2nd review today!! I've been a typing mad man... :P Enjoy!

Saturday was a really crappy day. I felt like junk. I had to work on the NAS (network area storage in geek talk) for work, and had a list of things to do. After trudging through the day of rain and grayness, getting work done, I was spent. We slumped on the couch and threw on an Armin Van Buuren State of Trance set. (I know, i know. I like it, OK?!). As Leap, Johnny and I chilled on the couch and had a drink, genuflecting on the day's passage, I realized just how BLAH i felt. I soaked in it for a few hours. I think even the dog pitied me. I checked the time... 11pm. I should just go to bed. blah blah blah.

Then, in a spurt of inspiration... I said to Johnny. "Dude. CiRCA?"

He looks at me, thinking I'm joking for a minute... then he's like "Dude. Let's do this." and up he jumped to go get dressed. I threw on a swank leisure suit--one of my best. I even pulled out the brut and peppered some on my chest. Awww yeah, things were happening now.

We packed a few energy drinks in the car, grabbed some snacks, and made the trek down to the mighty t.dot. I was totally getting myself pumped up... it was midnight, and we were heading down to the city. As many of you know, i prefer to get to clubs EARLY so as to make the most of the night...it's really unusual for me to head to a club later...i almost consider it a waste. But anything to get out of the funk i was in all day. As we reached toronto, we realized just how busy the streets are around 1 am... LOTS of police, lots of cars, and lots of people. Since I'm usually in town early, and leave the next morning(ish), i rarely see this fine display of social anarchy.

We parked the bat-mobile at our favourite footwork-area parking lot, which was PACKED. What a change from the previous Friday, where it wasn't packed nearly as much. I guess Saturdays are the day that most people in Toronto hit the entertainment district?

We followed the instructions i got off of google maps to find circa... down richmond...right onto john st... no circa. no circa anywhere. We ask one of the bouncers at an unlabelled club and he tells us to go around the block to the 'back' of the building. As we are walking, a gal with a walkie-talkie comes up and asks us if we are looking for CiRCA. Yes we are! She says that if we are on guest list, we're unfortunately too late, and then gave us specific instructions on where to go.

We walk around the block and enter a queue with lots of lines and lots of bouncers, all dressed in suits with ear-pieces. They looked like the US president's secret-service! Very cool. They checked our ID and ushered us into the building.



Wow, another huge queue area. I found out later this is where people will wait in the winter to enter the building--no freezing your arse-end off outside! Classy!

We went through an air-port like security, very professional and thorough, and down another hallway... (by this time, we can hear the thump thump thump of dance music...)



Johnny was getting excited and started dancing with some pipes! Who could blame him?

We walked out into what i now know is the main room, and were BLOWN AWAY. It was like we walked into a giant mall turned into a club, and the DJ booth was over top of the food court. w00t!



Multiple levels, glowing bars everywhere, little intimate table areas, projectors, intelligent lighting, and strobe/mood lighting EVERYWHERE...and it didn't blitz me out, it was tastefully done and combined into a very pleasant sensory experience with beautiful people EVERYWHERE.

After the long trip down, we had to find the washroom fast...some bouncers/security were helpful to that end. The washrooms were wild... scantily clad ladies/models posing in a glassed in area that revealed the women's washroom on the other side of the glass.



We saw guys and girls eye'ing each other through that window throughout the whole night--it was like a safe flirty game of peeping tom & tess.

Johnny Action was in the washroom a while, so i threw the camera up and snapped a picture. The guy's washroom is a sic shade of green. Probably not the best colour for some of the poor sods I saw in there who had a little too much to drink...





After dancing in the main room for a bit, we decided to find the Skyy Vodka room, where DJ Addy was spinning... on the way, we saw these windows in the walls with different setups. Mannequins setup on intricate displays, like in a shopping mall. Except that they weren't all mannequins! There were real models posing, like this one on a firey hell-bound chopper wearing an intricate head dress...



We made our way upstairs and overlooked the crowd in the main room. I heard a Deadma5 tune drop, and the main room erupted... intelligent lighting, LED blitzers and a crowd going wild. Oh, and get this..the sound was great...EVERYWHERE! I was surprised at how good the sound was! My ears didn't feel as though they were bleeding once (good thing too, i had forgotten my ear plugs). We went up another level and were able to look down at the DJ booth and spy a cool lounge/bar area overlooking the dance floors (yes, plural, dance FLOORS). We saw some escalators carrying people downwards as well. SIC.

Johnny and Ni-Cd = HAPPY



We still hadn't found the Skyy Vodka room just yet, so we asked security and they led us to a set of doors at one end of the top floor; we stopped to take some pictures on the Kid Robot stuff first though...





Then finally, we heard the familiar audio-logical hallmark of DJ Addy--a drop accented by the "Habibi" vocals echoing throughout the club with the energy of a power plant... Addy!



The party was RAMPED here. Multiple birthday parties being celebrated. The Skyy Vodka lounge is a square room with a step down onto the dance floor in the middle. It has leather couches all the way around, and some vip/bottle areas for guests to take advantage of. The sound was fantastic, and Johnny and I got busy dancing pronto--we were hours behind and had lots to catch up on!



