Friday night: Dave Chislett
Ten years ago, much against my will, I spent two hormone-fuelled years in Port Elizabeth completing my high school career. As a Johannesburg boy, recently transplanted to the coast, I hated the place. My nickname for it at the time was PE-nis by the sea. Now, my good friend Hagen Engler calls it Noddyland. So things have changed a bit.
As a nervous 18-year-old, I remember getting six of the best for being caught supping lager in the local pub. Back then, there were about two places worth going to: Lillies, down at the Humewood Holiday Inn, and a dodgy downtown place called Razzmatazz. All of that, thankfully, has changed.
Port Elizabeth basically seems to have decided that it will no longer be the seat of Eastern Cape depression. This Friday night just passed, we stepped out to central PE to get some dinner.
Having been thwarted two nights in a row trying to get into the local Thai eatery, we plump for Al Greco’s Restaurant in Parliament Street. Unfortunately, that is full too. Instead we go for salad next door at Angelo’s Coffee Shop. Nice place, cool dcor and music, just a pity about the service. When we are eventually able to pay our bill and escape, we stroll up the road to Wayne’s World. Here the pool tables had been shoved aside for a dance mayhem evening. R10 a head to get in, and a guaranteed jostle with 50 18- year-olds to get to the bar. Nice, but too busy for us old hands.
After quaffing a quick ale, we head off to the Pavilion on Beach Road to check out all the places there. Half of Port Elizabeth obviously also thinks this is a good idea, as it takes us half an hour to park. First up is Indigo’s dance club. A huge place, playing commercial dance, it is also packed to capacity, with everyone dressed up to kill. Once able to place my tongue back in its anatomically correct position, we leave this lair for Tapas El Sol, just next door. No dance music, just a cover band belting out passable renditions of recent pop tunes.
Determined to sample everything available, we leave the Panty Pavilion, as those non-Nineties males apparently refer to it, and head off to Tikos in search of some jazz. This is a great venue tucked away in the recesses of central, with a nice ambience and dcor. As fate would have it, tonight there is just a one-man band hacking some oldies to death with his guitar. A plate of Nachos did pretty much the same to the concept of Nachos, and we bolted! Having been to five different venues, all of them packed to capacity, the conclusion is that PE is very much on the jol these days. We must have passed by at least another five venues, all as packed as the ones we were brave enough to enter. The bottom line is, if you want to party in PE, you have no excuse for missing out on a good time.
Dave Chislett has just been awarded the Ernst van Heerden creative writing prize for 1998. He also plays base for Anti-Gravity