Queens, Freaks, and a Thumping Bass: Justine in New York.

Bank at Element Saturday

2006-09-24T22:28:00.000-04:00

[music: CSS - Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex]

Bank is the name of the night.
Element is the name of the club.
Chaos is what it used to be in the late 90s.

Exited the taxi a little too west towards Houston. Walked a little bit. I think I saw Leigh walking but I am not sure. Off course my name was not on the list because there was no list: predicted. No bid deal.
So anyway, last time I was there it was (somehow) a long time ago (half a year?). This time I'm earlier (1:30) so it's still crowded.
Mostly boys in tee shirt and AF, the music's somehow a little lame. Larry Tee is not playing. I like Larry Tee's DJing a lot.
Hanged out in the back room, chit chat with friends and nothing grandiose happening.

Left not too late (3:00) because of general sleepyness. The place's really not worth the dough. Maybe for Larry's birthday.

Next week I want to go to Misshapes.

Happy Valley Fashion Week

2006-09-24T22:27:00.000-04:00

[music: Cazals - Poor Innocent Boys]

Ah! Happy Valley Tuesdays. The right place, the right time, the right crowd.
Well, first it's not the same since the Misshapes got thrown out in style and replaced by other DJs. It really took away something. Too bad. It could have been a great mixed party the way NYC needs it.
Mix, Mix, Mix. The secret of a great party.

So, this time it's fashion week and everyone's going to be at Happy Valley, at least I feel it's going to be like this. Kenny Kenny was performing his new track. He was great.
The place got really crowded fast. I hang out downstairs in the basement. The first DJ-ette played Daft Punk's Around The World (it was nice to hear this), and some Acid tracks that got the fun crowd going. Especially the one with the great moustache and Vivienne Westwood shirt.
The DJ succeeding played mostly House classics, and it was really fun. The energy was great in the room and the club overall.

When they have big nights it's really a fun party.

Because I'm lazy typing here's some more:

pictures
Movie

The Old...

2006-07-24T18:54:00.000-04:00

[music: Madonna - Erotica (Bass Hit Dub)]

Junior Vasquez plays Classics at Cielo.

It has been a long time since I have been to a Junior Vasquez party, maybe a year? Maybe more. I can't even remember.
So, being that I love the club Cielo and I am a fan of old school House, I thought this would be a great event. Junior's Classics parties are always a great event featuring all the old friends.

Arrived early to chill in the garden for a while, the music by 11:30 was nothing special. The club half full. By 12:30, the music switched to old school house -which I love-. The crowd was so trash. It looked like the glitter part of Junior party is totally gone. Not one of my usual party friends showed up. It was a display of people who seem to be stuck in the past, not knowing where to go to have as much fun today as they had yesterday. Then around 1 the music moved to a really hard sounding house, it wasn't matching the space very well, and was just too much. I left after not being able to take it anymore, around 1:30 or 2:00.

It seems the golden age of Junior is over, and even the average age. Last night was a sad display. The music was bad, the mixing nothing special, and the crowd just dirty looking. Sad.
I won't be at another Junior party for a long long time. In the mean time, I heard Victor Calderone event at Crobar was great and the crowd fun, mixed, and uplifted.

...and the new

2006-07-23T03:40:00.000-04:00

[music: Madonna - Sorry (Green Velvet Remix) ]

Misshapes at Don's Hill

Lately I've been finding lots of stupid puns. Don's Hill Down Hill is the newest one. The previous was the lame --to express my disapointment with the new Thierry Mugler collection-- "Thierry Mugl-i-er" ... no comments.

So, tonight after a 'ok' time (with some 'wow, i got to get out of here' moments) at some averagely-trendy straight bar in Soho, I decided to clear my ears and eyes of the average-everything of that place. Misshapes is a walking distance.
First, it's funny, the price seems to change each time I show up. First time was free, second time was $5, this time it was $10. The kids where hanging out outside, no line at this time of the night: 3:00. How early does one have to come to experience the peak? I am not sure.

Anyway, inside it's cool. They fixed the place a little bit. There's some funny room with some plastics coconut trees at the back where 10 people can chill. Then there's a new entrance towards the dancefloor opening the place a little bit. Overall it looks nicer than before.
The crowd's the usual mix of new rock kids slim as it can be, and then the rest of the youth of cool new york. The music is quite fun, pretty much what they play in the show but thank God! this is what I needed after the Soho experience.
It was fun to check out the Dior-ed up kid dancing like a nut, and that fat black queen with dreads and a fantastic outfit reminding me of Jeremy Scott line). Very fun interesting crowd they have there.

The ovah event of the night is this young latina girl who reminded me so much of my old friend Alexis who I used to go to Twilo with. She was just gorgeous, gorgeous. Little black dress, amazing body and such a perfect face with long black hair. Anyway, she was stunning.
So she's at the bar, looks and looks again towards me. I can't get bothered lately, I can't deal with this. But it was fun to flirt a little this way. Then, out of nowhere, she's full on show on the pole dance station they put at the bar! Jumping and turning on the bar, her little mini going up and letting the most beautifully perfect ass showing. Just wow. She worked the pole for 3 minutes, everyone around was just totally gaging! So was I.
Then with no special expression went back to her drink and conversation with her friend at the bar. Wow! I haven't seen such fun out-of-nowhere behavior in a while. New York still can provide with some fun surprising moments it seems.

I hanged out a little on the side of the dancefloor, but around 3:30 the dancefloor was getting a little less crowded and it was time to leave Down's Hill,

Fun night at Misshapes, will come back, have too.

I should follow this with a trip to Victor Calderone's Evolve. I don't know if I will have the energy to wake up at 6:00 this morning. Maybe maybe. It would be amusing to do a weekend of all parties this weekend with Misshapes followed by Evolved followed by Junior Classics. Haha, the good old days of weekends going from party to party are so far. :)

Kevin Aviance Birthday Bash at DistortionDisko

2006-07-09T22:14:00.000-04:00

[music: Voodoo Ray - A Guy Called Gerald (Fast Eddie Remix)]

12am:
The line in front of the club is huge. Half a block. As usual on Thursday during Gay pride week, it's Kevin's Birthday party, usually at some fun club.
This year it's with all the usual freaks and fun folks of DistortionDisko. Larry and Kevin share the DJ Booth.

Music: The Sounds, Vitalic, Royskopp, Janet Jackson, Blondie, Block Party, Ladytron, Whitney Houston, ... .
Compliments heard and given: "I Love Your Shoes" , "You look so beautiful", "You look amazing".
Drinks: Champagne, Diet Coke.
MC: Kenny Kenny touching notes on the hate-crime commited against Kevin earlier in the month.
Performance: Tobel Von Cartier.
Old Friends: "OH! MY GOD! I didn't recognize you?!".
Kisses: in the corner, behind the beds.

Deepspace

2006-07-04T18:54:00.000-04:00

[music: The Love I Lost - Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes]

Monday 11pm:
Rendez-vous in front of Cielo, in the meat-packing district. Bullshit-central of New York City nightlife, where the go to measure how they achieved in the social function. Girls as sex, guys as power. And everyone drunk out of their little minds.
Cielo is an oasis of good music in the neighborhood. Francois K is at the helm of this musical journey.

Early on, a great Soys Soy house track is played, sending flashes of Body and Soul in my head. When I join the dancefloor, it's hip-hop, then disco for a while. It's just the weird phase of FK who can play anything anytime. It is early in the night and the crowd is still what looks like a typical 'out-in-whatever-club' crowd, with couple of heads I recognize from other House nights.
Hang out in the garden for an hour or two afterwards.

