Today I am operating on approximately 1 hour's sleep after my second clubbing experience, which turned out to be (as I thought) far more intense than my previous visit to the Lizard Lounge . . .
The difference: Rather than a digital/video DJ (a machine) there were live electronica performances from 9pm to 4am.
I had originally thought of bagging this trip, particularly when I looked outside my apartment window and saw that monsoon season had apparently inaugurated itself in the DFW Metroplex, but I figured, hey, what the hell. :) (After all, I had a plan to stay all night in Dallas and use their transportation system to get back to Fort Worth--rather than paying $100 for a cab, which was an expense I didn't really need at the time.) I made my way to the Lizard Lounge, retraced my route to the Metro Diner (a 24/7 eat-in establishment across from Baylor Medical Center, just up the road), and stood waiting at the front doors for 30 minutes, listening to two dance DJ officianados talking about the genre and the resident DJ scene in Dallas.
A crowd had already lined up at the doors by the time they opened, an improvement from last week (see previous posts on the topic), and when I walked in, the atmosphere was explosive. Two DJ's were already dishing out live electronica--one in the main dance hall and one in the video lounge (basically a dance floor) adjacent to the main room. People were coming in, the UV lights were on (yes, UV lights), and there was no movie screen--only a lighted stained-glass window where the screen had been the week before.
At one point, I turned around and realized that I was one of approximately a dozen people in the room. I wondered "Where the hell did everybody go?", so I went to the video lounge to check out the action there. As soon as I saw the floor crammed with pulsing, gyrating human bodies moving to the trance beats, I said to myself, "Hmmm, maybe this is where the action is at." Then I said, "Eh, I'd rather watch the other DJ", so I walked back out into the main room again.
Approximately an hour later, the light show began in earnest, and people were steadily streaming in (I could see a rather large crowd gathered at the bar). Then, it happened . . .
As more and more people filled the main room, and as the headline DJ closed his set (and the next DJ began a new one), the atmosphere became electrifying. Very shortly, it was standing room only, and I could hear people screaming applause as the DJ's cranked out progressive house music. At some point, a woman started dancing on the dance floor, joined by a man, then another man, and then the club became a pulsing, throbbing den of humanity. It became impossible not to join in, not to dance, not to allow the music, the moment, and the atmosphere become alive inside of me.
The first time I had come to this club, my "dancing" was confined to simple upper body movement while sitting in a chair.
This time, I was moving my entire body--my feet, my hands, my hips, my head--to the rhythm of a night that seemed like it wouldn't end. (Ladies and gentlemen, those of you reading this who know me in real life should be shocked beyond comprehension at what I just said.) I was part of this . . . I was in it . . . and it was part of me.
I never actually got out on the dance floor (primarily because I was staying in the back, near my leather jacket, to make sure no one stole it :)), but I danced, and I didn't care what anyone thought of it, or how I looked. I was one with the music, and the music was one with me, and that was all that mattered--and all, it seemed, that would matter.
The night had so many highlights--I want to share them in brief (and obviously my spiritual and bodily awakening counts as one):
1. The only time that I spoke with someone (a woman this time) was when I was asked if I had a cigarette lighter. (In fact, I have been asked that question so many times--inside and outside the Lounge--over the past 12 hours that I'm thinking about buying one, just to promote fellowship and conversation with other people.) Oh, and there was the woman who bumped into me while I was dancing and said "sorry, doll" (I thought it was really cool that she called me "doll," of course :)).
2. Glow-sticking--I saw lots of it. It's quite an amazing art form, in fact. Several guys in the main room were swirling glow sticks in the air with the skill of martial artists--reds, greens, blues, leaving a rope-like effect on the eyes as they swished through the air. The winner of the award for best glow-sticker goes to a couple who took turns using their very bright blue and green glow sticks on the dance floor with the skill of master nunchukers (they would have given Michaelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a run for his money :)).
3. Lesbians and gays--they were in attendance. I saw two gay men stroking each other affectionately at the table next time (early in the evening), and I saw two women dancing with each other on the dance floor, kissing, and doing the bump-and-grind together in a very erotic fashion.
4. Early in the night (I believe it was toward the end of the first or second DJ set), one of the women jumped one of the men on stage where the DJ's were playing, and engaged in a five minute kissing and full body wraparound session that was so atavistic it knocked him to the ground.
5. This was followed an hour later by another 5 minute make-out session that involved a woman virtually slamming into a man she saw walking in her direction (in this one, the woman pretty much hopped onto the man's chest, wrapping her legs around his waist, and the two of them fully embraced, completely oblivious to everything that was happening around them).
6. More kissing--this time at the table next to mine. A couple took a standing position by the table, and the woman (a striking blonde) engaged in an erotic kissing session with her lover . . . which evolved into an erotic bump-and-grind with him sitting in a chair and her . . . on top of him. (I thought she was about to go topless for a couple of minutes--they were totally on the edge of making something happen.)
