Club Internet, curated by Harm van den Dorpel
posted by carsonb on Nov 11, 2009 - 10 comments

Aunt Feminina Boots's Char-Broiled Book Club — Feminina Boots has been experiencing a lot of difficulty lately trying to find a book club where she can say things that aren’t just going to upset people. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Aug 27, 2009 - 18 comments

"What it feels like to be at the stove creating dishes for some of the most powerful people on earth." Club de Chefs des Chefs is the elite fraternity of chefs to world leaders - including those who head the private kitchens of the United States President, Prince of Monaco, Queen of England, European Commission, the Kremlin, President of France, Chancellor of Germany and Great Hall of Beijing. Barely 30 members strong, the club meets this week in Italy, for the Club's annual gala dinner and food tour. Lisa Mullins of NPR's The World interviewed a few of them by phone from Rome today (Mark Flanagan of Buckingham Palace refused to reveal the Queen's favorite dish... a kitchen policy, lest she be served it at every public event ever after). Past gatherings have happened in France, Greece, Monaco; and the 2010 meeting takes place in Hong Kong. They wouldn't have you as a member... but don't let that stop your culinary envy.
posted by pineapple on Jul 21, 2009 - 42 comments

What do you get when you mix, unisex bathrooms, drugs, Eurotrash music and thousands of horny yuppies? From 1984 to 1989 in Dallas, TX you got The Starck Club. [more inside]
posted by punkfloyd on Apr 30, 2009 - 51 comments

The Polar Bear Club of Milwaukee has been going strong since 1916, with crazy folks like this carrying on the tradition of jumping into the icy waters of Lake Michigan year after year.
posted by jon_hansen on Jan 1, 2009 - 18 comments

Mutton pie. An Orange organisation. A portrait size. A delicious confection Desired the world over. The true meat of this post – Inns and taverns of old London. [PDF]
posted by tellurian on Dec 29, 2008 - 2 comments

Who can forget when Harmony and Grits played at Nero's Nook? This is a big stack of pics that I scanned as a single collection. Most are 8"x10", but a few are snapshots. They represent something of a snapshot of the bar and entertainment scene in the Gulf Coast resort town of Fort Walton Bch, FL, circa 1970s. Most are of bands, entertainers and a few strippers. If you are from this area, you may well recognize some of the faces. They are in no order. (Via.)
posted by Astro Zombie on Aug 5, 2008 - 13 comments

The 25 Greatest Electronic Albums of the 20th Century. From the instrument that was created by Leon Theremin, to the Moog Guitar that's been named after the legendary Bob Moog (the inventor of the Moog Synthesizer), Electronic music has come a long way since its early days. YouTube [a, b, (extreme caution advised: graphic images of death, destruction and 9/11 c), d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y] (Previously mentioned here, here, here, here, here and here)
posted by hadjiboy on Jun 29, 2008 - 84 comments

Give it up for The Cramps and The Gun Club. Two of the greatest bands to come out of the late 1970s/early 1980s punk scene, they (wikis here and here) shared a few things in common: guitarist Kid Congo Powers as well as a penchant for re-invigorating the raucous, carnal, primal spirit of American popular music--i.e. early garage rock and rockabilly (what the Cramps dubbed "psychobilly") and blues. Start with this screamer from The Cramps, and this blistering classic from the GC's first LP. [more inside]
posted by ornate insect on May 5, 2008 - 48 comments

Ron Murphy cut records, but not just any records. Responsible for cutting the actual vinyl master plates of much of the now revered Detroit Techno including Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Underground Resistance's seminal Knights of the Jaguar, and much more - he demonstrated impeccable craftsmanship and skill in both mastering records for sound and aesthetics at company known as Sound Enterprises source link AKA National Sound Corporation. Schooled in Motown, dubplates and jukeboxes, he is the bespoke-crafted, analog link between the digital future and analog past that is the roots of Techno music and modern techno DJ culture. [more inside]
posted by loquacious on Feb 13, 2008 - 15 comments

She works six days a week and has sold her husband - twice.
posted by parmanparman on Jan 27, 2008 - 32 comments

Following this 2005 post, this documentary on Osaka "Host Clubs", "The Great Happiness Space" [Google vid 1:15; misleading preview here] is like nothing I've ever seen. Dark and light and wrenching and weird and funny. And dark. Kafka comes to mind for a lot of viewers, but this would fail as fiction. A midpoint shift forces you to confront a reality that is staggeringly complex. It's a kaleidescope of self-awareness and -delusion; compassion and manipulation; candor and deception. Layered, nuanced, and self-referential. The chief host's blog translated somewhat idiosyncratically by google, gives you another perspective [note: not included in the spirit of "LOL Engrish"]. This insider's account of a hostess club, written by a Duke University sociologist, is a lot more predictable and straightforward.
posted by Phred182 on Jul 28, 2007 - 24 comments

