By Tim Lawrence
Like a soup or a bicycle or Wikipedia, the Loft is an amalgamation of parts that are weak in isolation, but joyful, revelatory and powerful when joined together. The first ingredient is the desire of a group of friends to want to get together and have some fun. The second element is the discovery of a room that has good acoustics and is comfortable for dancing, which means it should have rectangular dimensions, a reasonably high ceiling, a nice wooden floor and the possibility of privacy. The next building block is the sound system, which is most effective when it is simple, clean and warm, and when it isn’t pushed more than a fraction above 100 decibels (so that people’s ears don’t become tired or even damaged). After that, the room should be decorated, with balloons and a mirror ball offering a cheap and timeless solution, and because the party might last a long time, and because some friends might be hungry, a healthy spread of food and drink should also be prepared. Finally ? and this really is the last thing to get right, and can only follow once everything else is in place ? the friends will need someone to bring along some dance records. After that, it’s party time. [Read More]