"The Longest Rave … Ever"

5:45 a.m. is when I hand out my last PRESET flier "It's like getting half the party free!!! Only $10 all night long!!!" is how I marketed the event to potential party kids. Jeff K. has smoked me out enough that I owed him a favor or two, so helping him hand out a stack of reset fliers was okay, after all I had only been at the Orion for NINE hours.

Yes, due to an unexpected series of events, I had to leave Heidi + Jen's Fullerton Apartment at 8, meaning I would get to the Orion at the unreasonably early hour of 8:30. Now what? Well, I have free weekend minutes; I guess I can call people on my cell phone. I have a pack of cigarettes, so I can burn one of those. Some kid is selling BLUE DOLPHIN brand pills, so I could buy one of those and pass the time really fast. Oh fuck it, I'll just wait for the new photographer to show up. One Diesel Boy CD (6th ) later it is 9:30 and Mike (#22) is here. I give him a Canon Rebel 2000 Crash Course outside of Orion and, finally, it is time to party.

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 photos: Mike 22

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 words: Mark 37

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We go inside, and go for a quick tour of the Orion, pointing out characteristic décor such as walls that are now just huge holes and bathroom wall art collages. "See Mike, this is the Orion." Interestingly, Jungle was in the little secret room this week, instead of in the basement's larger room. Techno played in that room, and Trance played upstairs.

Not trying to be short with you, but everything pretty much stayed the Status Quo for the next six hours, except: the music got better, I became more tired, one of the needles in the Jungle Room died a long slow death (it was eventually replaced) and the Orion got that much dirtier, with a few more stickers placed on it's tattered walls (possibly holding them together). To make a long story short, another rave was history. Mike and I began to leave the Jungle room after Hazen's Set, talking about the fun we had and what party would be next as we climbed up the steps to the Orion's Main Room. Just as I began to walk out the door, Thee-o began to walk in. "Sorry Thee-o, I've been here since NINE, I've gotta go." "I'm spinning House" "I'll stick around for that." Hey, I can't say no to House, even at 5 a.m.

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