Island Getaway’s 11th Annual Flag Party @ Primal Nightclub Downtown Atlanta

On the second night, Nevis, Paris, and I headed to a Caribbean flag party at a club in Atlanta’s downtown area called Primal. For those who don’t know what a flag party is, it is a party where all attendees are expected to bring the flag of their country, or countries of origin. In this case, you had to bring a Caribbean flag to get the discounted rates. The party was free before 12am, with a Caribbean flag, and more after (I didn’t try to find out the amount because I wasn’t planning to pay). Since my family is from the beautiful nature island of Caribbean, Dominica, I went to the party with a small handkerchief with the Dominican flag imprinted on it. Nevis and Paris also brought flags from their respective Caribbean countries.

On this night, once again we left a little bit late. It was past 11pm when we headed towards downtown Atlanta, with Nevis as our (designated) driver. As we pulled up to the club, we immediately noticed that there was a long line outside of the club. With less than 15 minutes to midnight, Nevis dropped me and Paris at the front of the club and went to look for parking. Looking at the line, it didn’t seem like we would get in for free. Living in New York, I had seen these scenes before at clubs. Promoters advertise free admission before a specific time (usually 11pm or 12am) and then when you get there, the bouncers hold up the line until past the designated time so that people in the line will have to pay the cover; and then when you get in the club, it is empty. Paris and I were hoping that we would get into the club before the Cinderella hour (midnight). And, as we walked past the line, our fairy godmother (or our fairy godfather) granted our wish. A guy standing near the front of the line stopped us and offered to let us cut the line and stand in front of him and his friend. Seeing that it was 10 minutes to midnight, we accepted his offer without hesitation and stood in front of him and his friend. Usually when a guy that you don’t know offers to do something for you---i.e., buy you a drink or let you cut in line---he expects something in return, either your attention, time, number, or something else (if they are nasty). Surprisingly, this guy just let us cut in front of him and didn’t say much to us other than “hello”. Five minutes later, we were inside of the club for free. We walked in and passed the female cashier sitting behind a small podium with a cash register on top of it. Next to her, there was a big black male bouncer standing next to a velvet rope that separated the entrance and cashier section from the club’s front room. Paris walked past him. As I tried to walk past him, he stopped me abruptly and gruffly asked me if I had a flag. I was in such a hurry to get into the club that I forgot that I had to show it to get free admission. I had my flag hanging off my belt loop on the back of my jeans. I turned around and showed him the Dominican flag hanging from my belt loop. He nodded at me and allowed me access to the club.

I joined Paris on the other side of the velvet rope and started surveying the space, since I was there to gather data for my research (I love ethnography. Don’t hate me. Hate the game. If you want to get paid to go clubs, go to grad school and become a sociologist). The club consisted of two rooms: a front room and a dance floor. The front room was small but big enough to fit about 50-60 people comfortably. It had two seating sections with long white leather couches and mini tables. The seating sections were facing each other. There were a few women sitting on the couches and chatting with each other as they waited for the dance floor to open. To the left of the couches, there were two separate unisex bathrooms. On the opposite end of the room, there was a small wraparound bar with a white male bartender behind it. There were few people at the bar ordering drinks as they also waited for access to the dance floor. Although there was a long line outside the club, there were very few people inside the club. There were probably about 30 people inside (which is not surprising since most clubs that offer free admission before a specific time will try to hold the line outside so very few people get in for free). Of these 30 or so people, most of them were women (again not a surprise).

As I looked around, Paris informed me that Nevis called her and told her he had found parking and was now waiting in the line, which had gotten longer since we left. We decided to sit down on the white couches that were near the velvet rope and wait for Nevis to get in. Ten minutes later, Nevis sent Paris a text message telling us that he had left the line to go to the liquor store across the street from the club and that he would meet us inside later. With that information, we decided to go to the bar, order drinks, and enter the dance floor, which had been opened while we were waiting for Nevis. The dance floor was located on the lower level of the club. To get there we had to descend several steps that were near the front room’s bar. The dance floor was in a large room with an elevated DJ booth at the far right corner and with a long bar along the back wall. There was an elevated dance area that went along the left wall to the DJ booth. As we were waiting for Nevis, more and more people had started to enter the club. There were about 70 people on the dance floor when we got there.

Since it was a flag party, there were Caribbean flags, big and small, all over the room. However, unlike Club 426, where the flags were hung around the club, the flags in Primal were on the people. People were holding, waving, and whipping the flags of their Caribbean country of origin. Interestingly, no one country seemed to dominate the room. There were flags representing countries across the Caribbean region: the US Virgin Islands, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Panama, Barbados, the Bahamas, St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Lucia, and Dominica (of course!) to name a few. Many times I have been to Caribbean parties in New York and Boston where one country seemed to dominate the entire party. Can you guess the country? (Just think of the first country that comes to your mind when you hear the word “Caribbean”. Yes, it is that country. The one with the puma sneakers and t-shirts.) So, I was happy to see a wide variety of Caribbean countries, especially the smaller islands, like mine, represented at the party. The music was pretty diverse too. The DJ played soca, reggae, dancehall, and hip-hop. Each musical genre got an equal amount of time, although as expected the music was predominantly Caribbean.

