New Wave is Alive and Well – Late Bar, Chicago USA (Feb 9 2013)

What a fantastic experience it was attending an ALL New Wave Night Club, as featured every first Saturday of the month at Late Bar, in Chicago while on company business.  I was there specifically to check out a work colleague, Tarsis Lopez, who was the opening DJ for this popular New Wave event. 

The Late Bar is well situated in a central Chicago neighborhood, and a select group of Tarsis guests were escorted to a private table at the front of the dance floor and large video screen.  The bar itself was oddly shaped; reasonable space at the entrance, then a rather narrow passageway  through the bar on one side and washrooms on the other, opening up to a spacious rectangular dance area.  This point will make sense later.

We arrived at 10:20pm, just into Tarsis’ varied selection of lesser known New Wave songs, as featured on his regular podcasts on www.AlternativeClassix.blogs.com.  His DJ gig this night ran from 10pm-12:30am, then handing it over to seasoned DJ  Dave Roberts  with his more recognizable hits during his Planet Earth set until 5am into the morning (not the reason for name ‘Late Bar’,  but rather the B-side for Duran Duran debut single ‘Planet Earth’). 

The difference with the DJ Tarsis set are the original videos to accompany the eclectic range of alternative classix music.  Almost feels like one is in the comfort of home watching early MTV videos. Tarsis not only selects captivating less known songs, but even recognizable ones are enhanced by long forgotten ground-breaking videos (for that time!). I don't recall any other night clubs that pack this potent 1-2 sight and sound punch!

Over the course of the night, the crowd began to swell and dance to the original videos accompanying Tarsis’ interesting song selections.   Distinct personalities began to emerge as we approached midnight.  Goth Androgyny meets Wall Street Boomer, Rockabilly boy serenading Mohawk Punker babe, with Fifties bobbysoxer dancing by her lonesome. 

I felt like an interloper into a secret underground society.  Who were these characters and where did they come from?  Age was not an issue.  Older and younger were both singing/bopping to the same tunes. For some (the several that had obviously been around for the original first punk / new wave explosion in late 70s) it was as though Punk/New Wave had never gone away, and they got their weekly nostalgic fix here.  For others (born too late, but likely introduced by older siblings or hip parents!), it was imagining a thrilling, creative, chaotic and rebellious time past, in a safe and fun setting.

Highlights of the Tarsis set were Magazine’s ‘the Light Pours out of Me’ (Wall Street Boomer favorite and excited that I too loved his song), Blancmange’s ‘Living On the Ceiling’ (ATTACHED video of Middle East setting is stunning) and a personal request, the Undertones ‘True Confessions’, in which I ran in circles around Goth Andro (as good a song as anything by the Ramones, in my humble opinion).

Vee-Jay  Tarsis Lopez  - Set Listing

The Cure - 10:15 Saturday Night
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts
Duran Duran - New Religion
Electronic - Disappointed
Human League - Night People
Tracy Thorn - It's All True
Soft Cell – Bedsitter

Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling
Magazine - The Light Pours Out of Me
X-Ray Spex - Identity

Undertones – True Confessions
Icehouse – Icehouse

Bryan Ferry - Limbo
Tones on Tail - Performance

New Order - Everything's Gone Green

Erasure - Chains of Love

Eurythmics - Love Is A Stranger

Adam Ant - Ant Rap

Stone Roses - Fools Gold

Charlatans UK - The Only One I Know

Blur - Boys and Girls

                 

Enjoying the Eurythmics video                (L-R) Trish Troumpoucis, Christy Nolan, Tarsis Lopez

 (Laura Grossman in background)

The DJ Roberts set began after midnight, and I discovered a fresh, modern song  ‘Photographic’ from Depeche Mode’s debut LP.  I was on the dancefloor with Tarsis work colleagues, and Trish knew the all the lyrics by heart, punctuated by the catchy refrain:

I take pictures
Photographic pictures

Bright light, dark room
Bright light, dark room

We were just getting into a groove; shouting, jumping and fist pumping to Depeche Mode and New Order’s ‘Temptation’:

Oh, you've got green eyes
Oh, you've got blue eyes
Oh, you've got grey eyes
And I've never seen anyone quite like you before

Up, down, turn around
Please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone
I'll find my soul as I go home

 Then I was told by the Late Bar Manager that I needed to stop jumping around as I had received complaints from others on the dancefloor , and that I posed a threat.  REALLY, a 53 year old Canadian out-of-shape guy was a threat to 20 and 30 something wannabes???   I was insulted!!!  I lived that exciting late 70s era before the majority of these poseurs were even born.  I perfected pogo dancing in my day.  LOL!!! 

When I finally calmed down, I realized the layout of Late Bar, with its narrow access posed a huge fire security risk.  This was on the heels of the devastating nightclub fire in Brazil.   OK, I got it.  This wasn’t personal after all.  But my night was done at this point.  I waited for Tarsis and followed him out of bar as Talking Heads ‘Life During Wartime’ was playing;

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
This ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,
I ain't got time for that now

An ironic but fitting end to a spectacular evening of fantastic New Wave music in Chicago!!!

Post – Script:  A Late Bar waiter was inquiring from Tarsis about the guy who had been jumping around the dancefloor.  His comment was that he had not seen such a high energy level at the bar in a long time!