Got my Affliction Sorrow hoodie in the mail today. Sweet hoodie. Its a thinner hoodie, in silver lava wash, with lots of silver foil accenting on the front and back, with the signature skull sipper pull. Lots of fraying and destroyed edges typicaly of affliction’s style.
This is thing like a long sleeved top, with a thin hood. Not a sweater, but its perfect for me!
Nanaimo’s ever-changing bar-scene had a new introduction a couple months ago with the Spice Lounge. As far as I know this establishment is owned and operated by the same guys that brought you the Queens. This past weekend was my first experience in the place, and it was a good one – environment was safe, with lots of seating. Though I would have a few complaints, but still far better than the previous club in that location, “Malibu”. Previous to it being the Malibu, it was Desperados. The Spice Lounge is different, and a fresh change.
I’ll break my review down into a few areas, but they are based on a single experience. Cover charge is $7, same as the Queens.
Bouncers/Staff
The staff at Spice Lounge is great, and probably among the best I’ve seen around… with great bouncers at the door(s). The only problem I would say is the need to have the line up outside when there is a lot of room inside for them to wait, but this is to make the job of dealing with the people easier for them, and is understandable.
The bartenders were great, friendly and actually treated me quite well. Above average I would say.
Decor/Interior
The decor inside is pretty sparse, with scattered tables and booths along one side. There are stand up bar stools and tables along each side of the dance floor, which is a bit small for the amount of people in there on Saturday Night. We had trouble dancing amidst the crowds of college kids (several of us being college kids ourselves).
The layout itself has changed little from what it used to be like when it was the Malibu, but feels cleaner than it used to be.
Entertainment
The live show touch was a very cool idea, but the rappers on stage had some sound problems I think, because the sound was a bit shrill and hurt my ears at certain points and it sounded like the amps might have been clipping. The beginning was very cool because there were some guys there breakdancing before the bar really filled up and they were really good. This was around 10:30. There was a woman singing with the rappers that had a great voice and sounded good.
In-between the rap acts they played club music at more reasonable levels and that’s mostly when the dance floor filled up.. during the live rap most people just kinda watched and bounced a bit.
Atmosphere
Younger crowd than the Queens, similar to the crowd that would have been at the Grizzly before it was shut down. I would say that most were in their 20’s, and quite the fashion show reminiscent of the Vancouver club scene. Lots of beautiful girls dressed very nicely, with lots of guys wearing hot brands like Christian Audigier, Don Ed Hardy, Affliction, True Religion, etc.
Obviously I was wearing Affliction.
Very surprising as it’s showing that the club scene in Nanaimo has progressed to buying their clothes in Vancouver or online. Not very many people in Nanaimo want a $300 hoodie/zip up or $100 t-shirts. Even the bouncer commented on my Affliction button-down because he has the same shirt!
One of the girls with us had a Drink bought for her by a guy that she had a class with.. pretty classy. Seemed like a nice enough guy. I ran into lots of people I know in there, the girls from Moxies, some people I know from the Starbucks days and other old acquaintances.
The bar was packed by 1am when we left, and the lineup had shortened quite a bit from the 50-60 there were when I went out to check at 12:15 or so. Only about 10 people outside as we left.
I think the location of Spice Lounge is good, with the entrance on the front side… makes it feel less shady. All in all, I would go again, but as the people get more and more drunk, it gets rowdier towards the end of the night. I still prefer to head out around 1am, being a non-drinker myself.
I added two more goodies to the affliction collection, their clothes are easily my favourite line out there right now. I love the tea stain colors and their prints are amazing. I saw some of the Red Label stuff today and its beautiful, unfortunately the color left much to be desired.
I walked away spending only $400 (very little considering how much i COULD have spent!), and picked up a hoodie and a long sleeve shirt for myself, and a beautiful (and VERY hot) Guess shortall dress for the lady. This clothing stuff is starting to cost more than knives and watches… I think I need to get rid of some of my clothes, I am running out of room! Maybe I`ll ebay some stuff or give it to the Salvation Army..
District Clothing just got a new batch of Affliction in, with a few hoodies to choose from, and some long sleevers. Having tried on just about every single new thing that came in, I ended up with two, leaving the two other hoodies that actually had Size Smalls incase Frank wanted to get one.
I picked up the Affliction Scythe Long Sleeve shirt in White Oil Stain:
Really nice detailing with this one.. gold foil accenting and really cool color for the shirt. And like almost all Affliction stuff, its made in the USA. Actually the only one I have that is not made in the USA is the button down, which was made in China.
The hoodie I`m totally stoked about. I absolutely love the way the shirts have the affliction logo studded and sewn to the top back of some of the shirts. I`ll need some more t-shirts with the sewn on logo.
I picked up the Black Blood Letter Hoodie:
What I liked about the Blood Letter one was the silver foil accenting on the print.. the other two hoodies also had the sewn Affliction logo on the top, but did not have foil accents. However, the Monocle one had some Blue embroidering on it which was pretty damn cool. Also the hood on that one was embroidered too. The large skull on the back was not my favourite but I did like the blue accents. Here`s a shot of that one:
Nice Hoody… maybe Frank will buy it 😉 I sure can`t afford to buy anything else! And I still have to get my buddy a present too for his birthday and christmas
Song: 2 man show by Timbaland
Drinks: water and coffee
Feeling: nervous to work at a new place for the night
TV Channel: score highlights
Craving: Dim Sum
Favourite clothing: the new black/gray Guess 2fer
Favourite electronic: cellphone – Sony Ericsson T650i
Desire: making even more out of my life
Urge: to implusively buying an expensive Cuban cigar and smoking it
Thought: I am ready to start my day…
Savour…
Its easy to find great jeans and great shirts, but sometimes, especially in the wet, west coast climate, you have to wear a jacket… and this is often difficult to blend with some seriously distressed looking clothing like Affliction and somewhat destroyed jeans. Does a wool/cashmere blended jacket go with your Christian Audigier shirt? Maybe. Does it go with your Affliction twofer? Not likely. So what do you wear? Another Affliction Leather Jacket? An Ed Hardy Hoodie? Maybe.
The Jacket/Outerwear has always been a challenge with certain types of clothing. Why doesn’t Don Ed Hardy make jackets? Why doesn’t Christian Audigier make jackets? Affliction only makes like one jacket (and some blazers). I can’t wear a hoodie everywhere. Of all the brands out there, my favourites for outwear would be Energie, Diesel, Guess and RW & Co. Leather also works really well with a lot of stuff. A Simple black Leather jacket is very versatile, with a somewhat distressed Leather good a a second purchase.
Here are some black jackets to check out that might go well with your gear.. as well all know, black is perfect for those colder winter evenings:
Above Jacket from Guess
Above Jacket by Diesel – Wortice Jacket Available at Revolveclothing.com
Above Jacket by Energie – Available at Revolveclothing.com
For a little less black, here are some non-black offerings that I think are quite nice:
Above Freshjive Militia Denim Jacket – Available at rock-rebel.com
Above Elk Lake Jacket from Abercrombie & Fitch (I guess this one is actually black too!)
Faux Shearling Coat from Armani Exchange (looks better in person)
Those are just some of my suggestions 🙂 Hope you guys enjoy ’em!