A Heartfelt Expression of Gratitude

Velveetas,

My post yesterday was supposed to just be an invitation to come to our party this weekend, but I found I had a lot of emotions I need to express about our club, what it is, and why I love it. However, I was sadly remiss in not acknowledging the contributions of two people, without whom this week would not have been possible, and the club could well have just died.

Lux Chiantelle is a name most of you know. She's been a dj and an assistant manager at Velvet for quite a while. Mallory Cerise has been around for less time, but is no less valuable. Between them, they alerted me to the problem in the first place, helped me find the land to move the club to, and helped, oversaw or outright did so much of the work to make our new club a home. They did a thousand thankless tasks this week, all out of love for a fictional nightclub that we have all agreed is somehow of crucial importance. From researching items from the old build, to Lux's amazing rebuild of the iconic Velvet sculpture, now updated and even better than before, Mallory and Lux worked ceaselessly from the moment we realized there was a problem to the time of this writing. The three of us will likely remain pretty busy with all of this throughout the next week or so as well.

I've been getting a lot of congratulatory messages in the last few days, but I hope that all of you will find a moment or two to thank Lux and Mallory, indefatigable heroes of Velvet, who propped me up when I was injured, perked me up when I was tired, and did so much of the actual work to make this thing happen.

If I am to get credit for anything, it is in choosing such capable, loyal, and wonderful people to lean on in what would have otherwise been an unimaginable week. From the bottom of my heart, I wish to thank them both. I will try and do so better than this in private, but I felt it was important to do so here, in public, as well, so anyone who reads our blog would know how important they are to Velvet and its future.

While I am thanking people, I also want to thank each of the djs who have recommitted to this new version of Velvet, donating their time to play music for people whether it was their timeslot or not. Some of them will have ended up playing three or more times in as many days by the end of the weekend, just so we'd have something happening if people decided to come and see the new build.

So I find I have a theme for this celebratory Grand Reopening weekend. For me, this is a weekend of gratitude that the club exists at all, and is populated with so many wondrous, huge-hearted compatriots ready and willing to carry a load in service of something they have decided is bigger than any of us could ever hope to be on our own.

Viva Velvet.

Maht