Moulin Rouge in French means "Red Mill". It is the name of a cabaret-style venue that opened in 1889, a center of entertainment for Parisian society, which quickly became known for performing strip shows that scandalized the people of the time. It is also the title of a musical directed by Baz Lurhman that premiered in 2001 and in which Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor performed, with a soundtrack with participants such as Christina Aguilera, Pink, and other crazy pop artists of today's show business.
In Caracas, we also have a Moulin Rouge[1], in the Venezuelan version, located near Sabana Grande[2], specifically on Solano Avenue. It is an alternative music bar, with the decoration referring to the original place in Paris. This place is one of the few in Caracas with rock and alternative music, which made it my favorite place and that I met thanks to my friend Carlos, he is a great enthusiast of nightlife and rumbas, I am not so much.
From the day my friend Carlos showed me around, I fell in love. Whenever we could, we organized a weekend to go partying to the rhythm of the hits of pop and rock music from the '80s and '90s, we watched the live bands' presentations, enlivened with a good dose of alcohol that varied between Ron, Smirnoff vodka or national brand beers, it was quite a blowout until dawn.
But the best of all was the girls. Once you walked in you could see all sorts of specimens, crazed sexy college girls, fifty-year-old divorcees looking for a sexual discharge from the frustrations of their marital failures, stunning girls well loaded with Botox and silicone, plump older women with excess makeup to appear, there was everything and with a little skill, courage and good luck you could get something.
It is not that my friend Carlos and I are fuckboys I confess that I am not very skilled on the subject of women, sometimes it just cuts me off with them. Those were quite contradictory times for me, well, to tell the truth almost my whole life has always been contradictory, but that stage was something special, I remember that it was my twenties, I had left school and was beginning to enjoy university life, including excesses, but it was also a time in which I was looking for a great ideal, holiness, what every Christian seeks and enthusiastically participated in the Catholic apostolate group committed to the Christian faith, you know how difficult it can be to combine those two stages.
That night I arrived at the place, I was excited because I was going to have a great time, we always arrived early, around nine at night, it was a quiet hour without much activity with a few people at the tables. We chose a position, we ordered a liquor service and we took out cigarettes, the first phase was quiet, a simple conversation between friends to the rhythm of the music, after a while the place filled with people and things began to catch on.
The conversations generally revolved around every day, or better said around Carlos, recounting his love and work misadventures, the thing always remained in "I'm sick of the girls because they always have a bummer if they want you to be their friend, that listens to them, I just can't stand the shit" or "my mom was getting into a fight over something silly, she's got me crabbing, I'm thinking of moving", delusions and torments that are quite common in reality. Sometimes it got annoying, but Carlos was one of my best friends and he entertained me with music and alcohol. There was a band, with the crazy name of Rock N Roll Express, a cover band. Covers are a sad reality of national rock, given the difficulty that artists of the genre have fame on their own, they have no choice but to take covers of famous artists to be able to get an audience and even make some money.
I was with my corduroy enjoying the good music and the atmosphere when I noticed someone who was sitting at the next table, it was a girl, maybe 30 years old, jet black hair, brown skin, a little nose, she looked like A gypsy air, beautiful, very beautiful, she was sitting with a proud air and chatting with a friend who was accompanying her. My friend Carlos saw her too, we chatted about how beautiful she was. Rock began to sound with hits from the '80s, '90s, and '2000s, we both loved it, and without wasting time we started jumping and doing the headbanger, the violent shaking of the head that rockers do to the rhythm of the violent riffs of the electric guitar and drum rolls.
Limp Bizkit, Metallica, Nirvana, Ramones, Zapato 3[3] all the rock bands that caused a commotion in the last decades were playing at full force and vigor, the music invaded us, to hell with the girls, all I wanted was to rock and my friend Carlos was in the same sling.
I started to move out of control to the rhythm of the electric guitars, big falsettos, and guttural screams invaded my ears and my neurons flew, all genres of rock were served at that time, Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson, System of a Down, Crazy Town ... they rang loudly invading the place, that added to the drinks, made the experience reach unsuspected limits. The girl was still sitting with her friend, they chatted animatedly, enjoying the music. She was beautiful, so much so that it awakened my imagination, that always happened when I fell in love with a girl, I began to imagine her in thousands of ways. After I exploded rock ecstasy I took the glass with my drink. Looking back at the girl, bizarre images came to mind. I was in an Arab-style palace, perfectly and exquisitely decorated, a pod-like The One Thousand and One Nights, I entered the palace, I came to one of the rooms and there she was, dressed as a Bellydancer, a dancer of Arabic music, She wore a sexy sequin dress, moving her body to the rhythm of the music, with each movement of her body the sequins were shaking violently. This kind of thing happened when I met a girl who made me lose my mind.
