POPTIMISM 6 - It's on Friday 14th October

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Back again, not a number ones night this time but simply good clean pop fun.

Downstairs @ The Polar Bear, 30 Lisle Street, 7 till 2, £2 entry / £4 before 11, free gifts for early punters, all welcome etc etc.

Guest DJs this month are:

- Kat!! (of General Khaki and Livejournal fame)

and

- Robster!!! (of ILX fame)

What will they play? WHO KNOWS. Though a little bird says to expect some of that 90s dance we seem to promise every time. There may also be the Heaven vs Hell celestial pop war, c/o Pete.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 08:31 (twenty years ago)

whoop, excitement etc :)

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 26 September 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

what no swedes then?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 26 September 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

No, someone has emailed me asking to do a Sweden set but we don't have room for another guest this month.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 08:46 (twenty years ago)

Might be. Heaven and hell suggestions of course are always happy to be taken.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 26 September 2005 09:46 (twenty years ago)

gabbapop cover of 'monkey gone to heaven' needed

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Monday, 26 September 2005 09:52 (twenty years ago)

BBC 7 BBC Heaven

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:01 (twenty years ago)

hurrah! this time i will stop at maoz for falafels on the way, thusly preventing coma.

― emsk ( emsk), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

this time i will stop texting RJG on the way

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:29 (twenty years ago)

thusly preventing comma.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:31 (twenty years ago)

I have emailed you a bunch of heaven vs hell suggestions!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:32 (twenty years ago)

Ginger Spice's solo album "Scream if you wanna go faster" had a song on it called Heaven and Hell. Or so I'm told.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

£2 entry / £4 before 11

so it's cheaper after 11? woot! there's no way i'll get there til midnight thanks to my crappy job shiftwork thing...

oh, and ken, since you're here, look what i found:

ihttp://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/sept23ken.jpg

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:59 (twenty years ago)

feh.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 26 September 2005 10:59 (twenty years ago)

Oops, that should not be "before"!

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:02 (twenty years ago)

so it's actually more expensive, the later it gets? you have to pay more, to spend less time there? what kinda bizarro logic is that?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:07 (twenty years ago)

it's to motivate people to turn up earlier, presumably. surely you are well aware of this common tactic?

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:08 (twenty years ago)

bar staff's overtime pay doesn't come from nowhere, you know.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:10 (twenty years ago)

The theory is:

- people turning up late will mostly be randoms looking for a place to drink late
- so we might as well fleece them
- also charging more will put off people who don't like pop but just want somewhere to booze
- which means we can spend the last 2 hours playing great records our crowd loves rather than fending off people asking for the Kaiser Chiefs or Wasis.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

it also helps keep my brain active, by making me do different sums over the course of the evening.

― suckling pig at a rave (alix), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:17 (twenty years ago)

talking of which, i was going to request "i predict a riot"...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:19 (twenty years ago)

it's to motivate people to turn up earlier, presumably. surely you are well aware of this common tactic?

of course. but i'm also aware of the parallel tactic (practiced by many a big club like Fabric and so forth) which slashes the price for the final section of the evening, thus allowing better vfm for extreme latecomers but still ensuring their custom and thus cash.

i don't need motivation to turn up earlier, i need a job which doesn't keep me in the office (in E4ling) til 11pm :-(

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:21 (twenty years ago)

it also helps keep my brain active, by making me do different sums over the course of the evening.

Actually you still only need to multiply by two...

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:22 (twenty years ago)

haha wow charlie! were there any of you there?

i was wasted by the time i got there (beer champaign and whiskey from work), and that's a pretty apt representation of me!

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:23 (twenty years ago)

Multiplying by 2 = quite enough for me, at 11pm, on top of day at work. Plus sometimes it gets really complex, when people pay using different denominations of cash, or when one person pays for more than one person, if you see what I mean. Especially if I happen to be trying to eat a sandwich at the same time.

― suckling pig at a rave (alix), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:26 (twenty years ago)

If it's a slowish night we tend not to enforce the bonus price anyway.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:27 (twenty years ago)

Maybe you could make a little list to make things easier:

BEFORE 11pm:

1 person = £2
2 people = £4
3 people = £6 etc

AFTER 11pm:

1 person = £4
2 people = £8
3 people = £12
Man in Oasis t-shirt = £24:74etc

And so and so forth...

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:35 (twenty years ago)

b-b-but all my other t-shirts are/will be in the wash...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:37 (twenty years ago)

Dissensus = £500 per person + VAT

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 26 September 2005 11:38 (twenty years ago)

SHOCK NEWS!

This will be the LAST EVER POPTIMISM (at the Polar Bear) - some kind of shake-up is happening with its downstairs club area and they don't want/need us anymore (or they're closing).

So do please try and make this as we're going to go out with a flourish.

And of course we're looking for a new venue (sixth time lucky!)

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:08 (twenty years ago)

My advice - set sail for gayer pastures.

