I Found Heaven in a Basement Disco
Moving is a scary thing for anyone. Pretty much starting everything over again, something I’ve become all too familiar with since I was a child. I would have stayed in Germany if I could have, but all good things must come to an end at some point. I ended up getting my first pick overseas and was elated to find out I would be packing my bags for England for the next two years.
London calling to the faraway towns — The Clash
I was super stoked to go to England. Zero friends there, 8000 miles from my nearest relative, no sight of any familiarity other than the British accent. An accent that I may or may not have somewhat acquired years ago when I first visited. What a trip. Fascinated with finding more about the beautiful little town I just moved to, I set out on a quest!
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” — Ferris Bueller
The cracked cobblestone streets and under-construction cathedrals let you know the town was bursting with history and had every intention of keeping it that way. Wandering around and getting lost in a new place is the best place to stumble across all the hidden gems. The ones you likely miss making an itinerary based on some blogger’s site or Tripadvisor. I came across a tiny corner store that offered coffee and had outdoor seating, ideal to people watch. Upon entering the store, I quickly realized that I had walked into a sea of vinyl records with a tiny corner reserved for a barista. A vinyl coffee shop where you can pick any record and put it on for a spin while enjoying your cuppa. What have I stumbled upon?
Ohhhh baby, do you know what that’s worth? Ohhhh Heaven is a place on Earth — Belinda Carlisle, I think?
I had found the hidden gem, unadvertised and humble on the outside but exploding with character on the inside. I started chatting it up with the barista about how I loved the concept of the shop and how every coffee shop should follow suit. I go on to tell her I’m new to town and just trying to explore and mingle with the locals. She grinned a ‘cat that ate the canary’ smile and handed me a flyer that was folded up.
What’s this!? What’s this?! — Jack Skellington
Upon opening, I come to find out the record/ coffee store was having a vinyl DJ session this weekend…
….In the basement of a church
…Next to my house
..With an open bar.
What is this town and where the fuck am I? No questions asked, I’m there. Let’s just hope she’s not trying to get me drunk and draft me into a cult… Elated, I exclaimed a verbal RSVP and we kept chatting about our favorite bands and even gave anthems to our lives about how we feel sometimes. We even pondered the idea of how awesome it would be to have entry music when you went into a room. It was a sweet connection through the love of caffeine and classic records that binds us. We reminisced about how we were born too late as we seemed to be both free, old, and kindred spirits. By the end of it, we were both dancing and a few customers even joined us. The energy was palpable and apparently contagious. We jived with James Brown, we went on a moonlight drive with Jim Morrison, built castles made of sand with Jimi, and sang in our best cigarette and SoCo-infused voice with Joplin. We hugged it out as the sun set behind the centuries-old cathedral and parted ways for the night.. The weekend was only a few days away.
Fast forward to party night.. Was it a party? Holy ceremony? Both? Fuck it, let’s find out.
Absurd they were collecting money at the front of the door of a church and serving whiskey and cokes.. Usually, you are supposed to give a portion of your income and in return get a sip of boxed wine and a shitty wafer. I’ll take the first option all day. So I pay the man and head to the basement of this 1850’s cathedral to boogie. I see fog, I spy lasers, I hear the tunes, I feeeeel the bass. Fully indulged, I make my way down the spiral marble steps into another world. It was like slow motion as I made my way through the smokescreen and beaded curtains. My entry song on the decks you ask? Happy together, by The Turtles
No matter how they tossed the dice, It had to be, the only one for me is you. — That song ^^
Not sure what the church basement was used for before, but it was now the same exact energy that we conjured up in the quaint coffee shop days before had remerged in full force. A 10x10 dance floor had been established that had enough energy to feel like a sea of people. The DJ had small are for two decks but endless crates of records that seemed to go on forever. Lettuce go mingle..
First stop, let’s grab a little liquid courage so I can make friends..
It doesn’t take long before I go up to a table full of fun-loving funkadelic folks like me and asked who the DJ was just to break the ice. Knowing damn well she worked at the coffee shop, I still had to open with something. It’s better than a Seinfeld approach like “what’s up with the weather, am I right?” She was the one that I had a soul bond with and danced the day away with not a worry in the world, but I can be socially awkward at first. Unless of course its an unintentional connection that doesnt require small talk. They invite me to sit down and we start chatting about how groovy it is that we’re dancing in a church with a whiskey waterfall. They go on to tell me that every hour, the DJ advances 10 years with the record selection. If I worded that weirdly, I mean the party started at 8 PM with the musically enchanting years of 1960 — summer of love, ’69. At 9:00 PM, the Goddess of a DJ seamlessly transitioned us to the 70s and so on and so forth. The party went on until 1999 when music after just didn’t hit the same and vinyl became a thing of the past. What an incredible concept and I’m there for every second of it screaming run it back after it’s all said and done.
Strike up a convo with strangers using rhetorical questions — Check
Make new friends — Check
Dance the night away with said strangers and rage in a church — Check
Ask the DJ to marry me — Nah, but I got a dinner date the next week : )
This was the event that I never knew I needed in my life. I couldn’t have found a better icebreaker to a new town. I really felt so at home and comfortable with every person and it really set the tone of how much I’d soon fall in love with this place. I’ve heard that Heaven isn’t a place that you go when you die, but the moment in life when you actually feel alive. The whimsical people you meet, the soulful connections you make, the friends that become family. Is it the time spent with people that rekindle that dampened old ember in your soul and turn it into a bursting flame that is indeed Heaven on Earth? Either way, Hallelujah and Amen to such a bombastic night that led to a great few years with amazing people.
