Back in June of 2000, my partner Ryan had been involved in throwing a party in the city of Ottawa, which will have to remain nameless for reasons that will soon become clear. This party featured a very talented, big name techno DJ whom we shall refer to as "The Admiral". Now, "The Admiral" was a very nice person of Germanic descent, and he liked to party. This Ottawa rave was the first date on a North American tour that had been set up for him, with the next date being in Toronto for a promotion company called Destiny.

"The Admiral" rocked the party hard, and then after his set retired to his hotel room presumably to recharge his batteries for the next gig. Some local members of what could only be described as organised crime had really enjoyed "The Admiral"'s set, and decided to follow Ryan to the hotel where he was to meet with "The Admiral". Their intentions were altogether altruistic, but they weren't exactly low key, and word of their arrival and nature of their employment filtered it's way up to "The Admiral"'s hotel room. Now, maybe he was being cautious or maybe he was having what could be described as an overly paranoid night, but he somehow interpreted the fact that these mafioso types wanting to meet with him actually meant that they wanted to "take care" of him. You know. Like execute him. With a gun.

Needless to say, he freaked the fuck out. Barricaded in his hotel room, "The Admiral" refused to come out or even open the door for anyone, not even Ryan. This posed somewhat of a problem, as angry thug-like gentlemen in the lobby didn't like being told they were being snubbed, even by someone they admired. Not only that, but "The Admiral" couldn't stay in the hotel forever, as he had a plane to catch and a tour to continue. After spending 5 hours talking in broken English through a door to our Teutonic DJ, he finally agreed to come out - but all did not go according to plan, for as soon as "The Admiral" cleared the hotel lobby he jumped in the first cab he saw, went to the airport and took the first flight back to Germany, effectively canceling his North American tour.

Big problems. Big big problems. Destiny was furious, as they were now sitting on a bunch of tour dates they couldn't fill. So furious, in fact, that they launched a furious lawsuit at my furious partner that dragged on for a furiously long time. Because obviously it was his fault that things got a little too real for "The Admiral". It took years before it was resolved, and it was a huge expensive hassle for everyone. Don't throw a rave.