Club Report: Oakenfold at ICON

WOW, what an event! Oakenfold came on about 12:30am this morning to a packed ICON night club in downtown Orlando. He played until a few minutes before 3am and it was the best live Dance/House set I've ever witnessed. A lot of House DJ's play too much trancy music without vocals but Oakenfold played mostly lyric-based music, many of them familiar to the crowd from XM81/Sirius 36. The music was loud and the bass was thumping! The loudest roar from the crowd came when he played the new Tiesto remix of Silence, one of the songs on my Mannequins 1 CD. From small venue to large venue, tonight Oaky plays at the Miami Dolphins' stadium to 30,000!

Speaking of Tiesto, he's coming to Orlando too! Sunday, December 28th at Hard Rock Live at Universal Orlando. Space on the dance floor is $40. This too is a must-see event.

DJ Peapod Update:

DJ Peapod (Jim Fox) reports he is still among the ranks of the unemployed but is still searching. He tells about the failed deal with CityWalk. Besides the hiphop music that The Groove wanted him to play, the other reason his deal to play there fell through is that they were only offering him a 3-week contract with a requirement that he carry $1M in liability insurance. DJ Doc was able to do it for Red Coconut Club because Doc already had a mobil DJ service with the insurance in place but Jim had no such thing and the cost of getting insurance for just a 3-week stint made no sense. He points out that Doc's contract has already expired and the only chance of repeating there would be after the first of the year. And the plan for Doc to spin 80's between band sets didn't pan out either. They made Doc play hip hop.

As far as Pleasure Island goes, he says that all the clubs (except the building that housed Motion) will be dismantled sometime after the first of the year. Motion will continue to be used as profitible convention/meeting space. (Although my prior rumor report mentions Hoop De Doo could be moving there.)

So that's the latest from Jim. If we can find a club for him to play at, he's available to be our DJ!

Rumor: Hoop De Doo Revue to PI?

Latest rumor out there is that the famous Hoop De Doo Revue will be moving from the Wilderness Lodge to the building formerly housing Motion, possibly in the form of a "dinner show experience." I guess it's possible. Not sure if the building still has a kitchen but at one time it was the home to Fireworks Factory, a pyrotechnics-themed restaurant. This rumor comes from CanadianGuy via the Disney Boards.

Paul Oakenfold show moved to ICON

CALLING ALL MANNEQUINS FANS!! Paul Oakenfold, one of the top 10 DJ's in the world, returns to Orlando on Tuesday, November 25th in downtown Orlando. He will be spinning at Love, the working-name for techno concerts at the venue formerly known as Club Paris, located in the Church Street Station complex. This is the Tuesday immediately before Thanksgiving.
BREAKING NEWS: The show has apparently been moved to the club ICON located at 20 E. Central in downtown Orlando. This is according to the Rick Rodriguez website mentioned below. Tickets are now $15 on-line. Oakenfold's website refers to an 8pm start time!

If you're able to take Wednesday off from work, this is a must-see event. Capacity at Love is limited to 1000 and that includes the upstairs balcony; this is likely to be packed. The first 300 tickets are just $10 so BUY NOW at www.rickrodriguezproductions.com and then click on the House Music link and then the "Buy Tickets" link at the bottom of that page. Tickets are electronic.

HOB Thursday Nights

Made my first Hospitality Industry Night visit to House of Blues yesterday evening to check out Dave Cannalte. Nothing of course can compare to Mannequins itself however this night is a good substitute if you like Dance music.

Advertised as a 10:30pm start, Dave did not get spinning until 11pm because of delays caused by a prior concert running late. And then, despite it being a beautiful warm Orlando evening, I estimate the number of patrons at only about 100. I've heard that prior Thursdays have had 150-200 patrons. So where the heck are all the CM's who used to go to Mannequins on Thursday evenings now going if they're not going to HOB?

But the music was great and the dance floor stayed pretty full from about 11:30pm to 1am. It didn't spin and there was at least 5-6 times when I expected the CO2 was going to spray down and that didn't happen either. But the music was Mannequins-style so it gets a big thumbs up since we're not seeing that anywhere else in Oralndo.

My understanding is that Dave Cannalte at HOB is a 2-month trial run. We need more guests out there if this is going to continue. I don't know how many HOB needs to make it profitable to stay open versus staying dark; presumably they've got nothing going on anyways. But I don't think 100 patrons is enough.

BTW, HOB is still running their Service Industry Night on Sundays at 10:30pm and I understand the place is packed wall-to-wall with DJ Sandy spinning the Dance music. So I'm going to put this back on the options list here on the blog!
Update 11/27/08: Hospitality Industry Night on Thursdays with Dave Cannalte has come to a conclusion and is no longer being offered.

More News......All Bad

1. My Disney Catering rep says that she has checked with PI officials twice now and I CANNOT rent out Mannequins on New Year's Eve.

2. She also checked out the rumor that a couple clubs on Pleasure Island might reopen over the holidays. The answer is that the clubs are "scheduled to be dark". That's showbiz for: CLOSED

3. Visiting out at PI last night, ran into someone that used to work in one of the clubs and who still works out on the Island. He has personally been inside Mannequins and it has been gutted. Electronics and lighting removed. Not a day goes by where they aren't pulling more stuff out of the place! Well no wonder I can't rent the place! Update 11/24/08: Screamscape reports that all clubs have been stripped of their electrical components and props unless they are to be used for a previously-booked private event. Come January, the work crews are moving in!

I was also out at PI this evening and the club formerly known as Motion was open for a private event for College Program members. Apparently this place has not been gutted although I don't know if the sound system is still there or even if all the television monitors are still installed. They wouldn't let me inside.

PI Alternatives

Most of us have settled into a life without Pleasure Island, as depressing as that may be. You'll find a complete updated list of alternate clubs below however I thought I'd summarize that lengthy list with this one showing the best replacement clubs for those formerly located at PI.

If you liked 8TRAX, what is the best replacement? Antigua (Saturday nights)

If you liked Rock'n'Roll Beach Club, what is the best replacement? Margaritaville (Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights)

If you liked Motion, what is the best replacement? The Groove (Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights)

If you liked BET Soundstage, what is the best replacement? Any damn club in town is playing hip hop & rap! A shout-out to Bob Marley's for reggae!

And if you liked Mannequins, the only thing that comes close is DJ Dave Cannalte's Hospitality Industry Night at House of Blues! (Thursday nights) See: http://www.hob.com/venues/clubvenues/orlando/weekly/hospitality.asp