I miss the Jazz Club too, however, I use to attend every weekend for their last 2 years in existence and never once have I seen a packed house. Now, I stop by Raglan Road every weekend for a pint of Guinness and the place is always packed. So, from a business point of view, Disney made the right choice for change. I only wish that you could leave the Raglan Road premises with Guinness in hand, but its not allowed, a minor inconvenience.
I like live bands, but I do prefer band performances on an outside stage as oppose to inside a club. It just seems to create a more festive, atmosphere. Young, old, and in between sort of come together in spontaneous harmony.
I like the stilt-walkers, I think they are entertaining - they try to liven up a rather dead thoroughfare - and they do a decent job.
The "Go Go" girls in and out of 8 Trax are ok - nice to look at - but I'm not too impressed by their dancing. I'd rather watch someone do the "robot" like the silver-clad Chad Smith in the Bank of America TV commercial.
The DJ Booth can be fun. I like the female DJ, she likes to interact with the passing crowd and seems to encourage spontaneous dancing among the passer-bys. Some of the regular, weekly passer-bys can dance quite good and thats always entertaining to watch along with a circle of onlookers. There is one other male DJ in the booth that is good too - forgot his name.
I think once those store vacancies are filled, it will also liven up the thoroughfare.
I like it when the BET Soundstage has a DJ outside in the patio area. It's nice to breakaway from the crowd inside and get a breath of fresh air but still maintain the dancing groove.
The Hula Hoops are ok I guess, but not for me - I'll just watch.
I wish they had a blues band once in a while - I know, HOB is just a few blocks away.
Do many people use that "water taxi" over where that center stage use to be? I really haven't seen too much activity there. Maybe its used more during the daytime.
Mannequins is a good place to listen and dance to electronica music. However, they really should think about hiring some guest DJs every now and then - like DJ Baby Anne or DJ Icey or DJ Fiddler - there are many good ones to choose from. I never really cared for those posers dressed in little mirrors that pose in different positions on that narrow balcony above the dance floor - not very exciting or entertaining at all. The gush of steam always gets every one a little excited though.
8 Trax is my favorite club - I think they should expand it to accommodate the ever-growing crowd. I think they should show less trivia on video screen and more dance videos, especially those old classic Soul Train Line dance videos. I don't like the Village People, but many do, so thats when I head for the head.
Motions is a good club too. It has some friendly bartenders. Sometimes that female DJ I talked about earlier is there DJ-ing which is good. I like those regular, weekly dancers there that hang by the stage - they often have some spontaneous dancing routines and put on a little show - thats cool - crowd participation is good.
OK, I'm done for now.
