You didn't get tired of "the club" when you got old(er). You got tired of so much of the bullshit that is baked into the business and culture of nightlife that wasn't a problem at all when you're young and excited because... youth.

Kicking it with adults doing adult things, enjoying entertainment in community with friends while making new friends, that doesn't get old. Dare I say it becomes even more important when all the un-fun adult things pile up and you need balance.

Of course you demand more for your dollar and the even scarcer resource of your time as you progress in life. No time for velvet ropes and the faux illusion of scarcity, wack drinks, wack music, rude patrons. But even the most staunch retirees from the club still want to kick it.

How do I know this? Because at my private events, the folk who only work hard at their careers and focus on raising their kids to the exclusion of all else? They become parolees with no damn sense at the gala/wedding/holiday party. I see it in their eyes before the salads drop.

They are FERAL. And don't let it be a corporate convention?!!?

Anyone from a city with a longstanding Black cabaret culture knows that kicking it and turning up to your jams with your people does not have a finite age cut-off.

If you got passport stamps, you've been in some places to know that kicking it doesn't stop. Every salsa spot has a smooth ass abuelo that all the young tenders line up to dance with. And it be some lively titis getting it in too.

But you don't have to go anywhere to know this, especially if you're working class you will remember mom, dad, uncles, aunties, even grandparents putting the kids to bed, cracking a bottle and cranking the jams just for around the way kickbacks.

You might have seen pawpaw tell nana to put on that dress he likes so they could go down to the liquor house on Friday night.

Just thoughts of a washed middle-aged DJ who has been in the club since I was 14 years old. Don't mind me. And while my peers end up being provosts and CEOs and sending their kids to college, I'm still slinging jams.

A parting word on this thread though. For real this time. If you get to a place where you only shake your ass when on vacation, your life is severely out of balance.