Increase In Cover Charges at Dubstep Massacre at Highdive Were Unauthorized, 217mafia Apologizes

To everyone that attended (or tried to attend) the Dubstep Massacre on Saturday, May 1,

As always, thank you to our fans for turning out in droves once again for our Dubstep Massacre party this past Saturday. We were always confident that our loyal scene would pack The Highdive and you certainly did not let us down.

However, in a way, we the organizers feel like we let some of you down. The show was advertised as costing $5 if you bought a presale ticket. If you just showed up and wanted to pay at the door, it was supposed to cost $7. We advertised those prices consistently.

The night of the show, someone from The Highdive took it upon themselves to raise the price to $10 per person without consulting any of the organizers of the show. Let me repeat that to be perfectly clear, charging $10 at the door was never discussed with any of the Dubstep Massacre organizers, and it certainly was not authorized by us.

We took on the costs of promotions, extra sound rental, hotel for our headliners, transportation costs and the artist guarantees. We had some help from Red Bull, but at the end of the day, the risk of not covering costs of the show falls solely on the 217mafia. With our experience booking shows, we knew that $5 and $7 tickets were all we needed to put on this show. We put on these shows for the purpose of putting on good shows, not to get paid. There was no need for anyone to charge $10 for this show, and there was no way we would take advantage of over a year's worth of loyalty by jacking up ticket prices with no announcement and for no good reason.

As we sit here on Monday morning trying to figure out how to make this right, we've talked about how we would love to take the extra money you spent on this show and give back -- maybe throw you a kick ass BBQ or a cool free show to say that we're sorry. The problem is, we the promoters of the show, have, as of yet, not been paid an amount that reflects the unauthorized increase in ticket prices. We're working on that issue too.

If you were one of the people that were charged $10 at the door, please contact us. Hit up djbellymusic@gmail.com and we'll do what we can to make things right with you.

In addition to that, all we can say is that we're sorry this happened. We have never had this type of problem since we started throwing the Massacre in February 2009. We are already taking steps to make sure this sort of thing never happens again, even if we do end up back at The Highdive for another show.

We know that none of these shows would be possible without our fans. We know the value of your loyalty, and we would never exploit it. We are very sorry if any of you felt otherwise on Saturday.

Thank you again for your continued support.

Sincerely,

The 217mafia

Il Breaks in CU!!!

We're very excited about the upcoming Dubstep v. Electro show which is
now going to be held at Highdive. All indications are that Cowboy
Monkey would not be nearly big enough to hold both the dubstep and the
electro scenes in this town. That makes us happy.

We're also very excited that on the same night, one of the best and
longest running music events in Champaign, IL Breaks, will be
happening just a few miles away at the Ilini Union.

A lot of the people that throw dubstep events in this town helped set
up and run previous IL Breaks. Those same people, and a LOT of the
dubstep fans have been supporting IL Breaks for years. We still
support it.

So instead of making a competition between the two events that night,
we're going to be handing out FREE TICKETS at IL Breaks to the DUBSTEP
v. ELECTRO show at the Highdive. Just find a member of our street team
at IL Breaks and they'll hook you up. We want people actually going to
IL Breaks and then coming to dance themselves at Highdive. There will
be a limit of one ticket free ticket per person because we want you to
actually witness the IL Breaks experience because it is such a great
event.

We hope that people will support both events as they're perfect
examples of what independent promoters and local music lovers can
accomplish working together in Champaign.

Sincerely,

The 217 Mafia

FB event for il Breaks:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=318224295790&ref=ts

New shows for the crew!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about this one guys, buy your tickets in advance, it's going to be a PACKED show! Looking forward to blessing SmartBars Funktion 1 system again too, I CAN'T WAIT!!! Excision aint nothing to fuck with! I'll be posting some of his mixes and tunes up so you all can get a taste soon!

Positive Vibr8ions will be supporting bass slinger RUMBLE JUNKIE at Cafe Lura also this month. If you are in Chicago this shouldn't be missed, a HUGE sound system and Massacre host AMS will be on the Mic to get things rolling!

Mertz just got booked to open for freaking BASSNECTAR..... and if thats not enough, DJ Vadim is also on the bill!!!! Thats coming up in April be on the look out for fliers and tickets for that. Its going down in Urbana @ the Canopy Club!

217Mafia is holding it down accros the state, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK you to everyone who has shown such imense support for us over the past year or so, we wouldn't be doing any of this without you!!

Heres a few mixes to put ya in the mood!!
DJ Belly - Original Sin Vol.2 by djbellymusic

Breezys Christmas Chill Dec 09 by positivevibr8ions

Beef With The Boat Drunks - Mertz's New Mix

Hello hello everybody... Mertz here checking in.... I put together a new 2 hour, 46 track dubstep mix called Beef With the Boat Drunks.

You can read the full story behind the mix (including the title) and get a tracklisting of all 46 tracks over at my site (djmertz.com).

Or just get to listening by downloading it right here.

BATTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the gents at Red Bull decided to throw a friendly little DJ competition between the two leading dj crews in C-U. The resident DJs at Rave to the Grave, (formally Physical Challenge) are set to throw down against the 217mafias finest. Breakdown will look like this: 4 DJs per team, 15 minute sets back to back. Crowd pics who will be the winner of the throw down. Expect some HUGE tunes from both sides and a night where some of the best in CU go head to head in a duel for musical supremacy!

16 Bit Hits Smartbar!

16Bit lands in Chicago once again, this time blasting through SmartBars Funktion 1 sound system. If you missed them last time, you should not miss this one! Timid and Chris Widman will be backing up the Chainsaw masters this time around. Legends in the dubstep game, with a huge collection of amazing tunes to get you moving right!

Peep some tunes here:

Happy New Years Britches!!!

I say goddamn!! 2009 went out with a bang and left all of us at World on Fire hurting. I know we have been quiet on here, But that is mainly due to making things for your enjoyment! I recently finished up a remix of DZs Up and Down that is currently being reviewed by the good fellas at Badmanpress.com to see if they like it. Check it out right here:

DZ- Up and Down (Bellys for the ladies remix) by djbellymusic

For those of you who missed the Eoto show it was INSANE, Positive Vibr8ions KILLED shit and kept about 800 people hot and sweaty in the break between Eotos set. It was an INSANE night.
The pic at the top of the post is myself and AMS rocking out right before Eoto hit the stage.

Also the good people at Furthersound Artist Management have decided to give me a little helping hand with getting gigs. Starting this year I have been added to the roster you can check out the full line up here: http://www.furthersound.com/

I put together a lil promo mix for the site (which will be available through the Furthersound site soon as my page is finished) but you can listen right here!

FurthersoundMix-DJBellymp3 by djbellymusic

Got some great stuff coming your way in 2010 guys, expect ALOT more original tracks from 217mafias djs :)

Some things to look forward to:

January 29th: DUBSTEP MASSACRE ft Lincoln Jones, Positive Vibr8ions, DJ Belly, and newcomer to the massacre stage: WHITE RABBIT
Feb 10th: Physical Challenge DJs VS 217mafia in a duel for electronic supremacy!

More to come no worries folks were just getting started ;)

Heres some more goodies for your listening pleasure:

Positve Vibr8ions DR DECKS mix (congrats to Substr8 on that PhD!!)

The Dr Decks Mix Substr8 & Breezy by positivevibr8ions