Meanwhile Around Town

Back in the 90's the dynamic duo of DJ Dave Cannalte and DJ Kimball Collins combined to create the Wizards of Aahz, spinning techno at the Beacham Theater (now Tabu) in downtown Orlando. Sources tell Save PI that the two will be returning to Tabu on Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday, November 25th to recreate their act. Everyone knows Dave Cannalte as the former Thursday night DJ at Mannequins! It would be great to see him again reunited with Collins who is apparently moving back from Asia. I'll publish more details once this is announced.


I noticed that Nathan's Famous Hot Dog restaurant in CityWalk had closed down and was under renovations. Sources say that it's going to be replaced by a Fat Tuesday! This is awesome. If you've ever been to Chillers downtown you know that alcoholic Slurpee's are incredibly mind-numbing in more ways than one. Hope this is true and that they stock something like Chillers' Purple Orgasms. Mmmmm!

One of the old rumors was that Disney couldn't reopen any of the clubs on Pleasure Island because the DJ's contract stated that if they did, they'd have to rehire them and pay back wages. Supposedly that clause was valid for a year from closure. So now that we've passed the one year anniversary of the closure, does that mean clubs can be reopened? I don't know. I'm ok with it....if we can just get Disney to agree.

PI Cast Member Reunion

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
It was a wonderful night on Pleasure Island this evening as many former CM's from around the island got together to mark the 1-yr anniversary of PI's closure by holding a Reunion. It was very informal, held in one of the courtyards of Raglan Road. This first group of lovely ladies are Diana, Jen, Erika and Taryn who were part of that great 8TRAX bartending team a year ago.


A couple employees are still employed on PI and couldn't directly attend the Reunion because they were working. Bartender Amy of 8TRAX was at Laffers this evening while John of Mannequins worked at PI Live Bar.


Our favorite Motion DJ Talie was present. You can still find her spinning at Atlantic Dance Hall. Meanwhile former Island management dropped by as well; PI manager Kelly (center) flanked by former Mannequins managers Brad and Adam.


8TRAX lighting tech Gary and 8TRAX bartender Marvin were in da house!


Comedy Warehouse had a big turnout too with Lisa, Mark, Mary & John in the left photo. On the right Mary visits with William (Ticket Booth) and Thommy (8TRAX Door Host).


In a prior Blog entry a few months ago, I accused Pleasure Island of having ticket-takers made up of nothing but old ladies. Well clearly that's not the case because Diana, Linda & Vivian from Admissions are clearly hotties and not oldies! On the right we see Diana & Linda pretending to be tourists so that they could participate in the 9:30pm edition of Celebrate Tonight! I almost got roped-in myself but snuck away while DJ G-Clef was occupied elsewhere!


Erin (left) still works on the Island; you remember her from 8TRAX and Adventurers Club. Meanwhile Mary introduced me to Joy from Comedy Warehouse (right).

It was GREAT to see so many faces of people that previously made Pleasure Island the great place that it was. There were many others there that I unfortunately did not know so I did not photograph them.

R.I.P.

PLEASURE ISLAND May 1, 1989-Sept 27, 2008

PI Cast Reunion

A reunion of former cast members from the various Pleasure Island clubs is going to take place at Raglan Road tomorrow night (Sunday) beginning at 7pm. My understanding is that former Guests (that's us!) are also welcome to attend! As you know, tomorrow is the 1 yr anniversary of the Final Night of Pleasure Island.

Kungaloosh!

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
The Kungaloosh Society held their private party at Adventurers Club this evening. I thought this was to be the final event ever at AC however PI sources indicate that there is yet another private event in AC on Saturday night. Attendees were rather subdued; not a lot of noise as they lined up and filed in when the doors opened. A few dressed up in period costumes but most didn't. Once everyone was in the doors closed and it was close to impossible for passersby to know that something was happening inside. Will Adventurers Club ever return? Things look very bleak now, per the post below added earlier today. Please note that these photos were taken at great personal sacrifice. I had to suffer through 3 separate sessions of Celebrate Tonight during my visit! Yes, I do it for you.
Update: Videos of Friday night's show are beginning to be posted to YouTube. Some of the best lines I've seen so far include the Colonel saying "I can't wait to get to Hong Kong" and "We're watching you.....don't take anything!" At the Introduction Otis references "packing it all up and selling it at (Disney) Property Control". Somewhere in there someone mentions someone else hanging out at Pat O'Brians (CityWalk). Hilarious stuff.

