By Jack Corbett
Nipples, the girl who was to become "Death on the Wild Side's" main female character had just told me she had started at Platinum Club and I was clueless where it was or what kind of club it was. The place was packed that first night and above me I heard a deep resonant voice, introducing the dancers coming on stage, ribbing the groom about to be slaughtered after the bachelor's party.
For the first time," I thought, "I'm in a big time club. This place
is where it's happening. So this is what the top clubs must be like
in the Big Apple.
I had gotten used to the Washington Park clubs
back in the early 1990's. Back then Main Street was still open and I
had been looking Nipples up practically every time I could get over to C Mowes.
But here it was a whole new ballgame. The club's sound system was
magnificent and its bar was exactly where it should be--in the center of the
room with the stages all around it. But one of the things about the place
that impressed me the most was Ron.
A few weeks after that first time, Nipples and
I were sharing a Long Island Tea at a table. She was called up to take her
turn on stage and I joined her. When we returned to our table we found a
man sitting there drinking the drink I had paid for.
We almost got into a
fight when we told him he had stolen our table and drink. The guy
stood up before us. He must have been the tallest man in the club.
We were seconds away from slugging it out with each other. I was sizing
him up and trying to decide if he would go down before my punches but he was
awfully big.
Suddenly Nipples got between me and the guy and I
just knew he was scant seconds from decking her. Two burly
men working for the club moved like greased lightning and grabbed the
guy. He didn't argue or put up a fight for these two were
something to contend with.
One of them was Ron who was the club's DJ that
night. The other looked a lot like him but I didn't see him for a long
time after that, if atall. It's likely it was Bake
who just happens to be Ron's cousin. And Bake and I got to know each other
pretty well a long time after that.
Ron's been with the club before it's inception
and even before the present Platinum Club building came to exist. You
don't stay on at a top club like Platinum Club as DJ for this many years unless
you are awfully damn good. Take it from me. He's one of the
best there's ever been and I should know because I've seen a lot of them come
and go.
By Jack Corbett
You can email me at the address above
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