David Cordoves inaugurated the club theme night in Miami Beach three years ago. He moved it to Broward to be centrally located, but said it was a constant battle to get the club owners to do what he wanted to do. After a few months, he pulled his contract with the former Hollywood venue Club Deco Drive, for fear of an eventual crackdown by the city.
"My biggest mistake was going to Hollywood. I thought Hollywood was an up-and-coming town," he recalls. "It was a very restrictive town. It has a lot of codes. It was constant harassment for me. There were a couple of swing clubs that were constantly raided -- and I know that it was just a matter of time before they raided me." (In November 2001, Hollywood residents decried the swing club Xchange, a.k.a. Hollywood Catering, urging city commissioners to shut it down. A month later the city rejected an occupational-license request by Hollywood Catering.)
With the Hollywood hindrances behind him, Cordoves feels Miami Beach will be more accepting toward nudity and dancing. Resident DJs Dino and Tommy Gunn and special guest DJ Falstaff will spin a versatile set of dance and progressive as well as the niche-centric synth-pop, future pop, industrial, and EBM that rang out in the Ballroom's Hollywood days. Cordoves plans to fly in DJs from Europe and bring heavy-hitter bands to perform the monthly affair. Even though he admits there isn't a big draw to this type of scene, he claims it's getting bigger. In Miami Beach he expects to double the crowd that he had in Hollywood.
Fetish pinup Dita, in her South Florida debut, will headline London Ballroom's grand reopening. The Californian fetishwear model will perform Vegas-style striptease vignettes. Cordoves says he reached her through her boyfriend Marilyn Manson, whom he says used to frequent his goth night, the Church. Offstage the entertainment is hands-on. Titillating toys, perhaps a slave pen and a flogging or two, will encourage the leather-and-latex crowd.
