Brown eyed girl

I looked it up, the above Van Morrison song was released in 1967. So Reidun, Notkate and I were all wrong.

The ghost of Nightclubs past

Further to conversation of last night:

Notkate, Reidun might like to have a look at this

Shopping poster. The Christmas eve referred to is 1998.

And a Shopping flyer

I wound up at shopping with a bunch of cohorts in the wee small hours of Jan 1 1999 after a party at Knife's flat in Karori. It was hot and sweaty. The humidity generated from a mass of people in a small space made the walls run with moisture, and eventually drip from the ceiling. This is the only time I have been in a nightclub that has generated its own rain. A mate and I took a breather outside, where some random guy took a photo of us sitting on a step, drenched with sweat and exuberance. I'd love to see it someday. Rather than take a photo, I took a poster.

Now, the story as I understand it was that shopping was occupying a space between leases, and was only temporary. This is reinforced by the dates on the flyer. Reidun reckoned it was around for longer. I'm figuring d3vo might know the truth.

My clubbing phase pretty much ended in the early '00s. I just kinda lost interest. I turned 20 in 1996. The night I turned 20 we went out on the town. I remember going to Planet (now the Sports Cafe) before midnight, and the bouncer letting me in as I would be twenty by the time I left. I liked Planet. It was a good warm up bar. It was never great, but it was never truly dire either. It had a good consistency.

The Reading complex was a carpark then. Where the frontage is now there was a wooden fence with a couple of piecarts. Kenny was still actually busking rather than existing off donations

I've been thinking of other bars that were around then that are gone now. Shooters was located where the Cue room is now. What is now Rain was occupied by The Big Easy (or the Big Sleazy) as it was more commonly known. The Opera was where The Establishment is now, and of course, the legendary Tatou (which no-one could agree on how to pronounce) was still providing the end of the night haven for the hardcore reveller. This particular night ended at around 5am at The Bull and Bear, after watching the All Blacks win a test series in South Africa for the first time.

Then it would have been off to the bakery for breakfast before going to bed.

I'll be off line for a few days while Fi takes the laptop to Auckland for a work conference. I'll talk about the vital role of the bakery in the come down when I return. As well as the cultish aspects of bakery visiting.