Bashment Review: The Return of the Players Ball (Our 100th Post!)

Aren’t you lucky? You are in the mist of making history as you enjoy the 100th post of our little blog, Chat ‘Bout Cleveland. And boy how we’ve grown! We started as an online journal talking to the masses about all the latest dances and events and fast forward about 18 months later we’ve added pictures, interviews and even a few videos and who can forget our My Space? (We’re even showing our faces more on the scene, since the response has been so positive!) Chat ‘Bout Cleveland is growing and you have showed us the love, from here in Cleveland, to Pittsburgh, to Minneapolis, to Detroit and more to come!

Through all the comments, good and bad, much thanks! (We try to proofread more - promise!) All the big ups, the flyer mentions and beyond – THANKS! Keep chatting – it will only get better from here……

Okay, enough about us. It's all about The Return of the Players Ball.....

With all the anticipation and hopes for “The Return of the Players Ball” last Saturday, I am left scratching my head…. What happened? Trust me, a great time was had by all, but if you were in attendance last Saturday, let’s just say we were all a little more than choked up! The bash started off slow and by the end at about 5am, it became the little dance that could…..

As Chat ‘Bout made its way to the Club Center at about 2am, the dance was in full swing. But, we were a little surprised by the crowd since the parking around Club Center told a completely different story. (Guess the $3.75/gallon gas prices STILL are not enough reason to carpool). There was a decent crowd, but for some reason I expected a jam packed venue. The Players Ball was a staple of the dancehall scene back in the day, so maybe I was just wanted more.

One reason for the turnout is that people feel that there have been too many bashes, too much of the same, I guess and many a dancehall fan decided to take a few parties off. Are we ever satisfied?

Whatever the reasons, the vibes were nice in the dance as the masses danced to tunes from Sample Jack featuring KC Platinum, oh, Mr. Personality and Special Guest, Mark Dragon from Inner City Sound in NYC. As usual, the R&B/hip-hop set got the crowd hype just before the selector bought the crowd back with a few new dancehall tunes.

Just as I grabbed my Merlot and really began to sway to some tunes from ‘Girl Power’ set (as I like to call it).....

i thought, "Damn, I need some water, (cough, cough)".

"Hmmm, what did I choke on?????"

For whatever reason, I looked unto the crowd and saw people covering their faces, and coughing as well. “What, the…??” I thought. I immediately hit the door and was met by about 20 other partygoers including a couple carrying one guest out of the dance. I could hear some murmurs of people saying something about pepper spray and some girl and….

Oh.

Not again.

And at The Players Ball? Why?

So in between the coughing, eye rubs and covered mouths, always trying to get the scoop, Chat ‘Bout was able to get to what happened (but, do you really need to wonder?)

As usual, someone was dancing and someone got bumped and get mad and blah, blah, same story. But this story had a different ending this time – the pepper spray. As security attempted to grab the party pooper, Not only did she spray the security guard RIGHT in the eye, she continued to spray throughout the dance. (Can you say ignorant? Damn!)

So, to the drive by sprayer/coward, IF YOU CAN READ: There are a lot of people remember your pretty little face and if you decided to attend another dance be sure to keep your pepper spray near since I think there are a lot of people who would LOVE to talk with you…. But, that’s just what I heard… I mean, I am just saying, I am definately not one to condone (or inflict)violence, but I can't say the same about the other gals who decided to leave the dance early because of that mess... I'm just saying.....

Okay, enough about the trash, back to the bash!

As the dance continued, it never seems to amaze me how nothing phases the dancehall crowd; fight - whatever- keep dancing, too damn hot/cold -whatever- keep dancing, pepper spray in the crowd -whatever- music never stops, so you will, rub your eyes, cough and keep dancing! I love it!

Big up to Stone Love's Billy Slaughter for keeping control of the dance with his tunes, I must say I haven’t heard Stone Love bring the tunes in a long time and the crowd definitely appreciated the vibes. Slaughter kept the crowd hype with his mix of old and new songs along with his exclusive dub plates.

I think that little drama actually made the dance even stronger. The vibes picked up and the masses keep having a great time. The camera man was in full effect as many a gal decided to walk out in the video light (I see you sporting the summer body Ms. Suzie Q!). Speaking of video, if anyone knows where we can get a copy, please hit us up (chat_bout_cleveland@hotmail.com)!

Like many a big bash, there were a few dancehall celebs in the crowd. All dressed up in full dance mode, were New Horizon including DJ Curly Locs, Maggie Untouchable, sporting the girlie bob, 88.7 FM Leisa Engel and DJ Chubbie, The Barbie Doll/Bashment Crew – looking fab as usual, Flavor Unit, Blacka and Macka B, promoting his (count ‘em) 6 day birthday tour, Super Promoter Super Dee (STILL passing out flyers as the masses fled the pepper scene – I love it!) and we cannot go without a mention of Lady Spyder in full form – Moet and all.

We tried to take a few pics, but maybe the camera picked up something or the eyes were too watery, but no pics nonetheless – our apologies! We will make it up with all the bashes coming this Summer.

Until then,

Done choking and still -


Bashy