Club Zero

The place was owed by a guy named Jeff Galia and he was like a European sort of guy.  Like Czech or Yougoslavian.  There were fair amount of those sorts Ukrainian in Rochester New York and he was one and he owned the club and somehow I ended up working there at night showing films and slides to make light shows or music videos on demand from the perch above the bathrooms I think that is the way it was.

I can’t remember how I got the job.  It almost wasn’t like that because I argued with Galia every night over how much cash he would give me in the 40 to 50 dollar range.  We could drink all the Rolling Rock we wanted.  We got stoned and drank.  I made the light shows.

The thing about it all was that of jobs or gigs I’ve had when making the shows I got completely into it.  That was the thing that gets to me because that ought to have another time from some other work.  Nope.  That is it.  I would put the projectors looking at three walls early in the night when the DJ was just started and then as the night moved on I would move them finally to all merging over the back the dance floor.

I had my films ad my slides 16 and Super 8 and 35 mm slides and I combined them to the music and I became completely absorbed in doing that watching what I did and the DJ did and the dancers dance.

I knew at the time I was getting into a certain headspace rare.  At least I appreciated it at the time.

When I was working there three guys beat the shit out of me.  If I had gone down they would have likely killed me kicking my head.  This guy named Nick brought this porno star with sprinkles of glitter on her chest.  He introduced me with the idea that later we might make a movie.  I’d had him in this movie I made for a contest and lost while in college.

He introduced me when I was standing with Jeff Galeia so it was like he introduced her to us.  Three guys were standing around behind Jeff and curious about the woman who was striking.  Then Jeff turned and told them “Oh yeah, she’s a porno star.”

They, at least one of them out of the leering three grabbed her by the arm and was pulling on her and I interceded.  Nick stood there and Jeff was gone.  It was beyond short dark Nick.

I worked at separating these people.  But I made a mistake and said, “I don’t like you.” and when I had them apart down the long L of the bar.  The place was good easy for three hundred and 75 people as I remember a placard.  The music was loud.

Still as I was ordering beers down the bar thinking I’d separated them all I was blindsided hard and couldn’t see anything much.  I’d put my elbow into somebody and have never been sure really it was one of them.  It is pretty sure.  There were witnesses.  The fight went all the way up the long bar.

At the double doors where there is the center slam post?  That steel that the doors come to so they can be dead bolted is what I was holding onto when I was smashed in the face with a beer bottle.  Broke my nose.

Then I went to New York City and started driving a lighting and grip truck.  I got beat up there later too.  There was lots of work and all in between then and now.  Different jobs.

Still the one where I was most involved was making the light shows.

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