Editor's Note: This post is the second of a month-long series, "Up All Night," on St. Louis culture after dark. Check back every Wednesday for the next installment.
It’s not a secret. Hasn’t been for the better part of the last half-century, or more. When parties die in Missouri, they head to Illinois. East St. Louis remains one of the prime overnight haunts, with its downtown streets turning into a bumper-to-bumper experience the farther the clock gets from midnight.
While the club’s not far from the prime, late-night feeder street of Collinsville Road, Another Level (600 Martin Luther King, East St. Louis, Ill., 618-875-7506) sits just outside of the main club district of the East Saint downtown. You get the feeling that ownership probably likes it that way, too—it helps them keep the preferred, older clientele to themselves, just far enough from the younger set on the teeming Collinsville and surrounding blocks.
This past Friday night—or, more accurately, Saturday morning—Another Level was just a bit on the slower side, calm enough to make the club’s resident weekend DJ, Anthony “Disco-T” Butler, wonder if something else was happening in town. Getting a sense of the room’s vibe from an interesting, on-high perspective, Disco-T keeps the spirits moving, starting his set in the 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. range, long before ending at 5 a.m. He’s basically playing to just a handful of people for the first couple hours—a few drift in around midnight—but by 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., there’s a good chance that the long bar is filled and customers are heading out to the dancefloor. And the dancing at Another Level is no joke, with Disco-T’s steady, on-mic patter an enjoyable part of the soundtrack.
Like any DJ who works a marathon set, Disco-T knows all the tricks of the trade. For years, he spent time on the Missouri side of the river, playing older-folk venues on the North Side of town. There, he could pepper sets with Al Green or Johnny Taylor, maybe slide some New Jack Swing into the set, then bring it home with a Top 40 cut from 2005. Essentially, a rangy set. And though there’s a 28-and-older rule at Another Level, the crowd at his latest gig wants to keep it more contemporary; here the set’s light on the oldies, heavy on hits from the past year, with hip-hop the king. In fact, it’s best just to the let the man do his job, free of audience picks. Our first suggestion on Saturday had already been played earlier in the evening; the second basically chased the audience off the dance floor.
When an alchemist is mixing ingredients, just step back. Let the man do his magic. Disco-T, we’re sorry.
Tony’s not the only one putting in some labor. Candy, the club’s efficient bartender, walks a lot of miles over a night, moving end-to-end, pacing the major real estate of her long bar. It’s not just a legs-and-cardio workout, tending to far-flung customers. Her exercise also extends to her arms, as she pours what can safely be called a heavy (and much-appreciated) pour.
At the door, staff both inside and outside the venue are serious about their gigs, too. After offering the $5 cover, a guest gets a pat-down that might break at least two of the Geneva Convention’s four treaties. Well, that’s an exaggeration, don’t ya know? But when you walk into the place with two cameras, an iPod, a wallet, a phone, and a tin of mints in your many, many cargo pockets, expect to take an extra minute to enter. Lesson learned.
Past security, you’re at the bar. And that’s where you wanna be to enjoy that deep, ample pour. Head right and you’re on a small riser, with four-tops abounding. Past them, you're by the DJ booth, which overlooks the dance floor. Another round of seating lines the other side of the floor, but a photographer takes up a good chunk of that space for his lighting and staging; at Another Level, it’s $5 a pose, and the flashes go off regularly. Altogether, it’s not a huge club, but big enough to definitely feel like a party. If, of course, you wind up there at the right time.
And at Another Level, it’s night time that’s exactly the right time.
