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[Metarie]

Originally Posted by Flash@TMB

Way way upstairs in the old, old, old RGIT union there existed a place called - wait for it - 'The Candlelit Lounge'. It was dark (most of the lights were out) and quiet so Stoners used to go their to smoke doobs. It was like being in a very big, dirty, and dingy flat with shite decor. It had sticky carpet tiles on the floor, each a foot square. They were those brown ones, so they probably even looked dirty when they were new in the 1970s. Anyhow I once attempted to cross the room wearing para boots. A carpet tile came up on each of my soles and stuck there. Some of you can possible envisage just how hysterically funny this was to 12 of my very stoned mates. One of them almost died choking in a pool of snot.

My dad told me about that place!

I can picture it perfectly, awesome

[Justin]

i thought when it was taking over by barfly it was getting refurbished??

[Jeanette]

That's what I thought too! But apart from... erm... what appears to be... erm... nothing having been done there aren't many changes except what the nights are called!

[Giles Walker]

It's a good job hardly anyone reads this as this could be seen as bad publicity.

From what i have heard Moshulu is getting an overhaul pretty soon, as for the music, the differences between the two places seem to be that Moshulu plays a bit more of the electro end of indie whereas Exodus is heavier on the guitar end of indie.

Horses for courses.

I don't see what bitching about the music without even mentioning any of the songs played does to help anyone really.

The carpet is pretty nasty though.

[Rass]

Having spent quite alot of time in Moshulu over the past 3 n a half years i feel kinda compelled to wade in on this one.

Its a shame the state of the place, it really is, for the best part there's a fairly commited and hard working bunch of staff in there, i know people will have thier objections to that but it's true.

Trying to clean Moshulu is very like trying to 'polish a turd'. The place has seen alot of neglect over the years and it isn't a case of just 'cleaning it'.

The Infamous Carpet has been there for a decade, so no surprise it's in an awful state (plus it's a carpet in a nightclub.. come on!), we have had a carpet cleaner on it a few times, but it is alot like painting a bridge, if you did manage to make it over the whole thing (which would take over a week) the front would be sticky again by the time your done. The carpet IS due to be ripped up in the near future. When i was in for my meeting with one of the head honchos about 2 months ago they were in the process of basically rebuilding the Borderline in London from the ground up, after that they were refurbing one other venue down south, then it is our turn. Carpet up, toilets fixed up and i think a paint job may be on the way too. I dont know if the structural issues are going to be dealt with (like the fact the main area floor is covered in holes, or when 300 people jump on the dancefloor the bassment roof looks like an earthquake is hitting, but i'd like to think they wont just overlook major issues like these).

In all honesty, if it was up to me and money was no object, i'd gut the entire building down to the bare bones and start from scratch, the whole lot, pretty much everything as far as woodwork/electrics/plumbing (see dirty water feature on dancefloor every saturday) is ducked and hasn't seen any proper attention in years (ie stuck together with duct tape rather than professional attention). But that's never going to happen, ho-hum.

Just to address a couple other things mentioned, the new tills, yeah, they're a bit radical they do take a bit of getting used to as there's no main console to them. They do seem slower, but its just a case of geting to used to where all those ruddy barcodes are (particularly hellish in the bassment with the hundred odd back bar spirits and 60+ cocktails each with their own induidual barcodes) but it is "the fastest epos system there is"... apparently tis a steep learning curve but i'm sure it'll be second nature in no time.

as for bog roll, i dunno if it's the age group we seem to attract, but if you put bog roll holders up (which we seem to have to do on an all too regular basis) some fucker will rip it down, so you have to leave the bog roll beside the toilet, then some fucker will put it down the toilet, replace the bog roll, repeat happens and so on. I appreciate it just makes the place look bad, little things like that, but what can you do.

I'm sure its a case of the place looks like crap so why expect anyone else to treat it with any respect, but anyway yeah, thats why.

Oh yeah, and there's no goffs/metallers there anymore coz they're all sulking that we don't do air guitar in the front room anymore, (its still on in the back room incidentally) even tho it rarely broke the 200 mark on attendance.
Moshulu Sold Out, man.

Theres no real reason for the rant, but the place never has anyone stand up and say exactly what's going on, and i'm bored of reading about the carpet being sticky, yes it's appauling, and if it were just a case of twiching our nose and conjouring a new flooring out of thin air i assure you we would of done it ages ago. I just like everyone else cannot wait to have a cerimonial burning of the current carpet.