I began to plot on how to approach him to speak to him, what to say to him, I could not remain alone in mere illusion. But of course, it is easy to say it, but doing it is something else, there was always that indecision involved, that shyness that women cause me. He wanted to get closer but didn't know-how.
The solution to this dilemma came from my friend Carlos, who approached me and said in my ear:
--- Hey, I think those girls are calling us, let's go there…. --- and there I was with my shyness and he is a two by three solved everything.
We approached the table and my confident friend started talking to the girls, I was left standing like a fool not knowing what to do. I gathered a bit of courage and thanks to the effect of the alcohol, I began to talk with the one who had her eye on him. I was disappointed, my beloved maid was drunker than a Cossack and as soon as she opened her mouth what came out was a stammer, the drunk herself, well, I had no choice. We just hang out there. Two curious characters entered the premises. It was about two guys in their forties, badly faced and like the rest, looking to pass the time, They sat next to us and began to talk with each other and drink rum. Minutes later their eyes fell on the girl, well, I couldn't blame them, we were on the same page. In the blink of an eye, they had gotten into our group and with great confidence and control, they approached the girl and began to speak to her, because of the noise of the music I could not understand what they were saying, but clearly, you could see where she was going the thing.
My friend Carlos was very upset with the situation, when it came to failed conquests he took things very seriously, in my case not so much. One of the guys took the girl and took her out to dance, the music was a kind of Retro Pop and the girl began to sensually contour with the subject, her partner looked at him with approval, while we looked like cheated and stupid.
Carlos only looked at the girl and the two subjects with deep suspicion, I forgot about it and just continued drinking and enjoying the music.
I forgot the matter when he touched my side with his elbow...
--- Just look at them... --- Carlos said pointing to the girl with the two subjects.
I knew he was upset by what had happened, I tried to calm him down:
--- Oh come on... forget it, sometimes things don't go the way you want it... --- I replied.
He ignored me:
--- I think those two damn things are going to take advantage of it to fuck her, I'm sure of it... the girl is very drunk... --- he said.
The subjects approached the girl and danced in a contoured and sensual way, the completely drunk girl simply allowed herself to be carried away.
I imagined the whole scene in my mind, the subjects taking the girl to the bathroom, to make a perfect threesome, just like it is seen in pornographic films. That image could be very exciting and I could masturbate thinking about it, but what came to my mind was a profound disturbance.
That girl was going to be abused by those two strangers with their aged and stale penises, she was going to be groped, raped, penetrated, outraged, something truly daunting, it just disgusted me, it was as if the music had turned off as if it froze Over time, I started to feel bad, I felt the need to seek help, I looked around, I saw the solution… go to the bathroom. I told my friend Carlos:
--- Hey, I'm going to the bathroom... I´ll be back soon...
He nodded. I felt bad for that girl, I shouldn't care at all, but that didn't seem right to me, I needed a moment, to do something that could be considered strange for those kinds of circumstances. For a moment I fantasized about being an action superhero, something like Van Damme or Seagal, who, seeing a damsel in distress, would spring into action, knocking out all of his opponents in one blow. Of course, in real life, I was not going to be able to beat everyone, which added that I could get into some legal trouble if I managed to get rid of the brutal beating that I was going to receive.
Passing through the people, the dim lighting, and the crowd that had gathered, gave the impression of going through dense mangrove vegetation. I got to the hallway that led to the bathroom, a small and narrow place, I already had enough beers on top, I was half wobbly, my head was spinning. Next to the bathroom door, a lady was sitting in a chair, who received tips and sold candy, I wondered how the hell there was that in a bar? It must be very annoying sitting there all night. I passed him and went to the bathroom.
The place was disgusting, the floor was wet with urine, water, dirt and any amount of crap that one can imagine, it was very small, space was not enough for the number of people circulating, there were two dirty urinals and the toilets not to mention, each one inside a cubicle.
My ears were buzzing, I felt a cold sweat, I imagined that scene of the subjects with her. I waited a couple of minutes I went into one of the cubicles, drunkenness and need to prevent me from feeling disgusted, I closed the door, I lowered my fly and took a good pee, I pulled up my pants again, and then calmly sat on the toilet.
The music sounded shrill, my head was beating like a heart, the image of the girl came back to me, being possessed by those two strangers, that made me feel bad, hurt, I had a strange impulse, I put my hands together, I closed my eyes and concentrated, pushing aside the noise and drunkenness, and he did something unimaginable, pray.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
I asked for divine intervention for the drunk girl, I asked that everything go well, that nothing bad happens to her, that the hand of God intervene to help her. Praying was difficult for me, the alcohol was spinning in my head and making my brain cells shake, but I still kept asking. A couple of minutes passed, with great disgust I operated the toilet lever and the water came down awkwardly, I went out adjusting my jeans, I went to the sink, I washed my hands and face.