Tonic closes. At the end of a farewell performance, Marc Ribot and Rebecca Moore refused to leave the stage. They were arrested for trespassing, and hope to bring attention to New York's dwindling number of performance spaces for independent music. Previous discussions.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt on Apr 17, 2007 - 73 comments

The Laughing Club. A practicing doctor at a Bombay hospital, Dr. Kataria, formed the first laughing club in 1994. What started off as a group of 5 people, barely able to break into a chortle, gradually spread the world over. Today, there are 5,000 laughing clubs around the world.
posted by nickyskye on Jan 28, 2007 - 14 comments

Coke. Guns. Booty. Beats. In the slums of Rio De Janeiro, drug lords armed with submachine guns have joined forces with DJs armed with massive sound systems and rude, raunchy singles. Welcome to the most exciting—and dangerous—underground club scene in the world.
posted by Count Ziggurat on Jul 30, 2005 - 23 comments

Punk rock is dead. So now, along with Luna Lounge, Fez Under Time Cafe, and Tonic (previously discussed here), it looks like CBGB may get priced out of existence. What NYC landmark will be next? (Oh, and don't forget the Plaza.)
posted by fungible on Feb 18, 2005 - 51 comments

Thinner/Autoplate is the real deal: a netlabel that doesn't suck. Ambient/dub/minimal house/drone/experimental sounds that'll turn your home into the chillout room of a Finnish club at 5 am. Or at least pleasantly buzz in the background while you read. Sixty-five releases, high-quality bit rates, zipped files, creative commons licence -- the site itself is very nicely done. But more importantly, the music is just freakin' good, for fans of this sort of thing of course. For a taster, try the excellent ambient dub mix (125MB) or the more beat-oriented house standard mix (95MB). The label chief explains the rationale behind giving the music away in an interview here.
posted by dydecker on Nov 25, 2004 - 20 comments

A little dated, but too good to pass up. Deconstructing Fight Club, Watterson-style.
posted by cohappy on Nov 18, 2004 - 19 comments

The Red Hat Society With an inspired purchase of a red fedora and a reading of the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph, one woman created what is fast becoming a movement around the world for women over fifty.
posted by FunkyHelix on May 11, 2004 - 41 comments

The Bottom Line: Manhattan court rules to evict club. A New York City Greenwich Village landmark, The Bottom Line Cabaret, which has let the music play from such stars as Bruce Springsteen for close to 30 years, has been evicted after falling behind by nearly 3 years with is rent and not being able to work out a long-term with it's landlord: New York University (NYU).

This comes despite the cash contributions from celebrities like Springsteen and Viacom's CEO, last-minute corporate sponsorships from AT&T and others, and the efforts of fans around the world. Even the best efforts of fans at SaveTheBottomLine.com weren't able to save the club, which says it may consider shopping around for some new digs. But, as of now, The Bottom Line is homeless.
posted by nyukid on Dec 4, 2003 - 31 comments

MCCXIII is an excellent club in DC. But the reason I link their site is because I am in absolute awe of their web design.
posted by BlueTrain on Oct 8, 2003 - 55 comments

The group's intent "is to support the right of Augusta National to choose their members regardless of race, religion, sex or creed," Powell said.

The group in question is the Ku Klux Klan. Silly.
posted by donkeyschlong on Feb 28, 2003 - 19 comments

Chicago Rat Patrol. No, not this kind of rat patrol; for this crew, rat spotting is just a sideline. What these guys skulk in alleys for, though, is discarded bike parts to kludge, especially in strange and unexpected proportions. Most of them work. As a result of their experiments, they're attuned to the kitbashed contraptions used by (mostly) economically marginal folk. Additionally, or superfluously, they're sort of anarchist anti-corporate critical-mass types. Updated until almost a year ago. Note: Geocities site. Tread lightly. And stay away from the "Rodeo" link, where there's a quicktime video, until tomorrow.
posted by dhartung on Jul 26, 2002 - 4 comments

I got in!!! Remember that link to Quintessentially a few weeks back? Well, after countless hours of anxious waiting, I finally received my acceptance letter (the complete text of which is inside). At last, I can enjoy the finer things in life - it'll only cost me $600 a year .
posted by aladfar on Dec 14, 2000 - 9 comments

Quintessentially.com is the most horrifying thing I have seen for a long time. It’s a members-only club for the Tatler-reading classes – people for whom the Sunday Times is a serious newspaper. Dare you delve into the invidious ‘benefits’ conferred by membership of this club (‘Quintessentially members will have very special treatment’!), or gaze upon the faces of the well-heeled sloanes and berties behind it?
posted by Mocata on Dec 4, 2000 - 35 comments