It's 3am: there's a shift in the crowd. More musically-aware people are crowding the room and cheer at the musical choices of the FK. More black crowd too. Then the climax begins. Francois start mixing lots of different acapellas from disco tracks ("This is something for you") and hints of "Keepon'Keepin'on" in a deep drumy track ... and then a break with the piano keys of "Keepin on" ... he followed by his typical DeepSpace sound. Dark grooves and drums, sounded like a mix of Detroit Techno and Soul or RnB and House. Played Jeff Mills, and then towards 4am moved on to Disco Classics. By then the dancefloor was still full and the club was in a great total move.

Great night. I will try to be back on July 18th for the visit of Derrick May. Plus Junior Vasquez's doing a Classics party there on the following Sunday. What a roaster that club has.

Happy Valley

2006-06-06T21:30:00.000-04:00

[ music : Vitalic - U and I ]

Happy Valley, Tuesday May 30th, 12:00am

After a dinner and a little walk in Chelsea, a quick hop at Happy Valley. Last time I was there it was a total mad house for Dita Von Teese show. This time it is more quiet.
Tommie Sunshine is in the booth, and half of the usual suspects are there, including one of my 'models of modern feminity' Connie Girl Domination. She is so tall, so there - charisma. Beautiful strong body, a masterpiece of Nature.
Sofia Lamar is in better mood than last time at Motherfucker, and she's happy chatting with some of the young crowd at the party. It got a little busier around 1, but all very laid back.
I can't remember the music much, it was okay, quite fun.
The show at 1:30 was a little odd, a tribute to Debbie Harry by a Drag with a guitar (reminded me of the ones coming out of the "East of Eight" restaurant once in a while. She was pleasant. Next week is the great classic of "The Dueling Bankheads" of Jackie 60 fame. I am not going to make it but it was already fun just to hear their name and picture them on stage at Happy Valley.
At this point the dancefloor was quite crowded and I decided it was time to head out to avoid ruining my week by being too tired so early.

Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend

2006-05-29T11:41:00.000-04:00

[music: none]

Memorial Day Sunday:

There are so many parties going on in the city tonight, it's pretty insane. David Mancuso is having a Loft party, Joe Claussell has his "Sacred Rhythms" at Love, Motherfucker is holding its 6 years anniversary at Roxy, Junior Vasquez is playing "Master Class" at Cielo, and the boys staying late will all be at Allegria at Crobar. That's a long list of things to choose from.

First things first, Motherfucker.
Arrived at 12:30 to a club half packed of the usual kids playing their games, dressed up, and some good rock music (Paradise City). Stayed at the bar and made fun of couple of kids who didn't know what the hell to wear, and admire and compliment others. Saw some of the Misshapes crew, they seems less interesting than I thought. Whatever. The party seemed to take up when Diana Ross "Baby Love" played on, very cute. They followed that by "Back In Black", great guitar.
Then the usual crew went up on stage to sing Happy Birthday, and it was back on with the music. Fun place. Chi-Chi Valenti was here, I missed her voice from my past days in clubs. It was fun hearing this again. I even saw Jessica Rabbit, didn't say hi; I should have.
Spent the next 2 hours in the back with the usual crazy freaks, very fun. Still a great party to visit when it happens.

At around 2:30, headed to Cielo. The place was packed, with a nice mix of Junior's crowd and Cielo crowd. It was great. The music was quite uplifting from Junior. Live remix and mashups of "I'm Every Woman", "I Love You Baby", "Just Us", ... he kept the mood light and in a great spirit. A nice change. The energy of the set reminded me of the Frankie Knuckles set for Gay Pride last year.
After some time enjoying the music, I stayed in the back garden. Best idea in a club I've seen. Gives people a chance to take a nice break, and enjoy a nest of peace in the club. What a great place. Saw the usual Junior friends, and had a great time. Towards the end of the night (4:00), Junior played some great old school music, and everyone was in great spirit. All lights up in the club, and "White Lines" playing --GREAT. He then played some more old school Hip-Hop and real Disco/Pop track (can't remember) that had the whole club going in ecstasy. Kevin casually performed that "2 times 2 is Square" (?) song that had the whole place feature a smile from ear to ear. Great moment.

So that was it, it was a great fun night out, not pushing the limits, and that was great!

Tribute to New York City Girls

2006-05-06T12:20:00.000-04:00

The Modern Models of Feminity:

Connie Girl Domination

Jessica Rabbit Domination

Justine D

Dita Von Teese at Happy Valley Tuesdays

2006-05-05T19:10:00.000-04:00

[music: The Sounds - Tony The Beat (Brooklyn Fire Remix) ]

pics are there: http://www.lastnightsparty.com/dita

Tuesday, 12am

I arrive in front of Happy Valley. Since I don't want to spend too much dineros, I only have $40 in my pockets. Sometimes I like to remind myself of the fun times when I was a student with no money, and how I was going out almost every nights spending nothing...I still have found memories of those crazy years.
So anyway, there's no line at this time. I don't really know when to show up for those ultra-fashion-hipster oriented nights. I think 12:30 should be fine, and it was fine.
The place was already busy. A look at the booth above the dancefloor and Tommy Sunshine is shaking his long hairs to some cool electro vibe. The people around the club are the usual suspects populating the New York nightlife scene, and I love it. There's a lot of young kids too, I like that.

The place got insanely packed pretty quickly. After a tour on the first floor looking for a friend I thought might be here, I get downstairs. Dita is on the floor, dressed like a XVII th century Countess. Black shiny velvet dress with rufled shouldres, black hat: Vivienne Weswood. She's wearing a very white makeup and red red lips. Quite nice in the pure interpretation of the classic look. She's a little bit like a tone-down Betty Page wearing Westwood.
Before the show, Kim Aviance did a little number, very House of Aviance back in the 90s (total body in strech fabric giving the corps another shape).
Anyway, Amanda showed up -looking gorgeous as usual- and by that time everyone was waiting for Dita's show. I've never been so packed in any club. And I've been to packed places. There was literally no room at all. Everyone waiting for the show. They placed a Carousel glitter-made horse in the center of the stage. The horse was waiting there, all alone. Tommie Sunshine was pumping some tune, everyone was stuck to each others, looking their best. What a hilarious moment, I loved it.

The show:
Dita comes out wearing a pink corset covered with rhinestones, ballet dancer shoes, pink hat, and large pink frou-frou feathers on her ass. She dances, put off the clothes a little bit with some Vaudeville music playing...all this reminds me of Jackie 60 but in a classic style (minus the beautiful Filth of the House of Domination). She's really good, and her skin is whiter than a Kasimir Malevich!
Finally she climbs the horse and play erotically while riding the smiling animal.
Applause, the show is over.

I stayed a little more. Sunshine played some really fun track about sex with a groove reminding me of Acid House. What a great sound. I flirted with the young crowd, particularly a 6'4 incredibly skinny 20 year old with long blond hair, as a mystical beast from the forest of Scandinavia. Said hi to the regulars too. Left at 1:30.

Danny Tenaglia's Birthday at Crobar

2006-04-06T00:20:00.001-04:00

[music: Glenn Underground - Jaz Love #2 (Guidance Recording)]

10am - noon
Danny used to have great parties ...

Patricia Field's 40th Birthday Party

2006-04-06T00:20:00.000-04:00

[music: Etienne De Crecy - Gifted - Super Discount]

pics are here: http://www.lastnightsparty.com/lacapitale

Sunday night, 10:30

Capital hosts Saint Patricia Field 40th Birthday party. The place is big, is it an 1920s Palace's dancehall? Beautiful. The whos and whats of what constitutes New York cross between Fashion and Nightlife is here to pay tribute to Patricia who has been a force in those two fields for New York City.
The night is centered on shows performed by basically everyone who usually performs in clubs around the city.

The ones who stood out for me:

Paul Alexander and Kim Aviance:
Paul (of Jackie 60's 'The Jackie Hustle' fame) talked over some beats and brought the House down, while Kim was runway-ing on a treadmill with a large fan blowing her wig. Amazing visual and perfect match with the sound. One of the best low-key show I've seen.