Prayer restored my tranquility it made me feel better and willing to continue having fun, I went out and gave a little collaboration to the lady of the candies, she nodded her head in gratitude, hiding her expression of disgust, I dodged again the sea of people until I got to where my friend was. The girl was sitting at a table, drunker than ever, the two subjects were talking to one side their intention to get hold of the drunk mare had collapsed, after all, my prayers were answered.
My friend Carlos was still sitting with an annoyed expression, I dedicated myself to enjoy the music again, I felt better and more active. They played a song that had a special touch, it was one of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers titled Scar Tissue, a rock ballad that at the time achieved a great impact in the musical environment and was accompanied by a video, which was perfect with the song, it was something that transported you
I turned back to look at the girl and she was looking at me directly, that surprised me, for a moment it gave me the impression that she must have something like a noticeable stain on my shirt or something like that, it seemed strange to me.
After a few seconds she got up and walked towards me, she did it by contouring her body, one of the subjects intercepted her but she dodged him to continue walking towards where I was, I was surprised, the thing was with me, Anthony Kiedis sang with his characteristic voice low and smooth, accompanied by the melodic riffs of John Frusciante's guitar.
Scar Tissue That I Wish You Saw
Sarcastic Mister Know It All
Close Your Eyes And I´ll Kiss You ´cause
With The Birds I´ll Share This Lonely View
With The Birds I´ll Share This Lonely View
"With the birds, I'll share this lonely view"... that chorus evoked melancholic images. She came up to me, I gulped, hugged me, and asked me to dance.
Everything stopped, as if we were alone in the place, the voices, the comments, the laughter, everything was silent, for a moment the universe stopped, she gave herself completely to the moment, I did not have to do anything, she raised her leg right and tangled in mine, our bodies intertwined into one, our faces got closer, I could feel his breath very close to mine, like a magical, divine fusion, my heart and my breathing accelerated.
They sounded beautiful and melodic guitar solos that gave the song a special air, I looked at her face for a moment, I wanted to kiss her, but my tongue in her mouth, savor her with pleasure, with joy, taste that, she placed her hands on me back and I mine on her waist, the girl had a great body.
I imagined that I kissed her, that we rolled around, that we made love, that my hands traveled and took over her body, that we walked together hand in hand through a beautiful field of flowers, everything was magical and genuine.
The last guitar solo sounded in the song, which was the most beautiful and joyful of all, it was as if the night had that special moment as its end. The image came to mind of John Frusciante, sitting in a moving convertible, traveling through an arid desert in the southwestern United States, with the other members of the band.
The kiss did not happen. The song ended, she separated from me as if she had woken up from a dream, she showed no apparent emotion, she seemed hypnotized or had woken up from a spell, then she calmly walked to the table she was still under the influence of alcohol.
How did it happen? I had prayed for her and when I came back I had had that manifestation of gratuitous eroticism, perhaps it was a reward for my simple manifestation of faith, a small gesture from God towards me, a gift. Apart from me wanted to keep dancing with her, I wanted to ask her out, I wanted to bond with her, to have sex. I went back to the table, I felt great, I had had a good time, I looked at my friend Carlos who was still with his long face:
--- Dude, what's up?... are you okay? --- I asked.
He just shook his head, then came over to my side and said:
--- I started talking to the other girl, she got silly, first, she was talking cool and then she started saying that I was impertinent...
I turned and observed her, she was chatting with her friend as if nothing had happened, well she was completely drunk, it was obvious that she was going to behave like that, in an ambivalent and changeable way, but at that moment that did not matter to me in the least because I had my twenty minutes of glory, so I did not care and simply said to my friend:
--- Easy... everything will pass, let's enjoy the party.
And so we did, we spent the rest of the time listening to music, the girl and her friend left at around four o'clock., my friend and I stayed until six o'clock, when they closed the place, our night crazy had come to an end.
I will never forget that night, a night in which I had a divine revelation that ended with a brief episode of eroticism, who said that those two things could not be mixed?
[1] Moulin Rouge - This is not fiction, in truth, there is a place in the city of Caracas that bears that name. It is characterized by putting rock, pop, and alternative music. Bands perform covers and liven up the show. People who frequent the place usually refer to the site translating its name into Spanish, leaving as "Molino Rojo".
[2] Sabana Grande - It is an area that is located in the center-east of Caracas. It is characterized by having a large boulevard and being a red zone. Her name means "Big Savanna".
[3] Zapato 3 - A Venezuelan rock band that was formed in 1983, lasted until 2000, and regrouped in 2012 to continue to this day. The band plays a mix of Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Post-Punk, and Dark Wave. He is one of the main references of Venezuelan and Latin American pop and rock music. The literal meaning of the name is "Shoe 3".