alcohol in the dance community...your opinion...

I was at a friends house, and there was this young chap over who had just discovered designer drugs...my partner and i were discussing with our friend about us going to a farewell cocktail party...this young chap piped up and said, "errrgh, you meatheads, how can you drink alcohol??? I'd rather have e and speed"...i then asked him how old he was..he was 19, so i left it with a sigh.
now, please all 19 year olds, this is NOT a flame at you or a generalisation, i just see this alot within the dance communities. There is such a stigma associated with alcohol...city clubs, sleaze, meatheads, blah blah. I don't like meatheads, sleaze, city nightclubs...i do like a (good) pill, very occasionally a bit of meth...but i usually have a pill at a beach, at home with friends and decks, and i do like a drop of red with it. That's just me tho...raves have changed up here, in my opinion, and it's not my scene anymore. If i go out i'll occsionally have some meth (if there's a GOOD dj playing) I'm not going to apologise for liking the occasional margarita, or brandy alexander... i think there can be a happy medium. I think i've mellowed in my old age... btw, i don't drink to get drunk, i drink for the taste of it...and i don't get hangovers...honestly!!!
just one more thing... i do understand that when you first discover something, that it is new and exciting...my post isn't essentially about alcohol as such, just the stigma it has in the dance community and if you do like the occasional drop, how ousted you can be
I'd like to know what fellow BL's think about this subject
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when your fun becomes your reality...what do you do for fun???

I drink to get drunk
and I'm proud of it

I love my Bourbon and Coke above everything else!!!

Yeah i used to get like that - drinking is for losers who aren't into dance music and who stick their elbows in everyone's faces blah, blah, blah. This was mainly because i never had as much fun with alcohol as i do with pills and so thought why would i bother with anything else. Unfortunately it isn't such a good idea to be off your face at weddings, bahmitsvas (i know horrible spelling thank allah i'm not jewish) and other social events.
It took me a lot of strange looks and a fair amount of time to figure this out and after i had talked the ear off more elderly people than i care to mention and failed to eat a single piece of wedding cake, i came to the conclusion : every drug has its time and place and is specific to everyone - some people like to drink to get drunk at parties, some people like to get tipsy, some people like to take speed to study and some people like to get stoned and drive cars (i can't think of anything worse!) etc - i guess what i am trying to say is everyone likes different experiences (including being staight!) and its no fun to be on one type of drug the whole time.
There is a time and a place for everything and just because you feel the absolute best on pills doesn't mean that it should be the basis for your drug use. Variety is the spice of life!
sorry if the message is convoluted, the weekend is just too close to write properly.
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see no evil live on ees
[This message has been edited by delroy (edited 24 November 2000).]

hah, a downfall (blindspot, if you will) in our much-touted "open minded" scene.
*** NOTE: i am about to make a couple of sweeping generalisations, they are intended for clarity of meaning, they are not flames ***
i think you have really answered yourself here man. i think it may be that, as you said, when you discover something new, it becomes a large part of your life as you explore the boundries.
from experience i did the same, found pills, went hard for a while, barely drank piss at all. But after a bit, lapsed back, and started drinking more again (admittedly less than before, only so many nights in a week )
cant (and dont want to!) speak for others, but i think it is something we all go through. i reckon give this guy some time and youll catch him drinking again (may take a while).
i guess social acceptability is also a major thing. most people who arent involved in this scene will not be sensitive, appreciative or forgiving of any drug use that is not legal. so you have to party with these people on their terms occasionally if you dont want to be ostracised from a large chunk of non-dance/rave social events...
just some random thoughts
pulse
OOPS, delroys post wasnt there before, and i just repeated some stuff great minds... do something... forget what
[This message has been edited by pulse (edited 24 November 2000).]