7. (Yes, there is a 7.) Remember my post about the go-go dancers, and how there weren't any last time? Well, this time they made an appearance. :) Two did a dance directly over the stage, one did a dance around a pole off to the side, and . . . then there was the blonde in a short mini-skirt who outdid them all (and got major-league catcalls from the crowd). It was around 3:15am, and I looked up and noticed her dancing lightly around the pole I mentioned . . . then I stood up when I saw her wrapping her legs around the pole and doing an erotic dance that left me speechless (well, more speechless than I was :)). It was then followed by an erotic dance with a man who walked onto that portion of the stage with her, in which she proceeded to wrap her legs around him--after which 3 other (female) dancers joined in, until what I saw could best be described as a gyrating, throbbing assemblage of arms, legs, and bodies, a mass of human sexuality.
8. The crowd didn't really begin thinning out until the last go-go dance (4 girl ensemble described above) ended--and then the only people that were left were a dozen or so stragglers who kept dancing, slowly and exhaustedly, as the DJ pounded out beat after beat of drum and bass. Some, however, had been dancing quite energetically for several hours straight--including one Asian man who did things with his feet I thought were impossible.
9. (I forgot to add this one.) Speaking of feet, there was a woman who came in (and stayed for approximately 30 minutes or so) who used her shoe lights as glow sticks of a sort. It was quite interesting to watch her dance--she definitely had skill, and knew how to use her feet well.
I stayed (again) until dawn, and carried out my plan for getting back to Fort Worth without having to spend $100 on cab fare (or anything else). I had breakfast at the Metro Diner (see above) as I had planned, and I found the place to be quite homey and friendly (it reminded me of a couple of the small town dives where I grew up). While I was there, the staff were talking about some of the more colorful customers they had had--including a man who decided to use the straw they had given him to snort cocaine. (She said it took a couple of big men to get him to leave the premises--he was, apparently, rather high.)
I made my way to the Dallas Union Station after that, and nine hours later . . . here I am. :)
I'm not sure if I'm going to go again next week or not--it depends on how caught up on sleep I am (and how much hearing I've recovered--shit, that drum and bass was deafening), and also it depends on how I feel my body is coping with a (now) weekly cycle in which it loses one night of sleep. Still . . . Above and Beyond is playing, and apparently, it's going to be a standing-room only crowd . . .
We'll see . . . :)
The difference: Rather than a digital/video DJ (a machine) there were live electronica performances from 9pm to 4am.
I had originally thought of bagging this trip, particularly when I looked outside my apartment window and saw that monsoon season had apparently inaugurated itself in the DFW Metroplex, but I figured, hey, what the hell. :) (After all, I had a plan to stay all night in Dallas and use their transportation system to get back to Fort Worth--rather than paying $100 for a cab, which was an expense I didn't really need at the time.) I made my way to the Lizard Lounge, retraced my route to the Metro Diner (a 24/7 eat-in establishment across from Baylor Medical Center, just up the road), and stood waiting at the front doors for 30 minutes, listening to two dance DJ officianados talking about the genre and the resident DJ scene in Dallas.
A crowd had already lined up at the doors by the time they opened, an improvement from last week (see previous posts on the topic), and when I walked in, the atmosphere was explosive. Two DJ's were already dishing out live electronica--one in the main dance hall and one in the video lounge (basically a dance floor) adjacent to the main room. People were coming in, the UV lights were on (yes, UV lights), and there was no movie screen--only a lighted stained-glass window where the screen had been the week before.
At one point, I turned around and realized that I was one of approximately a dozen people in the room. I wondered "Where the hell did everybody go?", so I went to the video lounge to check out the action there. As soon as I saw the floor crammed with pulsing, gyrating human bodies moving to the trance beats, I said to myself, "Hmmm, maybe this is where the action is at." Then I said, "Eh, I'd rather watch the other DJ", so I walked back out into the main room again.
Approximately an hour later, the light show began in earnest, and people were steadily streaming in (I could see a rather large crowd gathered at the bar). Then, it happened . . .
As more and more people filled the main room, and as the headline DJ closed his set (and the next DJ began a new one), the atmosphere became electrifying. Very shortly, it was standing room only, and I could hear people screaming applause as the DJ's cranked out progressive house music. At some point, a woman started dancing on the dance floor, joined by a man, then another man, and then the club became a pulsing, throbbing den of humanity. It became impossible not to join in, not to dance, not to allow the music, the moment, and the atmosphere become alive inside of me.
The first time I had come to this club, my "dancing" was confined to simple upper body movement while sitting in a chair.