Dirty Martini:
A simple strip tease, but with a body like that! Ah!

Willie Ninja and the House of Ninja dancers:
Not for the voguing per se, but for his long rambling about Patricia, who apparently moved the New York scene more than people could guess.

Connie Girl Domination:
Because she's the Fiercest bitch in New York City Period.

Kevin Aviance:
Kevin took the space and expanded it by dressing up like a Star (5 sides glitter) and climbing up the roof. Real artists creates. He gave that place a new dimension. Very impressive energy.

Harry *:
Her body is that of a women, her face of a baby...interesting impersonation of Marylin.

I also hanged out a little bit in the upstairs room where I had a quick chat with Harry *, she's so freakin' hot! This place was so funny, at one point I was in the center of three conversations. On my left two drunk gogo-boys talking about fist fucking, on the right drag exchanging tips on how to keep their high-heels long-lasting, and on my back some voguers talking about the old days and the new days and so on ... so much fun.

A quick stop at Hiro under Hotel Maritime was enough to bring me back to life. I did my usual 5 minutes there and back home.

Roxy 15th Birthday

2006-04-06T00:19:00.000-04:00

[music: Blur - Girls & Boys (Felix Da Housecat Remix)]

Roxy 15th Anniversary with a special performance featuring Kevin Aviance and the Cunties. Music by Brett Erichtsten (or something).

I showed up dressed up in a total-skinny strict outfit to celebrate the event. The line was quite long but I somehow managed to get in quite quickly. Very nice.

Inside, at 1am, the place was decently busy with a mix of your classic Chelsea boy and younger crowd (not the hipster though). The music was somewhat disconcerting, dance remix of Pop song. It didn't really feel like New York City.
I hanged out in the back bar where almost all the old kids from back in the days where there. It was really fun to see so many people out, those that defined New York nightlife a decade ago and do not go out anymore. What fun. And it was a real lesson in dressing up. From vintage Courreges, to Helmut Lang, to Vivienne Westwood, it was a lot of fun to play again this way.
The first show was great. Josephine Aviance looked amazing and played with the fan they put near the stage like a true pro. She turned and her dressed revealed a long scarf like feature that floated for a complete minute, in what appeared like slow motion. It looked like a photo shoot. Kevin performed the song and danced with Josephine and Afrika (replacing the Cunty of the day: Naomi). People were into it.
The night played on again, and the music was still disconcerting.
The second show was over a remix of Mary J. Blidge new song "Be Without You", which is amazing. The remix was cute and Kevin worked the energy in the room to the maximum, making it peak when the remix goes on Mary's acapella and everyone claps their hands. There was life in the place again. Mary's voice is so real.

I left an hour or so after, following some more social fun with the old friends.

Lots of places

2006-01-29T04:41:00.000-05:00

[music : nothing playing]

Saturday January 28th's Programme: Peter Rauhofer at Roxy, Robot Rock at Movida, MisShapes at Don's Hill.

i) Peter Rauhofer at Roxy
Arrived at the place around 2am. Not as crowded as I would expect, but then last time I was there Madonna was in the house. The place was okay decorated (large hearts, teddy bears on the ceiling, a little whatever but cute). The crowd seemed to be in a good mood, and the music was just average. Somehow when he played the 'My Hump' song, things got started. I thought it was funny.
I left around 3:00 because I wanted to check out the other places in the city.

ii) Robot Rock at Movida
Oh well, that didn't go so so good. I guess some places shouldn't be visited after 3am. There were very few people left in the club, and the DJs changed because the music was really nothing stellar. On the other hand, in spite of its lilliputian size, the space is nice. And the girls there were cute and friendly. Maybe a place to check out again but earlier.

iii) MisShapes at Don's Hill
I dashed immediatly to MisShapes (after a 10 minutes round in the meat packing district because I was lost). At 3:30 the place was already half full (from people not leaving yet). The bar closed few minutes after. Had the time to get a taste of the night and it was fun. It's such a scene (MisShapes.com) ; I really have to come earlier to this party and get my brain in the right mode because everyone's drunk in that place.

Et voilà.

Sunday: Junior Vasquez at Cielo or Joe Claussell at Love.

New Year's Day

2006-01-06T22:04:00.000-05:00

[music : ZZ Top - Got Me Under Pressure ]

January 1, 2006. 13:30
Arrival on 28th Street and 10th Ave. Straight to the front of the club. The doormen hasn't a clue and ask us to go all the way around. One minute later we are in through the door via the Reed Room.
As I approach the tunnel leading to the main room I encounter the largest group of Black Queens since Twilo back in 2000. This party is the place to be. As always, they're beautiful and dressed in all the latest models off Paris or Milan's runways.

The main room is packed with "The Boys" shirtless. The first floor balcony looks like the retreat for the Straight crowd, girls and boys. Royskopp's "What else is there?" is playing. And Stopping. And Victor add some drums. The club is erupting.
Columns of lights around the club flash of blue, then stop. Silence again. A small flickering is going on, I look around it sounds like particles are crackling up...then the voice of Loleatta praise ... and then in an instant the Bass takes over the whole club. I have visions of Arena at Palladium.

Left at 5:30pm. It was the best New Years party this year.

Tenaglia at Show

2005-12-29T18:15:00.000-05:00

[ music : Royksopp - What Else is There? (Thin White Duke Remix) ]

Arrival at 1:30am to a mad house in front of the club, made it inside rapidly to:
girls wearing little clothes, gogo boys with christmas hats, drag queens on the stage, hard pumping beats on the system, hot trannies feeling the music, dressed-up motherfuckers, hot bodies on a swing above the dancefloor, friends, latinas and latinos, sweaty, long night, classics thrown in, performances left and right, people jumping on the bar just to dance, more and more folks showing up as the night goes on, folks in light mood and spirit, heavy sexual energy throughout the club, ....
Most fun out of 2005.

Les Enfants terribles

2005-12-29T13:14:00.000-05:00

[music : Ram Jam - Black Betty ]

From the New York Post page 6:

INDIE band The MisShapes are no longer the house deejays for Susanne Bartsch's Tuesday night party at Happy Valley. At last week's Toy Drive for children with HIV/AIDS, the club's owners kicked the trio out of the disco-ball deejay booth - to the delight of a disgruntled crowd after the group behaved extremely poorly. "They were completely out of control," said our spy. "They had 35 people in the booth with them, spilling drinks all over the equipment. The music was undeniably bad and went off every 30 minutes until they were finally asked to leave."

From Geordon on myspace:

So What

Ah! The young ones are burning their legend and it shines even brighter. Apart from the amusing situation and the rightly unapologetic attitude, their artistic value contrasts with their antics.
I think Happy Valley should just get the guys at GBH. They play mostly the same songs anyway (minus the (annoying) pop the MisShapes put here and there -GregK?-, but sans the MisShapes's aesthetic or their real avant-garde Rock choices).

Programme

2005-12-25T10:57:00.000-05:00

[ music : VHS or Beta - You Got Me (Baby Daddy Remix) ]

Near Programme

Sunday Night : Asseteria with Danny Tenaglia.
Tuesday Night : Happy Valley with the MisShapes.
Thursday Night : Disco Distortion with Larry Tee.
Friday Night : MotherFucker!

New Year's Eve Saturday: I have no idea what I am going to do!
New Year's Day Sunday: Either Victor Calderone at Crobar, or the park with my dog!

dt --part 2

2005-12-25T10:44:00.000-05:00

[ music: The Rakes - The World was a mess but his hair was perfect ]

Danny honoring 27th Street

As soon as I entered, the sound was amazing. There was a deep driving bass funk-ing the place, that's what I know Danny for. Dark House tracks with a deep bass, and a very strong groove; he was delivering!
After 10 minutes, I found myself under the booth, and was impressed by the music already. He then introduced a track that just left me speechless. It had ups and downs, stops and go, claps the whole club followed, and out of nowhere a funky bass that turned the club upside down. It's right then than I tought Danny was playing like this club deserves.

