L-line: Lifted -- September 1, 1996 -- Octagon NYC First you had a rave in a cave, and now a rave in a club - a NYC club at that :) DO wonders never cease? Lifted, one of the MTA parties (flyer was a cute mockup of a subway map for the L line - last one was the E-line party?) took place Sunday far west on 33rd street at the Octagon. Now while the line went VERY slow (waited about an hour, while the door men said any ladies? any ladies? come right in ;-P Some great gals were like "How sexist!" ;)) Otherwise this party was dead on and felt like a rave with that sort of crowd, vibe and people dancing. Security at the door was pretty tight, but the layout of the club was really nice. The main dance floor was a circle with a balcony one flight out surrounding it so you coulkd look down and take in the sights. This gave a highish ceiling and kept people sitting and not dancing otherwise off the dance There. This was the house/techno room - with some hardcore thrown in for good measure. Slamming time - although the night started with a huge dance circle which felt out of place. Also a guy was going around videotaping the party. Lights were good. There was also a second room two flights up with mostly hardcore. This was a much smaller room, but it had more places to sit that weren't just on the floor like the main room. Came up here twice to check it out. There was also a lounge for 21+ people, but didn't check it out as it really seemed like a drinking/and whatever area then a music area. Watching the people dance to hardcore looked like a sped up cartoon - spastic mania - but all in fun. First time I've heard Beltram spin live, and it had a decidely hard hiphopish feeling - but fun. Didn't enjoy the last main floor DJ (Dever)'s attempts to fade in and out the heavy bass beats from songs - wasn't smooth enough really. Lenny Dee was fun, first time I've heard him spin - a lot of older crowd favoites - a lot of cheering and hard dancing. Didn't notice if he really tagteamed with Nicky Fingers or not. The sonic groove djs were good - Heather Heart and Adam X. Didn't seem like all the advertised DJs were there. One thing I hate is tendency to limit DJs to a max of 1 hour spinning time. True you can have more drawing power with more DJs listed on a flyer, but I prefer the chance for a DJ to really spin a journey for the audience that a longer set would make smoother. That was one thing I really enjoyed about my recent visit to Mazzo in Amsterdam - there were two DJs on all night and they had a chance to really plan out their sets to make a real planned set of buildups, etc. Shout outs to Gopal, Adam, Keith, Brian M., Mook - any one else I forgot? For me it was a real rave, however, minus the presence of out of city net ravers. (and damned $3 waters. also there were people in the barthrooms beings dicks and trying to say NO FILLING YOUR water bottle from the sink. whatever. they did not last long in preventing anything however.)