Johnny Action and I danced it up hard for a bit, then decided to check out more of CiRCA. We found these wicked touch sensitive tables. Ok, I know you've heard alllll about these touch sensitive tables. How cool could they be? They're cool. They're wildly entertaining. We found a deserted lounge, all dark, set down our drink and boom, blue light fills the entire room. We howled with supreme discovery pleasure! We were the shiznit, right then and there! w00t!



We met a few HouseAddicts and a few TranceAddicts while chillin' in this area. "We're gonna go get chinese, wanna come?" --we had only just arrived, and were SO not ready to split just yet. We wished them well and continued our fun in the blue/orange light bliss.



It wasn't long before we were drawn back to the sic beats belting out of the Skyy Vodka room with DJ Addy layin' it down. Spinning with a couple decks, an external midi sound card, a MAC laptop running abelton live (i think) and a USB digital mixer board, the sweet vocal house Addy was pumping out was totally what I needed. It suited the sexy, sweet artistic environment we were in.



One thing about DJ Addy is he is very interactive with the crowd--but not at the expense of his music. His focus during mixing and key points during his set were obvious as he zoned in on the technology in front of it, manipulating it just the way he wanted as the crowd erupted in appreciation.



The crowd in that room was fantastic, very dancy, classy and respectful. We met several people celebrating birthdays who were at CiRCA for their first time--they were just as impressed as we were.



Behind the DJ booth, a huge screen showing DJ Addy mixing, and thousands of bottles lined up and lit from behind--it looked pretty cool. I thought we might catch DJ Neno's set as a closer, but we had come too late, Addy was closing the room. I haven't yet heard DJ Neno spin yet, so I look forward to that in the future.

Back in the main room, things were clearing out FAST. The difference a half hour made was amazing...between 3am and 3:30, the main room went from reasonably full to nearly empty. I was very surprised.

I was able to catch a picture of the DJ booth from above...it looks like a NASA control centre...



It was a good time to check out the main room though, because the DJ dropped Rachel Starr - Till there was you, which is one of my favourite "classic" tracks. I looked over and noticed Johnny Action was missing... yeah, because he made his way down three floors to the main dance floor, and was one of only a few people there, dancing it up! Go Johnny Action!

We went to the bar to grab an energy drink, and to my surprise--only cups of water. The bar was closed, not selling ANYTHING. Only giving out water. So we went back to the Skyy Vodka room to grab a drink--SAME thing! Bar was closed! Only cups of water. The party was still bumping, however, and it was Johnny Action's time to be a booth babe.



I have to admit, I love the stylistic sound of Addy how he holds the bass beat one or two beats past where you'd expect it before dropping that bass line...

4 am came rolling around... and the lights came on, and Addy wound up his set with the Humpty Dance (lol!) and then the crowd singing happy birthday. It was a great vibe--the rest of the club was empty, but the Skyy Vodka room could have kept on rocking...which makes me wonder...why didn't it?? Everyone packed up their stuff and made their way out to home or to an after party.

We made our thanks to Addy for his set and i was introduced to Jedi, CiRCA DJ and also part owner of Toi Bar. I've heard of Jedi in the scene before, even with my little experience; definitely gonna have to keep the ears peeled for him in the future. Listening to him and Addy 'talk shop' about the DJ technology was awesome. I was completely lost, but it was still cool to hear the serious, technical (yet artistic) side of the business, two DJs discussing beats, pitches, software stability issues. Way cool.


Jedi, Addy, Ni-Cd!

I met DJ Neno as well--though I didn't know it was him at first. Super-nice guy, and very knoweldgeable about the scene too. He gave me his latest mix CD, DJ Neno, ood~rEE! -- I'm loving this mix. I hope he posts a soft-copy soon so you can all get a sample of it.

We stayed a little while eavesdropping on the audio-tech-talk and realized the club had pretty much completely closed down, so we were escorted out by one of the snazzy security guards (it's pretty classy that they all wear suits, it fits the place, it really does). On the way, Addy introduced us also to the main room DJs of CiRCA, Doman & Pettigrew--these guys are responsible for a lot of what is going on at CiRCA, so keep an eye on them!

As we bid our farewells, we realized it was 4:30 am... O_o ... what to do! Ah, the troubles we could get into...

Our first visit to CiRCA was nothing short of a fantastic time. The people, the environment, the artistic displays, the cool technology, and the EDM all made this place a wonderment to visit. I was constantly going 'wow!!' everywhere I went. With DJs in place like Pettigrew, Addy, Neno and guys from out of town (apparently who will be rotating) like Victor Calderone... this place is going to be simply awesome. With screening rooms, art galleries and the like fully integrated, it's obviously not just a "night club"... but an actual creative artistic experience that, when embraced, can be a lot of fun. It isn't unusual for me to leave an underground club feeling inspired by the music. I left this club feeling inspired by the music and the environment--I can't wait to visit it again. And to think i was lazin' around on the couch all evening feeling all gloomy and sorry for myself.... gosh! My ONLY complaint is that the party was over far too early. The club was all but empty at 4 am, without a soul to be seen... with an environment this amazing, and DJs this good, shouldn't this party go to the early hours of the morning?

This is only but a glimpse of the cool stuff we saw at CiRCA that night... i didn't mention this massive kid robot statue made of what seemed like chalk board, so you could draw all over it... this room that looked like a bathroom (at first, i personally thought it looked like a morgue)... or these screens that took your image and made it into asci art or something!--so much more that begs for a second visit. Until CiRCA visit...part 2!