Breaking News

The Kungaloosh Society event is at Adventurers Club tonight but last night WDW Radio held an event there too. Here is some news posted on the Disboards website by someone who attended:

Just returned from the event hosted by wdwradio at the AC last night. It was confirmed by the suits in the joint that the AC will NOT be returning in any shape form or fashion.All of the major artifacts will be going to Hong Kong- To settle any rumors of some artifacts already having shipped, it isn't true. Other than the booze and kungaloosh machine, everything is still there. I asked about the replacement Colonel and was told that "EVERYTHING" is still on site and will be shipped as a lot to HK.It was really sad- all of the CMs were teary-eyed throughout the evening.

I met up with one of my sources yesterday who confirmed the huge volume of PI rumors out there lately. Source said that there is prettly reliable information out there that the AC, RRBC and Motion buildings are coming down! Sorry folks, but after many ups and downs, it appears that the future of PI does not include clubs of any kind.

Orlando House DJ's: Listen To Them Fridays! See Them Saturdays!

Not only do the top DJ's visit Orlando, many top DJ's live here and play here!

DJ MICKEY BONO
Listen Fridays: 9pm RadioDanz.com
See him Saturdays: 10pm Bliss Ultra Lounge
Music Style: House/Dance

DJ SMOOTH
Listen Fridays: 10pm RadioDanz.com
See him Saturdays: 10pm Trotters (Metrowest)
Music Style: House/Dance

DJ LEONY
Listen Fridays: 12m Sirius 36/XM81 BPM
See him Saturdays: 10pm Latin Quarter
Music Style: Radio-Progressive House/House
Club-Latin with House sets

ALL TIMES EST/-5 GMT

DJ David Guetta Coming To Orlando

DJ Tiesto in October at UCF Arena.
DJ Deadmau5 in November at House of Blues.
And now DJ David Guetta in December at Roxy.
Awesome!

The Hottest Ticket In Town

What is the hottest ticket in town?
The Orlando Magic home opener? No.
An ExpressPass for Rip Ride Rocket? No.
Tiesto or Deadmau5? Hardly.
The hottest ticket in town is a ticket to this Friday's Hoopla at Adventurers Club. It sold out within a couple weeks of being offered. When they found a way to expand it and offer a few more tickets, those too sold out very quickly. Dinner and a few shows featuring original cast members is what this event is all about. You won't find tickets on Ebay. You won't find tickets on StubHub. This is a coveted event for a lucky few that may be attending the Final AC event ever.....at least in THIS Adventurers Club locale.

The Funmeister

The Funmeister still rules the Island from his perch behind the cigar bar next to Motion. He seeks fun for all. Unfortunately he's not seen much of that during the past year.
Photo by Jorge Monterde
The Funmeister is also a drink they they can mix up for you at Laffers Cantina. A few of these and even you might have fun at Celebrate Tonight!

Club Reports: Suite B, Senso, I-Bar, Antigua

I try to get to downtown Orlando at least once per month so it was time again to check out some clubs not previously visited plus some old favorites. One on my list for a long time was Suite B Lounge, a club with a Central Blvd. address but the entrance is around the corner on Magnolia Ave. next to where Cairo used to be. No cover charge, the club consists of one moderately-sized room with a bar on one side, the DJ booth on the opposite side and a large dance floor in the middle. A variety of music is played throughout the week but Saturday nights are House nights. There was only about a dozen patrons during my visit and no one was dancing. The drinks are strong though; the music a very hard House with a good beat but nothing I recognized.


