Clubbing With Legal Style

The crew at work had been hearing about my adventures since I started which earned me the official nickname of Party Girl about a month in. This was the height of my glory days, when I was going out four nights a week. Janai and I always said that if we thought about it, we could have had a seven day club schedule. The ultimate party routine could be achieved and preached!
It’s now two years later and I’ve slowed down a lot. This is probably for the better since I am getting older after all. Yet, I still feel very strongly about converting others. I feel the stereotypes that surround clubbing can keep those just turning twenty-one from venturing out or end up full filling the stereotype in the end. These people don’t have fun and hardcore clubbers like me don’t have fun because we have to deal with them. In that resolve the first step really is just taking a person out and showing them a good time my way: going out with the intention of having a few drinks (or no drinks) and enjoying the atmosphere for what it is. Dancing is no scary thing. With these goals I have ventured forth more than once on a crusade and up till that moment, the Clubbing Queen had never been defeated in this quest.
When Felicia was to turn eighteen I happened across a flyer for The Element. (See previous post: International Player). They were boasting a rocking eighteen and up night with two DJ’s I really liked as the entertainment. Originally intending to only take Felicia out, the idea grew into a full fledged party idea as more and more people heard about it and wanted to come out. I had managed to recruit myself a whole gaggle of impressionable minds that I could convert. The idea excited me as well as made me worry. This had all sorts of possible points where I could ruin my perfect record.
Deciding to organize, I fell back to the best possible way to send out the word for a party. Evite.com. If you’ve never heard of this site, it’s the most amazing thing! It lets you set up an invitation with all the information needed and then sends out emails to all the attendees. Upon getting this email, there’s a link to go back to your invitation and mark their response. Not only do you get an idea of who’s coming and how many, but the guests can also leave a little message for everyone invited to read. The site also automatically sends out reminder emails to your guests two days before the event. All of this and it’s totally FREE. There are a billion other great little things about this site, but that’s for you to check out. Anyway, I set up an invitation and the crew was leaving some hilarious responses. The guest list was also growing so I was definitely glad that I had the EVITE to keep things organized. (Wow that sounds like a commercial)
Knowing well the girls that were going, the main discussion was on what to wear. Having been to under aged deals when I was newly twenty-one as well as just being clueless myself back in the day, I now have a pet peeve about what these kids wear to the club. Like under aged drinking parties that usually feature an abundance of Jagermeister and Wild Turkey, girls seem to go for two extremes: little floral dresses that remind me of Church or totally skanky as if to be grown-up is to look like a hooker. One of the first things I learned was the way you dressed affected your experience, but in ways that people don’t automatically consider.
It’s a no-brainer that if your shoes are killing your feet you’re not going to be having a great time. Hence that became my biggest warning that I put right on the EVITE. There was no way I wanted the girls to be wearing those cutesy little strappy heels and becoming wallflowers an hour later due to the excruciating pain. It was tough for me to explain that clubbing almost has its own dress code aside from what the clubs themselves allow. At the moment it’s the style to wear shoes closer to running rather than the usual dressy torture devices women love to sport. Puma’s are all the rage and the world’s comfiest shoe if you ask me. I’m in absolute heaven that I can wear my classiest stuff and Puma’s to go dancing.
I also wanted these girls to go casual. It was going to be a Sunday night and Hip-Hop music. From what I had heard from Val, who had gone more than once on this particular day of the week, it was going to be laid back and crowded as hell. This is where I firmly believe that jeans go with everything. Wear a sexy little top that sparkles and shows off all your endowments, yet keep it comfortable. Some tight jeans will show off your assets as it were, more than a short skirt that you can’t move in. The point was to go out dancing, not stand around. All of that requires a person to be able to breathe and move about freely. Comfort is also inexorably linked to confidence. Confidence is the key to having fun in every socially oriented activity. If you feel you can take on any situation, and you know you look good, the little worries are left behind you. Stepping out to try something new becomes so much easier.
The idea of chatting over what to wear with the two guys that had agreed to go never crossed my mind. Men have it so much easier. If he can dress himself on a regular basis he’s ready to Club. What I did worry about was losing the guys on this venture. I knew from the start I would be focusing on the girls more. The pit falls for girls are social anxieties like over/under dressing. That I knew I could solve before we headed out. For guys the pit falls involve social anxieties that are tougher to combat. “Looking stupid” is a subjective thing that only the guy can deal with himself. That is why dancing is a topic that usually makes men bale out. In the past guy friends of mine were more inclined to hang out with me if I gave them the option of “holding down the bar” instead of shaking their groove thing. On top of that I knew that both my age and my gender would make it tough for me to convince these guys anything if a situation reared its ugly head. For this I called in Jimmy.
It didn’t take a whole lot of arm twisting, but I played the guilt trip card just to seal the deal. After all Jimmy was supposed to have joined me the night I had gone out with Renzo and had totally left me hanging. All I could think of was how my friend Jon had praised Jimmy as a great help, on one of the few nights Jon and I had gone dancing. Jimmy’s enthusiasm is always contagious, and being a guy he just has this Zen way of talking you down from your fear of looking stupid. The man was a pimp when it came to the ladies and he would help the guys find their feet on the floor. Aside from all those reasons, I also wanted someone that I knew with me. The whole age issue was slowly creeping up on me as the time drew closer. Having him there assured me that I would have a partner in either feeling old or laughing at the kids.
When the actual night rolled around, I had arranged to meet everyone in the parking lot at work and carpool out. This would keep us together as a group and keep the cost of parking down as well. As the day progressed plans were starting to fall apart on me. Felicia, who had been the reason for this whole plan in the first place, had made it clear she wasn’t coming and the rest of the girls’ enthusiasm had dropped a lot from my perspective. I was starting to wonder if anyone was going to show.
