Reprinted from Athens101.com

LEVEL 131 Open

Anonymous Whore writes: "Now open, LEVEL 131, Athens only "true" dance club. Located at 131 W. Broad St. under the University Towers building, LEVEL 131 is a Miami/Tampa style dance club, with a fabulous sound system and huge dance floor. The decor is upscale with an industrial elegance. LEVEL is 18 to party and 21 to drink. Three bars on three levels, means you'll never have to wait in line for a drink. Look for guest D.J.'s in the months to come.

www.level131.com
http://www.myspace.com/level131athens

131 W. Broad St. Athens GA 30601
706-316-1000
level131info@bellsouth.net

Doors open at 9:00 p.m.
18 to party, 21 to drink
Dress Code Strictly enforced
V.I.P. Room available"

Although I haven't visited this new place yet, the first thing that strikes me about their advertisements are the fact that they claim to be Athens only "true" dance club. What, I ask, makes a "true" dance club? I believe that Athens already has Rumor, The Loft, Firehouse and The Ritz...correct? I'm not intimately familiar with any of these places, however, as far as I understand, they play dance music that people dance to in a designated place specifically for dancing. How can you get any more "true" than that? More flashing lights? Glitzy decorations? A guy who sits in a box and spins records? It's fairly presumptuous on their part to assume they're the only ones in town offering a dance atmosphere. I can't stand when new bars open up and immediately proclaim to be the best without any kind of proven track record.

The second is that they're an 18+ club. This, I feel they'll find, will be their undoing eventually. When you put a bunch of people in a room with alcohol, and prohibit some of those people from consuming the alcohol just based on a big black X on their hand or a wristband of some type, they'll always find a way to get their hands on it. And 18 year olds drinking equals 18 year olds fighting. On top of that, when you make your club or bar 21+, the worst you'll normally get are some 18 year olds who manage to slip by with fake IDs once in awhile. When you lower the age to 18, all of the sudden kids actually younger than 18 are making it inside. This presents a slew of problems.

After they're inside it's only a matter of time before they wash off the big black X, or get their underaged little hands on a wristband or have their friends who have fakes, or those who actually are 21, buy them drinks. There's nothing like a 15 year old girl passed out in the bathroom stall. That's never fun to explain to the cops. Or even worse, the of-age club patron who assumes the staff are doing their job, meets a girl at the club and takes her home only to find the next day that he's committed statuatory rape because she's underaged. I hope the staff is ready for that.

But besides that, I wish them the best. They've got a lot to get over, especially in terms of location. The guys at the door will certainly have their hands full.