Shelf Space - Crying at the discotheque

Call it Studio 54 for the ’90s or murder with a bassline. Either way, former Village Voice reporter Frank Owen’s Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture (St. Martin’s Press) is the juicy result of more than five years of investigation about the behind-the-scenes illicit dealings of nightclub owner Peter Gatien.

Over the last 20 years, Gatien’s decadent clubs became meccas of counterculture music, fashion and a designer-drug craze. His empire consisted of many of the hottest clubs, including Atlanta’s defunct Limelight (located in the Disco Kroger shopping center) and the Palladium. But ultimately it was his New York club, the Tunnel, that earned him the attention of the New York DA’s office, which tried desperately to pin the burgeoning club drug trade squarely on Gatien’s shoulders.

If you rolled in the 1990s, chances are good your pill came through New York. Owen reports how the first massive ecstasy shipments were brought in by a Limelight employee to sell at Gatien’s parties. The book also details weeklong crack benders in swank Manhattan hotels, accounts of illegal DEA debauchery, and a frightening tale of the government’s quest to prosecute a man before it had a crime to charge him with.

Owen’s journalistic background forms a solid foundation for his literary style. Steering clear of faux eloquence, which often seems indicative of a reporter’s transition from newspaper to novel, his language is simple and direct. He also manages to avoid choking the manuscript with the dry facts-only voice that is so ingrained in the news. Whether describing the scene inside Gatien’s club on a particular night or the emotion of an individual being interviewed, Owen’s ability to put the reader in the scene without being overly dramatic would have you believe that every story in the book is a first-person account.

For ravers, club kids or hustlers, Clubland promises a vivid flashback to a nightlife that no longer exists. But Jerry Falwell fans or regular viewers of the “700 Club” might consider alternate summer reading.

Shelf Space is a weekly column on books and Atlanta’s literary scene.