Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Pleasure Island: RIP (3.5 Years)

Today marks 3.5 years of nothing.  Can you believe it's been that long?
Mannequins Dance Palace:  closed, replaced with: nothing
8TRAX:  closed, replaced with: nothing
Comedy Warehouse: closed, replaced with: nothing
Adventurers Club: closed, replaced with: nothing
Soundstage Club: closed, replaced with: nothing
Motion: demolished, replaced with: nothing
Rock'n'Roll Beach Club: demolished, replaced with: nothing
 

Monday, March 26, 2012

IDMA Winners Announced

Winter Music Conference in Miami Beach has drawn to a conclusion for 2012 and one of the most popular events at WMC are the announcements of who won the International Dance Music Awards.  Some of the major winners this year are:
BEST POP DANCE TRACK: We Found Love/Calvin Harris (GB) ft. Rihanna (BDS)
BEST ELECTROHOUSE TRACK: Levels / Avicii (S)
BEST TRANCE TRACK: Feels So Good /Armin van Buuren (NL) ft. Nadia Ali (USA)
BEST BREAKTHROUGH DJ: Hardwell (NL)
BEST EUROPEAN DJ: Avicii (S)
BEST NORTH AMERICAN DJ: Deadmau5 (CDN)
BEST GLOBAL DJ: Armin van Buuren (NL)
BEST GLOBAL RADIO STATION: BBC1 (GB)
BEST PRODUCER: David Guetta (F)
BEST REMIXER: Kaskade (USA)
BEST US CLUB: Pacha / New York City
BEST GLOBAL CLUB: Space / Ibiza, Spain
See the entire list of finalists and winners at IDMA.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Club Report: Atlantic Dance Hall (Pleasure Island Reunion)

Beautiful Atlantic Dance Hall on a beautiful Saturday night.  Time for the 3rd annual Pleasure Island Reunion!
DJ Tony B (Motion, Rock'n'Roll Beach Club, PI Live, The Groove) on the boards playing a mix of music from Motion, 8TRAX and even a bit of Mannequins!
When I came in shortly after 10:30pm the place was already packed!
Recognized soooo many people from PI.
Spotted:  DJ Pete Haynes (8TRAX, Retro Room, Pat O'Briens, Motion, BET Soundstage).
8TRAX!
Mannequins!

 Mannequins
Adventurers Club!
Motion & 8TRAX!  David Clements (far left) organized this event.

 Mannequins & Motion!
8TRAX!
Mannequins!
8TRAX!
Mannequins!
Mannequins!
DJ Tony B with his lovely wife Michelle!

8TRAX! 

Mannequins!

Motion!
As the evening drew to a close, the crowd thinned out a bit but the place was still jamming when the lights came on close to 2am.  Great time at ADH.  Great to see so many PI friends again!  Pleasure Island lives!  Big thanks to David Clements for organizing this via Facebook!  Anyone desiring copies of any pictures, please email me and I'll email them to you!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Club Reports: Nona Tap Room, Circa, Suite B

Friday night in Orlando!  First stop Nona Tap Room on Narcoosee Road near Orlando International Airport. I could see the Lufthansa Boeing 747 to Frankfurt out on the tarmac! Mainly a neighborhood watering hole, they offer up music on weekend nights.
DJ Brett James (Brett James Entertainment) getting started around 10pm playing older hits and Classic Dance leading into Top 40/Dance as the night goes on!  He's here every Friday night.
The place was as jammed as I've seen it and people do dance on the small dancing area.
Sad news over in Winter Park though.  Going to check on DJ C-Money at Circa only to find out the whole place has shut down!
Restaurant downstairs and dance club upstairs, the upscale venue suffered from a relatively poor location at the far north end of the downtown shopping district.  Sorry to see it go.

Moving from downtown Winter Park to downtown Orlando and Suite B Lounge.
They were featuring a trio of EDM DJ's including Jennifer Marley (Party95.com, LevelZ), Chris Gallagher and Davie-D (Davie's Angels).
The night began rather slow and everyone was just saying that everyone else was in Miami this weekend.
But by midnight the place was really jamming!
People were dancing on the main floor and in all the corners.....
.....although I don't recall this many guys dancing together since the Blog visited Pulse a couple years ago!
The music was the expected Breakbeats but also a wonderful amount of Classic Dance too. "Mannequins!" was heard shouted more than once!
I don't know how she does it but Marley has a 4-hour dance music show every night Monday - Friday on Party95.com so be sure to tune in! 

Friday, March 23, 2012

PI Update: Disney No Longer Afraid To Mention Their Clubs!




