“SOUTH LONDON SWAMPED”
THE CLAPHAM STREET PARTY &
BARCODE VAIXHALL 4TH BIRTHDAY-
SATURDAY 26TH JUNE
SPECIAL REVIEW
Waking up on Saturday morning with the prospect of not one but two special celebrations ahead would, in any usual circumstances, have provoked a serious spring in our step, although for a small handful of reasons and one rather large factor, we were unable to muster anything close, rather writhing in agony and constant pain from a serious accident that had resulted in severe damage to muscles & ribs in a part of our back that had left us unable to carry out the most basic of bodily movements. As such plans for what was supposed to be a hectic weekend of activity were not just put on hold, but shelved, a shame as the summer had definitely arrived & even the sun had got his hat on, meaning that two of the big events of the weekend were destined to be busy affairs indeed. But there is a lot to be said for our determination, although given the extent of damage to our back, some would call it more our foolhardiness in attempting to face, first a packed street party in Clapham & then an equally busy birthday bash in Vauxhall, but then we are known as “London’s original party boy”, so it was always going to take hospitalisation or something similar to keep us from grabbing at least a snippet of the action.
Now it its 6th year, The Clapham Street party has firmly established a place on the gAylist clubbing(ish) calendar, but moreover as an event that heralds the start of summer socialising in alfresco celebration, so in many ways a real departure from clubbing per say, yet attracting whole hoards of faces that we bump into, week in week out, during over dancefloor dervishes. Indeed, having lived in relative proximity for half of its history but in the last few months having anchored our bolt hole presence in Clapham Old Town itself, this year signalled significant intentions on our part to engross ourselves in this prolific party, not least as host venue The Kazbar and the adjacent avenue setting Edgeley Street were a mere stone’s throw away (well five blocks in American talk!), meaning it would have been a crime not to commit. But with the formula much unchanged, in fact the cabaret stage line up virtually identical to last year, together with not one D.J. on duty familiar to us, the party was always going to be about the people we mingled with and the friends that circled our company.
For those of you unfamiliar with this annual event, The Clapham Street party is a fusion of music & cabaret entertainment, the thrust of the former more disco than electro, more dance than trance, while the latter was more a display of camp slapstick comedy in drag, rather than a thespian prose played out by theatricals and very much a miniature version of the swarm of pride events that attract huge attention & crowds across the capital cities of the world & beyond. Yet, all this said The Clapham Street party has slowly grown in popularity, so much so that after the third annual event, there were calls for it to be moved to a larger space to accommodate the increasing numbers, a slot on Clapham Common being muted as the solution, although claims of unviableness & permission refusal have meant that the tight squeeze of Edgeley Street remains the host area, attempting to accommodate crowds three, maybe four times its size.
Nevertheless, we were definitely looking forward to savouring our slice of the street action this year until an untimely accident left us in considerable back pain and with calls from those around us to rest, it seemed that the party would be a non event for us. But you can never keep this “original party boy” down, so come the day itself, a scorching hot Saturday in SW4, we were determined to at least show our face, even if it meant finding a quiet corner from which to survey our audience, although even that, as it turned out, was a mere pipe dream, as holding back for cougar loving clubbing pal Stephen’s arrival, our approach to this street splendour at not long turned 3.30 p.m. (it had only been going 2 hours for heaven’s sake!) found a queue to enter stretching right back up Clapham High Street, with little or no chance of getting in. Following furied telephone calls & texts, all bearing no fruit, our liaise with our pal in The Two Brewers was just as disastrous, the overspill leaving the venue swamped and the bar 10 deep in search for refreshments, the street party organisers, the Kazbar & Two Brewers management, indeed all involved in the event seemingly caught by surprise & unprepared for what seemed a mass gay invasion of Clapham for this celebration of camp cabaret & social street schmoozing.
So, resigning ourselves to a low key get together with our posse of pals on the nearby common, then picking up on snippets of news from the lucky few in our extensive social circle that actually made it in, as day turned to night and our disappointment for not being able to report on the street shenanigans sinking in (Craig Maritza & Matt Joshua please note!), we thought better of resting our back, instead heading for the next mecca in this final weekend of June’s machinations, Barcode Vauxhall. By why you ask? Surely it was just another typical Saturday in this south of the river resting spot, but not at all, because this boozer come dance joint was celebrating four years in existence, previous birthday bashes always signalling something special in celebration of this now firmly established watering hole’s stamp on the Vauxhall scene. Indeed photographic evidence of our escapades last year, for their third, showed just what a brilliant birthday it was, the place being festooned with sparkling 3’s even our torso showing them off from time to time.
