Lotus Magazine was a pop cultural blip, a publication that catered to a niche of a subculture. Independently published from 1996 – 2002, Lotus served the West Coast's underground rave community. It was a free magazine, half electronica rag, half semi-spiritual/environmentalist youth outreach project. This online archive presents a sliver of the material published in the magazine during its six years of bi-monthly publication. Some of the content is still relevant, and some of it's just silly. All of it's very, very earnest. Enjoy! – Will Spin For Token event review, Fall 1999
Event date: 8/19/99
Location: Seattle
Not much can be better than video games and dancing. Unless it's all the free video games you want with happy hardcore involved! This event, set in an arcade, started out with a couple bugs, including the sound arriving late. But that didn't stop the groovers from showing love to one another and becoming engrossed in the games.
The sound finally arrived and DJ Swank started the night out, playing his own style of house with dabs of old disco thrown in here and there. Soon to follow was DJ Cloudskipper playing them kickin' happy hardcore beats! It's a wonder that the two were not paired up sooner; Happy Hardcore and video games are a perfect match!
After keeping the beats strong for two hours, Cloudskipper passed the DJ flag to Jacob Trance, who played progressive trance into the early dawn hours. Next up was DJ Bright, followed by DJ Jubal. Jubal closed the glorious event with some great jungle. Even with the remaining people mostly clutching onto every video game they could, he still played an amazing set. Finally the music stopped and the kids released their grips on the control sticks and light guns. They did it with grins on their faces, knowing that at least for that moment, the world was safe from zombies, robbers, and alien invaders. SOS Productions threw a great event and proved that some people still throw raves for the right reason: just to have fun! -Grady