reggae night at Nameless

So- a few months ago, I wrote about a surreal night where I wound up drinking and dancing at my coworker Pepe's apartment along with a bunch of members of a band. Last night, via a process I won't bore you with, I found out they were playing in nearby Condesa, so I jumped a metrobus to go see them.

I'm glad I'd made a detailed map with the addresss because the venue had no name or sign. There was a security guard standing in the door of a solid metal fence. I asked about music and he frisked me and let me in to a narrow courtyard where there were some people hanging out. Up a small flight of steps into the building, I paid the 60 pesos cover (about $5) and went upstairs to a still sparsely populated bar and dance floor. Really bohemian kind of place. Apparently they host a movie night weekly- this month they're on a David Bowie bender.

People about my age, maybe a little younger. There were a few side rooms where people packed around a table, there was art for sale on the walls, and the few couples on the dark dance floor were shadows against the hot pink lights of the stage. The DJ, who was pretty good, was spinning variations of salsa and electronic mixes.

I mosied up to the bar and ordered a mescal which was prominently displayed, which set me back 50 pesos. The bartender gave me a tall shotglass and an orange slice. It's a good drink, since its strong, slow, and you can sip it for a long time.

The set was supposed to start at 10, so naturally the band started showing up around 10:40. By then, the club had filled up and the combination of tequila and mescal had warmed me up and I was simply enjoying the music and the silhouttes of all the salsa dancers on the dance floor.

When they started playing, it was kind of a mix of ska-reggae which I'd been expecting. It's not really my kind of music, so I stayed for the first half of the set and left around midnight to walk home. Condesa is pretty at night, filled with lush trees, loud house parties, people walking to and returning from bars and clubs and parties at that time of the night. I grabbed some oreos from a convenience store on the way back, and that was my night.