After about 20 minutes, Nevis finally joined us and he looked pretty pleased about his decision to go to the liquor store. As most people know, anything you buy at a bar or club is significantly more expensive than anything you buy at a store, and that includes drinks and food. Why bottles of liquor cost $200 to $300 in a club when they cost $20 to $30 at the liquor still bewilders me. He had decided to buy a small bottle of liquor and drink outside rather than buy drinks at the bar. It was a good idea in theory but not in practice. He ended up buying drinks at the bar. Drinks in a social setting sometimes can be like Pringles. You can’t just have one (LOL!).
Overall, the party was pretty good. Although it was a Thursday night, the club was full of people, the music was good, and people were having a good time. As the night progressed, more and more people poured into the club. By the end of the night, there were about 200 people in the club. People were generally dressed casually. There were no tiny black dresses or collared shirts at this party. People were wearing t-shirts, jeans, tanks, and shorts. The proper attire to jump, whine, dutty whine, and nuh linga (for those who don’t know, these are dances). Although there were 200 people in the club, there was plenty of room for people to dance and do what they felt like without bumping into other people. There were no fights or shouting matches, just good vibes. There were people from all walks of life just having a good time, from the pyts (pretty young thangs) looking to whine it up on the dance floor to the middle-aged couples enjoying a weeknight date to single men looking to dance with a few ladies and get some phone numbers (for some post-club activities). As the night progressed, I learned that Primal was not a Caribbean club. The DJ mentioned several times that this was the first time they had held a party at Primal and that people should take notice of the features of their new venue, such as its outdoor area, large dance floor, and two bar areas. Though it was not a Caribbean club, Primal hosted a good Caribbean party. Around 2am, the lights turned on, the music stopped playing, and we, along with the other Caribbean partygoers, filed out the club. As we were leaving the club, the DJ invited everyone to continue the party at Club Expose on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain. Looking to keep the good times going, Paris, Nevis, and I piled back into Nevis’ car and headed towards to the Stone Mountain. However, it seems the party gods didn’t want us to continue our partying on this Thursday night because we never made it to Club Expose. Despite having the aid of a GPS system, we couldn’t find the club. After turning around 3 times, we decided to call it a night and go home. My second day looking for Caribbean Atlanta ended.

One Love

The Hangover @ Club 426, Pt 2

What I found was very far from wack. Inside, there was a decent size room with a wrap-around bar to the left of the entrance. If you couldn’t tell you were in Caribbean club by the music, there were a string of Caribbean flags hanging above the bar. There was also an elevated DJ booth directly across from the entrance and a section with booths for people to sit and eat, directly to the left of the doors. The dance floor was a decent size, enough to fit at least 100 people comfortably. When we got there, there were about 50-60 people on the dance floor. The number increased to about 80-90 as the night progressed. So, it was not too crowded on the dance floor and it also was not so empty that you can see everyone there (I hate that). But, we weren’t really concerned about the dance scene at that moment. We were more focused on getting to the bar and making up our $20 cover in drinks. The bar was crowded as expected with an open bar. When we finally caught the attention of a bartender, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the entire bar was open, meaning top shelf liquors, like Grey Goose, Patron, and Hennessey, and any beer they had were all FREE. Heineken, Corona, Guinness. You want it? You got it. Nevis and Paris started off with the double drinks (a liquor drink and a beer). I, on the other hand, started off slowly with one liquor drink, since I didn’t eat dinner before I left the house. Luckily, they also sold (real) food in the club, and I am not talking about that skimpy bar food, like wings or french fries. They were selling plates of stew chicken, rice and peas, salad, and plantains (typical Caribbean dish) for $10 dollars. The food was so yummy, and the portion was so generous, that I had to save it for lunch the next day. Me belly was definitely full full, oui. Ok, this is a club so I can’t talk entirely about what I filled my belly with (if you can’t tell yet, I am real fat ass at heart. I used to steal chicken from my father’s plate when I was 2).
The scene was cool and laid back. People were dressed casually in jeans, shorts, and t-shirts and tanks. No fancy dress here. The entire night there were more men in the club than women, but it was not an uncomfortable gender imbalance. (If it was a sausage party, the night might have been a bad night for all kinds of obvious reasons). The crowd was for the most part black (I didn’t see any visibly white, Asian, or Hispanics and I didn’t expect to) and relatively young. People looked to be in their early 20s to early 30s. There, however, were a few exceptions. There was an old man with dreads that looked to be in his mid 40s that kept trying to dance with me. He smelled like Heineken and ganja. Oh, did I forget to say that people were smoking in this club? Coming from the northeast, I had gotten so used smoke-free places that I forgot people could still smoke in clubs. Now, I know what you are thinking: Caribbean club; Smoke; Ganja-smelling man. People must have been smoking weed in the club. Well, I can neither confirm nor deny that. I know I wasn’t smoking anything illegal and I will leave it at that. The music was good. The DJ played lots of soca (which made me happy) and mixed it up with dancehall, hip-hop, and some southern rap (this is ATL, shawty!!). Everybody seemed to be having a good time. People were dancing and singing along to music. There was no tension in the air and no violence. Every ting was irie irie!! Free drinks, good food, and great music! With all that going on, I met a few guys on the dance floor. Surprisingly (or not), I didn’t meet any native Atlantans. Most of the guys I spoke to you were from New York—the Bronx or Brooklyn. Even more surprising, I actually met a guy from Dominica (the land where my roots run deep). I rarely have random encounters with Dominicans (pronounced DOM-E-NEE-CANS, not the other way), especially not in clubs. I grew up in a Dominican community in Boston and barely saw other Dominicans outside planned events. So of course, he got my attention for more than the customary 5 minutes (but that is another story). By 3:00am, the club started to empty out (it was a Wednesday night). There were about 10 people, including the three of us, in the club when we left around 3:30am. Overall, it was a good night and a great introduction to Caribbean Atlanta.
One Love

