Over the weekend, my inbox has been deluged by people getting in touch about the news Derrick May is due to perform at Shelter’s 30th birthday party on September 17th. A number of the things about the story didn’t seem right. And now I’ve spoken to a few others, even more things aren’t right.

Firstly, it appears there is a Carl Craig connection to the story which I’d missed. Regular readers will know I’ve been unwell over the past few days – I’m slowly recovering, but still not back on top form. It turns out that Craig performed at the Brooklyn Monarch on July 10th – just three weeks ago.

And here’s where things get weirder. A 30th birthday party by a nightclub would normally receive lots of promotion. Not many clubs make it to that age. But so far, this has received almost none. Given how much such a party would cost to stage, wouldn’t it be crucial to get those tickets sold as soon as possible? The event isn’t even mentioned in this list forthcoming from the Brooklyn Monarch.

Shall we add one more bit of weird on top of this weirdness? Traditionally, birthdays are celebrated once per year. A while ago, Club Shelter announced the date of their 29th anniversary party. It was a curious choice – July 3rd 2021. This was only 29 days ago.

The odd date cannot even be explained by the pandemic, because no such party was ever advertised for 2020. The only possibility is that Club Shelter lives in its own time zone where it has a birthday once every 76 days…

Brooklyn Monarch have been contacted for comment. Their reply, if there is one, could make for interesting reading…