Every generation has had its counterculture bunch. In the 1920s, gangsters and flapper girls stole the scene. The 1950s had the beat generation. The 1960s had flower children who reveled in their newfound sexual freedom and apparently liberating psychedelic drug experimentation. The 1980s developed an obsession with Madonna and pop music, embracing big hair and even bigger cocaine addictions. The 1990s hit the ground running with head banging, grunge and intravenous drugs. With the 2000s came emo kids and prescription drug abuse. In 2011, however, apparently anything goes. But what baby boomers and generations X and Y had to do under the noses of their parents in basements, backseats and other dark places — kissing, petting, girls dressing scantily, drug use — is now the norm for many in attendance at some all-ages events in Ventura county and around the country.

Though adults remark on the upcoming generation of rebellious teenagers with the same general attitude, shaking their heads in frustration — “Tsk-tsk! Kids these days …” — surprisingly, those attending a recent rave in Ventura weren’t just kids. They were children barely coming of age and doing so in a nightclub, a scene that most kids were forbidden to enter as teenagers — by parents and club owners alike. Understandably, teenagers younger than 18 have been able to enjoy live concerts and shows for a long time; but the scene is changing, whether for better or for worse is yet to be determined.

Over the last six months, there has been talk about raves locally. Every six weeks or so, the Ventura Theater hosts an all-ages event where DJs spin body-pulsating beats that either make your head hurt or your heart pound. Those addicted to the heart-pounding aspect have made raves a regular part of their lifestyle, making sure not to miss a show when it comes around — an expensive form of entertainment at $20 to $35 per ticket. With hundreds attending such events and thousands attend raves around the country, it has become big money for venues. But for those who love this music, a culture has formed — one of vibrant self expression and individuality. Problems do come with this type of music, however, similar to groupies obsessed with pop music bands. Young girls are dressing overtly sexual and, for some participants, prescription drugs, such as Ritalin and Xanax, and illegal drugs are being abused. This isn’t necessarily a surprise, but when small-town USA is hosting such events, it’s definitely a new realm of teenage life to get used to.

After local safety officials were called to the theater in February for two separate medical incidents (a juvenile male was on a mind altering substance and transported to Ventura County Medical Center, while another person called for medical attention but later canceled), we decided to see what was really going on. Though there have been rumors of rampant drug abuse spread by friends of those who attend raves, what we saw at a rave held in April wasn’t necessarily as bad as what we had heard. But it did have several shocking moments — a highly sexualized teenage scene with the occasional young raver apparently high on ecstasy. Maybe this story will be more eye-opening than for just the two writers who attended it.

— Michael Sullivan

On the fringe but fitting in

by Martine Burtis

It is Friday in early April and a gaggle of scantily clad teenage girls are having their fishnet and leather apparel searched for any hidden drink or drugs. Next in line, 15-year-old boys swagger by the tables outside the Ventura Theater, emptying their sagging pockets of various and sundry items before entering the glowing, throbbing interior.

It is 9 o’clock and this normally unfrequented side street is alive with house beats and high school banter; it is Miami Nights rave night, an event mainly catering to teens, hosted by the theater. Though the bar section only has a few age-appropriate patrons — drinking isn’t the main attraction — upon entering the steaming mass of dancers and streaming neon lights, it is difficult to ignore the similarities between this scene and the darker, drug-imbued haunts of metropolitan twentysomethings. On stage, there is the DJ with his dancing beauties, shaking their near-bare buns, in bikinis and fur boots.

Initially, I am appalled; at 23, I am easily 10 years older than some of the kids who sit, heads dropping against the walls, ensnared in the light shows being given to them by peers with glowing orbs on their finger tips. I see downy limbs awkwardly tangled, pacifiers in painted lips, and everywhere, figures stomping in an angry, frenetic dance.

“It’s called the Malaysian,” says a boy next to me as I snap a picture of the kids dancing.. He is a 19-year-old Santa Paula native named Felix. I meet his friends Zeus and Alicia, 19 and 16, respectively, and we start to speak over the ruckus.

“I come here for the music, the love, the respect and the friendship,” Felix smiles, “not the drugs. I don’t do drugs.”

I look at Zeus and Alicia speculatively, and Alicia laughs.

“Look,” she chirps, “it is about the culture. We have families here.” She points to the same turquoise shirts that Zeus and some other surrounding boys are wearing, shirts that all read Retro Raverz with a name beneath them, the name of the individual wearing the shirt.

Retro Raverz is the name of their “family.” According to Alicia, there are more than 100 families in the rave scene, many with their own uniforms. The members of these families are attracted to the sphere because of the music and the community. The DJs, I am told, are talented. It takes skill, rhythm and musical cultivation to create the stimulating subtleties behind good rave music, music that makes otherwise apathetic teens want to stomp and sweat.

These teens go to dozens of shows a year, from L.A. to Santa Barbara, because they love it and because of the freedom it allows them in the largely homogeneous life of a minor.

“PLUR,” says Felix, “Peace, love, unity and respect.” He shows me, with Alicia’s beaded arms, the complicated, quasi-handshake family members use to recognize one another and come together. For peace, the index and middle digits on the opposite hands of two individuals come together to create an incomplete triangle; for love, the hands then curl into backward Cs, touching at the thumbs and fingernails to form a heart; for unity, the hands clasp, palm-to-palm, fingers interlaced; and for respect, the hands remain the same but a beaded bracelet is exchanged from one person’s arm to the other’s.

