Club Reports: RS, TG, RCC & ADH

First stop last night was Rising Star in CityWalk. I'm not a fan whatsoever of Karaoke however it does fascinate me how RS always has a line to get in and the seating gets full. And it's the only karaoke place I know that gives singers a couple of pretty backup dancers and, on most nites, a live band!

There's never a shortage of people waiting to take their turn. But let's move on to the dance clubs!

It was 80's Night at The Groove with DJ Big Daddy King (Rock'n'Roll Beach Club, Motion) pumping out the songs everybody knows. And in a real ode to 8TRAX, even heard a Saturday Night Fever 70's song in there! I think they'd draw larger crowds if more 70's Disco & Funk was mixed in with the 80's.

It must have been "Happy Bride To Be" Night at The Groove as this couple was having an Engagement Party.

And in this corner we had a Bachelorette Party.

And over in this corner another Bachelorette Party!

Good-sized crowd on hand too. Large crowds expected this weekend for Memorial Day with Electric Daisy Carnival not expected to impact the more tourist-oriented clubbers that go to CityWalk.

Red Coconut Club had a rather meager crowd while the band was playing but that quickly changed to a large crowd of dancers when DJ G-Clef (BET Soundstage, Motion, Celebrate Tonight) came on at midnight!

Always an interesting mix of people in here dancing to mostly Hip Hop and Top 40.

The club's manager confirms that RCC is not closing to become a comedy club! Someone had posted on the internet a few months ago that two CW clubs were closing but that is absolutely not the case! They are all profitable venues including Bob Marley's which several in the past have told me is a cash cow.

Cupid Shuffle with a view!!

Meanwhile over at Atlantic Dance Hall, DJ Frankie (Frankie & The West End Boys, West End Stage, Rock'n'Roll Beach Club) was mixing mostly Top 40.

The facility had a few dancers on the floor but it's a hard place to fill due to the large size.

ADH is located at Disney's Boardwalk Resort; parking and admission are free. Closed Sunday-Mondays.

PI Update: What's Happening Behind Portobello?

Besides the name change from Portobello Yacht Club to just Portobello, there's a bit more going on back there besides just the addition of a service exit/entrance. In this photo taken this past January, you can see that Portobello used to have a rear patio with an awning. CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE TWICE

The club Motion was demolished in January and work began on a service exit/entrance at the rear of the Portobello restaurant. At this point in February Disney was full steam ahead on the Hyperion Wharf project which would lead to both Motion and RRBC coming down and a plan to route PI's main pedestrian walkway through the existing service court between Portobello and Raglan Road.

In this March photo, we can see a blue tarp covering the area where the rear awning/patio used to exist.

In early April work began on that new service exit/entrance.....

.....and by late April construction was well-along. Note the blue tarp still there.

In this SkyCam view from earlier this week, we can see the former awning/patio has completely disappeared and the new service exit/entrance is rapidly approaching completion as well. The construction wall has been extended from where it used to end at that purple awning over the bathroom entrances all the way across the existing service court. When they complete the new walkway, it is supposed to make a right turn into that existing service court and come out by the Lily Pad. Supposedly a few new shops will fit into the existing service court. But to route the pathway that direction, those transformers or some of that grass is going to have to be removed. There is no indication at this time of either. So we'll just have to continue to watch.

EDC Update: Stages Map UPDATED

Electric Daisy Carnival has released the official map for this Friday and Saturday's event. You can see the placement of the four stages where all the DJ's (and a few bands) will be performing. All are in close proximity to each other!  CLICK ON MAP TO ENLARGE

The kineticFIELD main stage is in Tinker Field itself. It is located is left center field facing the first base line rather than directly facing the grandstand. Most people will occupy space in the grassy outfield or infield however some will have to stand on the infield dirt area. Per the map, looks like the VIP area is to the side of the stage rather than directly in front of it!

Looking closer at the kineticFIELD main stage with lots of lighting still to be installed.

Close up view of the DJ performance area of the kineticFIELD main stage.

This is the circuitGROUNDS stage or Stage B located at McCracken Field directly across from Tinker Field. As this is a sports field, it is entirely grass. A lot of the Dubstep DJ's will be playing from here.

Directly adjacent to McCracken Field is Stage D known as neonGARDEN. As this is normally a parking lot, it is paved and likely to be rather toasty before the sun sets. Many of Orlando's local favorites such as Icey, BabyAnne, Heavygrinder, Chris B and Andy Hughes will be performing here.

Stage C or the bassPOD is located in the far corner of the event. This too is a paved parking lot. The DJ mix back here is all types of music See some of you out at EDC!!

This Weekend In Techno Town

 THURSDAY: If you can't make it to Ibiza, make it to Roxy instead for this every Thursday night techno event with DJ's Nymz & Henry Fong. 10:30pm.

 FRIDAY: It's Davie's Angels 3! A return visit to Suite B Lounge from that awesome female DJ trio of DJ Bella, DJ Jennifer Marley and DJ Heather Collins, in that order.DJ Davie D will bat clean-up. 10:30pm-2:30am.

 FRIDAY & SATURDAY: Plenty already said about the largest electronic dance music event to ever hit Orlando. 2pm-midnight Tinker Field

 FRIDAY: After the party it's the Afterparty. Renegades of Funk appear Saturday afternoon at EDC but will be at Vain on Friday night.

 SUNDAY: Join ill DJ Chris B, Justin Faze, Aggrocrag, Dustin Hulton and many more local DJ's at clubs Vintage & Vixen for Memorial 5, an afternoon and evening of mostly Break Beats. This is the 5th annual edition of this Memorial Day weekend event. 2pm-2am.

