Club Report: Techno Night at CityWalk

If you advertise it, they will come! Proving that "techno" music (EDM) can draw crowds at CityWalk, a beautiful Orlando evening was the backdrop for this annual event inside and outside The Groove.

More DJ's than you can shake a stick at! DJ ATM (center) (Bliss Ultra Lounge) was in the booth when I first got to The Groove, putting out House and Dance and possibly the first bit of Dubstep ever in TG as DJ Cheyenne B (right) (Bliss, Suite B) looked on. Cheyenne would later do the 1am closing shift outside.

Meanwhile outside TG on the "lily pad" DJ X-Andy (Party95.com, Elegante Bistro) was spinning House and Dance to the large crowd enjoying the low humidity evening.

The Groove was jammed all night.

The Bicardi Girls were on hand. Can't party without Bicardi!

No one bought a ticket expecting Hip Hop so no one was disappointed when they didn't hear it!

8TRAX!

Mannequins!

Latin Quarter was also included in the event and it too was jammed for DJ Netics spinning some Latin mixed with Top 40 Dance.

At midnight DJ Scotty B (Blue Martini, Orlando Magic) came on in The Groove and literally blew the place up with high energy Dance.

While outside DJ Chad Andrew (Senso, Bliss) came on spinning House/Dance tunes, a change from the Progressive House he's more well-known for. Great to hear it.

Dancers adjacent the lily pad area.

Dancing wherever you happened to be standing!!

A film crew was putting together a new CityWalk television commercial.

At 1am DJ Nova (Vain, Blue Martini, Antigua) took over inside The Groove and took it past closing time.

The floor was as jammed as I've seen it, all the way to the finish! Great night and it shows the potential for Electronic Dance Music at CityWalk beyond just once every year. If advertised, people will come!

PI Update: Signs of Change

Labor Day weekend in Orlando under cloudy Tropical Storm Lee skies but no rain. So what better place to enjoy the moderate temperature than beautiful Pleasure Island!

The changes at Mannequins are not all that dramatic. The Mannequins letters that were vertically displayed on that metal sign have been removed and subsequent to that the wavy neon was removed off the top of the marquee. But the marquee is still there as are the words Dance Palace.

A view from the opposite side. One can speculate that new DTD management wants to remove all indications to passers-by that these were once clubs. What they did here hardly accomplishes that. And I must have missed that there is new DTD management. Isn't Keith Bradford still the VP?

The Mannequins sign above the rear smoking area door was also finally removed.

The groovy 70's motif was painted over at 8TRAX with beige. Much more generic looking now.....

.....except for this giant 8-track tape cartridge is still inserted at the front door.

And this giant 8-track tape player remains above the rear door.

As reported, the last of the Comedy Warehouse signs was finally removed last week. 

Let's talk about the Adventurers Club. The name which had been imbedded in concrete above the door was concreted over. The few remaining outdoor artifacts were removed too.

Some spot-painting on the tower.

But if you're painting, why in the world do you leave this at the top of the tower? At this moment, the Adventurers Club building lives and is thus the only former club with its original name posted.

Next door at the Soundstage Club both the sign above the door as well as the sign on the pole above the club have been removed. Why is this happening now? Lots of speculation but no hard facts from any sources. Big thanks to my roving reporters William and Thommy as well as several readers for sending me photos while I was cruising which unfortunately I was not able to download on the ship's computers.

Club Report: Independent Bar

It's great to be back in the United States. The bad news for me was getting back to Orlando a bit too late to go over to Port Canaveral to see DJ Icey spinning at Club V on the new Victory Casino Cruise ship. The good news though was getting back to Independent Bar instead for DJ Dem Rok (aka DJ Rob) spinning classic and not-so-classic 80's dance music.

Rob's format mixes many New Wave/Old Wave songs typical of I-Bar with more standard hits from the 80's such as Prince's Little Red Corvette and Purple Rain.

He kept the dance floor jammed until 2:45am this morning!

And a good time was had by all! Hope to see some of you out at CityWalk tonight for their "techno" night featuring at least 10 DJ's inside The Groove and outside on the main patio. Rain Rain go away!

Club Report: Zombie Prom (Atlanta)

Flew from Schiphol Amsterdam to Atlanta yesterday so that I could attend the Zombie Prom at the 2011 DragonCon  This huge comic fan convention takes place in four large downtown hotels and the streets are jammed with people in costume walking from venue to venue. The city takes an enlightened approach and it's ok to walk around with a drink in hand. The Zombie Prom took place in the Atlanta Hilton.

Did not get the DJ's name who was spinning 80's New Wave/Old Wave to the little monsters.

Not sure if she is one of those pro-choice or anti-abortion women.

Not sure who this guy was but whenever I'd get ready to snap a picture of a pretty goul he would come out of nowhere and jump into it!

 

 

 

The goth band Bella Morte appeared over at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta. Very heavy metallic, the only thing I recognized was Berlin's song The Metro which I thought was ironic since I had just ridden on the Berlin's metro system (U-Bahn/S-Bahn) less than two weeks ago!

 

And a good time was had by all!

Labor Day Weekend In Techno Town

SUNDAY SEPT 4th  DJ Smooth opens for DJ Mickey Bono on a special Sunday night opening of Bliss Ultra Lounge in downtown Orlando. Drink specials and special House/Dance music from both DJ's as normally available only on Saturday nights!

SUNDAY SEPT 4th
The Groove inside and out gets gated and they bring in a long lineup of DJ's spinning House music and Top 40. Drink specials and cabana rentals. Just $10; was really jammed last year. CityWalk.





MONDAY SEPT 5th  For those with time, money and energy remaining, the party continues on Monday night with DJ Calvin Harris (GB) at Vain in downtown Orlando.