“Sure, some kids do drugs, but a lot of us don’t. We just like to express ourselves and listen to the music,” said Felix.

I thank him and watch them all walk away, through the churning sea of bodies. With my changed perspective, I do not see drunken or drugged-out teens; I see kids acting the way they normally cannot.

While I am still mildly repulsed by the semi-naked girls onstage, who so readily perform for minors, and by the way many of the attendees conduct themselves; I am also surprised. My judgments, preconceived, had proven ill-informed, unfair; juveniles can express themselves in incomprehensible and disagreeable ways, but these expressions are not necessarily unhealthy or for ribald reasons. Individuals have individual inclinations, and the climate of the “rave” was indeed more an actualization of needs and expressions than an adolescent desire to rebel and imbibe.



30 years old, lost in a sea of teens

by Michael Sullivan

“So how long have you been going to raves?” I asked the teenager with the thick beaded bracelets and flashing a metal smile.

“Since I was 13,” he said.

“How old are you now?”

“16.”

“Are you on ecstasy?” I asked, noticing how much he was fidgeting, sitting next to me on the lower level of the club.

“No. I used to do it when I first started going to raves, but I don’t do it any more. I don’t want to disappoint my mother,” he said. “I took a Xanax earlier but I’m not really feeling anything.”

“Do a lot of kids here do x?”

“The two girls I am taking care of that I just met here are both on x.”

“How old are they?”

“15.”

Suddenly, one of the girls grabbed his attention, and he apologized to me but said he had to go.

A few minutes later, a girl wearing furry boots, fishnet stockings and nothing more than what appeared to be a matching bra and panty set asked if she and her friends could sit next to me. A young man wearing tight pants and lots of glow-in-the-dark accessories had offered to do a light show for them using gloves with lighted finger tips. Her friends, all sporting braces, appeared to be no more than 15 years old.

“Are you doing ecstasy?” I asked, having read that in-your-face light shows often enhance ecstasy highs.

“We just took some. Are you doing any?”

“Not tonight,” I replied, trying not to stand out like a soccer mom sponsoring the D.A.R.E. program.

After the light show wrapped up, the girls jumped to their feet, appearing invigorated and excited, and disappeared into the crowd of the steamy theater.



For better or for worse?

As a mother of a 7-year-old boy — I am also 6 feet 1 inch — going to a nightclub filled with hundreds of teenagers, most of them a foot or so shorter than I am, many of them with braces and all of them looking too young to be enjoying nightlife, I must have stood out like a sore thumb. But the scene was truly eye-opening. On the dance floor, three young girls were grinding on each other, groins to rears, while throughout the venue, several adolescent couples were lip-locked in make-out showdowns that would make lifeguards teaching CPR classes blush. For the most part, these tweens and teens dressed as so many do these days — the guys in tight jeans and band T-shirts, the girls in tank tops and short shorts. But what came as a surprise was the number of teenage girls sporting what appeared to be Victoria’s Secret’s new spring collection and furry boots.

Based on appearances alone, drug abuse among teenagers at that particular rave didn’t seem to be out of control.

While there were random kids getting high on whatever was available, ecstasy apparently being the most popular complement to pulsating techno music, most of the partygoers I saw were just about getting out and having fun, away from their parents and in a scene where everyone is there for the same reason — socializing, dancing, expressing oneself. The partiers chewing on pacifiers definitely aroused my curiosity, as teeth grinding is a side effect of doing ecstasy and pacifiers prevent the wear and tear on the consumers’ teeth — though apparently in some circles, sucking on pacifiers is seen as cool, whether or not anyone is doing drugs.

According to a former resident of Oxnard who spent his adolescence in the area, the hyper-sexualized teen drug scene is nothing new. He recalled going to a skating rink in Oxnard in the ’90s and seeing scantily clad girls and several teenagers on some sort of drug, ecstasy a popular choice.

For some, the rave scene in Ventura County may be nothing new. The young man who was helping out the two teenage girls allegedly on ecstasy said that he had been going to raves for years. He complained that the parties in Ventura were too small, indicating that he had been to bigger ones outside the county. The local scene, however, was just a microcosm of the massive raves thrown in, big clubs, warehouses and open spaces in the wilderness across the country. Though not everyone was pumped up on x, it was apparent enough kids at the theater were trying the drug — kids still in high school, kids who probably still live at home with their parents. Whether they bought and consumed drugs at the theater is a mystery, but to be certain, those using ecstasy and abusing other drugs are easy to point out.

But the scene appears to be changing from what it used to be a decade or so ago.

While in the late ’90s, raves were picking up speed across the country, it appears now that the participants are relatively younger — the minimum age was 18 back then for many raves. But not so much any more. While some are appalled at what they see going on at raves, teenagers seem to be living it up. Is it right or wrong? More importantly, do parents have an accurate picture of what their kids are wearing, doing and consuming? While the theater and many other venues are doing a good job in providing security and ousting anyone caught with or dealing drugs, if parents aren’t in the know about what goes on on the dance floor, hopefully they will now.