6 months ago I decided that I was going to stay in more. Working in the music and entertainment industry during the last 4 years, I found myself out 4-5 nights a week, hitting 2-3 clubs a night, and I was sick of it. Sick of the late nights, lack of rest, the chaos and unpredictability, the bullshit, the people, the same shit everywhere you go, the assholes, the club hoes, the alcohol, just sick of it all. Being away from it all I feel a lot healthier, well rested, and in tune spiritually again.
However, in my line of work its hard to stay away because the nightlife is part of the industry. Last week because of a large amount of artists releases, company events, and client projects I was forced to be out, and I didn’t like it one bit. Saturday night was the final straw.
My best friend/co-worker and I met up at Darkroom, a tolerable favorite of ours in this jaded state of our lives. It was around 12:15 am, Dj Fathom was spinning, the music was dope, there were lots of gorgeous women in attendance and it wasn’t uncomfortably crowded. Yet we were still bored, after hanging around for about 20 minutes and speaking with friends of ours who work there we left, and headed to Buddha Lounge. As usual it was crazy outside of Buddha, line down the block, and traffic at a stand-still. I pulled up in front of the club and spoke with a good friend of mine who bounces there, he offered to walk us in but we declined, we just weren’t interested. Just then the manager who’s also a good friend of ours walks out, she notices us and walks over to the vehicle and offers the same, again we decline. So we roll off to Ice Bar, to check out a friend of ours night as he’s a promoter. We get there, speak to people we know on the way in, go upstairs, mingle with friends for a bit, and then I bump into one of my ex’s. Nothing serious, I noticed her sexy ass dancing with some lame on the dance floor, interrupted them long enough to give her a hug, and process the thought “damn I wanna fuck you again” only to give her the look which coincided and step away. Minutes late my best friend and I left yet another venue.
Its now about 1:15 am and we’re driving over to Allure to check out our boy Artek who’s supposed to be spinning there. On the way we pass Dragon Room and think we see people going inside. Dragon Room sucks, it always has, i’ve always hated it, and we were shocked to think that people still went there, so we doubled back to find out. This ladies and gentlemen is where the shit hits the fan.
We roll past the front of the venue slow enough to see who’s who and what’s what. Just then we notice an old friend of ours who’s a bouncer, one that we haven’t seen in a while. He walks over to the vehicle and we embark on a brief conversation. Just then he shouts out “hey *Mark*(name changed for this post)” look who it is” A guy standing against the wall looks up and I instantly recognize him along with his name. I throw the car on hazards, put it in park and hop out as there’s no traffic on this small local street at the time. I run over to *Mark* and give him a huge hug. *Mark* was a great guy who worked in the industry as well, till he was diagnosed with Cancer and basically disappeared for 2 years while undergoing therapy. He used to work at one of the clubs I managed years ago, and we had become good friends. He’s just one of those genuinely good people, the type which you rarely find in life, and even more rarely find in this industry full of opportunists and assholes. So we are standing by the entrance catching up and Im not concerned about my vehicle because the Valet’s are watching it and there’s really no traffic.
Then suddenly, I hear the screeching of breaks and tires, I turn around toward the street and see the valets running for their lives and a huge white Dodge conversion van attempting to stop before it slams into the rear of my brand new Infiniti. Somehow he slows down enough to curve around the rear end of my car, but he doesn’t get enough clearance and his bumper as it sticks out a good 4 inches on the sides clips mine. His bumper falls off after scratching a good portion of my cars rear up, but he doesn’t stop. Instead he floors it through the intersection, my best friend takes off on foot after him, I hop in my car and speed down the block chasing him as well. By the time I cross the intersection I hear sirens and see blue and whites in my rear view. I think “damn that was fast, the cops are here already” then it dawns on me, thats why this guy was driving the way he was, he was running from the cops, and now Im in the middle of this chase. The guy apparently didn’t know the neighborhood as he drove straight into a gated residential area with one way in and one way out. We lost sight of him in the chaos but knew he had to be near. There were 3 squad cars and 2 vans full of cops now on the scene. The cops in the van got out and fanned out , the squad cars blocked the entrance and exit. My best friend and a bunch of cops went down a driveway on the edge of the community, I put my car in reverse and headed for the opposite end with cops running along side. We found the van and realized the guy or guys were on foot, I sped down the driveway in order to cut them off. As I reached the end my headlights illuminated him trying to hop a fence, then I hear the police shouting “Freeze! get on the ground man, get on the ground now!” as they approached him with guns drawn.
So much for a simple night out on the town.