Fridays @ Privilege Bar

I was walking by, when some friends outside saw me. Then they dragged me in.

Assessment Time: 8-9pm
Crowd: Asian
Music: RNB
Atmosphere: Average. It was pretty packed, mostly from the crowd who was here drinking earlier, including myself. I even spotted the organiser from the Bar Europa Fresh Fridays over here! Hmm..

Well here’s a video of Privilege at around 9pm, when the music starts to turn up:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I don’t think much happened with me here. Just some dancing with Gumboots – she’s a great dancer but in the promiscuous kinda way. Sucks she has a boyfriend.

I would only come here before 9pm when entry is free – it probably is not worth paying the entry fee after 9pm.

Cargo Bar

Walkthrough:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Trying to break into the asian circle. No joy, so I just do a kick ass dance on my own.
I am at cargo, and the crowd is mostly caucasian. I don’t know about you, but when I see a fellow asian at a white club, I can’t help but keep glancing over to see how they’re going. It would even be ideal if we could hang out. It could be something programmed within me, but that’s what I feel. So anyway, I see a bunch of asian girls. Alright! Me and my friend go in for a dance, but oh no, they’re not up for it. The girl I’m trying to dance with keeps passing me on to her friends, and vice versa.

So, I went to another area nearby and danced solo. And I kicked ass. I kicked so much ass the girls could not help but look and stare at me with awe. Oh I am so good. My kick ass dancing gets a birthday girl to randomly dance with me. That was fun, but then the DJ played a song I didn’t like, so we stopped dancing.

Trying to get fat girls to dance
I see so many of the larger girls not enjoy themselves at the club. Standing there like wallflowers. So what can I do? I can dance with them!! So, as my charity deed I actively go out to try and dance with the girls. Well, I tried to. They did NOT want to dance at all with me – why?  It’s not like I’m asking for marriage. Just a dance. Most of the time they would say “I can’t dance”, but it’s bizarre. Self confidence issues? I finally managed to have a girl dance with me. But then as I wrap my arm around her back, I felt the flab, and my hand couldn’t get a grip, mostly because my fingers kept slipping in between the cracks. It was sad, but I suppose that’s why the girls wear black. It works at hiding that stuff.

Coda: An early close at 2.30am

losing my laptop – where’s lost property?

I left my laptop bag somewhere on a sofa. When it came to leave – it was no longer there. OMG someone stolen it!! My awesome photos, videos.. gone like that. I stayed behind and had to actually call management down. They had it! Thank god, I kissed my laptop and promised to never leave it again.

A friend of a friend’s birthday at Cargo Bar.

Timeline

We find a spot at te very front of the dance area – right in front of the speakers. It was really loud, and I’m sure my friends were experiencing it too, but the logistics to move your friends from one area to another was far too great to even bother.

The logistics of moving friends

Parameters: All men
Approach: Tell them all to ‘move’ somewhere else, helps if you mention ‘more chicks’.

Parameters: Mixed men and women
Approach: Tell the men to ‘move’ somewhere else, helps if you mention ‘more chicks’. Women possibly to follow.

Parameters: All women
Approach: Don’t bother. What a hassle moving all their handbags.

I am recognized by a girl I had danced with.. 20 months ago
I say hi to the birthday girl. Her friend looks at me. I look back at her. She has a face of realisation and she screams:

“HAY! IT’S YOU!!  OMG! DO YOU KNOW WHATSHERFACE AS WELL?? REMEMBER ME? WE DANCED AT BAR 333!!”
“Hey! Oh wow hi!! Yeah I know whatsherface! Yeah – I remember Bar 333!!”

I had no idea who she was. I’ve danced at Bar 333 twice, and only the first time did I dance with a group of Asian  girls. That was 20 months ago.

“I still have photos of you dancing in bar 333!!” she adds. So, I must have a very photogenic face for her to remember me after 20 months I made her promise to show me these photos one day.
The dance corner
Our little corner was where all these crazy dancers went. There were no girls, but we all dance well and saw some interesting moves to add to the set.
Sadly though it was in the corner, and not many people in Cargo could see the magic happening over here.

Coda
Left around 2.30am, very tired but content to get some proper dancing out of the system this week. Tried to get into Helm Bar but it was too late to get in.

Going for a dance at cargo bar -

As usual it was the same crowd, and the same music. Nothing wrong with that – it’s a nice place to go!
Crowd: 20s
Attire: Smart Casual. Casual not allowed. Hats allowed.
Atmosphere: Busy, loud, bustling.

Review
Music was good. Usual house classics, and the occasional mixed up rnb song. Being the night of the start of the long weekend, it was pretty busy.

Soon Claire came along with a dancing buddy and all 5 or 6 of us had a little circle and danced it off. Everyone drools again at Claire’s dancing. A true dancing gem.

One of my friends used his dancing to get going with a girl, and I managed to find another girl to dance off with. We agreed to take her to an RnB club in sydney but she didn’t know where the good ones were. Lucky she met me! We’ll be hitting up some random rnb club soon.

