Bed Supperclub

After my interview with Dennis, the manager of Q Bar, we had hung out for a while, just small talking. He had been telling me that I needed to shoot a short video about Bed Supperclub, a one of a kind nightclub located just down the street from Q Bar, so tonight that was my mission. I was excited about my visit, since this club is well known for its incomparable architecture. Elisabeth had decided to come with me to help shoot interviews, and lucky for both of us she did.
Little did we know that Bed Supperclub is rated number 2 on several “100 Best Clubs of the World” lists. Yes you read that right. I just said WORLD. The only club that usually ranks higher is some club in Singapore. So we kind of lucked out to get a chance to shoot at this club.

Bed Supperclub is both a restaurant and a club, which is divided into two rooms. Both rooms look nearly identical, with the restaurant turning into a mellow club scene after 10pm. The main room has a bar and blasts whatever music fits the theme of that night. Each night of the week is different, (ex. Wednesdays are models night, and the club invites several models in just to hang around and look pretty.) As the name of the club implies, you have supper in bed while enjoying a club atmosphere.
The building itself reminded me of a large cigarette stuck into the side of a building. This may sound quite unappealing, but in fact it has an aesthetic quality to it. One of the DJ’s we interviewed put it nicely when he said it was a “crushed cylindrical space shape that can’t take off because there are too many people inside of it.”

When I called the club several days before, hoping to get permission to film, the public relations woman immediately set up an interview for me with one of the entertainers. The PR woman told me that this “entertainer” was an American lady-boy. Basically an American man who had a sex change operation, changed his name to Candi, and now performs all over the world. So I was quite excited about Candi and interviewing her/him.

Elisabeth and I were treated like royalty our whole time here. We got right into the club, and were escorted into the restaurant to one of the “Beds.” We kicked off our shoes and climbed on what is basically a huge bed, which runs down both sides of the restaurant, with no table in the middle of the room. It has two stories, with the exact same set up upstairs. We were given menus and told that our dinner was on Candi, and to get whatever we want.

We both had 3 course meals, and I had 3 or 4 Purple Rain cocktails. Overall it was probably a $150 dinner bill, not including our free cover charge. While we were eating one or two managers approached us just to shake hands and say hello, and ask us if we needed anything.
Just after our meal, I spotted Candi just outside of the door, getting ready for her song and dance routine. Even though I had never seen her before in my life, it wasn’t hard to spot a man with a ponytail and a microphone. Soon enough music started and she danced out into the middle of the room, obviously lip-sinking to some awful song that I can’t remember. After her song and lip-sink, she walked around the restaurant and heckled the customers one by one, which everyone seemed to enjoy thoroughly. It was quite humorous. She left Elisabeth and I alone, because she saw the camera gear and knew that we would be interviewing her directly after her performance. It was nice because I was afraid she was going to point out my mismatched socks or something. Not that I really cared anyways…….

Afterwards we had a nice interview with Candi, with Elisabeth asking her a list of questions I had, while I ran the camera. It was nice to have Elisabeth here asking questions, because I usually have to do everything myself. Holding a camera, controlling the exposure, maintaining nice composition, riding audio levels, and asking questions while trying to keep eye contact with your subject can be very difficult to do all at the same time.

After talking with Candi, we also interviewed one of the resident DJ’s, and then a very interesting gay couple from the California. Then I got shots of people dancing in the club section, shots of the bartender throwing bottles around, and the DJ spinning. Then shots of the exterior of the club, and we were done! This is probably one of the most fun nights here for us in Bangkok.