Leadup
“ITS A BURLESQUE PARTY TONIGHT! COME!!” Green says
“Where?”
“I don’t know – we are being driven. COME!”

Hmm women dressed in lingerie… check
Hmm a free ride to the city… check
But where was the party at? ……

“Pumphouse” the driver says.
“WHAT!!? Are you serious??” I was just at Pumphouse the week prior. I’m not a fanatic of it and I don’t completely mind going, but visiting it twice in a row was too much for old James. Here we go…

Pumphouse
Location: 17 Little Pier St, Darling Harbour
Website: http://www.pumphouse.com.au

Inside: 2 floors. Top floor was just a gallery / patio section to allow viewing of activities downstairs, and to relax. IT gave the whole place a hall-like feel. Bottom floor was a medium sized floor which could hold probably 70 or so people. Lounges in the back, and two podiums in the middle.

Event:  Static
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $15 before 11pm on guestlist before 11. Unsure about between 11-12am, but after midnight, you pay $25 .
Opening: 10pm-4am
Attire / Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual accepted. Hats accepted. I got in past the bouncers without hassle.
Crowd: Asian

Music: RNB / Hip Hop / House (I didn’t hear any House though) Typical tunes were more on the hip hop side – i.e. none of that slow slow rnb stuff. It was all pumping, it was all good.
Atmosphere: People were dancing, jumping, and people were sitting. I suppose if you were sitting down you wouldn’t have had a good time. There weren’t that many people (its a small place), nethertheless the energy was definitely there.

The view of Pumphouse main floor from the above level

The view of Pumphouse main floor from the above level

Timeline
A review from a regular patron – mixed feelings:
I was next to some guy in line, lets call him Orange. Orange starts talking to me. He talks about how he used to visit Pumphouse every single week before it temporarily closed. Now that it opened again under new promoters, he’s only started coming back recently.

He said to me, in the ‘old days’ of Pumphouse, if one could dance really well, the hot chicks would come to you. Now, they only come to you if you look good. You can’t even approach any girl without getting brushed off immediately. Nobody cares about the dancers anymore he wails. That’s a shame. It would be difficult to pick up here? He still came here though, as there weren’t any other decent hip hop places to dance to (I certainly cant think of any other hip hop venue – Bamboo is more on the lines of rnb, and Hunter Bar – not for me either)

A female professional dancer!
They finally got a hot female professional dancer, compared to the two men last week. I have a video but its really really small sized:

YouTube Preview Image

Alice the friendblock and cockblock. What more can you ask from a ‘friend’? (a non clubbing related rant)
on being a friendblock.
I don’t usually mention names, but Alice was such a bitch I’ve put her real name on here. She wouldnt have given a sh*t anyway. Alice is a friend of Orange. She looks at us comparing the old and new Pumphouse events. She looked bored so she interjects to him with a “Oh, you’re so friendly today – since when did you become such a social butterfly?” in a VERY VERY SARCASTIC TONE… Me and Green give each other  ‘Like W-T-F??!!’ looks while she tells Orange off.  It was so awkward. A man, talking to a fellow man, talking about clubbing experiences, then suddenly being criticized by a female friend for having a friendly conversation?? Is this how bitches communicate to the world outside of them? By criticizing their friends about WHICH FRIENDS HE CAN MAKE.  Easily bitchiest bitch ever. She spoke directly to him and didn’t even acknowledge me nor Green’s existence. Made a mental note to blog about her.

on being a Cockblock:
I was up on the podium dancing with this random guy. He is dancing with two hotties behind me. I complete the 4th space on the podium. Alice, comes from fucking nowhere, and steps up on the podium. It can really only hold 4 people comfortably, and 5 is a tight squeeze. She puts herself between the random guy and the blonde, and chats her up, so that she could introduce her to another random guy. Not only is Alice is a friend-block, but a cock-block with no shame. What a messed up bitch. I’m sorry Alice, but I hope you have painful rags next cycle. REAL PAINFUL RAGS!!

Random crazy dancer with hot girl later gets cockblocked by Alice

Random crazy dancer with hot girl later gets cockblocked by Alice

This place is FULL of dancers
I don’t think there is a higher concentration of talented dancers than at Pumphouse. Even though it doesn’t hold many people, everyone here can dance. Its crazy. You really need to be on your best here, not that there’s anything wrong with trying to dance – you’ll just feel intimidated seeing so many other dancers taking turns on the podiums doing their thing. It does give inspiration though!

The burlesque party:
Nobody wore lingerie, and only my friend wore a corset. All the girls were in, lacy-like at best, dresses. Hardly much. The men have it easy with vests and ties etc. Must be an asian thing.

Coda / conclusion
The male friends decided to leave at 1am? It was only 2 hours! They didn’t seem to be having too much fun dancing. Well, they weren’t dancing at all.

I was quite enjoying the vibe, but I wasn’t feeling it. This would be an ok place to go once in a blue moon, only if you like to dance and only if you like the hip hop side of music.

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2 Responses to Static @ Pumphouse (16th May 2009)

  1. Stanza says:

    Wow, it’s interesting to know that the Pump House was pretty happening that night.

    I was once there on a Saturday for pre drinks to a trance event – think it was Godskitchen @ Home or some shit and the place was dead like a morgue. We got kicked out at about 11:30 pm cos they had to close early…

  2. James says:

    You may have went when they stopped having proper dance events. They’ve since reopened as a club on sat nights (closed on fridays AFAIK) under Sir3n’s promotional team, and patronage is normal again.

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