held at the Mad club in Athens, Greece in 1996. Megatripolis West An offshoot of the club was started by Fraser Clark and others, in San Francisco in late 1994. It ran for five consecutive weeks before closing. The sixth and final night of the club was a "launch rave" hosted by Ronin Publishing for Timothy Leary's book Chaos And Cyber Culture. In true "illegal UK rave" tradition, patrons were given the event's location at a nearby burger joint. Leary jammed and performed jazz skat with famous Bay Area musician Maruga. He was later kidnapped by the Zippie Soundsystem and forced to release a statement condemning the UK Prime Minister John Major and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which famously banned outdoor parties with music that included an "emission of a succession of repetitive beats". Leary exerted a powerful influence over the philosophy of the club and the Zippie movement overall. An indication of this can be found in the introduction to his posthumous book The Fugitive Philosopher (Ronin Press, September 2007) written by Fraser Clark. The original title of the piece, published in Clark's online magazine the UP! Megatripolis in popular culture Megatripolis is referenced in the BBC TV comedy 'Absolutely Fabulous' and on the Red Hot Chili Peppers album 'Stadium Arcadium'. The club helped to play a major part in creating 'Cool Britannia' the UK's culture boom in the 90's and started the UK's major festival scene which continues to this day, 25 years after the club's close. Well-known people who attended the club as visitors included Malcolm McLaren, Lynne Franks, The Pet Shop Boys, Björk, Heather Small, and Richard Branson. Megatripolis Reunion Benefit for Fraser Clark In 2008 Fraser Clark announced that he had inoperable liver cancer. In farewell to him, a final Megatripolis was held at Heaven on 13 November. He died on 21 January 2009. See also List of electronic dance music venues References External links Nightclubs in London Club nights Music venues completed in 1993 Recurring events established in 1993 1993 establishments in England 1993 in London Electronic dance music venues