As for the guys, Jacob seemed secure to show up as long as Amanda was by his side. I wasn’t worried about him. Cale was the one that was slowly becoming a suicidal case. Not in a life ending way, but in the tragic ending to the joy he could experience with dancing. The guy was no social butterfly by any standards. The quiet sort that would rather stand back and crowd watch, the idea of being shoved into a weird atmosphere filled with music that he really didn’t like and being faced with the idea of engaging in an activity that he felt he had no ability to participate in was almost completely terrifying. No matter how we had talked about it prior to this, nothing I could say would change his mind. Yet he was being a trooper anyway. When I got a call that he was seriously changing his mind, I was frustrated as it was. Again there was no way to communicate with him to do any good at this point and there was barely two hours to go. I fell back on cheap bribe and desperate measures to get what I wanted. I bought a six pack of Corona and drove to his house.
Now for all my preaching that you don’t have to get drunk to enjoy clubbing, as well as fact that I don’t honestly agree with buying alcohol for minors, I panicked. I knew that a couple beers in Cale would either mellow out his need to run the other direction, or straight up achieve the liquid courage that the majority of my male friends boast as a necessity. So many clubbing friends can’t be wrong.
Bringing my own beverages, I drank a couple Smirnoff Ice’s with Cale as we talked about the night to come. I figured I would be too busy buzzing around making sure the rest of the crew was having a good time; this was my singular chance to have a few drinks as well. Since Cale was drinking, I figured it was just easier if I drove. This would also keep him from turning around at any point and bolting back to his apartment. Into the car I herded him, trying to ignore the white knuckles that were gripping the Corona bottle he was determined to bring with him like a security blanket.
I was blasting Hip-Hop music in my car. This was for me as much as it was for Cale. I was trying to get pumped up for the night; I was also trying to acclimate him to the music he was going to be suffering through for the rest of the night. Cale had never made it a secret that he found Rap and Hip-Hop less than appealing. With that in mind I was bumping my speakers with specific stuff that had always made me want to dance. To me there’s always been a difference between stereotypical Hip-Hop and some of the jewels that have come out in the last few years. The ones that make me run to the dance floor are more than just some person talking about getting a piece of ass at the club. Being he was a musician, I hoped to show Cale that there was a beat to these songs that was great for dancing to and in the end the words had little to do with the whole experience anyway.
Rolling into the parking lot I was pleased to find that Sarah, Kristin, Amanda, and Jacob were already there waiting for us. I left my windows rolled down and my car stereo pumping out music as I walked over to talk to them. The girls had done well in choosing cute jeans and sexy little tops. Secretly I was terribly pleased with myself. They were going to look like regulars once we got inside. None of that Sunday school mess. Yet as my gaze dropped to their shoes, I frowned. Strappy little heeled shoes on each and every one of them. They all knew what I was frowning about immediately too. One by one they all assured me that they’d danced in that particular pair of shoes before and they would all be “hardcore” for me. Even with my doubts about how long “hardcore” would end up being, the excitement was tangible with them. What more could I ask for? They were ready to roll out and see what this whole scene was about. Even if it was for five minutes, they were ready to have fun and I was content with that alone.
As we waited for Valerie to show up, Cale cracked open his last Corona. Popping the top off with his lighter like an expert and taking rather long pulls off the bottle, I started to worry whether those beers had hit him a lot quicker than I had anticipated. He was starting to resemble the drunken Cale I had met at the baseball game and with that came the Mother Hen instinct. I was keeping an eye on him as I moved about taking with the girls and Jacob, wondering if this was a red flag for problems awaiting me that night.
Although at one point I was easily distracted into a girly moment when everyone wanted to see what I was wearing. After all my preaching on the correct thing to wear I’m sure there was a measure of wondering what I would show up in. Ironically enough I pulled out something from my early days just for the occasion. Taking my coat off, I revealed a top that I hadn’t worn in ages. I call it my Chain Mail. A two layered halter top that sported a metal hoop around the neck instead of strings, the bottom later was black sequins and the top layer was a silver crisscross pattern that was pretty see-through. All of this gave the illusion of what I liked to think of as medieval armor. Only in my twisted mind I know, but hey, it’s my wardrobe.
Valerie rolled in just after this discussion on medieval armor. At work, and anywhere else I’m sure, she’s the sort to always be just immediately on time. Upon request Val stepped out of her car to show off her outfit to the girls. She was looking good and the perfect example of being dressed sensibly yet sexy. She also immediately noticed the shoe choices the other girls had made. I had to laugh as she eyed up what the three girls were wearing and shook her head. “They’re going to be hurting.” I shrugged at that point, feeling more optimistic. From this moment on, the girls would deal with whatever happened to their poor feet with grace; of that I was certain.
I was also pretty sure that Val was the last person due to be showing up. Even with all of Felicia’s blustering, I knew the moment she said, “Maybe” it was a firm “No”. Five girls and two guys had ultimately made it. Not too shabby and everyone seemed really eager to get the show on the road. With that I shouted for us to “Roll Out!” and headed back toward my car. Valerie knew her way, and the rest were all riding in one car. I was relieved to not be leading some ridiculously long caravan into the city.
The parking lot that was right behind the club was still pretty empty. There were several people chilling with their car doors open and music blasting. Val headed off to find free parking while the rest of us headed for the pay machine. During the car ride into the city, Cale seemed less and less enthused by all of proceedings as well as more distant and just plain drunk. When parking was paid he disappeared toward a McDonald’s about a block away. This left us all to sit and wait for both Valerie and Cale to return.
Jumping up to sit on my trunk I listened to the girls talk about stuff going on in their lives and upcoming college details. Along with the younger crowd that was waiting in their cars, listening to these conversations was settling the “old” thing into my brain. It was something that had been on my mind while planning the outing, but now that I was sitting in the middle of it, as it were, the reality of the age gap was striking home a lot harder than I had expected. I am not old by any means. Still in my mid-twenties I’m not past my prime just yet. But in contrast to a high school Senior who was heading to college wide eyed and full of potential, I felt like a jaded old woman.
