The SoCal-Raves mailing list is a forum dedicated to discussing all
things rave and underground clubbing in the Southern California area
including the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside,
San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara too.
And sometimes we just chat about goings on.
The name of the list is SCR where SCR is short for
SoCal-Raves. Although the list may move again, the list address
should no longer change.
SCR only accepts plain-text email; that means "just characters, in
boring old standard font, standard black, no pictures, no underlining,
nothing fun." There are many reasons for this; you can find some of
them on the Web by searching Google for "HTML email bad"; the primary
reason on SCR was to stop spam, which is largely in HTML format
because "ya gotta sell the sizzle, not the steak"...but that's
the way it is, anyway. If you send a message that's not plain-text
to SCR, you will likely get a message back saying
Your mail to 'scr' with the subject
<subject> Is being held until the list moderator can review it for approval.
The reason it is being held:
Message has a suspicious header
What this means is that the list software is denying you the
ability to post HTML email. You need to set your email program
so that it doesn't try to send HTML email to SCR, or your email
will sit in the list software's inbox until the moderator gets
around to processing it, and if you're a repeat offender, he's as
likely to deny it as to try to fix it up for you.
Some of the list members have come up with instructions on
how not to send HTML email. There
are also notes on the web; here's a good page with graphics and lots
of other email programs.
SoCal-Raves is known for talking and talking a lot. :) But it's
not always appropriate to talk about everything. Here are some
guidelines.
Appropriate topics include:
- announcements of upcoming events in the Southern California
area.
- reviews of shows/raves/DJs/music/etc.
- rave-culture
- local radio shows and stations that play rave and techno.
- where to find the music, clothes, etc.
- ODPs, rave picnics and other non-rave rave-related events.
- making music, gear, etc. (although there are other lists more
appropriate for this)
...and almost anything else rave related or related to the
local scene.
Inappropriate topics/activities include:
- sending files (GIFs, JPGs, WAVs, executables, etc.)
or attachments to the list
- posting in HTML / richtext format
- personal attacks/flames
- solicitation of anything illegal (drugs, fake IDs)
It may also be wise not to discuss your illegal activities either.
Besides potentially affecting the well being of the list, you
really don't know who may be listening in on an open and archived
mailing list. Some posts have even been found indexed in the major
search engines. Discretion is a good thing.
Try to keep from getting into flame wars and overly personal
discussions on the list. Flame wars have been the most destructive
to the list community over the past few years. Some comments are
probably better kept to personal mail. Keep in mind that what you
are sending to the list you are sending to everybody.
Other than that, go for it. This is your list. Your scene.
This list can be a catalyst for helping to improve and unify the
scene in SoCal. Use it for good.
To SUBSCRIBE to the SoCal-Raves mailing list, go to the SCR List Info page.
In the middle of the page, it asks you to enter your email address
and a password to subscribe. You will be sent a confirmation
message at that address before you are added to the list.
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the SoCal-Raves mailing list, also go to the SCR List Info page.
At the VERY bottom of that page, enter in the email address that
you subscribed from.
That will bring you to a page where you can unsubscribe.
If you do not know the password that was assigned to you when
you subscribed, you can have it emailed to you from that page as well.
Yes! If you want to cut down on the number of messages you get a day
and you don't know how to use mail filters you might be a candidate
for the digest. The digest version of the SCR list collects and send out
socal-raves messages in chunks at least once a day.
To change your subscription to the digest version, go to the SCR List Info page.
At the VERY bottom of that page, enter in the email address that
you subscribed from.
That will bring you to a page where you can change to the digest version.
If you do not know the password that was assigned to you when
you subscribed, you can have it emailed to you from that page as well.
Yup. The SoCal-Raves Calendar contains information about upcoming
events, weekly and monthly clubs, and regional info lines that
list upcoming events/clubs.
Calendar Updates:
And it's information from YOU that keeps it current. Every time you
get a flyer that you don't see in the calendar you should send send
in the info.
Calendar submissions should be sent to:
Calendar List:
If you just want the calendar sent to you once a week without being
subscribed to the SCR list you can subscribe to the Calendar
list.
To SUBSCRIBE to the SCR calendar only list, go to the Calendar List Info page.
In the middle of the page, it asks you to enter your email address
and a password to subscribe. You will be sent a confirmation
message at that address before you are added to the list.
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the SCR calendar mailing list, also go to the Calendar List Info page.
At the VERY bottom of that page, enter in the email address that
you subscribed from.
That will bring you to a page where you can unsubscribe.
