Posted by I’m not sure if it’s possible to have a good time on a cold, rainy, windy London night when you never actually get into the clubs you try to hit. But I somewhat had a decent time on what would be called a busted night.
I took a leap last night and down to Elephant & Castle to check out the int’l industry that is the Ministry of Sound. One of the websites advertised that it was a hip hop night there. Yeahh definitely…
What made me slightly apprehensive about going to the Ministry is that it’s kinduv far down the south bank. No doubt I would have to take a few buses back and do some walking to make it back to my flat after the night was over. The tube ride down was mostly solitary until I got to Baker Street & Piccadilly and then finally more people started getting on and I felt better that I could just fade into the crowd and wouldn’t stick out so much.
When I got there, the queue was stretching around the building halfway down the block (and this was only at 11.30pm). It was almost all Africans, Mideasterns & South Asian folk. White folk were definitely the minority. I don’t think I’d seen such a minority-dominated (is that an oxymoron?) sight since the last time I went to 2K9 in DC.
The rain was coming down pretty steadily so it didn’t take long to get wet. But I decided to stick it out because the only other good listing (as in easier to get home from) I thought I’d come along was doing indiepop in SoHo.
So I waited and waited and the line slowly moved forward. I’m used to this sort of shite though – I’ve queued up all over the US and had to wait a spell to get into a hotspot. But then the line started moving slightly faster than it would under normal circumstances. People who had been further along were leaving the queue, claiming as they walked by that the club had locked its doors and wasn’t admitting anyone else. I tried waiting it out a little longer but ultimately it did look like a busted line so I left. The scene was pretty wicked – mad amounts of people just milling about on the off-street by the club.
The tube confuses me. I don’t have a watch right now (because my phone was stolen in Barcelona) but I figured it was past midnight so it should’ve been closed and I’d hafta put my carefully written-down bus plan into effect. But the tube was indeed still running. I took the it back up to central Lodon and got off at Piccadilly thinking to try some other clubs. The clubs on Piccadilly looked kinduv busted too; either line wasn’t moving or there was no line which just seemed to indicate no interest and no crowd. I was a little further from Tottenham than I thought I’d be so I ended up walking up to Oxford Circus and catching a bus back to my flat. Meanwhile, a steady steady steady rain… my whole right side got soaked through my jacket.
But like I said, even though I didn’t have a fun time, per se, (how could one?!) it was good to be out and trying to do sumfink. And let me tell ya – a Maher’s needs, yeah I’m gonna try hit the Ministry again on a dark night again.
