E. 909 St. Issue #1

Some of you may remember this old zine I produced back in the early 90s in Orlando, Fl. & Gainesville, Fl. It was a zine mainly on the topic of deep house music during that era when Raves were on the rise. During that time in Central Florida breaks were the popular sound at many Raves, and undergrounds. I was mainly into house music in that time, but I would also mix it up with breaks here & there w/acid house. I felt a need back then to get the word out on this sound that was being over looked down South. Many labels come to mind when looking back on those times like Emotive, Murk, Nervous, Strictly Rhythm, Nu Groove, Polar, Cardiac, Cajual, Eightball, Vibe, Miami Soul, Big Beat, Wheel, Fader, Citi, 111 East, Minimal, Jo-Jo, Shelter, Su-bur-ban, One, Pow Wow, Mirage, AC&S, UMM, Maxi..  It was a time when the sound was real fresh here in the Central Florida area, and even down south in Miami. Much of the printing in the beginning I did in Orlando, Fl. and Miami, Fl. since I was going back and forth around that time. If you notice in the first issue there are a lot of biblical quotes in there, most of that was a result of my own spiritual journey I was going through at that time. To me back then there was this connection in soulful house with the holy spirit that some claim they get by going to Orthodox Church. To me the Church was the people on the dancefloor grooving to that universal house music sound. The spirit is always present when the people are in unison in some sort of telelpathic communion, which makes the community. Today (2012) it's a lil rare to see that happen sice the quality of music being played in many clubs has degraded to more of a marketing tool to sell more VIP Tables & tickets. Gone are the days when huge groups of people came with open minds & hearts to hear the music not so much the Stellar Line Up. In that era locals got just as big, and most often an even bigger support at gatherings. It's very common these days to see venues go through residents like dirty underwear, meaning they could not keep up with the demand of table service.


So as I look back and see the amount of time I put into this magazine, its like this era was a dream. Only the ones that lived it will know, and see how far we have come to basically fall short of our expectaions of a PLUR Society. PLUR meaning Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect, was all this futile I ask myse;f at times? Where are we today as I look back, more wars, more drama, very lil respect for the craft & music in the nightlife, and a retreat back into smaller spaces that barely can keep business. What happened? Many will say well Joe its not so bad, but what I am talking about is the amount of drama amongst many of my own friends, and peers that were present in that Golden Era of Rave. Was it the amount of drugs that eventually tweeked everyone out into some sort of Speed Monster? Perhaps it was all that money made at the big events that we all ended up partying away anyways. This all leading to over doses and drama that caught the eyes of Big Brother here in the USA. In pondering all of these scenarios I see that this is nothing than another repeat cycle of Human Interaction on the planet devoid of any mythological rite of passage. These kind of counter-sub-cultures tend to rise when a society has totally dis-connected itself from the Earth and its understanding of the natural cosmic cycles that happen each moment. The outcasts, orphans, mutants, undesirables, free thinkers, non conformists, heretics join together in unison to express this insanity that the status quo cannot tolerate. It is these outcasts that are considered the weak link cause they are the ones expressing the insanity of the Family Tree. They can see where others dare not look, in this seeing is much pain hence the term "self medication" that is popular in these circles of poets & carnies. Welcome to the Carnival it only gets more weird from here on!

Check out the last issue of e909st online here
Ill post more of the older issues soon..