Dancing on Tables - Fadi

in another attempt to take over my blog, fadi posted the below.

Absolute Vodka
Who has not seen the city-series advertisement for Absolute Vodka on Beirut? The shadowy bottle dancing on a table with the legs of a supposedly gorgeous Lebanese woman in some night club or the other in Gemayzeh or Achrafieh or I don’t know where because it’s been so long that I haven’t been to such places… Let’s say that many of you know it.

Where do some people in Lebanon get the energy to climb on tables in clubs and dance, still!? I used to dance on tables, people who know me know that, but it’s a different picture I’m aiming at here. Dancing on tables is a form of resistance; I am sure you all agree. “Even if they bomb us, we will still dance on tables!” all the pretty young ladies and gentlemen cried as they danced! Would the bourgeoisie of Lebanon please wake up. You are dancing over dead bodies; and while you dance, other people, who are not on tables, but in Dahieh and in the South of Lebanon are looking at you with disgust, though the ladies are pretty and the men put more care to their hair than the ladies. Some decency please.

B018
B018 is a famous club in Beirut; it was designed by the well-known Bernard Khoury, who has something for metallic structures that open up to the sky. I honestly don’t know what this architect had in mind when he came up with the design for B018, but a story about the “concept” of the place has become something of an urban legend in Beirut: fans of B018 like to repeat that the place was built on the spot where the Carantina Massacre took place during the civil war, and that it is designed in the shape of a tomb that opens up and from it comes the dancing and the music. I creped when I first heard this story. Now it disgusts me. Will the Lebanese bourgeoisie please wake up! Stop dancing on people’s graves.

The Iranian Revolution
I sometimes really wonder how many people dancing on tables know when this revolution occurred, not that the date matters really, but do they ever wonder how Iran became an Islamic Republic? Islamic Republics don’t dance on tables.

People Falling in Love With Cities
Apparently people fall in love with Beirut. I once fell off a table.

When Castro Dies
The idea used to haunt me: what will happen when Fidel Castro dies? When I used to think about it, the idea made me sad and melancholic.

Careful Please
So how do you become a suicide bomber? Well, you’re trying to figure things out in the Middle East, you get to a checkpoint and your brain explodes.

Will the Lebanese Bourgeoisie Please Wake Up?
Certainly Not.