The Hangover @ Club 426, Pt 1

Before I can even talk about my first encounter with Caribbean life in Atlanta, I have to point out that my friend Nevis---a fellow Afro-Caribbean who moved to Atlanta less than a year before for school---researched and selected all the Caribbean parties and events I would be attending with him and a few of his friends this Carnival weekend. For the most part, I didn’t even know where we were going until Nevis called and told me he was on his way to pick me up (this is very common for him and not my lack of interest in the places I go and the things I do).
This night—my first night in town—he told me that we would be going to a party at a club called 426, which is located on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain. Besides the fact that I wanted to see what a Caribbean party was like in Atlanta, I was excited about going to a club in Stone Mountain because I had heard from several people, including Nevis, that it was where most (if not all) the Caribbean clubs and restaurants were located. I was also a bit concerned about going to Stone Mountain because I was told by a few people that it was home to Atlanta’s KKK. Leave it to Caribbean folk to stroll right up into KKK central and set up shop. Crazy? Yes. Out of character? No. This disregard for white racism and racial barriers has been well documented in studies of Afro-Caribbeans in the US. Several studies have found that Afro-Caribbeans have been the first black families to move into several all white neighborhoods in New York, especially in Brooklyn (surprise surprise). So it is not a stretch for them to exhibit similar behavior in Atlanta, KKK or not. Ok, back to the story.
There were two main reasons why we were going to 426 that night: 1) it was free before 1am and 2) (the most important reason) it had an all night OPEN BAR!!!. I am not alcoholic, but I do love open bars. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like a good open bar. As a Bostonian turned New Yorker, I know how drinks can turn a simple not out into an expensive extravaganza. Also, as a grad student, I really can’t afford to burn my rent and food money on overpriced drinks. Thus, the idea of paying nothing for an open bar was very appealing. Unfortunately, we didn’t get there before 1am. Anybody that knows Atlanta knows that it is very spread out and you have to drive everywhere. By the time Nevis picked up me and our other partying partner, Paris—a fellow Afro-Caribbean student in Atlanta—and started driving to the club, it was obvious that we weren’t going to make it there before 1am. But, it really didn’t matter us because an open bar at any (reasonable) price is still worth a trip. A little after 1am, we arrived at the club. As we parked in the parking lot behind the club, Nevis pointed out to me 3 other Caribbean clubs that shared the parking lot with 426. I heard that the Caribbean clubs were in Stone Mountain, but I didn’t think they would be located all in the same spot, sharing the same parking lot. Anyways, as we walked through the parking lot, two men with heavy Caribbean accents handed us flyers for an upcoming Caribbean parties at other clubs. We took the flyers and walked towards a hole in the gate that separated the parking lot and the back of 426. Yes, I said hole. Again, I was not surprised. We walked through the hole and walked to the front of the club, which had a very short line. We found out at the door that the cover was $20. We paid the promoter outside and got yellow bands that read “See UR Pic @ Krushmore.com”. My heart started to beat a little faster as I opened the door and walked into the club. Is there an open bar to camouflage the wackness of the club? What would I find?