Your first time... Please do tell

[THECHAMPIONGENE]

The first time you went into a puink/new wave club that is. Where was it, what was it called,what you felt/experienced and how it changed your life.
Mine was Spize 1983 on Long Island, I was totally freaked out as I pulled up to the parking lot just seeing the colorful mix of people hanging out in the parking lot and before I even got inside I knew this was where I belonged. When I pulled in with my friend we got out and there were three girls next to us and they asked if we had any drugs, we both looked at each other and laughed, yeah we had drugs,so the got in our car and we partied, got out and the one girl was friends with the doorman so we got in free![;)]

[Retro_NRG]

Same year.. '83
The club: Paris New York
Lived literally around the corner and down the street from the place which beckoned me since I passed it almost every day (I really dug the wavy purple pink neon lettering work on the building's exterior).

The first time I strolled right in without even being carded (the doormen were very laid back and often waived the cover charge since I was a 'local')

I'll always remember the chain link around the DJ Booth and all the music & concert memorabilia plastered on the walls. The dance floor was pretty small but had an airy feel since there was a balcony off the 2nd floor lounge (which also had some neat neon lighting).

I was immediately struck by the Gothy crowd that frequented the place.
One vivid memory that comes to mind is that of two rather hefty goth gals dancing cheek to cheek to strains of 'Warm Leatherette' [:X]

Loved the playlists spun there by DJ Bird and Slave.
Recall my first time dances to some of my fave club trax such as: Blue Monday, Go!, Headhunter, Join In The Chant, The Lebanon, Two Hearts Beat As One, etc..

Oh, and many early morning after club stopovers at the Greek diner on the other side of Jericho Tpke! (my neighbors owned and ran that place BTW[;)])

<MARQUEE><h5>Moving @The Speed of Life</h5></MARQUEE>

[club80]

Mine was Malibu in Lido Beach in 1980. I was 17 that summer but had fake I.D. Well, it wasn't actually fake I.D. It was a friend's license. At the time, there were no pictures on NY licenses and no hair color either. The height and eye color matched though. It worked on the bouncers who were anything but casual.
Large place, large bar, large dance floor. It was pretty dark which was good. It also had a large stage for concerts of which they had many. I saw a lot of bands there over the years. Lene Lovich, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Classix Nouveaux, The Ramones, The Vapors, Gang Of Four, etc.
The D.J.'s had a great selection of punk and new wave. There were actually two bars, one of which was small and located on the west side of the club. Later on, they added a large back room and a third bar and started to be frequented by guidos, especially in that back room. I stopped going there then but it waqs great for the first few years.
I used to go to Spize a lot too. One of the D'J's, Paul, was a friend of mine. Paris was great too. I mostly went there on Tuesday and Thursdays. The Bondage Babies used to be the weekday D.J.s. The cool thing was that I could write the names of three songs on a napkin, hand it to one of them and they would play the songs within the hour, often back to back to back.
Do you guys remember Reds in Levittown? It was across from Spit. I used to go there a lot in 1983 and 1984. I met my wife there, as a matter of fact. It was great the first few years but they changed their name to La Cache in 1985 and they started t lean towards house music. The fun was over.Steve Jones of WLIR was the D.J. for about 10 weeks in 1983. He used to play some great punk and hardcore during that time and the floor became slam dancing heaven. I actually broke my nose to "Pay To Cum" by Bad Brains while he was there. He was axed because the owners felt that the floor had become too dangerous.

We didn't sell a lot of records, but somehow we left an impression.
-Johnny Ramone-

[marie3]

Spit in Levittown. I loved that place. It must have been late 82 or 83. I remember the goth girl who sat by the coat check. She was so different than anyone I had seen before and I thought she looked so cool. The music played was what I was hearing on WLIR. It didn't hurt that Spit was literally less then 5 minutes from my house. With a curfew I could leave the club minutes before I had to be home.

Club80, Reillygirl and I went to Malibu a couple of months ago and I took some pictures. If you want to see them let me know and I will send them to you. The place is a mess. But most of the neon paintings on the wall are in tact. It was very sad. Here's a couple of the pictures and they make the place look good:

<a href="http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/3eiram/?action=view¤t=2008_1018_135947AA.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/3eiram/2008_1018_135947AA.jpg" border="0" alt="Malibu"></a>

<a href="http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/3eiram/?action=view¤t=2008_1018_140344AA.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/3eiram/2008_1018_140344AA.jpg" border="0" alt="Malibu"></a>

[club80]

[quote][i]Originally posted by marie3[/i]
<br>

Club80, Reillygirl and I went to Malibu a couple of months ago and I took some pictures. If you want to see them let me know and I will send them to you. The place is a mess. But most of the neon paintings on the wall are in tact. It was very sad. Here's a couple of the pictures and they make the place look good:

[/quote]

Marie,
That would see so awesome of you!

We didn't sell a lot of records, but somehow we left an impression.
-Johnny Ramone-

[THECHAMPIONGENE]

I fucking loved Reds! Holy shit almost forgot about that one, I met a girl at Spize who lived near it and one night we went there, it was a great space but didnt last long.[:(]

[THECHAMPIONGENE]

Remember Jennifer the little blonde that made crepes in the back yard during the summer, ah good old days. I used to go to Paris alot but Dave no shave was so pissy when me and my boys would go there and put on our show on the dance floor,it used to piss him off so bad! He used to cry to Zhiel the owner "If you let those Champion Gene guys in I'm gonna quit! Boo hoo hoo, meanwhile dave had no clue we were selling the owners blow and getting them laid like crazy from all of our groupies that would follow us from club to club. Best night there ever was in '84 I was upstairs at Dee's bar (man she was a hot blonde, used to date Aldo Nova) and her friend Diane Lane is at the bar so we start talking and all of a sudden Diane says kiss me, so I started making out with her, turns out her ex was there as well and she wanted to piss him off! It worked.[;)]

[club80]

[quote][i]Originally posted by THECHAMPIONGENE[/i]
<br>Remember Jennifer the little blonde that made crepes in the back yard during the summer, ah good old days. I used to go to Paris alot but Dave no shave was so pissy when me and my boys would go there and put on our show on the dance floor,it used to piss him off so bad! He used to cry to Zhiel the owner "If you let those Champion Gene guys in I'm gonna quit! Boo hoo hoo, meanwhile dave had no clue we were selling the owners blow and getting them laid like crazy from all of our groupies that would follow us from club to club. Best night there ever was in '84 I was upstairs at Dee's bar (man she was a hot blonde, used to date Aldo Nova) and her friend Diane Lane is at the bar so we start talking and all of a sudden Diane says kiss me, so I started making out with her, turns out her ex was there as well and she wanted to piss him off! It worked.[;)]
[/quote]

I don't remember Jennifer but sounds like the booth thing was nicely played!

We didn't sell a lot of records, but somehow we left an impression.
-Johnny Ramone-