And I’m very happy about it

A while ago I reported on a party that did not go to plan, one that I thought was going to be one of the biggest parties I had seen in my short time on earth. Yes, you do remember That Party

Well it turns out our organisers have decided to make up for the last one when everyone was sent home before 1am. I hate nothing more than a party being cancelled before it even starts. But as I said before, I will still go to these parties as I know the potential they hold.

So it was with some celebration that I received an sms today from the organisers, telling me that they are throwing us another party on the 15th September featuring “Layo and Bushwacka” YES PLEASE!

I’m quite pleased with this. Soon after that sms, I got an sms from Rory, who was quite excited. Rory plans all the parties for us and when we want to go to any party, we just magically appear on guest lists at every club. He is kind of like Van Wilder: Party Liaison.

So I’m quite happy right now.We will definitely be reporting on the shenanigans that go on at that gig on the 15th September.

The invite also says that myself and a guest will get an invite. Who ever shall I take? Do you get better than this? I don’t think so!

 The Editor- Happy with life and chilling with a knife

 

Sean Lloyd

Editor

I literally do not know where to start on this article. The enormity of Friday night(10th August 2007) has eclipsed anything that is normally possible. But being a website of excess we need to push the limits at all times. Here is an account of what we went through before, during and after the Cosmopolitan Lingerie after party:

It was early on Friday afternoon and I was still trying to figure out the plans for the Friday night, and nothing seemed to be coming up that was too exciting. That is until I got a call from Mike Pearson, telling me that a spare ticket had fallen into his hand for the Cosmopolitan Lingerie after party. Not only was it a ticket, but it was a VIP ticket. I naturally would settle for nothing less being the home of excess!I always feel a twinge of excitement when the word “Lingerie” is mentioned. Immediately I had thoughts of lingerie models strolling through the club the entire night, providing us with something nice to look at. And take home.

Let me take a break now to gather this article. So much to tell. It would seem that this party would nearly consume all of my talent.

The evening started off lightly with a trip to the Bree Street apartment in town. The name of the apartments is The Edge, a very smart set of apartments which are literally 200 metres away from Roosevelt which makes it quite handy as it is a simple walk to Roosevelt. A simple walk which still resulted in me getting a slight facial injury and an injury to the shoulder. I arrived at the apartment to be met by Mike and Ryan who were already well into the Bushmills whiskey. I added to this by bringing a bottle of Smirnoff vodka and a creme soda mix which was met by great applause at the apartment. Ryan was already into great speed when I arrived and he had a smile like the Cheshire cat. Or the Bushmills cat at least. The vibe was good and I was feeling it. I had had a horror of a day and spending the evening in good company was just what I needed. These guys are the two who attended the Loeries, and so they come with a sort of party pedigree. They are seasoned in the bars around Cape Town as would be evident when we went to The Extreme Hotel.

The immaturity started at the apartment. Hilarity ensued at the time.

We literally had so many VIP tickets to this after party that it was disgusting. I wanted to make them into paper jet’s and fly them off the Extreme Hotel, just to make things really extreme over there! The apartment is actually situated in the best possible position. Standing on the balcony with a drink you can see The Extreme Hotel which is half a block away. If you look to the right off the balcony you will, in the distance, see Roosevelt. What a spectacular piece of real estate we were residing in! After countless lame jokes we got a call to go to The Extreme Hotel to make a delivery of some VIP tickets.

I looked like hell but I had VIP tickets and that’s all that matters

At this time Ryan was wearing a whole lot around his neck. Or was that later in the evening? My mind is battling to distinguish the different sections of the evening.

The Extreme Hotel really do push things, which is exactly the way I like it! Living life to extreme excess is just what you should strive for. This is what we are here for, to nudge you in the direction of greatness. Crossing over the street, and leaving our drinks behind, I was greeted by an ENORMOUS climbing wall on the side of the extreme hotel. It is the biggest thing I have seen in my short years on this thing called Earth. I am keen to give it a climb some day, but I’m not really that strong that I see myself actually getting past the fifth foothold. It’s quite interesting having a climbing wall on the side of a hotel, in town. I imagine myself one day doing thousands of gun curls, and sculpting a set of guns that would put Ron Burgundy to shame. I would then climb this wall, and hang off one of the holds like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. Chicks dig it.