Techno and Acid House

After the first half hour, I couldn't really find a good spot to dance, and those pants where a little tight. Specially the dozens of straps were just keeping my legs from moving easily, well, that's what I get for dressing up haha! At least I got a good workout out of it.
At that point Danny stopped layering tracks too much and it was a little slow for a while. You got to give the crowd a break.
But but but, around 6, he started to put a slow Techno track that just took control of me, I can't tell what it was really. It sounded like a mix of Acid House and Detroit Techno. What a beauty. Inside the dominating bass of the tracks, tons of little electronic variations and sounds that were just mind-fucking me in a major way. It was funk, but modern. And hearing such beautiful things on a sound system as good as Spirit's is rare.

The Girl *

That night I was also supposed to meet a girl I encountered last time at Crobar. Back at Crobar, she was a little drunk (I think) and was hitting on me in a major way. She was cute but I just can't deal with drunk girls or boys.
Anyway, after a while I bumped into her again. She was dancing on the podium in a very explicit manner. I would not mind this at all in a different context than Spirit. Audience matters, and the worse thing to do is perform so that it can be misinterpreted, vulgarized, and dumbed down by big Long Island muscle boys who have no idea who René Crevel is.
I did not pursue this further, too bad she seemed like an interesting person out of the club.

The Fetish Dom Guy

In the corner where I was dancing, an original group formed of a cute little Latino girl, a white girl, and a shirtless muscular hairy guy with a beard and heavy earings were dancing. The white girl complimented me on my look, which I appreciated a lot (bien-sûr). Then later, it went:
Guy: Can I ask you a question?
Moi: Yes, sure.
Guy: Are you into Fetish?
Moi: Oh! Not really, this (pointing to my leather arm bands) is as far as I go.
Guy: Oh I see. Because I am. I am a dom, and I looked at you and was thinking you looked like a good boy. A good boy.

The 2 Girls Wearing Dresses

Most of the crowd just dresses badly, but I want to give props to the 2 girls wearing knee high very feminine dresses. They were a breath of feminity in that place.

Muscle heads

After my Techno bliss on the floor, I headed to the first floor. Only to be greeted by a sea of shirtless hyper-muscular and testosteroned guys, all barking loudly.

my departure at 7:30am

And this prompted my departure.

Thanks to Danny for the music, the beautifuls for making me smile.

(*)
"Il est malheureusement bien vrai que, sans le loisir et l'argent, l'amour ne peut être qu'une orgie de roturier ou l'accomplissement d'un devoir conjugal. Au lieu du caprice brûlant ou rêveur, il devient une répugnante utilité."
-- Charles Baudelaire

"It is sadly true that, without leisure and money, love can only be a commoner's orgy or the achievement of marital duty. In place of a burning or dreamy whim, it becomes a disgusting usefulness."

dt --part 1

2005-12-24T21:57:00.000-05:00

[ music: The Cure - Lullaby ]

Friday:
After spending some time reading Journaux intimes by Charles Baudelaire, I crashed in bed at 10pm, just had time to set my alarm for a 4am wake up call, and fell asleep thinking about that sentense I read in Charles's Journal:

Les airs charmants et qui font la beauté sont:

L’air blasé,
L’air ennuyé
L’air évaporé,
L’air impudent,
L’air de regarder en dedans,
L’air de domination,
L’air de volonté,
L’air méchant,
L’air chat, enfantillage, nonchalance et malice mêlés.

Saturday:
4am: Alarm rings.
I jump out of bed. All is quiet and dark. I move slowly to the shower without touching anything else. I stay under the water for 10 minutes. Put the light on, shave. Put on contact lenses. Hair are neatly combed and I apply gel so they will stay perfect. The world was a mess but his hair was perfect.
Time to dress up, it is now 4:25.
I put on my pants and shoes, as well as a fitted white shirt and skinny back tie. Added couple of Leather arm bang to create additional symetrical focal points.

I put my dark grey coat and headed out. Caught a taxi and was in front of the club at 4:50.
The bouncer was talking to a girl for 5 minutes before even acknowledging anyone else at the door. I was ready to leave in front of such idiotic behavior.
Anyway, I headed in. The coat check was busy with 6 russian girls and their bags. Bodies are toned, clothes are bought on Broadway, hair is dynasty-worthy, and make-up visible in the dark.

I pay the exhorbitant sum of $40 to get in.
Cashier Girl: I like your outfit.
Moi: Thanks, You haven't seen the pants and shoes!
Cashier Girl: Haha! Have a good time sweety.

I pass the door and enter the place. People everywhere. Young, casual. The music is definitely dark and the bass overwhelms the place.
I go down the stairs and turn left to enter the club. The place is packed, and the music's great.

[more later on Danny honoring 27th street with amazing tracks, a techno-acid house moment, the girl I was supposed to meet, the muscle boys, the fetish dom guy, the 2 girls wearing dress, and my departure at 7:30am]

Mishaps

2005-12-11T03:49:00.000-05:00

[ music: Gwen Guthrie - Padlock ]
[ pics: here]

MisShapes, the very cool radio show on evr featuring the great new sound of all the latest cool bands (Cazals, The Rakes, Interpol...) is firstly a party. Ah! The absolute coolness of it. In my time in New York, I don't think a party had such a hype attached to it.
In my quest of all things "Il faut absolument etre moderne", I am interested in checking what the new kids are doing. Their site is full of photos featuring what looks like a party crowd.
Anyway, that's for the background.

So, the MisShapes moved to Don's Hill, home of the legendary Squeezebox. So I decided for a late visit.
I arrived in front of the club (having flashbacks of years past) to find a crowd of 20 people or so in front. Thomas was doing the door.
Since I wasn't dressed warmly enough, and the crowd waiting in line was nothing but a bunch of east-village kids making no effort to dress up, I decided to bypass the line straight to Thomas. I don't really know him, but he was kind enough to let me in directly --I wasn't going to wait 15min to enter (way too cold out there).
So once inside, I heard the first track dont' ask me what it was I just don't remember.
The crowd's really young indeed, and very tame. Trés rock, little glam (as opposed to Motherfucker).
After a little turn around the club, I realized that a lot of those kids were not really my style. I had memories of Jackie 60, the party of my youth and got depressed. Then I tried to get into the mood but, god! the mixing was terrible, terrible. Those kids need to do something about that, I had the same experience at Happy Valley. They're really cute, don't get me wrong. but this is just not working.
Greg K. was djing at the time and it'was really whatever. Felt like in a highschool party. Heard Nirvana, Daft Punk, Gloria Gaynor (!). But mostly their big hits and not the amazing 'side b' the great djs like Danny T know how to push.
Well, when he played Daft Punk's "One More Time" I thought that at least they were dancing to the voice of the Prince of underground House --yeah ok maybe without realizing it [Romanthony whose masterpiece is Romanworld].

So anyway, I got really tired of the rock kids wearing trashy tees and feeling themselves while listening to a best of 'top of the pops'. Girls were cute, got to give the party this.

I think maybe if I hit the place when Geordon (the real 'star' of the dj trio) played music might have been a little less obvious and more to my tastes.

I pushed the 'Eject' button after half an hour and two diet cokes. I will definitely not be there for new years eve, but maybe another time to hear Geordon --althought for that I might just hit Happy Valley on Tuesdays.

As David Mancuso signs:
Peace on Earth,

JLM

PS: since I talked about Jackie 60, here's a glimpse of the absolute artistry that was going on in that little space: Marti Domination [more here].

