Asylum's Closure End Of An Era

The recent closure the Asylum night club in New Kingston certainly marks the end of a new era. Similar to when its sister club, Cactus, in Portmore slammed its doors shut. Of course, the suggestion that Asylum has gone beyond its "lifetime" as stated by owner Brian "Ribbi" Chung, is an important factor, but so too the opening of Quad night club, along with the proliferation of street dances in the last couple of years.

These dances- some of them in gated venues, for example Weddy Weddy -started out being totally free and those that do charge, the cover is nominal and in most cases women don't pay. And, the dances are plentiful and flourishing. On any given night, one can easily find one, and in some cases up to three open-air dances which enjoy good patronage, clearly an indication of the vibe the people.

But then, this too is a cycle, as it has happened before when the jamming places were venues such as House of Leo, rather than the clubs. Stone Love, resident House of Leo sound, later moved into the club (read Asylum) where they played at the weekly Dancehall night session.

Quite interesting, is the addition of a new night club to the busy New Kingston strip with the opening of the Pure/Plush night club just last week. It is said that anything that owner Kimani Robinson puts his hand to turns to pure gold, so any debate of its success ought to be purely academic.
SOURCE : Jamaica Observer