Mlilo Mpondo

It is five o’clock on a Friday evening, maybe we’re at Six Cocktail Bar on 7th Street in Melville, or at A Street Bar Named Desire on Bolton Road in Rosebank, or even News Cafe at Rosebank Mall, either way, we are scanning menus for half-priced cocktails, because in this economy, two-for-the-price-of-one is a welcome relief. By the time ten o’ clock strikes, Ubers are called, or streets crossed in a hurry to hear the height of deep house music at Ratz Bar in Melville. We may be approaching our forties, but our ambitions for joy remain untamed and relentless.  At the door, we greet Malebza. She is the bouncer.   Stoic, highly revered, greatly loved and affectionately known as the official welcoming committee for all who sought entry at club doors or were worth mentioning after dark.   We gather at the bar because Ratz also accommodates the constraints of our collective economy, offering cocktails at half price. Carfax District is a reminder that cities need spaces where people can gather without pretence, lose themselves in music and experience the freedom of simply being. Its bar is thick with cigarette smoke and house music that quickly switches to pop before collapsing into R&B, then electro without announcing itself. Either way, the intention is to propel us toward our collective peak constantly.  Last rounds are called at two o’clock in the morning, Malebza calls us by our individual names and reminds us to order Ubers to the Carfax District. We aren’t ready to sleep, no