PS2: for the future, I think I need a Danny Tenaglia fix. Good sound system, great selection, great mixing, long hours, lots of dancing. A House Music cleansing of sort.

jv or not j'y vais

2005-12-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

[music: Ladytron - Destroy Everything you touch (from evr)]

En passant, as you can see I've stopped hitting the dancefloor of junior vasquez.
My last experiences weren't great, and even the good ones weren't much fun anymore. I'd rather leave now with the good memories than slowly grow old on this dancefloor.
As he said, "Il faut absolument être moderne".

Pacha Opening

2005-12-08T22:29:00.000-05:00

[music: Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance (from evr)]

I missed yesterday's Amanda's birthday at Happy Valley. Well, what gives? I don't know.
So tonight I headed early at the private opening of Pacha (a.k.a. 2nd life Sound Factory) on 46th Street.
The place was completely insane in front. There seemed to be 5 lines to get into the club, was just nuts and totally chaotic. Anyway, made it inside fast enough after some pushing (booo).
The place was quite nice, not much changed in there. The structure is pretty much the same. They added colored light and better seats in the first floor to make it more appealing to those who need to feel like they're living large or something.
Downstairs it was pretty much the same as the previous club incarnation. It was open bar but I did not go crazy on the free alcohol, stuck to water.
The dancers were absolutely fuckin hot and stunning. Not many drag queens or cool crowd --at least early when I was there. Was nothing like Amanda's birthday for example. Was a lot of Long Island / Hamptons girls, at least that's how they look to me. Too much make-up, clothing is completely off --super mini. I mean, if I was a girl I'll dress Hedi Slimane Dior Homme, that's style for a girl.
Anyway, I did have fun thanks to Louie Vega who played really well with a lot of energy in the tracks and transitions. He kept the dancefloor really moving. Thanks Louie.
It was also fun to look at the who's who of NY Deep House (Phil B. of Dancetracks, Robbie the promoter) given the absolute commercial aspect of the club. It gave a feel of family.

After 2 trips around the club, I left. I'll visit soon.

Criswell: Greeting my friends, we are all interested in the future because that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.
Nothing to see there for now.

Happy Valley

2005-11-30T21:51:00.000-05:00

[music: Daft Punk - Aerodynamic (Daft Punk Remix)]

(pics are there)

Tuesdays with Suzanne Bartsch at the Jeremy Scott designed club Happy Valley. That sounds good.

We arrived around 12am running from the cab to the door to avoid being completely washed out by the heavy rain. No line at all, and no fee, how nice.
I haven't been out on a tuesday since forever. Everytime I spend some time getting ready on a Tuesday I think of the best party in the world on Tuesdays: Jackie 60!!

Anyway, it's 2005 and it's Happy Valley. After putting the coat in the coat check, we push the black doors and put the firsts steps inside the club. Daft Punk's "Around The World" is playing. The club is narrow, and has very high ceilings. It is quite bright.
I look around and already I see the usual faces of New York night life. Michael Musto's moving left and right next to a large draq queen. He's sporting a red jacket that looks like the one in Thriller (no, no further joke).
People are dressed up and it's a who's who of the new york coolness night thingy. Peppermint, Sofia Lamar (with a nice military inspired outfit), Suzanne Bartsch (wearing a strangely 5th av hooker outfit?), and so on and so on. Kenny Kenny and the constant Patrick McDonald, Thomas (doorgod of lately), even Mody and the Dandy Warhol stopped by later ...
My eyes are back to the space, great space. some huge stairs going up to a second floor balcony, some oversized stairs a la "Around the world" video (I wish someone would have mimic-ed the dance on the stairs for that track).
The color theme is black and white. The DJ booth is a huge disco ball sphere of 10 meters of diameters sitting in the back of the dancefloor.

This is a very cute party, people are dressed up, dancing, very nightlife oriented, trés cool of sort. "It's all right" as Brett would have said.

Of Note: the abstract and phuturistic show by Kim Aviance on the stairs following the beats of a wordless electronic track.

As for the Music, most of the tracks I knew from the Misshapes radio show. It was okay but the mixing was just horrendous. They need to learn how to transition tracks because it completely kills the mood and they need to structurally build a musical journey because if they don't the musical night just feels like a high school party.
Even if they're cute and cool and new, they need to improve those 2 parts to get me going more than 2 songs on the floor.

MoFo Halloween

2005-10-29T10:17:00.000-04:00

[ music: I Never Knew - Oleta Adams (Danny Tenaglia Mix) ]

11pm: Roxy
Arrival early at the Roxy only to find couple of people in front, a police car with the flashlights, and some legal papers taped to the closed club. Roxy's just been closed by the cops as per legal order from a judge.
I ask the cop about it, it tells me the place went bankrupt, other people suggest the Roxy lost it liquor licence. "The Roxy's closed indefinitly", "the Roxy's court date for reopening is Thursday", ... who knows. The only sure thing is that Motherfucker will not happen at Roxy.
As people arrive, the word spread the party's been relocated to Delancey Lounge in the L.E.S. .

12am: Delancey
The line is big in front of the club, everybody's dressed up. I didn't dress up since I'm just dead tired on Friday and didn't plan on staying too long. I'll save the costume for Patricia Field party on Monday.

So the club is divided in three floors. The main floor (i.e. when the gorgeous fuckin' hot Justine D. was playing, the stage was) is at the basement level, the ground floor has a dancefloor, a seating area, and some sort of VIP area that looks like a large cubical glass room: a fishtank? ; and the upper floor I didn't check.
The party was going on great, heard "Around the World" when I arrived.
Downstairs, they were playing a little more E.V. type music and the floor was packed. The stage was filled with the usual crazy freaks motherfucker catters too, and it was a great scene. Someone with a 2 feet mohawk, a gogo boy in fishnets with amazing tatoos all over his body, cute girls and drag dancing. I have to say when that electro/dance/dark track started with that strange voice going"It's not you, it's the E talking", and that hypnotic rhythm started, the dancefloor getting it: it was as close as those great other moments from the past few years. "Queens, Freaks and a Thumping Bass" in all its glory.

The shows were good. Michael T. performed "sweet transvestite". He really looked beautiful, such a pure face.
Then Kevin Aviance, Peppermint, and 6 dancers performed Thriller. That show was really great. The dance was just like the video, exactly on point, worked well.
After the show Justine D. started the second part of the night with AC/DC "Highway to Hell", which was really fun for me.
I only stayed for half and hour after that since I was really dead tired.

So, Motherfucker Halloween didn't turn out as the all-out-extravaganza expected. But given the Roxy drama, it was a great night. The crowd was here to party! Dressed-up, in spirit!
Mofos can do no wrong. I love them, thank god this party's here because NY would not be the same without it.

I did not hit DT party at Spirit, after the good time at MoFo I didn't feel like being in that space.

Crowd:
3 bananas, 10 butterflies, 1 bug, 14 zombies, 1 naked girl, 1 sailor-moon, 3 witches, 1 mummy, 2 storm troopers, 1 pixel-boy, 0 smurfs, 2 twins in white, 1 Michael Jackson and 6 Thriller dancers, 1 Jason, 1 beat-up boxer, 16 decomposing bodies, 1 fisherman, 3 Louis XIV courtisans, 1 Alice in Wonderland, ...

More Madonna Madness + Halloween

2005-10-24T21:39:00.000-04:00

[ music: Lately - Stevie Wonder ]

As it turned out, Madonna also hit Misshapes Saturday. Ah! She's cool all right, thanks to Stuart Price I guess. Anyway, it appears it was such a mad house there, I'm happy I didn't go. Apparently they had people staring at the booth for hours ... yeah! I had that staring bullshit, except in front of the mirror of course.
I'll hit the party later this year but to dance my ass off.