Chicks dig the Ethan Hunt hanging from one hand trick

So we strolled to the front of the Extreme Hotel and were met by an extreme car. Just chilling outside was a Bentley. Little did the Bentley know that the VR3 was waiting not a block away. Had the Bentley known that the VR3 was so close by, I don’t think it would have dared park in that parking spot. The VR3 commands respect, and clearly the Bentley was playing with fire here.

I never really took in the entire experience of the Extreme Hotel, as we were on a bit of a tight schedule and were just going in to make a delivery of some Very Important Person tickets. I immediately thought “Classy” when I walked in. It’s got a very clean, sporty edge to it. There are small tables with TV’s on the walls, where you can chill out, have a drink and watch some extreme sport on TV. On Friday night they were showing MotoX. I sidled over to the bar and ordered a Heineken while the others all went for a Jack and lime. I was just chilling at the bar putting out the vibe when out of the cold, in walked the upper class set. Older ladies in fur(No idea if it is fake or not) trim coats, all the accessories, botox and the husbands squiring them about town. And there I was drinking a beer. Does it worry me? No.

It was quite remarkable seeing Mike and Ryan in their natural habitat, so at ease with the bar, so in tune with the drinks menu, so at peace with who they are. One of the barman walked up to them and suddenly there was a loud roar, as they erupted into laughter at seeing the barman again. It seems that Mike and Ryan are Extreme regulars, and had in fact been at the hotel earlier in the day. For work obviously. You know…conceptualising, brain storming, chucking ideas around and playing with various concepts. The Extreme Hotel has an atmosphere that is conducive to creative thinking. At the entrance there is a chair suspended in mid air from the ceiling that you just want to sit in. I actually have no idea if it is for display, or to actually be used. I was not about to try it as I was in no form to be sitting on something that could very easily throw me off balance.

I was told to take a visit to the bathrooms as they were spectacular. I did not believe this, thinking that there can be nothing great about toilets. But then I saw Mike going in and thought I would go at the same time. You know…like chicks do.

Why do girls always go to the bathroom together? A certain girl I know, no names, always says that her friends ask her to go to the bathroom when they go and she is not really a fan of this. She is of the thought train that says “Why would I want to go to the bathroom with you?” And exactly, that is out of a girls mouth. WHY girls? Why? I suppose we will never fully understand. Read Cosmopolitan and try get inside their heads.

So I cruise into the bathrooms and there were various words on the doors of the bathrooms. I entered the one labelled “Temptation”

The Temptation to do naughty things to her was strong that night

Well shoot me down! It was clean, modern, and on the wall was a massive picture(Actually it was like wallpaper) of two models, naked. A guy and a girl. I worried that with this naked girl I might get my zipper stuck, you know, like in There’s Something About Mary. I need to go back to all of the bathrooms as the Temptation one was awesome. I strolled out, with a huge smile on my face. It must have looked odd, seeing as I was gone a while, taking photos in the bathroom and all. When someone walks out of the bathroom after a full 7 minutes or so with a smile on their face, you worry. It’s better than walking out after 45 seconds though with a smile on your face…I’m losing the plot here.

The handover of tickets was made to Travis while I was gone, and we were once again out. The walk to Roosevelt was made treacherous when I decided Mike needed to carry me to Roosevelt. I don’t know why we decided to do this, but we did. I took a running start and then jumped. I jumped way too high and went straight over Mike, with his general head and neck area taking my legs out. I fell straight onto the tar, with my shoulder breaking the fall, and my face hitting the tar in dramatic fashion. I just remember hearing a loud sound inside my head as my last two brain cells smashed together, leaving me now with one. I just heard a roar of laughter as the SLXS Entourage realised that we were the biggest fools in Cape Town.

This champion had managed to park the Jeep on the pole outside Roosevelt

We eventually got there, after checking myself for a broken face and/or collarbone. Being a cyclist, I know how easy collarbones break. But mine survived, as the vodka left me supple. At this point I must stress that I, as the Captain of this ship we call “SLXS”, am a responsible man. I just don’t know what happened that night. We all don’t know what happened.

