Date: Thurs April 14
Place: Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison St
Time: Midnight

A few months ago in this column, I mentioned the unrealized potential of lesbian-oriented club nights in Seattle. I think it's safe to say that has changed dramatically in a short period of time. Between Girl4GIRL productions, Vibrator, Muscle, and the recent debut of Cherry at the War Room, there are now estrogen-fueled dance parties on a near-weekly basis. Tonight I'm checking out Lick, a monthly event billed as a night for "Dykes, Trannies, Fags, and Friends with Hiphop and Tranny Pop." Although I'm a bit disappointed in the notable lack of promised trannies, the place is pretty much overflowing with cute girls and an obscene amount of sexual energy. Maybe it's because it's spring, or maybe it's the Missy Elliott song vibrating the walls, but it seems like 80 percent of the crowd is furtively making out. There are girls locked in bathroom stalls going at it, pushing each other up against the walls, and even more cutting all sorts of lascivious moves on the dance floor. So much girlie action is making folks awfully thirsty too; the bar seems more than a little overwhelmed as the lustful ladies take breaks from the dance floor to refuel on Red Bull and vodka. The fashion parade is pretty amusing--there are stone-cold butches in bowling shirts, hyper-femme ladies in tight T-shirts and wee skirts, and even one admirably adventurous gal wandering around nonchalantly in a chain-mail bikini (highly reminiscent of Princess Leia's slave-girl getup in Return of the Jedi). A trip backstage shortly before last call finds scene queen Lisa Orth chatting with a gaggle of peers, including local publicist Frank Nieto and the delightfully dirty-minded Anna Oxygen, who had just finished her DJ set. As I make my way back out to the bar to grab my own closing cocktail, I overhear two clearly drunk and happy girls in the hallway discussing the merits and hazards of the evening: "It's good this isn't every week or else I'd never make it to work on Fridays!" HANNAH LEVIN