Tampa Linkup review

Tasha Cousins aka Empress Bitch

Place: Club Prana. Ybor City, Tampa
Date: November 18th, 2005
Idlers: Cammy, Vi_Trini Gyal and Empress Bitch

The first official idlerz linkup occurred in Tampa, Florida. The plan was to party at Club Prana on a Friday, Prana’s “Reggae/Hip hop” night. The night was expected to be especially good because the guest deejay was Delano from Renaissance. Although many idlers were expected to make the outing, transportation issues came up and Cammy was the only “out of town” idler to make it.

Cammy arrived at my dorm, at the University of Tampa, around 7pm. This was the first time meeting each other and I found her to be a sweet, friendly and talkative individual. Within the first 20 minutes of her arrival, she and I became engrossed in a deep discussion about racial issues present in America and Jamaica. This girl is as intelligent and outspoken as her IL persona…… but still very much the goof.

After the whole “getting to know you” stage, I treated my guest to the grand tour of the school’s campus ……I even managed to get her a free campus t-shirt. Further on into the night I was able to introduce Cammy to my roommates, she was a hit with them and in no time was embraced into our little group.

Cammy, VI_Trini Gyal, two non-idlers and I headed to the club at 11:30 so that we could avoid the $10 cover charge, it was ladies admission and drinks free before midnight. Luckily for us, the line by the club’s entrance was a short one so we managed to get in before the “pay time”. It wasn’t until we had stepped through the front doors that we realized the line outside was to be no indication what was within. The place was crammed, especially the first floor which was filled with mostly females. Anticipating that the crowd would perhaps increase as the night progressed, we moved to the second floor which was less packed, and it was there that we got to enjoy the music without all the squashing and toe mashing.

Poison Dart, a Florida- Caribbean sound (and a regular at Club Prana) started off the night with dancehall, reggae oldies and hip-hop. At about 2:00am, Delano arrived and played more recent dancehall and reggae songs. Cammy seemed to enjoy the music a WHOLE LOT and danced up a storm for most of the night, while I was happy to get a break from Poison Dart’s routine mixes.

Our night ended at around 3:00 am after we had to stand in the 50º weather to catch a cab. Just our luck, after freezing our butts off forever, we were treated to the worst car ride ever, thanks to all the drunks who obviously didn’t know the wise saying “Don’t drink and Drive”. There were others as well, who though not driving, became major pains other-wise, like for instance a group of fraternity guys from my school who kept knocking on the top of the car as we drove by, badgering the cab driver asking if he could give them a ride, though it was obvious that there was no space. All in all, we made it back to the dorm in one piece and could laugh at the experience. The night had been rather enjoyable and even though the group size was small, and the night was extremely cold, all had a bit of fun…and can’t wait to do it again….SOON.