Tag Archives: Editorials

Defining ‘Nightlife’

It’s likely that you have a clear idea of what constitutes nightlife. Images you associate with ‘nightlife’ are probably stills from bars, clubs and partying. It’s a grounded concept for anyone who has lived in a metropolis, or even watched their fair share of cinema.

However, this general feeling-of-a-nightlife essence lacks the direction I’m looking for. With the intention of setting content parameters for Ammeter, something I’ve defined as a nightlife and electronic music blog, I would like to arrive at a comprehensive definition of “nightlife.” Sometimes it’s tough for me to look at this blog and place my finger on its focus. Perhaps this definition will guide me

The OED defines “nightlife” as “social activities or entertainment available at night in a town or city.”

This definition shoots in the right direction, but it seems lazy. According to the OED, a sushi dinner, a tipsy social walk around a lake, and a house party could constitute ‘nightlife.’ At the same time, going to a daytime public disco, or staying out through the night and into the next day, activites which I would categorize as ‘nightlife,’ are not included. I like where the OED definition is heading with ‘social activites and entertainment’ as being the primary subjects of nightlife, but I think it can be narrowed down.

There is a potential energy around the ‘night-‘ of nightlife that deserves recognition. Since the activity of socialization and entertainment can happen at any time of day, I don’t read the ‘night’ of nightlife literally. However, it is an important qualifier, for ‘life’ alone is far too vague, and something like ‘entertainment and social life’ is far too beaurocratic. The ‘night-‘ of nightlife is important, and not because it refers to life after the sun sets.

What is it about ‘night-‘ that’s important then? The night is a time of un-seeing, of blindness, of hiding, of concealment. It is at night that the undesirable activities of humanity are represented. It draws our fascination because of Its frequent status at the edge of our social paradigm. It is here that nightlife rests. It is at the edge. It is the place where humans push their comfort zones and excite their minds, whether that has to do with dance, intoxicants, or socialization. It is this quality that the OED misses.

Thus, nightlife, as defined by Ammeter, is:

“A public gathering of people whose assembly, entertainment, and liminal activity is the intent of their gathering.”

Transmedia Reporting and Electronic Music

This morning I was reading an article by lecturer and professor Henry Jenkins about effective use of transmedia forms and the entertainment industry’s slugish ability in adopting the form.

‘Transmedia’ is a term that describes a media phenomenon that exists across multiple platforms and which facilitates different user experiences depending on the platform. Pokemon is one of the best examples of a transmedia concept, as identified by Jenkins. The Pokemon world is one that exists across TV series’, movies, manga, video games, card games, and etc.

The Wartortle universe is expanded by this expertly crafted fan-music.

Transmedia Journalism

As the transmedia practice tends to enrich a users interaction with subject matter and offer a user opportunities to demonstrate agency with media interaction, I believe that the practice would benefit journalism.

In fact, journalism has exists transmedia since the printing press entered popular use, when one could,perhaps, receive news from both a town crier and a local pamphlet.

In this day and age, news about an event is delivered in print, on the radio, and across the internet in the form of news outlets, blogs, or podcasts.

Transmedia Music Journalism

Music reporting and journalism are, by definition, transmedia. Listening to the music of a local musician who I recently read an interview from will broaden my impression of that musician.

When writing about music on Ammeter, linking to that music or accompanying an article with a recorded interview is transmedia. I wonder about other ways that I can expand transmedia practice as a electronic music reporter. Below are a list of ideas. Let me know if any stand out to you!

  • Print expertly designed posters concerning electronic music events that Ammeter appreciates and paste them up around town.
  • Print and distribute local electronic music guide-zines that inform readers about Vancouver’s grassroots electronic music organizers.
  • Post emails or “letters to the editor” from readers concerning their experiences with particular venues or events.
  • Post music produced by Ammeter staff after they’ve attending a music production workshop.
  • Hand write and hand out endearing notes to dancers at music events that are “from Ammeter.”

It feels like linking to music and posting podcasts / or interviews are insubstantial in modern journalism. Branching out to new forms of media could only benefit the publication.

