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$30 Entry Fees have arrived
by James on Jun.27, 2010, under Clubbing Thoughts, General
I got an email today. It has finally happened – $30 Entry Fees!!! In the poster below, not only patrons are slapped with an expensive cover charge (assumed $25 on guestlist), but they have to dance at Space – hahaha. It was bound to happen eventually, but seriously, FUCKING HELL, I am still adjusting to $25 entry fees!! Seriously fucked up. The last high entry fee event was Kink @ Arthouse about 2 years ago – that was $35 but at least it was quality music.
Unbelievable.
Meanwhile, people up in the Gold Coast, Wollongong still enjoy $10 entry fees….. In Melbourne, the max is $20 as far as i know. FUCK Sydney sucks sometimes. I hope other promoters don’t up their prices as well thanks to this action. Otherwise, it is just fucked up.
Related:
Comments on my I Heart Uni article of club recommendations
by James on Jun.06, 2010, under Clubbing Thoughts, Uni Events
Club recommendations. The problem with recommendations is that every club has its own unique qualities that make it lovable by different people. It’s easy to hate on some particular clubs, but extremely difficult to recommend a venue for someone.
I wrote an article for the I Heart Uni Magazine, listing clubs to recommend, for their edition which comes out this week. Article was submitted a few weeks ago. Target audience was asian uni students and I was pretty much restricted to outside the CBD. Quite difficult as Asians are as rare as hen’s teeth in the cross or on oxford st.
So anyway, my recommendations were:
1. Havana for Friday and Saturday: Havana Fridays for RnB is no longer. I went to their final night and it was shit as. For Saturdays, my recommendation is still to go here, but the crowd is still Euro and the music still House and Trance if you are into that.
If to find a replacement, I would say Slide Bar on the monthly ‘Bounce‘ Korean night events are the way to go. Unfortunately, they only come once a month.
Also, The Tunnel have RnB on Fridays, but I have not been yet to ascertain a recommendation.
2. Moulin Rouge for either Friday / Saturday: I wouldnt send an RnB lover here. They all hate it. If you like house and if you like dancing, then yes check it out. It’s a great dirty atmosphere. If you don’t like to dance, then avoid this place, as it is quite loud. Crowd is Euro/Aussie
3. The Gaff on Tuesdays: The Gaff Tuesdays is one of the best all round venues I’ve been to. People, cheap drinks, friendly people, wet t-shirt comps and some dancefloor action. It’s good as a safe recommendation for people on Tuesday nights. I still hold this as a recommendations. Crowd is still backpackers.
Thoughts
Most importantly, a good night is usually when you are in an open mood to meet people, and have fun with or without alcohol.
Related:
Birthday @ A Warehouse in Atarmon: 5th June 2010
by James on Jun.05, 2010, under Short Tales
A private birthday at a motor mechanic warehouse at Atarmon It’s a friend of a friend of a friend’s birthday. The warehouse was actually a mechanics shop. Upstairs appears to be the meal area which had been cleared and converted to a dancefloor. Installed were disco lights and a DJ set. It was pretty good, and you could almost mistake it for being a purpose built clubbing room built inside a warehouse. Amazing stuff.
On the way there, one of the girls who was already drunk had spewed her guts out at Atarmon and so she sent her home along with her 6 other friends. A bit of a downer but we marched on to destination
We finally got there, and it was already roughly 1am. We are greeted by the birthday boy, and he begs us for dancers to join him in the dance festivities as nobody was dancing. Oh, no problem we were going to dance for sure
We got there an the place is all guys, half gay half straight. Oh well. Dance, dance, dance and afterwards we were over the dancing and left after 90 minutes because it was all guys.
-The End-
Related:
Quickie: Me dancing with my future self @ Opera Bar: Saturday 8th May 2010
by James on May.08, 2010, under Opera Bar, Short Tales
A third party invite to a birthday.. here we go!
Saturdays @ Opera Bar
Location: Just outside the Opera House, Circular Quay, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Smart Casual is the norm, but anything goes here.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free
Music: Instrumental house.
Crowd: Classy.
Atmosphere: Cold, and so there weren’t many people outside – but enough to fill up all the seats.
Timeline:
So anyway, we are dancing casually, and suddenly an old asian man is dancing like a madman! His wife is looking at him with dismay, and I think.. “I like this guy – I want to be like him when I grow up”, so I joined him. Here’s the video:
The old man is the dude on the right. Seriously
Right afterwards, security warned us that we should take photos quicker, as they “dont like that sort of thing” (the dancing) in here. I wonder why a DJ is installed here then!
