liquidocean
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 8, 1999
- Messages
- 7,865
Part I - Bars and Clubs - a Bluelight exclusive
-----------------------------
Ignoring underground parties and raves for now, let's take a look at our love/hate relationships with out typical venue: the bar and club.
Let's examine the typical operation, explore alternatives, and relate experiences that can shed light on our different scenes and possibly improve them.
Typical scenario on a Saturday night: a club has a party. The club might be putting it on, or a record label / collective / party crew / soundsystem might be throwing it at the club's space.
You, a punter, not deeply connected with the people throwing the party, come up to the door and pay your cover, ranging from $5 to $20. You get lightly searched, and prevented from bringing in any liquids. Same with your friends. It's 10:30 pm, and the place is starting to fill with people.
You like the vibe, the people, the space and the dj, so you pop the pill you had stashed in your wallet. 11pm. Same with your friends. You have a beer, maybe two to pass the time, then stick with Red Bulls or H2O. You get a call on your cell phone. You convince a couple friends that were at a house party to come over, it's worth it and they trust your opinion.
You have a couple friends that drink heavily with ecstasy, but that's their deal. They've heard it cuts down your e buzz, but they seem to like the combo. You've heard it's dangerous, but have yet to hear of something really bad in the news.
You either buy your water in bottles, get it from the bartender's tap, fill up emptys in the bathroom, drink from friends, or just sip on random bottles. 2$ is ok, 3$ is a little steep for your taste.
Well, you're not worrying about water anymore, at this point people are offering it to you. You're buzzing nice and hard, but in control. Thank god this dj got this time slot, he's ripping it up right now. It seems like later, but it's just 12:30 right now. You might want to think of an afterplan, but not just right now. This is the peak of the evening for you, and you're loving every second of it. Your buddy asks to go have a smoke outside, you give them one and say "i'll stay inside and dance"
2am comes, the moment of judgement, either the place has a permit to stay open late or not.
If not, the lights come on, the music stops, everyone is bewildered. People start macking, looking for an 'afterhours', a house party, some good lovin', some stimulants, a ride, whatever. Everybody smokes. Many pupils are huge.
If the staff is polite and professional, they will cut the dj and play lite music on the house system and turn up the lights slowly and allow people to socialize and find a ride home / hook up
.
If they are rude, they will cut the music sharply, throw on bright lights, take cups out of patron's hands, and start raising their voice.
Regardless, in this situation, people have to leave and find somewhere else to be. Cabs are scarce outside. Every one is taken. Some people are trashed, some will get into cars, one or more may get an accident or get pulled over. Many who are driving may be hallucinating. Many women may be in the cars of untrustworthy people.
--
If they are allowed to stay late, you probably knew about it and are smiling as you keep grooving along to the beat as 2am passes unnoticeably. The drunken masses out there (you can tell by now who drinks and who rolls) slowly fade on their downer drug and decide to go home and have sloppy sex
. They can't be in a public place without a drink in their hand. And tonight you noticed they never take off their jackets!
More dancing room for you, less sexual pressure in the place, and less people spilling those damn beers on you!
3am. Everybody is drinking Red Bulls, water, sodas, or smuggled alcohol by this point. The majority of people you think at this point are rolling, and the dj gets everybody on a second wave with some more serious, deeper, mindfucking tunes, shit he or she was saving for this point.
You've noticed some new people filter in the last hour that you haven't seen yet this night, they probably migrated from somewhere else that closed at 2am, maybe a bar, a house party, a club, work, sex, or maybe they take a real long time to make it out the door. (chicks!
)
People are on a second collective chemical wave as well, either dropping another pill or half or doing a bump of coke, speed, meth, or whatever.
It's 4-5 am, your g/f is hungry to snuggle, your friends want to chill on a couch in a house. You're still feeling the e but are ok to drive, so you make it back to a friend's house, chill, listen to music, smoke out of a bong, eat a little, and pass out by sunrise.
A couple hardcore heads out there on meth and speed, or who dropped their mdma late, or who dropped acid at 2am and have missed their window of sleep, they'll make it out to a 6am-on afterhours, or if a city government is not progressive enough to allow these, a 6am alcohol bar for the hardcore boozer crowd.
At this point, it's hard to follow anymore. Let's work with the dynamics and try to match up our needs with the needs of the establishments which we visit on a regular basis.
