An Interview with a Human Carpet: Kevin Carpet

A Human Carpet?? At First I was as confused as DJ Ashley over here, but now it is a little more clear...keep reading, and Ashley, maybe this will answer your questions....

There are plenty of interesting and cool people in the rave community. But I have not met anyone who can quite match up to Kevin Carpet. Known around the states as the human carpet. He was at the last two events I went to (Power Ravers/Pokèball). To say the least, he's an intriguing individual. Being on the scene for a very long time, Kevin has seen major changes to music, people coming to these events and the community itself. Let's look together into the background and mind of The Human Carpet!

Kevin Carpet!

 [PAUS3] When did you first joined the rave community, how were you introduced to them and what was your first event like?

[KEVIN CARPET] I was at the Disco 2000 events at the Limelight...where I was asked to participate and do my carpet thing. The head guys doing the event knew me since I ran the doors of some famous clubs... My first rave carpet was in the VIP area which overlooked the huge dance floor... And I remember as I peered out during the night I had Joan Jett, Christina Applegate, Billy Idol’s girlfriend and a lot of other cool people standing on the carpets to view what was going on the dance floor...

It was a cool night and I went back every Wednesday for the same Disco 2000 party, but sometimes I laid by the bar and sometimes I was with the Go-Go's... All depended on the night...

[P] Describe the rave community in your own words.

[K] The Rave community in a whole is like friends getting together at a party and enjoying great music and vibes and socializing... and yes Dancing! As they say most Raves I go to are full of PLUR and Unity (I guess that depends which ones you go to) but all the ones I go to are like that.

[P] How has the scene changed since the time you've started attending raves?
 

[K] Well Raves were at least some underground ones sometimes dangerous… meaning fights and all. Now it’s a Pleasure Peace Love Harmony... again at most events. It’s great seeing everyone chillin and enjoying themselves having a good time.

Coming in or Going Out...Kevin Makes it Interesting By: Ronnie C. Photography

Helping People Over the Ledge Pokèball By: Sam Freund

[P] What is some of your favorite music styles?
 

[K] Most people don’t know this but I DJed for years and I played at a lot of electro, gothic and techno events along with 80's 90's and industrial music....so I guess that’s what I like.

[P] Where does the name 'Carpet' come from?
 

[K] When I first started doing clubs and bars as a carpet people would say to me.."Hey it's Kevin the Carpet,” and "Hey Kevin Carpet!” and Walla! The name has been born.

[P] What is it about wrapping yourself in carpets and getting stepped on? Is it a fetish?

[K] When I first started doing this at gothic events I didn't use a carpet just laid by the bar dressed in all black, gloves, a ski mask and goggles... I laid very still all night and it was funny some people didn’t think I was real they had to touch me. Then when I received a government grant to do this. I had to think of other way to try and do this at different events clubs and bars… So carpet idea came when some people told me it was hard to stay on me cause my belly moved and they fell off sometimes, plus when girls wore heels that would hurt so that wasn't too much fun.

Then a bar owner said to me if I came there early and lay in a carpet in the corner where all the bartenders go and the shot girls and the patrons I could be incognito and be a part of the bar. People would think I was bunch of carpets there... Hmmm this sounded interesting....so it began. I got to this upper east side bar that got packed by 10pm. I got there by 8pm before the staff got in and set up. That lasted about 2 years and was fun except if I had 6 big guys standing there for an hour and never left. Those times I was thinking I should show myself, but didn’t. The owner also paid me and I got a ride home plus a meal… So this was good! Then I started doing this at many other clubs and bars all over NYC, NJ, Boston, and LA.

Those Boots Look Painful! By: Daily Eyes

Just Another Normal Day in Union Square

One thing about getting stepped on is not the main reason for the art… which is a part of it, but the art factor comes to play when you’re at a space laying there and being used as the object your portraying. Me a carpet... It’s about being ONE with the venue as people go about their business and your there like a chair, or a sofa. This IS a fetish for many, but to me this is an art. In fact I get messages all the time from guys all over the USA and beyond saying to me “Dude… How can you have guys walk on you? that’s gay.” I guess if I did this for a fetish or other reason maybe. If a guy loves girls then he would just want girls on him. Being a carpet is just that, being a carpet and carpets can’t say you can go on ‘em and who can’t.

I have to delete (comments) on my Facebook. A bunch of guys every now and then who do this for fetish and who write weird things on the pics and who may harass the people on my page.