Turning my mind on to other things, the sun was just beginning to set at nine o’clock and the evening was warm enough to move about without a chill. I couldn’t ask for more on that side of things. I also took in the passing traffic and people moving by. The city has always been a comfort to me. Looking around at the “goings on” in the heart of the city has always made me feel like I was at the center of things, being involved and living life. When I was young, doing anything in this area was like a big trip, even though it was no more than a half hour away. Now that I had lived in this city and had gotten to know and love the nightlife here, it was hard to view it all again from these kids’ perspective. They had no idea what they were about to see or do when they walked through those doors. That was exciting to me. I had the chance to live this again through their eyes and to show them a good time as well. All of this effort was for the sake of adding good people to the nightlife family.
When both Cale and Valerie returned, we gathered around to make last minute decisions on what was going into the club with the girls and what was staying. It was my advisement to leave behind everything they could live without. Hence my original suggestion of jeans being the best idea; this went beyond fashion into functionality. ID and money could go into pockets. I am so hardcore about this now that it’s tough for me to leave the house without pants that have some sort of pockets in them. My independence (and my paranoia) dictate that I have everything related to my immediate survival on my person should I get into a “situation”. But for these girls, it was more of a matter of financial safety. Putting the accessories safely in the car keeps a girl from either having her purse stolen, riffled through, or forgotten. The same went for coats. Coat check is just another expense and leaving one’s belongings laying somewhere just ends up in tragedy most of the time.
After some item shuffling from purses to pockets, Kristin finally put in her earrings and deposited her car keys into Jacob’s safe keeping. Everyone was ready to make an entrance. One big group of under age hotties proceeded toward the alley way that lead to the front of the building. Hanging back I sent up a last prayer for a successful evening. I was going to do what I was good at and show them the best time I could, the prayer was to hopefully influence the factors that I had no control over from this moment on: the atmosphere of the club due to the crowd. Val had been filling me full of dread for the last couple weeks with stories of fights every time she had gone, along with just plain old creepy guys she had to deal with. This could ruin any of those girls’ nights so easily and it was nothing I could prevent. That simple factor alone could ruin my perfect conversion record.
Momentarily frustrated that the group had kept on trucking without noticing my absence, I moved into a jog to catch back up with them. Heading along the side of the building, I stopped to let a guy move past me with locked cases just the right size for vinyl. At second glance I recognized DJ Tamm, one of guys I had been pumping up to the group as a great reason to party at this club. A regular on my Dance radio station, he also was apart of the “Club KISS106” DJ’s that traveled around to various clubs in affiliation with the local radio station. I thought the man was a genius. There he was hauling his gear into the club through the side entrance and all I could do was smile like an idiot as he walked by. The crew had turned to watch me right at that moment, but when I tried to explain that the guy was one of the DJ’s I was all about, everyone shrugged at me and moved on.
Rounding the corner we were all surprised to find a line already formed and no sign of anyone being let in at all. It was almost nine-thirty and we were at least twenty people from the door. It had been my understanding that the doors opened early in the afternoon like it did every other night. I was wrong. Turning to face everyone else’s looks of “I thought you knew what you were doing,” was the first of my problems. Everything had been going so smoothly and now it was coming to a screeching halt at the door.
And so we stood in line. Again I was thankful that it wasn’t freezing cold or raining. That could have seriously sucked. Huddling up in a group we tried to find things to talk about. Valerie was regaling the group with other adventures she’d had at The Element and other underage places. Everyone else entertained I took a moment to call Jimmy. It was almost a girly conversation. Being one that never likes an empty room, his concerns were more about how many people were there and what to wear. Answering these questions and hanging up the phone with his assures that he was on his way out the door in a few minutes, I wondered if he was really going to be as helpful as I had hoped.
Time ticked on. As it got closer to ten o’clock the line was nearly to the alley way and I was feeling ancient. I was totally and completely surrounded by people that were closer to eighteen than twenty. It wasn’t just the conversations that my friends were having. It was more the total emersion. Everyone around me was involved in similar conversations. Girls dressed as I had predicted were strolling by us to the back of the line. It was also obvious who the regular attendees of this Sunday Social were. Like rock stars they would walk the length of the line slapping hands and chatting with several groups of people. Socializing up and down the line was also making everything behind us fuzzy as to how many people were actually waiting outside.
The whole time the rest of us were chatting to pass the time, I was watching Cale pull farther and farther away from us both mentally and physically. I’m sure the sheer fact that we were finally in line was forcing him to deal with the reality of situation. It wasn’t a joke anymore, he was going to have to stick it out and go inside. Once inside, all hell was going to break loose. Making some mention of using the bathroom again he disappeared toward the alley way. I was immediately irritated because I knew the minute he left would be the minute they would start letting people in. Feeling still like a Clubbing tour guide, I didn’t want to lose track of my group. It was my hope to all go in and experience it together.
Exactly as I had predicted, as soon as he disappeared around the corner, the bouncers at the door started checking ID’s. I could have screamed with frustration. As the line moved forward at an alarming pace I sent the rest of them ahead of me while I frantically looked for signs of Cale’s return. I ended up calling him and yelling at him to hurry. At this point he was impossible to talk to; everything I said just seemed to confuse him. Finally making it through to him that I wanted his ass in line NOW, I hung up and waited, and waited for what seemed like an eternity. When it was becoming clear that I was going to have to choose to leave him or let people go ahead of me he finally strolled back into line next to me, no sense of urgency what-so-ever. I really wanted to throttle him.
Then came the ID check and Cale seemed so confused by it all. I remembered the picture on his driver’s license looked nothing like he did now and started to worry there would be trouble. When he was waved on, I breathed a sigh of relief and handed over my ID next. Being over twenty-one I got a bright orange wristband that would allow me up stairs to the bar. It was almost ironic as I watched the bouncer fumble with the putting on of the wristband. All day long at work I hand out wristbands and watch people fumble with putting them on. I was always the one to swoop in and help them to do it quicker. Here I was the customer and it was the employee that was slowing things down.
Thinking too hard about that nonsense I turned the corner to enter the club and ran smack into a security pat down. Cale was already being frisked and for some reason I was paying more attention to him getting through than doing what the female bouncer wanted from me. When he was asked to remove the contents of his pocket I distinctly remember the sound of the beer cap as it fell from the jumble of keys and such he had dug out. On to the floor it made a great show of clattering in a circle before landing face up to show the world a Corona label. Panic set in again, along with anger. They had just checked his ID and since he wasn’t sporting an orange wristband, that Corona cap was seriously condemning.
