Time Travel: A den of dark delights?

[jchrisobrien]

Friday night: Raul and I are dueling back and forth at checkers, while a collection of other people are talking about what to do with themselves. The idea is born: let's descend on ManRay, all dressed up and dance! Friday nights are something of a rarity for most people, but the idea of everyone arriving in full regalia is too much to pass up. And even if the evening blows, we have each other to talk to, and catty comments to exchange. So we depart, and change, and reconvene, and storm the club. The crowd is typical for a Friday, or at least for a Friday these days: lots of guys who never come to ManRay is black T-shirt and bad hair and faded jeans, staring out gaping at women who never come here in ill fitting leather and chain and other revealing garb. The crowd is much older and much more lecherous than Wednesdays. The energy of the room is predatory and sleazy and generally uncomfortable. I recognize some old standards from the days when it was a proper fetish night, or at least when there were more genuine scene people and less tourists... The music wasn't great, but wasn't terrible either. I heard new songs from Wumpscut and Front Line Assembly, and some old standards and classics. My dancing vibe was off though, so I only ventured out for a few songs. A few of us left early on, and wandered through a Star Market before arriving home to sleep. The glaring white light and soft background music, plus the mostly deserted aisles, make the end of the evening that much more surreal. Not to mention that there were 3 people dressed in leather, fishnets, and boas walking around looking for pizza. If the night was surreal for us, it must have been more so for the other patrons. Then again, I suspect all night supermarkets are a magnet for all sorts of strangeness. Some bored evening I will take a trip with a notebook and wander the halls of Star Market, and chronicle the different patrons and their misadventures.