AURAL INTERCOURSE

Thursday, April 24, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Aural Intercourse: Party like it's 1984

By Mike Prevatt

Last year, I reported that Sen. Joe Biden's controversial and arguably unconstitutional RAVE act--legislation basically seeking to throw rave and club promoters in jail should illegal drugs be found on their premises--was just the kick in the ass the electronic dance community needed to bring raves back to the underground for some much-needed revitalization.

That was easy to say when the ACLU was ardently fighting the bill, and it was even easier to say when congressional committees killed said bill. Now, I'm eating those words, for Big Brother Biden has struck again. This time, he craftily piggybacked the guts of the old bill (now called the "Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act") onto the recently drafted and completely unrelated "Amber Alert" child abduction bill, dodged debating committees by doing so at the very last minute and saw the whole shebang get passed in a snap. If the president signs off on this bill--and you better believe he will--your confiscated pill or weed sack might conceivably land your neighborhood party organizer in the slammer for 20 years, and your measly glowstick might be the lone tipoff that local authorities need to investigate the proceedings. And who said fascism was dead?

And speaking of the dead, has anyone even bothered to tell Biden that the nightclub scene is on its deathbed anyway? Authorities from the local precincts to the FBI have been ultra-successful in intimidating party promoters and club owners across the nation. Clubs as world famous as Twilo in New York and 1015 in San Francisco have seen their doors shut and chained, perhaps for good, thanks to drug busts, and the Era of the Megarave is over.

But if you think this law is limited to the Ecstasy crowd, hold on one minute. It applies to virtually any music event where illegal drugs can be found--radio and weekend festivals, Bob Marley celebrations, stadium shows, springtime jazz concerts, etc. Organizers and authorities have been quick to downplay the vigilance factor, stating the need to confront extreme circumstances. Too bad the government is the one that gets to define "extreme," and who's to say a few pills and some Vicks VapoRub aren't enough to prove someone's "knowingly profiting" (as the wording of the bill goes) off the DEA's no-no list?

Already, coalitions and defense committees have been organized to fight the provision, and are encouraging members of the electronic dance scene to take a proactive stance to preserve their livelihood. Visit emdef.org or dancem.org for details.

Jonas Ackerlund

denied again

It used to be that MTV would ban Madonna's videos from its station, and now, Madonna is doing her own blacklisting. As you may have heard, the diva's original "American Life" video was re-shot and re-edited because of images she thought might be misinterpreted as unsupportive of the war effort in Iraq. She cut scenes--such as her throwing a grenade at President Bush, who catches it and then lights a cigar with it (it never explodes)--and now, a more sanitized version has hit the airwaves.

Forgetting the subtle damage this does to the already battered First Amendment, this is yet another slap in the face to arguably the most visionary music video director in popular music, Jonas Ackerlund (director of Prodigy's revolutionary "Smack My Bitch Up" video, which MTV banned in 1998, and the meth-obsessed Spun, his first film effort, featured at last year's CineVegas film festival). As it turns out, the first and more satirical version of "American Life" is brilliant, and says more about the fashion world than it does the war effort. But, alas, this is not the time to be rocking the boat--or at least not on the eve of your new album's release.

Lucky for us, European television aired it before the backpedaling, and, as of press time, it could be viewed at http://channels.gay.com/entertainment/news/?sernum=427.

Quickies

On a more serious note, beloved jazz/soul singer Nina Simone died of natural causes on April 21, in her Paris home. The raspy singer--who became famous for her musical interpretations of the civil rights movement in America, along with a talent for covering songs that were as good as or better than the original versions--was 70 and had been ill for some time, according to her manager.

Some of Simone's more famous songs were "I Loves You Porgy" (from the opera Porgy and Bess), "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" and "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl." A well-rounded fascination with pop music led her to cover songs from several different subgenres, from gospel and blues to R&B and rock. This versatility made her an inspiration to singers like Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, India.Arie and Norah Jones, to name a few. She also was revered by the electronic/dance crowd, evidenced by her recognizable samples in recent hit songs by Moby ("Natural Blues," "Porcelain") and Layo & Bushwacka! ("Love Story").

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