The Day Dance Music Died

I knew it was happening, I really did. For the past year plus, the music I love, enjoy, produce and occasionally dance to has been falling by the waste side here in the states, or at least locally in the south. Ive watched packed dance floor numbers dwindle, radio stations play less of the music, record stores close down one by one and requests for steady bookings get few and far between.

Then on Friday, it hit me like a Amtrak derailing in the windy city... I went to a local night club called Opera. Slight back story for a second.. Opera is a not a new club, in theory. It used to be Eleven 50 and was recently close, given a 2+ million dollar face lift and re-opened. Eleven 50 was THE place to go for great dance, house, trance and otherwise general "techno" music in the city. I attribute this largely to an influential player in the scene who used to be the VIP manager at the club (who Ill remain nameless but we all know who she is) plus a promoter who threw parties EVERY Saturday night bringing big club DJ's with local DJ's as supporting players. Well as the clubs "focus" changed to the ever growing hip hop community, so did the presence of the aforementioned key players above. The promoter has since been brought back for Thursday night parties, and the VIP manager, well she quickly saw what was happening and bounced, rightfully so.

So this brings us to current day. This Friday, a bunch of friends went to Opera to show some out of town guests what partying in Atlanta is like. We arrive and still know the doorman, who hooked us up with a VIP table, but it was outside, where the house music was. We dig that, so we chill out there... with about 75 other people, while the club inside is packed wall to wall with the people. Mind you, the worst music is plying inside. I mash up of hip-hop, top 40, random scratching, and about 5 people rotating on the mic yelling at the crowd. Every song has either a reference to a "ho" or someone just saying "ho" as some sort of cat call about 40 times. I stopped and remembered when this type of music used to be outside the club, and the house music dominating inside the club. I thought maybe this was just a Friday night deal, as our night used to be on Saturday. After a few inquiries from the bar staff, I found out thats not the case. "This is how it is every night but the occasional Thursday when we open for house nights".

It was right then and there I officially had my own little burial for house music in Atlanta. I would have poured a few drops of Courvosier on the floor, but they were all out. I sure hope everything is cyclical, because if I have to put of with that music for any length of time, I may shoot myself.. or better yet, just board and Amtrak train. Thank god there are a few other outlets here in town; albeit on a much smaller scale, and of course the endless downloads my buddies and i share (thanks Carlos). As for the days of being in a packed 1000+ people club here in Atlanta, I guess Snoop was right when he said "Well, hip-hop is what makes the world go around."