Written by DCist contributor E.K. Eckert

The lights are just coming up in the main room at Nation Night Club, despite the sun having risen an hour earlier, and Scott Henry is spinning his final record, a remix of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance.” People all around us are crying. Lots of people, and lots of tears. This is, honestly and not in the cliché sense, the end of an era. Before Nation is to be razed to allow for development around the new baseball stadium, Buzzlife productions held its last party this past Friday, “The Closing Party.” Buzzlife has held events at Nation on Friday nights since 1996, and has hosted all the top DJs in the world, including Sasha, Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, and of course, local greats Feelgood and Scott Henry. To the electronic dance music (EDM) community in the D.C. area, the loss of Nation is more than the loss of a night club, it’s the loss of a second home.

Throughout these ten years, Buzzlife — with its weekly parties Sting, Buzz, and the latest incarnation Cubik — has created a community of likeminded individuals all communing for the love of a beat, the drop of a thick bass line, or the solid four to the floor rhythm these nights deliver. Dancers, DJs, and wallflowers alike came week after week to hear their favorite DJs. In the process, people fell in love not only with the music, but also with the venue and with one another. Buzz — and Nation — were key players in developing this prominent music scene in D.C.