I walked up to the bouncers, flashed my VIP card hanging around my neck, and was directed upstairs to the VIP section. We let all the other souls mingle around downstairs in the regular section. I don’t really know what type of atmosphere Roosevelt is going for. Walking in, it does not strike me as extremely smart, but this is what it is made out to be when you hear about it. It sounds like it is the place to be and attracts a crowd that is probably in their thirties and maybe a bit older who are successful and who want to be seen. I don’t quite understand this.

The VIP section is nothing special, other than the fact that it is completely seperate from the regular section. But there is nothing upstairs that makes me feel special, no special touches up there that make it different. It is fairly bland to be honest. The crowd also seem to be too afraid to dance. It is not a place where people dance much. Maybe people don’t go there to dance, I’m not too sure. And it’s not that people in this age group don’t dance. Oblivion in Claremont(Or is it Kenilworth?) is a place where people go to party like mad and dancing on tables is fairly common and the crowd are near their thirties and older. Oblivion has an awesome crowd of people who go out to have fun.

Roosevelt finds itself caught here. It is presented as smart, but is not extremely smart. The crowd are successful, but don’t like to party heavily. These observations are only from being there two nights, but this is all it takes to get a bad vibe from the place. Then some of the crowd downstairs were also not too fitting of a place of this stature. One guy at the outside bar was threatening, in a loud tone, to “F&%* you up!” He then pointed at someone and started calling this guy various names that I should not mention. This went on for a while until this guys friends seemed to calm him down. The bouncers should have had him out of there before that. What is even worse, is he was talking like this in front of some of his girlfriends. I know this because I looked at one of them at the bar, and she was seemingly annoyed, telling him to chill out. That is the real way to act around ladies buddy. Well done. If you can’t act respectable around women when you are drinking, maybe you should not drink. And maybe some anger management would help. Or do you think that girls like this “Macho” image? Well I’m not sure they do…

So that was my experience of the downstairs crowd.

Eventually we got tired of the party as it was boring. No models in lingerie, not even a hint that it was a lingerie after party. Nothing was different from my previous visit. We then went back to the apartment, and sometime during this time, we were introduced to “Darkness”

He was the funniest guy I have ever met. I actually don’t think I officially met him. I just remember walking out onto the balcony and he was there! He then started talking about his Casio calculator watch and I can’t remember what he said, but about two minutes later we were all laughing like crazy! I remember being close to tears. I never got the real name of Darkness, but we started calling him this after we were talking about Dave Chapelle. Aaaaaah Darkness! Watch some Dave Chapelle videos and you will learn.

We eventually went back to Roosevelt to see if the party had picked up. We danced a bit, and this is where Darkness and Ryan left us.I have no idea when exactly they left, but I rememebr trying to call one of them, but they were gone. Ryan later sent a message to Mike that made absolutely no sense. Some of the words were actually not even words. We never figured out what he was trying to say. I took it as a sign that he was home safe.

Mike and myself took a walk back to the apartment, and for probably the fifth time that night, I tried to push the door open…the wrong way. We went upstairs and as soon as I got in, and lay on the sleeper couch, I felt hungry. The word “Barcellos” was mentioned and we were both out the door again. Mike turned around to lock the door, and by the time he had done this, I was on the floor:

It was past The Editors strict 9pm bedtime

I picked myself up, and we made for the elevator. We were having a nice chat in the elevator when I realised the conversation had gone on too long, considering we were only going down one floor. I said to Mike:

“Did you press the button?”

We looked at each other, realising we were idiots. We reached the ground floor, I flew out the lift, pushed the door the wrong way again, the security guard reminded me to push the other way and we were out. We walked to Barcellos which took a fair amount of time. Barcellos is a place that is open 24 hours a day, and finds itself situated at the Engen petrol station in Gardens, where you will also find the 24 hour Woolworths. Like Heaven.

On the way there we stopped off at the Mount Nelson to get a photo of Mike in front of the world famous hotel. Mike is quite an imposing figure in front of this hotel. As you can see.

The incredible Big Mike Pearson(BMP) Showing The Mount Nelson who is boss

I ordered the burger special. Two chicken burgers for R18,95.

