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Page 10 Sunday, August 5, 1984
The Nectarine
By Deborah Lewis
W HAT DOES the Nectarine
Ballroom have that Second
Chance didn't? Valet parking,
bathroom attendants, a coat check,
spinning strobe lights, and exorbitantly
high prices. Neither club offers much
for the rank and file of the student
population - Second Chance was too
heavy metal, boasting the guitar-gut
whimsies of Mariner, and ferocious
bouncers. The Nectarine Ballroom is
too expensive, and makes it quite clear
that it prefers the young professional
patron over the struggling student.
Last Thursday night, the Ballroom
finally opened after overshooting its
pre-art fair completion date. Special
preview tickets were awarded to the
press and assorted local notables;
tickets which described the dress as
"Glad rags" and the champagne and
hors d'oeuvres as complementary.
These perquisites are expected of any
newly opened establishment. What isn't
expected is valet parking, a coat check,
and three different types of cheap per-
fume in the ladies room. This club not
only caters to the bourgeois but it
promotes a middle class attitude. There
might as well be a sign beneath the'
Nectarine Ballroom sign reading,
"Students not welcome."
The waitpeople, mostly students who
hope that the average Yuppie patron,
will impress a date with a hefty tip, are
working on a trial basis. Needless to' Skirts swirl and fingers snap in an atmosphere of
say, Thursday's guests were never Ballroom Thursday night.
without a smile and a fresh glass of
champagne in hand. Every tuxedo was well pressed, and every nectarine- vatory rest
colored tie as crisp as a prom date's. creates a m
The physical details of the interior to which pa
7 HAl RCUTTERS design are the most interesting features chatter. Out
of the Ballroom. The style is sleek and peted bench
" NO WAITING reflective surfaces abound. A spectrum beams of pi
of lights strobe, swirl, and flash from light. The ba
DASCOLA STYLISTS above, casting circular shadows onto ture carries
the wooden dance floor, accented by Chance, how
Liberty off State-...... 668-9329 shadows cast by well-manicured style chang
Maple Village - 761-2733 fingers snapping overhead to the rap- details. Bar
turous top-40/funk beat. replaced by
The s cace aceion of the Conser- vinyl to uoho
The Michigan Daily
is bruised
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flashing lights and flashy prices at the opening of the Nectarine
aurant to the ballroom
uch needed mingling area
trons can escape the idle
of every crevice in the car-
es glowed the multi-hued
ink, blue, red and purple
sic tri-level interior struc-
over from the days of the
ever, making the noticable
e rely on the impressive
room rusticness has been
sleek, flashy surfaces:
lsterv wood to chrome
DAILY MATINEES
INDIVIDUAL THEATRES SENIORS EVERY EVENING $3.00
5th Ave of Liberty 76-9700 DAILY FIRST MATINEE $2.00
JAMIE LEE CURTIS " C. THOMAS HOWELL
Where dreams
have a funny way
of coming ftue.
(R)
SUN. 100, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 - MON. 1:00, 7:00, 9:00
OOR aMS
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S j
"THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH" f
SUN. 12:50, 3:00, 5:15, 7:30, 9:40
MON. 1:00, 7:30, 9:40 (PG)
.. . wu .v LJ, v uL _1 at .
The stage has been replaced by. a
large screen for videos and self-
promotional slides. For the most part,
the music will he doled out hy regular
d.j.s and concerts will be the exception.
At certain points in the evening, special
effects smoke poured out from one side
of the room but: only dribbled out from
the other. It might take a few weeks to
take the bugs out of the newly-installed
smoke machines. After all, it was only
their first day, and at least every light
worked - and they must have used
them all during Prince's "When the
Doves Cry."
Even the ladies room has been tran-
sformed. While the string of make-up
applicants and hair-brushers remain
from the halycon days of the Chance,
the make-up is now a finer make and
the hair is permed instead of just
feathered back. Peroxide is still ap-
plied liberally, however. An attendant
sat perched in the corner near the en-
trance, informing the curious that she
was indeed the attendant and that the
threecolognes sitting on a dainty tray
by the mirror (including every
mischevious woman's favorite: Scoun-
drel) were indeed for the spraying of
all. One woman actually pulled the top
of her dress forward and injected a
steady ten second stream of cologne.
Imagine the unbearable combination
of alcoholic intoxication and fragance
saturation - no wonder there was a
woman vomiting into the sink at the
other end of the room.
Another group whose communal
stomach may have been turning Thur-
sday night was the local 252 of the In-
ternational Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers. They have been picketing the
Ballroom since construction began
months ago complaining that work was
being performed for sub-union wages
hy possihly inferior craftsmen.
After the picketers passed bright
yellow public notices to those entering
the Ballroom, they were promptly
snatched away by a Nectarine em-
ployee who said "Thanks, I'll read
that." Will the AFL-CIO bite into the
Nectarine's early profits? Will night-
clubbers cross the picket line? Only time
will tell.
The destiny of 516 E. Liberty side-
tracks the student population. So what?
There's always Dooley's around the
corner, Joe's and The Blind Pig down-
town, and Rick's uptown. In light of the
alternatives, maybe we ought to hope
that the Nectarine Ballroom cuts out
some of its frills and makes itself more
accessible, financially and
aesthetically, to those who don't yearn
for Danceateria and the Peppermint
Lounge. Just give us a floor and let us
dance.
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