Let me take this opportunity to say I tried a rave at Rebel a few years ago and I was by the bar and everyone looked at me, took pics and maybe went on the carpet for a second to take pic and then came off. I remember I left that Rebel after 2 hours and went to a downtown Hipster event where they loved me and had fun.

My first idea was to be incognito doing this, however ravers are real cool people and when they know when I'm there they bounce, jump and say hi to me as they pass by… It’s a whole new idea and thus helping me to make my grant more interesting. I do get some people who jump over saying sometimes “I don’t wanna hurt him,” which is another misconception...I HATE PAIN! However, this is non painful. When I lay where ever I'm at I get in a Zen like state and listen as people trod on me and go by...hearing and sensing the environment. Being an actual carpet... When this works it’s great... Doorways I like cause of the interaction with people I hear... ”Love ya carpet guy...Hey Kevin...You Rock Dude.”

It’s sad when I hear, “Oh no I hate stepping on him,” and then they gingerly step or jump. Then I feel bad... For the people. But, for the most part I'm happy and excited that I have been accepted at these events and people do write and tell me these days.

It’s not a party if you’re not there or you’re a staple at these events... Of course I know there are some who think otherwise and for that I'm sorry. It really amazes me how people can adapt and have fun with this....the thing that I do. Nowadays I have to thank ALL the cool promoters that ask me to join their events...

Red Balloon GoGo Dancing with an Orbit By: Ronnie C. Photography

NOW It's a Party! By: Lost Pages

[P] How many raves do you go to a year?
 

[K] Gee I never thought about that...hmmm I think I try to go almost weekly if there are events... And just until 5 months ago I never could go to events for years on a Friday always missed those events cause I had this Top 40, 80's 90's DJ gig... Paid well so I kept it, until I said to myself I'd rather be carpeting and now I'm having a Ball at these Friday & Saturday events.

[P] Where can people find you online?

[K] I'm Kevin carpet on Facebook...

[P] Any closing remarks?

[K] I forgot to mention Lady Gaga saw me at a few events (not raves) and talked about me in a Youtube video I thought that was cool. She and her friends stood on the carpet :D

I have to thank Kevin Bracken, Sam Black and Michael Dj Ritalin for letting me carpet at their events (Refugee) in Brooklyn. Then when that stopped I didn’t do raves for a long time till Ritalin said I could do The Marvels event. That was at Ten Eckyk St... When I go there I ended up doing the door for that one and it was cool cause it was  there that when I went inside I saw these cardboard boxes in front of the path to the outside smoking area. That’s when doorway carpet came in effect....

And thanks to Aeryck NYCRAVERS Ritalin, Jeff Cohen and Atom C. At the next one they found me a nice spot by the doorway... Which worked out great. No one knew at the first event but the promoters by the end of the event some word got around and it was cool the crowd had fun with it for the most part.

BIIIIG THANK YOU to Kevin for his time and honesty!! Make sure you say hi to him next time you see him at an event near you!!

Pokeball December! Gotta Catch 'Em All!!

Another weekend another awesome rave! This one a little different from the last with a lot of familiar faces! This event took place in a spot that I don't think has a name, you wouldn't even recognize it as a party going on if you were just walking by the place. It was a bit smaller compared to a warehouse, you actually had to walk up two flights of stairs to get into the spot. Once upstairs the party was raging! There were probably around 500 people at the height of the party, but it felt like a lot more due to the size.

Set List By: Reptar Photography

EpicCloud Strife By: Live Photography: Griffin Dolan

Exclusive Mixtape for Theft by Kid Royale
DJ Candy Kid - Rave Master (live) by DJCandyKid
 
You had two rooms, the main room and one behind it. This was actually a twelve hour party! So in that time you had 24 DJs spinning some dubstep, trance, and a whole lot of hardstyle. I'm not too much a fan of hardstyle, but it got pretty crazy at some points. To add to the atmosphere you had a kandi making table (that pretty much became a couch by the middle of the party), face painting by Pixel and his crew, Kevin Carpet, and a whole lot of lasers/projectors/lights illuminating both rooms. Aside from the two rooms there was also a rooftop you could go out onto to get some fresh air or a smoke. It was freezing outside, but that didn't stop many people from going out there to hang out.

Girl Dancing on Kevin Carpet By: Sam Freund

Good Vibes! By:

Taylor Seven-Divine Flash

Pixel Painting By:

Live Photography: Griffin Dolan

Making Some Kandi By: Reptar Photography

For me, this was an awesome party to glove at. I met some sick glovers from 666 Lights, Liquid Emotions, and of course Emazinglights. This was a Pokemon themed party (duh), so I got into my blue suit and dressed up like Poliwhirl! At one point of the night, I was in the second room where the DJ was dropped some sick dubstep mixed with rap. I was giving one kid a show and three more gathered around to enjoy the lights. When the beat dropped it was almost as if my hands were moving the party and everyone started jumping, the vibes in the room were so tight everything was flowing!

Light shows!! By: Reptar Photography

Yours Truly (PAUS3) By: Reptar Photography

Mystic Girl Gloving By: Sam Freund

All the People Enjoying the Lights By: Sam Freund

Also at the party was a good friend and extremely talented glover SupaNova. I had the opportunity to watch him give a personal show to this one girl like I've never seen before. He incorporated her whole body into it, using her hands as tools to expand his show. Without sounding too corny, it was like watching his hands make love to hers. I've never seen anything like this, I was blown away by how in sync he was with the music and the connection he was having with the show. If you ever catch SupaNova at an event, you need to say hi and watch him do his thing, it's something else.

SupaNova By:

Taylor Seven-Divine Flash

I gloved for hours on end, gave a kid his first show ever, did a couple doubles with SupaNova, and learned some new moves from the other glovers there. Practice really pays off, and being able to do it live is a totally different experience from practicing in front of a mirror.


PICTURES:

The Pros:

Taylor Seven-Divine Flash: Set ONE//TWO

Live Photography: Griffin Dolan: Pictures

Reptar Photography: Pictures 
Sam Freund: Set ONE//TWO

Others:

Photos 1
Photos 2

Hello Again, To All My Friends By: Sam Freund

Coming soon to Electric Ghost Punk will be a few interviews!! A DJ, a fellow glover, and party animal veteran Kevin Carpet! Stay tuned, there's so much more to come!

Peanut Butter PLUR: Power Ravers

Raves are an amazing thing, and this past weekend was one of the most amazing raves I've ever been to in Brooklyn, NY. December 3, 2011, Electric Warehouse AKA The Lab was where this historic night of epicness went down. It was a Power Ranger themed party, complete with two floors, VIP booths, UV body painting, full bar, gogo dancers (like their page!), light shows (like woah), a 30 foot Megazord, not to mention the #1 Beatboxer in America, Jflo!!

This rave was no joke, there were easily 800+ people there. Now I personally went there a little early to help set the place up. I asked around to see who needed help with what, and I met up with Andrew, AKA StoryTime and built the aforementioned Megazord, it took five hours to piece that baby together! But it was totally worth the time and effort. It was sick, we're talking lasers shooting out of his eyes. The coolest part is, Andrew put this baby together but measuring a Megazord he had on a sweatshirt and scaling it up! Mad props on that!

Figuring out placement

Adding arms and stabling torso

Almost done!!

The Final Painted Laser Shooting 30 Foot Tall Megazord!

Once the doors opened up and the music started playing everyone was hitting the dance floor! By Midnight the entire place was packed with people. To describe the atmosphere in one word, euphoric. The thing about raves like this are that no matter who you are, what you do, how you dance...you are accepted into the scene. There are so many people that are real, others are there to just party, but in the end it's all about the vibes.

PHOTO CRED: Ronnie C. Photography

Quick shout-out to RACIST BUNNY W@X and Jake Dukes for putting on some Skrillex for me! Made my night guys, sick set, my glasses flew off my face, I lost them, and didn't even care!!

DUKES fuego VOLUME 2: THE iLLuMiNATI MiX by THErealJAKEDUKES
 
There were a ton of glovers there too. I met up with StoryTime, Daiki, Tails, Betsley, Supa Nova, Cookie Monster, Sarcastic...just to name a few. The thing with gloving is that you need to go out and actually do it. When you get to glove with other glovers you get to learn some new technique and critique each other. It's a growing experience, but you still need to practice technique at home all the time. Slow, fast, new stuff, new angles, switch it up...you grow like crazy and fast if you practice.

PHOTO CRED: Ronnie C. Photography

Of course there were also orbits, glow sticks, poi, and even fire poi happening! It's all so sick, and these cats know how to throw their lights!

The Peanut Butter family threw an amazing party, the DJs killed it, and it was the most unreal feeling to be surrounded by such positive feelings. Check out some pictures that already went up!

PICTURES1
PICTURES2
PICTURES3

Until next time!

Pump Up the Dubstep!

