"Atlantis" Chicago. 08-06-1994. (First party at Dolton Expo Center). Frankie Bones, Mark Verbos, Jedidah, Apollo.

Greetings.

    We've been fortunate to have been able to attend and record many great sets at iconic venues by great artists over the years. We have also been there for a few firsts as is the case with this post. "Atlantis" Chicago, 08-06-1994 was the first Rave held at the Dolton Expo center back in 1994. The lineup for the night included New Yorks Godfather of the US Rave Scene, DJ Frankie Bones, Verbos Electronics boss Mark Verbos Live, Milwaukees Drop Bass Network co founder Jedidah, Minneapolis' own DJ Apollo, Indianapolis' Andelicious and Chicagos own DJ Tron, Groov-E and DJ Fierce.

    This is a collection of separate posts I shared here a few years back including new pictures which include two pre flyers, directions to the venue, a ticket for the show and a forgotten hour long video filmed during the night. The E-Clipse crew consisted of a group of friends and DJ's who were going to parties that wanted to start throwing their own events. Some of those members included DJ Tron (R.I.P), DJ Fierce and Groov-E. Also the person responsible for the video and everyone seen in the beginning of the footage. I was also part of that group and can be heard introducing some of the artists during the night and helped with these recordings. Sadly this was the last party thrown by the group as this was the second event that they held that ended unexpectedly. We'll explain more on their first party and another venue first in a future post. 

     The lineup consisted of artists that the promoters all liked and group members that DJ'D. Frankie Bones played at FURTHUR earlier that year and everyone really enjoyed his set. Fierce heard Andelicious play at a party they both DJ'd at and booked him. The same with Apollo. Verbos and Jedidah were friends of the crew so that completed the line-up. When it came to the venue, they looked around at different spaces in the south suburbs and eventually Groov-E lead them to Dolton and ended up using that space. The Expo Center had many notable moments before and after "Atlantis" with it hosting the U.S. fencing championship in 1992 and many other Raves after 1994 including "WE" in 1999 featuring "Daft Punks" Thomas Bangalter DJ'ing before they put on the helmets. These sets were originally recorded onto cassette tapes and were never converted till the original posts here back in 2010. After the show I was given copies of the night and held on to them till I decided to start this blog. Side note, DJ Tron played first as he thought his set would break the flow of the night and it was never recorded.

    

                                    

     This footage was recorded by one of the group members and shows the space being prepared before the show with MarkZero visuals and lighting company LASERFLUX in some shots setting up their equipment. You also see Frankie bones, DJ Fierce and a few of the promoters and people helping out talking by the entrance before the music started. In another scene you hear Verbos doing a soundcheck as members walking around the space. As the footage continued you go from Bones set to shots of the crowd and various times the music stopped and the lights turned on. When towards the end of the footages the lights turned on and the party gets shut down. The last 10 minutes or so was filmed during a trip to Detroit to hear Richie Hawtin play at the Packard Building and the morning after in front of the venue.

    

    

                     

    First up from the recordings was a live P.A. by Mark Verbos. Originally from Milwaukee now based in Berlin, Mark started off playing at raves in 1993 and went on to work as an engineer at an recording studio in Chicago before moving overseas in 2000. Mark has had numerous releases on labels such as Milwaukee's Drop Bass Network, Hollands Djax-Upbeats and his own Simple Answer imprint. Mark has worked as an engineer or as an co-producer with many other artist's over the years. Most notably of those was with Tommie Sunshine to which they have produced more than 50 remixes and several EPs together. This night Mark brought his trademark all analog Acid show to the party. Marks sets have always been straight to the point Acid and this night is no different. This set is almost a hour long and really warmed up the crowd for the night.

Pre flyers

     Next up was one of Wisconsin's original rave promoter's, Jedidiah the Messiah. Jedidiah was part of the highly successful Drop Bass Network and record label of the same name in Milwaukee. Along with Minneapolis's Hidden Disco Family Plan, Drop Bass party's were some of the best shows and event's that I have ever been to north of Chicago. They were known for incredible line-ups and unique venues during the rave scene of the 1990's. One show that comes to mind was their "ONE" year anniversary event in 1993. Held in an horse barn, there were 5 DJ's booked with each spinning two different sets for the night. Drop Bass were also known to host Massive New year's eve party's one of which I was able to attend and still stands as one of my most memorable eve's to this day, Teenage Wasteland in 1997. Drop Bass also organized event's with other promoters like ATP and Ripe productions here in Chicago. Last but certainly not least was their "FURTHUR" camp out events. I was at the very first one in 1994 in which they showed the Mid-West how to do an multi day Electronic music festival while camping. I know this wasn’t his first but it might have been one of his earliest in Chicago. This set has been transferred from two cassette tapes and with that I had to do some editing to keep the flow of the mix together. Once again yours truly had the Mic to introduce him before his set. This mix has Classic tracks by Thomas Heckman, Steve Poindexter and Acrid Abeyance's Remix of Plank's - Acid War.

Directions to venue from Wax Trax Records Chicago .

Ticket for night.

    Next up was the godfather of the U.S rave scene live from his first show in Chicago, Brooklyn New York’s own Frankie Bones. Co-Founder of New York’s Sonic Groove Records along side his brother Adam-X and Heather Heart, Frankie’s career spans well over 35 years going back to the early Eighty’s. After years of DJ’ing, Frankie moved on to production with Tommy Musto as Musto & Bones and Lenny Dee as “Loony Tunes” and produced a string of hits both in the clubs and the underground. In 1989 he was brought out to England to play at the “Energy” rave that was thought to have 5000 people attend but ended up being a crowd of over 25,000. In early 1990 Bones went out to L.A. to play a warehouse party and knew he could do his version of what he saw there and in England in New York. When he returned he put together "Atmosphere" on June 30Th, 1990 and started the rave culture in the U.S. on the East coast.

    This night Chicago’s E-Clipse crew had Bones headline “Atlantis” with an hour and a half set of banging Techno, Acid and Drum & Bass. There are so many classic tracks on the set but one of my favorites is a banging cover of a Fat Boys track which you hear in the video. Frankie gets on the mic from time to time to hype up the crowd and thank them for a great time at the end of his set. This set was recorded over two cassette tapes so I had to do some editing to fill in the gaps. 

     The last of the recordings from the night is Minneapolis's DJ Apollo. Apollo has been DJ'ing since the late 80's and has produced music since the early 90's under a number of aliases. He used "DJ Apollo" during the early rave years (1993-1998) and currently goes by Dirty McKenzie. He also was part of M.O.R.E. (Minneapolis Organization of Rave Enthusiasts) and was a staple in the party scene there. Two records into Apollo's set, Someone went on an rampage and did some damage to the venue and destroyed some of MarkZeros video equipment. The management at the Dolton expo turned on the lights and has us clean up the venue before we could continue the night. Apollo finished his set but 30 minutes into Chicago's DJ Fierce's set the Police showed up and shut down the party due to noise complaints from the residents around the venue. With all the chaos going on the recording's did not come out very clean so I did my best when editing them for the post.

     If you haven’t already, click on the "Like" tab at the top right corner of the blog and follow us on our various socials to see shows and artists we're supporting. And of course check out all the artists involved here and follow them for more on what they have coming up and support what they do! After all, if it were not for the artists, none of these posts would be possible. 

Hope this finds you all well.

Cheers!

Gus Audio.