Party Vibe

Ravers fear publicity could put an end to their ‘peaceful’ parties

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/

By ANGELO BRUSCAS

P-I REPORTER

Kyle Huff was likely invited to the fatal after-hours party while attending an organized Friday night “rave” at the Capitol Hill Arts Center that drew more than 500 teens and young adults.

Run by a group called Funshine Productions, the rave had a team of security guards that searched party-goers for drugs or weapons as they entered the building.

It was billed as “zombie night” or “Better Off Undead,” with one Web site promising: “Funshine Productions brings you a night of terror. Get ready to eat some brains!!!”

By all accounts the party on 12th Avenue ended peacefully without any major incidents at 4 a.m., but the events that followed have put the rave culture in the city on edge, fearing a backlash of publicity.

“I don’t know how you put blame on the people who were promoting the rave or providing the event,” said David Osgood, an attorney who has represented several rave promoters.

“It’s going to cause them problems in the future, just for political reasons. There are going to be people who are not going to be able to simply see it as a tragedy,” Osgood said. “So they are going to politicize it, and somehow it’s going to be the rave that is blamed.”

Promoters Keith Salender and Annika Anderson of Funshine Productions could have been victims of the after-hours party shooting as well. Salender said they had been invited to the house but were too busy loading up equipment to attend after the main party closed down.

“We had a lot of gear to take care of and so we decided not to go, amazingly,” Salender said. “Of course, we are really affected because a lot of our friends were involved.”

City Council President Nick Licata said he intends to hold a council briefing on the shooting and events that led up to it before today’s regular City Council meeting.

Licata, however, cautioned against tying the rave parties to the violence that occurred afterward.

“The police chief said himself that the event they came from on Capitol Hill was very peaceful, very quiet,” Licata said.

Licata wants the council to be informed of the full events that led to the shooting today, and is concerned that “some people have raised this as an issue — connecting the raves with this incident.”

“I want the Police Department and the chief to clarify what apparently is not a connection,” he said. “This was a private party. You can call it a rave or whatever, but in the old days, it would have just been considered a house party.”

Licata noted there did not appear to be any history of trouble with the venue or the promoter.

“The actual rave was at a legitimate place that has been operating for a long time, that had a particular kind of music,” Licata said. “The word ‘rave’ is a marketing tool that is used to get people to show up because it sounds like something exciting or edgy is happening. In fact, it’s techno music that is pretty mellow.”

The rave Friday night featured several popular disc jockeys, including Delta 88 and The Prophet. It also featured heavy security, Salender said. Security was provided by the arts center as well as a private company hired by Funshine Productions.

Osgood describes raves as completely different from days when they were “uncontrolled parties where you would find an abandoned house or an abandoned building and you’d take it over without the police or fire department or anyone knowing about it. And you would party all night long,” he said.

“But modern raves are pretty strictly controlled, and the promoters are very paranoid about them. The raves that I have been to are put on by promoters who think it is advisable to have an attorney on staff, in addition to off-duty police, fire and paramedics.”

Osgood fears the publicity over the shootings will drive the rave scene underground, where young people will be far less safe than at controlled parties.

“Kids are going to be kids, and if there is a backlash against either rave promoters or venues, we’re going to be much less safer for it,” Osgood said. “These promoters know the limitations with which they can put on events in town. Kids are going to do this, either in an abandoned factory or in a venue where you have access to paramedics and police officers and security.”

If it goes underground, “the cops won’t know where it is, no one is going to know where it is, and it is going to be just like this house party,” Osgood said.

Dave Martinez, another local promoter, said raves “imply a dirty past, as if the event was illegal.”

He says he’s never had a problem, “not with permits, fights, nada.”

Osgood said he has represented one rave promoter for the past seven or eight years, and has never had any problems like the shootings.

“I have had nothing but cooperation from the fire department, from paramedics,” he said. “I have a lot of cooperation from the police, and occasionally, I have had some problems with the police.”

Most of those problems have been regulatory, such as trying to enforce the all-ages dance ordinance where it doesn’t apply.

“It just depends on the political climate, whether they think that raves are a good, safe outlet, or whether they think they are evil,” Osgood said.

Licata doesn’t expect the event or the tragedy to be politicized.

“When a tragic situation like this happens, we all begin searching for answers and try to connect the dots,” he said. “I don’t see any evidence that connects the dots to an individual who apparently, for lack of a better word, just snapped.”