24 hours in a day
24 beers in a case...
coincidence?
mmmm alcohol... it's never let me down

I hate alcohol, or more specifically, society's view of alcohol. I don't drink at all anymore and don't intend to as long as society maintains it's hypocritical stance... anyway, thats fodder for another thread...
I really don't like seeing people standing around the bar with a beer in their hand, just standing there all night. If people are up and dancing and wandering around and chatting, then I won't even notice what they're drinking, but if they stand at the bar all night then I'm not too impressed, tho only really for the reasons in the first paragraph which I'm not going into detail here...
But on the other hand they aren't really doing any harm most of the time, and for people like samadhi you don't drink to get drunk but just for the taste (*shudder*) then I'm not gonna complain, I wish more people had that attitude and all the 'meatheads' would stop drinking with the intention of getting drunk.

Ahhhh booze. Love it still!
Popped out to the pub at lunchtime with a couple of work buddies
Had a couple of stubbies at a bar last night
Had quite a few at the local up the road the night before with a pub meal
sing it with me:

For a hard earned thirst you need a big cold beer, and the best cold beer is Vic...

Click to expand...

...unless there is Cascade Premium!
Even when going out and having a pill, I don't mind starting with a beer

Sorry, but I don't quite understand Tarsalan, why must we all be dancing? Why is it not right to simply stand at the bar, enjoy a drink and perhaps a conversation, and absorb one's surrounds.
While I indeed concure that society in general does indeed take a very hypocritical stanse on the legality of alcohol and other drugs, I believe that to decide that all those that drink are themselves guilty of this hypocrisy is completely illogical, and indeed almost on par with mainstream's take on illegal drug use - are you indeed saying "bloody pissheads" as they say "bloody druggies" without consideration that while stereotypes exist for a reason, there is often far more to the story.
I too do not like people that seem intent to always get drunk, however I also don't really appreciate people that are always intent to get drug-fucked.
Each to his own, and so long as they only hurt themselves.

Bent: It was a bit of a generalisation there, what I meant was that I don't like it when people stand around drinking drink after drink and wouldn't notice if they were in a pub or a club or wherever. If you are standing around enjoying the music and conversation (when possible) then that's fine.
Can't say much more without straying off topic, so I'll just say that if people are just having a few drinks and enjoying a night out as everyone else is (straight or pilling) then that's fine with me. But if people are ruining the night for others (drunk, pilling, or straight) then they can go home...

*giggles thinking of self as meathead*
*takes another swig of extra dry*

I love alcohol, i used to drink myself silly and my liver almost gave up on me.
yes, i do admit that i behave like a dickhead when i am drunk at times and as such i have learnt to maintain self-control.
Everything done in moderation is fine. Abuse on the other hand is something else.
It would not be fair to say that alcohol causes this and E/Speed/K/LSD/ANYTHING ELSE does not!!
Remember, RESPECT YOURSELF!!!

I have to admit, I used to be the same way only say 6 mths ago "Alcohol sux blah blah blah", but now I've kind of mellowed out a bit too. I don't mind having a couple of drinks here and there depending on where I am, but I can't stand it when I see people drinking themsleves silly non stop.
The point is MODERATION.

Thanks guys, i was really surprised to see so many replies...
I totally agree with the point that if you are in a club that plays electronic music, it is really annoying to see some drunk skunk that's just come up from city rowers (dodgy brisbane city club), who is bumping into everyone, oggling the girls, and ends up trying to pick a fight with some poor soul, who up until then, was in the throes of a really lovely pill rush.
But (and i know this might sound corny) for me i love nothing more than to enjoy a glass of wine, while eating fish and chips at the beach, watching yet another majestic sunset with the guy i lurve...(then after we've digested our food, drop a really awesome pill and lay on the sand, gaze up at the night sky, and ponder the universe!!!!)
BTW....the cocktail party ROCKED!!! hehe
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when your fun becomes your reality...what do you do for fun???