But this year was always going to be a far more restrained affair, not least for that pain in the back we talked about (our bad back silly!), our early arrival at just before 11 p.m. finding the lion’s share of party goers outside rather than in, although on entering the front bar, there was a considerable crowd cavorting to the terrific tunes of Barcode’s manager come D.J. for the night, Saki, an individual who works tirelessly & sometimes underappreciated for his commitment & passion for the place, the man having toiled all afternoon to give the venue the added production & birthday feel it deserved for this momentous 4th year occasion. And glancing up, we were very impressed by the chunky, quality signage, glittering sliver encrusted Barcode signage & 4th birthday banners spinning over the space, the new(ish) lighting in this front room fab spot setting off the amazing atmosphere superbly. Indeed Mr maestro D.J. was serving up a scintillating string of uplifting, funky & chunky house tunes, very much kick starting the birthday party proceedings in style, meaning this was the place to be, a brief trip down to the dance bar behind, finding it sparsely filled with followers, D.J. Develish selecting his usual eclectic mix of tech turned electro turned uplifting turned progressive beats that had us bamboozled, we cutting a hasty retreat in search of a seat out front to rest our weary back.
Sitting by the front door just shy of proceedings was the best thing we could have done, as not only could we, in the relative comfort & relaxation of our seat, spot the marauds of party people float by, but we got the chance to catch up with Barcode & Industri pals as they swayed through, including Jeremy, Andy, & Steven, although as we saw the streams of socialites pile in, there was a feeling that the immense influx on SW4 earlier had all decided to converge on SE11, this Vauxhall version of the Barcode brand filling to capacity before too long and the queue to get in waxing & waning between one-in, one-out and controlled entry, we being glad to be in our comfort back protection zone. And whilst our discomfort from our injury was beginning to consume our enjoyment of this special evening of birthday entertainment, light relief came our way when the engaging Terry Vietheer arrived, greeting us with a massive smile & delicate hug, before treating us to a veritable feast of terrific tunes that had the front bar bouncing & even us up on our feet in rapturous response. But, as much as we wanted to savour the rest of Terry’s set, even soak up the delights of Mattias & D’Johnny in the dance bar behind, our back was calling halt on our party proceedings, we sinking into the Vauxhall night & a (supposed) journey home to rest our weary joints.
In summing up this twosome of tremendous & prolific parties, we were at least glad we got a sniff of some of the proceedings. Without a doubt Barcode’s 4th birthday bash satisfied us more, but, probably in part due to our back injury, wasn’t really a patch on the party a year ago, although judging by the sheer numbers through the door, will be noted as a superb success. However, much water has run under our Barcode bridge since June 2009 and whilst the brand remains one of our favourite, specialist night Industri in Vauxhall still top of our socialising crown & Saturday’s in Soho never really being the same without a trip down to the club bar depths down Archer Street, there is this overriding feeling in SE11 at least, that horns are being locked between businesses in this Vauxhall gay village hotspot, rather than working together to make it a more fulfilling place to be, so we can only hope that the tide of temperaments change and people are put before politics, in the realisation that all joe public wants to do is party & have a good time.
