The ayahuasca song circle had turned us down.
The counterculture may have a reputation for open-mindedness, but that doesn’t always translate to a willingness to be captured on camera. But with Michelle Lhooq—a psychedelics and rave journalist investigating how counterculture is evolving—as our guide, doors started opening. We found ourselves welcomed to a “puppet rave” at an undisclosed location in downtown Los Angeles. But there was a catch: we’d have to act like we were part of the performance.
So we arrived early at a warehouse on which a sign read “Café Los Angelitos,” though it didn’t look like a café. People dressed in various renditions of crisp white shirts bustled around setting up instruments, running sound checks, and assembling the makeshift bar. The show was being put on by Poncili Creación, a Puerto Rican art collective known for its puppetry and performance art. One of the twin brothers behind Poncili sat our crew down and explained that we’d need to pretend we were running a restaurant out of the warehouse, and that we were there making a documentary about Michelle because we loved her so much. Easy enough.
As guests began arriving, we tried to get a sense of the crowd. L.A. art scene people, Michelle guessed. Dave exchanged contact information with a fellow owner of a Bolex film camera. Some guests went to the bar and ordered the “weed whacker,” a shot of tequila accompanied by a slap in the face with a leaf of romaine lettuce.
The show started. The twins got onstage—a garage door with a ramp into the warehouse—and started running around and shouting in a made-up language before stripping down to their underwear. And then the promised puppets appeared. But these weren’t puppets like we’d ever seen them: they were making strange sounds, caressing audience members, and being pulled from nearly every human orifice. We were, frankly, a little befuddled. And perhaps a little relieved when the dancing finally began.
For Michelle, events like this represent something more than a simple challenge to conventionality. “I think that raving is a kind of wisdom that lodges itself into your soul,” she told us, “and it’s up to you whether you choose to carry that forward or if you just think of it as purely a bubble of escapism.”
Subscribe to Michelle's Substack
Stay tuned for more episodes in the coming weeks.
