I had a very surreal weekend. A friend of J's was celebrating his birthday and we went out for supper and then to where the friend wanted to spend the evening, a local bar called The Hose and Hydrant. Now I'm not much of a drinker, but I like to people watch and it was good company so I figured I'd put off the costume making and head out for the night. It's not a bad place really.
What I encountered was a very surreal thing...like culture shock and a bad vampire move rolled into one. I now empathise with those poor american tourists lured into the vampire bar to dance dance dance, and all of a sudden have the music change, the mood change and have the crowd try to attack you and suck your blood...
Well, OK not so bad as that, but it was, at times, uncomfortable. Not for the usual grabbing my ass kind of reasons. I honestly felt somewhat alien at times.
I have to begin by saying that I like electronic music - not exclusively, but to me psytrance, breaks, reggae and funk are what I like to dance to. I'm open to some house music (which is what all bars here play) as long as it isn't some bastardized version of an already crappy song. I learned that you *can* make any song into a house track (even Highway to Hell by ACDC...*shudder*) and people will dance to it. I've also learned that Saskatoon is stuck in a time warp. Last night songs were played that I recall from back when I was in grade/high school, and people younger than me were freaking out about them...songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me, House mixes of a 80s songs, and even (*sigh*) the macarena. The only rational explanation I could come to was my newly solidified theory that all bad dance/house music is written for girls to dance and jiggle to and guys to like simply because they can watch the girls dance to it...
The thing is...I tried.
I really tried on the odd song of Fatboy Slim or otherwise dancable stuff I could settle on (like Saskatchewan Pirate, Hollaback Girl and Rasputin) to strut my stuff, and I did have some fun, but there were moments where the mood shifted, the song jarred to a stop and into a totally strange one and I honestly did not know the songs being played...and everyone else (except J & I) did. I don't live in a hole, but I don't listen to much mainstream radio...so that alone was odd enough. I'd have been happy with some Goldfrapp or even a remix of Madonna. After such joyful times as Shambhala and Motion Notion I've come to enjoy world class DJs and mixes with flowing and beatmatching, feeding the crowd with energy...not just playing off a bunch of small town "classics" like Fishing in the Dark and Money Money cranked loud for drunk people to hop around to. I'd complain the music was bad, but the floor was packed to a cruching point with happy drunken dancers. People were loving it. And hip grinding to it...don't even get me started on the hip grinding thing.
I know I'm coming off as an asshat elitist...I'm not. Really. I'm open to a good time and love to dance when the mood strikes, and part of the night I really did have fun, mostly from the crowd I was with.
But the vibe and intent of the place was just too alien at times. The strange sexual overtness and need to have fun or else dammit was more than a little disturbing. Having total strangers grind their ass into my crotch and legs "in good fun" is odd and strange and maybe I'm just out of it, but grind your ass on your friend or lover. OK with me...but on me? When I politely turn away it means I'm not into it, thanks. I thought it was just me until a coworker of J's came up and said "did you know it's apparently normal to grind your ass into my leg? I'm confused..."
We both were.
After a while I stuck to off the dance floor and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
*sigh*
Help me out here- Am I expecting too much?
Or am I officially eccentric?
3 comments:
Embrace your inner elitist asshat. Go on. It's alright to say that 10% of music is great, 10% of music is complete and utter crap (I'm talking to you, Carmen), and the lion's share falls on a spectrum of really good to really bad, and that if you decide to listen only to the top 25%, that still leaves you with a couple million songs to get through before you die....
About the assgrinding thing well it's like a new generation thing. You and even myself who for all I know might be a couple of years younger than you (I don't know, I haven't asked and so don't feel offended or anything). But to me, yeah, the times are ah changing. Too much Britney Spears crap and too many teenagers and freaks who have made daterape drugs normal. Of course it's not normal, it's sick. I thought with all the stuff in the news these days, and more proactive postions on gender relations in high schools that things would have gotten better, but apparently not. It's a problem with pop culture, though. The stuff we see on Nip/Tuck reflects the kind of concensus that seems to have evolved. Society at large has almost never been that benign, actually, from Roman people throwing rotten fruit at "criminals" about to get their heads cut off as they're buried in the sand, to Germans gassing millions of Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals to death, to footbinding, to women during World War I pinning white lilies (to indicate "coward") on War defectors, to the way the majority of kids treat the kids who are a little bit different. You think I'm being reductionist? Think again. It's all about conformity and it all starts at childhood, and at our upbringing and at our sick traditions back to the way we treat others through history.
Embrace your individuality, indeed. Trent has it right. Remember, we're all responsible, and the more that we join in the heard mentality, the more we will never be heard from again.
Well, darn it. It shouldn't be normal. Okay, if everyone realizes that when you go to a club, it's all assgrinding fine. But that should ber it. Clubs are kind of low class, even in big cities. With the rare exception, of course. In my humble opinion, anyway.
Asshat it is then. :)
It's funny - I can tolerate a lot of stuff, but it was just a night that left me feeling disjointed, a little wierded out and feeling somewhat snobby for just ecpeting good music in a club...it really made me look forward to the costume thing this weekend. I need a good dose of *my* kind of music to get my head back into shape.
Trent, did you *have* to bring up Carmen? Ew...I feel soiled. I'd actually forgotten about Carmen. I'm trying to think up more equally offensive stuff...but then it'd be in my head...best I stop now.
Post a Comment