― BARMS, Friday, 30 September 2005 08:22 (twenty years ago)

The rainbow flag flying above the Poley Bear probably did put off the gayer inclined innit :)

― Lucretia My Reflection (Lucretia My Reflection), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:35 (twenty years ago)

How am I ever going to "pick up chicks" in gayer pastures?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:42 (twenty years ago)

My advice - set sail for grayer pastures

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:45 (twenty years ago)

i doubt any other london venue has a picture of anastasia myskina on the wall :(

― The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I missed that! I wuv her!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

i bet there are plenty, to be honest

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

or maybe that's just a dream

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

it was the first thing I saw when I walked into the Polar Bear for the first time! it's upstairs, a photo from when she won Roland Garros. when I saw it I knew good things would happen at that venue.

― The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 30 September 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

i wonder if it's because they figured out that all that everyone drinks at poptimism are those £5 bottles of wine and they weren't making an awful lot of them! (solution is surely to up the prices of wine though if that is the case)

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:09 (twenty years ago)

MONEY IS THAT ALL THAT MATTERS TO THESE PEOPLE?

er, yes.

it's all my fault. me and my diet coke diet. apologies.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:13 (twenty years ago)

they probably make more money out of a glass of diet coke to be honest.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

you were the only person who actually kept the whole club going!!

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

Well we have one more chance to drink them dry of Blossom Hill.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

Is Anastasia Myskina some kind of gay icon or sumthin'?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:17 (twenty years ago)

well ken, i'll try and keep it going wherever it next goes. but i wouldn't recommend caesar's in streatham as a suitable alternative venue.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:17 (twenty years ago)

How unfortunate, about the Polar Bear. Perhaps you will be invited back after the refit or whatever.

Really, what you need is a village hall/war memorial/TocH/community centre type space, I think.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

i'd have to say, i think it's probably got something to do with the smell (of the building, not us). i've been given a name of someone to contact at the PubCo, not sure i can be botherd, we'll get the real story from aaron in a fortnight anyway ;)

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

marcello may be onto something here (well not the streatham place) but

ROWANS!

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:19 (twenty years ago)

Come on ken, you haven't suggested that shite bar in Holloway Road yet

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 09:21 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 192 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

kate we heard that! cos you asked me if i knew what it was and i said it sounded like stephin merrit.

― emsk ( emsk), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 07:39 (twenty years ago)

Ah, so that's what it was. Interesting.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 07:40 (twenty years ago)

The Stereolab song was Miss Modular off of Dots & Loops.

Ooh, good beergut shot.

― robster (robster), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 07:56 (twenty years ago)

Let the record show that the Pinefox danced to some hip-hop. I can't remember what hip-hop, though. Perhaps the person who I excitedly pointed him out to will recall.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 08:13 (twenty years ago)

The Pinefox danced to ADDICTED TO BASS of all things.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 08:37 (twenty years ago)

Pinefox hasn't been that rude about a guest DJ since I played.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

PF and kat are actually buddies and it was secret code for love. but he was actually rude to you steve, i'm afraid

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 08:54 (twenty years ago)

I still don't understand why he feels the need to be rude about what DJs play at Poptimism. I mean, I can take or leave an indiepop or 1992 dance revival set, but I respect Rob and Kat for putting their sets together and they were obviously popular with most people there.

Considering they're not even getting paid for doing it I think a basic level of respect is required for the DJs each month as well as the organisers. If people just want to sit and talk there is a perfectly decent pub upstairs where they can do just that. End of story.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

i am not sure whether to be distressed or relieved about that, ken.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:21 (twenty years ago)

(Actually any DJs left standing at the end get a cut of the profits, it's not much tho, about enough for a taxi home. The rest we put towards making the free CDs etc.)

I don't agree anyway - people pay money to come to Poptimism, if they had a bad time they have the right to say so. There's always a few people who come along and don't enjoy it (usually because they don't like the music, unsurprisingly). I do think that PF should know by now what he's getting into.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:23 (twenty years ago)

That's what I meant. PF knows the score, knows how it works - that's of a different order to people wandering in at 8:15 while the speakers are blasting out Kate Bush's "The Dreaming"...but yes, ILx/LJ regulars should give the chaps and chapesses behind the decks some respect 'cos they know what it's all about.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:26 (twenty years ago)

It WAS noticeably louder than previous nights though. I thought maybe this was just because I turned up later than normal but don't know. This is hardly a complaint on my part though, esp. considering how crap the sound used to be at The Chapel.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:31 (twenty years ago)

I found that the volume tended to vary - there were some tracks (e.g. Blah Blah Blah, Do The Strand) which sounded rather tinny, though that might have something to do with CD/MP3 sound differentials.

Also the dancefloor was noticeably more packed than on the previous two occasions, even at quarter to eleven or thereabouts.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:37 (twenty years ago)

it's because it was so loud people had to let their feet do the talking

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:39 (twenty years ago)

i was quite drunk so i have no idea whether it really was loud or not.. i just danced for quite a bit and bummed rob and then went home.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:40 (twenty years ago)

ew ken do you have to?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:41 (twenty years ago)

DJ's being "too loud" is my number one complaint about clubs. It's not a joke when you suffer from deafness. Sometimes this is the DJ's fault (heh heh, hello Charlie) in not being able to control their own volume - sometimes this is the club's fault for not setting up different monitor channels for different areas of the club (bars and seating areas should ideally be at a lower level than the dance floor, obviously) with individual monitor levels.

