Entertaining the Aussies (Pt. 2)

Saturday
Draped over the armrest, my legs hung over the edge of the couch. Still wearing the clothes from the night before, I slept burning the alcohol out of my system. I'd been asleep for 5.5 hours before the BF roused me at 9:30AM. Blissfully, I wasn't hung over, just very, very tired.

Today would be an Aussie-free day. We were heading out to our friend's house in PA for an overnight trip.

Long short, fatigued shopping is not fun. Late afternoon/early evening, Iwas fighting to breath. My airway was closing up as a severe allergy attack knocked me on my ass. Such fun. Doped up on Benadryl, Saturday night idled by uneventfully for me.

Sunday
More shopping not by me, but everyone else. My mind wasn't in it.

On the way home, I gently broke to the BF that I was going to Cielo for Junior Vasquez with the Australians. I was left to see to their entertainment as O had work obligations on Monday.

Arriving home, refueling and resting a bit, I was back on the road again, heading into the city. There would be no repeat of Saturday morning's motion sick train ride home. Junior's Master Class was an early party, starting at 8:00PM, ending at 2:00AM. Perfect. I'd set my own curfew of 4AM leaving me plenty of time to rest as I had to be at work by 12PM on Monday.

M and R, the Australians, had been bouncing around the bars. Coordinating with them, they met up with me in front of the Eagle with an (ahem) old friend (they said), and we were off.


We arrived at Cielo around 9:30PM and breezed in. The music was thumping in the entry alcove but there was a distinct lack of ambient, crowd noise. I didn't think we were too early but there was a comfortable crowd inside. Junior was at the decks, throwing down some beats. Fun. M and R were surprised at Cielo's size. The club itself is really small and very intimate but they quickly warmed to the music and the space.

Junior played a similar blend of music as last week. Lots of vocals, but his mixing wasn't on in the early part of the night. He was doing his cut mixes which were abrupt and off-putting. By about 12, he got a groove going and the crowd was seriously dancing.

Some of the tracks played at the height of his set (not trainspotted by me):

For Real - Like I Do (bobby slate)- I was incredibly excited to hear this again.
Solange feat Beyonce - Naive
Hold Your Head Up High
Lovely Day
Mary J. Blige - Be Without You
Unbreak My Heart
Rihanna - SOS
Ashanti - Only U
I'm Every Woman '06
Love Break

M and R were completely floored and had a blast. Friend Frank even popped up, dragging me aside to meet his date. It was cool to run into him as opposed to getting caught up in his rampant, chaotic energy.

Junior brought down the party, teasing "Last Dance" several times before ending around 2:30AM. Everyone was ejected from the club.

Surprisingly, M and R didn't seem ready to go home yet. There were moments when I didn't think they would make it through Junior's party but here we were being led by Friend Frank over to APT. Funny enough, the door person yelled at Frank to keep his entourage together as we entered in dribs and drabs. Seems he's quite the regular there now.

If Cielo was an intimate and warm space, APT was double that. A bit of a shock for me as I'd never been to APT. Designed like someone's apartment, It was cool with a little too dense an ambience for a club, but I guess it's more of a lounge. The music was groovy, less vocal and more afterhours with dark, chunky beats. Much more flow in the music than in Junior's cut up set.

The Australians settled in for more cocktails and Friend Frank bounced around. I hung out, checking out the downstairs dance room a few times. Nice beats down there to and way crowded. Don't these people work?

However after an hour, I stuck to my guns and set off for home. It was 3:30 and I arrived home, neatly at 3:45. Sweet. Shower and sleep.

Next day, I got a text from O at 8:51Pm, M and R were finally going to sleep. Goodness gracious. Glad they made a good time on their own.