From street level, Notting Hill Arts Club would not be recognized for a bar or club except for the bouncers at the door, but sometimes people will prefer to keep their favourite hangout a secret. After a long week of work and it still being only Thursday, we were drained, but looking forward to hearing some sweet Soca.

We rolled into the club at about 10pm with a couple friends of the Jungle we chained up to come with us. :-) The club was not what you would expect for a soca venue... a very chill atmosphere in the bar area, decked out with sofas and funky pictures of light on the walls. Very cool. But were we in the right place??!!

Well besides the music, there was rum-punch and specialty cocktails, as well as, food from our friends Hassan and Co. So yuh know it's now officially a Trini party!

Gladiators Sound was on the decks as the smooth voice of Alex Jordan from International Sounds of Soca on 1Xtra presented the tracks. After the Soca, the resident DJ was mixing it up with Hip-Hop, Dub and some groovy tunes. We didn't stick around too much longer - that was just enough to kickoff the weekend without jeopardizing the concentration at work on Friday!

We actually bounced up a few Trinis we knew, but there were also loads of other folks from various parts of the globe who were enjoying it just as much. Heh, we even spotted a celebrity... Jade Jagger, daughter of Rolling Stones star Mick Jagger! It seems like this secret is not fully out the bag yet, but we'll be back for the next one in January - and will be spreading the word.

Every Sunday night 2-4 am, you can hear the International Sounds of Soca with Alex Jordan (or catch it online at www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/morestyles). Be sure to look out for Trini Jungle Juice Interview with Alex posting soon.