Anyway, not making excuses for the state of the place, it is horrid and sorely neglected We do regularly spend far too much on staffing by getting people in to scrub, but as you can see it's just a massive undertaking.

I can only hope after the promised refit that it'll be come a nicer place to visit and hopefully the attitudes of some of the punters will improve towards the place.

Cheers for reading

[Jeanette]

Originally Posted by Giles Walker

I don't see what bitching about the music without even mentioning any of the songs played does to help anyone really.

I like the new indie nights! Hated the Air Guitar night... and whatever the other random night was. Personally not for my enjoyment! I'm more comfortable with some good old indie. Be it electro or guitary!

It could be a really good club with a lick of paint and some new carpet!!

Someone sort it out... quickly!

[Jeanette]

Originally Posted by Rass

Having spent quite alot of time in Moshulu over the past 3 n a half years i feel kinda compelled to wade in on this one...

You weren't ranting. Merely explaining a few things!!

Although, I still think the new tills are a silly idea!

And I never understand why people make such a mess in the toilets! And no offence to the guys, but I don't expect it from girls... I'm sure it's prob worse in there sometimes.

p.s. I hadn't read your post before posting the comment above!

[stuartmaxwell]

tis funny

i remember the palace being loved for being a dump. being as dump was one of the things that gave it "character" apparently, and I remember people always trying to benchmark moshulu vs the palace.

All of these complaints sounds like a generation has departed and a new one has come in and the old regime dont like it.

clubs will never be "as good as it used to be" because people are always getting older and life moves on in their wake, tastes change, people come and go. I dont know many alternative clubnights in aberdeen that are full of 26+ year old people every week

[geo1903]

One thing I'd do is to make tickets available for future gigs when the place is open for a gig. When people are filling in time I know I always look at the posters and the gig list and discuss `whats next` if I'm in company. I wonder how many impulse sales are lost when you're told `oh, you can buy tickets at One-Up`, which is handy if you live or work in town I suppose.

Just a thought.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Rass

Lots of words.

Theres no real reason for the rant, but the place never has anyone stand up and say exactly what's going on, and i'm bored of reading about the carpet being sticky, yes it's appauling, and if it were just a case of twiching our nose and conjouring a new flooring out of thin air i assure you we would of done it ages ago. I just like everyone else cannot wait to have a cerimonial burning of the current carpet.

Some more words.

Before I read this post I was going to do a 'rant' as such also, but you've pretty much covered it.

The place is an utter dive. I do my best to keep it as alright as possible when we're open, but it just doesn't happen. Exactly what Rass said, polishing a turd. All the cleanliness problems that the staff can deal with, we do. And it does nothing. I spent 6 hours with the carpet cleaner (we named her Trudy) on the small area outside toilets/cloakroom, and to me it looked and felt amazing. But looking at it last night it's just got as bad as it was.
I was saying this to people last night actually, the place looks like shit so it gets treated like shit. And it's totally understandable. It doesn't help, but I don't expect any more.

But it would appear that a refurb is actually going ahead. Quite soon, if Barfly stick to their word. I'll personally beleive it when I see the builders knocking on the door. Rass probably knows more than I do to be honest, but I know for a fact the flooring and the toilets are the main priorities. I've heard whispers of them fixing some electrics and plumbing issues too (you take your life into your hands changing some of the lightbulbs).
The place is a good size, well laid out in my opinion, and could be an awesome venue/nightclub. Actually, I'm going to remain optimistic (it's hard to do in that building) and say it WILL be awesome.

We opened a bit late last night due to a gig, and instead of waiting in the bassment, there was a queue of 60 people in the snow waiting for the doors to open. So the place must still have some appeal. Hopefully after the refit, and maybe a jiggle about with the some of the clubnights, it'll be a great place to go again.

Oh, and the tills are the biggest pain in the hoop, but they weren't our call. I'd do anything to have the buttons back, I really would. The fucking guns are lucky they haven't been launched against any walls yet. They are far more beneficial for management/head office and stock taker types. All we wanted were new till drawers...

Oh, the above are views are in no way the views of Barfly. Just me. And Rass. And every other member of staff. But not Barfly.