Club Reports: Vixen Bar, Independent Bar, Firestone Live

Saturday in da citi, beginning the evening at Vixen Bar.

DJ Channels in the booth playing mostly House mixed with some Dubhouse.

Place was pretty jammed and people were dancing where they were drinking!

This is another one of those places that has remained true to EDM over the years thanks to the owner and DJ Justin Faze.

Overdue for a visit to downtown favorite Independent Bar.

Lighting Tech Ernie & DJ Indie John located where they belong on a Saturday night!

A fine looking crowd dancing to 80's New Wave/Old Wave!

And the dance floor here too was jammed during my hour-long visit.

Moving on to the largest venue in downtown Orlando, Firestone Live.

For DJ Shogun (USA), playing O-town for the first time ever.

The place was completely jammed too!

Lots of nitrogen-infused spraydowns!

It was difficult to move about the place!

Spotted in VIP:  DJ Cyberian Soundz (Orlando Trance Movement, Suite B Lounge, Bikkuri Lounge) with friend.

Shogun putting out an incredible House/Trance set of mostly songs you'd recognize from Dance radio stations.

You can never go wrong with Go Go girls!

 

Shogun is the first ever DJ of Asian descent to be signed by Armada Music, the label co-founded by Armin van Buuren (NL)!

Backstage fun!

I think the crowd size was triple compare to the number attending for DJ Dave Aude' (USA) last Saturday night.

Shogun really blew the place up though last night!  Paul van Dyk (D) plays here this Thursday night!

And a good time was had by all!

PI Update: Ground Zero

A beautiful Saturday morning in Orlando!  And what better place to spend it than beautiful Pleasure Island!

Save Pleasure Island Blog SkyCAM view showing that Comedy Warehouse has been reduced to smithereens.  No more poking fun at the Disney vacation experience!

It's interesting how the facade on the far right remains standing with the Purple Stage markings still on it and what looks like the beginnings of another fence running from that facade over to Laffers Cantina. Are they planning to temporarily reopen this area for entertainment?  While CW is gone, no permit has been issued yet to actually construct the replacement building going there, a facility likely not needed for another couple years.  Interesting.

Rear view of the demolition.

Lots of debris to remove.

Construction continues on the No. 5 Bridge, a supposedly temporary bridge (but maybe not) that will run from Characters In Flight at Downtown Disney West Side to Pleasure Island at BET Soundstage.

I asked my pilot today about the bridge and it was his understanding that it would wrap behind Soundstage Club, Adventurers Club and Paradiso 37 and connect to the Pleasure Island ferry pier.

A side-by-side look at the existing No. 4 Bridge and the new No. 5 Bridge.  At some point during heavy construction of Disney Springs it will be necessary to shift pedestrians from one to the other.  And I'm told that is at least a year from now.

Laboring on this hot Saturday morning to bring Disney Springs to you asap!

SkyCAM view of the first construction staging area in the Seed & Mulch area of the Island where Motion and Rock'n'Roll Beach Club used to stand.  Same stuff that's been sitting in there for awhile.

As we've reported, Parking Lot H has been closed for use as a second construction staging area.  Now there are two Castmember trailers in there.

Lot I-J-K was supposed to close too as it will be the home to the first parking garage. The I-J section is now closed and blocked-off.

The Lot K section is still open though.  If you're in town, come on down!  Take a balloon ride at Characters, have a hot pretzel with a cold lemonade at Wetzel's or maybe have a smoke during the final days of Fuego!

Club Reports: Silly Grape, Loft55, Sound Bar

Dropping in for an icy cold drink after work at The Silly Grape in Maitland!

Very much a happy hour venue among the corporate office buildings in the area, the guitarist on the stage last night providing soft background music that allows for chit-chat among friends.

Spotted:  Resident DJ Vitamin C dropping by to say hello!

Updating you on a couple other clubs, a visit to Loft55 located on the 2nd floor of the 55 West Building on Church Street.  The road continues to struggle with the relatively new Five Guys restaurant closing down this past week.  And then, whose idea was it to put a nightclub anywhere but the ground floor?

