Some Cherished Moments at the Q Club

Our past is always with us. Some small favours we do for ambitious young men often turn out to be profitable ventures. I realized this fact a couple of weeks ago. I was driving home when a young friend of mine called me on the phone. He had secured a job as a Disc Jockey at a new club along Allen Avenue and he wanted me to see the place. Though tired and had many unfinished chores waiting for me at home, I could not turn down his request. He had over the years been an effective foot soldier of mine. Besides, he sounded desperate on the phone. Apparently, that phone call was his lucky call out of many as he had tried me severally within the week but could not get through to me. Since I was somewhere at Ikeja GRA, and guessed that it could take me not more than ten minutes to drive to Allen Avenue, I decided to spare a few moments for my friend.

Allen Avenue is a popular street in the day but notorious at night. There are many businesses on Allen Avenue that are run twenty four hours a day. This is truly good for the economy of Lagos. I have often imagined how the economy of Lagos could be expanded if all essential business are run round the clock. I have thought of a situation whereby the government of Lagos State could establish a security outfit to complement the police at night and thereby provide the needed security for those who would want to operate businesses at night. My thinking is that the Lagos State government would recoup its cost on such a security outfit from some form a tax on such night businesses. But that is an issue for me to pursue on another day. I love Lagos and have pledged to highlight all that is good about and in Lagos. That is why I must turn to my trip to Q Club.

Driving past the police on the junction that connects Opebi, Toyin Street and Allen Avenue, I could sense that the police were more particular about the ladies that lined up the three streets and it was easy to guess why the police are particular about them. The daughters of Eve who engage in the oldest profession populate it at night and provide a cover for many other underhand trades. But that did not bother me and I do not think it bothered the crowd of people I drove past along the street on my way to Q Club. I got into the club at time the crowd was light and that afforded my friend DJ Blinky B the opportunity to show me round the facilities and grounds of the Club. After the tour of the new and tastefully furnished Club, it was time for me to meet a gentleman who was simply introduced as Frank. He looked every bit a clubber. He was massaging a glass of beer and looked like he enjoyed what he was drinking. Although he exuded great confidence he was good-natured enough to share some moments with me before he was pulled away by some other clubbers who wanted his attention. Frank and another gentleman called Black are said to be managers of the club that I consider to be among the best in Lagos.

The first thought that occupied to me after Frank was pulled away was whether he was married and if so how his wife was coping with him. But then I realized that his was a job that got to be done. I took a seat and decided to listen to the output and quality of the music. The sales girls and boys were milled around me with courteous smiles but that was not a fun outing for me. I was exceedingly delighted that my friend used the time I was in the club to play most of the hit songs of X project, my musical group. I was happy to know that their dancehall songs had caught on. Sitting at a corner, I reflected on the efforts it took me to record and master those songs. I recalled the nights we spent in the studios, the fights I had with producers. I remembered the different versions of those songs that I rejected because I was not impressed with their quality. I reminiscence on the battles I had with my wife over what she considered dissipation of our quality marriage life and smiled at the fact that not many people know the sort of sacrifices that are made by people who make people happy. I was however consoled by the awareness that entertainment is only for the bold and courageous.

After about an hour, my friend who had abandoned me to my self for the musical wheels extricated himself from the DJ booth and came to sit by my side to explain to me why he had actually called me. He has been a very dependable young friend. He once told me that I extended a favour to him the first day he was introduced to me and had since held me in high regards. He is very close to X Project and had made it his personal project to promote them. He was the one that made them popular at Murphy’s and Metro Park. He believed that Q Club is a blank cheque for him and his pet project of popularizing X Project. He therefore wanted me to see the club for my self and know why X Project should frequent the Club and when required make some live performances. The Club has an average attendance of about a thousand people a night. He did not have to say too much for me to know that he meant well. The Q Club has the potentials of redeeming and reawakening the club life of Allen Avenue. In a word, I love Q Club.

Perhaps age has something to do with it. I prefer a club where I do not have to bother about the girl next to me. I want a club that I can take my wife to and remain confident that she would have a good time. I want a club that my wife will know when I am visiting it and she would not have sleepless nights about the possibility of some smart girl taking advantage of my tipsiness or failing discretion to lure me into doing regrettable things. I opt for the club (that if the time that canaries like Funke Egbemode are hallucinating about comes) my wife can go to alone and I would have my sleep anywhere that I am that prevents me from going out with her. I want a club with a cozy environment that would make me aspire to earn more and save more for leisure. Q Club provides all of these and many more.