Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Earlier last weekend I had decided that I was going to check out a different place because two DJ’s from my favorite radio station were going to be spinning. After going out to dinner with a co-worker, I changed my clothes quickly and drove him back up to his place in the city. Problem was I miscalculated the timing and it was entirely too early. I ended up hanging out and watching Donnie Darko. Not exactly the sort of movie one should watch before going out alone to a place they’ve never been to before. That movie blew my mind; it’s definitely something that makes you think about so many things at once.
Still determined, I headed into downtown much later than I had wanted. I was seriously worried I was going to be dealing with parking issues and a real crowd. Turned out the whole situation was the exact opposite. At almost midnight I rolled into this club with parking along the back wall of the building. Walking in I was again seriously disappointed. Several people were at the bar and even though I moved on quickly I could tell these were the “regulars”, especially for a Wednesday night. They were sitting in clusters and talking across the bar to each other. Heading toward the music and eager to catch up with whatever had started without me I walked down a set of steps onto the dance floor. The back wall of the place was covered in these funky convex mirrors and three screens separated the area from the bar. Projectors were showing different things on each screen. The crowd itself was one girl and two guys just sitting. A part of me wanted to turn and run. Looking up into the booth I recognized the DJ and knew I was indeed in the right place. What to do? Taking a deep breath I re-evaluated my situation and the actual music started to seep into my muddled brain. I really didn’t want to turn and flee. I wanted to dance. I wanted to really let loose and forget my problems.
The next best option was to take a seat and hope the music would spur me or the situation would change. Choosing a seat at random I watched the swirling lights and bobbed my head to the beat. At this point I wasn’t coming out of my coat for love or money. This was still my armor against the fact that I was looking extremely sporty and dressed up compared to the other three people that were seated in the area.
The two guys were dressed well but not looking like the sort that was in to this kind of music and were showing no signs of ever considering the idea of dancing. The girl to my left was of a bigger frame and was dressed more comfortable than anything else. No make-up or jewelry, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. At first I started judging her for her sloppy appearance and sometimes off beat movements, yet I realized that she just heard it all differently than I did and that didn’t make her wrong. As the night went on I came to admire her more and more. Here I was sitting the whole thing out and she was up doing her own thing.
As it would figure there was a group of friends out for some occasion that descended back into the dance area from the bar. The girl who walked out with a guy and danced for a moment marched over to me and asked if I was having fun sitting in front of her drink. I did the usual smile and nod method. What is there even to say to such a bitchy question? Figuring alcohol had a lot to do with her increased attitude I counted on the fact that I could plead the lack of hearing due to the volume of the music. I waited for them to go back up to the bar again before I moved several seats down, this time trying to be observant of some one else’s property or tasty beverage.
It actually didn’t take that long to get me up on the floor. I was seriously daunted by the idea of just jumping up there and dancing. It was a small floor and the speaker system didn’t push the sound to where the dance floor really was. The DJ booth was off to the side and pretty much out of sight line from where I was sitting. Then again that didn’t really matter since the DJ wasn’t the sort that interacted with the crowd much. So other than the two guys that were just sitting to one side watching everything, all I really had to impress was the other girl and she was really content in her corner doing her own thing.
I was reminded of old times when I had a huge dance floor all to myself. I use to find as close to direct center and dance from about nine-thirty to almost eleven at night. This was the time when the majority of people had started to come in and begin what I always called the “horse shoe”. With the ends on either side of the DJ booth, people would ring all the way around the length of the dance floor, stacking up at the back by the bar. It was about then that I was never sure if I was keeping people off the floor or if it was the House music that kept them all on the sidelines. I would always try to get more people up there, quick to give space for any one who was brave enough to join me. In the end it was the DJ that would switch to hip-hop and I would take my first break of the night.
I would hurry though my workweek to get back this process that signaled the weekend and fun. Now here I was on a dance floor the size of my apartment, not a warehouse, and couldn’t quite get the courage to dance yet. I needed inspiration.
As more songs that I loved played, I began what I call “the edge”. Normally I’m observing this in other people, but for once I saw the process in myself. Instead of just charging on to the dance floor to take control and then forget anything else, I was exhibiting all the signs. It’s a slow progression that reminds me of someone waiting to participate in Double-Dutch. It’s about timing and finding the right moment to jump in. After sliding to the edge of the seat, I give up on the chair dancing and stand. The dancing is still pretty low key, I’m just moving a little bit; like an experiment to make sure all parts are still working and the way I want them too. Then comes the movement away from the safety zone of the chair and I give up the coat at last. After that it’s an immediate regression in movement, I look around and just make sure I feel okay with the way I look as compared to the other people in the room. It’s the last moment of insecurity. After that it just takes a good song to send me pouncing out there.
As it turned out it was a song that I have a little bit of a funny history with. Shakedown “At Night” is an awesome song just on principle, but my whole story started with my friend Nicole describing the song to me and asking if I knew the artist. For once I had been completely without resources. I knew the song exactly, right down the lyrics for the first three lines. Yet I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the artist. My friend Jon has the knack for the Internet and the annoying ability of always finding things. He gave me song and artist in under five minutes. This led to my ordering the import single and an increased appreciation for the song all together. This was the song that played and really started my night.
After that it was pretty much off and on, depending on if I was just tired or not feeling the groove at the time. The DJ Speedy G took over at one o’clock and things definitely picked up. I’ve known, not personally, this DJ for two years and had watched him grow to become amazing. I use to frequent another club several months ago because he had the whole basement to himself and it was like a House music paradise, all my favorite songs and a nearly empty floor. Now he was quite the showman and the two guys that I had written off earlier as never joining the party were personal friends of his. Before starting the set the Speedy G came down and talked with the two of them for a moment and then dragged them to the bar. It was then that I had a vain moment of wondering if I could get in good with the two friends and officially meet the DJ at the end of the night.
After that I was just getting tired as hell but having a good time. Speedy watched the crowd and at every turn showed his intimate knowledge of the songs and his love for the music. He was singing along to vocals, and doing his own thing up there in the booth with whatever the cord from the headphones would allow. After a while it was funny to realize that he would tip off when the song was about to drop back into some heavy beats with this pile driver move that he would pull. He was definitely into the whole thing.
There is nothing better than a DJ that puts out so much energy that you HAVE to dance. There’s something to be said for the relationship between a DJ and the crowd. The DJ gets you moving, and keeps you moving. It if he doesn’t care about the record he’s slapped on next, then why should you? I’ve always just found it completely irresistible when a DJ knows all the words to every song, knows every high and low. When he’s up in the booth dancing and loving his job, then I am way more into the whole scene. I give the DJ energy because I am dancing to what he’s creating. He gives back in this awesome sort of circular thing. It’s tough to explain but when it’s there, there’s nothing like it. I don’t leave the floor. I’d rather drop dead of exhaustion than miss a single beat.
At two o’clock the music ended and I was caught in the middle between trying to appear as a groupie or just go home. I was sweaty, probably looking nasty, and tired as hell. It was the best kind of tired though. The kind where I go to sleep the minute I hit the pillow and I wake up the next morning feeling better about life. I had talked with one of the two guys and they had both ended up dancing. I had even caught the DJ’s attention all on my own, during a rather naughty song that I really loved and knew well. Yet in the end I had to work the next morning and had definitely stayed later than originally planned. Home I went and ever so glad that I had stayed instead of running.