Leadup: Night at the Roxy
After a casual dinner with friends, me and M decided to go to Roxy Hotel’s “suburban” rnb Friday night for clubbing. He hadn’t been for ages. The line was massive but progressed quickly. They were making sardines out of us.

“I’m sorry. I cannot allow you to get in tonight. You’re dressed too casually”

What?

I looked at M and I looked at myself. M was dressed in a slick outfit – black pants, collared shirt, nice black jacket, and a modified waist belt as a neck choke. I, on the other hand, was dressed in a cotton t shirt, and a pair of faded light grey jeans (they used to be black) with rips all down along with a massive hole at the base, to compliment my dirty sports shoes. I was still groggy from last night. My hair was a mess. Frankly, I looked like shit, and Roxy wanted none of it.

Leadup: Cabramatta love
Feeling very dejected I felt like going home. M was still open. We took a trip to find the recently opened club 888 at Cabramatta Leagues club, which I heard about in a radio ad. It was a 30 minute drive. We were going clubbing tonight no matter how shitty the location.

Leadup: Finding Cabrabrandi
The only problem was that we didn’t know where the leagues club was. We first got to a club where I thought it was, but it was the Cabramatta Bowling Club. We went to the other side and saw the CabraVale RSL. They pointed us to the right spot. It was on the end of railway st, smack in the middle of nowhere. Cars were everywhere. Packed. Here we go…

About Club 888 @ Cabramatta Leagues Club:
Location: At the southern end of Railway Street, Cabramatta
Cover Charge: $10
Music: Trance. Not that happy hardcore crap, just normal trance that you have a chance to dance to.
Crowd: Dominated by Vietnamese people who are probably living locally. The majority are mature. Mature as in their late 20’s and 30’s. Dare to say 40 something year olds were there too. Nothing too much to get excited about. Atmosphere: Dark inside, smoke machine, and light strobes add to the loud trance experience. Crowd is somewhat friendly. Hard to tell in Cabramatta.
The venue: on entry, you are facing the square dance floor with the DJ out front. Hard tables and chairs on both carpeted sides provide a resting spot. The bar is on the left within an enclosure to minimise the music. Smoking area is outside but being Cabramatta, everyone smokes inside. There is a medium sized floor with enough to hold everyone.

Tonight’s timeline:
I got in the club with my daggy outfit. So did a whole heap of other guys. Most were crammed on the floor. Most were also late 20 to 30 something year olds.

Cha cha cha
These guys only knew the solo cha cha, and they were solo cha cha-ing to the trance music like zombies. There were no circles, just rows of people who look like they’re going to line dance. At least they were trying to dance, which is better than shark bar any night. There was one guy going well, but only in the back carpeted area. There was nobody out on the floor to inspire and lead. M and I waltzed right up front and swazzled the crowd with some moves. M was exceptionaly enthusiastic considering he hadn’t been clubbing this year at all (a downer of having a girlfriend). Definitely better than I was!

The only hottie
I bumped into cassie who I met from VSA. She didn’t know my name. She and her friend were probably the youngest there. Cassie said there were other VSA people here earlier but had left. Kevin ‘the gay guy’ was the best ever dancer I had ever seen from VSA.. anyway I digress. Cassie’s friend was hot. Problem was that she was dating M’s brother. Talk about torturing a brother while not being there.

Man vs smoke machine
Everytime the smoke machine blew smoke, M and I would run towards it and dance in it like little kids. anyway, a guy was leaning over the stage taking a breather. Suddenly the machine spits out a huge plume of smoke – right in the unsuspecting face of our recovering victim. Hahaha !

anyway, the guy didn’t flinch! He was either because pretending it wasn’t there, or he was just so tired he didn’t move. After a few seconds the smoke cleared and I could see him again. Then.. the machine roared up and blew another fogworthy cloud of white in his face again! HAHAHA! He moved away this time – good work.

Man vs sleep
We moved to the back carpeted area where some space was. We did some crazy moves. M saw a guy standing up not doing much. We went up to him. M stood face to face and danced land waved in front of his eyes. No reaction. I had a look. This guy had his eyes shut. He was sleepdancing! It wasn’t really dancing. It was more swaying left and right. I thought he had taken some drugs or alcohol, or both. In any case, everyone around thought it was funny.

Wet floor
The floor always was wet at the front. Surely nobody sweats that much! It wasn’t sticky like someone had dropped their drinks. I later found out people were putting water on the floor so that they could dance easier! Who and what the hell? Must be a trance or cabramatta thing. It worked though, I nearly slipped a few times.

an abrupt end
One of the guys who has been drinking all night is ejected for being too drunk. Security stops the music and kicks everyone out. It was 2:50am.

Outside there was a shirtless guy with tattoos all over. He wanted to fight another drunk guy, for reasons unknown. He was yelling in Vietnamese, and I tell you, it sounded scary.h is friends were holding him back from fighting the other guy, and likewise for guy 2. We left in case they brought out their knives and decide to give everyone haircuts.

Coda + Post Mortem
I’d only go here if i was trapped in the west cabramatta with no trance place to go.

(Got some pork rolls at the 24 hour pork roll place at Cabramatta. Yeah you heard me. 24 hour pork rolls!! )