one more thing...Tarsarlan, i agree with you wholeheartedly on the subject of how there is such a hypocrisy in society regarding alcohol. It's the same with cigarettes too.There is so much hypocrisy regarding so many things it's not funny...we could start a discussion board soley devoted to hypocrisy in society!!!!
But like i said, i'm not a "drink to get drunk" person, i can't help if i am partial to the taste of a brandy alexander. If after i've been working in the garden for the day, then i'll enjoy the refreshing taste of a cold ale. But i enjoy the refreshing taste of a cool water as well. Personally i don't think of myself as a hypocrite for liking the taste of alcoholic beverages, but i do think it's grossly hypocritical when politicians down the use of e (and other recreational drugs) when most of them get pissed 4 times a week at "business" luncheons anyway...bloody mob of alcos...
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when your fun becomes your reality...what do you do for fun???

Alcohol......the great question!
As with any drug, it is a matter of choice.
Everybody has there own reasons both for and against, and thats cool.
I personally dont drink, nor have i for many years....yes I am very thirsty
The things i have done,felt, and witnessed are enough for me. Abuse,brutalising,violence,destruction,depression,serious bloodletting,family breakup,emergence of uglyness from within.
But to be fair, also laughter,fun,sociality.
At dance parties I can relax and not be wtching my back all the time.Where ever there is serious alcohol comsumption I just cant relax.There is always someone full of liquid bravado waiting to have a go.
Alcohol abuse does very often have an after effect of verbal,mental,and physical abuse to ppl around the drinker.Ask any family member of a serious drinker.
So thats why i stay away from the drinkers culture.
Experience?? worked with hard drinkers all my life (try the mining and steel industry,and go to northern central australia- seen and lived the effects),lost ppl due to hard drinking,seen the sat-nite casualties, been one! grew up in the pub scene (uk born & raised), Age?36 so no youngster.
Drinking can be ok if ppl can handle it....but not many can.
There is NO sincerity behind the ramblings of alcohol.
[This message has been edited by Scoobydont (edited 25 November 2000).]

Caution: sweeping statements ahead, proceed with caution. heheh.
Alcohol imho is a shitty drug. Some people will take it, have it to the point where they overdose (ie. pass out), and due to societies complacency with it, these things are just bound to occur. Most people who drink dont treat alcohol as a drug, which it is, a psychoactive drug. i will have a drink (very selectively tho) as i dont like the scene that accompanies it, ie. as said before, pubs and bad sleazy nightclubs.
This is only because it always seems that there is violence at these venues also, and that with some who consume alcohol that it makes them increasingly violent in some cases. Sleazy nightclubs are another thing all together where the objective (for guys it seems) is to go, get pissed enough until you can get up and dance, and then try to 'pick up'. bah. A drink with friends is different all together, im more focussing on the thursday night ritual of getting blind drunk.
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"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."
[This message has been edited by Cowboy Mac (edited 25 November 2000).]

Personally I would rather the company of somebody totally of their nut dancing in their own little world, to a drunken sleezebag that all of a sudden thinks he has been given permission to grab every woman in site (No offense to those that do this on a regular basis at clubs such as city rowers or cocktails & dreams.)
I must admit I do have a soft spot for midori but i would be lucky to drink a bottle a year, my old friends think that i am crazy that i don't drink myself to slug statis at parties and nightclubs, ( but then again they have never taken an e ) And it all comes down to getting respect for yourself, if your bid is to get drunk and to be anyones then in my opinion how can anyone respect u and furthermore, how can u respect yourself?
On the drug front, I know when it is time to have a break when I am off my face and thinking " fuck i feel and look like hell and half the world can see it"
I think i've said enough

*BURP*

Samadhi. I am 19 years old, and I didnt take offence to what you said. But what has being 19 got to with anything.
There are ugly sides to every drug, yet many people in the scene will bag people who happily get pissed, which is a bit stupid but who really cares. Drinkers who dont do drugs pay out on us, and ravers who dont use smack pay out on smackies.
Even though I happily recreationally use drugs, I think alcohol is a much safer drug.
and I like to pick as many different fruits as I can