Just before my food arrived I got the most incredible heartburn and went to the shop and bought a 24 pack of Rennies. I arrived back to see Mike chatting to some guy called Harry, and another guy who told us he was the Executive Chef at Riboville! Awesome. A top chef eating fast food at 3am. We all sat at the table eating Rennies like they were Skittles. Mike seriously had about 12, as when I left I only had a six pack left. I left three with the chef.

We got back home, turned the TV on and I fell asleep…To be woken up at about 7am(After getting to bed at 4:30am) by Mike. He had to go to work. And so the dream had ended. We had excessed it for the night, and now Miike had to go work. Ha!

I got into my car, and drove home, leaving the destruction of the previous night in my wake. The sun was shining a bit, my eyes were hurting and I was happy that we had made a boring party good.

I think to look over the party, I was not impressed. I’m not sold on Roosevelt, the Cosmopolitan party had nothing special about it and nothing was out of the ordinary. But a good crowd at a bad place can be a good time. And so between myself and the crew, including “Darkness” we had an awesome time.

And we will once again party with them.

Sean Lloyd

Editor

Roosevelt from across the street

I had actually never been to Roosevelt before, but considering that today is a public holiday(Womens day!) I decided to go out last night to town and hit up Roosevelt, to see what was happening there. Roosevelt finds itself situated in Bree Street, Cape Town. Rory had made sure that we were on the guest list, and I was in.

Arriving in Bree Street all I saw were cars. There were cars everywhere and I was hoping all these people were going to be at Roosevelt. We skipped the normal queue, and went straight in to party. While we were waiting at the door to be stamped, some girls decided that they had something to say to us and the bouncer.

Three girls were in the normal queue and said to the bouncer “They aren’t old enough to be here! Why are they just walking in?” The bouncer had obviously heard this drunk talk before and just smiled. But these girls would not stop going on! They kept saying I was not old enough to be at this club. So I said to them “Excuse me, I’m here for work”

They then did not believe this and said “Oh yeah work” in the most sarcastic tone possible. Not wanting to get into a war of words with drunk girls, I quietly left them bickering at the front door while I walked straight in. Sorry girls, try again next time, when you are mature enough. And sober enough.

Roosevelt is the type of place where people seem to go because it has quite an upmarket image. The crowd is the older, more established in their careers crowd. Then there were some people who were a lot older, trying to mix it up with the young people downstairs at the outside section. The crowd seemed a little bit image conscious for my liking and it seems to be the place to go when you want to announce to Cape Town that you are successful, or if you want people to think you are successful. Not really my style, but I was there anyway. The party never really seemed to get going, maybe people were too afraid to dance in case other people had something to say about the way they dance. I did not actually care, and started on a Saturday Night Fever style of partying! I do not care what people think in these situations, and that’s the way you should live.

The downstairs section has a bar running along the back wall. There are a couple of tables and couches on the wall(Well against the wall at least), and the DJ box finds itself situated right in front of you as you enter. Upstairs is a small dance floor with a DJ box and another bar and also a balcony.

Downstairs was quite classy with wooden parquet flooring(I know my wooden flooring!) and I can’t remember what was upstairs on the floors. I knew the place was a seriously classy joint when I looked over the balcony to see a BMW convertible and a Range Rover parked in the middle of the road. Why? Because they can. Please note the parking below, in the middle of the road. Fantastic.

Only because they can

I suppose it did not quite live up to the hype that I thought it had generated. I may find myself back there someday, but the crowd is not really my type, and it is a little bit older.

I suppose it is a great place to hang out though if you want a mix of class and style. And where you can show people that you have arrived.

Sean Lloyd

Editor 

I had sent in my invite for what I believed was going to be one of the maddest parties in Cape Town. It was organised by the same crew who thrilled us at The Deep Dish party. After waiting the entire week to see if I was in, I received an e-mail telling me that I was in. I was later sent an sms by the organisers with my unique code for entry.

“This is how a real party is organised!” I thought

However, I lost my phone on Friday night(Friday 3 August) and in so doing, lost the sms! Not to fear, they would know who I am by doing a check on their computers. The party was held on the 4th August.

The venue was Bar Rouge, Heritage Square, Shortmarket Street in Cape Town and it was looking good. Walking in I was greeted by a bouncer at the door, and after getting past him I strolled over to one of about 6 people who were stationed behind Apple Mac computers(They were going all out here)

I told the girl at the computer that I had lost my phone and the sms confirming my entry.