On another topic, halloween weekend looks really promising. I don't intend to hit all the parties, far from it. On the plate though:

Friday: Motherfucker @ ~~Roxy~~ + Danny Tenaglia @ Spirit afterhours.
Saturday: Misshapes Halloween bash @ Luke&Leroy + ~~Junior Vasquez @ Roxy afterhours~~
Sunday: who knows?
Monday: Patricia Field's party promises to be the place to be; it's always halloween at Pat parties anyway, haha.

Ah! Pat. I remember meeting her once at Jackie 60 on a tuesday. I was so drunk, I was talking her about the three standard stoppages by Marcel Duchamp representing another view on the meter definition; and how this could be used instead of the meter used for her collection. This new meter (Marcel's) would create weird clothes, as in another world. A world with a different (but still valid) definition of what a standard meter is ... where else can this happen except Jackie 60? She wasn't receptive at all on this idea for some unknown reason.

Madonna at the Roxy

2005-10-23T11:53:00.000-04:00

[ music: The Cure : Boys Don't Cry ]

Saturday October 22, 1AM:

Arrival at the Roxy where Madonna is scheduled to appear this Saturday, part of her promotional tour for her new single "Hung Up".
The line was just nuts. Usually, there's the usual long stretch line going towards West Side Highway, and then a pack of 20 people in front trying to get in directly because they know the doorman. Well, last night there was a line going more than a block towards WSH, and instead of the little pack of "VIPs", there was a half block line of them waiting to get in! People sure were excited to see her.

Somehow we got in quickly. Passing the door of the club, I was meet with a see of people, no one could move one bit, or one butt. After a few minutes to get up the first four stairs, I realized the whole corridor going up the club was just a sea of people; like 500 in there. Unbelievable! Anyway, once again we got through this quite quickly by just bypassing that whole madness. Wow, just wow.

Ironically, it was less crowded inside the club itself. The dance-floor was completely filled with people just staring at the (now) empty stage. Obviously it was an event people were really waiting for. So I just hanged on the side next to the first bar. After 20 minutes of beats, a roar spread out. She was on. Stuart Price, aka Jacques Lu Cont, aka Les Rhythmes Digitales, aka Madonna's producer took over the decks at that point.
Madonna then talked about how she was happy to be back at the Roxy, and she was here with some 12inches "Some of the girls have all the luck" (quite a bad joke in my humble opinion). Anyway, her new track started and she had a bunch of kids from some high-school or "make a wish foundation" wearing Gap just jumping up and down at the track to create a party atmosphere. She danced too.
That lasted for 3 songs and that was it. Promotion promotion promotion.

After that, the club filled out a little bit and Peter Rauhofer took the deck. It was not my cup of tea. The real place to be tonight was at Misshapes where Jacques Lu Cont was to DJ. Heard him at the Respect parties at the Queen back in the days. He was great. Respect was such a great night.
Unfortunately yesterday I wasn't feeling the trip in the Village and (more to the point) had no money whatsoever so I just went home.

The real innovative, hip part of the nite was not happening at Roxy but Misshapes. Well, hopefully another time. The good thing is that I got some idea for new shirts when I was dressing up, will need to give the new drawings to a tailor. I am becoming a little too Dandy, I guess that is what boredom and culture leads to.

Labor Day Sunday - Complement

2005-09-05T22:35:00.000-04:00

[music: Syrup - If I Gave You A Party]

News from the other parties on Sunday:

Heard nothing from David Macuso's Loft party. I will try to attend the next one. I miss David's music.
Apparently the return of Sacred Rhythms was a success. I am quite happy to hear that and will visit Love again soon, I hope.

Labor Day Sunday

2005-09-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

[music: Blondie - Heart Of Glass (Shep Pettibone Mix) ]

Motherfucker:
11pm
Arrival at Eugenes on 24th Street. No crowd in the front, just some Eugenes regulars being turned down because they don't look the part: girls looking too much like Sex and the City girls and boys looking too much like, well, a J-Crew add maybe.
Inside it was already crowded. As always with Motherfucker, the crowd was beautiful, too cool to be true, and real fun! (a rare thing). I spent the first few hours sipping some fruit juice at the bar. I got to say the girls in that place are the most beautiful in the city, just mindbending. I was totally impressed with the party again, and this new space fitted the party very well too.
Around 12:30am, the live band show started. Peppermint Gummybear and Milan were MC-ing talking about some photography books, and getting girls to show their tits and boys their dicks to win them. I'm not a fan of those shows so I was quite bored by then. As the Marquis De Sade explained, there's nothing worse than taking eroticism not seriously.
The band started (forgot the name) with 2 portishead-ish tracks, the female singer was really good. Then they decided to up the tempo but it was quite a catastrophy. It sounded like they discovered the buildup yesterday and kept doing them for 20 minutes, with some echo effect that made me feel like Francois K was at the helm. It was going nowhere in a very obvious way. Plus one of the band member was just head-arms banging for hours, why not hire a beautiful dancer? After this bad phase, they put back the girl at the mike and it was great again.

Then Michael T. started his Dj slot. He did an amazing job. Mixing real rock songs with a groove and more electro sounding tracks. That's when I headed to the dancefloor and for once was able to get moving. The scene was nice. On the left a black girl who looked like she was just coming out of a Playboy bunny party and her hypermuscular girlfriend, on the podium a bare chested drag with patent leather pants and s&m boots. Behind me Miranda Moondust and next to her a tatooed lesbian and a girl looking like one of the Suicide Girls. Motherfucker is the best party in NYC hands down!!
I did not have time to check the side rooms, just a little bathroom check to fix the attire, haha.

Pictures of the party are there and there.

3am:
Exit. On 24th and 6th Ave, some gorgeous black lesbian who looked like an Air Force pilot with her Ray-Bans and army tank top asks where the party's at...Motherfucker! Motherfuckers!
On the way to Junior Vasquez party at the Limelight.

3:15am Limelight.
Arrival when Veronika's screaming a new remix of an old song. The space's dark and the crowd light years away from the party just left. Hum...
Then Veronika's singing a new remix of Relentless, they should call that track CouldCareLess! Blah Blah about the 1997 song and the crowd cheers! Then Junior drops a (again!) new remix of an old song: "Erotica 2005" and the "Fever" video's playing. What the hell, why do I feel all this is so passe?! No need to live, tonight, a sad version of those great years. Adios!!

hiatus

2005-07-17T22:18:00.000-04:00

[ music: Ellis D - Hands Off (2004) ] (*)

No more Spirit, lemmings at Crobar, noone at Sacred Rhythms, robots at Roxy, no Motherfucker, Loft, Junior until end of August and early September.
I will use those unexciting days to hit the gym regularly to slim down into the new Fall 05/06 ~~Alexander McQueen~~ Hedi Slimane Dior Homme collection.(Update 12/09: lost a lot of weight actually)

Next event: Junior Vasquez birthday August 27 (unless I stop at the fist Jonathan Peters all gay party at the Roxy followed by Victor Calderone's Evolve next week)...

Justine

(*) Does this sample the thumps of "Be Yourself" or what?

