By Dalhousie Gazette Staff
I pull my SARS mask down self consciously as I walk through the posh halls and ledges of Pacifico towards the DJ booth. I pass a gauntlet of makeup artists and stylists, hair dryers held high. There’s excitement in the air. Everyone is bubbling.
Chris Matheson, a slightly tanned man with short hair and glasses leads me past the stage where event coordinator Megan Zwicker is standing in a kimono, brandishing a clipboard and directing models up and down the catwalk. I proceed up to the large DJ platform. It’s a futuristic mesh of stylish counters and technology. I’m impressed. We run through the basics, plugging in my digital DJ gear. Serato’s black metal hardware box and my black Macbook look sexy beside the radial black metal mixing board and the curvy black CD turntables.
Hours later, I’m still glued to those black turntables. I blast the dark and seductive sounds of heavy bass Dubstep for the first time in Pacifico’s history of more than a decade of what owner, Labi Karountzos, calls “adult contemporary house.” He also has short hair and glasses, and suddenly my dreads seem quite anti-establishment. He tells me that not one of the tracks I’ve played all night would be typical of their regular nights. “Nuovo Inizio,” I think.
The event, Italian for “new beginning” is Silverback’s first of what they hope will be many an annual event. It combines a sexy show with a good community cause, the Halifax community Action on Homelessness (www.canhalifax.org).
Pretty Things Boutique supplied one of the lines.
Proprietor Cadence Macmichael is probably better known as the Divine Miss C of the Pink Velvet Burlesque group. She is a frequent supporter of charities and community events.
“The other line was model-supplied. It was dark and edgy.”
The first act of the night is belly dancer Solmaz Asheri, and although there are some technical issues with the lighting in Pacifico, she wows the crowd with a tribal dance. People drink, socialize and dance until the Pink Velvet line comes out to rivet the crowd. I shift gears from electro oriented bass line house music to San Francisco glitch hop, and the models strut to the heavy bass among camera flashes and catcalls.
Pacifico’s impervious counters become wet with drinks and the revellers loosen up. The dance floor begins to rock, and I shift gears again, bringing up the tempo for the frenzied patrons.
“This is a really good event,” says model Careotica Lovicious. “Foxy and fabulous in the name of helping the homeless.” She waits for bottle service that is perpetually just coming.
One of the hair stylists has apparently not shown up, and the other is working double time.
Despite the above the neck bottleneck, at 1 a.m. the second set of lingerie models come out to the silky sweet sounds of Bassnectar’s new smash hit “Cozza Frenzy”. The owner, working the lights, seems impressed neither by the models or the hooting crowd, least of all the music.
“I can tell you don’t like this,” I tell him. “But I’ve really enjoyed playing here tonight.” He shakes his head and smiles.
“This is a top 40 crowd – students. It’s not your fault. They hired the wrong DJ.”
I play another unreleased gem from a San Francisco label. The floor shakes with bass, the ladies strut and pause for effect, and the dancing masses cheer and wave their drinks. This isn’t contemporary – it’s straight up futuristic.
After the ladies all get their turn, they take the stage together for a bow and invite the crowd up to dance with them. An eager posse swarms the stage and the lingerie models dance and mingle for most of the next hour. Toward 2 a.m., most have disappeared and are dressed before the alcohol drives all inhibition out of the grinding dancers.
The crowd is dancing to my remix of “On A Boat” and Rusko’s anthemic dubstep hit “Mr. Chips”. Catchy bass lines and hooky lyrics shower down from satellite speakers all over the club and the crowd is eating it up.
Karountzos looks at me, and grimaces.
“This is so intense. Look how they are all riled up.”
As the clock strikes 2 a.m., I play my light-hearted South Park house remix to get the crowd laughing and bopping without aggression or pretension.
Next year Nuovo Inizio plans to use a different location and bring in more fashion influences, and hopefully appeal to a larger crowd of supporters.
Popping an upscale swanky space like Pacifico’s heavy bass cherry would have been enough allure to get me there on its own, but for charity and with the help of sexy models, it would have been impossible to stay away.
Recent Comments