Reminiscing...

I was randomly looking through google images at old NYC pictures today and I came across a picture of the Palladium. If you don't already know, Rob and I met on the dance floor of that club. Back then, believe it or not I didn't dance. But it was back on March 31, 1995 that we first came into contact. And it was a week later on April 7th that we officially 'met.' I'm not one for believing in fate, but for some odd reason, the planets were aligned or something. It was kismet. And because I saw these pictures I was taken back. I have always said I'd tell the story of how we met but I never get around to it and here I am, 5 days from the 14th anniversary (um...WOW) of our first encounter and I'm finally going to put the story down on paper.

Back then, I hung out with a friend *N often. She had club connections, knew promoters and was on guest lists. We were 17 years old. Still in high school. I was the one friend with as liberal a parent as she had. So we would venture down to city to the NYC clubs and hang out. We used to show up there early. Clubs would open their doors between 10 and 11 with the simple goal to fill up their club with as many girls as possible. So the very fact that we were 17 didn't matter. Like I mentioned before, I didn't really dance back then. *N would meet up with whatever promoter friend she was dealing with, get a drink and bop around to the music. I'd find a place to sit down. The night of the 31st I was sitting on top of a speaker (you know, the bass bottoms that would serve as stages for the barely clad dancers later in the night) and Rob would later tell me that I had a blue light shining on me. *N was bopping around. It was really early so the club was fairly empty and the dance floor was bare.

Except for one guy. There was this one fool, in the middle of the dance floor dancing around and - what was he doing besides dancing??? He was pulling an imaginary rope. That my dear friends was Rob, in his Cesar haircut and a plaid button down shirt open to expose his wife beater. *N was already in love, I just made fun of him. He was pulling an imaginary rope for god's sake! He had come super early with his crew because one/some of them were underage and that's what you did to get into the club back then. It was Heather's birthday.

But beyond the fact that he saw me sitting on the speaker under the blue light (with a tight red mock turtleneck and black corduroy wide leg pants (yes, I wore wide legs back then too) and I was making fun of his overconfidence to dance on an empty dance floor, there was no further interaction. That is until just after midnight, when he managed to come up dancing closer to where *N and I were residing, her dancing around and me perched on yet another speaker. Spotting him she made her move and was dancing with him when I, bored with being there already announced our departure. She had to work the next day and I just wanted to go home. I still remember Rob's face when I said goodbye as he tried to convince us to stay later. *N was giddy at having managed to dance with him. I was happy to just get the hell out of there.

7 days later *N, our friend *K and I found ourselves back at the Palladium. Early again. And let me backtrack but one of my favorite things about that club were the lighted stairs. They were just such a site to greet you at arrival and to lead you away as you left. I used to watch the movie The Secret of My Succe$s with Michael J. Fox just for the scene showcasing this stairwell. Sometime during the night *N took off to the other side of the packed dance floor after spotting Rob across the room. A few minutes later him and his friends were all over by us. I remained firmly planted on the platform. They all danced around. The DJ switched from a house set into reggae and Jose convinced me down off my platform to dance. So I did. *N would flit around from dancing with Rob and his friends back to me. Laughing in her odd manner and savoring the fun and attention. At one point I remember dancing with *N and the next thing I remember was the beginning of the Boricua Anthem being played. *N took my hand and literally FLINGS me into Rob as she turns to dance with someone else. I remember 2 things only of that. The first is the song playing. The second is the fact that I have never been spun so many times in my life. I remember going in circles, laughing all the while. From the first instance where we danced together there was a connection. I can't explain it. Did I like him, no. Not yet. Did he like me. Well yeah. Rob to this day says we were the center of attention in that instance. I think the attention was all his on me. It is the reason that the front page of our invitations said "Y Todo Comenzo Bailando" (translation: and it all began dancing) and it is why when they announced the demolition of the Palladium we took pictures.

The palladium will always have a special place in my heart. And all those memories came flooding back further with these videos posted on you tube. There is the palladium I knew, the one where we met. In the video you see the speaker which I sat on, the platform, the place where we first met. The lighted upstairs bar where he bought me a malibu bay breeze right after that dance and when he thought I was at least 18. You see the stadium seating where we hung out, and the projection/TV screens where they would show japanese animation videos throughout the night.







14 years ago. Time flies.