At Randall’s Island yesterday, the drug of choice was alcohol. Everybody was drinking at the 18 Plus Festival. I smelt weed once and as a straight comparison, at a Reggae Festival ten years or so ago also at Randall’s Island, all I smelt was pot.
But the tee shirts told another story. “Anybody Seen Molly?” read one shirt and “Weed And Molly” read another. SO the drug ecstatic ecstasy scene was somewhere around and that was hardly a shocker. Two deaths? From ecstasy? That was a bit of a shocker. The dancing was no wilder than usual.
It is kinda hard to OD on Molly, so the news of two deaths and four ODs from the ecstasy derivative suggests maybe a bad strain going around the Island: “The City recommended cancellation and the event promoters have agreed,” NYPD officials and Mayor Bloomberg’s office said in a joint statement. The Electric Zoo organizers have worked with City officials to reduce health risks at this event, but in view of these occurrences, the safest course is to cancel the remaining day of the event.”
Since last year over 100,000 people went to the Electronic Dance Music Festival, the numbers suggests an over reaction on the part of the authorities. These things happen. Three people died at Woodstock for God’s sake. And I saw a very well organized and safe environment. There is no way to keep people from bringing drugs to a rave and it certainly SHOULD NOT have been closed down for today’s performance. Having said that, security was lax. I get terrible motion sickness and had a bottle of pills with me, they went unnoticed. So did binoculars and my charger. I could have brought anything in.
As I mentioned, I was there yesterday and I have already written my review. This is is what I wrote before I was aware of the deaths: “...the sweet girl slumming, the Molly adherent in her tee and glazed eyes, those who sorta came to dance and those who really came to dance” so yes, it was there but only as part of a greater scene.
This is a disaster for the organizers of Electric Zoo. I’d be surprise if this, the fifth year, isn’t their last.