The Fox Theater in Pomona was decorated more beautifully than I had ever seen it decorated before on Friday August 11th, for DIZNE by Matrix Family Entertainment. The decorations consisted of big, beautiful, yellow and black Tonka speaker cabinets piled onto more Tonka speaker cabinets, stacked halfway to the thirty foot ceilings of the Fox. We have been having a lot of problems with sound in Southern California, especially in Jungle rooms, but after seeing those yellow and black Tonka speaker buildings, I was confident that there would be none tonight (I was right).

If you are wondering why there were so many speakers in one place at one time, I will explain...

DIZNE was supposed to be held at a much larger venue that would require more sound provisions, but due to permit problems, it was changed at the last minute to the tried and true Fox. Well, thank you Johnny Matrix for having the professionalism to change venues, and for keeping this party bust free. As a result of all this legal stuff, those of us who had the courage to attend the hot, dark dirty, humid, crowded and hot Fox were treated to a concentration of sound that we will not soon forget.

Yes, I said hot twice, and for good reason. The Fox has a reputation for getting hot, and it was status quo for DIZNE. If you do not like tap water to the point that you will not drink it, you were either going to : spend over $30 on water ($3 each at the Fox), change your views on the "drinkability" of tap water, or die. I drank over 160 ounces of water, but did not use the men's room once. It was all sweated out.

I did not even go there to the men's bathroom for tap water, since the sink is still broken. I really don't see it ever getting fixed, which is fine, since having various girls refill my water bottle is a great way to meet new people. But back to the party...

In the main room (the theater), besides the a fore mentioned enormous amounts of hot air and Tonka speakers, there was an Abode Premier

controlled projector that symmetrically flooded the two huge screens with traditional and computer animation (hence the name Fox Theater). Very amusing...

While this event was supposed to be populated with Disney characters and remodeled to Disney theme, I did not notice any such landscape, and that was fine with me. Instead, it was the standard Rave look and vibe, who's underground feel beats Disney's anytime.

Like the other often used venues (Masterdome, La Cosa) The Fox attracts almost completely party veterans. There were first time party people there, but not many. It was what I would consider to be a crowd of ravers, rather that a crowd that happened to be at a rave, like you will see at a Summer Massive.

We know that it is all about the music, and this party was stacked up with more DJ's than time (it was moved to smaller venue, remember?). As a result, we got to hear High NRG House and lots of Trance in the big room, with a variety of Music in the smaller room.

In the theater, there were notable performances by Thomas Michael, Nicholas Bennison, N.D.E (Andy E), Johnny Matrix, and Paul-E.

More interesting was the small room (the foyer), where Happy Hardcore was followed by Jungle, and then by House. A balanced mix that was caused by the smaller than planned venue which only had one room for Core, Jungle, and House. We got to hear the best DJ's out of each lineup, and a good mix of music. Lostboy set the mood by spinning Hardcore, and Jungle during his set, which I found to be refreshing. Most other DJs refuse to switch up genres at all, which is a shame, since switching up allows for dramatically different sets.

The Jungle Sets came next, and DJ W started it off, followed by DJ Dewey, who played a lot of Jump Up style Jungle, including many tracks made popular by Aphrodite. During his set, a short guy came up to me and asked me "Are you rolling?"

I responded, "No, I'm a Junglist!" and patted him on the head, just to get a smile out of Robin, an adorable brunette with a blue shirt, matching bandana, black pants cut mid-shin, and cute white tennis shoes. I looked at Robin, tilted my head and said "This is enough for me," pointing to the speakers. I implied that the music alone was enough, but I was really thinking that her company combined with the music is what made that moment special.

SDF-1 started his set with some state of the art Jungle tracks, and then gave us a glimpse of the future with some truly unique records. People stopped dancing, and started just watching SDF-1, not because his set was not good, but because our fragile minds were just not quite ready for what hey was laying down. If you hear a lot of Jungle, and you do not want to hear the same records that everyone else spins, go to ravelinks, and look for "SDF-1."

Later, Jason Splat gave me what I wanted with a House set, which we had not heard all night, and was the only thing that I felt like dancing to at 4am. House is always easy to dance to, and after hearing three hours of Jungle, it seems even easier.

Moving the party to a smaller, dirtier, and much hotter venue is what made it special, and great. Less space meant more sound, fewer rooms meant only the better DJs would have time to spin, one room for Core, Jungle, and House created variety, and having it at the Fox meant a hardcore raver crowd. No one would have planned it this way, but things seem to have turned out for the best.

How do these things happen?