Fire Marshal shuts down Fall Massive at Paradox
The Fall Massive, a large-scale techno, house and drum 'n' bass event held at Paradox Saturday, apparently got too big for its own good.
A Baltimore City fire marshal shut down the Fall Massive at about 2:30 a.m., stating the crowd of more than 1,500 was over capacity, according to event promoter Evan Weinstein.
"They did a walk-through, decided it was over capacity and shut it down," Weinstein said. "We were shocked. We didn't expect any problems." ...
Weinstein said Paradox's owner, Wayne Davis, told him 1,500 was a suitable number of people for the club. Weinstein later heard the club's capacity is less than 800. Davis could not be reached for comment.
The Fall Massive, which started at 9 p.m., was supposed to stretch until 6 a.m., Weinstein said. Most of the scheduled DJs got to perform, with the exception of Trace, Reid Speed and Terry Mullan. Weinstein said he is working with Bourbon Street, a much larger venue, to schedule a makeup event Jan. 17, the day before Martin Luther King Day.
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
I'm just amazed this never happened with Fever, which would have been more stuffed to the gills and probably have many, many more "police incidents" to speak of.
Posted by: Odie B | December 1, 2009 10:35 AM
Odie.... if you remember, police pressure eventually helped close fever. There was a high profile bust one afternoon at Sunday Mass (also at Paradox) after the bmore rave scene blew up in like 95-96 and high school kids started flocking to the parties. Bmore police have a long history of breaking up raves, include some of the Tripatronic parties in the early 90s. Many of Lonnie's (ultraworld) later parties were busted by the cops, including one in a Catonsville warehouse where you had to catch a bus at the paradox to get there. In fact, Lonnie (no matter what you think of him, he is the godfather on bmore rave scene) spent some time in jail after the Rave the Bay party got busted.
Posted by: Adam M | December 1, 2009 12:26 PM
Oh, I remember those times, especially the Rave The Bay aftermath; the ending of the Ultraworld Armory parties with the undercover busts; and the constant police surveillance of Lonnie (which, ironically enough, led to a cooperation with BCPD for future events) but you get what I'm saying.
Why go now for a party, when you had Fever as a biweekly for quite a stretch of time? Missed opportunity?
Let's be honest, the blocks-long line to get in Fever was hard to miss, even for code enforcers.
Posted by: Odie B | December 1, 2009 1:37 PM
I used to wonder the same thing when I was sitting outside of the spritiual movement warehouse on bayard on friday nights. Since this was before the Ravens stadium, the only thing I can figure is that the cops were paid to turn a blind eye. From my young eyes, there was nothing else going on in that part of the city in the early 90s. You are right that it is weird that some got busted and others didn't. It is also funny that people bother with this stuff at all anymore... it is a pretty sad facsimile of a once great underground.
Posted by: Adam M | December 1, 2009 4:30 PM
I do remember. There was a high profile bust one afternoon at Sunday Mass after the bmore rave scene blew up in like ninety-five, ninety-six and high school kids started flocking to the parties. Bmore police have a long history of breaking up raves, include some of the Tripatronic parties in the early nineties.
Posted by: Hussey | December 17, 2009 7:52 AM
I very well remember that I used to be surprised with the same thing when I was sitting exterior of the spiritual movement warehouse on Bayard on Friday nights.
Posted by: Shiv | March 10, 2010 12:42 AM
How does this story not include any attractive firemen? I was so excited last year when they decided to rebuild the fire station on Scholl's, and my school agreed to let the fire station temporarily live on our grounds.
Posted by: Nikki | July 3, 2010 6:33 AM
i think they should have confirmed by themselves that whether if we ran out of seats what will we do?having the same situation or figure out this problem by compensating each one in the show.
Posted by: Essay writers | February 17, 2011 6:20 AM