------------------
[email protected]
[This message has been edited by liquidocean (edited 11 April 2000).]
-----------------------------
Ignoring underground parties and raves for now, let's take a look at our love/hate relationships with out typical venue: the bar and club.
Let's examine the typical operation, explore alternatives, and relate experiences that can shed light on our different scenes and possibly improve them.
Typical scenario on a Saturday night: a club has a party. The club might be putting it on, or a record label / collective / party crew / soundsystem might be throwing it at the club's space.
You, a punter, not deeply connected with the people throwing the party, come up to the door and pay your cover, ranging from $5 to $20. You get lightly searched, and prevented from bringing in any liquids. Same with your friends. It's 10:30 pm, and the place is starting to fill with people.
You like the vibe, the people, the space and the dj, so you pop the pill you had stashed in your wallet. 11pm. Same with your friends. You have a beer, maybe two to pass the time, then stick with Red Bulls or H2O. You get a call on your cell phone. You convince a couple friends that were at a house party to come over, it's worth it and they trust your opinion.
You have a couple friends that drink heavily with ecstasy, but that's their deal. They've heard it cuts down your e buzz, but they seem to like the combo. You've heard it's dangerous, but have yet to hear of something really bad in the news.
You either buy your water in bottles, get it from the bartender's tap, fill up emptys in the bathroom, drink from friends, or just sip on random bottles. 2$ is ok, 3$ is a little steep for your taste.
Well, you're not worrying about water anymore, at this point people are offering it to you. You're buzzing nice and hard, but in control. Thank god this dj got this time slot, he's ripping it up right now. It seems like later, but it's just 12:30 right now. You might want to think of an afterplan, but not just right now. This is the peak of the evening for you, and you're loving every second of it. Your buddy asks to go have a smoke outside, you give them one and say "i'll stay inside and dance"
2am comes, the moment of judgement, either the place has a permit to stay open late or not.
If not, the lights come on, the music stops, everyone is bewildered. People start macking, looking for an 'afterhours', a house party, some good lovin', some stimulants, a ride, whatever. Everybody smokes. Many pupils are huge.
If the staff is polite and professional, they will cut the dj and play lite music on the house system and turn up the lights slowly and allow people to socialize and find a ride home / hook up
If they are rude, they will cut the music sharply, throw on bright lights, take cups out of patron's hands, and start raising their voice.
Regardless, in this situation, people have to leave and find somewhere else to be. Cabs are scarce outside. Every one is taken. Some people are trashed, some will get into cars, one or more may get an accident or get pulled over. Many who are driving may be hallucinating. Many women may be in the cars of untrustworthy people.
--
If they are allowed to stay late, you probably knew about it and are smiling as you keep grooving along to the beat as 2am passes unnoticeably. The drunken masses out there (you can tell by now who drinks and who rolls) slowly fade on their downer drug and decide to go home and have sloppy sex
More dancing room for you, less sexual pressure in the place, and less people spilling those damn beers on you!
3am. Everybody is drinking Red Bulls, water, sodas, or smuggled alcohol by this point. The majority of people you think at this point are rolling, and the dj gets everybody on a second wave with some more serious, deeper, mindfucking tunes, shit he or she was saving for this point.
You've noticed some new people filter in the last hour that you haven't seen yet this night, they probably migrated from somewhere else that closed at 2am, maybe a bar, a house party, a club, work, sex, or maybe they take a real long time to make it out the door. (chicks!
People are on a second collective chemical wave as well, either dropping another pill or half or doing a bump of coke, speed, meth, or whatever.
It's 4-5 am, your g/f is hungry to snuggle, your friends want to chill on a couch in a house. You're still feeling the e but are ok to drive, so you make it back to a friend's house, chill, listen to music, smoke out of a bong, eat a little, and pass out by sunrise.
A couple hardcore heads out there on meth and speed, or who dropped their mdma late, or who dropped acid at 2am and have missed their window of sleep, they'll make it out to a 6am-on afterhours, or if a city government is not progressive enough to allow these, a 6am alcohol bar for the hardcore boozer crowd.
At this point, it's hard to follow anymore. Let's work with the dynamics and try to match up our needs with the needs of the establishments which we visit on a regular basis.
------------------
[email protected]
[This message has been edited by liquidocean (edited 11 April 2000).]