Art vs Jungle started off as a great little warehouse party. There were lots of people there and the music was bangin, but then the Kansas City Gestapo made their appearance. We were pinned in, told we should stay because THEY were waiting out there. They were Well Armed Keepers of the Peace and They were going to come inside and Investigate and bash the heads of any Ravers that gave them the slightest reason.

And, they did. The Kansas City Fire Marshall and his brigade of 16 Armed Kansas City Police Units decided that if they couldn't party, then nobody could and entered the back room with a loud, "The Party is Over. Go Home." As quick as that, sometime around 12:30 am, the event was over.

We all started filing out single file, carefully avoiding eye contact with Them. As this was happening and we were all doing as instructed and exiting down the hallway, I saw some dude standing against the wall near the end of the hall. As I passed him, a cop came up and asked him, "What are you doing?", then, without any warning or even waiting for an answer, the cop proceeded with the face-against-the-wall, frisk down of this dude. At no point in my walk down that hall, did this person give the cop ANY reason to react in this manner. It appeared to me that the guy against the wall was waiting for someone in that long line. I'm not sure what the Cop's paranoid little brain saw. Maybe his brain-washed and deluded mind saw one of the Supreme Members of The Taliban. Who knows, but I think that what I witnessed amounted to nothing more than Police Harrassment and Brutality of Unaware Citizen for no other reason than to Set an Example for the rest of us that were quietly leaving. Nothing more. Nothing less. It worked. In fact, it freaked me out enough to hide my camera under coat and slip out quietly.

This was a show of force. Welcome to the Police State of Kansas City, Missouri. They are in control. You are merely a Citizen and They will decide If and When you are guilty and What your are Guilty of. No... this wasn't about Fire Code. This was about the Kansas City Police Department being able to do What they want, When they want, to Whomever they want. And speaking of Fire Code. I was not aware that when the Fire Marshall did these inspections that he always brought 8 Police Cruisers and as many as 16 or more Armed Police Officers. If that is the case, maybe That is part of the City's budget problem. Talk about OverKill.

Another funny thing about that. Apparently one of our local news channels appeared on the scene later to MIS-inform the populous that Kansas City MO Police Department had successfully raided and shut down a Huge RAVE of Massive Proportions. Hmmm.... I must have missed that. Why do they always feel the need to Lie or Exaggerate the Truth?

Anyhow, after hangin outside to see what developed and trying to get a decent photo from my car window, Dougie told me I should head over to Jilly's, so I bounced over there. Jilly's sounded like it was rockin pretty good, but I never got past the door. The doorman wanted $2 even after I explained what I was up to. Oh well. I know when and where I am not welcome. It's funny the kind of treatment you get after countless promotions for said Bar, even though normally, I would have just put the camera away, paid the $2 and gone on in, chilled out and had a few cocktails, but at 1:00 am ... really, please ... they close at 1:30 am. I really didn't see the point of paying to go in only to hear "last call" after only being there 15 minutes, so... I said the hell with it and decided to just go home.

The next day, for a change of pace, I was invited down to the Grand Emporium, to check out The Original Low Riders…. War. I had a really great time. I went a little early to check out the Blues set by Millage Gilbert and there was a good little crowd singin along and dancin. He was playin some fine tunes! I kicked back, had a BBQ sandwich and a beer and listened for a while. After his group’s set, Eugene Smiley came on and played some great covers. In fact, one the last tunes was Bus Stop ... hehe. If you've never been on a full dance floor for that one, well... you're missin out. Of course I had to get up with the other 30 or so that suddenly invaded the dance floor. It was fun. I hadn’t done that little jig in a loooooong while.

Finally, though, Lee Oskar hit the stage with War, or I guess they are calling themselves, The Original Low Riders. I’m not sure really, but they played some of the favorites to a Packed House and the bartender told me it was just as packed the night before. Very cool. It was the first time I had ever heard them play live, excepting concert footage from back in the day. It was definitely an opportunity to be savored since Low Rider is like one of my Top Ten of All Time.

Monday, I stopped in at Davey’s Uptown to hear and get photos of the band, Fetisch, but apparently the band they were not going going to be playing because of some miscommunication about their cancellation of the tour. Oh well, so I kicked back and had a few cocktails and talked a bit with some friends. Everyone should definitely keep eye on Davey's. Industrial Area is going to be changing up there a little bit in the coming months. They’ve added music to the main bar area. It was kind of DownTempo that night … and they’ll still have it bangin in the back. I don’t know the specifics, but keep an eye on the lineups, you never know who might be spinnin down there.

The rest of the week, I worked… ick, but I guess you gotta make some cash somehow, right? Friday, though, Joe and I ran out to Topeka for a benefit that 666 ZipCode Town Records was putting on. I think it was for the Anthropology department or something like that. There wasn’t really a huge crowd, but it was definitely a really fun night with some great tunes. Breakbotix tore it up. It was great. They were playin all kinds of wacky tunes that were giving everyone their own little Blast From the Past and it got several people up and out and their chairs shakin it. It was definitely a One of A Kind Performance from these guys, a rare opportunity to hear them Just Play. At the end of the night, when AC was giving us a good dosage of Gabber, Scott even threw in a little scratch time to that. Where else, but at The Boobie Trap Bar. Hell, Joe even bought a shirt. Thinking back… I shoulda too. Oh and by the way, Billy Christ is an Enigma.