Adam

Main St. Development in Photos

Below is a sequence of photos from Vancouver’s False Creek and Main Street area taken from the Google maps database. They date from 2000 to 2018 (excluding ’06 and ’10 – ’12).

It takes a few cycles of the GIF to notice changes. A particular area of interest is south of the water.

The stress associated with the transformation of old neighbourhoods and soaring property values have been felt in many modern cities around the world. Indeed, this problem may come to define era in coming decades.

This stress has a particularly tangible burden on cultural spaces, which tend to pull in less profits than a traditional business, especially if they are presenting alternative forms of media.

As you look at this sequence, consider how Vancouver’s landscape, or the landscape of any modern city, may come to accommodate cultural spaces. Where could those spaces be? What effects will the inclusion or exclusion of these spaces have on your city? Are these the right questions to ask?

I would love to read your answers to these questions in the comments below.

Adam

Why Study Nightlife? An Answer in Conversation with Nietzsche on Music and Myth

At times, it feels arbitrary to study nightlife, or to even want to study nightlife. The primary function of nightlife often appears to be simple: to entertainment. However, At other times, it feels like I take the elements of nightlife, of the organised party, for granted. What could those elements be? Can studying the phenomenon of nightlife reveal humanity in a fresh perspective? I like to think so. With this in mind, it seems worth it to explore the question “why study nightlife?”

My automatic answer is that leisurely congregation is an important form of community brainstorming where prevelant qualities of a group become visible in personal contexts. It is the site where human desire, and desire’s associated behaviours, rise to the surface of our collective broth. Desire is a flexible, flowing phenomenon by which the whims and fears of a group are revealed. The club is a location that facilitates an exploration of these qualities, thus it is an important modern institution for any individual.

Philosophers have proposed theories that consult my question more articulately (albeit indirectly.) For Friedrich Nietzche, in The Birth of Tragedy, it is essential for music to be accompanied by tragic myth. According to him, these two elements identically simulate transcending individuality. They are both born from “the playful construction and demolition of the world of individuality as an outpouring of primal pleasure and delight” (the Dionysiac) as in the case of a child who builds a castle from rock and sand only to knock it down with the tide (783).

To facilitate this process are structures that form beauty (The Apolonian), for there is no sand castle without a basic idea of architecture and there is no rhythm without musical consistency.

When Nietzsche talks about music and tragedy, I imagine he pictured the orchestra and the theatre company. The Birth of Tragedy pivots on the theatrical legends of ancient Greece where the elements of tragedy are explicit.

Considering that theatre is nearly absent in the contemporary club, Nietzsche might find club culture to be particularly flimsy. He claims that the relationship between music and myth is so intimate “that the atrophy of the one would be connected to the degeneration and deprivation of the other” (783).

In search for a reason to study nightlife, I reject this deduction. As the image of nightlife has shifted from the theatre and the seated club and centred on our modern evolution of the saloon, humans have also shifted their mythological value. In the dance hall of today, these myths are rarely expressed intentionally and are open to speculation.

Myth is, after all, simply a narrative that one tells one’s self to inform behaviour, or as they say at Modern Mythology, myth “allows us to establish a place within history for ourselves.”

Many secular myths are prevalent in the club. Some that come to mind are myths of gender (and its degradation,) of masculinity and femininity, myths of sexuality, myths of authenticity, robust economic myths, myths of democracy and etc.

It is these myths that fascinate me and drive me towards nightlife. I don’t feel equipped to judge society’s Dionysiac capacity, but I believe that Nietzsche’s connection between music and myth is a useful perspective of nightlife. Myths like the ones suggested above add substance and social cues to late night socialisation and dance. Critiquing that substance enables us to discern whether it functions to improve social health or to damage it, thereby allowing us to adjust our patterns of socialisation. Studying the club presents intimate planes for growth.

Work Cited
Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. “The Birth of Tragedy.” ed. Vincent Leitch. 2nd ed. Norton. 2010. Print.