Coda
Left at closing time 3am. Always a nice place to go!

Cargo Bar
Event: Cool Runnings (based off the movie of Jamaican bobsledders)
Music: Reggae / RNB / House
Crowd: Mixed
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Cover Charge / Entry Fee: Guestlist only for Cool Runnings, free for downstairs general access
Occurence: Once off
Atmosphere: Fun

Timeline Upstairs
Almost rejected at the door.. what’s my name again?
A friend submitted a guestlist. So I walked up..
Cargo: Name on guestlist?
Me: Archimedes, under ______
Cargo: Archimedes… Last name?
Me: _______
Cargo: *flicks through* Oh do you want to be a Aristotle, or a Archipelago?

Me: lol, no?
Cargo: ..because your name is not here. (oh) Are you alone?
Me: Yes
Cargo: Alright, we’ll let you in, just show us your ID.
Me: (In the most casual of manners, hands over licence with the name ‘JAMES TRAN‘ written all over it)
Cargo: Ok, come in!

(Upstairs) Music and Atmosphere
Was here for Josh’s birthday. Upstairs was pretty busy .. both ends of the bar had dancers which was good. All the staff were wearing Dreadlock hats, Jamaican beanies, winter olympic bobsled outfits, fur coats.. it was in general a pretty fun atmosphere.  The music though, was sometimes questionable (well I didnt know the songs).. but provided for a fun loving cosy experience as it was mostly reggae or songs whose singers were from jamaica. most of the main crowd were for Josh’s birthday but it was only 9-10pm and so it was a good start, everyone there was jumping up and down.  We left at 10pm

Timeline (Downstairs)

At this point I was supposed to return to my friends who were drinking somewhere, but I wanted to check out the downstairs scene quickly. It was more subdued downstairs.. all the staff were normally dressed, and there were about 20 people on the dancefloor, dancing quite passively.

First approach
I danced but felt odd seeing a girl dance alone and not do something about it. After a song I told her how I thought it was brave of her to dance alone. She said she was actually waiting for a friend. Oh uh… made some small chat and said I’d leave once the friend came. Her friend came, and thank god, it was a girl. More small chat and moved on.

Mirror dancing with a girl
At the front the DJ booth is really shiny black – you can see yourself in the reflection. I danced and looked at my moves. A girl next to me copies me and it’s on, but she refuses to answer my questions, instead smiling. Fair enough. I advance, and she backs up, but her friends behind her push her back into me. Haha, my own little army of wingmen. Since she’s still not wanting to converse with me (but still wants to dance) I leave.

Drunk woman has a crack on me.. what was i thinking
At the bar with my glass of water and I turn around. Theres a woman on the wrong side of 30 looking at me with her man friend next to her. I smile and pull a small move. She responds and mirrors me. It’s on. She walks up to me and its straight into the body body grinding. She keeps telling me she has no idea what is going on. She responds incoherently to my questions… She’s drunk. Her man friend disappears – probably a random at the bar. After some awkward salsa moves (I really need some salsa lessons).. a bit of flirting.. I span her around a few times (probably a bad move in hindsight) … and we kiss.. all in about 5 minutes. Hallelujah for drunk girls.

Then she tell me she has to go to the bathroom to vomit…. hallelujah again. I should be distubed by now but my hormones were on overdrive…

Random drunk guy loves my hair
While she’s vomiting I dance with a guy who keeps touching the tips of my wig. So were two of his female companions. They were here for a hen’s night. After bout 10 minutes, the girl hasnt come out yet and this guy has touched my hair about 5 times, he is absolutely fascinated by it. I just give up and give him the hair to try. My gosh. His face beamed like a 5 year old child at christmas. He jumped around and approached every girl in visible sight, shook his hair and yelped, complete with beer in hand. One of the girls only noticed I took off the wig 5 minutes later. Funny blonde.

More dancing with the first set of girls
I returned to the two girls I first met, and they were still alone. They were very receptive and we danced it off. Amazingly, these two were the most energetic dancers I’ve met. The way they danced was almost exactly like me. They would do the silly retro moves, the house/rnb moves.. and were pretty keen on anything. They were like female versions of myself. Their names were Liz and Karen. As we danced, the girls seated were just staring at us.. silently jealous. Same with the circle of girls on the other side.. lol. Shame theres only one of me.

The manager spoils my fun with the drunk girl
After about 20 minutes she emerged from the bathroom. We chit chat, she’s all over me again. She says she wants to go home……… score.

We’re about to go, and some guy comes up and introduces himself to her as the Manager of Cargo bar. Fuck. Initially I thought it was some random guy, but I looked behind him – there were 5 or 6 bouncers behind him. WTF! Was i that menacing? He says to her that he wanted to check if she was ok. It was over. I left the situation and let her drunken responses take care of the rest.

Coda Cargo
After some more hectic dancing with Karen and Liz they suggested Bar 333, so we left. On the way there we bumped into 2 other cargo people who saw us dancing – Fadi and his girlfriend. They joined us onward..