My attention got called back to my own situation at hand right then. That was the most thorough security check I’ve ever had. Not at rock concerts or even the check point into the court house have I ever been so completely felt up and checked over. All my anxiety over the crowd we’d be dealing with once inside, came back at full force. Never once in all the nights that I had gone to this club, had I ever dealt with a pat down. What was so different with Sunday nights that the security was completely hardcore?
With both Cale and I free from the professional grope down for the sake of security, I lead the way around the darkened corner into the lobby. The Element’s lobby area was more like a black little funhouse hallway. Once through the initial ID check you step inside not sure what you’ll be dealing with next. Moving though the darkness a cashier suddenly looms up at you and demands the cover charge or the menacing looking bouncer standing next to her will do more than startle you.
At the same moment I was trying to regain my sense of purpose and confidence that I had the rest of this situation handled by paying the cover in an orderly fashion, I was also distracted by the rest of my gang. Everyone but Cale and I, had made it through the lobby and were standing at the doorway that opened out into the rest of the club. In one big clump they called my name and waved to get my attention. “We’re all ready in.” I shook my head, obviously I could see they were already in. “No, all of us are free. We’re in!” Confusion set in hardcore. Now what was going on that I hadn’t planned ahead for? The group kept waving me toward them insisting that the whole group was in free. Moving away from the desk I kept one eye on the bouncer as I moved, hesitantly, toward my beckoning friends. I kept waiting for the bouncer to bark at me some return command, but I crossed the lobby without an angry word being spoken. It was then that I realized that Cale wasn’t behind me in this venture, but by the time I turned to clue him in, the cashier was already handing him the change back and stamping his hand. It was too late.
All together again, I let them stand for a moment surveying the club. Long ago this building had been Polyester’s where one side blasted 70’s music and you busted a move on a Saturday Night Fever dance floor and the other was The Culture Club that played only 80’s. Even with its prime location, the venue didn’t survive and closed down ultimately for several years. Then last year work was started on the exterior of the building, and I was almost excited to see what the new owner had in mind. Every Tuesday night as I walked by on my way to my Tuesday night House spot, I kept hearing awesome Deep and Progressive Music coming from inside the building.
Another flash back to my post “International Player”, the owners made a lot of alterations to the layout of the building when it turned into The Element. A lot of changes I viewed as being for the better. One side for House and the other side for Hip Hop; this was a definite improvement if The Element was to survive in this town. I also loved the fact they had left the flashy S.N.F. dance floor in their main room. Disco or House it had the same roots and it felt good to dance on it like Travolta would be proud too.
Valerie led the group into the other room where tables and such were and Victor Menegaux had already started spinning from a booth that was above the dance floor and basically out of sight. Immediately sitting down at the closest table, I lagged behind my group eyeing the room for anyone I knew and trying to get a feel for the atmosphere. Was this going to be totally different than anything I had done since turning twenty-one? Was I the one that was totally out of her element after all? As the rest sat down around the small table I frowned as I saw that the guys were left to stand and the girls had huddled down to talk amongst themselves. Cale had taken the opportunity to disappear in the shadow of the wall and totally retreat; lighting the first of a long chain of cigarettes for the night. I was left to hover around the edges of the table feeling somewhat left out.
Both rooms had looked completely dead. Even as we sat there and the DJ blasted music into basically empty room, one had to wonder: Where had that line of people gone? That was something I’ve always explained away by figuring everyone was standing in line at the bar “getting their drink on” as Jimmy always says. Here it was a total mystery. People were just milling about from room to room and no one was interested in dancing what-so-ever. All of this was strange for me. Even though I pride myself as a floor starter, in this situation I knew people would just look at me like I was a completely loony old person if I got out on that floor too soon. I almost felt claustrophobic with that knowledge.
Kristin’s boyfriend Landon and his friend Daniel suddenly appeared from the other room and I was surprised to see them. Kristin hadn’t mentioned anything to me. I was glad they had been willing to come out and with her boyfriend beside her I hoped that Kristin would be more inclined to dance. The more the merrier and this also meant more male presence to help out the other two that were looking at that moment in time, less than enthusiastic about the adventure. Both Landon and Daniel were dressed well in button down shirts and jeans and seemed to be quite comfortable with the atmosphere. If I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that those boys were anything other than regular clubbers.
Since taking over the table none of the group had budged. For an hour we had all sat and watched everyone else walk by and jump on the dance floor. The act of people watching can turn from fashion show to freak show in very little time. I was totally feeling like a grandma as I became outraged at the outfits I saw go swinging past my line of sight. Some girls that were obviously eighteen years old, barely, were walking around in clothing that had me wondering where their parents were when they walked out of the house that night. I’m getting so old!
Then we had front row seats for a dance off of sorts. A couple girls that were dressed more like guys had jumped on the dance floor and started showing off. Another group of guys rolled up onto the dance floor and this shaggy haired blond guy, who was a Beck look-alike, started shaking his ass in a way that would make any black woman proud. We all thought it was odd that the guys were dancing like girls and the girls were dancing like guys. The entire time I was pacing around the table wondering why I wasn’t dancing at all. It was still early but I was totally itching to hit the dance floor. My intention was to wait and go out with Jimmy, figuring that would both look better and be more fun. Yet I’m so use to walking out there and doing what I wanted, when I felt a good song come on. Several good songs had already passed me by and I was getting pretty edgy.
A few moments later Jimmy came strolling through the door and I overjoyed to see him. Dressed to kill as always, the man can walk into a room, assess it and then proceed with absolute success in winning over every single person he meets. I also expected the minute he met Daniel, he would be all over his “Asian Brother”. When Jimmy meets a new guy that appears to be of his same ethnic background, he always automatically bonds with the guy; his arm is automatically around the guy and the majority of his attention tends to be focused on this person. In a ridiculous way it always looks like it’s been years since Jimmy had seen another Asian person. Knowing all of this I could predict how the night would play out. Daniel would end up under Jimmy’s arm and given the best the room could offer. I just hoped he wouldn’t leave out the rest of my boys; I had after all recruited him for the sake of getting Cale and Jacob to have a good time.