SUNDAY: The Fantasy Ranch Reunion is taking place on Sunday night at Amphitheatre in Ybor City/Tampa. I mention this Tampa event because not only do that have that fantastic revolving dance floor, Orlando DJ's Jimmy Joslin and Andy Hughes are participating! Ladies Free! 10pm-3am.

PI Update: Guided Island Tours

Guided tours of beautiful Pleasure Island are now being offered. See the mulch and seed first hand, see the closed clubs. Stops include Mannequins and Comedy Warehouse. How do you get on this tour? All you have to do is get a job in Downtown Disney!  Rats! This new employee group had been camped out in the shade of the front entryway of Mannequins when I arrived on the island and they were just leaving for the next stop on the tour. Had I arrived just a few minutes earlier I could have overheard the spiel they were giving to the newest CM's. I'm sure they were told the entire story about all the great things coming!

The Inexplicable Rise of Dubstep

Last December I dropped into the downtown club Crooked Bayou and witnessed something I had never experienced before. The predominantly young crowd was dancing wildly to really weird electronic dance music. I asked the person next to me whether the DJ's name was Dublife? She went on to explain that Dublife was a local group that puts on events on a regular basis dedicated to music called Dubstep. It was the first I'd ever heard of it!

Back in the days of the Rave, the music was mostly about Trance. And we now see Trance and House and Dance are all making nice comebacks as people grow weary of Hip Hop. But the up and coming genre of electronic dance music is one that most people have never heard of and it's called Dubstep. I'd been planning to do this article ever since I saw the EDC line-up include a good number of Dubstep artists such as Skrillex, Datsik, Diplo and others. Sirius/XM's BPM has been playing Skrillex and Rusko. This past Saturday night when DJ Mickey Bono included some Dubstep at Bliss, I knew I had to rush this article forward!

What is Dubstep? I personally feel it's just a lot of noise. But it's creeping up everywhere from Britney Spears' last album to television show background effects. This video shows a guy making Dubstep sounds with his mouth! It's hilarious but it does a great job explaining the music shuffles and wobbler effects that make up Dubstep music:

This video from Datsik begins quietly but characteristic Dubstep begins at :55:

One more video, I'd call this Vocal Dubstep because I don't yet understand the various nuances, is a little easier on the brain. Notice how very young the followers (and the DJ's from Rusko) are:

Well there you have it. Be forewarned, this is becoming big and it's going to be creeping into your life. But now you'll recognize it for what it is and if anyone asks you if you know what Dubstep is, you can discuss it intelligently. Parents, you owe it to your children to talk about Dubstep with them before someone else does!
This may become your children's electronic dance music! Break out the Ecstasy, bell-bottoms and glow sticks!

PI Update: No Signs of Demolition.....or Remodeling

On land..........

On the seas..........

In the air.  The Save Pleasure Island Blog spares no expense in bringing you the latest news from beautiful Pleasure Island!

If the grass and new pathway look the same from the last time this photo was taken, that's cause it is.

One change is that the construction walls used to wrap around Sosa Cigars, go past Raglan Road and end at those bathrooms. The wall has now been extended completely across the service area that exists between Raglan Road and Portobello. Unfortunately, this means the Blog can no longer get close-up photos of nothing happening. And there really is nothing happening in that service area which is where this pathway is supposed to lead to!

The only construction on the Island at this time is this new service entry/exit at the rear of Portobello. Eventually the existing service area will be home to the new pathway and several shops which means the two restaurants need new ways to cart garbage out.

Out front, AC & Soundstage remain free of any demolition walls, a great sign that the buildings will see new life rather than wrecking balls! An Island source confirms that once again what is coming to PI is being completely rethought. Hopefully that now includes the rumored club reopenings!

EDC Schedule Announced

The timetable is now out for this weekend's Electric Daisy Carnival at Tinker Field in Orlando. There have been many DJ additions to the already packed lineup! What makes this even more exciting is a lot of Orlando-based DJ's have been added. On Friday DJ's Sandy, Nick Fury, Cliff Tangredi and Andy Hughes have been added. On Saturday Ill DJ Chris B and Justin Faze join the previously-announced DJ's Icey and Baby Anne! CLICK TO ENLARGE / PRINT

Club Reports: Zen Exotic Lounge, Bliss Ultra Lounge, Independent Bar

There's only so much new ground one can cover in Orlando. Thus, it was a Saturday night with no new ground covered. Repeat visit instead to the new Zen Exotic Lounge to hear DJ Blaze cranking out awesome House and Dance with just a smidgen of danceable Hip Hop.

The sound system is just awesome and the lighting effects are top notch as well.

My bartender told me the place starts to fill up around 11:30pm so I stuck around to verify that claim. And indeed, people did begin to arrive around that time. Some stayed and were dancing.

Drinks are reasonably priced too. The club's promotion company needs to get to work though!

The promotion company working for Bliss Ultra Lounge is definitely doing its job on Saturday nights. The best music in Orlando can be found here being spun out by DJ Mickey Bono (Beat Thrillerz, K5, RadioDanz, Florida Beat Radio, Party95.com) joined here by T.M. Edwards from Cypic Entertainment, DJ Ish (Bliss Flirtini Fridays) and lighting tech Dangerous Dave!

The dance floor was wall-to-wall.

No Hip Hop here as it's 98% House and Dance. The other 2% was a couple back-to-back Dubstep songs, an increasingly popular genre of dance music that is the subject of a future Blog article.

The view from the Bliss VIP area is always nice.

Like I said.

Then it was over to Independent Bar before they shut the doors. DJ Indie John (Barbarella) on the decks!

Saturday night is 80's New Wave/Old Wave with songs everyone recognizes and knows the words to. I-Bar was thoroughly jammed last night.

With MTV-style videos playing for nearly all of them.

Break-dancing was an added feature last night.

I come for the music but I stay for the crowd.