Inside DJ Remington Steele (On The Rocks Bar) playing Hip Hop classics.

Beautiful facility but just a few dancers on the floor.

The very small club called Backroom has become Sound Bar.

DJ Ed Abisada spinning House during my visit.

It's more than just a name change though.  The place has been thoroughly renovated with a large DJ booth at one end of the room.

And a decent-size dance floor too! 
DJ's John Debo and Monsanto play tonight.

Ran into several people I know there and a good time was being had by all of them!

Breaking News: Wings Located In DTD!

Thought to be extinct in Downtown Disney, Buffalo Wings have been located on the menu at House of Blues!  Bob is happy.

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

Thursday night at CityWalk!  It wasn't particularly crowded last night but I was only there until midnight. Lot of people walking up to Latin Quarter and learning for the first time that it's closed.

But LQ's dance party lives on, merely shifted over to Red Coconut Club on Thursday & Saturday nights!

With resident DJ Leony (Latin Quarter, The Fifth, Sirius/XM BPM, RadioDanz) in his new home at the front of the club.

The crowd was quickly growing during my visit.  Thursday is still Ladies Night.

Leony now comes on at 10:30pm and plays until 2am!

RCC is smaller than LQ so it will be interesting to see how the place can handle the crowds.

Spotted: DJ Bacardi  (The Groove) down on the floor!  Bacardi opens for DJ Mondo tomorrow night at The Groove!

Spotted in VIP, DJ Willie (8TRAX, Celebrate Tonight, Atlantic Dance Hall, Stitch's Club 626 Dance Party, The Groove)!

Speaking of Celebrate Tonight, for a moment I thought that I was there again when I spotted this stilt-walker!

Over to The Groove to check things out!

DJ King (Motion, Rock'n'Roll Beach Club, BET Soundstage, PI Live) down on the dance floor teaching dancers how to do  "TheWobble"!  Some day I will finally learn it.

A light crowd on hand but hardly empty.

The music was a mix of Hip Hop & EDM.

The place will be packed tomorrow night for DJ Mondo playing House/Dance!

And as Calvin Harris' "Sweet Nothing" was played, a good time was had by all!

PI Update: And Then CW Was Gone

It took less than a week to get to this point.  Comedy Warehouse is now mostly demolished.  The only part remaining is the upper front foyer area and the original facade.

Another view of Comedy Warehouse from the rear Waterfront area.  A construction wall has gone up behind Planet Hollywood as demolition soon moves to the former Curl store and then apparently on to 8TRAX.

Will PI be going flat?  That's how it looks on the latest Downtown Disney Guidemap but we just don't know yet.  It's true that buildings that take advantage of the elevation change seem largely destined for demolition.  But Adventures Club looks not to be on the demolition list yet consists of two levels.  Would they make it's main entrance downstairs?  What about Paradiso 37 which is built on the rising slope of Hill Street?  What about Mannequins where the smoker's entrance is now upstairs?  I guess all that could be fixed in some way.

BET Soundstage is apparently coming down though but not until demolition on the other side of the main pathway is completed.  Island sources tell us that the place had bad leaks and mold even before it closed down and its the one club where the air conditioning was not left running post-closure either.

Everyone fondly remembers fishing boat "Jenny" from the film "Forrest Gump".  She's been docked in the Waterfront lagoon next to Planet Hollywood for years.  Of course there's been a problem with her sinking whenever there were heavy rain here, which is often.  DTD management allegedly complained about her often because the boat became a real eyesore!

Well she's been pumped out once again and moved to the rear of PH where she's a bit harder to spot.  As that lagoon will be closing, "Jenny" will have to be removed once and for all.

A castmember trailer has been installed in the front half of the 2nd staging area in Parking Lot H.

That will allow the removal of this mostly hidden castmember trailer currently located on the parking lot side of Pleasure Island.

But Mickey's vision lives on!  (Big thanks to one of our anonymous readers for sharing some of the pictures and news used in this article!!)