The weekend that was - Sunday

I had my reservations about going to Crobar this past Sunday.

First, call it a pet peeve or what have you but I was irritated with the poor advertising that was printed on the flyer. 5AM Saturday means 5AM Saturday, not 5AM Sunday morning. There had been instances like this happening in the past, which taught me of this club land temporal anomaly.

Second, I was tired. This would be the third weekend in a row that I'd be going out dancing. Nonetheless after some arm-twisting, last Tuesday, I found myself on Wanttickets pre-ordering my ticket.

Third, I'd been to late day dance parties and I've had difficulty getting into the mood. Inherently, I'm a night person. Clubbing and dancing, I associate with the evening. Sure, it's okay to dance from the previous evening to the next morning/afternoon. Going after a normal full night's sleep in the morning is unnatural ,if you can classify anything in clubbing as being natural. I'd been to Body & Soul and a Danny Tenaglia Classics party, both of which were on a Sunday afternoon. I don't recall having a great time at either. It could have been the music since I'm more a deep, dark beat kind of guy as opposed to some chunky, funky deep house. Regardless, it's made me leery of afternoon parties.

I'd considered bagging the whole idea. As a matter of course, I found myself awake at 5:30 AM. My head was pounding from the night before and I was drinking loads of water to alleviate it. I was up way ahead of schedule and this may have been a result of drinking alcohol. My body feels the immediate effects, but if I get to bed, it'll quickly metabolize the alcohol, giving me some unnecessary energy.

So, 5:30, I was up. I'd quietly left bed and laid in the living room for a bit, waiting. I'd decided to hit the gym which opens at 8, 2.5 hours away. Dang. TV, at this time of morning, SUCKS. Around 7, I headed off to the subway. It was an uneventful ride. I attract crazies when I ride the train at abnormal hours..

I arrived at the gym shortly after 8. My workout was uneventful but productive. Didn't go heavy, I was still feeling tired and wasn't in the mood to drop 225lbs. on my chest. I was in and out as usual and finished by 9. I was again early, but by this time, I was feeling anxious to get to the club. I jumped in a cab and headed on over.

Note to self: Never bring your gym bag to an after hours club. Everything, no matter how harmless, will be put under scrutiny and questioned.

Sigh. (You've got to be kidding me.) No, the tube of Aveda body creme is NOT filled with drugs.
We'll hold these for you until you leave.
Fine, whatever works for you.

Crobar was in full swing when I walked in. The energy was palpable. You had the die-hard, hardcore dance freaks from earlier in the morning and the gay boys, some of whom arrived the same time as I did. You'd pretty much weeded out a slew of club land undesireables. Crobar had been open since 2am w/ TKC, That Kid Chris, opening for Victor, who took over the decks at 5 AM.

I was disconcerted about arriving at the club at an unusual time, 9:15AM, and I was made to feel even more displaced because I couldn't match the energy level. It was Victor's musical journey and I'd arrived at peak time, when he'd be at his hardest and best. Four hours in, Victor was more than warmed up and throwing down a nasty, dark and deep afterhours set. This was what I live for and I was a fish out of water. Moving through the crowd, I was dumbstruck at how clumsily I was doing it. I hadn't acclimated to the lights and they were throwing off my perception. I'd found a friend from the dtourism board and expressed my frustration. She had only one piece of advice, Just move, and that I did.

Once I settled in, the energy was infectious. I danced for the next few hours, stopping a few times to rest. Eventually friend Frank and friendgirl G, showed up around 11:00AM. Thank goodness, I didn't wait for them. was my thought. G was supposed to pick me up at 9:15AM which would have meant I'd have been waiting at Frank's for at least an hour. Bleech. I hate waiting on friends, it's so rude. Fortunately, I'd avoided the whole frustration.

Victor served up a continuous mix of beats, a lot tribal a la Calderone, bordering on progressive house, going from one bomb to another. There were so many good tracks, it's hard to recall and properly trainspot. My mind wasn't in the mood to do it anyhow. Just enjoying the beat heavy set. I'd guess that a good representation of his set would be Victor's Resonate CD. It hasn't been on rotation but deserves another listen. I'd dare say that this set was better than his Black Party set.

He kept the crowd moving till the sweet end at 4:30PM. Amusingly, after exiting and collecting my sequestered lotions (ridic), as we headed down 11th Avenue in Frank's car, we spotted Victor and his 3 man entourage walking and turning onto 11th from 28th. Frank was compelled to yell, "Great set, Victor!!" and I watched as Victor looked befuddled and confused. Nice ending.