As for Clapham’s street party, undoubtedly the warm weather played a considerable part in attracting the numbers that this annual event did this year, but speaking to the stewards who were struggling to control the crowds, as well as SW4 being awash with gay revellers like never before, there has to be considerable credence in lobbying the powers that be to at least extend the party to a second street, or as many would see a viable proposition, succumb as slice of the nearly common to celebrate in style, although we guess the issue as always is money & gay businesses are just not willing to cough up. As for this 6th year party, reactions we received afterwards were that the stage shows were a real hit, highlights being Titti La Camp & Sandra, although the inevitable queues for warm can of lager ensued and unless you had a vantage point for the stage; it was just too packed for pleasure. So come on organisers, do something positive for next year, as too many of us walked away disappointed in missing out. (DISCO MATT)
THE CLAPHAM STREET PARTY &
BARCODE VAIXHALL 4TH BIRTHDAY-
SATURDAY 26TH JUNE
SPECIAL REVIEW
Waking up on Saturday morning with the prospect of not one but two special celebrations ahead would, in any usual circumstances, have provoked a serious spring in our step, although for a small handful of reasons and one rather large factor, we were unable to muster anything close, rather writhing in agony and constant pain from a serious accident that had resulted in severe damage to muscles & ribs in a part of our back that had left us unable to carry out the most basic of bodily movements. As such plans for what was supposed to be a hectic weekend of activity were not just put on hold, but shelved, a shame as the summer had definitely arrived & even the sun had got his hat on, meaning that two of the big events of the weekend were destined to be busy affairs indeed. But there is a lot to be said for our determination, although given the extent of damage to our back, some would call it more our foolhardiness in attempting to face, first a packed street party in Clapham & then an equally busy birthday bash in Vauxhall, but then we are known as “London’s original party boy”, so it was always going to take hospitalisation or something similar to keep us from grabbing at least a snippet of the action.
Now it its 6th year, The Clapham Street party has firmly established a place on the gAylist clubbing(ish) calendar, but moreover as an event that heralds the start of summer socialising in alfresco celebration, so in many ways a real departure from clubbing per say, yet attracting whole hoards of faces that we bump into, week in week out, during over dancefloor dervishes. Indeed, having lived in relative proximity for half of its history but in the last few months having anchored our bolt hole presence in Clapham Old Town itself, this year signalled significant intentions on our part to engross ourselves in this prolific party, not least as host venue The Kazbar and the adjacent avenue setting Edgeley Street were a mere stone’s throw away (well five blocks in American talk!), meaning it would have been a crime not to commit. But with the formula much unchanged, in fact the cabaret stage line up virtually identical to last year, together with not one D.J. on duty familiar to us, the party was always going to be about the people we mingled with and the friends that circled our company.
For those of you unfamiliar with this annual event, The Clapham Street party is a fusion of music & cabaret entertainment, the thrust of the former more disco than electro, more dance than trance, while the latter was more a display of camp slapstick comedy in drag, rather than a thespian prose played out by theatricals and very much a miniature version of the swarm of pride events that attract huge attention & crowds across the capital cities of the world & beyond. Yet, all this said The Clapham Street party has slowly grown in popularity, so much so that after the third annual event, there were calls for it to be moved to a larger space to accommodate the increasing numbers, a slot on Clapham Common being muted as the solution, although claims of unviableness & permission refusal have meant that the tight squeeze of Edgeley Street remains the host area, attempting to accommodate crowds three, maybe four times its size.
Nevertheless, we were definitely looking forward to savouring our slice of the street action this year until an untimely accident left us in considerable back pain and with calls from those around us to rest, it seemed that the party would be a non event for us. But you can never keep this “original party boy” down, so come the day itself, a scorching hot Saturday in SW4, we were determined to at least show our face, even if it meant finding a quiet corner from which to survey our audience, although even that, as it turned out, was a mere pipe dream, as holding back for cougar loving clubbing pal Stephen’s arrival, our approach to this street splendour at not long turned 3.30 p.m. (it had only been going 2 hours for heaven’s sake!) found a queue to enter stretching right back up Clapham High Street, with little or no chance of getting in. Following furied telephone calls & texts, all bearing no fruit, our liaise with our pal in The Two Brewers was just as disastrous, the overspill leaving the venue swamped and the bar 10 deep in search for refreshments, the street party organisers, the Kazbar & Two Brewers management, indeed all involved in the event seemingly caught by surprise & unprepared for what seemed a mass gay invasion of Clapham for this celebration of camp cabaret & social street schmoozing.
So, resigning ourselves to a low key get together with our posse of pals on the nearby common, then picking up on snippets of news from the lucky few in our extensive social circle that actually made it in, as day turned to night and our disappointment for not being able to report on the street shenanigans sinking in (Craig Maritza & Matt Joshua please note!), we thought better of resting our back, instead heading for the next mecca in this final weekend of June’s machinations, Barcode Vauxhall. By why you ask? Surely it was just another typical Saturday in this south of the river resting spot, but not at all, because this boozer come dance joint was celebrating four years in existence, previous birthday bashes always signalling something special in celebration of this now firmly established watering hole’s stamp on the Vauxhall scene. Indeed photographic evidence of our escapades last year, for their third, showed just what a brilliant birthday it was, the place being festooned with sparkling 3’s even our torso showing them off from time to time.