Making the grand announcement that Jimmy had arrived, I was little bit nervous about what the crew would think of him. Amanda had been reading my BLOG and knew very well how notorious Jimmy had been in the past. The rest had heard me tell stories about my weekend outings. A week or so earlier I had mentioned that I was inviting Jimmy to come down and hang with us; the girls had seemed eager to meet him. Now that he was there and let loose on my friends it was just more of the same from Jimmy. Moving in to chat with the girls around the table, he had them all smiling and laughing in no time. I on the other hand was just relieved to have him near. Jimmy is someone that had seen me at my best and had been pretty much my partner in crime since I met him. My confidence in the situation was immediately restored.
I let Jimmy chat up the crowd for a bit and hung back out of the way. I always feel somewhat out of place when I watch him work a room. I don’t have nearly the same skills. Yet stating his actions as “working the room” makes him seem like a used car sales man who only says what you want to hear. Really when it comes down to it, Jimmy is not an insincere person. He shoots from the hip and says whatever he feels. This can be completely flattering or less than amusing at times. But that’s just who he is.
Wandering back over to me, Jimmy gave me this concerned look and wrapped an arm around me, “How about we go get our drink on.” At this I smiled and felt like a drink would indeed mellow me out. I was getting a little too back-and-forth about the whole evening and really it hadn’t even started yet. Letting some of the girls know I was going upstairs with Jimmy I flashed them a smile and a wave of my orange wristband. Arm in arm, Jimmy and I wandered slowly into the other room looking for the stairwell that was hidden in a dark corner. I was little sad to walk past the dance floor and see that DJ Tamm had yet to start spinning. The other DJ had rocked out right at ten and I was not really a big fan of that guy’s talent. Either way I was keeping an eye on that other dance floor. When Tamm did start his set, I planned to be in the middle of things.
At the top of the stairs we were stopped by a bouncer, to which Jimmy and I flashed our orange wristbands and expected to move right on through. “No I need to see ID’s.” For some reason this just pissed me off. I’ve always been respectful of bouncers. I have several friends who have made this their soul career and man do they have stories! It also goes back to my total respect for any nightlife employee whose job is dealing with drunken jerks for a living. Every night the same shit, just a different person. This situation on the other hand seemed absolutely ridiculous. I immediately spoke up, “What are the wristbands for then?” The bouncer just shrugged and repeated his demand for ID’s. How utterly retarded! How completely silly is it to have the bouncers at the door fumbling around with wristbands and slowing down the line, when they are just going to check ID’s again at the top of the stairs? Thinking back now I have no idea why I got so fired up over the whole thing. I dug out my driver’s license and moved on into the bar area, but Jimmy and I were both still frustrated over how inane the whole thing seemed. How annoying was this going to get if we had to dig out our ID’s every time we came up for a drink?
Upstairs in the Heaven Lounge was like everything else so far, dark and pretty much empty. All the past times I had wandered up to this level to either patrol for hot guys or use the bathroom, the atmosphere was more like a traffic jam: bright flashing lights, tons of background noise, and plenty of bodies to maneuver around. While I waited next to Jimmy as he ordered at the bar I counted a total of ten people drinking quietly around the railing that looked down onto the main dance floor. No one was socializing unless they already had friends with them. Being over twenty-one wasn’t something that was going to turn into its own little social circle. Tossing back the Lemon Drop shot that Jimmy gave me, we toasted to good friendship and a successful evening.
Downstairs again, people were dancing on both floors now. The main floor was still just a MP3 player with no sign of Tamm ever appearing. Joining back up with the crew, I was little disappointed to see that no one had moved. The girls still sat around watching everything else go by them, Cale was smoking the next in what seemed a limitless amount of cigarettes, and I was back to pacing around like a caged tiger. It was then that Landon and Daniel returned from their rove of the club and Jimmy introduced himself. Even with the loud music I could hear him say, “Whazup my Asian Brother!” Jimmy was animated as he pointed around the club and they huddled closer to talk; I could almost feel the trouble that was about to start from all of this. There was a collective nod and Daniel disappeared into the next room with Jimmy. All I could do was smile and shake my head. And so it began.
It was several minutes later when I glanced back to the other room and started to laugh. I pointed out to my friends where Jimmy stood with Daniel and four girls. Not one random girl, but four girls that were all very good looking and eyeing up Daniel with interest as Jimmy continued to talk. Stepping down to where Landon was standing I pointed at his friend who was surrounded and asked if Daniel was single. When Landon nodded I said that by the end of the night Jimmy would change that situation.
Still more and more sitting was happening. The club was filling up and Jimmy was taking Daniel on his own personal tour of the other room. Tamm had started spinning and the majority of the crowd had shifted over there. Walking back and forth from room to room, the music was pretty much the same songs just being played in a different order. That left me disappointed and still pacing around our table waiting for any good reason to go dance. It was too loud to really talk, the girls seemed to be keeping themselves entertained anyway, and Jimmy was off running his game. Damn it I wanted to dance!
Out of no where I saw Landon and Daniel walk to the far corner of the dance floor and start dancing. I looked to Kristin impressed that her boyfriend had both balls, since the floor was still pretty sparse, and moves, the two guys definitely had some style! I immediately latched on to this opportunity. Grabbing Kristin’s hand I led her out on the dance floor and paired off with Daniel. At last we were dancing. Thank god! Or so I thought. Just as we were really getting into things and all four of us were having a bit of fun every other single person walked off the floor. I turned around as Kristin and Landon stopped dancing and realized we were quite alone. All four of us were left feeling a little exposed. What a weird ass moment to be the only one left standing!