“No problem, can I please have your phone number”

I gave it to her.

“Sean Lloyd?” She asked

That’s correct sweetheart, that’s correct.

“That’s me, thanks”

She then directed me onto another person who clipped a wristband onto my wrist(Obviously) and gave me R50 worth of drink vouchers, and then I walked past another two bouncers.

I had arrived, this was it! I was impressed. This is the type of party I want to go to, one where not just anyone can stroll in. I want to be mind blown upon walking in. I want the organisation to be the best, and I want a crowd there who are going to want to party HARD. I also don’t want some stupid DJ playing CD’s at the decks while trying to chat up every girl who comes up to the DJ box. I want a DJ who is going to be mixing it up old school. And this is exactly what I received. The invite said it would be a battle of the DJ’s, and that it was.

Walking in there was a bar to my left and a bar straight ahead and the service was quick and sharp. No waiting around for drinks orders, as they had not over packed the venue with people. It was a nice mix of class and good numbers.To my right there were two doors leading to an outside section where the DJ’s would be battling it out. It was sick!

The rumble in the jungle

They had set up the DJ’s in a boxing ring, complete with the ring girls dressed in GOLD HOTPANTS! Just like the Deep Dish party, and just like Kylie Minogue! They obviously had two DJ’s in the ring at a time and while they battled it out, I decided to ascend the stairs at the outside section. I walked up them, looking around to see if I could spot some naughty girls to chat to and naturally impress. When I got to the top, there was yet another bar! This one was huge, stretching along the entire wall. The upstairs section was awesome as it was a balcony and we looked over the DJ’s battling it out, and the girls dancing. I mingled upstairs for a while, and I’m not sure where parts of the night even went. I had arrived with Charlie V and my brother, and we had met up with our Entourage, who happened to be seriously good looking. Including two hot sisters! Who have boyfriends…sigh.

Just chilling with the sisters- Hello!

So I was mingling around in a bit of a vodka daze, when myself and Charlie V decided to sit down on a couch overlooking the DJ ring. After that I am not too sure what exactly happened, but Charlie started chatting to some naughty girl and I don’t even really remember seeing her at that time. What I do remember is that Charlie seemed to be gone for a long time. Apparently I had disappeared and was chatting to one of the sisters. I have no idea what I said. All I remember is commenting on her tattoo, which was in QUITE a spectacular position.

Things then started to go wrong when I heard the cops were shutting the party down. I naturally thought that this was a joke, as it was a Camel sponsored party. Anyway, I can’t remember saying goodbye to anyone but the next thing I knew we were partying at Wadda and Tiger in Claremont! I don’t really have too many things to say about the party because it never really got started. I believe it was shut down just after 12pm!

The problem here is that the last party we went to was better than we had expected. All these parties are free, and I suppose when something is free, you don’t expect it to be good! But Camel really go out big with these parties and spend huge amounts of money on the organisation. They had given us free drinks upon entry, entrance was free, the whole venue was hired out, cigarettes were free, they had hired dancers and DJ’s for the night and we even had Cokey Falkow the comedian as the ring master for the evening. This kind of planning is not cheap.

So to whoever the guys are who work at Camel….someone is fired. The party was shut down due to residents nearby complaining of noise. Now to me someone should have been aware of this in the first place. Either the people who worked on the organisation side for Camel should have scouted the venue out and checked that there were no residential areas nearby that might be affected by the noise. They are event planners, this is their job! Get it together people.

Secondly, the owners of Bar Rouge should not have let their venue be rented out for a party of this magnitude. Surely they must have known that residents would complain? You cannot tell me no one knew about this? So I’m guessing that some people who worked on the event planning for Camel for this party, should find themselves out of a job this week.

And this is fine. Camel must have spent ludicrous amounts of money to give us this party, and we did not have to pay for anything. Other than the money spent on planning the night, it gives the Camel brand a bad reputation as people think that they cannot organise a party.

