Club Reports: Se7en, Dragonfly (Niagara Falls)

KingBob on the road again. Visiting Niagara Falls, Ontario. First club to check out was called Club Se7en, located up the hill just two blocks from the falls.

DJ Stefan and Bojan were playing European House music in a variety of languages to start off the night. Good stuff but nothing I recognized. Later in the evening they were going to celebrate some sort of Serbian festival and the music was to switch from House to Serbian folk music. I was gone before that happened!

A crowd actually was beginning to build but the C$15 cover charge was steep. Excellent sound system and lasers all over the place. Definitely a cool option on a non-ethnic festival night.

Props to this mannequin that was slowly spinning from the ceiling!

Located in the Niagara Fallsview Casino complex, Dragonfly Nightclub is an awesome upscale dance club also located just a few blocks from the falls.

DJ Nick Picholas (left) from Buffalo's KISS 98.5/WKSE was broadcasting live from the club. Interestingly, they promote the club but don't broadcast the club's music feed because of the risk of something bad being broadcast out onto the airwaves. Instead, they broadcast prerecorded Dance sets from DJ Smooth (Red Coconut Club, Bliss, The Groove, RadioDanz.com, Florida Beat Radio) who was attending with his wife.

The club's Friday or Saturday night DJ is an institution in the Toronto/Niagara region; DJ Mista Jiggz!

And the club was packed wall-to-wall. The music close to 100% House/Dance and Top 40. If there was any Hip Hop in there, I must have missed it. But this is Canada, not America.

The crowd was a mixture of Niagara Falls tourists and Canadian locals and since the drinking age in Ontario is 19, I'm sure there were several Americans from over the border too!

Dragonfly has this awesome light ceiling above the large dance floor that flashes in an array of colours....

....and patterns. Not quite the light wall at Mannequins....but close. They also have lasers shooting all over the place. So if you're ever visiting the Niagara frontier, be sure to go partying at Dragonfly! Thinking about the club options we currently have open in Orlando, this is likely better than anything we got!

Club Report: 80's Night at The Groove

Had not been out to 80's Night at The Groove in awhile so that was on my agenda for last night. DJ Scott King (Motion, Rock'n'Roll Beach Club) on the boards and even on the stage directing.....

.....the Electric Slide. Is that from the 80's? I guess it is!

Decent-sized crowd on hand and I expect larger crowds as the summer tourist season starts to pick up.

Yes, that's one of the Bee Gee's. DJ King continues to add some 70's Disco selections to the 80's mix which makes the place sound more and more like 8TRAX. No one leaves the dance floor! Don't miss the fun of 80's Night at The Groove every Thursday night!

Meanwhile, while Pleasure Island adds grass and mulch, CityWalk taketh away. Construction of the new dual miniature golf coures is underway!

This Weekend In Techno Town

We've had the Aahz Reunion, we've had the Aahz Encore. This Saturday night DJ's Kimball Collins & Dave Cannalte bring you Aahz Decade X!  For anyone in Orlando now and for anyone that lived the 1988 to 1998 scene in O-Town, this is a "do not miss" event! Chris Fortier and Sam Mollison join the action at Firestone Live! 

PI Update: Gloomy Island

The sky in this file photo is bright and cheerful but with thunderstorms brewing in the Orlando-area this afternoon, things were actually gloomy. But what better place to experience gloom than beautiful Pleasure Island. After all, we are approaching 2.75 years since the clubs closed!

Plenty of Brazilian tour groups passing through.

The custodial crew was busy kipping things spiffy.

But one custodial worker (not pictured above) told me that Soundstage and Adventurers Club were going to be demolished.  Since Custodial is likely the lowest rank within Disney's caste system, I take that information with a grain of salt.

This construction worker hanging out within the  grassy plain that once was RRBC & Motion gives you a good perspective of just how huge that area really is!

No construction taking place yet within the service area between Raglan Road and Portobello.

The Margarita Bar has a guitar singer. Music everywhere except where you'd expect it, such as club buildings!

Located in the former Virgin Mega Store, rumors had RidemakerZ closing May 31st however it remains in business with no sign of closing. The Princess Diana Museum is thankfully not returning either.

Finally, work progresses in the new location of Orlando Harley Davidson. Have a great weekend! And remember, no matter what the weather outside, it's always a beautiful day at Walt Disney World.

Club Report: The Venue (Clearwater)

King Bob's road trip continues. On to The Venue, St. Pete/Clearwater.

DJ Kidd Leow from radio station WFLZ, FM 93.3, Tampa. First visit to the club since it was called Storman's and Storman Norman's and they used to do an aweome "Techno Tuesday". Hey, if HOB can do a jamming Service Industry Night on a Sunday, The Venue can do one on a Monday! Substantial renovations give the place a completely different look. My first impression was that this area next to the main bar below the DJ was the dance floor. At least initially, that was not the case.

