I went to Pop Life last night. Even though the event is held each Wednesday night at Apostrophe Lounge and I list it each week in my "Events for the Week," I hadn't been in months. In fact, I hadn't been to Pop Life since last summer when it was being held at Loft 1523. I'd been to Apostrophe before, but this was my first time attending Pop Life there. And I was surprised to see that the popular social networking event hasn't slowed down.
It's not often that weekly events continue to go strong after several months, especially with venue changes. Pop Life, which is presented by Creative Loafing and The Sol Kitchen, originally launched in spring 2007 at Prevue in NoDa. It ran until December that year before taking a winter break. It returned for one night during CIAA week, then relaunched last April at Loft 1523. Pop Life and Loft were a perfect fit. The weather and the people were beautiful, and holding conversations on the balcony while overlooking the city's skyline was a favorite for many. But unfortunately, in August the Pop Life organizers and the bar's owners decided to part ways.
Thus, Pop Life was reborn at Apostrophe a month later. Even though it took me four months to check it out here--hey, Charlotte has more nightlife options than ever now--Pop Life is still the best event to go to on a Wednesday night. It has evolved a little since its beginnings, though. It continues to be free and start at 6 p.m., but the crowd is now less after-work and more late-night. Not too late, but last night I arrived around 8:45 and Apostrophe was only about a third full. By 10 p.m. though, it was packed. When I left a little after 11, people were still coming.
This is Apostrophe Lounge before the crowd takes over.
The best thing about Pop Life has always been the crowd and the music. It's a group of mostly 25-35-year-olds, slightly more women than men, and just about everyone is well dressed (I think they all go home after work, change clothes, then come out). And the music last night was particularly great. I know DJ Johnnie Davis was in the house, but he wasn't playing while I was there. Whoever the DJ was, he was rocking, and he did it mostly by playing music from what I consider the best period in hip-hop: 1995-2000. He played the Fugees, Lauryn Hill, early Nas, classic Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Outkast, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, and he blended it all so perfectly. You could nod your head or do a two-step and not have to change your bop the whole time.
And there's something else that's different about Pop Life now, at least for me. I joined Facebook a few months ago, after resisting the urging of friends for about a year. Everybody and their mama is on Facebook now (literally) and a lot of people are addicted to it. I like it, but I'm no addict. But it made last night different because there were a few people there who I don't really know but they're my Facebook friends, largely because of the social site's "People You May Know" tool. Throughout the night, as I would see them, I was wondering, "Should I go over and say hello?" It felt weird so I didn't. I did go over and speak to radio personality Consuella, however (I don't know her either but her trademark hair is easily recognizable). I told her how my blog post about her birthday party last July at Stir continues to get a lot of web traffic. The party was hosted by R&B singer Mya and I posted a few pics.
We're partying and networking in the Internet age. Get use to it.
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