But this year was always going to be a far more restrained affair, not least for that pain in the back we talked about (our bad back silly!), our early arrival at just before 11 p.m. finding the lion’s share of party goers outside rather than in, although on entering the front bar, there was a considerable crowd cavorting to the terrific tunes of Barcode’s manager come D.J. for the night, Saki, an individual who works tirelessly & sometimes underappreciated for his commitment & passion for the place, the man having toiled all afternoon to give the venue the added production & birthday feel it deserved for this momentous 4th year occasion. And glancing up, we were very impressed by the chunky, quality signage, glittering sliver encrusted Barcode signage & 4th birthday banners spinning over the space, the new(ish) lighting in this front room fab spot setting off the amazing atmosphere superbly. Indeed Mr maestro D.J. was serving up a scintillating string of uplifting, funky & chunky house tunes, very much kick starting the birthday party proceedings in style, meaning this was the place to be, a brief trip down to the dance bar behind, finding it sparsely filled with followers, D.J. Develish selecting his usual eclectic mix of tech turned electro turned uplifting turned progressive beats that had us bamboozled, we cutting a hasty retreat in search of a seat out front to rest our weary back.
Sitting by the front door just shy of proceedings was the best thing we could have done, as not only could we, in the relative comfort & relaxation of our seat, spot the marauds of party people float by, but we got the chance to catch up with Barcode & Industri pals as they swayed through, including Jeremy, Andy, & Steven, although as we saw the streams of socialites pile in, there was a feeling that the immense influx on SW4 earlier had all decided to converge on SE11, this Vauxhall version of the Barcode brand filling to capacity before too long and the queue to get in waxing & waning between one-in, one-out and controlled entry, we being glad to be in our comfort back protection zone. And whilst our discomfort from our injury was beginning to consume our enjoyment of this special evening of birthday entertainment, light relief came our way when the engaging Terry Vietheer arrived, greeting us with a massive smile & delicate hug, before treating us to a veritable feast of terrific tunes that had the front bar bouncing & even us up on our feet in rapturous response. But, as much as we wanted to savour the rest of Terry’s set, even soak up the delights of Mattias & D’Johnny in the dance bar behind, our back was calling halt on our party proceedings, we sinking into the Vauxhall night & a (supposed) journey home to rest our weary joints.
In summing up this twosome of tremendous & prolific parties, we were at least glad we got a sniff of some of the proceedings. Without a doubt Barcode’s 4th birthday bash satisfied us more, but, probably in part due to our back injury, wasn’t really a patch on the party a year ago, although judging by the sheer numbers through the door, will be noted as a superb success. However, much water has run under our Barcode bridge since June 2009 and whilst the brand remains one of our favourite, specialist night Industri in Vauxhall still top of our socialising crown & Saturday’s in Soho never really being the same without a trip down to the club bar depths down Archer Street, there is this overriding feeling in SE11 at least, that horns are being locked between businesses in this Vauxhall gay village hotspot, rather than working together to make it a more fulfilling place to be, so we can only hope that the tide of temperaments change and people are put before politics, in the realisation that all joe public wants to do is party & have a good time.
As for Clapham’s street party, undoubtedly the warm weather played a considerable part in attracting the numbers that this annual event did this year, but speaking to the stewards who were struggling to control the crowds, as well as SW4 being awash with gay revellers like never before, there has to be considerable credence in lobbying the powers that be to at least extend the party to a second street, or as many would see a viable proposition, succumb as slice of the nearly common to celebrate in style, although we guess the issue as always is money & gay businesses are just not willing to cough up. As for this 6th year party, reactions we received afterwards were that the stage shows were a real hit, highlights being Titti La Camp & Sandra, although the inevitable queues for warm can of lager ensued and unless you had a vantage point for the stage; it was just too packed for pleasure. So come on organisers, do something positive for next year, as too many of us walked away disappointed in missing out. (DISCO MATT)
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