Ask Saro

Yesterday night I went out to celebrate my birthday. A friend of mine invited me to go to club Moomba, so I agreed to join her (since I had nothing else planned). I got into the line at about 11:45 PM and waited for about 40 minutes until I decided to leave and meet up with another friend (I was too impatient to wait in line for any longer). I wasn’t really in the mood to go clubbing anyway, so I just left, even though another 15 minutes could’ve gotten me inside. I met up with Raf at Foufounes Electriques for some cheap beers and it was probably the best choice. Since it was Daylight Savings Time today, we managed to benefit another hour of drinks. It was nearing 3 AM now, so Raf and his friends had to leave (Raf worked the next day). I was really loaded at the time and I was so hellbent on going to an after-hours that I just did that. It had been over a year since I last went to Stereo, and since it was close-by, I walked to it from Foufs. Cover was 40.00$ as Derrick L. Carter was playing as the main attraction. I quickly tried to recall who he was and if he was any good, but I didn’t care really. Fourty dollars on the table, I was walking into Stereo afterhours. Remarkably, there were a few people inside already dancing away. I picked up a can of Red Bull from the bar and started chugging it down. Within minutes, I was on the floor dancing to some wonderful house music. Man, it had been a while! Stereo hasn’t changed much (and so hasn’t the clientele) and that’s a good thing. I would have to say that Stereo is a one-of-a-kind place: the people, the music, the staff and the overall vibe is amazing. You don’t need the drugs to enjoy it either. I was sobering up fairly quickly at the time, but with the caffeine kicking in, I managed to last until 6 AM when I decided to call it quits for the night. Overall, I had a great night at Stereo, and I’m considering going back there every weekend or two for the experience.

There’s a small bar in downtown Montreal that I like to frequent every so often with my friends, it’s called “Vol de Nuit”, situated at the corner of Prince Arthur and St-Laurent street (next to the Scotia Bank). I was there recently and noticed a decrease in clientèle. While I prefer nights when it’s not as packed, I felt bad for the waitresses who live off the amount of tips they make every night. With that said, here’s a review of the place for everyone’s pleasure.

First thing you’ll notice is that there is no flashy sign outside (just a small neon saying “Vol de Nuit”) the place is pretty low-key and secluded from St-Laurent. A lot of people seem to miss it when they walk by it, but the place still gets quite a bit of traffic. I think a lot of their clientèle is word of mouth. I only knew about this place after my friend Alex brought me there one night. In return, I brought my other group of friends there and we’ve found it to be quite an enjoyable spot for having a drink or two.

Once inside, you’re usually greeted by the bouncer (who happens to change every time I’m there) who nods firmly and says hello. You should obviously return the greet and smile at the same time. Vol de Nuit isn’t a big place, but it can easily pack 100 people from what I can estimate. You’ll find a decent amount of tables and chairs for all your friends to sit. Of course, when it gets packed, you’ll have to either stand at the bar or simply drink standing up (which I oh-so-despise doing). But every time I’ve been there, I’ve been lucky to find a table and some chairs with my buddies.

On one side of the room, there is a jukebox machine loaded with music. For 50 cents or so, you get to choose a song to play over the loudspeakers in the bar. I find it’s a great addition to the place. Fortunately, the songs aren’t blasted in your ears so having a conversation between your friends without screaming and listening to the song is very possible. This type of atmosphere is usually very hard to find in many bars these days, as they usually turn up the music so loudly that your conversations are washed out.

In one corner of the place, there’s a slew of video lottery terminals (VLTs) with keno and some card games. A few of my buddies are junkies when it comes to these machines, and they play on them each time we go there.

The place is decently clean but one must remember that this is a bar. The washrooms aren’t the greatest but they’re better than other places I’ve been to. One thing I’ve noticed is that the soap dispensers actually dispense soap. A rare find indeed.

To conclude this review, I give Vol the Nuit an 8/10. I just wish the place was a little bigger and that parking downtown wasn’t such a chore (good luck finding a spot nearby!). But the latter is not the bar’s fault, so this is a great place nonetheless for some weekend fun with your friends.

I was at Circus Afterhours this Thursday to see my friend Wiktor (aka Viktor Destin) spin. He entered a contest run by the owner of the nightclub and was in the quarter finals. Since I’m a big fan of Wiktor’s music, I decided to participate and support his gig. I was in the line-up at Circus at around 2 AM and waited till 2:45 AM. Since I was on the guest list thanks to my friend, I didn’t pay any cover charge (I got in for free!). Last time I was at Circus must’ve been at least 3 years ago and not much has changed from what I can recall.

Anyway, once in, I met up with Wiktor and a few of the Tranceaddict guys and pretty much listened to house music the whole night while drinking vodka (sneaked in!) with energy drinks (crappy Base, no Rockstars). I was having a pretty good time and got to see a lot of talent play, such as Blake, Driss and Allied Nations. Finally, at about 6 AM, Wiktor was up to spin. He took over the decks and for the 45 minutes I was there, he delivered some sick tracks. He knows how to build up his sets and it really shows. From what I heard that morning, Wiktor definitely has his stuff together and it wouldn’t surprise me if he wins this contest. The club definitely could use his energetic style.

At about 7 AM I had to leave since I was dead tired and had to go to work the next day (but luckily it snowed in so I didn’t go to work). If I had known that I wasn’t going to work that day, I would have stayed longer till the place closed down, but I don’t know how I would manage to stay up longer!