But then again, this is a complaint about every area of my life - see also guitarists who can't control their stage volume and insist the singers "turn up" when the PA can go no further.

It requires a decent soundman to set this sort of thing up in the first place. But a good DJ should also ensure that their volume level is consistent.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:43 (twenty years ago)

Yes, I only realised a bit later (when the Steely Dan Belle & Seb song came on) that the sound down the other end was louder than usual. Still it was talkable I thought.

I tend to think start quiet, then get a little bit louder at the end when everyone should be dancing. But the CD, MP3 differential is an issue, and usually when a fader goes up to adjust, it never goes back down again.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

This is the problem with DJing using cross-faders - that people do not think to adjust the volume on individual songs. Even between CDs (not to mention CD-Rs, minidiscs, iPods, etc.) there can be a noticable difference in playback volume.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)

I'm very tempted to use the trusty old "if it's too loud, you're too old" meme but will resist the temptation.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)

There was a notoriously quiet MP3 of Crazy In Love that Tom used to have which generally meant two songs down the line at The Chapel something would come out remarkably loud. Though at the Chapelit was often so quiet that everything was up to max by about 10pm.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:55 (twenty years ago)

Kate is totally OTM on that one - not criticising anyone in particular here, but it's annoying when you're on the dancefloor and DJs aren't aware of the sound difference between songs, and suddenly everything drops in volume at the start of a new song.

Not something I've really experienced at Poptimism, mind. Not since the Chapel Bar anyway.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:55 (twenty years ago)

According To Hari , Yngwie showed up at poptimism

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

It did get really actually uncomfortably loud later doors. In particular, Where's Me Jumper was way way too loud.

― RickyT (RickyT), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

oh dear, probably just as well we left when we did...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 10:23 (twenty years ago)

i'm sorry.

i was feeling rather deaf on friday, so possibly turned everything up a bit. i do agree about the lack of variation between dancefloor and bar area though. that was a touch annoying...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 10:42 (twenty years ago)

DJ's being "too loud" is my number one complaint about clubs. It's not a joke when you suffer from deafness.

lol

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:03 (twenty years ago)

eh?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:06 (twenty years ago)

I know you're "being funny", Ken, but have you ever heard of tinitus?

I mean, mostly the problem with my deafness is that I cannot filter out background noise. Which makes noisy situations like pubs and clubs a bit of a mare for me.

However, as deafness progresses, excessively loud noise can actually cause physical pain. Which means that I am starting to actively avoid any place that will trigger this.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:10 (twenty years ago)

Perhaps you could then continue to actively avoid any place which you know for a fact will play loud music, instead of going there and complaining about it afterwards.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 11:11 (twenty years ago)

If I go to a club night I do not expect to find pictures of Dido on the walls. So offensive!

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 12:21 (twenty years ago)

hand out earplugs on the door like they did at instal!

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

OK if Where's Me Jumper gets played way too loud at this club maybe I should actually go to it... of course that would mean actually going out. Perhaps not then. I've become such a hermit.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

tinnitus isn't deafness!!!!!!!

i thought you were "being funny" and i was acknowledging it!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

i know this music venue that is so loud that everyone actually wear earplugs.. it's kind of silly when you can just turn the sound down

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:42 (twenty years ago)

The backlash starts here! Actually it started a few days ago.

My trick vis a vis the sound leveling is to swop between the track being cued and the track I am about to play in the headphones. If they sound the same level there, they ought to be the same level on the floor. To do this I might have to whizz on to where a song has kicked in (the WMJ problem was when the Guitars came in, whichisn't for about a minute. Actually that wasn't the only WMJ problem, it is in itself a problem but...)

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

POPTIMISM SILENT DISCO!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 13:46 (twenty years ago)

Good grief, I wish you people would let this thread die and stop reminding me how much fun I missed/you had without me. :(

― JimD (JimD), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 23:35 (twenty years ago)

BUT YOU'RE IN NUDE YORK PULLING CHIX!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 23:49 (twenty years ago)

ooooh!

― Roxymuzak, Mrs. Carbohydrate (roxymuzak), Thursday, 20 October 2005 05:41 (twenty years ago)

Special bonus YSI for those who made it to the end:

http://s62.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1FA5FJA4M50003CX6XBZZXV4MH

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 20 October 2005 09:19 (twenty years ago)

ha, this still sounds amazing even when sober!

― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

I must know what that link is...

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

Let me know when you find out, OK? I have no sound on this machine.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

it is a cover version of "winds of change" by the scorpions in an [ahem] euro-bosh stylee.

i'd argue it's not quite as good as that sounds...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

it's not as good as the 'Life On Mars' one

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

anything with euro bosh on top would be alright.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:42 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

is there a poptimism in november? new venue?

― emsk ( emsk), Friday, 4 November 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

not likely to be anything this month - i don't think anyone has heard back from the venue yet. on the other hand i understand there are efforts being made to get something happening before xmas at another venue.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Friday, 4 November 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

i wouldn't advise holding your breath though ;)

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 7 November 2005 10:45 (twenty years ago)

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