Club Reports: The Groove, Latin Quarter, Red Coconut Club

I'd have to scroll back a long way to find out when I last visited CityWalk on a Thursday night.  Visits have been greatly reduced since they dropped their 80's Night.

 DJ King on the boards playing a mix of Top 40 and Hip Hop. He says he plays a lot more EDM during his Saturday night set.  New lasers in the house as CityWalk continues to invest in the club now that they're flush with Potter money!

Started off kind of slow but an hour later.....

.....this is how it looked.  Not bad for a Thursday night!

Hopping over to Latin Quarter for their Thursday night Ladies Night.

DJ Leony (Sirius/XM BPM, Radio Dance, The Fifth) at home playing various Latin dance music genres.

 A lot of people who have been going to Blue Martini on Thursday nights have migrated back.

There's always fun to be had at LQ!

Quick visit to Red Coconut Club.

Didn't recognize the DJ upstairs from a distance.  The dance floor had a nice looking crowd on-board and it seemed that a good time was had by all!

PI Update: More Fun Than Ever!

As spring merges into summer, there's more fun than ever on beautiful Pleasure Island!

First of all, the wall adjacent Sosa Cigars, which blocks off where Rock'n'Roll Beach Club used to stand, is being repainted into the Disney Springs new pale blue with gray trim colors.

Paradiso 37 has a live duo on the patio stage.

Nothing new behind the wall blocking the soon to be demolished Laffers Cantina and Comedy Warehouse buildings. Permits filed!

Big crowd gathered in Keith's Park.

The new home for the living statues.

The taco truck remains parked at the Lily Pad.  But that crowd ain't there for tacos, they're there for the evening's entertainment.....

And a good time was had by all!

This Weekend In Techno Town

THURSDAY MAY 30
Just saw him last Friday night at EDC-Chicago and he put on the best House/Trance set by far!  One of the world's best DJ's, Gareth Emery (GB)!
Thursday night at Roxy Nightclub.
($15)

Anyone remember Thursdays at Mannequins?  Come relive it at Parliament House with their annual PI@PH event.  Part of their Gay Days 2013 festivities which includes Dance singer Deborah Cox on Friday and Belinda Carlisle on Saturday.
(FREE < 11pm, $10 > 11pm)

FRIDAY MAY 31
When you think of Drum'n'Bass, one DJ really stands out: AK1200 (USA). Having performed at both EDC-Orlando concerts, he's been gaining more and more new fans.  And he'll be performing this Friday night at the new Syn Night Club.
($10)

SATURDAY JUN 1
DJ's Justin Faze (The Fifth) and Supagroover (NLP) this Saturday night at Vixen Bar! (FREE)

Over at Tier Nightclub they've got DJ Theory (USA) from clubs Marquee and Goldbar in NYC.  House/Top 40/Dance.
($10)

For those in the Tampa Bay area, dance away to entire night of Top 40/Dance from our very own DJ Leony (Latin Quarter, The Fifth, Sirius/XM BPM, RadioDanz) playing at the recently reopened Club Detroit!
(PRICE N/A)

RadioDanz Keeps Getting Better!

Always a fast moving mix of Dance music including House & Trance, Miami-based RadioDanz remains one of my favorite place on the internet for EDM.  No commercials and it's free.  Best of all, the weekend lineup includes Orlando DJ's Mickey Bono, DJ Leony and DJ Smooth!  Put it on when you're working or just surfing.  Dance music 24/7.
WEEKDAYS
8PM EST / 1AM GMT  Addiction with DJ Armando

FRIDAYS
5PM EST / 10PM GMT - LIVE Addiction with DJ Armando
6PM EST / 11PM GMT - Danz 20 Countdown with Bernardo
9PM EST / 2AM GMT -  DJ Mickey Bono (Syn, Loft55, Bliss)
10PM EST / 3AM GMT - DJ Riddler
11PM EST / 4AM GMT - Morgan Page
12AM EST / 5 AM GMT - Mike the Hitman
1AM EST / 6 AM GMT - Bimbo Jones
2AM EST / 7AM GMT - Peter Luts

SATURDAYS
6PM EST / 11PM GMT - DJ Wesley
7PM EST / 12AM GMT - Bernardo
8PM EST / 1AM GMT - Gino Caporale
9PM EST / 2AM GMT - DJ Punzo
10PM EST / 3AM GMT - DJ Leony (Latin Quarter, The Fifth)
11PM EST / 4AM GMT - Tony Bruno
12AM EST / 5AM GMT - DJ Smooth (CityWalk)
1AM EST / 6AM GMT - StoneBridge
2AM EST / 7AM GMT - Johnny Budz
3AM EST / 8AM GMT - Spyke'n'Sugarstarr

PI Update: Adventurers Club Actors Show

Tickets are on sale for the Adventurers In Charity show featuring new comedy being performed by 10 former actors and actresses of the Adventurers Club.  The show will take place on Saturday, September 28th at 6pm, the 5th anniversary of the Pleasure Island clubs being shuttered.  Net proceeds are going to charity.  General admission is just $15 while VIP is $35.  The latter includes table seating at the front similar to a Library show in AC.  It also includes a meet & greet Cast cocktail after-party!  UPDATE: VIP TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT.  GENERAL ADMISSION STILL AVAILABLE!

