Anna

Mueller

ENGL 1102

Club Phoenix The figured world that I am observing is club Phoenix located in downtown Charlotte. The reason I decided to observe this figured world is not because I want to party and use it for my homework, but because I actually know a lot of people that work there and have worked an event there myself, which gives me an inside view about this figured world. Like most clubs Phoenix is a nightlife and entertainment business making money off of entrance fees and drinks. Even though many various types of people go to Phoenix, all of them go for the same reason and therefore are crowds that like to dance and go clubbing, or just be social. Many activities like dancing, singing, drinking, socializing, or even working can, and mostly do, take place at the same time. Though this figured world is stereotypically a place of no rules and going wild, there are a lot of conventions and rules that need to be followed. The most obvious one is the age of admittance into the club. On Thursday nights Phoenix allows 18+ crowds to enter because it is college night, but on Friday and Saturday nights only people 21+ are allowed. Another important convention is dress code. Unless there is a themed event, the dress code is always dressy attire. Even though it is a very relaxed environment, one must wear decent clothing that look put together to enter because the club wants a certain image promoted. There are no sweatpants or saggy pants allowed for guys. This figured world is very loud and has almost no limit to the loudness, but there is a certain limit on the behavior of the people attending. You will immediately get kicked out if you get to loud yelling at someone, or picking a fight with someone. You can also never get rude or talk disrespectful to the people working there. The flip side to the rules and conventions change a little bit for someone that is actually under employment at the club. Those people are not allowed to consume alcoholic drinks or go socialize, unlike the customers that are encouraged to. They can of course talk and meet people but to them it is a complete different environment because their job is to actually look after the people that are encouraged to let loose, dont worry, and have a good time. Club Phoenix attracts various people that attend for various reasons, but the main discourse community of this figured world would be a community that has a goal to mingle and meet new people while dancing and drinking. Interview 1 (guest) Rudy Herrera, age 26 1. What are some of your reasons for attending Phoenix over other nightclubs in Charlotte? -Here at Phoenix I see the biggest variety of people 2. What are the differences between Phoenix and another club? -Phoenix has a three stages and a three different dj environment that sets it apart from any other nightclub in charlotte. 3. What are things you like about this club? Dislike?

Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:33 AM Comment [1]: What kind of various types of people? Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:22 AM Comment [2]: It doesnt flow correct, the wording of the sentence sounds awkward Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:32 AM Comment [3]: Awkward transition into next sentence Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:39 AM Comment [4]: First paragraph is cluttered

Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:34 AM Comment [5]: Worded too harshly

Anna Mueller

ENGL 1102

- I experience a wide range of diversity when I go even though there are three floors separated by different djs, the ethnicity and diversity is all intertwined. I dislike that there are more males than females. 4. How would you explain the environment at Phoenix? -The amount of people attending Phoenix range from ages 18-30. It is always wild and energetic when I go. I personally love the environment. 5. What has been your best experience here? -Bringing all my friends to the club and buying out tables and having a great time with my friends on my birthday. Interview 2 (employee) Haris Delic, age 21 1. What was your reasoning of coming to work at Phoenix? -I have a few reasons why I choose to work at phoenix. The main reason is school and staying focused, working period during college is tough for any student. I choose to work Thursday through Saturday so I dont party as much, some would see this as a major impact on their social life but I do not. The pay is extremely well, also my position is VIP coordinator so I receive many bribes and tips for skip line through out the night. 2. Tell me about your experiences working at a nightclub -I do not have any other experiences working at a nightclub; this is a college job that I dont plan on keeping once I graduate. 3. What are some rules and conventions of working at Phoenix and how are some of them hard to follow sometimes? -The main rule to follow is making sure everyone is properly IDd, 1400 people come to phoenix on a Thursday and majority are college kids that are underage. Many attempt to use fake identification; they also try to bribe you for a wristband allowing them to drink. 4. What is the craziest thing that you have witnessed working here so far? What led up to this incident and if it was negative how could it have been stopped? -The craziest thing I have witnessed working at phoenix would defiitntly have to be an incident where a young man was distributing drugs with in the club, this resulted in him being kicked out and outside it turned into a brawl because of this. It was pretty intense to watch but I enjoyed it at the same time. 5. If you could change one thing about the environment/club what would it be and why? -The environment is pretty relaxed already; I dont have any critiques in regards to the environment.

Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:35 AM Comment [6]: Missing punctuation

Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:35 AM Comment [7]: *Definitely

Anna Mueller

Observation 1 Thursday September 5th

ENGL 1102

10:00 pm- As you approach Club Phoenix at 10 pm when the doors open you could easily miss it and walk right past. The dim lighting by the outside railings look deserted without the massive amounts of people that I usually see filling all the empty space. The reason for this is because even though the doors open at 10 pm, the place typically doesnt get busy until 10:30, 11:00, and sometimes even 12:00. When I am a guest at Phoenix on Thursday nights I always see crowds on top of crowds, so it is very odd to see how one hour makes such a big difference. 11:30 pm- As I am sitting outside on the orange couches, I notice quite a difference in the number of guest here. One thing that is very interesting is the process of entrance into Phoenix. This is something I would never really pay attention to since everyone is just trying to get inside quickly. They have two doormen that stand in the front of the building. They have one by the waiting line of phoenix and one at the VIP line who check IDs for entrance. People crave for the feeling of importance. They are willing to do anything and pay any price to just skip the line and be in the spotlight to be admired by people who are not in the VIP line. People that get into the club through the VIP are big groups of girls and people that are willing to pay an extra fee to cut the line. 1:00 am- When walking through the club you can immediately tell that the environment is very diverse in ethnicity and age. I see all kinds of people of all races and all types of norms. I can see that the dance floor is filled with more younger attendees than when I look over to the main bar area, which is filled by a more mature crowd. Only 3 guys are by the bar area dancing, and multiple couples are surrounding the bar as they are socializing and drinking calmly. This is a big difference from only 2 feet away where people and teenagers on the dance floor are very energetic and rowdy. Observation 2 Friday September 6th 11:30 pm- Tonight there is a completely different environment. Friday nights at Phoenix is Ultra Friday. This is an event typically directed toward the Latino community. The reason for there being a large crowd of Latinos is because the promoters for this event, Pepe and Primo, are of Latin descent. You can see a significant difference in the diversity compared to Thursday night where there were a larger variety of people attending. When I walk into the main dance room, I hear the same techno music as usual, but with mixes of Spanish and Latin music. I see a lot more coupling dancing than I did Thursday because most Latin music requires partnering. Drink specials are written and changed every night, and on Fridays there are half price coronas. I see a lot of people with coronas in their hands which could mean one, Spanish people like their coronas, or just two, they are on sale tonight.

Anna Mueller 9/13/13 8:37 AM Comment [8]: Missing references to the definitions and terms, as well as literacy terms.

Anna Mueller 9/18/13 8:56 AM Comment [9]: I like the cultural aspect brought into the observations.

Anna Mueller

ENGL 1102

Observation 3 Thursday September 12th 12:00 pm- Tonight is a lot like last Thursday night. I get a sense that the same types of people are here as the week before from just looking around towards the outside area. I arrived a bit later tonight because it seems as if all the action starts later on in the night. I walk inside and this time I walk into one of the back rooms of the club that I never went into the other nights. I see a change in demographics of the people that are dancing in there. The main room in Phoenix always plays techno music, but in this room there is loud rap and r&b music. I can still hear the other music, but the change in genre of music is very evident. Unlike the varied diversity in the other room, the African American community very predominantly attends this one. To no surprise, this shows that different ethnic groups and races still polarize to what they know and what they are familiar with. 12:30 pm- When I walk upstairs to the tented area of the club, I see a group of people surrounding two guys. They are breakdancing and back flipping! It really looks like a street performance from far away, which I think is really cool. Everyones so focused on how these two guys are moving and the expressions on their faces are all the same. I see many girls and guys taking pictures and it surprises me that all the flash from the cameras doesnt affect their performance. It even blinds me a little just by standing next to all of these cameras. One girl is even taking a video on her iphone and two girls are snapchatting. The more people are standing around, the more people come, but by the smiles and hollers from these two guys it doesnt seem like they mind.

Anna Mueller 9/18/13 8:53 AM Comment [10]: I like the detailed observation, it is easy to follow by the reader