Pubdate: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2000 Southam Inc. Contact: 300 - 1450 Don Mills Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3R5 Fax: (416) 442-2209 Feedback: http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary.asp?s2letters Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Forum: http://forums.canada.com/~nationalpost Author: Peter Elkerbout and Nuno Silva RAVE REVIEWS I'm writing to offer my praise to Mitchel Raphael on his April 19 article Afraid of Rave? Remember Rock ? After so much unnecessarily negative media attention on raves recently, it was refreshing to read such a wonderful article. Mr. Raphael has put into words what a strong majority of the rave scene's population has been thinking for some time. As a DJ and promoter, I realize how much more there is to the Toronto rave scene than kids on drugs. In fact, most partyers who have been in the scene for a long time are in it for positive reasons too. Although some kids at raves do ecstacy and tragedies have occurred, that is not the norm. There are many worse things that kids could be doing to themselves and others. Thank you for stating what seems to be so obvious, but what is for parents and the media so hard to understand. Peter Elkerbout, Toronto. LTE 2 I just wanted to express my gratitude to your paper for finally writing about the "other side" of the rave scene. Mitchell Raphael was able to finally expose the ridiculous nature of the media's portrayal of raves and their obvious bias as well as ignorance. Thank you for finally pointing this out to the masses and helping them realize that this is just another crazy fad that our teens have embraced in order to express themselves. Nuno Silva, Toronto. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea