Your disco needs you

Your disco needs you

Oh no! Where have all our venues gone?
The Flinders Hotel has been sold, with its GLBT future now in disarray. Then around the same time came news that upstairs at the Shift is being refurbed into a leather bar — a world away from the dynamic, throbbing clubland for which it’s internationally renowned.
Places like the Shift, the Albury, and the Exchange hold some awesome memories. In fact, I spent the night before my three-unit HSC music exam at the Shift. I somehow still managed to smash it, much to the delight of my animated music teacher — a portly, rosy-cheeked man who harboured a secret crush on the few boys in the class, me included.
But I’ll never forget my first timid steps into those venues. It was like I’d stumbled into some glamorous parallel universe — a flamboyant, secret world where the men looked like they’d made the quantum leap from the porn under my bed, and most of the women weren’t.
These were the places that forged a path to my destiny in the Emerald City. Camp, shimmering refuges where I beamed with joie de vivre and was free to be me — homespun jean-shorts and all.
Our venues need our support. As do the artists who provide entertainment. We can’t expect them to operate at a loss, rarely step foot in the joint and then bemoan their demise. They’re businesses. And they give back to the community.
What’s more, these places often become stomping grounds for punters to meet like-minded peeps, helping them to find their footing amid queer culture — Gen Y, tweens, and social butterflies alike.
With the closure of the Newtown, the inner west was also left almost entirely without its beloved pink pubs. Don’t even get me started on the Imperial! Although rumour has it Caesar’s is making a return — hurrah!
But please stop the bellyaching, get off Gaydar or dial-a-dick, and get involved. You never know, instead of loitering in chat rooms or browsing Avatars, you may even strike up a real conversation.
Stranger things have happened. And your disco needs you.

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4 responses to “Your disco needs you”

  1. I also found my way from high school to the Emerald City via the Exchange, the Shift, the Albury, the Unicorn, DCM, JBF, Gilligans, the Flinders, the Beresford and countless weekend dance parties. Back then, it was actually fun to be a part of family and have “all my sisters with me”! My best friend and I recently went out to celebrate our joint 39th birthday on Oxford St. And I can safely say, it’ll be the last time we go there ever again. From whoa to go, the night was peppered with exhorbitant entry prices, watered down drinks, venues crowed with young kids who have no idea about club etiquette or basic manners, and unsavoury yobbos prowling the street looking for people to pick fights with. We were refused entry into two venues because one of us was female, despite her years of support for the GLBT community. And to rub salt into every wound, most of the people who ruined our night were heterosexuals, be they bouncers, obnoxious people waiting in lines or driving past in cars yelling obscenities! What happened to the sense of community? Where did the fun go? Oxford St has been sold out to people who have no interest in the gay community, and who only seek to line their greedy pockets. I’m sad that a major part of my history is obviously now long gone, but what upsets me most is that young people coming out will not get to experience that sense of family and community that I was fortunate enough to be a part of, once upon a time. RIP Oxford St? Hardly. More like all gay things must come to an end!

  2. I agree we need to start support what few venues there are left before there is nothing but the straight rogue pubs and clubs who are all doing a roaring trade!! RIP Midnight Shift and The Flinders :-(

  3. I wonder which part Miss Cartier is saying is a true story ??

    It is correct patrons need to support venues instead of crying when they close when they do not even attend. Though I do hope by saying that most of the women werent in your anecdote that it was a good thing ?? Otherwise I enjoyed this column again, as I thought you could have been another lesbian hates