Located where Zinc Bar used to be, Senso is a restaurant during the early evening and evolves into a beautiful upscale dance club later on. Cover is $10 but that does not prevent the place from getting packed! The club is long and narrow and spills out onto the sidewalk in front. The dance floor is aft and gets crowded. I saw DJ Ferry Corsten at Zinc a couple years ago and the venue remains true to its Dance/House roots, playing more familiar music. Dress up for this place.



Independent Bar wasn't quite as gothy or smoky last night as it sometimes is but it was very full and they remain open until nearly 3am. The music on Saturday nights is Old Wave with the videos displayed on monitors around the club. Admission is free until 11pm so it pays to come early, get your wristband and then return later once it's more crowded.



Antigua on Saturday nights is pretty legendary but it didn't get anywhere near as crowded last night as it sometimes does. It was full, just not packed. Admission is $5 before 11pm and drinks are free till 11 as well as long as you settle for the rot-gut well drinks. DJ Nova was nowhere to be seen last night but his replacement was playing the same mix of Top 40 and Mashups. He might have been playing the same "tape" as far as I could tell.

Mannequins Flashback

Continuing my series of sharing favorite songs from Mannequins, Toni Braxton's Hit The Freeway was a song from 2006 which was part of a growing trend back then. Mannequins was famous for techno music including House and Trance. But the end of the 90's saw the growing movement of Hip Hop taking over Techno in popularity among the masses. By the mid-part of this decade we saw mainstream techno DJ's remixing hip hop into music with faster House beats as part of a growing genre called Dance music. This song is a great example because this H2Q remix sounds nothing like its original Hip Hop edition. Mannequins incorporated a lot of these hip hop dance remixes during the latter years. While many House music purists despised this, this kept Mannequins relevant and it's a reality of the dance music scene today.

Club Report: CityWalk Thursday Nights

It's been a little while since I reported on Thursday night activities at CityWalk. Now that the tourist season has ended, how are the clubs doing on Thursdays? Pretty darn good! It was another 80's Night at The Groove featuring former 8TRAX DJ Doc Wells. It was a little light early on but by 11:30pm the club including the dance floor was pretty full, as you can see above. A nice feature of 80's Night is the wide span of ages of the patrons. Everyone knows and loves these songs and they're successfully drawing on Thursday nights. The $2 Blueberry Pop Tart shots are quite the draw too!

Latin Quarter also began the evening rather empty but over a 15-minute period around 11pm the place moved to crowded status, dancing to Latin rhythms and some House spun by DJ Leony. There is some serious eye candy in this place! Ladies get in free and drink free on Thursdays; Guys with hospitality industry identification can also get in free.

No photo from over at Red Coconut Club but the crowd was more moderate in size during both of my visits. The American tourist season may be over but the British tourist season is still in effect and there was a large number of Brits on hand.

Are These Restaurants Coming to PI?

TM All logos are Trademarks of Schussler Creative, Inc. and are used as part of this news story. Fair use claimed.
Back in May of 2008 there was a little get-together up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Actually it wasn't all that little; local police were on hand to direct traffic around the party. The party was hosted by Steve Schussler, a man of ideas if there ever was one. His job that weekend was to pitch restaurant concepts. And who were among those attending and listening? Well, Barry Carlson was there. Then Downtown Disney VP Kevin Lansberry was there. And you know who else? None other than our new DTD VP Keith Bradford. And boy did they listen. A month later the bombshell press release was issued: Pleasure Island clubs to close forever, to be replaced with exciting new shops and restaurants.

You see those logos above? Some of these concepts might be the exciting new restaurants promised for Pleasure Island. I don't know that they are, I'm just telling you about this party.
But maybe Adventurers Club is being replaced with Hot Dog Hall of Fame. What could be more timely than the Sorcerer's Kitchen: The School of Wizardly Magic and Food? And how about a restaurant where it's Winter all the time? The website of Schussler Creative, Inc. can give you more details about these concepts. http://www.schusslercreative.com/concepts.html