Okay. I promised myself I wouldnt do this again, post to sinister elaborate detail about a club experience, but it seems to be the time of year when resolutions are broken and I just cant help it. It was possibly the GREATEST CLUB EXPERIENCE EVER, thats why. AND it technically was a sinister meet-up. So theres context for ya. Content. Yeah. It all came about when lovely sinister listee ZOE contacted me to say shed be home for the holidays and we should meet up. Calls were made, and she suggested we go to Kitcherella, a special night dedicated to kitch of all sorts - kitch music, kitch decorations, kitch clothing. She said it began years ago in a small club and had presumably grown to massive proportions, warranting the occasional take-over of a huge schwanky club. She hadnt attended since the move, so told me she didnt know what to expect, but it should be fun. OKAY! Im always up for the possibility of fun. Oh yes. And KITCH! Hells yeah. Anyway.. I try to drag Joanna with me (not very difficult considering she likes to dance as much as I do) but she is actually ill. Poor dear. So at midnight I venture out alone to meet Zoe. I arrive early, and as I stand outside I see some absolutely gorgeous people enter the club. I see some old men drive up and throw the keys of their Mercedes to the doorman who runs out to look for a valet. I see people with GOLD HAIR and ripped stockings and ugly furs. Oooh! I knew it would be a fine evening already. Once inside, I was floored. The club was ENORMOUS, larger than any Id ever been in before. And there was a seemingly endless supply of beautiful thin girls in mesh gold dresses and gold foil wigs working at desks, bars, circulating the crowd, leading men in suits to reserved tables. It was like the Greek version of Studio 54, except not as many naked people. But just as much underwear. (Coincidentally (?) enough, it was called Club 22. Hmm.) Underwear hung from clotheslines strung up around the club, and by the end of the night it was being twirled over heads, slipped on over clothing, draped over faces oh yes. Zoe arrived dressed in a classic sleeveless long white shirt, with black paint-like splatters and a big belt and.. it was quite a fine eighties ensemble. Her friend Helen was dubbed Madonna for the evening. She looked fantastic. And the rest of the crowd - incredible. There were coon caps, argyle sweaters, neon floral prints, huge gold chains, wigs, sunglasses.. I cant even do justice to the amazing costumed kitchiness. I, on the other the hand, was dressed pretty conservatively in a little black dress and maroon Johnny-collar shirt/jacket thingie. Ah well. We clumped around, waiting for others in our party to arrive, staring with greedy eyes at all the beautiful people who entered, shaking our heads a little, anxious for some serious cheesy booty-shaking to begin. When we were finally all assembled, we headed to the dance floor and bopped around a bit. Then the lights dimmed and three screens came down from the ceiling and the opening of Dynasty was projected. Lordy. Everyone hooted and screamed in glee. Then the center screen lifted to reveal a man in an enormous golden afro, sitting in the center of a stage with a drink in hand, regarding one of the screens in studied interest. Everyone yelled and he got up, did a dramatic little turn and headed to the DJ booth, all decked out in gold and flanked by two beautiful girls scantily-clad in gold mesh and foil. Yay! Golden afro man was the DJ! He slammed his hands down like a conductor and the Bee Gees blared. Everyone immediately started to go crazy. It was fantastic! The Bee Gees were followed by other incredibly cheesy songs, including some Greek classics and, even worse, Greek covers of American cheese. My favorite was a Greek cover of a Grease song. Oh yes. After about five songs or so, the lights dimmed again, another cheesy video clip was projected on the two screens, and then the stage was lit to reveal seven scantily clad golden girls with gold foil pom poms, who did a choreographed dance to some cheery song. It was so great! Stage shows! There were a few more interspersed throughout the evening, all hilariously fantastic. Needless to say, we danced our asses off. Until 4:30 a.m. We could have lasted longer, I think, but Zoe had a paper to write. She did leave with a souvenir of the evening - a bra flung in our direction by a crazed dancer that exactly matched her eighties paint-splattered shirt! Incredible! I just could not get over the sheer quantity - and quality - of fine-looking people. It seemed like everyone who was anyone was there. Where do they all hide in the daytime, I wondered. In fact, the biggest star of the moment in Greece - the winner of Big Brother, Greeces first experiment in reality television that was an amazing success - was on the guest list and rumoured to be coming, but he never did appear. Pity, really. Ha! It really doesnt sound as exciting when translated to paper, does it? Ah well. Zoe was lovely, of course, as were her friends, and we had a great time dancing. Again, I was able to do the Molly Ringwald and it was cooooool. And I threw in some Ally Sheedy as well, being a special occasion and all. After I left Zoe, I took a cab home and had a lovely conversation with the driver, speaking perfect Greek. Why do I find myself suddenly able to converse in Greek only after being awake for more than 15 hours or drunk? We discussed the usual topics - where I was from, what Im doing here, why I like it, whether Im looking for a Greek husband, American capitalistic imperialism. And he didnt even try to rip me off! I even paid in Euros, how exciting! And I just woke up at 5 p.m. and listened to Queens Bohemian Rhapsody. Good fucking song. Its kinda sad. I almost cried. Holy Moses, its snowing outside. Coming down like a blizzard. My lord. Perfect time to defrost the fridge, actually. Can put the food outside. Mmm. By the way, my first official Big Decision of 2002, was to venture, alone, to BULGARIA. Yes, I am clearly insane. Even more so when you hear my other option - taking a cheap (76 Euros/$70) flight to London to stay with friends for a week and go bowling with Ken. Hmm. That or return to the Eastern European country where I was almost kidnapped and married off to Romanian prisoners five years ago? And I chose the latter option? What the fuck, eh? Well, it all came down to money, really. First of all, the whole reason I must make such a decision is because I must leave the country by Jan. 23 - I only have a three-month visa, and if I dont leave the country every three months I run the risk of being deported; backwards, eh? So if I go to Bulgaria, which would be cheaper to begin with, I can write travel stories, which pays for expenses and perhaps more. In fact, I already have one assignment lined up which would cover expenses. And considering how desperately poor I am, there really was no other choice. Even though I am a bit.. um.. frightened. Eeps! If you dont hear from me in a week and half, send out the rescue mission please. Im trying to make the most of it, though. It will be an adventure of gigantic proportions, I tell myself. And I will undoubtedly return with great stories. Already my plan is to write about the Mexican restaurant phenomenon in Sofia. Hehehe. Last time I went, I discovered Eddys Tex-Mex Diner, owned by Mafioso Eddy, who had spent several years in Las Vegas and came out of the back room dressed entirely in black leather to have a shot of whiskey with us. According to my sources in Sofia (ha! I actually have a source in Sofia!) Eddy is rumoured to be doing time in a Nevada prison for drug trafficking charges or something (we suspected the Mexican imports were not limited to food ingredients alone). But, fingers crossed, I really hope to run into him again and do a proper interview. Ok thats enough of that then. Hope yall are having a peachy keen 2002 so far. Im gonna go dance in the snow-covered streets now. Eat your heart out, New Englanders! MWAH! ~dahling ps: i feel like kind of an ass posting such dribble after amys lovely post but..um..well..yeah. i guess im an ass. Hmm. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+