Hello… New Zealand! Christchurch is where we are tonight, and since the earthquakes of 2010/2011, the entire city nightlife has disappeared. Imagine Sydney’s CBD, Kings Cross, and Darling Harbour decimated and fenced off because of an earthquake. That is the equivalent of what has happened here. The former city is rebuilding, and pretty much if you wanted to go for a dance, you have to make do with DJs playing at local bars or go out in the suburbs. It is quite sad.
Anyway, I asked a foreign backpacker where the place to be is at on a Thursday night. “The Rimming Bull”, he proclaims! I’m sure in proper English that meant “The Running Bull”, which is, coincidentally is across the street from where we rented our hotel. So much win! Let’s check it out!
Crowd 11:30PM
Thursdays @ The Running Bull, Riccarton, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Assessment Time: 11:10PM – 12:45AM
Opening Hours: Open during the day as a restaurant / Grill – 12:45AM
Lockout: Unknown, but there was one a lockout at 12:30 when I checked
Address: 1 Riccarton Road, Riccatron, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand. Map: http://g.co/maps/njtg8
Venue Website: http://www.runningbull.co.nz
Event Website: http://www.facebook.com/TheRunningBullBar
Promoter Website: Self Promoted by the venue
Occurrence: Every Thursday. DJ events also available on Fridays and Saturdays here
Outside Line: 2 people in front but we were in within seconds. We had to use our passports to be accepted entry. The drivers licenses were not accepted.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Boys are pretty casual, with a handful with collared shirts with jeans. Girls in most part did wear their going out dresses and heels for a dance here. It is encouraged for guys to wear collared shirts and to not smell like B.O, and for girls to wear dresses. (According to the facebook page anyway)
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: None
Inside: Walk into the bar / dining area where tables and stools are aplenty. Bar is at the back opposite wall. This are has about 4-8 tables. To your left are some lounge spaces for 10 or so people. On the right is the “dance room” is how it is best described. It really is just a walled off room from the rest of the bar, where you can walk in and suddenly you are in a rectangular box to hold maybe 100 or so people where there are lights and a podium.
Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: Didn’t drink.
Bathroom Facilities: Pretty clean.
Eviction Count: None spotted
DJs: Sole DJ tonight. No song repeats thank god.
Music Style: Mostly Top 40, RnB and probably after 12:15ish the reggae / some other esoteric music was put on. Total mood killer, but it was apparently approaching closing time so that was how it was done.
Crowd: A mix of Christchurch locals and backpackers such as Marty and I, with the Irishman and his friends as well. But definitely a majority would be locals. Ages varied but mostly we are dealing with a young crowd – teenagers, low 20’s.
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It calls me everytime I drive by the sign… Jamrock! it says. JAMROCK! When would I ever have a chance to check it out ?
Prelude: We’re lining up at Civic Hotel for the “Taboo” event for a friends’ birthday. Marty is caught wearing a t-shirt, which is deemed too casual and he is rejected – AFTER he paid for cloak room services for his blazer while lining up. Paying for cloak room and then being rejected is pretty shit, when I was allowed in with a collared blazer with a t-shirt underneath. A group of about 20 guys for a bucks night were also not going inside, because one of them didn’t have a collared shirt. This event was actually enforcing their dress policies! They are being picky on finding reasons to cut the high numbers of men attending the Taboo events (as my sources say anyway).
We can’t leave Marty behind in the cold so .. this provided the opportunity to visit the Jamrock! event, so here we go!
Dance corner (12:30AM)
Jamrock! @ 202 Broadway , Sydney
Assessment Time: 11:40PM – 02:30AM
Opening Hours: 9:00PM – ~3:00AM
Lockout: No lockout
Address: 202 Broadway (Corner of City Road and Parramatta Road, Broadway, Sydney)
Venue Website: http://www.202broadway.com.au/
Promoter Website: Event Group on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/jamrock.australia ; Website – http://www.beatelement.com/
Occurrence: Every Saturday since January 2010
Outside Line: No line, we got in right away.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Hats allowed. There was no dress code encouraged by the promoters, so it was a mix of everything tonight from very casual to smart casual. Being close to winter, most people were rugged up in jumpers/jackets if they weren’t in their t-shirts or one piece dresses. You would definitely stand out if you put on a LBD in here.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $15 during peak hours while it turns to $10 after 2AM. Entry also includes a mix CD of the current month’s latest compilation of contemporary Reggae / Dancehall music. Pretty cool.
