noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - Spring 2008 Issue # 55 - Index

Bob Mould and Richard Morel of Blowoff
lesbian beneficiaries in the D.C.
area and across the country.
Taint at DC9
1940 9th Street NW
www.taintdc.com
Frequented by D.C.’s hipsters and
alterna-gays, this new monthly
indie-rock and electro-pop party
serves it up. Usually held on holiday
Sundays.
Blowoff at 9:30 Club
815 V Street NW
www.blowoff.us
Two of the music industry’s heavyweight
producer/remixers combined
more than their beats when they
created Blowoff. Richard Morel and
Bob Mould’s joint DJ venture fuses
alternative-rock, punk, funk, pop,
electronica, and deep house for the
bear and cub crowd.
TOWN TALK
It’s evident that nightlife is in flux.
Major gay dance venues across the
country are closing as smaller bars
and lounges take over. When the
legendary behemoth Nation closed last
year, D.C.’s dance scene was thrown into
turmoil. In retrospect, many believe that
in the age of the Internet and sky-high
real estate in urban centers, large-scale
dance clubs may eventually go the way
of the dinosaur discos.
“There are big clubs in every city, but
you'd be hard-pressed to find one that
would say that they're exceeding expectations
right now, and that's why I'm
shocked,” Ed Bailey explains.
Bailey had been at the helm of the
long-running Velvet Nation party at the
D.C. megaclub. After Nation closed, he
started investing his time and attention
into the martini bars that have become
popular among Beltway gays. Then fate
tapped him on the shoulder and made
him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Just when Bailey and business partner
John Guggenmos had given up on the
idea of opening another dance club,
they got a call out of the blue from a
real estate agent with a perfect space
in a perfect location. A former nightclub
just the right size had come available in
the burgeoning Shaw neighborhood on
8th Street. Within walking distance for
a large majority of the D.C. gays, but in
an area that is not heavily residential,
the 20,000-square-foot space is “big
enough to have a huge party, but small
enough to not be overbearing.” Already
outfitted with items required to open a
nightclub—plumbing, electrical, proper
exits—Bailey and Guggenmos were able
to invest their money into the décor,
lights, and sound.
Lo, on the sixth day, Bailey and
Guggenmos opened Town, and it was
good. Despite the current climate of
nightlife—with long-time megaclubs like
Twilo in Miami and the Roxy in New York
closing—Bailey appears to riding the
zeitgeist. So far, Town has been a major
success, with big crowds of cute young
guys (and their real girl girlfriends).
Having worked at clubs like Nation and
Tracks, as well as spinning around the
country for the past two decades, Bailey
took what he learned sitting in the lofty
DJ booth and applied it to the myriad
rooms, nooks, and dance floors that
comprise Town. "It really is a culmination