Seating is limited so don't delay.  Full details including a look at the Cast and the place to reserve tickets can be found here.  Hotel rooms are available for an incredible $59 + tax at the Holiday Inn Resort - Lake Buena Vista.  This is also where the show is taking place.  To reserve a room, call the hotel directly at 1-866-808-8833 and mention the Colonel's Special!

Club Report: Fusion Ultra Lounge

Back to Orlando.  First ever visit last night to Fusion Ultra Lounge in north suburban Longwood, not wanting to miss out on the 5th anniversary party for the NLP DJ group.

DJ J-Dub was playing when I arrived.

And at that time the dance floor had a few people on board.

And it picked up as the mostly Breakbeats format continued.

With a lighted hoops routine keeping things quite interesting.

The leader of the pack, DJ Matrix taking over around midnight with more Breaks and some old skool House.

MC Marybeth looking fine.

Mannequins!

EDC - Orlando!

Guest DJ Sharaz beginning his set around 1am.

Continuing the evening's theme of Breaking it up/Old skool!

Dance floor was pretty jammed by this point.

And a good time was had by all!

Concert Report: Electric Daisy Carnival - Day 1

In Chicago for the first day of Electric Daisy Carnival!

Taking place at the Chicagoland Speedway complex in Joliet.  Come on in!

5 stages in place with DJ's playing from 5pm until 4am.  Checking out local House DJ TKC (USA) which stands for To Kool Chris.

EDC girls!

Part of the early crowd on hand.

Next up DJ Anna Lunoe (AUS).

Playing more House and some Breaks.

With her cute Aussie accent, she was getting into the music.

With highs in the low 60's, the night would get particularly cold for the scantily clad revelers!

More female DJ's: Rebecca & Fiona (S)!

I missed them when they played Orlando last year.  They were quite animated with the crowd.  Mostly House but a surprising amount of Breakbeats out of them too!

Crowd building up as the hour got later.

Go Rebecca!  Go Fiona!

The festival grounds are far larger than Tinker Field in Orlando where our EDC will take place in November.  This is the first EDC for Chicago; it will be the 3rd for O-town.

The Electric Daisy itself. As profits increase, they're able to add amenities. 

Local DJ's Jordan V (left) and Kalendr.

You can never go wrong with Go Go girls!

Local favorite DJ Tony Arzadon (USA) continued this night of House music.
 

Big crowd enjoying the music from this side stage.
 

 House music makes me happy!

Arzadon was a guest DJ at The Groove in CityWalk last year.

 This stage was kept so dark that it was difficult to tell anyone was up there.  But she was: DJ Lady Faith (USA).  Her music was a harder sound but she was including Breakbeats as well.

Fairy princesses everywhere!

 Perhaps the most impressive performance of the night to me came from Gareth Emery (GB).

Very animated with the crowd, his mix of Trance and House lacked no dead sections!

Amid a deluge of lasers, his big hit "Concrete Angel" got a huge roar from the audience.

 The crowd was happy!  Emery plays at Roxy this coming Thursday night.  Tickets here.

Up next on the main stage was a DJ I've not seen play in Orlando, Martin Solveig (F).

He got the biggest crowd roar from his hit "Hello".  You may recall the music video where he played tennis against a far superior DJ Bob Sinclar (F)!

The crowd stretched back as far as the eye could see!

The peeps want techno!
 

 The DJ that I give credit to for helping merge Hip Hop & Dance and thus a major factor in the recent boom of EDM, DJ David Guetta (F).

He told this Chicago-crowd how thrilled he was to be playing in the birthplace of House music!

Lots of lasers for his hit "Titanium"!

 And wrapping it up his 1.5 hour set with hit "She Wolf".  By now I was pretty frozen as the 2am temperature was 43F!

Huge 15-minute fireworks show during Guetta's set.  He was much better than when I had seen him play at the Koolhaus in Toronto a couple years ago.

And a good time was had by all! Chicago Tribune images here.