NIGHTS ON THE CIRCUIT: Worship the Goddess

DJ Sandra Collins is another sign metaclub Ice is back

Xania Woodman

Saturday, February 26, 1:37 a.m. Cloaked in an opaque, white fog, giggling wildly, my hands stab out, touching arms, hair and faces of friends and strangers. Light pulsates—fast at first, then faster. Robbed of sight, each of us is left alone in this big blank with just elevating sounds coming from the towering columns of speakers. "Washing over me ... washing over me ..." Soon, I make out heads, cigarette glows, then arms stretching in the air. There is a medicinal tickle in the back of my throat from the cold mist but delicious chills run up and down my legs. Slowly, the fog dissipates, the beat drops, but the mayhem continues. In the confusion, friends have wandered out of the confines of our booth while passersby have stumbled in.


Sandra Collins presides over the DJ booth, which has relocated to the dance floor since Godskitchen took over Ice, bringing the talent down from out-of-reach deity status to make them one of us. Her tomboy-ish hair is tousled just right and her cowlick is mildly reminiscent of Alfalfa, though I doubt he could master the same technique of mixing fierce beats while working on a cigarette. She is tan, thin and casual; there is a frank seriousness about her. At the velvet ropes, the doorman asked "Yes?" to which she plainly responded, "Hi, I'm the DJ."


A Vegas gal herself, Collins has gained mass appeal in the progressive house and trance fields for her emotional and introspective approach to music. She once told a reporter that, watching people on the dance floor, she could sort of see their inner child.


"The Trance Goddess" began her career in Phoenix in 1989 and then held down residences in Brooklyn, LA and Chicago. Collins now travels worldwide playing for party people everywhere.


Tonight, as she sings along with her tunes, she's all about the build-up. The crowd feeds off her energy as she pumps her arm high in the air, bouncing up and down, feeding right back off of them. Surrounding the booth are the hangers-on one expects when a fierce DJ visits town; they nod and take photos, brandishing Sharpies and LPs to be signed.


Since the big takeover last summer and the conclusion of Spike TV's The Club, Ice has kept up a frenetic pace, booking one top DJ after another for its Godskitchen Saturday nights. To top it off, it signed world-famous Donald Glaude to hold down a Friday night residency, the first DJ of that caliber to make such a commitment in Las Vegas. For its efforts, Ice has been nominated Best Club at the upcoming Winter Music Conference in Miami.


VIP host Bob Shindelar is proud of how far the venue has come: "In the six-plus years I've been in the Las Vegas nightclub industry, I have never witnessed such a dramatic turnaround as Ice has managed to do in a just a few months. That is a testament to Godskitchen and [Godskitchen] management. We are now in a unique position to welcome competition. With the trend swinging back to electronic dance music, the more people are educated about it and the more popular it becomes, the stronger we get. No nightclub in the country is making the effort to book the talent we are, and people will always respond to and support the effort."


I'm back from a quick pass through the hip-hop room and Collins is still a bottomless cup of energy. Out in the crowd, the faithful and the hearty will keep going as long as she does. To my right, one guy is attempting to make sweet love to the speakers. Others are dropping like flies—one gentleman even decides to take a quick nap in our booth. As I am enveloped once again by the cold white blast, I disappear up the stairs and out, bound to reappear next week to do it all over again.



Xania Woodman thinks globally and parties locally. And frequently. E-mail her at
[email protected].




Godskitchen Saturday


Line-Up




March 5: Josh Wink



March 12: Roger Sanchez



March 19: Nick Warren


and Fatboy Slim



March 26: The Pornstar Ball


featuring DJ Faarsheed




Xania's Hot Spots for March 3-9




Thursday, March 3



Fusion at Tabu



Saturday, March 5


Godskitchen Saturdays at Ice



Sunday, March 6



Ra Sushi



Industry Night at Body English



After Hours at Drai's



Tuesday, March 8



Pure Tuesdays at Pure



Wednesday, March 9



Moonshine at Tangerine



For more Hot Spots and weekly parties visit www.TheCircuitLV.com and sign up for Xania's free weekly newsletter.

  • Get More Stories from Thu, Mar 3, 2005
Top of Story