I come not to mourn the Lotus Sound Lounge but to praise it.
By this time this gets online, the longest running home of electronic music in the city of Vancouver will be no more. The Lotus Sound Lounge, a basement meat locker of a club with more history than clubbers have had hot meals, has been bought out by owners for whom change is apparent.
From my first trip to its grimy dance floor a decade ago, the Lotus was one of those eyes-down, no-frills, all-quality kind of joints that you find at least one of in every major city. It was to Vancouver what, say, a club like Plastic People is to London.
Mat Jonson, Tom Middleton, DJ Zinc, Rob Smith of Smith and Mighty, Goldie. The number of names I’ve seen there over the years astounds. It simply was the mecca for this city in a time when Granville Street and its strip mall entertainment mentality helped make Vancouver the No-Fun city.
Some of the best gigs I’ve played were there, but then again so were some of my worst. But it’s the memories and the joy that lasts. We do not mourn, we celebrate. Change is a constant, and we’re thankful for over a decade of service in a city where clubbers come and go.
The loss of the city’s most prominent lesbian bar, Lick, in the process, will also be a huge blow to the local GBLT community, and that’s a whole other story in itself. Nowhere else in the city has there been as much of a nurturing home and a community hub.
So, what’s next, Vancouver?