That pretty much killed everyone else’s dancing inspiration and I followed the other three, rather reluctantly, off the floor. The night was not going at all as I had hoped. The minute I get on the floor and it completely clears. This was awesome. Yet I had gotten my taste of dancing and didn’t really want to give up just yet. Another song went through and the wildlife returned to the dance floor. I decided that I might as well do my own thing at that point and just grabbed a close corner of the floor to dance. I closed my eyes and tried not to care if everyone else thought I looked silly. If I kept up at that pace I wasn’t going to have any fun at all, why should I expect any one else in the group to.
One song and I returned to the table just in time to meet up with Jimmy. Back on to the floor I drug him making jokes about the old folks going out for a dance and even thought I tried to wave the rest of my crew up with me they were content to just sit and watch. Shrugging I was excited to be up there with Jimmy. I wanted to show off now, prove to my crew that I hadn’t been all talk. Better than I could have planned, he and I both started our funny little stretching exercises that we’ve done in the past just to make each other laugh. There we stood in the middle of the floor stretching out like marathon runners, not caring if we were in someone’s way or if we looked entirely too serious about the whole thing.
We both started to dance at the same time and I was just so happy. It had been a while since I had been out with Jimmy and we put on a show like only we know how: taking up the floor and dancing all over the place. At last I was home and happy. The night seemed so much better, looking at it from the bright lights of the dance floor. Having a partner up there that had the same passion as I did was comforting and energizing all at the same time. It wasn’t about age anymore. It was about having a fun time doing what you love. I really wanted these people to have this sort of enjoyment to look forward to. All my friends had years of memories to make and good times ahead of them and that made me almost envious. If I could go back and do it again, I would have done this more often. Right out of the gate at eighteen on through twenty-one I would have used every opportunity to get out on the floor and really dance.
“Don’t Cha” by the Pussycat Dolls came on while we were dancing and I remember immediately thinking how strange it was to hear the original version. I had only really listened to the dance remix up until this point. I was also pretty sick of hearing Felicia sing it at work and getting it stuck in my head. For a moment I was sad that Felicia hadn’t made it. She would have been out on the floor at this exact moment, no holds bared. Singing the words and trying to put on an act for the crew that was watching us, I happened to look over to see what they were up to. Even as I was trying to keep up with Jimmy and see beyond the glare of the lights pointed on the dance floor, I watched the entire crew of people get up from our table and follow Valerie into the next room. All that was left standing was Cale in his corner guarding his ashtray and Jacob who seemed lost as whether he should stay or go. I suddenly felt ridiculous. My dancing with Jimmy hadn’t inspired anyone to join us. They had all gotten fed up and walked into the other room.
Finishing out the song, Jimmy moved to dance with someone else and I headed into the other room. Part of me wanted to make sure they hadn’t left completely, yet I didn’t want to see their unhappy faces when I tracked them down like a chaperone. Tamm had definitely done what he does best and completely packed the place. The dance floor was just a mass of bodies and I couldn’t spot my friends from where I stood at edge, the only place I could find to stand. Picking my way through the crowd I saw the girls huddled up in a little dancing circle with some extras. Amanda and Sarah had found themselves partners, even though they seemed less than pleased about it. Then again I didn’t have to be there to know that these guys hadn’t necessarily given either girl the choice, that’s a move I would call an “opportunistic add-on”. This is when a guy rolls up on a girl and latches on from behind. You never see it coming so you can’t really defend yourself; you just feel his presence suddenly behind you. Most girls, like Sarah and Amanda, are a little too polite to tell someone like that to take a hike. They just kept dancing and hoped for the best. (The best meaning the hope that the guy just goes away.)
I ended up heading back into the other room, quite assured that the crew was doing well enough for themselves. I’m never one to suffer a dance floor that seriously overloaded. It’s not really dancing when there are that many bodies crammed into one place. It gets hot really fast, and you do this sway thing because that’s all the room allowed by whoever is gyrating next to you. I felt a little left out though. I had wanted us all to have one big happy night together. At this point I had two unhappy boys waiting for me at the table, and my wing-man Jimmy I had passed on the way back out of the crowded dance floor. Statistically it was getting better.
Pulling up a spot next to Cale on the wall, I released Jacob to go into the other room. As much as I’m sure Jacob was both feeling Cale’s pain and wanting to be with the rest of the crew, he took his time leaving. This lead Cale and I into a rather depressing conversation about how deeply and completely against this whole affair he was. I had really failed. The girls were in the other room dancing, Jacob would be fine as soon as he found Amanda, but Cale was more against the idea of dancing than he had been before going into the club. He had this wildly upset sense about him that truly made me worry that he would run out of the club screaming at any second.
I felt terrible. I had no idea how to reach Cale. I had gotten him drunk, drug him to this place, and left him in the corner to smoke thinking he had just needed time to get use to the surroundings. Now the only thing he wanted most was to get the hell out of there! We stood for quite some time in silence. My brain began working overtime as I tried a million different ways to start a conversation that would put the whole club thing into terms he could understand. When he agreed to stick it out I was extremely relieved. I had a second chance to make this a good night for him.
I settled in to spending time with him. Everyone else had left him to that corner just as I had. The guy was feeling weird enough and then no one would talk to him. Gee what fun! By the time the rest of the crew returned, I knew Cale and I were making major progress when he stole my hat and began sporting it proudly. I had to admit he did look good in it and I was too hot as it was.
Our whole group was now hanging out in the same area that Cale had been holding down the whole night. The lot of them seemed way more energized and were telling each other stores about their experiences from just moments ago. They were also cracking jokes about this particular guy that we had been watching all night. A stereotypical nerd he had thick rimmed glasses, plaid button down shirt and high water pants. All you needed was the pocket protector and the man was ready to calculate angles. I really couldn’t judge what his age was, but was utterly surprised to see that he had come alone and was indeed looking to meet girls. Every opportunity he took to put himself out there, I had to give the guy major props. He also had this rather strange River Dance thing which probably wasn’t working in his favor with the ladies. Jacob tried to get me to go dance with the guy. Normally I don’t back down from challenges like that (two specific occasions come to mind where I won money off my boss). It would’ve make for an interesting story and would probably brighten up the guy’s night, but I just didn’t feel like it. As the crew laughed about what our dancing would look like I knew that everything had worked out for that half of my party. Breaking Cale down was my one last goal.