To me what the organisers need to do now is send us all an e-mail, apologising for what happened on Saturday. I have not received one yet, but I’m sure I will. Any respectable company would do this, and recognise their mistakes, and tell me that someone is fired. The owners of Bar Rouge also need to send out a little apology for letting their club be used for this party knowing that residents nearby might complain. It just seems that they have let themselves down this time. Not to say I won’t attend the next party, because I know how good they can be, but it is a bit disappointing. Also, to the people who attended one of these parties for the first time, they are not going to be impressed worth the Camel brand, and it’s associated people who let this party go ahead.

I will keep you up to date on what they have to say about this whole mess.

UPDATE: Still no word from the organisers, UrbanWave, about what happened. Disappointing…

Sean Lloyd

Editor

The first time I saw Rory Eliot playing live was at Sobhar in Cape Town sometime last year. My friends had been telling me about Plush for ages, and had invited me to many of the live gigs that they were doing around Cape Town. This was still in the time of Chas Smit, the lead guitarist who was tragically killed while crossing a street in in Pietermaritzburg in 2005.

I was unfortunate to have never seen this duo play live but I had read all the media reports surrounding Chas’ death, and I had to see this band playing. They started playing nearly every Thursday for a period of time last year, and I made my way to Sobhar in Claremont nearly every one of those Thursdays.

The gig’s started off pretty small and quiet but soon they were playing to a packed Sobhar, and more people were joining these gig’s every week. And every week it seemed that we were having more fun. Some people would come through just to watch the show, then go home again as they were supposed to be studying. Such is the dedication of the fans of this band.

I believe part of their success is that they are so accessible. Every week before they play you will find Rory and Ben chatting with the crowd. Every week is the same, always a smile, always a laugh and after the show they stay on to speak to everyone. And the crowd involvement is great as well, with Rory getting the audience to sing parts of the songs, and the audience wanting to sing most of the lyrics anyway. They are not one of those bands that run onto the stage drunk with a cigarette in their hands. And yet they have proven, without all of this, that they can play to a packed out club, and their music can make it to the top on our radio stations.

Rory Eliot and The Reason kicking it at The Bang Bang Club in Cape Town

You know they have a good relationship with their audience when you hear guys at Sobhar shouting “Ben we love you!” I’m pretty sure I have heard people saying they want to marry him, but let’s not speak about that…

It’s also great that they know and remember most of the people who go watch them, as they take the time out to chat to everyone.

So I was privileged to be invited to the Bang Bang Club on the 4^th June to be part of their Grace Grew Tall music video live recording. The name has changed from Plush to Rory Eliot and The Reason, but the energy is still the same.

Grace Grew Tall is their single which spent four weeks at Number 1 on the 5FM Hi5@5. I first heard it at Sobhar and I think everyone who was there knew it was going to be good. Sometimes you hear a song so many times that you come to like it. Others you hear once and immediately enjoy them. I believe that for a lot of people, the first time they heard it they would have already decided that it was a great song.

The Bang Bang Club seems to be the hot place to go at the moment and they are attracting quite a number of big names to play at their club. Arno Carstens, Lady Lea, Goldfish and The Dirty Skirts are some of the names that have played, and will be playing at The Bang Bang Club.

Bang Bang club is situated in Loop Street, Cape Town, and it was strange going in there to see that it was a club. The last time I was in that building was a few years ago for a casting, so to go there for a video recording was quite cool.

We were told that we had to really rock out for the video. We had to be jumping, throwing our arms in the air and just going a little bit mad. We were wondering how far we were allowed to take the acting though when we noticed two rather spectacular girls who were in front of our “crew”, let us say. Adam was wondering if it would be rude to start dancing with these girls properly, as they were getting seriously close to us. We were packed into a small space between the stage and the track that the camera was rolling on. I was also wondering how far we would be able to take this “acting” thing. I realised my mind was taking it too far when I saw myself, in about two minutes time, nibbling on this girls ear. I think that goes beyond acting, and that’s when I decided we should just jump around and shout a little bit.

It’s strange that at 8pm at night, in a club in Cape Town, three band members are playing to a real crowd, while cameras film them and they call this “work” It seems this is the lifestyle to live! You don’t realise how mad musicians lives are until you are there with them, experiencing first hand what their lifestyle entails. Whenever you see them playing live, they are actually working. They are living the dream. I was happy to be a part of the recording, as for me it also counts as work. Obviously without all the girls and marriage proposals. And girls. And girls.

