Prince's Glam slam

[Elson Trinidad]

This is for the person who requested info on Prince's Glam Slam clubs.
This is taken from the entertainment section of the Los Angeles DOWNTOWN
NEWS, April 19, 1993 issue:

PURPLE PEOPLE
Prince's Glam Slam a Clusterfunk Multiplex
By Stacy Kravetz

Glam Slam, Prince's new dance venue in the old Vertigo space, is not
so much a club with a requisite exclusivity as a multiplex of different
environments peddling overstimulation as you move from video wall to dance
floor, from velvet corner booth to concrete patio with bongo player.
Two oversized figurines, clad tonight in purple sequined bikinis,
"hold up" the ceiling above the full-sized stage; entwined goldtone nude
figures encircle two pillars on the dance floor. Red, gold and green velvet
diamond pillows creep up walls and over booths, like a Mad Hatter mushroom
derby gone awry.
VIDEO WALL
Door policy is first come, first served, with a reasonable dress code-
no denim, no caps, no tennis shoes-- that's a far cry from the notoriously
capricious door policy of the last club to occupy the concrete facade on
Boylston Street. Sure, there's a roped-off celebrity corner and a VIP room
for a quick getaway, but Glam Slam exists for the common man, the Regular
Josephine, the everyday danceaholic.
Since it opened with a Prince show a couple months back, owners say the club has hit its 1500 capacity every night. There he has a reputation for an
enigmatic, Garbo-like reticence, Prince is magnanimous with his fans, says
managing partner and part owner Steve Edelson. At a sold-out show, Edelson
relates, Prince rented out a P.A. system and a video wall so he could broadcast his show to shut-out fans in the street.
Though his imprint is everywhere, club personnel have been instructed
not to talk about His Purpleness. "He's the creative force behind the club"
is all anyone at Glam Slam will say.
So was all this velvet and gold his idea? "He's the creative force
behind the club," parrots designer Cliff Cunningham. He is permitted, however,
to detail his own part of the work: serching out the vintage pieces and
redoing the sparse Vertigo space to the tune of around $2 million.
At least Prince hasn't contractually obligated them to call him "The
King of Pop."
Bringing customers Downtown at night, long after business hours, is not
getting any easier. Accordingly, Glam Slam has gone out of its way to
make people feel safe, with flood lights around the outside, off-duty
policemen patrolling the grounds and a metal detector at the door.
It's also the only Glam Slam location -- there's one in Prince's
Minneapolis home base and one in Yokohama, Japan -- with a restaurant. And
we're not talking nachos and beer nuts in wood bowls, either: Here a Cordon
Bleu chef serves up California cuisine -- crab cakes, rack of lamb -- to tables
divided by hanging glit mesh screens and diverted by unceasing "video
wallpaper" and a stage for live performers.
The Prince question lingers, though. His association with the club
surely has something to do with the impressive roster so far -- which
has included Bo Diddle, Peter Gabriel, Ice Cube, the Ohio Players, the Purple
One himself. He even has a private, tinted-window box above the dance floor
to view the proceedings when he's in town.
So can anyone say anything more than "He's the creative force
behind the club?"
"There are Princedom people who are attracted to the club because
he's involved," says John Rohmer, Glam Slam's events coordinator, "so we're
marketing some of that."
But the main idea is a Downtown venue for top-notch entertainment and
dance music, Rohmer says. If the "creative force" behind it happens to be
a self-made funk savant, so much the purpler.
Fridays and Saturdays are the big dance nights, Friday a "cabaret" with
slow funk, acid jazz and rare groove, and Saturday featuring R&B, funk, hip
hop and light house. Weeknights are a medley of dance music and performance,
from retro-disco '70s funk and faves to Monday night's R&B showcase and jam
session and Tuesday nights' live acts. It's not unusual to see an average
local band followed up by the Average White Band.
The first Friday of every month is the Move To The Groove Ball, with
performances by members of the Dancers' Alliance.

Glam Slam is located at 333 S. Boylston St. Hours: 9pm-2am weeknights,
9pm-3 or 4am weekends. sunday morning "after hours" from 3-10am. Phone:
213-482-6626.
21 and over except Sunday nights, when it's 18-amd-over. Admission:
$15 weekends, $10weeknights. Special performances vary. Self parking $5; valet
available.