Recap: Michael Jackson dance party at Bourbon Street
Last week, Bourbon Street hosted a Michael Jackson tribute dance party.
When general manager Sam Chaney sent me a recap of the night, he didn't think I would publish it. He just wanted me to know how the night went. But I think Chaney's account of the night is well-written and worth reading. Check it out:
At first, I was worried that the night wouldn't be what I had hoped for. The staff had fun with it and wore gloves, hats, mirrored sun glasses, sequenced pants & socks.
But the vibe was off for the first half of the night.
Not many customers wore the glove, my dancers weren't there and we didn't play a lot of Michael (I had never met most of the dancers and didn't know what they planned to dance to so I didn't want to replay music) ...
At 11:30 p.m., the dancers showed, the room was full and people were starting to ask for Michael's music. Around 12:20, I took the stage with the dancers and had the DJ lower the music. I talked to the crowd for and minute then asked the crowd to raise their cups, saying there will never be a moment of silence for Michael at Bourbon Street -- instead we are raising our glasses and and having a moment of as much bleeping noise as we can.
It's never been so loud at Bourbon Street.
Next, we went into "Thriller." The dancers started a freestyle circle inspired by Michael's moves while I asked anyone in the crowd who knew Michael's moves and wanted to join in to come to the stage.
We did about a 25-minute medley from the Jackson 5 through all of his hits while AV Club mixed videos, live footage, Jackson 5 cartoons and moments of Michael's life. We ended it with one more moment of noise and went into various current music. The night ended on dirty Dianna mixed into "Man in the Mirror."
I don't mean to be so long-winded, but I am pretty excited with how the night turned out. More than 1,500 people had a great time -- without coming across cheesy or disrespectful.
(AP photo)
I've been The Baltimore Sun's nightlife and local entertainment reporter for a couple years, and it's surprising how much the scene has grown in that time. Most of Baltimore's bars and clubs are unpretentious places with fairly cheap drinks and plenty of character. I like dancing and think this city needs more clubs, but nothing beats having a cold, locally brewed beer with friends in a comfortably full corner bar.
Comments
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Posted by: dans | August 27, 2009 2:55 PM
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Posted by: RayRay | August 27, 2009 3:53 PM