Places to Dance and Hang in D.C.

The Bleeding Edge at Planet Fred, 1221 Connecticut Av. N.W., just off Dupont Circle. Wednesday night from 9 p.m. on, DJs rednikki and Aaron spin gothic, industrial and punk music. $4 cover, $3 before 10 or 10:30 p.m., promotional flyers have $1 off and 2-for-1 discounts. Planet Fred's atmosphere is interesting; the theme is outer space, and along with eerie green and lava-lamp lighting comes large asteroids, various monster displays, and skyscapes. Add in the music, and the place is dark and moody, which is exactly what I like for chatting with friends during the quiet moments or in the quiet spaces away from the dance floor.

The two DJs rotate in shifts that are about an hour long. rednikki's musical taste is impeccable, and she does an excellent job of changing gears among industrial, punk and some gothic music, and often works subtle themes into any given set of songs. She knows how to get various groups of people dancing, and how to let people take breathers yet let them hear cool music they might want to sit and listen to, rather than music that makes them want to get up and dance. Aaron Hart's tastes seem to run principally to Goth music, and while I tend to notice that most of the industrial/punk/hardcore folks spend an hour socializing when Aaron is spinning, the goths slink out of the booths and onto the dance floor. Both DJs are friendly and both welcome requests.

Planet Fred is not a huge place; with 60 to 80 people in it feels busy, but it could accomodate more without people bumping into each other on the dance floor or feeling claustrophobic. The crowd typically consists of "all the usual suspects", however there are enough both of people who go only to the Bleeding Edge and of newcomers that making room for the Bleeding Edge every Wednesday night is worthwhile.

Tracks on Thursdays is a bigger affair; the goth/industrial/etc. occupies the southern half of Tracks, which translates into the smaller inside dance floor, the outside dance floor, and the volleyball court. The northern half is occupied by ravers. Unlike at either the Bleeding Edge or the Ballroom, my impression of Tracks is that industrial types predominate, however it may be a trick of the lighting. Tracks is well-lit outside and the size of the inside dance floor makes it difficult to skulk around in the shadows. However, this does not mean that there are few goths, or that there is little gothic music.

Mohawk Adam, the DJ, is very traditional and populist. When he spins, there is little experimentation, and one can expect to hear the more popular songs every time. This is not necessarily bad, and he certainly reacts to what the crowd does, and learns from what other DJs do, but there is a contingent of people who are not Adam fans, some of whom typically avoid anywhere he DJs. If you like things to be relatively familiar, Adam is the guy for you. Personally I haven't found all that much to complain about other than bad transitions from one type of music to the next (some of this may be mandated by Tracks itself, schedule-wise), which can lead to long stretches of boredom, or being wiped out by back-to-back sets of dancing-provoking tunes, and his tendency to abuse the smoke machine.

Tracks itself is huge and the goth/industrial/etc half is largely outdoors, which in good weather means one can walk around or sit down on benches or bleachers outside and away from the music. In bad weather, though, the goth/industrial side feels very cramped, and the dance floor becomes becomes completely claustrophobia-inducing. On the other hand, the place is comfortable, very queer-friendly, and serves tasty hot snack food. Moreover, there is an open bar until 10.30 p.m. on Thursday nights. The only flaw is that the dance floors are too small for comfort (and safety) during really popular songs when there is a large crowd.

The Capitol Ballroom has two parts to it on Saturday nights. The first is a large, comfortable dance floor that is almost spacious enough for big crowds and popular songs to coexist happily. Adam DJs again, however he plays much more gothic music and drops the retro music from the playlist. The second is the Saturday night concert, which ranges from the awful (inaudible, incomprehensible, and bad bands) to the awesome (the Test Dept. concert blew the audience away, and left nobody able to stand still).

The Capitol Ballroom is a huge converted factory-warehouse, and divided into four main parts. The first part is the semi-enclosed foyer just off the main entrance, and is rarely used on Saturday Nights for anything other than queueing up to go inside. The second room is where the wood parquet dance floor, coat check, main bar, and DJ's room can be found, and on Saturdays is where the goth/industrial crowd can be found. The atmosphere is best described as dark and eerie, and filled with smoke-machine fog. Seeing across the room is not something you should plan on being able to do. Unfortunately, the heating/cooling system is unpredictable, and the main room is variably too hot or too cold.

The second room sees little use on Saturday nights other than a relatively quiet area to talk and a relatively brighter (but still very dim) place to congregate. The third room is the concert venue, and is curtained off when the concert ends. Despite that, claustrophobia is never an issue at the Ballroom, since the place is huge and the crowd tends to thin out to mostly the usual suspects after each concert ends.

Soho is a coffee shop just off Dupont Circle. Many folks of many types (including plenty of freaks) are there at all hours, and an interesting time is almost always guaranteed. Soho is the standard before-going-out meeting place for D.C. queer folks, and is often one of the after-going-out meeting places too.

Bob & Edith's is a 24-hour diner across the river from DC in deepest, darkest Virginia. The place is often full of rednecks, however when freaks arrive in groups, confrontations or anything worse than staring tend to be rare. Sometimes there are even pleasant surprises, like unexpectedly friendly and talkative people, or discovering that someone has selected some (almost) cool music on the juke box.

The food is excellent value for money (and usually very tasty), the service is fast and efficient, and despite the bustle of a busy 24-hour family diner, Bob and Edith's is a great place to unwind and eat after a night out dancing.