Guestlist: jamrockcluboz@gmail.com or see Facebook page.
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Sydney Habour Bridge - 'We on a Boat' Cruise
Friends invited me onto this cruise – A reggae/funk dance cruise – I’ve never been on a day cruise and I’ve never been to a reggae event – so I put on my Mexican outfit and off we went – here we go!
We on a Boat – The Lady Rose Catamaran
Website: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=318543987561
Cruise Times: 1pm to 6pm
Course sailed: Departing King St Wharf, Darling Harbour, the boat sailed north then East under the harbour Bridge, past the Opera house to hang about Jackson’s bay, circling around the entire course twice before coming back to King St Wharf.
Weather Conditions: Sunny throughout the entire cruise. Humidity low and it was warm enough to not be afraid of massive sunburn.
Dress Code / Door Policy: anything goes. Most people wore casual shirts, shorts. I had worn a mexican sombrero complete with my homemade poncho
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Tickets were available from Moshtix for $35 plus booking fee. At the door they were $40 or $50 I believe.
On Board Inside: This was a 2 level boat with a 3rd roof top level. Today, as the event was not sold out, only the bottom and rooftop level were open.
Cloak Room: None available. There were not many people anyway so there wasnt too much risk in leaving stuff lying around.
Bar: Didn’t drink today.
DJs: Nick Toth, JC, Levins, Fasmwa, Naiki, Di Tha DJ, Mickey Morphingaz
Music: Reggae and Dancehall on the top level the whole time. On the bottom level was also the same, with some funk and old school rnb thrown in.
Crowd: About half the crowd were Africans, and the rest of the crowd were split between whites and a contigent of asian dancers who were here, I am guessing, for the modern rnb, but of course, did not get it. Various ages between young and old. Mostly late 20’s or 30s.
Entertainment: There were MCs on both the rooftop deck and the bottom level. Often the MC would call upon the ladies to jump in front of the DJ to participate in games such as booty shaking competitions, grinding competitions, and reggae dancing styles. It’s truly amazing to see girls out there willing to participate in these games sober. All the men love it.
Atmosphere: Top level was relaxed party. People are dancing about on the chairs and on the floor, but in a way that can only be achieved by playing reggae and dancehall. (It’s hard to explain, you probably have had to be there to know what I mean) Most of the people were here for a dancing good time, and only a handful of people were sitting down the whole time. On the bottom level was different, as it was totally dead for most of the cruise. There was on average about five to ten people at the same time on the floor. At peak, the asian dance contigent started to dance when the funk music came out, and they pretty much had half the boat attendees gaping in awe as they go about their dance moves.
Top Level - We on a Boat Reggae Cruise
Breakdancers Bottom Level
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Last night in Goa! I dressed up in the traditional Indian attire and walked the 30 minutes to the club from my hotel. When I got to the counter, I realised I was 100 rupees short for entry, and had to walk back to the hotel to get more money. 90 minutes gone, but now I was back and got right in…
About Mambos Nightclub
Location: Tito’s Lane, Baga – Calangute Road, Goa, India.
Website: http://www.titos.in/mambo.htm
Inside: One central room with DJ and a bar. Pretty girls are allowed to go up a level to dance along the walls upon steel frames. an Outdoor patio-like area surrounds the main room with a bar for people to relax.
Music: Tonight was House
Crowd: Local Indians and tourists
Dress Code: Casual
Cover Charge / Entry Fee: 800 Indian rupees
Occurrence: Every night
Atmosphere: Relaxed, fun, open.
Timeline
Basically wearing this outfit automatically made me King Dingaling of the club. The security wanted photos with me, the bar staff wanted photos and let me inside their bar as well… as well as a whole heap of other people who wanted photos too.
Bouncers at Mambos asked for a photo with me
Kitchen staff let me in for a photo
Clare.. every 5 minutes reminding me she has a bf while grinding with me
No podium dancing allowed for men : Yeah how dodgy is that? There were girls dancing up, and they stepped down. I wanted to get up, but suddenly a security guard jumped in front of me and told me “Do You Want To Step Outside???” So wasn’t fair, they let these ugly girls dance, and yet I couldn’t… ? Where’s the justice?
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