Twatter

The nightclub industry and theatre are like brother and sister. The curtains are drawn and the show begins. The club opens and the show begins. There are kings and queens, scenes and dreams. But when we rest our heads at night, everyone is an actor.

Like in theatre, love, hate, betrayal, rebirth are all too familiar themes in the nightlife which reoccur over and over like a laundry cycle which is never clean. Clubs open and close, partnerships fall apart, companies and venues continually rebrand and renew themselves to keep up with the everchanging and short attention span of today’s entertainment industry.

But what better place to have drama and bullshit of cinematic proportions than over an event called Movie Night.

What was supposed to be my birthday at Pacha Lounge (1305 Dundas St W) and the launch of my new brainchild Movie Night turned into a drag queen soap opera that would give The Bad Girls Club a run for their money. For starters, two tranny hosts ended up spitting in the face of some of the bottle service crew and then getting in a fight with each other in the bottle service booth. Maha and performer Nikki Awesome were caught the middle. It was a big mess of fake eyelashes and smeared lipstick. The two caused such a scene that they had to be escorted out and put in a cab home.

While the night was successful attendance wise, I felt like it would have worked much better as a monthly (it was supposed to be a weekly Wednesday). But without any notice, the owners then decided to hire a person with the initials MB, my assistant at the time, to take over the night. They then decided to use the logos I paid for, ripping them off from a low-res jpeg, and continuing the night as if nothing happened with the same name.

Many of the DJs did not know this happened until it was too late to back out.

I guess the joke’s on him because MB’s version of Movie Night did 50 people on its second week. The scene isn’t stupid.

So as the curtains of summer draw to a close, it is time once again to renew our selves, to change our costumes before the next act.

The kids are going back to school, it’s time to stop going out to the cottage, time to put down that Corona and get your shit together, because September in Canada brings that first little nudge that says, “Hey, winter will be here soon, what the fuck are you doing?” Although, as long as you have that four-shot latte waiting for you in the morning, it doesn’t mean you have to stop partying.

If we’re talking about changing costumes for the fall, Ink and Liberty group’s Tattoo Rock Parlour (567 Queen St W) has finally turned around its branding to include, well, promoters actually from Toronto. With two new weeklies added to the mix — The Jons’ Time Bomb Tuesdays and Pink Mafia’s The In Crowd on Thursdays — Ink has been making some great moves to give the venue a more local and scene-based vibe. The “I couldn’t get into Ultra so I ended up here” reputation Tattoo has cultivated over the last few years is being replaced with a younger more eclectic market who values fashion, good vibes and good music. Well, at least on weeknights.

The new Thursdays and Tuesdays are gay-positive and have actually been a great example of the 2009 approach to gays and partying: As long as it’s good music, good vibes and good times, the gays will come, and mixed nights is where it’s at!

Not only did Time Bomb Tuesdays’ sophomore night on Aug 18 have French electro sensations Teenage Bad Girl and Diplo’s protogé Boy 8 Bit blasting head-thumping, crowd-surfing electro, PDiddy and local singer Drake showed up to party. Also spotted were gossip columnists Dave and Chris from Drinktheglitter.com who were the first to write about the celeb spotting, plus a slew of hot sweaty boys and girls from all across Toronto. I think it’s a hit and I will definitely be there for the film fest edition on Sep 15 for MSTRKFT to take over the floors (cover runs $5 to $10).

If you’re looking for something a little more chill but still a dance party, Pink Mafia’s The In Crowd every Thursday at Tattoo is where it’s at ($5; 10pm doors). Instead of heart attack electro, it’s shimmy-shaking to northern soul, R’n’B, Motown and Stax from residents Jimmy Mack and Lindsay Darling. Definitely the only place you can do that on a Thursday. Check it out on Sep 3 when She Does the City hosts a night of boogie-woogieing.

So the curtains are opening again for a brand new school year, a new act with new players, new sets and new costumes. But make sure you know who your Iagos are and who are your Romeos are, especially in this scene. And when you go to bed at night know the name of the play and sleep with one eye open.