We know you’re still hurting from the Jays loss to KC last night. There is hope, but next year is just too damn far away. So to tide you over and help heal your wounds we’ve dug up some Toronto World Series rave history.
In order to restore your faith please listen to this quick two minute clip, then we’ll dig deeper below.
That wicked sound bite is from a 1993 Toronto rave called Unity. But let’s rewind even more, back to the first time we got to celebrate a World Series victory at a rave. It was Saturday October 24 1992 at event called Lost In Space – hosted by Chemistry Productions. The game went into extra innings and several ravers had tuned in on their car radios en-route to the venue. When they entered the party the news spread virally, the old-fashioned way. That involved humans communicating with each other in real time. It was called word of mouth. You see, instead of getting an update on your smartphone, an email, or text – another person would engage you in an actual conversation and tell you the news. Imagine that.
Unfortunately no audio from Lost In Space exists, or at least it’s never surfaced. But according to local legend, Chemistry’s Alex of London is said to have a stash of recordings tucked away somewhere…
But for now we’ll just have to flashback via the flyer from that magical evening at Scooter’s Roller World (a now defunct space-age roller rink that was tucked away in the ‘burbs.)
Now back to Unity. Unity conceived as a fundraiser by a gentleman known as Trevor Hardcore. He was (and is) a personal friend of the Ben and Mike from Sykosis. The intention was to raise funds for the massive financial losses that occurred at Sykosis’ “Ravestock” which happened a few months previous. Ravestock was Toronto’s first rave festival – it was ahead of its time and that usually translates into a disaster on a financial level.
Hardcore approached several rave companies and pitched the idea of pooling promotions with the proceeds used to repay the debts Ravestock had racked up. Several rave companies agreed, then bailed for one reason or another. Eventually it turned into a team effort by Sykosis and Infinity.
I managed the recordings that evening and captured three sides of two 90 minute cassettes. Back then recording audio wasn’t as easy as clicking a button on a laptop. In our day you had to press record on a tape deck – remember to flip it 45 minutes later and then swap it out for a new tape after another 45 minutes. And repeat throughout the entire evening.
This recording is one of the most infamous Toronto tapes out there. Mostly due to the fact the MC (Clive G) repeatedly reminded the crowd that “The Blue Jays Won!” If you were at the rave that evening his voice has since been indelibly etched in soundtrack of your 1990s mind.
So without further ado…this is what happens when you’re at a rave and the Jays have just won the World Series…
And in honor of the Jay’s great 2015 season – have this never before released portion, on us:
Go Jays Go.
