I for one appreciated it. Despite the fact that I was dirty,
tired, and had missed most of the party because it took so long
to get there. These days authorities in So Cal will do anything
they can to keep raves from happening, especially large outdoor
late night events. The only way that we were going to have a
party like this was going to be under these conditions. Knowing
that the ravers, promoters, DJs, and everyone else on that mountain
got to experience what we never again allowed to feel made Summer
Dreams the event that it was. The ground was horrible for dancing,
the dirt in the air was disgusting, but yet there was something
magical and spectacular about raving under the stars.
When the music stopped at 5 a.m. it was time to head back
to the bus stop where we would wait 3 hours for a ride back to
our cars. All in all I traveled 9 hours and raved for 3, but
for once, raving was a surreal and extraordinary adventure. Instead
of being annoyed with the various inconveniences along the way,
I thought about what an incredible story this was, and what a
unique addition to my collection of raves it would make. If you
feel the same way, congratulations, you are a raver. |
