Do you know what kinds of great activities are available for you to indulge in when you live in Toronto and the clock strike 5 o'clock in the morning? Fucking none. The subway stops running at 12:30 AM and the bars stop serving liquor at 2 AM (2:15 if you're in a cool club) so even if you manage to find a crooked Chinese restaurant that's willing to serve you "cold tea," which is just a tea pot full of whatever alcoholic beverage the kind Asian man has available, you can really only stretch the party out to 3, 3:30 AM before everyone has to go home and sleep in preparation for the maple syrup harvest. However if you believe everything Drake has to say, 5 AM in Toronto is when the all the magic takes place! Also, believing everything Drake has to say means that your definition of a "viral video" is fulfilled whenever said video is NOT filmed on a tropical island resort and features zero skits with your childhood friends!
While 95% of the city of Toronto is in bed sleeping or preparing to wake in preparation of work, Drake hosts lavish beach volleyball parties where he invites needy cohorts, women of loose moral fiber and Toronto Raptors that could care less about tomorrow's practice session. All attendees seem to play no actual beach volleyball, a feat that is surprisingly difficult to do under black light, and unsurprisingly devolves quickly into a twerking session in the sand. Also, I'm bothered by the fact that the only comfortable place to sit and receive lapdances is on patio furniture that looks like it was purchased from Canadian Tire circa 2007. However, since the mantra of Torontonians has been "As Drake does, so do we all" for about 3 years now, I wondered how hard it would be for me to rent out the exact same beach volleyball venue for my own music video. With so many questions on my mind, I decided the only way to get answers would be to call "Beach Blast Indoor Beach Volleyball" and talk to the owner, a kind Czechoslovakian man named George, and find out:.Noisey: I'm a huge Drake fan and I was wondering how much it would cost if wanted to replicate his latest music video and rent out your venue from say, midnight until six in the morning.
George: Well it all depends on what's happening in the facility and what kind of preparations we'd need to make. If I need some extra staff to deal with issues like security or anything like that we'd be looking at extra. It also depends on if you're just shooting a few scenes here or if you're trying to make an entire story happen, like what Drake was trying to create. But if you're justing bringing in a group of 50 people who are here to play volleyball and one guy is signing, it could be anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 and the rest of the costs come from whatever extra things you're doing and how it affects business.What did you think of the video when you saw it?
That's a very difficult question. If I was in the music industry and I was out to make a lot of money then I would say I'm very impressed. But I'm in the volleyball business and I just have a huge facility with huge overhead, so I'm looking at it differently. As far as music videos go, I think it's great but I'm not an expert. What did you have in mind for your video idea?The exact same type of video. Some girls, some partying, same overall vibe. Are you up on the world of hip-hop?
I'm not but my son is, he works in the entertainment industry and he's been very involved in the scene for about ten years now. You can go online and see his website at glamourent.comDid Drake get a discount for putting the name of the venue at the end of the video?
No, because for me that doesn't really do anything. He did that because he's a friend of the family and because he's a regular at Beach Blast himself.Do you have a favorite Drake song?
I do not. But I'm the kind of guy who looks at the scene and all of the people that I get to meet because of my son and if I see that there is a positive message being put out behind the music and it hopefully inspires people, I think that it is healthy for the city. I came from Czechoslovakia when I was 17 and I used to play volleyball there, which is why I opened this place up, and I know that music is a very colorful industry. So as long as people are enjoying the message and it's healthy, I don't care how the song sounds.Can I smoke at Beach Blast?
No, that was a special consideration for Drake. You cannot smoke here.Slava Pastuk has a beard. He's on Twitter - @SlavaP
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George: Well it all depends on what's happening in the facility and what kind of preparations we'd need to make. If I need some extra staff to deal with issues like security or anything like that we'd be looking at extra. It also depends on if you're just shooting a few scenes here or if you're trying to make an entire story happen, like what Drake was trying to create. But if you're justing bringing in a group of 50 people who are here to play volleyball and one guy is signing, it could be anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 and the rest of the costs come from whatever extra things you're doing and how it affects business.What did you think of the video when you saw it?
That's a very difficult question. If I was in the music industry and I was out to make a lot of money then I would say I'm very impressed. But I'm in the volleyball business and I just have a huge facility with huge overhead, so I'm looking at it differently. As far as music videos go, I think it's great but I'm not an expert. What did you have in mind for your video idea?The exact same type of video. Some girls, some partying, same overall vibe. Are you up on the world of hip-hop?
I'm not but my son is, he works in the entertainment industry and he's been very involved in the scene for about ten years now. You can go online and see his website at glamourent.comDid Drake get a discount for putting the name of the venue at the end of the video?
No, because for me that doesn't really do anything. He did that because he's a friend of the family and because he's a regular at Beach Blast himself.Do you have a favorite Drake song?
I do not. But I'm the kind of guy who looks at the scene and all of the people that I get to meet because of my son and if I see that there is a positive message being put out behind the music and it hopefully inspires people, I think that it is healthy for the city. I came from Czechoslovakia when I was 17 and I used to play volleyball there, which is why I opened this place up, and I know that music is a very colorful industry. So as long as people are enjoying the message and it's healthy, I don't care how the song sounds.Can I smoke at Beach Blast?
No, that was a special consideration for Drake. You cannot smoke here.Slava Pastuk has a beard. He's on Twitter - @SlavaP