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Reply to "East Side, West Side, All Around The Town"

The new clubs reported to be gearing up in Chelsea are more a reaction of opportunism. Although I am sure some backers and producers are really inspired and want to bring the city back to life partywise. The club going in to the old Twilo space, which is supposedly going to be called Spirit, would be the most different concept being put to the test, is actually a franchise from its Irish flagship, and if you ask me its ammenities ( a raw food restaurant, a resident dance company ) are a kind of well thought out camouflage for what will still just be a club that generates all the things the Rudiany administration wanted to abolish. But maybe this whole development is going to be a kind of minor turning point, whether the city has a majority of nightlife producers and participants who want to rescue the city from its present dismal reputation as a party flat tire, or whether the whole wave of conservatism in local government paired with a few protectionist party collaborators will snuff nightlife in to a Republican version of a country club scene once and for all. I think what we are going to see is this kind of clash, that that is what the pile of new clubs opening is going to bring.

But what has arisen in the place of a phalanx of mega-clubs has a lot of desireable points. Smaller parties populated by the real party fanatics, perhaps a little more of the underground cachet, a situation that leaves promoters and producers feeling that creatively inspiring buzz that comes from knowing there is nothing left to lose and the crowd will be intent on blasting off.

As for the lip service to being anti-drug, and trying to go upscale with patrons, it is all public relations dishonesty. Drugs, whether at a club or anywhere else, are simply a part of our culture and have been for so long now it is simply naive to think a business, any business, has the ability to create some barrier. And as for the upscale, older set, what bottle bar is going to discourage a group running a four figure tab from doing their coke too?

The main incentive for all this is moola, baby.
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