For the past few week or so, I have felt something missing.
It feels like I have lost a part of me that I can never regain. And I couldn’t put my finger on WHAT it was. But whatever it was I was missing it terribly.
And then today in my car on the way to work, listening to the new Madonna single, it dawned on me.
I miss Manray!!
If you are not from the Boston area then you may never have heard of Manray. It was only the best nightclub on earth.
First of all , I have never been what you call a “nightclub girl”, and what I mean by that is I never went to nightclubs to meet/pick up guys (ew, do you even KNOW what kind of guys you meet at nightclubs? Ick). I went to dance with my girls. We would traipse out on the hottest summer night or the coldest winter’s evening and dance., dance, dance. In the immortal words of Dane Cook “Fuck the men, we just wanna DANCE”.
And let me tell you, there are few nightclubs in Boston where this notion is acceptable. I am not going to pay $20 to get into Avalon, $1o for a cocktail and spend the whole night having some guy trying to dance with my ass. Nor am I going to hang out with meatheads and girls in tube tops at the Roxy. Give me pop disco, give me fabulous gay men and drag queens, give me gin & tonics for $5 and give me the option of dance in a cage if that is how I want to spend my evening.
In short; GIVE ME MANRAY.
On Thursday was gay night and that was OUR night. Me, my girls and my gays would meet up at Jill’s get ready to Christina Aguilera en espanol dance remixes, and trek off into Cambridge wearing anything from boas to pleather skirts. And we OWNED that club. Michael (the front door man) would see us coming and usher us to the front of the line. We would enter, dump our coats, and descend into the “80s room” to shimmy and jump and DANCE to old school Madonna …or into the Big Room where Amber and Ultra Nate would be pumping and you could watch yourself dance in the mirror lined walls or grab a bench along the side and people watch.
In short: it was fabulous. And I miss it. I miss the cheap but strong drinks, I miss the hot male go-go dancers, I miss the fabulous pop dance remixes, I even miss the coked out drag queens in the bathroom. I miss it ALL
Today is Thursday and I would love nothing more than to gather my girls and gays and head off to Central Square for some good old fashioned ABBA dance-offs. But alas, that time has come and gone.
And I have heard on the street that Manray will rise again, like some fabulous glittering phoenix, and I cling to this hope, believe me.
So until then: tonight I will toast with a gin & tonic to my fallen nightclub, and hope one day to seeit again.
It feels like I have lost a part of me that I can never regain. And I couldn’t put my finger on WHAT it was. But whatever it was I was missing it terribly.
And then today in my car on the way to work, listening to the new Madonna single, it dawned on me.
I miss Manray!!
If you are not from the Boston area then you may never have heard of Manray. It was only the best nightclub on earth.
First of all , I have never been what you call a “nightclub girl”, and what I mean by that is I never went to nightclubs to meet/pick up guys (ew, do you even KNOW what kind of guys you meet at nightclubs? Ick). I went to dance with my girls. We would traipse out on the hottest summer night or the coldest winter’s evening and dance., dance, dance. In the immortal words of Dane Cook “Fuck the men, we just wanna DANCE”.
And let me tell you, there are few nightclubs in Boston where this notion is acceptable. I am not going to pay $20 to get into Avalon, $1o for a cocktail and spend the whole night having some guy trying to dance with my ass. Nor am I going to hang out with meatheads and girls in tube tops at the Roxy. Give me pop disco, give me fabulous gay men and drag queens, give me gin & tonics for $5 and give me the option of dance in a cage if that is how I want to spend my evening.
In short; GIVE ME MANRAY.
On Thursday was gay night and that was OUR night. Me, my girls and my gays would meet up at Jill’s get ready to Christina Aguilera en espanol dance remixes, and trek off into Cambridge wearing anything from boas to pleather skirts. And we OWNED that club. Michael (the front door man) would see us coming and usher us to the front of the line. We would enter, dump our coats, and descend into the “80s room” to shimmy and jump and DANCE to old school Madonna …or into the Big Room where Amber and Ultra Nate would be pumping and you could watch yourself dance in the mirror lined walls or grab a bench along the side and people watch.
In short: it was fabulous. And I miss it. I miss the cheap but strong drinks, I miss the hot male go-go dancers, I miss the fabulous pop dance remixes, I even miss the coked out drag queens in the bathroom. I miss it ALL
Today is Thursday and I would love nothing more than to gather my girls and gays and head off to Central Square for some good old fashioned ABBA dance-offs. But alas, that time has come and gone.
And I have heard on the street that Manray will rise again, like some fabulous glittering phoenix, and I cling to this hope, believe me.
So until then: tonight I will toast with a gin & tonic to my fallen nightclub, and hope one day to seeit again.
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9 comments:
why did it close?
i'm not sure. i have heard rumors of renovations (which would be good since it was somewhat of a death trap....albeit a FABULOUS death trap). i also heard they might open another kind of club there which would truly stink since Manray was so unique. we'll see what happens though!
We are friggin attached at the brain or something: I downloaded Ven Conmigo and Genio Atrapado LAST NIGHT.
Freaky.
i heard they were (gag) building condos. But it might interest you to know that 80s night (Manray's saturday) has moved to Toast in Somerville, with the same DJ and the same bartender, and I've heard that the Phoenix Landing might be taking up the torch on Wednesdays.
What I wanna know: where is fetish night going to pop back up?
hahaa!!!! Jill and i attempted to go to Fetish Night once...i even bought an entire outfit from freaking Allston Beat for the occasion....too bad we only lasted 10 minutes in there before we got so freaked out we had to leave. we are fun girls...but not quite THAT fun.
it's funny you bring this up because i walked by manray on wednesday night and i stopped to say that i missed it. i touched it's black walls. so sad. it closed july 30, 2005. also, they are building condos there. manray will just be a dream now. there was a giant fence around it and building permits. tonight we'll make a toast to the only club worth going to. cheers. <3 danielle
fuck condos!!!!! :-(
Toast, huh? my understanding of Toast is that it's mainly a lesbian bar - or maybe there are just certain nights the lesbians go and take over. i know my old roommate used to go all the time, and she was very attuned to all lesbian happenings within 30 odd miles.
wow, I haven't thought about Manray in a long time! Thanks for bringing back the memories...
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