Dennis RomeroUsually people in the lamestream media get raves all wrong. It's not as if most journalists have even been to one.
And then there were L.A. politicians, with pro-rave lobbyists whispering in their ears, who just a few years back described the events as “music festivals” with no more drug use than you'd see at a Hollywood Bowl concert. Well, one public figure got it right:
Talk show host Wendy Williams.
Sure, she completely mangled the case against L.A.'s Pasquale Rotella, the Insomniac honcho behind the wildly successful Electric Daisy Carnival events. But she got one thing right (at the bottom).
Here's what Williams said about the L.A. District Attorney's attempted prosecution of Rotella for alleged conspiracy. “RadarOnline is alleging that Pasquale used the Coliseum to host rave parties.”
Eh. That's not the allegation. That's a fact. Parties were hosted. For years. It's well documented.
Credit: EDC scenery by Christopher Victorio for LA Weekly.
Williams was discussing Rotella's August wedding to Playboy model Holly Madison, who recently gave birth to the couple's child.
She went on about how Rotella could face 14 years behind bars in the bribery case that alleged Rotella paid an L.A. Coliseum official under the table in order to keep his parties pumping at the public venue.
Rotella has pleaded not guilty and is due in court in July. He's got enough cash — concert promoter Live Nation recently purchased a $50 million stake in his company — to put up an excellent defense, that's for sure.
And raves have certainly gone mainstream, attracting the investment of the biggest concert promoters in America.
But still, Wendy, she gets this much:
These rave parties are huge with the kids. They take drugs — I mean the loopty-doopty. And they listen to that music that all sounds the same … And they're high and they're sweatin' and they're drinkin' water and they're up to things.
Forget Molly. It's all about the loopty-doopty, kids.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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