Oslo Sundays

Mike Clark, Delano Smith, Norm Talley

I went to Oslo with Ellen last Sunday, May 4th. Clark, Smith, and Talley are DJs who have been making music in Detroit and representing Detroit electronic music for decades. They are starting up a weekly party at Oslo on Sundays and I was really excited to finally get out to it last week. The music was fantastic - Norm played for most of the evening and Mike got on the decks at about 12:45AM. Lot's of female vocals, heavy, deep, funky house. Sadly, after only going on for a couple of weeks, the club was pretty empty most of the night. Sundays are pretty quite in Detroit. I took I-75 downtown and it was really empty, the city streets were full of parking spaces and hardly anyone was out walking around. Oslo's sushi bar was not even open, there was just a door open going down to the basement from the street. Ellen and I walked downstairs to the club and no one was at the door to take the cover. The bouncer then walked up from the bar to take our $5. A few people were at the bar, the dance floor was empty, as was the small lounge area. Norm Talley was spinning and the music was great. It was oddly bright in there that evening - more colored lights than I remember. We did a little dancing, drank a beer, sat and talked about varicose veins and the mistreatment of horses in horse racing (the Kentucky Derby was that afternoon). I was talking to someone at the bar a little later, said he had been a fan of Detroit techno and house for years and planned to dance his ass off that night. He ended up sitting at the bar the rest of the night and when I went back into the bar area around 1:30AM for some water, he had already left. So, I hope that this night grows for these lovely Beatdown DJs! Definitely worth heading out for.