Recommendation
This place is just a bar, and nothing more. Pretty nice views though 
Related:
We On A Boat @ The Lady Rose Catamaran: Sunday 28th March 2010
by James on Mar.28, 2010, under Cruises, Funk, Reggae
Sydney Habour Bridge - 'We on a Boat' Cruise
Friends invited me onto this cruise – A reggae/funk dance cruise – I’ve never been on a day cruise and I’ve never been to a reggae event – so I put on my Mexican outfit and off we went – here we go!
We on a Boat – The Lady Rose Catamaran
Website: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=318543987561
Cruise Times: 1pm to 6pm
Course sailed: Departing King St Wharf, Darling Harbour, the boat sailed north then East under the harbour Bridge, past the Opera house to hang about Jackson’s bay, circling around the entire course twice before coming back to King St Wharf.
Weather Conditions: Sunny throughout the entire cruise. Humidity low and it was warm enough to not be afraid of massive sunburn.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes. Most people wore casual shirts, shorts. I had worn a mexican sombrero complete with my homemade poncho
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Tickets were available from Moshtix for $35 plus booking fee. At the door they were $40 or $50 I believe.
On Board Inside: This was a 2 level boat with a 3rd roof top level. Today, as the event was not sold out, only the bottom and rooftop level were open.
Cloak Room: None available. There were not many people anyway so there wasnt too much risk in leaving stuff lying around.
Bar: Didn’t drink today.
DJs: Nick Toth, JC, Levins, Fasmwa, Naiki, Di Tha DJ, Mickey Morphingaz
Music: Reggae and Dancehall on the top level the whole time. On the bottom level was also the same, with some funk and old school rnb thrown in.
Crowd: About half the crowd were Africans, and the rest of the crowd were split between whites and a contigent of asian dancers who were here, I am guessing, for the modern rnb, but of course, did not get it. Various ages between young and old. Mostly late 20′s or 30s.
Entertainment: There were MCs on both the rooftop deck and the bottom level. Often the MC would call upon the ladies to jump in front of the DJ to participate in games such as booty shaking competitions, grinding competitions, and reggae dancing styles. It’s truly amazing to see girls out there willing to participate in these games sober. All the men love it.
Atmosphere: Top level was relaxed party. People are dancing about on the chairs and on the floor, but in a way that can only be achieved by playing reggae and dancehall. (It’s hard to explain, you probably have had to be there to know what I mean) Most of the people were here for a dancing good time, and only a handful of people were sitting down the whole time. On the bottom level was different, as it was totally dead for most of the cruise. There was on average about five to ten people at the same time on the floor. At peak, the asian dance contigent started to dance when the funk music came out, and they pretty much had half the boat attendees gaping in awe as they go about their dance moves.
Top Level - We on a Boat Reggae Cruise
Breakdancers Bottom Level
Related:
I Love Uni White Party @ Home Nightclub: Friday 12th March 2010
by James on Mar.12, 2010, under Home, House, Live Band, RnB, Trance, Uni Events
I Love Uni White Party - Home Nightclub
I’ve been asked to check this University event out. A combined effort of all the universities, targeted for students who had just had their first O-Week. Well, considering my own O-week was about 8 years ago, I was wondering whether I should go. Then.. on the promo poster were the magic words: “WHITE PARTY”. Can anybody say GANDALF DA WHITE IS BACK??!! Got my dancing partner C to come along and so off we set our dancing merry feet – here we go!
I Love Uni White Party @ Home Nightclub
Assessment Time: 11:00pm – 3:00am
Opening Hours: 9:30pm – late (4-5am?)
Website: http://www.homesydney.com.au
Address: Cockle bay wharf, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: White attire only. However people who were not wearing white were still allowed in, despite warnings that people were not going to be allowed in.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $15 presold tickets (sold out). $25 at the door. The girl at the counter liked my outfit and I asked for a discount for having such an ‘awesome’ outfit. She lowered my entry fee to $20. Score!
Guestlist: none
Inside: The White Party event was for the main arena room to hold 500 or so people. All the other rooms were closed. Later after midnight, the other trance / house / rock band rooms were opened up for the general public.
Cloak Room: Did not utilise cloak room today.
Bar: Didn’t drink tonight
DJ: Unknown.