About Fridays @ Bar 333
Music: House, Retro
Crowd: Mixed Older
Dress Code: Casual accepted, mostly smart casual
Cover Charge / Entry Fee: Free
Occurence: Weekly
Atmosphere: Fun, but not much room for dancing

Timeline
When we got in, the corner dance floor (about 5×5 metres) was packed so we took to the walkway towards the bar as the dancefloor. Last time I came to Bar 333 I danced here. Apparently Karen and Liz danced on the same area as well. These two were really the female versions of me.

Guys, upon guys, upon guys
A guy dancing with two crazy ass girls gets attention. There weren’t many other girls there that night but there were lots of guys. We all did our thing, and I had pretty much a few guys come up to me talking to me, using me to get to know the girls. At least buy me a drink!! lol. Met Josh the JT lookalike, some random guys at the bar, the bartender hi-5′s me, the turkish guy who’s been in sydney 2 weeks.. but no new girls. Interesting.

Music
Pretty good classics played but there were some old songs I didn’t recognise.. I guess I’m not that old yet. All fun though.

Coda (Bar 333)
They kicked everyone out at 2.45.. by that time the corner dancefloor was empty, and it was only us 3 plus the JT lookalike dancing. Karen and Liz agreed to meet up again for more dancing in the future.

About Cargo Bar
Location: 52 – 60 The Promenade, King Street Wharf
Website: http://www.cargobar.com.au
Inside: On the ground floor on entry you are presented with a narrow dance are, with the bar on the right, outdoor seating/dinner on the left and the DJ booth right at the front, encompassing the width of the floor. It’s a nice .. almost classy feel.
Music: House, overlayed with Bongo and Saxophone players
Crowd: Young, mature, mixed nationalities.
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Cover Charge / Entry Fee: Free
Atmosphere: Vibrant

Timeline
So we started to dance away. The first thing you hear is the band overlaying the beats of the DJ. There’s a bongo player putting out the bongs, and the saxophone player dishing out his own style on the house music that was playing. It gave everything a more fun kind of feel. Me and Joe, William did some nutty rnb dancing to the house music and it looked pretty fantastic.. The people around us were staring but others were enjoying.. a lady even complimented us, how nice! The only thing i remember is running around the place when the DJ played ‘Around the World’.. I usually do that.

Getting wiggy with it
I had the blonde wig on. I did a small lap of the crowd and it attracted a group of two girls and a guy. We danced. Soon Patricia joined us. These people were absolutely fascinated with the hair, and they were up for a good chat as well. One of them asks:

“How long it take to do your hair?”
(Patricia) “2 seconds!”
Pat then rips off the hair, much to their amusement.

Music
Normal commercial house beats but the bongoer and saxophoner added a nice funky twist to the whole thing. It really made the mood more joyous and less serious. Shame its such a small place to dance in.

Me, Will, Pat

Coda
A bit more dancing.. and we left around 2am. About 2 hours of bopping around. It’s a nice place to go to.. but more last resort.

The Retro Hotel
Music: Retro, Rnb, House from the 80′s, 90′s and early 2000′s
Location: 81 Sussex St
Website: www.theretro.com.au
Cover Charge: Free before 9pm, or Free if you were dressed for the night’s theme. Otherwise it’s $20
Atmosphere: Party, fun
Crowd: Mixed nationalities, generally a bit older.
Dress: Casual and fun. Theme nights are held every Saturday.

Timeline
We got there and paid $20. I thought it was $15, and so did Ben. Must’ve gone up this year. We got into the ground level floor and started to dance to the retro music playing. After a bit I wanted to check out the upper floors, I was really curious. Ben said ‘we’ll see after this song’. After this song, i asked again, he said “nah”. No fun.
We danced in our little circle of 4 for a few songs. Ben liked to bop and stuff, at least he wasn’t on the sideline which was good. But the girls looked bored.. so knowing Ben wasn’t going to do anything, I just played some grinding with Dez and her friend. Cool fun.

The DJ was whipping out some great retro tracks to dance along to. After about an hour he plays about 5 or 6 songs, and makes everybody sing along to each song, ending with Bohemian Rhapsody. He was offering a free drink to the best singer, which was why everybody was joining in. Fun!

I’m wearing a wig and yellow sunnies, ala Corey Delaney / Worthington. A guy sees me and wants to try the sunnies. He seems friendly. Sure. I give him the wig as well. He’s so stoked, him and his friend literally force me to dance with their hot girlfriends. They were happy but pretty surprised at my sudden arrival, preferring to dance with their manfriends. Haha fun times. I got to wear their Batman mask for a few songs. My gosh those things get hot.

They were even giving out glowsticks to everyone. It was nice.
Eventually Dez’ two hottie German friends came. When we were lining up to get back inside, the bouncer asked me how many drinks I had (I had one) He didnt believe me. I had to act really sober – my eyes were red and I tripped on the road while waiting in line. Anyway the friends didn’t want to pay the $20 entry. Man !! So we went to nearby Cargo bar. I can’t be fucked writing up something for Cargo.

Fin.