bordertown nightlife
From The Tough Guide to Bordertown
So you've heard all about the Border Arts scene and you want to know where the action is. Well, there's plenty of pricey kul-cha uptown (the Border Ballet, the Elfhaeme Opera, the Art Museum on the Promenade)—but you'll soon discover that uptown arts are surprisingly conservative for a frontier town like ours. Segregated into elfin and human traditions, they're not really all that different from mainstream art in the Realm and in the World.
Down here in Soho, however, we have our own Border art scene full of human-elfin hybrids that mix the two traditions in weird and wonderful ways. Music, theater, visual art, dance—downtown is where it's happening.
Music:
Music is what Bordertown is famous for, and whatever it is you want, you'll probably find it. Rock-and-roll, folk, punk, jazz, gypsy, salsa, rap, elfin trance, faerie chant, primordial drone—or bizarre combinations of them all. Soho exists for music, and the clubs are hoppin' most nights of the week.The Dancing Ferret (Carnival Street) is the oldest club in Soho; Danceland (Ho and Third) is the biggest and the loudest; and The Wheat Sheaf (far east Ho) is the best of the Big Three if you judge by quality of music alone. You'll also want to try Sluggo's (Green Lady Lane), Roma (Ho and Eighth), and The Grand Conjunction (Carnival Street), if only so you can say you've been.
As for the others: there are just too many good clubs and too many good Border bands for us to list—so pick up a copy of the free Mad River Weekly and check out the Music listings at the back. Or just strap on your fairy wings and head for Ho and Carnival on any Saturday night.
Dance:
In addition to the infamous Horn Dance, there are several good dance troupes that make their home here on the Border. Danceland now features dance concerts in their main room every Sunday night—ranging from traditional elfin court dancing (Puck's Consort is the best of these companies) to human-elfin modern dance (check out Ruby Slipper for their fabulous masks, and Kannagi for their ghostly, butoh-inspired moves) to the bizarre-but-brilliant "glam dance" groups that are suddenly hot, hot, hot (imagine a cross between slam dancing and salsa, enlivened by illusion spells).A few other companies of note: Rooftop Ballet schedules performances on various roofs around the neighborhood; they are dazzling and frightening to watch. Cat People, that quasi-animistic troupe, tends to appear whenever the streets are foggy. Part ritual, part performance, their work ranges from utterly magical to chilling—and they seem to take particular delight in freaking out the tourists. For African dance, the group squatting in the old warehouse behind Carmine Street Drums will resume their usual schedule of classes and performances once the flood damage has been repaired.
Theater:
Even the critics uptown admit that Soho's notorious Squatters Theater has trained some of the very best actors working on both sides of the Border. This unique downtown phenomenon consists of interlinked thespian groups who live together, devise, and stage their shows in a variety abandoned building sites—running performances until either the building, or the group dynamics, collapse around them. You'll find everything from elfin interpretations of Shakespeare (pretty hilarious) to original works by young Border authors. At its best, Squatters Theater is as wildly inventive as a three-ring circus; at its worst, it's so outrageously bad that it still has value as slapstick or farce. For show listings, check the blackboard at Cafe Cubana, where (thanks to Screaming Lord Neville's love of drama) they are always up to date.Also of note: Changeling Theater, on Water Street, has been making a name for itself with ambitious, innovative shows intended for both children and adults. The actors are promising, the space is good, the staging is stronger than you'd expect and their ticket prices are still low, low, low, so catch them while you can.
Cinema:
All right, you know the deal: cameras rarely work in Bordertown, and ditto for film or videos of any kind. But believe it or not, we actually have a cinema here in Soho: The Magic Lantern. Yes, this is completely loony. Half the time the films won't play at all—but this problem has been solved in classic Border fashion. The cinema employs a troupe of actors to continue acting out the story whenever the film gives out or the electricity fails. The actors are clever, the live performances are witty, and some of us now prefer them (we must admit) to the actual films.Art:
In visual arts, the dead center of the Border arts scene is currently the Robin Pearl Gallery at 3 Mock Avenue (formerly the Guiterrez Gallery), which is unrivaled for its mix of established Soho artists and up-and-comers both human and fey. There aren't many downtown artists who wouldn't sell their own mothers for a show in this space.If what you want is the raw cutting-edge of Soho art, then Carmine Street is where it's happening now, with galleries and studios springing up like mushrooms after the rain. We particularly recommend The Bordertown I.C.A, the "Underage Arts Collective" at The Corner Market, the kinetic sculptures in the old Gap storefront, and (if you're feeling brave) the weekly installations at House of Foof.
Spoken Word:
The Bards organize the best storytelling events to be found on this side of the Border. Formal performances are generally announced at the Poop and on flyers posted around the neighborhood, but you can find a Bard circle most nights of the week. Ask at the Poop, or at any of the Digger Houses, for each night's location.For poetry, the slams at Cafe Tremolo (on Friday nights) are currently the hottest gigs in town, but scheduled readings at the Wheat Sheaf (every Tuesday) and the Open Mike at the Hard Luck Café (the last Thursday of every month) have their loyal followings. For spotting up-and-coming talent, the irregularly-held fiction and poetry readings at Art & Lies are getting a lot of buzz, and they do interesting combinations of music and spoken word that may start a whole new trend. Elvish rants and poetry challenges are sponsored by the Birch Street Press—held during the dark of the moon in the back room of the Birch Street Bar and Grill (expect a fairly drunken crowd).
For other literary activities (reading groups, writing groups, basic literacy tutorials), check the bulletin boards at Elsewhere Books and the University Without Floors.