Music: RnB initially in the main room. After around midnight, a change of DJ’s and an opening of doors to the public for sublime ensure the RnB was killed, and house and trance/ house took over for the rest of the night. It was strange because at one point in the night, a singer came out and sang some house songs, it was so bloody bizarre – how could people dance to this?? The small room upstairs was also used for a local rock band gig. I have never seen it done like this – what has happened to Sublime?? I was disappointed in one’s choice of music selection to dance to after the rnb stopped.
Crowd: Lots of asians for the rnb component, with a sprinkle of other nationalities. Almost all are uni students. Of course, as rnb is killed, the rnb lovers left and the ratio became a mixed bag of everything – Whites, Asians, Indians.
Entertainment: MC and professional male dance crews. Wow, they actually *do* hire men to dance. They were more house dancers but were pretty good at what they did.
Atmosphere: Main room was always happening. The other rooms later in the night were only so so. The sublime room was the only other somewhat happening room for the trance lovers.
Video: – 360 view at around 2am,
Taken by C – you can see me for 2 seconds dancing with a random dude
Keep reading on for Gandalf’s adventures!
Related:
Future Music Festival Sydney @ Royal Randwick Racecourse: 6th March 2010
by James on Mar.06, 2010, under Festivals / Raves, Future Music Festival, House, Live Band, Royal Randwick Racecourse
A female native american indian - Future Music Festival Sydney 2010
All week it was raining. Forecast was raining. We bought tickets months ago, but on the day.. HALLELUJAH! Big old sun was out and about, kicking clouds’ ass. I put on my American Indian outfit, got some pre-drinks at a friends place and off we went – here we go!
Future Music Festival @ Randwick Racecourse Sydney
Assessment Time: 4pm – 10pm
Website: http://www.futuremusicfestival.com.au
Address: Royal Randwick Race Course, Randwick, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes. Everybody wore sunnies. I wore an American Indian outfit.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $100 FR, $120 SR, $145 FR for GA Tickets
Inside: 7 or so massive dance areas. It’s a freaking racecourse. Well its not the course itself, but all the pavillions and surrounding grasslands.
Cloak Room: There was one but I was too lazy to walk to the other side of the course to put it in there
Bar: $10.50 for smirnoff ice cans. They’ve upped it from $10!! Dodgy. Both times we waited about 10-15 minutes for our drinks. Limit of 2 drinks per person.
DJs/Acts: Prodigy. Most epic set I have been to (I havent been to many). I was pretty much situated a good 200 or 300 metres so from the stage, and the whole area was still jumping up and down like a moshpit through all the songs. I missed every other main act, but they included David Guetta, Empire of the Sun, Sven Vath, Boys Noize, Dubfire, and Booka Shade from memory.
Music: House, Trance, Electronica
Crowd: Mixed bag of everything. Mostly caucasians if you wanted to classify.
Entertainment: Roller disco, Rides, free shots of drinks, and lots of other stuff we didn’t discover that day.
Weather: Sunny all day. Perfect.
Atmosphere: very good. The weather was great and provided for a good mood for everyone involved.
Future Music Festival Sydney Videos:
Me doing drunken cartwheels
Read on for more heaps more videos and the Timeline
Related:
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Hello! I'm James. This subjective blog serves to post every dance event I attend to. I go out clubbing once or twice a week. I may include some stories as well. Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments - Thanks for dropping by!
James' twitter
- bought the last 4 kettle chips at the north sydney 7-eleven... bwahahahaha
- train died at waverton indefinitely. too many people at north sydney, so catching a bus home. weeeeee
- i have had a strange day today, and i don't feel real at the moment. I am, however, full of Habibs chicken!!
- OMG YOU ARE SO F*CKED UP. I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY SECRET. BUT YOU HAD TO OPEN YOUR BIG MOUTH!! YOU TOLD EVERYONE! NOW EVERYONE KNOWS IM SEXY
- Look for me at Haymarket Hotel this Friday and Verandah Bar this Saturday
- Asian lesbians, what a concept! And what an excuse to cancel dinner on me.
- they changed my street name from a PDE to RD.. how strange
- you made a bad move trying not to sit on me, and your left buttcheek made big contact with the armrest. was it worth it? Nup I bet it hurts.
- I love finding lost things in my pocket!!
- youtube notes to self: double rainbow, masterchef, cityrail, pirates ... watch this space over the next few months!
