Lightswitch Rave

Since I don't have a day job here yet, I've had to do something for money.

That's right, chunky-style midwest ass for only $100 gets you a ride around the living room wearing a Viking helmet.

Oh, no, wait...I'm bouncing again.

I work for an agency that primarily works a club called Avalon. I'll be working another club soon, but for now it's just this place.

Avalon is pretty big...much bigger than the venue I originally worked in. And where I usually enjoyed free concerts at Metro, Avalon is more of a nightclub. DJ's, Guidos, obnoxious lightshow, and lots of Bum-Bum-Bum-Bum-Bum-Bum DOOTALOOTOO! DOOTALOOTOO!

The upside of this is the VIP room. People pay $500 to get a table and bottle service. It's arranged on a case-by-case basis with the VIP level manager. So some people can have 5 wristbands for guests at their table, while others get 20. Basically how famous are you, how important are you in the nightclub industry, or how much are you willing to tip the level manager?
In addition, if they want to bring in a female companion that wasn't an original member of the party (sluts tripping on ecstasy) to the VIP and feed them liquor, they need to give me 20-40 dollars.

This stuff is all so standard I'm surprised I could write about it this long. I was just trying to set the stage for something I (and it turns out, even long-time workers at the club) found fascinating.

The MAJORITY of the club is Asians. That's not so surprising considering the liking that Asians took to electronica, club music and glow sticks. About 40-50% of the customers are Asian, mostly Koreans.

The surprising part; of the 50%, about 40% of them are over 45.

When you go to a club, you're certainly not prepared to see an audience that's almost a quarter Koreans your parent's age with a head full of ecstasy or acid bouncing around like they were teenagers.
I have mixed feelings on the "acting your age" thing. While I find the lone 45 year old guy at the club, pathetically trolling for women (usually in vain), this is a slightly different phenomenon. This is a whole frickin' community of older Koreans who embraced a drug-addled raver lifestyle while their kids are probably in college.

The next time I work a Saturday, I'm going to try and get to the bottom of this.

It's not like there's a huge middle-aged Ukrainian movement in Chicago that embraced speed and the neo-Mod movement, gyrating to hipster garage acts. There isn't a comparable model as far as I know.