The Last Dance?

Jim Nelson, 2010. Jim just started shooting video; We will watch your career with great interest, young Skywalker.

There’s been plenty of talk recently that this last Tuesday’s RVAlution event at The Hat Factory might have been there last. They’ve certainly had bumps along the way; the event that started out with big bang seems to had slowed to a dead halt, with charismatic enigma of an MC Parker S. Galore VIII throwing his mic down on stage and declaring the revolution to be over weeks ago, and attendance steadily dwindling down to a slow trickle. As the heads through the door thinned, so did the stage presence; less and less performers were hired, and those who remained faced pay cuts.

Audio Ammo’s Doddie. This guy serves more bangers than an irish breakfast joint, and he’s down with the mash too.

I love the modernity of a “deejay” being more like a live producer, but it’s nice to see someone put a hand on some wax (even if it’s a controller).

Jim Nelson, 2010. Jim just started shooting video; We will watch your career with great interest, young Skywalker.

There’s been plenty of talk recently that this last Tuesday’s RVAlution event at The Hat Factory might have been there last. They’ve certainly had bumps along the way; the event that started out with big bang seems to had slowed to a dead halt, with charismatic enigma of an MC Parker S. Galore VIII throwing his mic down on stage and declaring the revolution to be over weeks ago, and attendance steadily dwindling down to a slow trickle. As the heads through the door thinned, so did the stage presence; less and less performers were hired, and those who remained faced pay cuts.

Audio Ammo’s Doddie. This guy serves more bangers than an irish breakfast joint, and he’s down with the mash too.

I love the modernity of a “deejay” being more like a live producer, but it’s nice to see someone put a hand on some wax (even if it’s a controller).

However, the rumor (and, eventual official announcement) of the event going on even a temporary hiatus seems to have done the trick. Last Tuesday, the line for RVAlution- with Audio Ammo’s DJ Doddie and The Party Liberation Front’s Reinhold and Akasha- wrapped around the block and the club stayed at capacity until the wee hours of the morning in the wake of the news that the revolution was being postponed until summer.

Akasha, mad masked engineer of evil wubwubwubwubwub

What does this spell for RVAlution, once hailed as the resurrection of the club night in Richmond? Which is more important; that RVAlution was an initial success, or that the thought of it going away was enough to drive the event back to it’s former glory?

Reinhold telling security which guy just slapped him like an old school pimp.

Then he choked me with this chain.

The former is a simple answer- a ton of people loved the event but weren’t motivated to attend regularly, and filled the club en masse for one last huzzah. The answer to the latter, of course, is completely dependent on the powers that be within The Hat Factory; they have, in linear fashion, proven that a dance night featuring local and touring deejays can work in Richmond, and that it can’t. Now that the event is at least temporarily shelved, the questions that management has likely been asking internally for months that are now posed in this article are simultaneously more, and less, important. Clearly, management didn’t think the event could sustain, or at least needed a rehashing, unless they’re delaying the event until Summer 2011 because their coat check can’t handle the volume. The next next dance night at The Hat Factory is “Fever,” a brand-new Top 40’s night which according to the hat factory’s webpage is already Richmond’s HOTTEST DANCE NIGHT. After that? Looks like they’re resurrecting their country night.

My conclusion is simple; if you still want good dance parties in RVA, here’s a hot tip: the deejays, entertainers, promoters and crews that did just about everything that made RVAlution worthwhile (except own The Hat Factory) weren’t lined up and shot after the event. I saw seven or eight RVAlution veteran deejays at Gallery 5 & The Party Liberation Front’s Decemberween New Year’s Eve, and they killed it because (like most of the deejays from RVAlution) they’re killers. Follow the talent and the parties will be found. RVAlution may have had it’s last dance, but RVA will never.