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Thursday
Night Fever
It’s well past midnight Thursday, any Thursday really, and freshman education major Leanna Gilles has just hit the dance floor at Billy Bob’s Texas for another round of two-stepping. She and the four or five women who came with her will close the club, then head home and to sleep, hopefully by 2 a.m. She really should get to bed as soon as she can. After all, class starts at 8 a.m. Many TCU students choose to take advantage of Thursday night, despite class Friday morning. “In college, the weekend starts on Thursday nights,” Gilles said. Gilles said she usually gets ready at about 10 p.m. and doesn’t even hit the clubs until 11 p.m. She leaves about 1:30 a.m., giving her enough time to catch some sleep before hitting her 8 a.m. Spanish class. “I’m a little tired (Friday morning), but it’s not horrible,” Gilles said. Billy Bob’s on Thursday nights has become a tradition for Gilles and her friends, who said she started going to the club the second week she was on campus and has gone every week since. “There are lots of college students there (on Thursday nights),” Gilles. “Friday and Saturday have more adults.”
Thursdays, college
night at Billy Bob’s, has one particular attraction for college
students. Other clubs around Fort Worth find other ways to attract college students on Thursday nights. Danny Weaver, who owns the Aardvark at 2905 W. Berry St., said Thursday nights are a big draw for his club. “Not as many people have class Friday,” Weaver said. “The number of college students definitely increases.” Weaver said he plans Thursday nights around college students. “I definitely schedule bands for college students,” he said. Younger bands
and the drink specials the Aardvark runs draw students in, Weaver
said. “I usually stay up late if I don’t go out,” Godley said. “I only have one class at 10 a.m. on Fridays.” Godley said Thursday nights were an especially big draw to him as a freshman. “At first I went out every Thursday, but then it started to lose its luster,” he said. Gilles said she used to think of Thursdays as another weeknight, a time to do homework and wind down from the week. “I thought,
‘Thursday nights? Why would people go out on Thursday nights?’”
Gilles said. A community has grown up around the clubs, she said. “You see
people you know, but you also get to meet some new people,”
she said. “I knew a basic line dance (my first time) but I’ve learned some more advanced dances since then,” she said. Godley said he started going out on Thursday nights because that’s what everyone else did. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” Godley said. “You’re supposed to go out Thursday night.” Senior religion major Kiera Sammis said Thursday nights are a big time to get ready for the weekend. “It seems as though a lot of people from TCU go out on Thursday nights,” Sammis said. “We’re all excited for the weekend to come.” Sammis said Thursdays are a particularly good time for her to go out because she hasn’t had a Friday class for the past three semesters. A typical Thursday night for her starts about 9:30 or 10 p.m., when she’ll meet up with friends and go downtown. “We go hang out and dance a little,” she said. She then moves on to The Pub, where she runs into more TCU people. Sammis said she usually goes home around 2 a.m. Sammis said she tries out many different places. The Library, a new club at 8th and Commerce streets, is particularly popular, she said. “It’s new right now, and everyone wants to go there,” she said. Sammis said
Thursday nights are an important way for her to relax after the
school week. Senior fashion merchandising major Melissa Styles said there is one big reason for college students to go out on Thursday nights. “So we don’t run into the high school kids like on Friday or Saturday night,” Styles said. For Godley, avoiding high school students isn’t the only reason to go out on Thursdays. Fear is a pretty good motivating factor also. “You don’t want to be the dude who doesn’t go out Thursday nights,” Godley said. John-Mark
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