What's to envy?

(TONYA JAMESON, Charlotte Observer)
Cirque de Cornelius: The trapeze artist above the bar drew plenty of stares at Club NV on Wednesday.

After sitting in traffic on I-77 N. for about an hour on Wednesday, I finally arrived at NV nightclub about 10:15 p.m. The first thing I saw inside the club at Exit 28 was a guy on stilts and a dude on the dance floor playing with those Chinese stick things. I drifted toward the bar in desperate need of a cure for my traffic irritation. Before I could order a drink, I noticed a woman suspended above the bar on a rope trapeze.

I ordered my drink and soaked in the place. NV is the latest club to launch in the space previously occupied by Funky Buddha and Vertigo. I never went to Funky Buddha, but layout in NV was similar to the one at Vertigo. It felt like the new owners put on a fresh coat of blue paint, hung some abstract art and tossed in several additions to give the club a posher feel. The music on Wednesday was soulful house with splashes of progressive.

When you walk in there's a huge circular bar on the left and the dance floor is in front of the bar. On the other side of the bar is a raised area, about the height of a stage, with sofas, chairs and cocktail tables. That area was my favorite part. It felt like were sitting on a throne looking down on everyone else. To the rear of the club across from the dance floor is a swanky VIP area seperated by curtains. Each section has its own flat screen TV. Nice touch.

There's also an upstairs with a balcony. It has a small bar, several pool table and several larger flat screen TVs. There's also an exclusive VIP area with one-way glass that looks down on the dance floor. I hear a couple of NASCAR guys were in that private VIP the other day.

I didn't see any big-time race car drivers on Wednesday, but I did bump into Eric McCoy of Red Door, DJ Niz and Rich Saner, who helped organize the bartender's ball. I loved the music on Wednesday. It's a nice club, but it's not worth me driving up from Charlotte, and I'm not sure how this club is going to do in the Lake Norman area. On Wednesday, NV felt like a dress shoes striped shirt club in a flip-flops and shorts community. I wasn't the only person making that observation on Wednesday. Several people I spoke to said they like the club, but they didn't know how it would do north of uptown.

As Rob Mason and several of his friends said, when people in the Lake Norman area want to get dressed up they come to Charlotte. NV's a nice spot and with a few tweaks to accommodate a more casual crowd it could be just the right club for the burbs.