The rave that wasn’t.

I’ve gotta get something off my chest, dear readers. I’m guilty. It’s true. But I was panicking—the guy was trying to force me to buy tickets to Amy Grant’s Christmas Ball, and I didn’t want to go to Amy Grant’s Christmas Ball . . . so, of course I had to kill him.

When it was over, your humble knob-nosed correspondent wiped off the blood and surveyed the city. What he noticed was battle fatigue in clubland. What with all the Noise Ordinance nonsense, you can see how music lovers might be a little exhausted. Nobody wants to linger long after midnight, it seems. On Friday at the Crocodile, sizable numbers headed for the exits after Juno’s excellent set, not bothering to stick around for headliner Pedro the Lion. The Gnome counts himself among the evacuees—I had to go home to fill out my absentee ballot and watch the five-millionth repeat of Legends: David Bowie on VH-1.

The rave crowd, on the other hand, has no trouble staying awake past midnight. They’ve got other problems, as Saturday’s cancellation of Freak Night III proved. Originally planned for a warehouse on Marginal Way, the event was plagued with permit problems from the get-go, resulting in a last-minute re-scheduling of whichever DJs were scrupulous enough to stick around. The over-21 binkie-suckers crowded into ARO.space at 2:30am to hear a bouncy house set from the ever-classy Josh Wink. The no longer dreadlocked but still vegetarian DJ even lured a few costumed “crash victims” from the earlier crash-themed Halloween party to hang out awhile on the dance floor. Meanwhile, the Moonshine crew—Carl Cox, DJ Dan, etc., etc.—reportedly took one look at their venue, the after-hours 18-and-up club Super Highway, pronounced it “too ghetto,” and walked, leaving scads of disappointed kids in furry pants outside. I guess that’s what you get for grooving to Cirrus. . . .

Finally, this week, the Gnome gets a(nother) big ol’ lump in his throat when he hears about rock ‘n’ roll kidlets, so this week his neck’s been really bumpy. Congrats to current Congratulator and Young Fresh Fellow Jim Sangster, who is soon to be a dad, and to the Fastbacks’ Lulu Gargiulo, soon to be a mom—no, not of the same kid, smart asses! Is it something in the water? You betcha!


You can reach the Metro Gnome at metrognome@seattleweekly.com