Every since I've been in high school I walk to the sound of music in my head. Whether it was homework or a test, walking down the street, or even now writing an email to a client, I'm listening or thinking about music in one way or another. Although electronic dance music has been a recent love of mine, I've been listening to it a lot ever since hearing 'Window Licker' by Aphex Twin:

That was back in 2006/07...now my library is constantly pumping out the beats of Skrillex, Knife Party and some Cookie Monsta..just to name a few. What brought me into the whole dubstep movement really was Skrillex, and the song coupled with the music video for 'First of the Year'. You need to peep this NOW:

These songs are awesome, and even though it's electronic, it sparks such emotions from anyone listening...expect maybe parents LOL. For me it's love, anger, passion, and energy. The music video for 'First of the Year' could have gone in many different ways, it could have been a sex scene, or maybe someone winning a ton of money at a casino, or something else that is angry like the avenging little demon girl in the video. For any kind of music selection, whether it be rap, electronic, or folk, I head over to Soundcloud.com.

SoundCloud is a wonderful Pandora-esque website that allows you to search through millions of music tracks that you can stream, buy, or in some cases download for free. Something else you can do on the site is search specifically for Creative Commons licensed tracks, which you have the option to look for "free to use commercially". This is a fantastic tool for anyone making Youtube videos and monetize them. All you have to do is give credit to the artist! Also, you can post the SoundCloud player anywhere!

Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites EP by Skrillex
 
The above is an example of my most favorite thing with SoundCloud, and that is original mixes of your favorite songs and artists. Some are good, some are great, and some suck a lot! But in the end, you have to check them out if you ever want to find out...it's a musical adventure!

Enjoy the videos and music, and I'll see you soon!

Putting Together Your Glove Set

For many who want to get into gloving, the first question generally is, where do I get my lights? People who are sponsored by different sites will guide you to those sites claiming they are the best, and may even give you a code that will give you a 5% discount (or other stuff, like 2 free lights when you enter wishpaus3 on EMazinglights.com) on your order. Now, those sites could be very good, but my suggestion is to do some research. I bought my set from Emazinglights.com. They have very affordable "economy" glove sets. So after shipping and taxes, I bought the Bubblegum set for just over $30. That's a pretty good price, however, it is a very simple set.

Simple isn't bad though. After all, you need to start somewhere and it's good to get to know your gloves and the style you want to grow into. The simplicity runs in the type of light and case. Starting with the case: Edots are similar to a light switch on the wall. They are the smallest of the cases, and are a good starter set. Simple to open and change the battery, you only need a butter knife, or a nail clipper. Many people would complain that the on and off is a switch and not a button. It's true that a button makes for cools effects, but for the sake of saving a few dollars and in the interest of experience, Edots do the trick quite nicely.

Now onto lights. To power one led take 2 CR1616 batteries. The simplest LEDs (Light-emitting Diode) are solid ons. They stay one color while they are on, and there are a ton of color to choose from. There are several different types of LED bulbs too, between strobes, ribbons, fades, dashes...there are an endless amount of combinations to be made. The Bubblegum set came with three different solid colors for each hand, 1 green, 2 blues, 2 purple/lavenders.

After my first day of getting the gloves, I was forced into changing the set, because one of the purple/lavender lights came not working. I have a lot of friends into gloving, so I was lucky enough to hook myself up with two slow faders, and they were Dots, a slightly bigger version of the Edots. The set was beautiful with a lot of life in them, but I wanted to have the broken light replaces.

Emazing has a fantastic return policy, and not only did they replace the light for me, they also offered to compensate me for shipping with something of equal value. I said forget the solid colors, I want ribbons!! I got the ribbons in and my gloves completely changed. The only thing was they only sent one of the LEDs in the casing. I had to pull apart the extra purple I had (luckily) and learn how to put together the light myself. It's not difficult at all, and Emazing has tutorials on their website. I even put my own together!

My set has evolved once again. Now that you have a little tiny morsel of getting into lighting, the next step is practicing. Always, with or without gloves. Hell, learn the finger motions before you even get the gloves, the lights only make it look cooler. Learn slowly, and then speed up, and if you can make it look cool with solids, they will look so baller with the specialty lights, just save the money and do your research.



That's all for today kids. Enjoy the videos!!

Welcome to My World

I am Paus3. I am a glover. I love steampunk, EDM (electronic dance music), and club culture. I am completely new to these things. This blog was made solely as a platform to share my expansion into these cultures. Watch as my art of gloving evolves, listen to the music I find enchanting, and experience steampunk from the perspective of someone who knew nothing about it other than The Wild Wild West and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

But that's enough about me. Let the blog begin to roll.