GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Volcanoes' "Phat Tuesdays" gives kids a chance to meet and have alcohol-free fun. Tuesdays is all-ages night, drawing high school and middle school students who heat up the dance floor until 3 a.m.
A new club, Volcanoes,
is the alcohol-free place
to socialize on Tuesday nights
That old marketing adage "If you build it they will come" is proving true in a big way this summer as two promoters and a radio station have teamed up to produce an all-ages event at Volcanoes (formerly World Cafe), the warehouse-style nightclub in Iwilei.
Phat Tuesdays
An all-ages weekly nightclub event:Party time: 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Tuesdays
Place: Volcanoes (formerly World Cafe), 1130 N. Nimitz Highway
Admission: $10.
Call: 528-7071.
Note: Volcanoes is an "all ages club" only on Tuesdays
"If you open up a place with good promotions, they will come. But you can't just open a place and expect them to come. It has to be good," said Mike G, of the Joynt, who has joined forces with G-Spot of Double-O-Spot Productions and I-94 radio to produce the weekly "Phat Tuesdays" parties.
Their marketing campaign started in the spring, with flier crews working high school campuses. (The fliers offer $2 off the cover charge, and judging by the double line of excited clubgoers filing in on a recent Tuesday, G's distribution crew had gotten them into a lot of hands.)
The flier crews are working the malls now that summer is here, Mike G said, because kids in summer school can't party on weeknights anyway.
Several hundred people were in line at 9 p.m. waiting for the club to open when the event kicked off on June 10, and the line was still around the corner three hours later, even though the cavernous ground floor was filled close to capacity.
The following Tuesday, people were still in line at 1 a.m.
"This club is bumping, it's happening. Everybody comes here -- all ages -- because this is the bomb. Not only young 'uns come over here, but the 18-and-overs come over here, also. All ages. This is the place to be," Chris Ganier, 19, said with emphasis.
"The club is dope, it's cool. It's pretty hot, but it's all good," Shawn, 16, said, adding that he planned to stay until closing.
"The thing good. (You) meet plenty new people here, everybody can be ohana," Kama, 17, added.
James, 16, was probably speaking for many other guys when he mentioned another thing that makes "Phat Tuesdays" hot: "Plenty fine chicks, brah."
The term "all ages" means exactly that -- most of the clientele are high school and middle school students out to make the most of summer vacation, but the party also attracts adults 18 to 20 who are still too young to get into most local nightclubs. A few preteens show up, some loosely chaperoned by a responsible adult; one young man on week three said he was 11.
Parents concerned by the thought of preteens partying until the wee hours may be reassured by Mike G's take on the the state's curfew law. The law states that children under 16, at a private place open to the public after 10 p.m. and before 4 a.m., must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or adult authorized by a parent or guardian.
First, the co-promoter says, the event is intended to provide teenagers with a safe alternative to "cruising" or "hanging out." "I was actually one of the very first people that did a lot of high school parties," he explains.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
I-94 DJ and all- ages party hostess Tati, left, turns the microphone over to club patrons.
"I did them for about five years, took a break and now I'm doing 'Phat Tuesdays' with G-Spot and, with all my events, I've kept it a fun and safe, drug-free environment. If kids are going to be out, I think it's safer for them to be here, and if parents want to come in with their kids, they're more than welcome to come in and watch over them. We've actually had a few parents up there (on the club's second floor) already."
Volcanoes and the promoters apparently take their responsibilities seriously. Hand-held metal detectors are used on every patron entering the club and no alcohol is sold downstairs -- not even to adults obviously of drinking age.
Alcohol can be consumed only on the second floor, and only those whose IDs pass the scrutiny of a staffer at the foot of the stairs are allowed upstairs.
The under-21s interviewed over three recent visits were unanimous in saying that "Phat Tuesdays" is about the music, the people and the chance to legally party in a real nightclub. Alcohol isn't an issue.
But is there room for "Phat Tuesdays" to be, well, even "phatter"?
Kenesha Quinn and Jean Martin, both 17, suggested more variety in the music, maybe some Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
“The club is dope, it’s cool. It’s pretty hot; but it’s all good. ” --Shawn, 16, a Volcanoes club patron who planned to stay until closing.
"They play like five songs five times, and that gets boring," Martin said, although, she added, "(The event) is fun when your friends come."
Anyone concerned about the lyrics of the music being played can relax. The deejays who provide the music for "Phat Tuesdays" -- K-Smooth from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. and DJ Wreck before and after that -- play the "clean" versions of "Hoochie Mama" and "How Do You Want It."
I-94 radio personality Big Teeze, who presides as the event's top dawg, says the event fills an important niche, giving juveniles and adults under 21 a place to party in an alcohol-free nightclub.
"It's a great place for kids to hang out one night of the week in the summertime when they're free," he said. "They're down there, the adults can come up here, everybody's happy and it is happening."
At sometime around 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning, when cars were still entering the Volcanoes parking area, a security guard offered the opinion of a disinterested third party:
"I'd rather have the kids than the adults any night of the week," he said. "If kids need to use a restroom, they ask where it is. The adults just use a corner."
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