Just two years ago, Gallery looked like it was going to give house and dance fans a reason to skip driving into D.C. on weekends. Why deal with crowds and parking hassles when DJs like Ron Trent and DJ Sneak are providing beats for breakdancers and graffiti artists at a cool indoor-outdoor nightspot in Silver Spring? Then what looked to be a golden situation got caught in the same-old tar pits of promoter switches and ownership changes, and before you knew it, it was flailing around, looking for theme nights and untried DJs and sinking deeper and deeper. Now, finally, it looks like someone's thrown the club a lifeline. Local promotions team 88, which was behind Gallery's best events in 2006, has retaken the reins for Loda, art-and-music events that begins at 6 every Friday and keep going until 3, with dancing going on inside the club and in the cozy alleyway out back, and top names in the house and Detroit techno world -- Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, our own Sam "The Man" Burns -- stopping in to spin.

Admission is $10, and it's $5 if you e-mail info@eightyeightdc.com for a password.

-- Fritz Hahn (October 2008)