November 11–18, 1999

city beat

Twisted

Despite what you may have read, the Oct. 30 "satanic rave" was neither, according to some who were there.

by Frank Lewis

There are certain things you don’t want your mother to learn about you from a report on the evening news. For most people, worshipping Satan would fall into this category.

But in the days after Oct. 30, that’s how an undetermined number of moms around the Delaware Valley became aware of their kids’ penchants for pentagrams, severed limbs and sacrilegious depictions of children. For several days, TV stations and daily newspapers dutifully informed them that their little angels were down with the devil.

But people who organized and attended the so-called "satanic rave," the event that led to all the commotion, say it’s much ado about nothing. The whole thing’s been blown way out of proportion, they say, by city officials and reporters with no sense of humor.

The story began late on Oct. 30, when police and officials from the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) raided a party at 1236 Ridge Ave., a largely vacant two-story building in Northern Liberties. Four men, ranging in age from 18 to 30, were arrested and charged with assault and reckless endangerment.

But three elements raised this story above blotter status. First, the room had been decorated for Killith Fair, as the party was dubbed, with faux satanic imagery: baby dolls splattered with fake blood and hung upside down on inverted crosses; a banner that read "We Kill Children"; and, of course, the number 666. Second, officials claimed the scene turned into a riot when one reveler encouraged the crowd to attack the police. And third, weapons — including an AK-47 assault, sword and pipe bomb components — and drugs were found at the scene.

None of these facts is in dispute. It’s how they were presented, partygoers say, that gave a false impression of what went on.

The Daily News’ Nov. 2 report reads like a firsthand account of a party in hell. It described the dolls as "blood-drenched," as if the red stuff were real; the partygoers as "dance-crazed" and a "mob"; the music "spewed" by the bands as "ear-splitting."

The Daily News also seemed bent on characterizing the party as a rave, even when its own reporting contradicted that conclusion. An accompanying sidebar on raves described parties nothing at all like what went on that night in Northern Liberties, and the main story even quoted L&I Deputy Commissioner Dominic Verdi as saying, "This was nowhere near a rave dance, although it looks similar to one. It was more or less an underground party."

The story’s headline? "Rave turns mad."

The Inquirer’s report, also on Nov. 2, was more balanced but was misleading in other ways. For example, the article stated: "Four people were arrested in the melee and an AK-47 automatic rifle and a .22-caliber rifle were confiscated, along with two machetes and a samurai sword."

While technically correct, this gives the impression that people arrested or others were brandishing these weapons. Not true. The weapons were found in an apartment in another part of the building.

Both papers relied on L&I and the police for their information. L&I’s spokeswoman said she’d ask Verdi to call City Paper, but he didn’t before press time. The Police Department’s public affairs office also failed to respond.

Mike Tomaszewski, organizer of the party and member of three of the bands slated to play that night — thirteeners, Sambo and the bad luck 13 riot grrrl extravaganza — was among those arrested.

"It was just a cool event, something to do," says Tomaszewski, who met with City Paper this week, along with some bandmates and friends who also attended the party (some of whom gave only first names or nicknames). "I wanted to shake up the Philly rock scene, show [music venue owners] that these bands could draw people." Bands like his and the seven others he invited to play at Killith Fair often have a hard time getting gigs, he explains.

The decorations, he and his friends argue, were no more "satanic" than anything seen in mainstream movies (the handprint-covered "We Kill Children" banner was a nod to The Blair Witch Project) or on television shows like The X-Files.

"It was a little more evil than your average Halloween party," says Blunker, "but what are you supposed to do [for a rock show], buy Hallmark decorations?"

Adds Tomaszewski, "It also wasn’t supposed to be broadcast at dinner time on the evening news." (Lisa, of Sambo, jokingly adds that she was more upset that the party was described as a rave.)

Tomaszewski was blamed in news accounts for encouraging the crowd to attack the police, but his friends deny this. "The truth is that someone toward the stage did yell that out," says Jason Wierzbicki, also of thirteeners, "but it was not Mike, and it was not said through the P.A. system."

And if the crowd was as out of control as news reports suggested, they ask, why were there only four arrests? Probably because the attempts to fight back — someone threw a beer bottle, someone else fired off a Roman candle that reportedly struck a police officer and a third set off firecrackers — were not supported by others. A video viewed by City Paper shows that "the crowd" did not participate in these mini-uprisings, as the Daily News and Inquirer reports indicated. In photos of one of the arrests, and video footage of another, onlookers stand around and watch.

"These were stupid actions made by stupid individuals," says Wierzbicki, "not the actions of the crowd." Others support this version.

"It was the day before the election," says Tomaszewski, sounding as if he’s weary of the whole subject, "and we were the top story. What’s wrong with this city?"

He and the three others arrested were scheduled to appear before a judge for a preliminary hearing on Friday. Lisa and others are planning a benefit show in December to help pay Tomaszewski’s legal bills. Names under consideration include Satanic Rave II.

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