News last night was that Louis Roux, the bass guitarist, is leaving the band. Rory mentioned that the video recording was his last show, so it was good to be there for that. We wish him luck for his next career move, where his interests no doubt lie.

We will definitely be at the launch party for the video, where I’m sure I will be able to see the back of my head and my left arm waving somewhere in the video! I can’t believe it…maybe my arm will be on MTV.

I knew I would be famous one day.

For more information on Rory, Ben, Louis and the band, you can visit the following links:

www.plush.us

www.myspace.com/roryeliot

If you are on Facebook, search for the group “Rory Eliot and The Reason Gig Guide”

Thanks to the band for having us round for the recording last night and we will write up on this again after the launch party for the music video, where I’m quite confident we will get a few questions in with the band.

Sean Lloyd

Editor 

The view of the party from the upstairs section

I had received an invite to Deep Dish via Facebook from a friend. I was not really too sure about going as I did not know too many people who would be attending. I then heard that it was an exclusive event and that you could not just say you were going and then get a ticket. I thought it would be worthwhile to see what this was all about. I had heard about these types of parties, where the venue is kept under wraps and you are not sure if you have a ticket until the very last moment. It was a Camel sponsored party and I decided that I would have to be there, even if I knew no one else there!

I received an sms from the organisers about two days before the event telling me that I had got a ticket, and I was then told to check my e-mail where I could confirm that I was attending. I confirmed and was then given a ticket to print out with a unique code and a map telling me exactly where Workshop 17 is. Workshop 17 is located in at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, right near the Two Oceans Aquarium. It was on it seemed.

We went through to Alba in the Waterfront beforehand for a drink, and then after that made the short walk to Workshop 17.

Well damn!

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that this was going to be a crazy party. It was not merely some empty workshop, it was kitted out! I walked in and on my right hand side was a model being body painted, in the tiniest of g-strings. As the night went on we would come to realise that Camel spared no expense when it came to dancers. Camel had truly outdone themselves.

I took a look around and noticed the two bars, one on the left and one on the right hand side of the venue, where Camel cigarettes were being given out free on the evening. The night started off with Ryan Dent mixing it up, before Deep Dish entertained the crowd from a bit later in the evening. Later on we would have Ryan Dent on the dance floor near us, listening to Deep Dish. This was the party to be at, and we were there.

There was an upstairs section with plush couches and a bar, where you could chill out away from the craziness of the crowd dancing downstairs. At the stairs leading towards this section, there was a guy doing graffitti art on a piece of wall, and he was spraying various Camel logo’s onto the board. This gave the party a sort of old school/street vibe. Almost as if you were having a street party, with everyone doing their own thing.

It felt like we were in another world at this party. Like we were at some sort of Studio 54 party. It felt like a wonderland, a place where only the best go to party. My head was spinning like a lathe all night, trying to keep up with the women dancing on the stage, the women swinging from the ceiling and all the other girls who had come out to party. It was insane.

Later on in the evening we had dancers come on stage in gold hotpants and various sorts of spandex jump suits. It was at this time that I started sending messages to my friends who were not there telling them that they were missing out! I spent the better part of the evening just dumbstruck as to what Camel had organised for us. I don’t think I left the dance floor from about 12pm to when I left at around 4am.

One of the reasons for this was that we had girls swinging over our heads for the better part of the evening blowing glitter onto us. I felt like I was on a movie set. I was living the dream.

We are all used to going to clubs and having a DJ stand there pretty much just playing a CD. But nothing can compare to a world class act like Deep Dish, playing live in Cape Town. Sometimes when you are at a club you dance for the sake of it, but at Deep Dish people could not help but dance.

We were quite entertained when the champagne came out because there we were, at the front near the DJ box, drinking champagne and thinking that this is possibly the best party we have been to this year. It’s hard to describe the atmosphere at these parties, but the photos might tell another story.

The reason for writing about something like this is that you need to accept the invite to these parties. You need to be there.

Once again, we did not have to leave Cape Town to be entertained by the worlds best. And once again, another weekend was spent living the dream, right here in Cape Town

The dancers who we marveled at the entire night. Fantastic

Sean Lloyd

Editor