Marine Hall, Fleetwood, (Blackpool Tower weekend, 2016)

John Hickey-Fry's Marine Hall interior, CC 2.0

 

I can think of a few examples most unlike the more low-key DJ spots I mentioned. Most memorably, Beth Anne Osborn. I heard her the first year of the Blackpool Tower weekend (2014) which was the only year I went. Video. I already mentioned the highlights for me of that weekend, which were neither the music nor the dancing. I heard Beth Anne DJ at the Marine Hall in Fleetwood on the Sunday. 

'A':  What can you do if the DJ is playing painfully loud music?

'B':  Normally I leave, and avoid that DJ in future.

'A':  Can you say something?

'B':  Yup. You can tell the organiser why you are leaving.

'A':  I asked the organiser to do something about the sound which was so loud I was wincing & my ear hurt. I sat and sat and sat. I enjoyed watching the dancers for quite a while. The music was good. I talked to the DJ for 5 minutes. She runs the Portland tango festival. 

'B': Famous for the likes of this . (I have never been.)

'A':  I learnt some interesting things about tango in Ann Arbor, Michigan & her view of the differences in guys internationally. But the volume was still going up & down. When she put on Fresedo so loud it distorted the sound I'd had enough. Where we had been chatting, behind the speakers it was fine & she only walked the room once (after I complained to the host! ).

I left and took a walk along the beach in the sun and went back in later.

As I was leaving my friend came out to see if I was alright. I said I wanted fresh air & sunshine. She asked if I was having a nice time. I explained. "You're not in the mood, are you?" she said. "You're not making any effort to dance! Take off your cardigan & look as though you want to dance! "

'B': Ah. Start with a lie. :)

'A': I protested, "I'm cold!".  It was a big, chilly room.  On the one hand what she said was all perfectly true. But I was doing the textbook thing - waiting to be asked & keeping an eye out. But no I wasn't in the mood & getting less so every ten minutes. I'd avoided a few "late cruisers": guys who walk the hall after the tanda has started. I wasn't sure how they danced but I didn't think it was worth the risk. And I wasn't returning eye contact with guys with whom I didn't know how they danced. So after I'd been there an hour & a half I realised it wasn't salvageable & left.