Discovered that the main dance floor is actually upstairs in a separate area.

The relatively small upstairs area got jammed quickly! Doesn't anybody know this is a Monday night? The music is an on-going mix of Dance, Top 40, small amounts of Hip Hop, 2000's, and 80's. Much better than The Groove or Atlantic Dance Hall! Most of songs get clipped; all have videos with them.



But then as the place got more crowded, even that downstairs area by the bar became a dance floor! My bartender said it's like this every Monday night.



But at midnight I had to get out of there. Some of us work for a living. The line was growing. Admission is free for anyone in a service industry but otherwise just $5. My tab for two drinks.....$4. Located on Ulmerton Road near St. Pete/Clearwater International Airport, this is a no-brainer for anyone spending a Monday night in the Tampa Bay area. Very impressive!

DJ Calvin Harris: Bounce

A couple people mentioned to me that I missed out on an awesome performance by DJ Calvin Harris (GB) during the recent Electric Daisy Carnival - Orlando. I'm was not familiar with him but I'm quickly learning that his song Bounce (ft. Kelis) is tearing up clubs in Europe and has made the jump to the United States! I believe you would call this Electro-House and it reminds me of video game music. Enjoy.

Club Reports: Zanzabar, BFE, Pi, Cloud 9 (Ocala)

When I'm out of town and time allows, I always like to check out the local club scene. Such was the case Saturday night in Ocala. Formerly Fusion and then Graffiti Beach, Zanzabar is the largest club in town.

Ocala's DJ Axis was on the boards spinning mostly Hip Hop although there were some House and Top 40 segments in there. The Saturday night cover charge was $12 but it was "all you can drink" so you do the math.

It never got particularly crowded but I've seen pics of the place and know that it does.

I was hoping to catch DJ KJ (K5, Tabu, Vixen, Urban Flats) but learned he spins here every other Saturday night. KJ now lives in Crystal River operating a charter fishing operation and Ocala is the closest "big city" to there.

Connected to Zanzabar is a country bar called Midnight Rodeo and admission includes both venues.

Located "down on the square" in downtown Ocala, BFE is a restaurant that turns bar at night.

Based on his computer, the DJ was Joey Kras and it was close to 100% Hip Hop.

Being the small town that it is, it was not surprising that everybody seemed to know everybody. Reminded me a lot of bars in my college town.

The dance floor had some very drunk people coming and going although not the people shown above. Interesting place to hang out with friends, but......next!

Ocala has its own PI but it's no Pleasure Island. I guess this is the mathematical Pi. Another restaurant that turns into a bar later in the evening.

The attraction is the rooftop bar featuring a guitarist/singer while downstairs softer music played. It's not a dance club though. Not for me but it is a nice setting.

Finally there is Cloud 9. I had scanned the website and it looked promising. Had to park in the parking lot of the closed McDonald's across the highway but with more Hip Hop blaring from the speakers I decided it was time to call it a night. Ocala lesson learned: it's still very much a Hip Hop town!

PI Update: Braille Map Still Shows RRBC & Motion

Both the regular posted PI map as well as the DTD Guidemap (pamphlet) have been revised to display a green area behind the construction walls where Rock'n'Roll Beach Club and Motion used to stand . The area is labeled as "For Future Enjoyment". The Braille map however still shows the club pictures. Not sure if this is just an oversight or a display of "blind people can't see so what does does it matter" attitude. 

PI Update: Island Goes Green

No need to go "down the shore" to experience a sea breeze. A brisk one was available today right on beautiful Pleasure Island!

In the Comments section of Tuesday's article, loyal reader Jason71 reported that the view of the Pleasure Island plaque had been blocked by a new planter with a tree growing in it. Well here it is. My first thought was that they were actually trying to block view of the plaque which has the PI backstory on it.

But looking at it from the parking lot side of the No. 2 Bridge shows that such planters were placed on all 4 corners of the bridge. So I think that the plaque just happens to be in one of the corners. I don't think that they would have gone to this expense just to block the plaque when they could have just unscrewed the plaque and removed it instead. However, these are really not very pretty planters so I'm not sure what the intent of these are!

In addition, numerous other plaques remain unblocked around PI including this one at 8TRAX. This venue originally opened as Videopolis East, then became The Cage and later 8TRAX.

And this one at the lower end of the Lombard Promenade.

Elsewhere, this piece of Hyperion Wharf concept art remains posted on the construction wall at the Hub. This leads me to believe that the amphitheater ultimately will get built.

The grass is getting greener but no further action on the new pathway. And that folks is the latest information from beautiful Pleasure Island! Aloha.