Clubbing – TEEN CLUBS

When I was in my teens I grew up in Washington, DC. We didn’t have teen clubs, but we had GoGo’s. They were rented halls that played GoGo bands. A GoGo band was a band of kids that played on trashcans, paint tins and sang popular songs with a street edge.

BACK IN THE DAY

I would beg my grandmother to let me go to these parties. It cost about $5 to get in and we would jam pack ourselves into these little party halls to dance. The band would be up on the stage and we would dance to the beat of the drumming rhythm and harsh songs like ‘Run Joe, Run Joe – Police man at the doh.”

Sweat would run down the walls, the musky order of underarms filled the room, and we would dance until we dropped – or a fight would break out.

UP TO DATE TEEN CLUBS

My kid went to his first night out at a teen party/club night at a local gym. The kid had the time of his life. They didn’t have a live band, but a DJ who played the up to date hip hop music. My son couldn’t stop talking about the dance moves he learned and the many girls he danced with. He’d had a blast.

No fights broke out, no gunfire, and plenty of security. It cost him $10 for a clean safe time.

TODAY and BACK IN THE DAY

I laughed out loud when my husband got on the floor (he’s a lot bigger than he use to be) and showed my oldest son how to do a break dance spin for this party night he was going to. When we were young, break dancing came out and we kids tried to use it as a way to defuse fighting – unfortunately that tactic didn’t last long.

My GoGo days came to an abrupt end when the kids stopped fighting at the parties and started shooting instead. My kid now lives in the suburbs, a quiet town that has lots of resources. Lucky for him, he can still get his party on, because security is tight at the place of the event.

I still am concerned though, but the need to give him a bit of freedom (and his pleading to go partying with his friends) have let me sit back and let him experience his first clubbing experience. I remember him telling me that the party was so live – “It was like I was on an episode of Jersey Shore…”

LOL! I remember feeling the same way when I was his age, shaking my thing at the GoGo.