Groove Radio Sets Up Shop at Peppy Zoe and Anistasia

Give yourself two points for each “yes” answer to the questions below:

1: Is your car radio permanently tuned to Groove Radio 103.1 FM?

2: Does the presence of go-go dancers make a night out?

3: Do you love dancing on those raised platforms so that all may see you prance?

4: Have you always wanted to get your body pierced, then rise from the gurney and order a Rusty Nail without skipping a beat?

5: Sick of clubs where every patrons’ skin color matches the sheet-white smoke that streams from the ceiling?

If you scored six or more, give the new Zoe and Anistasia club, Thursdays at Peppers in Garden Grove, a try.

Promoter Larry Metoyer of 3 Blind Mice launched the gig three weeks ago, which may explain why it recently lacked the packed house that really makes a place rock.

Last week, it was close to midnight before the dance floor briefly reached capacity. Well-behaved clubbers let out exultant whoops only after prompting from Joe “the Boomer” Servantez, a Groove Radio deejay.

Sometimes a club’s mood remains subdued when a wall-to-wall throng isn’t happening. “No line out the door? Loser club, why am I here?”

Still, the Groove Radio format--all dance, all the time--supplied a rich, thumping mix of disco, house, industrial, trip hop, R&B; and reggae. Gals and guys in mall-bought minis or baggy pants rarely left the dance platforms empty. Hot-pantsed male and female go-goers helped keep things thumping.

The scene is plenty unpretentious too. Girls dance together; a guy will dance alone, and a perfect body isn’t required to join the jam.

If body embellishment sounds appealing, that’s available. The other night, body-piercer Domination of Huntington Beach set up his cot in a side room.

Other entertainments include what Metoyer calls “performance art,” including Tarot card readings and fun from his friend the contortionist.

There’s a taco bar where, for $1.50, a server folds your choice of chicken or beef inside a warm tortilla; you fill it up with spicy guacamole, onions, salsa and the like. Eat inside or on the cozy patio.

What’s more, any drink, you call it, goes for $2 all night, and five beers can be had for $5 until 10 p.m.

Still fence-sitting? Bonus question: Should a club deserve points for attracting independent thinkers who don’t perform the Macarena just because the deejay spins the song?

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COUNTRY CONTEST: The Nashville Network will sponsor an amateur dance contest at Westminster Mall for ages 18 and over. Male and female line dancers compete Sept. 14, from noon to 4 p.m.; couples performing the two-step and East or West Coast Swing compete Sept. 15, from noon to 4 p.m. No entry fee required. Grand prize in each category is $1,000. To register, call (206) 521-8424 or radio station KIKF-FM (94.3), (714) 835-1300.

* ZOE AND ANISTASIA

* At Peppers, 12361 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove.

* (714) 740-1333.

* Thursdays, 8 p.m.-1:30 a.m.

* $7; free for women before 11 p.m.