Date: Sat June 25
Place: The Alibi Room, 85 Pike St, Suite 410
Time: 11:10 pm

My younger peers have been extolling the virtues and vices to be found in the bowels of the Alibi Room on Saturday nights for quite some time, but I hadn't witnessed the drunken dance party myself until this evening. Typically, the soundtrack is provided by Kris K, owner and operator of Aero Booking, but in his temporary absence, the lovely and light-hearted Joan Hiller is running the decks. Hiller, whose day gig is running the promotions department of Sub Pop, is struggling good-naturedly with broken DJ equipment and cranking out a gradually building mix of danceable goofiness, including Kool and the Gang's "If You Feel Like Dancing." The room is still rather sparsely populated, but almost as if on cue, the cavernous basement bar begins filling up rapidly right at midnight. The initial stream of patrons is an unpleasant collection of baseball-cap-wearing frat-boy types, including one sad sack wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with what may be the stupidest declarative slogan ever: "I Love Bitches!" Happily, their presence is short-lived and they are soon replaced by a jubilant crowd of twentysomething kids who appear to have just rolled in from the Pride festivities. One fetching fellow sporting a gold lamé cape is dancing with abandon to Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me," while a curly-haired blonde shamelessly makes out with her male companion in the booth behind us. It's becoming quite apparent to me why I know so many people who come here every Saturday: Aside from the overall hilarity of the music selections (everything from Hall & Oates to the Bee Gees), the insular nature of the small space and the camaraderie of the crowd makes it feel more like a house party in someone's basement than a dance night at a club. When Kris K returns from tour to reclaim his post this Saturday, it will undoubtedly be a very loving and debauched homecoming.