If you do not know the password that was assigned to you when
you subscribed, you can have it emailed to you from that page as well.
Current archives are available at http://lists.socal-raves.org/private.cgi/scr-socal-raves.org/
(your subscription email address and password are required to access them).
These are as current as we can reasonably make them. Older archived
messages exist, but are not posted to the archives page to save
processing time.
The archives are currently not searchable, but you can search
topics and for email addresses by using the "find in page"
feature of your web browser.
Here's a short list of terms you might see used on the SoCal-Raves
list:
SCRubber
Short for SoCal-Rave sUBscriBER. It's a term applied to anyone
on the list, but especially to those subscribers who are seen at
events. The term SCRubber was coined when Phil and JBondy were
scouting locations for Elevation2 and needed a name to describe
list subscribers.
Example: "I met a lot of new Scrubbers at the ODP."
ODP
Open Deck Party. An ODP is a gathering of SCRubbers, usually in
someone's home, where we can meet, get to put faces to names,
and where anyone who wants to can spin for a while (hence the
name.)
ODP is sometimes applied to a gathering put on by non-Scrubbers
but it is generally reserved for gatherings organized by someone
on the list. ODPs take place indoors and outdoors, in homes and
in small warehouses. People often make food to share or
barbque. Sometimes the DJ timeslots are organized in advance
but often the turntables are just first come first served. DJ
sets are usually short unless no one else is waiting to spin.
The first known Scrubber ODP was held in the fall of 1994(?) on
top of a 11 story building at UCI with many Scrubbers and
SFRavers in attendance. Although back then we called it a
"microrave" since the ODP term had yet to be invented.
PLUR
PLUR is an acronym for (P)eace, (L)ove, (U)nity,
(R)espect. These four ideals are often touted as the elements
that make raves more positive and life affirming than other
kinds of parties or club scenes.
Laura's PLUR Manifesto seems to be gone from http://hyperreal.com/raves/spirit/plur/PLUR.html.
NRR
Not Rave-Related. Used as a courtesy in the subject line of posts
to SCR to indicate a message that is not, strictly speaking, about
raves. One might argue that much of the list discussion is NRR,
but labeling it explicitly when you start a thread is considered
polite to those who read by thread.
Well, actually nobody is "in charge" of SoCal-Raves. Socal-Raves
is a discussion group and a community of people that share common
interests. Sometimes various people organize socal-rave parties to
get everyone together. Keep your eye on the list for them or
organize one yourself!
As far as the actual list goes, it is currently hosted on the Dreamhost
Mailman hosting complex. It has been hosted in the past on: a machine
owned by Mark Rudholm, a Sun Ultra-5 owned by Chris Nolan, by Asylum,
our own Pentium server, and before that by Maximized Software. The
SoCal-Raves lists were hosted at UCSD for about 6 years. The current
machine is being maintained by a small group of administrators. If
you have any problems with the SoCal-Raves lists send email to:
If you feel like helping or starting a new service to help the
SoCal-Raves community go right ahead! This is your list. You might
want to ask tho to make sure nobody else is already doing something
similar.
If you have a question about SoCal-Raves or would like to offer to
help, you can reach the SoCal-Raves administrators at:
The SoCal-Raves list was started in September of 1992. Joachim (The
Underdog) and Dana met at KUCI on the campus of UC Irvine and wanted
to start something similar to the SFRaves list. After putting out
word to Usenet asking for resources for a home for SoCal-Raves, Andy
Ferrell, then postmaster at UCSD offered to host the list. Joachim
put the word out on alt.rave, SFRaves and NE-Raves, and soon the
list numbered about 50 subscribers.
Almost immediately Joachim started compiling the SoCal-Raves
Calendar from flyers and info posted to the list. Shortly thereafter
a socal-raves-digest list and a socal-raves-calendar list were also
created at UCSD.
The original subscribers to socal-raves were both ravers and early
adopters of technology. The Web didn't exist yet and even tho email
was prevalent on University campuses, not everybody had access to
email. And it was certainly uncommon in most businesses and there
were only a handful ISPs offering shell accounts with Internet
email. So the socal-raver was a rare breed. The volume of posts on
socal-raves was very light and flames were uncommon.
Through several "meet-ups" and micro-raves the SoCal-Raves list
subscribers got to know each other face to face. A sense of
coummunity was built both on and off the list in the first few
years. And it was not uncommon to meet up with subscribers of other
rave lists like SFRaves and NE-Raves. In fact, SFRaves and
SoCal-Raves planned a joint retreat to a cabin in Yosemite.