Ironically it wasn’t as tough as I figured it would be. I just started dancing next to him for a while, which slowly moved to dancing with him. Practice and confidence aside, all that dancing eliminated his argument that he wasn’t capable; it was the same music just in the safety of a dark corner. Yet I wouldn’t have achieved anything until I got him on the floor and willing to do it again. How to get him out there was the tough part.
The rest of the crew was back and forth between standing with Cale and I and dancing in the other room. Jimmy wandered though a couple times to check on me and sought out Val for a dance. I was almost jealous. When Val came back and had a rather exasperated story to tell I had to laugh. Jimmy would always be Jimmy. After a few drinks the guy was a little more “touchy feely” that was for sure. Cale and I just continued to work on our collective dance moves. I knew from here on out it would be a comfort issue. It wasn’t about ability, and it wasn’t about the lack of will. This was about the age old fear of looking stupid in front of others.
I don’t really remember what it was that spurred Cale’s confidence. We had been dancing together for several songs when I finally asked him if he would go out on the actual dance floor with me. When he agreed I had to ask him again to make sure I wasn’t just hearing what I wanted. Moving onto the floor, which was now pretty crowded, I’m sure I had his hand in a death grip for fear he would punk out on me and run back to the safety of the shadows. But no, he danced with me. He was definitely nervous and unsure of himself, but I could only grin back at him in total encouragement. The guy had total potential to become quite the dancer if he put his mind to it. A lot of confidence, a little ego, and ton of practice would have the guy capable of getting some hardcore numbers come his twenty-first birthday.
When the song was done we headed back to the group. I didn’t want to push things just yet and I wanted to see the reactions from our crew. Holding Cale’s hand in the air like the winner of a boxing match I took a bow to the cheers the others gave us. I had won! Everyone was having a pretty good time and I had gotten Cale to dance, not only on the sidelines but on the actual floor. He also seemed rather eager now to stretch his dancing legs. Grabbing up Valerie the two of them trotted off to the other room to dance.
All at once I was left standing alone. Everyone was off doing their thing and I had no one left to watch after. Rather content to stand for a moment feeling quite the conqueror, I resumed crowd watching. More and more people were passing by me in obvious states of drunkenness. Even though the same group of people had disappeared up to the Heaven Lounge to drink and stare down on the main floor, very few of them had moved all night. Apparently some of them had managed to drink and dance at the same time or had pre-funked before coming down to the club. The joys of getting drunk for cheap or getting drunk when you weren’t old enough yet was what a pre-funk was all about.
Cale came running back to tell me that the Black Eyed Peas song “Lets Get It Started” was playing on the other side and he wanted to dance with me. It had been a song I had blasted in my car on the way to the club and he was stoked to both recognize it and to think he was actually dancing to it. Following as he ran back into the other room to find where he had left Val, I laughed quite thoroughly when I heard that he had slapped her ass during their little dance.
As the night wound down, Cale and I danced to several more songs and Jimmy returned for Valerie again. I had to laugh at her rather helpless look as she headed over to Tamm’s side to give Jimmy another work out. When we returned to the group by the wall, I could see the girls had finally taken off their shoes and the yawns were already starting. Packing it in, I made sure to hug each of them goodbye and ask if they’d had a good night. Hurting feet was a good reason to head home.
Cale and I didn’t stay much longer after that. After a nice little chat with Jimmy he went off to keep on with his night and the friends that Valerie had been on the phone with all night had finally arrived. It was time for us to take our leave.
Driving home that night I wanted to bounce in my seat for joy. The Clubbing Queen was still undefeated. Even if the girls and Jacob hadn’t had the absolute time of their lives, they’d danced and had fun. Cale had been a dancing machine, wanting me to crank up the music in my car the whole ride back to his apartment. “We should do this again!” were the magic words that meant I had truly succeeded.

As I thought back over the night I got the grand idea to see if I could get some comments from my lovely guests. What better way to show the kind of night we’d all had, than get it straight from the people who had experienced it (most of them for the first time ever)? So like LeVar Burton says on Reading Rainbow: “Of course, you don't have to take my word for it.”

Jacob
THE CROWD
Hmm... The crowd was well... interesting. I thought it was most bizarre that the guy who stole the dance floor with his moves was some white dude who looked like a skater, come on everyone knows us white dudes aren’t supposed to have rhythm.
FASHION STATEMENTS
Beth you are doing a great job of bringing chain mail back into the fashion forefront. 14th century knights are cheering you on from their shallow graves! Overall I didn’t see anything too surprising; however there were some ladies who were hanging out just a little too much.
FEELINGS ABOUT DANCING
Dancing was fun, I had a great time dancing with Amanda :) However, I probably would have felt a little strange there if I were to try and dance with someone I didn’t know. In fact some of those girls were downright scary. I’m glad I went with the group we had.
DRUNK FREAKOS
Lol, drunk freakos... aren’t they always great.
DJ'S
A little preoccupied at times, and simply not paying attention at other times to notice....(sorry I'll try harder next time!)
THE CLUB
The club was pretty cool, I thought it would be a little larger but it was still cool. The only complaint I had was the damn bouncer or whatever, that wouldn’t let me out the door after Amanda, Kristen, and Sarah were already out. I was about to kick his ass but I didn’t want to embarrass the big fella at work!!! (j/k) Then I had to try and find the “appropriate” exit and walk all the way around the block to find the ladies. Geez. Overall it was a good experience but definitely something I can only see myself doing periodically and only with a select group of people.

Sarah
Where to Start...
The overall night was fun because there was so much going on! I will never forget the guy in the plaid shirt and dressy pants looking like he was doing the river dance! He followed me and Amanda everywhere! Then Beth was supposed to dance with him... oh wow... bet that wouldda freaked him out completely! There were these 2 guys other than that, that came up to me and Amanda... introduced themselves and wanted to dance and Amanda said yes! Oh geez... that was a funny time and 1/2! The only complaint that I really had was my FEET! Heels killed me times like 5 bazillion so I would either need to find new heels that don’t hurt so much or go again in flip flops or SOMETHING.! Haha! But thank you Beth so much for taking us out! It was a night that I definitely will never forget!