When the Pleasure Island clubs closed in September, 2008, we entered into a period where club-speak was eliminated from the vocabulary of Pleasure Island employees. Sure there were whispers but dance clubs and comedy clubs became clubs-nongrata. Where it was practical, club signs were eliminated. Overnight the club sign for Motion was taken down and the club sign for 8TRAX was painted over. The more difficult signs for Soundstage, Adventurers Club and Mannequins remained standing. It was only when several clubs (Motion, Adventures Club, Soundstage) were made available for private rentals that one could officially speak of the places. But later when club demolitions were put on the agenda and rentals ceased, clubs were once again something CM's didn't publicly speak about. Paranoia reached its peak last August when club names still standing were obliterated.

But the tide has turned and we've entered an era where it appears Disney has gotten beyond the paranoia and is embracing its Pleasure Island past instead of shunning it! How else can you explain using Adventurers Club cast for an long-term employee banquet last fall and then again this week for a travel agent expo? There was no hesitation bringing back Comedy Warehouse CM's for multiple shows to the public during the holidays last year, and to sold out crowds at that. We've yet to see Disney acknowledge the past when it comes to their former dance clubs but they really could....and should. For the most part they were great places to be proud of!

Whether any of this means a hill of beans pertaining to comedy or dance clubs ever returning permanently, we don't know. Pleasure Island fans need to keep up the pressure though and always in a mature, constructive way. There are prior examples of attractions "returning" due to customer demand. People want their Adventures Club back, people want their Mannequins back, people want their 8TRAX back. Come on Disney, there is money to be made!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

PI Update: Adventurers Gather For Travel Agents! - UPDATED

Cast members from Adventures Club were told to assemble this morning, in costume, for a travel agency trade group meeting. Apparently this was a meeting Disney puts on annually for "Earmarked" travel agencies, agencies that generate large sales of Disney packages.  Blog reader Jason71 reports that he heard that when the AC characters walked onto the stage, the agents reaction was so excited that it was if they had witnessed a defrosted Walt Disney himself arrive!  Indeed, the AC characters have come back from the dead several times now! 

The conference, being held at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, began earlier in the week with tours of the new Fantasyland facilities and Disney's reservation center.  Today's meeting, which kicked off with the surprise visit by AC characters and the Induction Ceremony, was to cover all the new, exciting developments at Disney parks around the world.  Tomorrow agents begin a 3-night cruise aboard the new Disney Fantasy cruise ship, sailing from Port Canaveral.  Not a bad way to spend the week!  KUNGALOOSH!!!
PHOTO SOURCE: TINYPIC.COM FROM UNKNOWN ORIGINAL SOURCE.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

This Weekend In Techno Town

WEDNESDAY MARCH 21st
Start the weekend tonight as HTG presents fast rising DJ duo Zeds Dead (CDN) at The Beacham.  $20
THURSDAY MARCH 22nd
New weekly event "Group Therapy" at Tier Night Club features DJ Nova (Antigua, CityWalk Techno Night, Vain) playing Top 40/Dance/House. Price N/A.
FRIDAY MARCH 23rd
Local favorite DJ Davie-D is back on the boards at Suite B Lounge but instead of bringing all of his angels, he's only bring one: DJ Jennifer Marley (Party95.com, LevelZ) plus DJ Chris Gallagher.  Free before 11pm, then $5.
SATURDAY MARCH 24th
It's Pleasure Island Reunion time, the first in two years!  DJ Tony B promises music from the PI clubs including Motion, Mannequins, 8TRAX and SoundstageAtlantic Dance Hall at Disney's Boardwalk Resort.  Free!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Reminder: Pleasure Island Reunion This Saturday

It's been two years since the last Pleasure Island Reunion event so hopefully all of you PI fans that are in Orlando this weekend (and not at Ultra) will come out this Saturday night to Atlantic Dance Hall for this  get-together.  The biggest surprise at the last PI Reunion was Disney bringing-in former Mannequins bartender extraordinaire Bobby C (pictured above) for the event!  DJ Tony B (Motion, Rock'n'Roll Beach Club, PI Live, The Groove) will be on the boards putting out dance hits from all the PI clubs!  Admission and parking are FREE; 10pm-2am; located at Disney's Boardwalk Resort. More details here.

Monday, March 19, 2012

PI Update: Splitsville Concept Art Released


The website TBO.com, owned by the Tampa Tribune, has published an article about the new Splitsville upscale entertainment complex under constuction at Downtown Disney West Side.  The article includes a piece of concept art of how the exterior is going to look and it's way different than what's been published previously. The art and article can be found here.  Thanks to our roving reporter Thommy for this info!