And The Weird Music News Of The Week Award Goes To ...

\ Aug 23, 2007

3 min read

OPM Nightclub and Ultralounge! You may already know that the self-proclaimed "VIP" dance club is actually one half of dual-city enterprise—there’s one in Las Vegas, Nev., (Caesar’s Palace) and one in downtown Albuquerque (two blocks from the railroad tracks). What you didn’t know is that one was voted the No. 1 "Upscale Hip-Hop Nightclub in the World," supposedly by more than one milllion voters in the Yahoo Readers’ Poll. The other is closing after this weekend. Bet you can’t guess which is which!

OK … maybe you can. Albuquerque’s OPM is in the shitter. And I can’t tell you why.

I called Rory Veronda, general manager for OPM, perhaps five or six times last week. I briefly caught him on the other end of the phone two times, and from those short interactions, I honestly can say he’s a nice, capable-sounding fella. Unfortunately, he’s not so great at holding appointments with the press as his place of work is preparing to fold. That’s understandable, but I still have no authoritative word on why the club is going kapoot. The Las Vegas club seems to be alive and kicking, what with a million people shaking their asses in its hallowed halls this year alone (again, supposedly).

Oh well. The damage is done. So, to OPM ABQ, I say fare-thee-well. I will miss hit-and-run booty dancing on girls’ night out, and the rare, magical live show you hosted, such as last year’s Bartender’s Ball or January’s shimmering performance by The Album Leaf. Indeed, you were the "classiest" dance club in all of Albuquerque. Let’s not forget that since opening in 2002, you’ve consistently been voted one of—if not the—“Best Bar for Dancing" by Alibi readers in our Best of Burque poll. Even without a million votes that’s a big accomplishment.

Of course, there’s another side to this story—the unofficial one. According to local kinky gothic culture website kinkklub.com, even without OPM, KGB, the club’s Thursday goth and ’80s dance, night will continue at the same space (that’s 211 Gold SW). The announcement could be interpreted that "OPM," the name, is dying while the club itself is not. We’ll see.

But screw it all. Why pass up a perfectly good excuse to party? To celebrate its last weekend in existence, OPM will host a "sexy" beach party on Friday, Aug. 24, and a general barn-burner on Saturday, Aug. 25, with free food and champagne from 7-9 p.m. For inquiries about VIP bottle service, contact Rory at 453-8181 or e-mail rory_veronda@yahoo.com. Maybe you’ll have more luck than I did.