Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
A COMEBACK date was pitched for this summer, however, the former ruler of the nightclub roost, Cactus, will have to remain on the injured list until further notice.
In an interview that appeared in The Gleaner on August 29, 2002, Brian Chung, co-owner of Nitetime Promotions, the operators of the club, gave avid clubgoers something to cheer about. In the aforementioned article Mr. Chung said that if there was an economic windfall, party heads that once bopped at the Cactus nightclub would be able to do so again this summer.
However, judging by the slip and slide dance moves the dollar has been practising, one can conclude that a windfall is nowhere in sight. Additionally, the chances of the Cactus coming back on stream this summer are extremely anorexic.
"We can't make this summer," says Chris Cargill, the other half of Nitetime Promotions, which also owns and operates the Asylum nightclub. He told The Gleaner that more pressing issues are in the furnace, namely the opening of a new multi-level club in New Kingston, which should have been launched last summer.
OTHER GENRES
That club is expected to appeal to patrons between the ages of 18 and 25 and has been described as a 'high-powered dance club', that will feature mostly dance music from other genres and not reggae.
The New Kingston discotheque's opening was moved back to Christmas because the operators decided to play Santa Clause and deliver a gift but that date also was not recognised. This time around, no fixed date is being promised but preparations are nearing the climax.
"Financing (was the problem), but we have that now and that's why we working on it full steam ahead," Cargill said with confidence.
On the other hand, the dedicated fans of the Cactus nightclub will have to continue holding their breaths. When contacted, Brian Chung was rather tight-lipped about a date for the re-opening of the former kingpin among the nightspots. The only information The Gleaner managed to squeeze from him was to the tune of "It's still in limbo."
However, his 'partner in crime', Cargill had encouraging words for those waiting with baited breath. "Hang tight!" he noted. "We not going to leave them out, that (Cactus) is where Mr. Chung and I navel strings cut and we still treasure the memories of Cactus."
The entrepreneurs bought the Cactus nightclub in 1993 from the then owner, Vivian Blake. After recreating the atmosphere of the club three separate times, Chung and Cargill thought that the club had peaked and it was time to close its doors in March 2001.