Kristin
Going to the Element was indeed my first trip to an 18 an over club, being that I just turned 18 3 days before the trip. I was exited to go, even though the question of what I was going to wear was a little bit of a worry. I had been to the 16+ club called Dakotas when I was 15 of so. (ID was not needed, I just showed my ASB card and they believed me even though I’m so young for my grade) That was always really fun to go to once and a while, when you feel like dancing. I knew that Element was going to be something totally different so I was ready for something new. I enjoyed myself a lot that night, it worked out good that my boyfriend Landon and his friend Daniel ended up coming as well so we could have some dance partners without worrying about those strange guys that want to dance and know your name and where you grew up!! There were a lot of people there, good dancers, and as my boyfriend puts it..."hoes," there were a lot of those too. You could always tell who was an avid club attendee by their outfits and such, but I bet I looked as if it was my first time too by the way I was observing all the things going on. There weren’t a lot of drunken people, just the ones staring at you down from the top floor. The overall experience was a lot of fun and I’m glad I was with all my work friends, that always makes everything fun. I want to go explore other clubs too to see what’s cool the difference and such.

Valerie
My night at Club Element
It started off great, with Cale. He was so scared of dancing that he became a chain smoker for a night. Every time I looked at him, he was shaking and smoking. I found this hilarious.
As the night went on, it got more interesting. I met Beth’s friend Jimmy. All I can say about Jimmy is that he was a “touched individual”. When Jimmy first came in Beth introduced him to all of us. Over time he realized that I wasn’t dancing and he took this as me sitting down means I can’t dance. He was very mistaken.
Jimmy asked me to dance and I was feeling good at the time so I said yes. Boy, was that a mistake! So he led me on the dance floor and we started to dance, so I thought. All of a sudden I started to feel arms around my waist squeezing really tight. The first couple of squeezes I thought nothing of it, but the squeezes started to be followed by hard thrusts from the pelvis. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Black. Something everyone should know is, don’t EVER touch a Black woman’s hair when it’s all done up. Jimmy made this mistake and I had to let him know.
So we continued dancing and the only thing that was going through my mind was “this guy is touched!” Then suddenly my song came on and I really had to shake my groove thing. This really excited Jimmy. He began to stroke up and down my side and this made me feel a little weird.
Then when we were dancing he would sometimes stop and step back with his fist to his mouth and look at me. Finally I had to ask what the hell he was doing. He replied with “It’s just, it’s just” then put his fist to his mouth. I thought this guy was psycho! But I didn’t really think this till he pulled my by my hand off the dance floor saying that he wanted to buy me a drink. I don’t think he knew I was under twenty-one, but it didn’t matter because he never bought me a drink.
As soon as we got off the dance floor he ran to Beth to telling her how I can dance. I just sat down next to Cale who was still smoking. I asked Cale if he was ready to dance and he replied with a quick no. I just laughed.
Later in the night I finally got Cale to dance with me, I started off with a nice two-step then out of nowhere this guy smacks my ass. I had to turn around and look to see if this was the same guy that was so scared to dance five minutes ago. It was him and I couldn’t fight the laughter. While we were dancing a Black Eyed Peas’ song came on and Cale stopped dancing and said he had to find Beth and ran off the dance floor. I was confused so I ran behind him looking for Beth. I came to realize that he knew the song had felt like he had to share this with Beth. Crazy I know.
Not as crazy as me dancing with Jimmy a second time. Yes I know. Why would I put myself in that situation again? I was bored and wanted to dance. Before we danced a second time I told Jimmy I had a boyfriend. So while we were dancing he started the fist to mouth thing again and again I asked what was wrong. He replied saying, “It’s just, I mean, it’s just, you got a boyfriend.” I was thinking I just wanted to dance. I asked him if he wanted to stop, he responded with a no.
Eventually I got tired and lied and said my leg was hurting. So I left the dance floor and went to go sit down until my friend came.
Overall the night was full of laughs and very exciting.

Cale
Since moving to the Big City, I’ve been subjected to more foreign situations and environments than a country bumpkin beach kid should ever have to endure. When Beth announced the big work outing to the club, I knew that, for the sake of the social scene at work, I couldn’t refuse the invitation. Inside, however, ever fiber of my being was in unanimous consensus that this would turn out to be a very bad and potentially quite embarrassing experience for me. Putting me into a dance club and expecting me to have fun would be like putting an octopus in a pasture with some cows and expecting it to moo. That’s how I felt about the whole situation.
The low point of the night was standing in the work parking lot with everyone, clutching my Corona like a safety blanky, looking like a drunken (but well dressed) sociopath about to have an anxiety attack. I felt like the biggest uptight dork, but I was too loaded to do anything but stand there and look scared. And then off to the club we went.
The high point of the night was realizing I wasn’t going to die if I moved around a bit. Watching Beth light up when we headed for the dance floor made me feel dumb for wasting all my time in the corner making my own little environment of cigarette smoke and pure animal terror. Once on the floor, I still felt like I was on an alien world, but at least I was enjoying myself with everyone else.
I thought the club to be a little small and plain, but of course I’d never seen the inside of one before. The crowd reminded me of a high school dance, only with a higher percentage of drunken retards and slutty chicks about to fall out of their “tops.” I can’t make a worthwhile statement on my opinion of the DJs, since Hip Hop certainly ain’t my cup of tea. In fact, I’d be willing to say the half of my reluctance to dance was because the music was so unappealing to me.
Everyone in our little posse was dressed nice. Fashion was pretty far from my mind that night, though.
Overall, it was an eye-opening experience for me. I know Beth prides herself on turning people on to clubs and dancing and everything, and I’ll admit she pretty much broke me down and convinced me to give it a whirl, but I wouldn’t say it’s my new favorite past time. I’d do it again though with the right group of people, though.

Amanda
We've unfortunately lost Amanada to the phenomenon called College. We may never hear from her again.