Sacred Rhythms Motherfucker

2005-07-04T14:50:00.000-04:00

[ music: Prince - Get Off (Steve Silk Hurley Mix) ]

i. Sacred Rhythms

I showed up way later than usual for this since I am a little tired of entering an empty club. So I was there at 8pm; and the place was filled with no more than 25 people. I'm gonna start thinking I became a Joe Claussell Nerd soon. The man's talent is immense, I just don't understand why people are just absent.
Anyway, it was the usual house/not house/drums. Danny Krivit showed up and worked some track Joe was playing (twice! Are you a lover or something) in a way that suited me way better than his B&S days (tempo wise). I might just check out his party next week, everyone's raving about it.
Anyway, I hoped Louie would play some vocals more on the House side. Well, he spent half an hour playing a simple drum track that got me tired. I left at 10:30pm. I need to give that place a break.

ii. Motherfucker

Finally! People who seems not to take themselves too seriously and go a little crazy! Motherfucker was a lot of fun!
First, when I showed up at the door, there was this group of 4 guys who looked like this. Needless to say I didn't even want to stand next to that. The doorman gently told them they needed to check another spot out, and nicely moved on! What a surprise! A club who filters the entrance.
Anyway, got in at the sound of Prince's Kiss mixed with Daft Punk 'Da Funk' (I remember that bootleg I had of that track back when it wasn't on Virgin...great work).
At my entrance, the lounge was filled with kids that reminded me of a glam gay-straight Twilo on Sunday morning. Great to see such energy. I appeared on the floor only to find Michael T turning it out on the floor to the end of the track. I told you already, when you see some Queen turning it on the floor for fun you know you're at the right party.
I got myself a cocktail and just hanged out and had fun with the kids. I liked the music a lot, more on the Electro than Rock, which is easier to dance for me.
This kid was ovah! Was dancing on some Prince song in the second floor room. The picture doesn't make justice to the full look. He had tight pink underwear on, fluo yellow stockings and old school 80s big white sneakers; and danced great (in a prancing way of course!).
I didn't catch this young one, but I'm sure if I did I would have had très Sadienne visions; wasn't this kid in Pasolini's Salò anyway?
It thined out at 4:30am, wich is a shame because that's when my body starts moving and I need to work on the floor ... I guess years and years of afterhours will do that to you. Haha!
Michael T. took the command on the booth for this last part and he was easy-ing it out for people, nicely.

All in all, Motherfucker's a breath of fresh air in the rotten House scene, and I need to show up before 3:00am to get more out of it. Also, I'm not an Alcohol kind of freak so I need to find something else to do.

Where is everybody?

2005-07-02T19:28:00.000-04:00

[ music: Coitus - Green Velvet ]

Where to go on Gay Pride Sunday when one has to work the day after?

Well, I thought Frankie Knuckles would get my visit because he was playing at Splash and it's a gay club, and it's gay pride, and he's gay, playing for all those gays, gay house music, ...
I arrived at 9pm for 1 hour of Steve Travolta who was absolutely flawless. He played funky, sexy, cunty songs, great beats, good lyrics, nicely mixed, nicely worked, just perfect. It's the first time he impressed me that much.
Frankie showed up at 10pm and changed the sound completely to move to the same filtered build-ups of last time at Spirit. I didn't feature it this time either.
I got tired and decided to check out Joe Claussell at Love for a sure musical treat. Surprisingly it was really empty there (maybe 30 people?). But it's fine, the music was really beautiful. I chilled on the sofa and just enjoyed the beats. The same usual freaks are there, from Body and Soul days. I wonder if I'm just crazy to stick with this night too?
I'll give this night another chance this weekend. All the stars are aligned: Monday's off, Louie Vega's tag teaming. There's no reason it shouldn't be crowded. At least the music'll be beautiful for sure. Better be a good night cause I'm missing a David Mancuso event for that!

After waking up from my nap at Love, I went back to check Frankie, thinking he would have moved on to other sounds. Well, not really. The crowd was better, specially the black drag with a very athletic body who was obviously put in trance by the beats played by Frankie. I loved the hot blonde 30something girl dressed in all white...fun mix of people.

I will definitely try Motherfucker this Sunday since I decided that it was fucking time to check something that's not considered passé. I'll have to get really drunk to move on Rock'n Roll though.

phuture

2005-06-18T13:31:00.000-04:00

[ music: Kenny Larkin - Fake French (Merci Detroit Mix) ]

Some interesting music events in the weeks to come: {Derrick Carter and Honey Dijon @ Cielo this Sunday , Kevin Aviance birthday party @ 6's & 8's this Wesnesday, Amanda Lepore's Oz @ Crobar this Friday , Rauhofer Work Pride @ Spirit next Saturday or Victor Calderone Pride @ Crobar next Saturday , Joe Claussell @ Love Pride Sunday , Frankie Knuckles @ Splash Pride Sunday , Junior Vasquez Pride @ Spirit Pride Monday (all day) , David Mancuso Loft Party @ Loft Sunday July 3rd}

Sacred Rhythms May 29th

2005-06-18T13:27:00.000-04:00

[ music: Kerri Chandler - I Feel It (DJ Deep Edit) ]

After a trip to the East Village, I found myself in front of Satellite Records. I decided to check out their classics section for the hell of it. Nothing there really. I picked up the "Reason To Celebrate" by Joe Claussell Vinyl set and started to listen to "Imagination - Changes (Larry Levan Mix)". DAMN! Larry's opening bass in there is amazing...
It conviced myself that I should check Joe's return at Love after a month hiatus.

I arrived at Love at 6:30. The club was pretty much empty (10 to 20 people in there). To my surprise, it wasn't Joe playing but some girl. She was such a mood killer I won't even bore you. Just know that close to 7:30pm she had 5 of the 60 people on the dancefloor dancing, and the most uplifting track she played was "M.A.R.R.S" ... wtf?
Anyway, she dropped another jazzy-fusion-latin-deep-house-downtempo track with a little guitar in there and it was boring. Joe stepped up in front of the console and started turning the knobs.
After 5 seconds, he had the guitar do some fun noise, was accentuating the ups and down, created a dynamic rhythm out of it, and even got the bass to be heavier, the club took life. I was thinking to myself "he is raping that track and she's loving it!".
He stepped out, and again, a bore. He came again when she played SuperNature, and he turned that sound out! I never heard it like this. Amazing.

This was the start of Sacred Rhythms.

After SuperNature, the dancefloor was packed. I mean PACKED. It is such a small place the energy gets high very easily. It is so condensed, I've never seen such a space (well, maybe my studio).
So he started directly with some insane drum track, it was just wild. He was playing the hell of that record for 10 minutes.

The most incredible thing happened next, he was playing a track and created what I would call a build-up of drums , build-up ... ... build-up ... build-up ... BOOM! -Silence- The whole place erupts. and again .... build-up ... ... build-up ... build-up ... BOOM! -Silence- The whole place went even more insane. I've never seen this. Given how powerful the sound is, how dense the space is, it was as if he was able to create waves of sound or energy that were carried through the whole dancefloor it was just amazing. I then said to myself that this was one of the most impressive moment of dj-ing I've ever seen.
He followed by "We Got Our Own Thang...(We Got It!)", and a great House track with a good bass hook (which was a perfect transition).
After that he graced us with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", but he's able to play that like it just came out last week; he clears some channels (say no violons), push others (say drums) and make a rhythm you never saw appear out of nowhere; you don't know if this is the same track. Unique.

I left after this because I was tired and I showed up way too early since it was a long weekend and they ended the party later.

This is what I've been talking about for a long time. The residency Joe Claussell needed to establish himself as the new prodigal Dj of this city (after Levan and Vasquez).

Death of the Sound Factory

2005-05-15T22:55:00.000-04:00

[ music: Tears for Fears - Everybody wants to rule the world ] (1)

great read.

(1) A Sound Factory (27th Street) end-of-the-night (i.e. noon) classic.

More Children Of The World

2005-05-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

[ music: Cece Rogers - Someday ]

Part 2

6:00AM
Junior is playing Xpress-2 "Music", my dance partner is enjoying it ("work junior!"). Suddenly on the left, a black drag queen jumps right next to me and start prancing (1), she's sporting a short black hair wig, she's thin and wears a black corset. Deep in the track, the horns of "Fly Life" emerge...and again "(xpress2 voice) "Music"....(basementjaxx-flylife) HORNS .... "Music" .... HORNS.... "Music" .... HORNS.... "Music" .... HORNS.... "Music" .... HORNS" and then, Shannon voice overlap "The music played while our bodies displayed through the dance.............".

7:00AM
All the lights are on, silence. Then, keyboards notes slowly become louder ... "Love is the message", and the voice of Dawn Tallman preaching "Be Encouraged" over the whole track.

