OCTOBER 1993 | VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 3
Get the rhythm of the boogie to beStory by Angie Faunce Okay, we all know that Richmond is a band kind of town. Our scene isn’t Chapel Hill or Athens, Georgia, but on any given night you can go see a half-decent band at a half-decent dive. And maybe enjoy it. But, what if you’re tired of going to shows, standing around drinking Bud longnecks, leaning against a wall, trying to look cool? Don’t worry, you have a few options. You can sit at home and watch 90210. You can go to a bar and have a hangover the next day. You can dance. Huh? Dance. And not around your bedroom, either. Yep, it snuck up on this town, but you can now leave your home to dance. Even if you’ve got two left feet, read on. Just a few years ago, the only places you could go to dance or listen to a DJ spin were the Metro on Tuesday nights, a private club like Fielden’s or Old Dominion, the Pyramid or even, perish the thought, the Bird in Hand. All these places still exist, but now you can spend your entire week raving, boogie-ing and just plain ol’ getting funky to the music. If you’re crazy or you can sleep during normal working hours (or even better, sleep during work), here’s what your week’s social schedule could look like (and what mine did look like for a week): Tuesday Tuesday is the night to start. Two blocks separate the Metro and Club Colours, and both play techno on Tuesdays. Rick Danger spins at the Metro, while DJ Boggle spins at Club Colours. Excellent, both. The Metro gets way crowded, probably because the cover is cheaper, but some people will want to shell out two extra bucks at Club Colours just for the oxygen. Wear either big baggy clothes for the raver look, or black for the rocker look. Or wear both, and confuse people. Oh yes, and the people...! The guy with a dog collar, connected to a leash, connected to someone else...the freshman women in miniskirts...a girl sulking in a corner of the dance floor, watching everyone else have a good time...Beefcake ... hairy-chested men with gold chains scoping the freshmen women... Dance night at the Metro was way better when they had it upstairs. Not only because of the extra space, but because the atmosphere up there is more like a club and less like a typical bar. However, until Club Colours lowers their cover, the Metro will continue to draw the crowds. Because, after all, who wants to dance by themselves? Wednesday Okay, let’s take a break from techno’s booming bass and 140 bpm’s, and get back to our roots. You know, that era that you would like to forget, except that somewhere in your attic lurk old yearbooks full of long collars and wings, and of course, the Saturday Night Fever LP. Yep, disco is back in a big way. Luckily the polyester thing is over with, so your sweaty skin can actually breathe, but Blondie and her friends have crashed this modern house party. Funkytown Disco, located on the second floor of Scarlett in Main Street Station, is the place to go. Asked what he thinks of the disco revival, Funkytown’s DJ Rick Danger is gracious. Even though it’s not his favorite, of course, he’s noticed that “it’s the only kind of music that makes people smile when they dance to it.” And you notice this in the crowd. It’s hard to sulk in the corner when your friends are goofily contorting themselves up on the dance floor! No grimacing faces, no concentration and no angst. Just fun. After all, we’re talking official disco here! The Funkytown crowd runs the gamut from dressed up (bell-bottoms, center parts and all) to dressed down (assorted ripped clothing), but I’ve spotted two women there that were beyond dressed. One had badly bleached hair, a cropped t-shirt, short-short cut-offs, and boots just like the ones Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Woman, only much more scuffed. Someone should have introduced her to this other lady. She wore a low-cut v-neck blouse and still managed to unbutton a couple buttons, and she came equipped with jeans that had strategically placed holes in the butt (and I’m not talking pinholes, Mom), with no underwear to be seen! No wonder she had a man on each arm! I guess these doses of cheese shouldn’t faze me anymore, since if we are going to relive the Seventies want to be as authentic as possible. Thursday Same place, different name. Funkytown morphs into Club Parliament, and disco morphs back into techno. And Rick Danger is still here. Downstairs in Scarlett proper the Useless Playboys play swing-ish music on Thursdays; this is a great place to start the evening since Club Parliament doesn’t begin until midnight. It goes till three in the morning, though, so be prepared. Parliament offers plenty of strobe, a smart bar and funky amoeba-acid-rainbow-like projections on the wall. Main Street Station’s incredible architecture, with dizzily high ceilings and lots of arches, lends a terrific cathedral-like atmosphere to the club. The music is good, but not too hardcore, so you can have a good time even if you’re not into techno. And the crowd is pleasantly diverse; come as you are and still feel comfortable. What else can I say? Owner Patrik Whittaker has created an establishment with a lot to offer. Bring friends. Friday This is the night to recover. Or, to make sure you still live in Richmond, maybe you should go see a band. Saturday Saturday night, and it’s time for another round. DJ Boggle does his thing at the Metro, and he does it well. The crowd is similar but much smaller than on Tuesdays; for students and such, it must be a party night more than a club night. Or maybe it’s because they’re all at the Pyramid. Breathe deeply all ye who wish to enter; there’s zero oxygen inside. The Pyramid turns into a can of sardines every Saturday with lots of sweaty gyrating bodies; it’s just too bad the music doesn’t live up to the crowd. Three RuPaul songs in one night is a little pathetic; disco mingles with Q94 for the rest of the night, until 2 A.M., when the music finally gets decent. If you’re still there. Sunday A new addition to the scene happens now on Sunday evenings at the Metro. Locals Mike Reger and Rob Guess mix their DJ skills with some live music of their own. Multiple video screens near the stage add some much-needed atmosphere, but the crowd is still sparse. Reger says they hope to mix live acts with their DJ blends in the future. If you haven’t gotten enough bass during the week, stop in. Anytime Of course, if you’re young and sprightly you can keep going till all hours at Richmond’s after-hours clubs: Fielden’s or the Old Dominion Club (go with a member). As you settle into the life of a club kid, you notice many of the same faces over and over again at Richmond’s dance palaces, the ones addicted to dance, addicted to beat, or really just addicted to being seen. Opinions vary widely on how hip the dance scene is here in town. Those of us who have been in the city for a while see this proliferation of dance nights as a flicker of hope that Richmond can offer some fun times. But when asked his thoughts, a local raver named Blue succinctly comments, “it sucks.” Well, he’s cooler than we are, he’s from New York. This sure isn’t the Big Apple, but we knew that already. At least there’s more to do than there was last year, right? (Editor’s note: As we went to press, several new dance nights started up, as if, you’re thinking, there are too few. Unfortunately, we were unable to dance to the boogie at the new dance nights at the Pyramid, Club Colours and Bus Stop dance nights.) |