Okay. Let
me start by saying I know very little (meaning nothing) about Zelda, so please
forgive me if I don’t mention it enough here. Also, this review has been a long
time coming, so I apologize for my lateness.
What I do
know, though, are events, and this event was fun, but left a little to be
desired. I came late to the party (around 11 p.m.), and one of the first things
I noticed was the lack of dancing. I don’t mean to say that no one was dancing, but I got more of a
house party vibe then a dance party vibe. People were standing around in small
groups—chit-chatting, bobbing—but I saw very little full-on dancing. Now, I’m
a dancer, so of course I got my groove on anyway, but I would have liked to see
more people getting down and dirty.
By no means
is this the fault of the organizers or promoters of the event. People dance or
they don’t, and there are many factors that can go into this: ambience, comfort
with the venue, familiarity with others in the crowd, quality of the music, etc.
Hence follows a run-down of my thoughts on each of these factors.
Ambience: The
venue looked great. Production company Dancing Zombies (facebook.com/DancingZombiesFanPage)
had been brought in to light up the place, and it provided visuals over
projectors as well as other lighting elements. The venue itself had some interesting
lighting effects built in, as well as a few (seemingly random) fish tanks. It
was cool. I was told there had been an acrobat in attendance who had to leave
before I arrived, but there were plenty of people with glow toys to make up for
her absence. There was maybe a total of three people dressed in costume.
Comfort with the
venue: From what I understand, Boss Ultra Lounge (the venue in question) is
not usually a raver’s choice. Anthony Bowman, the owner of promoting company
The K.O.P.S (facebook.com/KidsOnPartyStatus), informed me that he
chose the venue because of an amicable meeting with the owner.
I am new to the Orlando scene, but I know, from personal
experience, that there can be a level of discomfort felt when attending a show
at a venue one does not normally frequent. But, like I said before, I’m a
dancer so it doesn’t really matter where I am.
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| Backlighting on the bar (It changed colors!) |
Familiarity: This
event seemed to have brought together several disparate groups of people. I
recognized a few from my attendance at Tuesday night spin sessions at the Red Lion Pub. But most people seemed to be clinging to
others they knew (or the usual roamers). That’s all well and good, but doesn’t
make for much dancing. Especially considering the—
Quality of music:
I don’t want to DJ bash here, but I was mostly unimpressed. Like I’ve said
twice before, I danced. But only because I always
dance, not because the DJs had me on my feet. Maybe I’m just spoiled, coming
from Blacksburg where almost every DJ was my friend and played tracks I knew or
wanted to know (see I LOVE EDM!!). Either way, I wanted better tunes. Even the
headliner of the evening, Dope Arcade (facebook.com/dopearcade), left me wanting more.
Let me
hedge all of this by repeating, I am new to the area, so my judgments may be
skewed. I won’t say I didn’t have fun, because I did. At one point, I found
myself with an LED hoop surrounded by a semicircle of party-goers. The energy
picked up later in the night, but there still could have been more.
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| AJ Hege Photography (ajhege.com) |
Bowman, who
has been producing events in the Orlando area for about 2 years, is excited
about bringing costume parties to Orlando. He has been inspired by themed
events he attended while living in South Florida. This event was subtitled “Level
1,” and Bowman informed me there will be other similar, but differently themed,
events in the future. I think there is potential here, but some kinks need to
be worked out. Perhaps, a theme that inspires more common ground, like a luau
or disco? But what do I know?
I did spot
a unique vendor tucked away near the bathrooms. Artist John Hex Carter was showing off an assortment of bead art inspired by video game characters. I’m
not into video games, but I do appreciate dedication to one’s work, and that’s
what I saw. Take a second and check him out, and then maybe I’ll seem like less
of a hater.
