How I met my wife, part 3 — finding PLUR

Previously on “How I met my wife”…

My friend Jose introduced me to techno music when I was about 15, and I’ve loved it ever since. I would listen to it everywhere, and had a huge set of headphones, and would often get strange looks during class. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t listening to it during every class, but I had an english class where our teacher would give us personal time for ~10 minutes a day, and I would spend my time listening to this new found techno music.

Most people, nowadays, when they think of techno music, they think of raves. There were raves back when I was in high school, but I had never heard of them, I had never been to one, and I didn’t know anybody who had been to one. There were a few kids in my school, who, after they found out I listened to techno music (I think I was the only one in my school to do so), asked me if I had ever been to a rave. At the time, I had no idea what they were talking about, but as I look back, I do now. I told them no.

It’s funny to think about it now, most people find techno music through raves. For me, it was the other way around. During high school, there was a few dance clubs that I frequented, one in particular was called Confetti’s (formerly Xenon, but I never knew it by that name).  Confetti’s was a modern/industrial/gothic/grunge/techno club, and I can’t tell you how awesome it was. It was one of those places where everybody just fit in. Doesn’t matter who you were, who you knew, or what you were in to; you just fit in. During my time at Confetti’s, I met a bunch of people who became very good friends of mine.

One night, several months after I graduated high school (roughly Oct. 1994), I was hanging out with some friends that I had met at Confetti’s, and we went over to some people’s house who I didn’t know, but were friends of my friends. They suggested that we go to this party downtown, so we all agreed, and I asked when we were leaving to go to this party. They informed me that the party didn’t even start until midnight.

Midnight?!?  What?

So we hang out for a while, and then make our way to the party.

The party was downtown, underneath the off-ramp of I-15, and was at a place called Plays Cool. I had never heard of it, but when I began walking toward the door, I heard the familiar thump thump of techno music. I walked in the place, and I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor. It was amazing, there were people, lots of people, dancing and enjoying this music that I though was so unknown and so hard to find. I had just been introduced to the rave scene. But I didn’t even know what it was at the time. All I knew was that I was home.

I didn’t really dance, I didn’t really hang out with anybody, I’m not even sure if I did anything at that party, I just sat there and soaked it all in. It blew my mind that there were other people that loved this music as much as I did, and that there were parties exclusively held for/with/and because of this music.

The next rave I went to was on New Years 1995. Me and a couple of friends that I met at Confetti’s, were hanging out at the dance club, and they had told me that there was a rave going on that night if I wanted to join them. I of course agreed, and we went off to the New Year’s rave at Saltaire.

This is what I consider to be my first rave. It was even more amazing than the first one I went to. There were amazing lights, amazing sounds, and the people there were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. If there was one thing that I would say defines the rave scene in the mid-90’s to early double oughts, it would have to be the vibe that the people brought to the scene. Everybody was very respectful of everybody else, nobody cared what you did, or who you were. You were a friend.

If you know me, than you know I’m all about the PLUR.

• Peace
• Love
• Unity
• Respect

PLUR is the motto of the rave scene. And that’s what I’m going to leave you with for this installment…  PLUR

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