Much as I enjoy the Vogue, it does have one definite downside — there is very little ventilation in the club, so it gets incredibly hot on summer nights. Thankfully, the Vogue has a fairly relaxed dress code, so it’s not at all uncommon for people to lose articles of clothing as the night goes on (so maybe it’s not that much of a downside after all…). When this happens, it’s not at all uncommon to get some odd looks from the “straights” (non-regulars) that are at the club, as in many normal clubs, you’d get kicked out for doffing your shirt midway through the night, so getting the occasional surprised look or getting pointed at is something that I’m fairly used to.
Tonight, I’d taken my shirt off during one of the songs, and once the song was done went outside to get a breath of air. As I walked out, I noticed a couple girls out of the corner of my eye, one of whom was doing a fairly obvious “oh-there-he-is-look-wait-don’t-make-it-obvious” motion to her friend. Being used to this, and rather amused that I’d caught her, I turned around with a grin and told them, “Oh, go ahead and point, it’s okay.”
What I wasn’t expecting was to have the girl laugh, then say, “No, no, wait — you’re from Alaska, right?”
“Um…yeah…”
“You’re DJ Woody, aren’t you? From Gig’s? And that little place up above Chuck-E-Cheese?”
“Holy shit! Yes!”
“I knew it! I told you it was him! We used to go see you spin at Gig’s when we were 14 and 15!”
Just incredible. Shannon and (oh, lord, I hate being brainless…Jen?) had been club kids back in Anchorage when I was working at Gig’s, and then later at the Eclipse. They’d seen me dancing and thought they recognized me, but since I’ve shaved my head since they’d seen me last, they weren’t sure. It wasn’t until I went outside without my shirt and they saw my tattoo that they were fairly sure, and Jen tried to point me out to Shannon. Apparently they’re both fairly recent escapees (Jen’s been here for about five months, Shannon for about one), and are living down in Tacoma.
Too freaking cool. We spent a good amount of time talking outside the club and catching up, I met their friends Kate and (again…Beth?), and then once the club closed, they headed off for breakfast and I came home. They said they should be back at the Vogue at some point, though, so I should get a chance to run into them again. All sorts of cool.
I love it when stuff like this happens.
Wudi, for years we called Anchorage “Little Seattle” and now you know why. The two cities are joined at the hip. Events like this will happen on a regular basis.
A neat story. Berta and I never made it to Gigs, but we did come to watch you d.j. above CEC’s.