In 1994 the SoCal-Raves list started getting some media attention
with mentions in URB, Underground News, and xlr8r (some of it thanks
to Tamara Palmer).
In March 1994 the weekly SoCal-Raves calendar was made available via
the KUCI Gopher hole thanks to Dana. This was the first time the
Calendar was available outside the email lists. On June 24, 1994
Dana created the first SoCal-Raves homepage on a Cypherpunk server
at phantom.com. It originally contained the weekly SoCal-Raves
Calendar, subscription info, some pictures of socal-ravers and a
song. The homepage later moved to a UCI server and to Hyperreal in
1995(?). On January 20, 1995 Joachim put a more grapical SoCal-Raves
calendar up on the web on his homepage. On August 16, 1995, Robert
Lau created the first SoCal-Raves archive at USC. The
socal-raves.org domain was registered by Joachim in September 1995
(when domains were still free) but it only hosted a web version of
the Calendar for the first few years on a server at Maximized
Software.
Sometime in 1996(?) a group of SoCal-Ravers based in San Diego
decided that they needed a list more specifically for that area. The
SoCal-Raves list had included San Diego but was primarily focused on
the 5 county LA Basin area. So the SD-Raves list was created and
became a sister list of SoCal-Raves.
In November of 1997, the Intrepid Traveller took over editorship of
the SoCal-Raves Calendar. The Underdog had edited the calendar for 5
years.
In February of 1998, with Andy Ferrell no longer working as UCSD's
postmaster, UCSD gave notice that it would no longer host the 3
SoCal-Raves lists. An attempt was made to find a new home for the
SoCal-Raves lists but none was found. But UCSD did not terminate the
lists at this time. Several new rave lists were started at this time
intending to replace or supplement SoCal-Raves must most of them did
not continue.
The SoCal-Raves lists continued at UCSD until October 20, 1998 when
they were unceremoneously turned off after 6 years without any extra
warning. After 2 days the new SoCal-Raves list came back on a
temporary server as scr@socal-raves.org thanks to Joachim and
Maximized Software. A group of about 20 SCRubbers worked to find a
way to make a more permanent home for SoCal-Raves.
Asylum, a linux box of new and used computer components was created
at a SoCal-Raves ODP by Chris Nolan, Dan Mick, and Dana with
suggestions from Mark Rudholm, Joachim, and Steve Shah. This new
machine was graciously hosted by Chris Nolan.
In mid-2000, Asylum was replaced by a Sun Microsystems SPARCClassic,
gold, hosted with the donated network connection resources of New Dream Networks.
In September 2001, gold suffered a power outage that mangled its boot
program, and a much-faster Sparc Ultra-5 had already been donated to
the cause by Chris Nolan, so Dan and Mark took that opportunity to
move to the new Sparc Ultra-5, babylon, at New Dream's Soto Ave.
site.
In February 2005, New Dream closed their original site, and so the
list had to move again; this time to a really really much faster
server owned by Mark Rudholm at the new coloc facility in downtown LA.
It's still hosted by New Dream, who are really good guys who give us
great deals on coloc facilities; please patronize them if you can.
In November of 2005, SPAM load got so high on Mark's machine that he
turned off the list service. In January of 2006, Dan finally got
around to moving the list to Dreamhost's Mailman hosting service,
which hopefully should be a little less affected by SPAM, and won't
screw up Mark's other uses of his own hardware.
There are quite a few other stories about SoCal-Raves that should be
told. If you think they should be mentioned here send a short
historical summary to scr-listmaster@socal-raves.org.
In 1998 a group of artists from the list, led by listmember Art Kerns,
produced SCR.COMP.001. The album, released as a CD, contained 13 tracks
from 12 artists and represented a cross-section of the musical styles in
the scene at the time. SCR.COMP.001 was distributed to the artists at
Elevation III and made its formal debut at a party hosted by the list
called Signal2Noise.
In the summer of 2001, responding to buzz on the list, Abduction
Productions put out a call for submissions for SCR.COMP.002. Listmember
Uncle Noah served as executive producer on the new project and the CD was
released in early September 2001. The CD contained 10 tracks from 10
artists and again reflected the diversity of electronic musical styles
popular at the time. The album made its debut at a list party held in
Los Angeles.
In late 2001, Art Kerns released the few remaining units of SCR.COMP.001
to Abduction Productions and a double-CD sale was held just in time for
the holidays.
In 2005, through an agreement with CDBaby.com, SCR.COMP.002 was made
available to a number of digital music services including the iTunes
Music Store.
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Send comments or questions or additions to: scr-listmaster@socal-raves.org
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