Saturday, I was invited down to the Main Street Café for a night of Rhymes and Beats by some of Kansas City’s up and coming young MCs. What a great little venue. Denise, from City Gates Ministry promotes the saturday night there. Their main purpose is to provide a safe place for kids of all ages to meet and dance and generally just have a good time. Though there were fewer kids there because of the Apollo show, once that show ended a lot more started to show. About 11 pm, I popped in on XO Club to see how things were going there. Though there weren’t a lot of people there, it was obvious that the crowd was building. By the time we left around Midnight, it was starting to look pretty full actually. After that, I ran Sherri home, called around a little to see if anyone was up to going to Videodrome. Nope, everyone was either staying home or going to some house party out south, so I head for Videodrome. On the way there, I decided I would stop in on Kabal for a minute to say Hi to a few people and see how things were going there. They were doing pretty well and had good crowd, so I stayed for a minute, took a few pictures and had a beer.

Probably about 1 am, I head down to Videodrome, which actually had a nice tight little crowd, that is until this dumbass ruined it. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but some rude dude decided it would be cute to spit on Mark because he told him that he wasn’t going to let him in. Umm… duh… ever hear of R.O.A.R.? If someone tells you it’s a private party and no, you can’t come and yes, you should just go away, then please… do so. Don’t be rude. Really, it’s in your best interests. Some people are so ignorant some times. Overall it was a good event, though attendance was a little slim.

Tuesday, the 18th, RJ Bass kicked off a new night in the northland, called Northern Soul and I dropped in to check it out. It's at a funky little place called The Groove, just off of NE 72nd Street, not too far from me that I had never really had a chance to go to.

Ending that week was Prophecy with struck all the air of a Long Anticipated event. Though it wasn't held in the usual Main Theater of the Uptown, that didn't mean there wasn't enough space. There was more than enough space for everyone, though at times the hallways were a little crowded. Regardless, with three rooms of bangin music and plenty of space to dance, I think it definitely lived up to everyone's expectations. Unfortunately though, there was some rather serious damage done during the event to the venue and some of the furniture, leaving the promoters with a hefty bill on their hands and I'm sure, doubt in the minds of the Uptown management of any similar events in the future.

Prophecy only started the weekend really though. The very next night was a double bill for me. First I started off at Kabal at their First Anniversary Party which featured one of finest DJs in my book, John Selway. Just like when he was here at DeepFix's party, A Machine for Living back in January 2001, if you weren't movin, you probably had something physically wrong with you, or you had a huge hulk of a camera hanging around neck... hehe. Sometimes, I really should just put it down for a while. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for his entire set, but what I heard was awesome.

A little after 1 am, I cut out so that I could make it down to XO Night Club for another visit by Terry Mullan. It was another lazer fantastic night at XO too. I really like tryin to get photos of those. The place was full, but not too full. Just right actually. Plenty of room to move around and dance. This was a good crowd intent on dancing while Terry hammered out record after record that kept everyone groovin. Venturing in to the Oxygen lounge, I found a few DJs that I hadn't heard since Euphoria 3, tearin up the CDs. That floor was packed full of dancin kidz. I haven't seen that many folks back in that room for a while.

Monday, the 24th brought Submission Monday back to Davey's Uptown with the usual performance by the Fetish Troupe, Inferno de L'Impur. I finally mustered enough courage to actually touch that little purple shock stick or whatever it's called. It really wasn't that bad. I had thought all of this time that it was way worse. Gunrunner was even there with his Sensation Station, which was voted "Best way to get a Spankin'" by the Pitch in 2003, and there was the Bondage, Spankings and Torture enough for everyone.

The night before Thanksgiving found me back at XO Night Club for Syde-Sho's even, "Thanks for the Syde-Dishes" featuring some of KCs best DJs in the two rooms of XO and I had the opportunity to return Atom's lighter, which I had pocketed on Tuesday, insisting that it was mine. Well. It was. At least the one he tried to snatch from me. It seems that I pocketed his lighter and kept using my own and then when I got I home I realized.... whooops. All in all it was a good night. Sherri even tagged along with me for that one.

Thanksgiving Day came and went without much fanfare. I stayed in and ate some bird with the family, watched Miami beat the crap out of Dallas... HAHA. I was always like to see Dallas lose. They are by far my most favorite team to dislike. After that I really don't know what happened. There was a lot of wine and turkey and some snoring in the Recliner, then later on some Texas Hold 'em down at AmeriStar.

The day after Thanksgiving, brought us Space Banger, the final event for November. It made quite a splash on the streets of Independence. So much so that a water main was broken when I arrived. I was a little worried about that too. I parked rather close to it and had to check randomly throughout the night to make sure that I wasn't frozen to the ground, as there was already ice forming around the area. This was the first even that I covered for the Circus and even though the turnout wasn't the best, it was one of the best and most diverse crowds in a while. I met people from all over..... Springfield, Indianapolis, St Louis, Omaha, Oklahoma City and even a few girlz from Dallas. Way to go guyz! That's gettin the word out! O.... and the SeaMonkeys... weird.... Overall, it was definitely a good party. The sound was great. The lights were nonexistent, which was pretty good, I guess. The best part though.... the Dance Floor. Wood. Next time we need to get some Breakers up in that place. There's more wood flooring in there than they would know what to do with and best of all.... it's shmooooooth.

Well, until next month, keep your head in the clouds and your eyes on the prize and keep checkin the calendar. You never know what's gonna happen next!

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