I walk down the steep steps into the depths of a club I've never been before. I've walked past the entrance for months now, and this is the first time I've even noticed it's existence. Things here seem to want to hide, to let your gaze wash over it, and yet, there is nothing to pique the mind, draw the person in. Its all word of mouth. How did I get here? I was led here.
The group ahead of me is laughing and screaming, stumbling down the steps and gripping the persons in front of them in vain. Those are my friends. The ones laughing and screaming and falling. The staircase seems to go on forever. How deep does this really go? I wonder. At the moment someone is sure to break their neck, we reach the club. It's a catacomb. Or a wine cellar. It's tough to gouge. Every place here seems to be underground, with a cellar catacomb-ish feel to it. The cobblestones that were just beneath our feet on the streets are now above our heads, arranged in the famously powerful Roman arch. This place looks ancient. The floor below us creaks as we explore the vast cellar club. Every room seemed to have 2 rooms leading off of it. I'm sure to be lost in a matter of minutes. I follow the group ahead of me. Safety in numbers! And then find myself looking down a new staircase. Great. More steps.
Downstairs from the downstairs, we enter the fray. People everywhere are dancing, drinking, moving their bodies to the music that blasts too loud. A DJ is set up in the corner. He's not good, but people don't seem to care. We all peel our outer layers off and throw them on a table. Will that be safe? Who cares! Let's dance!
A disco ball hangs over the dance floor. Red and yellow and orange lights from all across the cavernous room are aimed at the ball, and it refracts along the bodies that thrive for the music and the light. Our group makes our own little circle. Are we any good at this whole dancing thing? It doesn't matter. Camera flashes go off every 4.3 seconds. I'm blinded for a second. How can you dance when you cant see? I wonder in a haze. Someone hands me a beer. Where did this come from? Hmm, I better drink it to find out. To my left is a giant lady. She's taller than me, and is dancing with some guy shorter than my chest. She doesn't seem to notice, but the man keeps knocking his face right smack into her chest. He looks like he's in ecstasy, with the biggest smile pasted across his face. She bobs up and down, and he keeps smacking his face against her tits. I look away, wondering what the hell is wrong with these people.
And in that moment, everything seems to fall away. There's a moment when the music sweeps me up, us up, everyone around me, onto the crest of some metaphorical wave. But the wave. Its real. My mind smiles at the thought. The. Music. Has. An. Effect. Over. Me. The dancing bodies next to me are moving to the beats, the sounds, the wave. They move as one, a thriving mass of living beings, probably drunk. But it doesn't matter because that moment, when everything dropped away, when the world made sense, that's what's important. All that's left is a group united in the music, hearing the same beats, smelling the same smells, experiencing the same...experience. I smile, and take the last drought of my beer. The dancing light plays tricks on my vision. I see a heat wave above the heads of the crowd. Jesus, are we in the desert? My mind wanders, and I watch the surging mass of bodies move around me, against me, inside me.
And I think, wool socks were a bad choice.
The group ahead of me is laughing and screaming, stumbling down the steps and gripping the persons in front of them in vain. Those are my friends. The ones laughing and screaming and falling. The staircase seems to go on forever. How deep does this really go? I wonder. At the moment someone is sure to break their neck, we reach the club. It's a catacomb. Or a wine cellar. It's tough to gouge. Every place here seems to be underground, with a cellar catacomb-ish feel to it. The cobblestones that were just beneath our feet on the streets are now above our heads, arranged in the famously powerful Roman arch. This place looks ancient. The floor below us creaks as we explore the vast cellar club. Every room seemed to have 2 rooms leading off of it. I'm sure to be lost in a matter of minutes. I follow the group ahead of me. Safety in numbers! And then find myself looking down a new staircase. Great. More steps.
Downstairs from the downstairs, we enter the fray. People everywhere are dancing, drinking, moving their bodies to the music that blasts too loud. A DJ is set up in the corner. He's not good, but people don't seem to care. We all peel our outer layers off and throw them on a table. Will that be safe? Who cares! Let's dance!
A disco ball hangs over the dance floor. Red and yellow and orange lights from all across the cavernous room are aimed at the ball, and it refracts along the bodies that thrive for the music and the light. Our group makes our own little circle. Are we any good at this whole dancing thing? It doesn't matter. Camera flashes go off every 4.3 seconds. I'm blinded for a second. How can you dance when you cant see? I wonder in a haze. Someone hands me a beer. Where did this come from? Hmm, I better drink it to find out. To my left is a giant lady. She's taller than me, and is dancing with some guy shorter than my chest. She doesn't seem to notice, but the man keeps knocking his face right smack into her chest. He looks like he's in ecstasy, with the biggest smile pasted across his face. She bobs up and down, and he keeps smacking his face against her tits. I look away, wondering what the hell is wrong with these people.
And in that moment, everything seems to fall away. There's a moment when the music sweeps me up, us up, everyone around me, onto the crest of some metaphorical wave. But the wave. Its real. My mind smiles at the thought. The. Music. Has. An. Effect. Over. Me. The dancing bodies next to me are moving to the beats, the sounds, the wave. They move as one, a thriving mass of living beings, probably drunk. But it doesn't matter because that moment, when everything dropped away, when the world made sense, that's what's important. All that's left is a group united in the music, hearing the same beats, smelling the same smells, experiencing the same...experience. I smile, and take the last drought of my beer. The dancing light plays tricks on my vision. I see a heat wave above the heads of the crowd. Jesus, are we in the desert? My mind wanders, and I watch the surging mass of bodies move around me, against me, inside me.
And I think, wool socks were a bad choice.
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1 comment:
Hilarious, visual, best thing you've written yet. KH
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