Police target LA's illegal party scene
| quote: | Dozens of events have been shut down by LAPD in recent weeks.
The LAPD has raided dozens of illegal parties across Los Angeles in recent weeks, leading many promoters to move their events to legal premises.
The current crackdown started when police raided a JACK event on Anderson St with JTC and Modernluv on Friday, May 2nd. (That one still went ahead, but at a different location.) The cops have pulled the plug on parties most weekends since then, including those by JACK, Lights Down Low, Donuts and Dialogue. Illegal parties in LA are generally events without a permit to serve liquor.
One of the more high-profile incidents was on Sunday, May 11th, when police helicopters were called in for a Donuts party with Omar-S and Aaron "FIT" Siegel. One attendee, who asked not to be named, described the scene this way: "The party was at a warehouse near the LA river and way outside of any residential area. It was also well organized and run, maybe 300 people were there and the crowd was mostly mid-20s, not underage ravers by any means, and there for the music."
He continued: "FIT played a great set and literally as Omar-S was stepping up to take over, the lights went on and cops came in the front. They shut off the music and told everyone to leave immediately. Walking outside, there was a police helicopter circling the building and shining a spot light down. People left peacefully but it just felt really ridiculous."
The promoter who runs JACK, who also asked to remain anonymous, added: "It's cost promoters thousands in losses and artists paying gigs. It will also slow the traffic of talent coming through LA, which has been on fire the past few years." The most recent JACK party, headlined by Steffi, took place on June 6th at a legal location.
JACK said the last crackdown of this scale was "about four years ago," adding: "When this is one of your jobs and you're looking at a year before maybe being able to safely work again, it impacts you financially. The legal venues aren't supported enough by an underground community to bring the high quality events with stacked lineups and great soundsystems into them and come out of it very successfully as a promoter."
Other promoters are less concerned with police tactics. Another anonymous source said: "We're still having a more authentic and better sounding time. Find us if you can."
Modernluv put together a mix, called "No More Rave," to draw attention to the situation. "It's our way of putting a positive spin on things," they told RA. You can listen to it here. |
http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=25170
Comments:
| quote: | Easy way to get around it: private, invite only events that don't sell tickets at the door and offer only drink tickets prior to entry.
I've heard about the promoter who ratted, and I won't be attending any of his parties, ever.
The biggest bummer is that Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv was slated to play the Jack JTC party and has not rescheduled since. Party got shut down immediately after soundcheck.
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| quote: | | I have it on good authority that at least part of these party crackdowns have been traced to a specific LA promoter (since outed and hopefully blackballed by the bigger US DJ agencies) who was snitching on rival parties. That probably doesn't account for everything, but it's an extremely craven thing to do. |
Sooooooooo who is it 
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