The Iceberg

After reading a post over at Scribblings of the Metropolitician about Park Jin-young and seeing his name in the news recently, I started feeling nostalgic and decided to delve deep into the vault for footage of video I took in 1997 at a Gangnam “Rock Cafe” called Venturi. For those who don’t know, “rock cafes” are/were underground clubs. There weren’t any “dance floors” per se. People simply danced near the table where they were sitting - much like many of the clubs in Hong-dae today. The mid-90s were the heyday for underground clubs in Gangnam. Hong-dae was around back then, but it was nothing near the scene that it is today. If my memory serves me correctly, there were about five or six of these clubs in Gangnam back then. My favorites were Venturi, Lexus I, and Lexus II. Oh the stories I could tell about what went on in these places. But I won’t. Don’t ask.

You’ll notice in the video that things weren’t too much different from what they are like nowadays. One thing that was different was that there was a specific dance that accompanied each Korean song. It was kind of fun…and funny…to watch everyone performing the same moves. Also, whenever a foreign song came on, many dancers sat down because they didn’t know how to dance to it. Not much freestyle back then. You’ll notice in the video that there are four foreigners doing the dances. When they weren’t dancing, they were working the bar at Venturi. The four were American soldiers. That was a relatively new development at the time - soldiers roaming out of the Itaewon area, that is. At least it was new for Venturi.

It was fairly early in the evening when I shot this video, so the club wasn’t too crowded. Usually it was quite packed. Alas, as time went on, a few Korean-style “booking” clubs opened up in Gangnam and as the crowds started moving there, the rock cafes slowly lost customers until they finally disappeared; the one exception being 4X, a late arrival on the scene.

Inebriated partiers crowd around the stage to get a better view of the scantily clothed woman gyrating in front of them. Said woman shakes her hips, tosses her hair and spins around to the music thumping through the speakers. Her dance oozes sexuality. Suddenly, as the song approaches its end, the woman lifts her top over her head - exposing her cosmetic surgeon’s handiwork. (Job well done, Dr. Kim). As the audience expresses its approval, the woman – shirt in hand – glides off the stage. Another female contestant walks out; this time with partner in tow. The music starts up again and, unlike the previous dancer, the young couple waste little time disrobing. The man takes off his shirt and lies on the floor and the woman sits on top of him. They squirm around for a few seconds before the woman removes her shirt and bra. After another minute or so of simulated sex the woman stands up. She takes off her shorts and panties and again sits atop the man on the floor – this time in the position of, um, let’s just say it’s a certain number. You know it, the number that every overweight beer-guzzling first baseman in slow-pitch softball leagues wears. The woman removes her partner’s jeans and they proceed with their show. The crowd goes wild.

Sound like another wild night in Hongdae? Think again. This scene occurred in a Korean-style “booking” nightclub in the quiet little town of Yeosu last Friday night. And outside of myself and a co-worker, there was not a single Westerner to be found in the club.

Hongdae, you ain’t got nothin’ on Yeosu.

Here’s a peek at the evening. The video was taken stealthily so…don’t expect too much.

Here is some more footage of some (clothed) sexy dancing Friday night. This video is much clearer.

UPDATE: I should note that there was no orifice to orifice contact during the show. Also, I won’t mention the name of the club, because god knows I don’t want to take even the slightest risk of it being shut down. Viva la Booking Club!