This time, I was moving my entire body--my feet, my hands, my hips, my head--to the rhythm of a night that seemed like it wouldn't end. (Ladies and gentlemen, those of you reading this who know me in real life should be shocked beyond comprehension at what I just said.) I was part of this . . . I was in it . . . and it was part of me.
I never actually got out on the dance floor (primarily because I was staying in the back, near my leather jacket, to make sure no one stole it :)), but I danced, and I didn't care what anyone thought of it, or how I looked. I was one with the music, and the music was one with me, and that was all that mattered--and all, it seemed, that would matter.
The night had so many highlights--I want to share them in brief (and obviously my spiritual and bodily awakening counts as one):
1. The only time that I spoke with someone (a woman this time) was when I was asked if I had a cigarette lighter. (In fact, I have been asked that question so many times--inside and outside the Lounge--over the past 12 hours that I'm thinking about buying one, just to promote fellowship and conversation with other people.) Oh, and there was the woman who bumped into me while I was dancing and said "sorry, doll" (I thought it was really cool that she called me "doll," of course :)).
2. Glow-sticking--I saw lots of it. It's quite an amazing art form, in fact. Several guys in the main room were swirling glow sticks in the air with the skill of martial artists--reds, greens, blues, leaving a rope-like effect on the eyes as they swished through the air. The winner of the award for best glow-sticker goes to a couple who took turns using their very bright blue and green glow sticks on the dance floor with the skill of master nunchukers (they would have given Michaelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a run for his money :)).
3. Lesbians and gays--they were in attendance. I saw two gay men stroking each other affectionately at the table next time (early in the evening), and I saw two women dancing with each other on the dance floor, kissing, and doing the bump-and-grind together in a very erotic fashion.
4. Early in the night (I believe it was toward the end of the first or second DJ set), one of the women jumped one of the men on stage where the DJ's were playing, and engaged in a five minute kissing and full body wraparound session that was so atavistic it knocked him to the ground.
5. This was followed an hour later by another 5 minute make-out session that involved a woman virtually slamming into a man she saw walking in her direction (in this one, the woman pretty much hopped onto the man's chest, wrapping her legs around his waist, and the two of them fully embraced, completely oblivious to everything that was happening around them).
6. More kissing--this time at the table next to mine. A couple took a standing position by the table, and the woman (a striking blonde) engaged in an erotic kissing session with her lover . . . which evolved into an erotic bump-and-grind with him sitting in a chair and her . . . on top of him. (I thought she was about to go topless for a couple of minutes--they were totally on the edge of making something happen.)
7. (Yes, there is a 7.) Remember my post about the go-go dancers, and how there weren't any last time? Well, this time they made an appearance. :) Two did a dance directly over the stage, one did a dance around a pole off to the side, and . . . then there was the blonde in a short mini-skirt who outdid them all (and got major-league catcalls from the crowd). It was around 3:15am, and I looked up and noticed her dancing lightly around the pole I mentioned . . . then I stood up when I saw her wrapping her legs around the pole and doing an erotic dance that left me speechless (well, more speechless than I was :)). It was then followed by an erotic dance with a man who walked onto that portion of the stage with her, in which she proceeded to wrap her legs around him--after which 3 other (female) dancers joined in, until what I saw could best be described as a gyrating, throbbing assemblage of arms, legs, and bodies, a mass of human sexuality.
8. The crowd didn't really begin thinning out until the last go-go dance (4 girl ensemble described above) ended--and then the only people that were left were a dozen or so stragglers who kept dancing, slowly and exhaustedly, as the DJ pounded out beat after beat of drum and bass. Some, however, had been dancing quite energetically for several hours straight--including one Asian man who did things with his feet I thought were impossible.
9. (I forgot to add this one.) Speaking of feet, there was a woman who came in (and stayed for approximately 30 minutes or so) who used her shoe lights as glow sticks of a sort. It was quite interesting to watch her dance--she definitely had skill, and knew how to use her feet well.
I stayed (again) until dawn, and carried out my plan for getting back to Fort Worth without having to spend $100 on cab fare (or anything else). I had breakfast at the Metro Diner (see above) as I had planned, and I found the place to be quite homey and friendly (it reminded me of a couple of the small town dives where I grew up). While I was there, the staff were talking about some of the more colorful customers they had had--including a man who decided to use the straw they had given him to snort cocaine. (She said it took a couple of big men to get him to leave the premises--he was, apparently, rather high.)
I made my way to the Dallas Union Station after that, and nine hours later . . . here I am. :)
I'm not sure if I'm going to go again next week or not--it depends on how caught up on sleep I am (and how much hearing I've recovered--shit, that drum and bass was deafening), and also it depends on how I feel my body is coping with a (now) weekly cycle in which it loses one night of sleep. Still . . . Above and Beyond is playing, and apparently, it's going to be a standing-room only crowd . . .
We'll see . . . :)
posted by Brian Bly at 9:49 AM
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