Fuenteovejuna did it

I was driving home Thursday night from a late shift and Barry Manilow's 80's classic, "I'm Your Man" popped into my head. Ahhh, 80's dance music. I loved that Hi-NRG (high energy) sound, somewhat related to EuroBeat or EuroPop. The only thing I can find today that I like as much is House and Trance.

Strangely enough, North Carolina had some hot clubs back then, notably "Wham!" which later became "Encore!" (both in Greensboro). Wham! was often called the best nightclub between Washington DC and Atlanta. Durham had the excellent "42nd Street" which later became "Power Company." I was never fond of the clubs in Charlotte.

My favorites for an occasional drive to Atlanta, GA, were "The Armory" and "Weekends."

Back then, life circumstances often put me in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Guadalajara had some great clubbing. "Monica's" and "Betty Boop's" were my faves. Guadalajara also had the best raves. Most were fund raisers for the gay pride group called GOHL (Grupo Orgullo Homosexual de la Liberación). A rave in Guadalajara usually got going well by 1AM and usually terminated by 7AM on a Sunday morning. That often put the ravers on the same Sunday-morning mass transit as people going to church, which could be embarrassing.

Heck, I got so into all this that I broke the bank in 1986 and treated myself to two weekends of partying in Paris (the one in France). It was well worth it. I *STILL* love all things French.

To prepare for all-night clubbing, or a rave, the following schedule usually applied:

• 2PM - some exercise, usually a bike ride or walking at a park (or the Champs-Élysées, lol) to get the blood flowing.
• 5 to 6PM - a carefully planned dinner. It had to be enough to sustain for the upcoming evening, but not so much that it would drag you down later, or heaven forbid, put you on the toilet.
• 7:30 to 9PM - rest. Commonly called a "bar nap."
• 10PM - light snack like potato chips.
• 11PM - shower and begin primping.
• 12AM - one or two warm-up cocktails.
• 12:30AM - departure time!

Then it was out for all-night fun. Nice times with lots of strobe lights, lasers, smoke machines, throbbing disco, and 100's of people thrashing around and having fun on the dance floor. Amazingly, good friendships were sometimes formed of this.

Here's the Barry Manilow download that made all this come to mind:

Link credit: 7akwati.

UNSTOPPABLE - love like you've never been hurt and dance like nobody's watching you... a classic example of how one half naked dancing dude can get an entire party jumping in under three minutes. Shot at the Sasquatch Festival 2009. Share it with your friends who have BEEN that person! Track is live, is called "unstoppable" by Santigold

I used to go to this festival every year but haven't for awhile now. It seemed small this year compared to some of the others. Regardless, the people watching is always good. Lots of cuties out there.

I didn't stay long. It was humid, brutally hot, and not a bit of wind.

Some of the things I saw are in the images that follow. All are clickable for closer examination.

Image #1 (below): the "Woods of Terror" casketmobile.



Image #2 (below): the Greensboro Fire Department will get you wet for free.



Image #3 (below): a refreshing fountain at Center City Park.



Image #4 (below): beer garden ahead! It was too hot for me to drink beer. I enjoyed the thought, but I couldn't do it.



Image #5 (below): magnetic therapy hematite jewelry. Fixes everything! Do you believe in this?



Image #6 (below): "Jewish Life in North Carolina" at the museum.



Image #7 (below): the ultra-cool public library bookmobile. I love this thing. It's huge. It's spiffy.



Image #8 (below): USMC veteran.



Images #9 & #10 (below): NC World Can't Wait. They are not content with the status quo. I agree.





Images #11 & #12 (below): nice people but the Democratic Party just makes me sad. At least Obama showed up.





Image #13 (below): nice people but the Republican Party makes me sick.



Image #14 (below): Greensboro is home of the famous civil rights sit-ins. Of course it was way more than a "national drive for integrated lunch counters". I've always been a little amazed by the wording on the marker. Way simple.



Images #15 through 18 (below): OMG! OMG! I almost fell down when this walked by. "Officer! I need to report a crime against nature about to happen!" I can't even imagine the possibilities. These images are worth clicking for the full-size.









Image #19 (below): some classic cars.