Redeye - Double Vision July 21 2005
In 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman synthesized LSD and, ingesting it himself, became the first person to experience an acid trip as he rode his bicycle home from his lab. Ever since then, folklore suggests that Hoffman's bicycle absorbed
The Vision I checked out Thurs., July 14, is the diametric opposite of the one pre-renovations. While the structural elements aren't drastically altered, the decor couldn't be any more divergent from the formerly minimalist white-on-white cut-from-South Beach scheme. Did a crayon factory explode in this place? There isn't a square inch lacking texture or tone - from the custom slate floors and mod chic facades to embossed plastics and intelligent lighting. You're inundated with such a constant barrage of stimulation that even the most mammoth of the 27,000-square-foot club's six spaces seems intimate. And propers must be extended to Patti Krohngold, Dewayne Walters, Nigel Ingelton and Michael Gidewon - the team heading conception and installation.
As if Alice's Wonderland was encapsulated, Vision is a toy box of hypersaturated color. Who needs a rabbit hole or looking glass when you've got a lustrous LED-encrusted entranceway, chandeliers, rims of plasma televisions and liquid nitrogen effects? And with Destiny's Child, Usher, Mary J. Blige, T.I. and a host of other celebs in the house Friday, traffic was tight. It was uncomfortable like the back of a Volkswagen, if you know what I mean.
Now all the buzz is how radio sponsorships and audiences will be distributed throughout other mega-venues. Fridays at Vision are a lock for hip-hop, so hip-hop hurray. And with Q100 (whose Mike B "graces" the decks at Compound) embedded on Saturday nights at Vision, Compound is debuting a Saturday collaboration between In Like Flynn, Surface and Five AM Music. Oh, and rumor has it that a well-known out-of-town club brand is eyeing a move into the market. I can't say whom, but I can hint that it's someone to crow about.
Unfortunately, this weekend's madly packed club traffic is going to result in some unforeseen renovations for Bazzaar (who, on a high note, hosted an excellent twofer of funky tech-house and dark, driving tribal from emerging DJs DVA and VanCronkhite on Thursday). Early in the evening on Sat., July 16, a driver decided the club needed some aeration and plowed through the intersection and a window facing Ponce de Leon Avenue. Luckily, no one felt the pain but the pane.
On Thursday after checking out Bazzaar, I headed to Underground Atlanta to preview the new Sub:Merge Thursday weekly at the Future. Thrown by Preston Craig of the Decatur Social Club parties at Azul in Decatur, Sub:Merge features DJs such as Gnosis spinning the hawt indie pawp while cult movie clips offset the Geiger-esque murals. Read www.pitchforkmedia.com or www.kissatlanta.com to peep hints at possible playlists, and pack your Parliaments.
After checking out the Future, however, I suddenly had a hankering for the past. So off to the Masquerade I went to hear some of that old wave. And boy, was I delighted to see the dancefloor packed and poppin' off the Electric Slide as Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" played. I'd hate to think corsets only get oiled and overstuffed for the Future on Friday or Saturday.
So what's been going on in the business arena of clubland? Well, Django Gypsy Kitchen & Saloon recently celebrated one year of simmering in Atlanta's tough club climate. Applause, please. And Satellite Records, supplying DJs with 12 inches of musical Viagra far before the Internet and its herbal remedies, is now under the independent local ownership of Brett Abramson. Finally, longtime fixture DJ Keiran is opening a restaurant/bar named P'cheen (Gaelic for "moonshine," but don't mistake it for an Irish pub). We can't tell you where yet, but think unpretentious neighborhood style with internationally informed soul. It may sound funny, but sometimes a little funk on your weekend plate don't hurt.