*** Note: (the magazine went out of business in January of 2004)

Loveparade originated 15 years ago in Berlin, a product of German DJ Dr. Motte. By the late 1990's it was drawing a million revelers. Since 2001 Loveparade exports have hit Austria, Israel, Mexico and South Africa.

Artists from as far away as Europe, as well as locals meet mid-day in a staging area jam-packed in a queue with more than 29 floats creations of independent artists, DJs and small record labels. "It's crazy down here, every kinda music you could wanna hear is down here," says Nah Darbin, a 23 year old UC Berkeley student, in the company of a girl wearing lingerie over fishnets. Breakbeat, drum n bass, hip hop, house, techno, and trance can all be heard.

House Music pioneer Jesse Saunders is among the 200 artists scheduled to appear. He was at the epicenter of the birth of House in early '80s Chicago where he used a Roland TB-303, TR-808, and a Korg poly 61 to create the track "On and On," which was sold in independent record stors in 1984. Demand proved to be huge, and Jesse's music was soon getting air play in major east-coast markets.

Today Jesse prefers CDs to vinyl - the Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK2 is his choice for spinning. He also embraces MP3's which he encodes at 192k, though he's found that much lower bit rates sound fine on club systems. But he still likes to do remixes the old fashioned way: "I try to avoid computers whenever possible," he says shrugging at our mention of Ableton's LIVE. Though he later reveals he's no stranger to Pro Tools. His favorite production tool is the Mackie d8b mixer. "I can't see taking 2 weeks to do a remix. If you can't get what you want in an afternoon, you don't know what you want. I know what I want and with the d8b can get it instantly."

Currently living in LA, Jesse is devoting much of his time to producing films. One of his current projects is "Night Flight," a pschological-thriller he wrote himself. But at today's Loveparade, it's clear that he still loves to still spin House Music.

WRITTEN BY: CARL LUMMA

It's been just over 15 years since Jesse Saunders released Jes Say imprint, and the Chicago native is still perpetuating the independent mindset that launched his fruitful career. Now located in the mountainous desert environs of Palmdale in Southern California, Saunders has built a fully contained, self-sufficient media company that includes a label (Broken Records), a DJ agency, Internet mail order, consulting services for other entertainment-related companies and now, with the release of his new book House Music. . . The Real Story a fledgling publishing company.

Where the current market for house and electronic music-related is largely limited to British scholar/journalist perceptions, House Music...The Real Story will stand as a priceless account from a DJ and producer who served as an essential catalyst of the now-global house scene. Saunders explains the force that drove him to write.

It kind of started about nine years ago, that I had the idea to do it," he says. "In the first five, six years or so, there was so much that happened, it was out of control. And everyone is always trying to embellish themselves as being ‘The Man' or 'The Person' - 'I was there since ...' and so forth - and I got tired of hearing it, because they weren't. [laughs]... lt just didn't make sense for everyone to be saying the same thing - let's stick to a cohesive story at least. So, at that point, I just wanted to document chronologically the way things happened."

Saunders' narrative is deeply personal, describing the foundation his late mother lovingly helped him build since childhood and focusing largely on his career achievements. And while this serves as a biography first and foremost, a broader picture emerges as he describes in detailsome of the sounds and sights that shaped those early years. in Chicago. He also offers insight into how the international scene has developed over the last 15 years, and where it’s headed.

In particuIar, he laments the loss of the relatively anonymous DJ and the present tendencies to create DJ superstars. He feels there's been a subsequent loss in quality with some younger jocks. He writes, "I feel that because was a DJ when a DJ was just a DJ, and we had to mix records together that were not produced with drum machines, and the tempo varied, I can handle any situation at time, [and] play for any crowd in the world. I can take the same 18 records and play a two-hour set anywhere. People are always amazed at how l rock the crowd without having crates of records like most other DJs."

With unpleasantries like infighting and unfair business clouding that period in the mid-'8Os, the popular retelling of the “Chicago story" has left many holes and questions as to who was on the level. Saunders lays to rest what he believes are the most common misconceptions about that era, calling out major players like Trax Records' Larry Sherman, who's long been accused of exploiting artists on his label (Marshall Jefferson, Adonis, etc.), and sharing the truth as he sees it.

More of these early innovators are thankfully penning their own accounts of music history - clarifying and contributing to an international narrative that has many stories, angles and ideas. It is encouraging to see the major players eager to articulate their stories, joining Saunders in helping ensure that their history is not written just by outside observers.

Saunders' book release will be followed by a DJ tour beginning in April and a new full-length album, which he calls the book's "musical counterpart," a collection that aims to illuminate house music's historical roots (R&B, funk, disco) while simultaneously bringing it into the future. Taking the cue of many forward-thinking entrepreneurs, he is focusing much of his energies on selling and distributing his products through his Web site, leaving traditional media outlets in the dust. Just as he pressed up copies of "On & On" to directly fill the demand for the track as requested by hundreds of clubgoers who heard it played on an evening out, he gets his products directly into the hands of the people who want them with a maximum of efficiency.

Saunders also plans to open up a club called Hell later this year in Palmdale, which will operate afterhours-style on the weekends, opening up at midnight. And he will soon receive his official Goodwill Ambassadorship from Congress, a diplomatic title that he'll use in continuing to educate and turn people on to the universal joy of the house nation. "I travel so much," he says, "my whole thing is, wherever l am ...l'm always spreading the message."

TAMARA PALMER

Like all other genres, house didn't come out of nowhere. But listening to the jacking drumbeats rapped around the Diana Ross disco diva sample, you have to imagine that this record blew minds when it first dropped in 1983. Saunders is celebrating the 20th anniversary of "On & On" with its first release in 15 years, and a slew of remixes to update the original template, none of which came close to the master. Not even the "2003 vocal mix," which features Saunders singing about the history of the record.

"I was just driving around in my car one night," tells Saunders, "I thought, 'why not tell the story and make it immortal."'