(1) One thing I learned: if the dj's able to get the drag-queens to start dancing (more like carrying and prancing, and kiki-ing on the dancefloor) for no reason other than what's coming out of the speakers, you know you're at a party with great music! :)

Children Of The World

2005-05-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

[music: Jody Watley - I'm the one (Def Dub) ]

Prologue

moi: 27th between 10 and 11 please.
taxi: which club are you going to? Bungalow?
moi: no, this club called Spirit.
taxi: do they let you in? I went last time to Bungalow and they did not let me in.
moi: yeah, it depends, sometimes they have private events.

I am not going to Bungalow 8 at 4am, no worry. I am sure they would never get my outfit anyway. They only know D&G or Prada, they have no clue about that English Punk designer anyway.

Part 1

I arrive at Spirit at 4:00. I enter directly to the heavy sound of "Plastic Dreams" mixed with something else, and the sound is going in and out: Junior Vasquez is not just putting records on, he's working the tracks tonight.

When I enter, the place is already in full swing, packed.

Entrance: muscle latinos and black queens. I make a right towards the speaker, the ghetto trannies, strippers and their admirers are there.
I walk under the booth, on the right: chilling on the stairs is a mix of club girls and East Village boys, on the left: a sea of shirtless Chelsea boys.
I continue towards the bar, next to the speaker, some house heads from the Factory days, and a bunch of cute European boys and girls enjoying their nyc trip.
At the bar, looking in front: more queens, some dancing Japanese group. I already love that party.

By the time I reached the bar, Junior changed to "Your Love Is Taking Me Over", and he's now plunging "Work It To The Bone" and "Do It Again". They weren't joking when they said it was classics.

05 may in May ...

2005-05-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

[ music: To Be In Love - MAW feat. India ] (*)

(m) Deepspace or Charm School ?
(t) Beige dinner or drinks ?
(w) Sexual or onanism ?
(t) Duvet or not ?
(f) Vivienne Westwood or Helmut Lang for Relentless ?

(*) that entry should be 05 may in May and 1 Maw hahaha.

Paradise Garage

2005-05-01T22:08:00.000-04:00

[ music: K.O.T. feat. Julie McKnight- Finally (Tenaglia's mix) (1) ]

Where can you hear those tracks on a New York Sunday afternoon?

Keep on Walking - Cece Peniston
Runaway - India
Touch and Go - ESG
Hit and Run - Loleatta

The skating ring in central park with all the old garage heads on weels :) ...

(1) this one used to be the perfect night-ender at Vinyl. I miss the late hours there. My favorite time was when we stopped by one morning way too late at 10:30am, the club was 1/2 empty but we knew we would meet the regular friends in the lounge in the back (the lounge was packed)...Danny also played Do It Properly that time.
The little lounge next to the booth was quite the late-night ny afterhours classic scene.

Once and for all.

2005-05-01T01:05:00.000-04:00

[ hidden noise ]

Marcel Duchamp about Pop Artists: "Those poor darlings"...

(I get tired about New Yorkers workship of Andy Warhol sometimes)

Cut: CUT!

2005-04-30T03:18:00.000-04:00

[ music: Aphrohead - In The Dark We Live Thee Lite (Junior's Factory Mix) into Daft Punk Rollin' And Scratchin' (1)]

2:50 taxi to Orchard Street where the Cut party at Bar 11 is taking place.

3:00 entree

Space: small, long bar on the left, stage at the end where a dj's working the music. Pretty good sound, electro meet rock.
People: girls are really cute, boys are a little too rough for me...I run away.

On the way out, a hiphop boy with gold teeth tells his homeboy "Yo! Check this out! A Beret, he's wearing a fuckin' beret! and check out the scarf! Man I haven't seen than since the 70s!" .... you ain't seeing it any longer! ... dash.................
...
... home to sleep.

Justine

(1) Rollin' n Scratchin memory:
Les Bains Douches Paris, random Saturday in 97, random good Parisian DJ, turned the club out. I used to love that place. A little bit played out, but fun for the same reason. Lots of young girls, a good dose of cute little boys, the usual couple of nightlife fixtures 'de passage', some lost business men with tons of money, few tourists who made it inside, what a great mix. It was really the perfect place to start the night lightly.
Paris nightlife path back in the days: Les Bains Douches (1am-3am) ; Le Queen / Scream / TGV (3am-6am) ; Faster Pussycat Kill Kill (6am-11am) ... simple and fun.

For those who enjoyed Xitron back in the days, she's still pushing the boundaries: http://alix.xitron.online.fr/
I still remember just being in awe with her body, the way she just standed on the podium, her looks just stated originality.
I remember,...at that scream party in winter, she was just wearing a tutu a la Josephine Baker but it was not Bananas but oversized bicolored Pills (!?) ... no shoes...just her, naked and so white, blonde; I never figured out if she was painted white or if it was her body...she was almost translucid that night ... completely naked wearing just a pills skirt, holding 2 in the hands, and dancing, staring at the infinite, to some beat...can you get more detached, transparent, absent than that?
That night she was poetry, truly an angel...I was in love with her I think...
Scream was fun, I wonder what Nirvana's doing now.

Freeeeeeaks on 21st Street

2005-04-23T15:14:00.000-04:00

[music: The Rita Mitsouko - Andy]

The place is the new club called Duvet on 21st Street, the old Centro-Fly. It has been redone and the place looks like it's 3 times the old Centro. It's very open and the concept is 'the bed'. There's bed everywhere and we're supposed to lay there.

This is a thursday night and it's been going on for ages now: the whole Amanda, Kenny Kenny, Sofia crazy crowd reunite on Thursday. I was the same thing at Life, Spa, Plaid. It's now at Duvet.

The night's celebration tonight was for Patricia Field new collection. Everyone was there. We arrived around 11:30 and the place was already busy.
Excellent music from Larry Tee ("call me mister telephone! Call me Mister Telephone!") and it got PACKED around midnight.
I wish I had a camera because everyone was dressed to the gods that night. I specifically remember Patrick McDonald in a salmon suit with flowers designs (very beautiful), some 15yo kid looking at all the drag queens and running to his mother :) ; this one who I saw back at Frankie who was wearing some original Africans jewels (always great to see someone featuring indian/african art) ; Lui wearing a huge back wig; Amanda's not naked! Kenny Kenny was cute with a suit/croset all black, and half a leg cut with some ripped 'bas'.
The space works much better than Spa. There's a flow and the crowd's just better. No dancefloor per se, and it's not a issue.

The performance was from Tobel von Cartier. The song was about paparazzi but the mike was busted so I missed all the lyrics. Next time.
She also wished happy birthday to that club kid who I saw entering the club with a suit-case and just dress there in the middle of the club...the boucer was like wtf? But hey, tonight's there's no rule so it's all good!

Great night, will be back. The crowd is just too hot there.

Frankie Knuckles at Spirit (aka Twilo, aka (the original) Sound Factory)

2005-04-19T22:42:00.000-04:00

[ music: Herbie Hancock - Rockit ]

Spirit 9:00pm Sunday
I thought by 9pm Frankie would be playing. It was Steve Travolta warming up the floor. Frankie would come on at 10pm. 1h to get me grooving Steve, let's see.
I always had a problem with ST, he plays the tracks too long leading to the "juice" being too diluted: Spirit is not the Loft and ST is not David Mancuso. Not everyone can get away with playing tracks for 10 minutes.
Anyway, it did not miss, for the first 40 minutes, I was just continuing the nap I started this afternoon.
This gave me time to glance around. The crowd that night was mature and definitely gay! Surprising. There was also some househeads, dancers, old couples (60yo), girls who couldn't find Webster Hall....It was a fun crowd. Specially the super drunk hottie who looked like an Italian Model...hot! Another nice thing about Sunday parties is that everyone is in a good mood and all smiles and this just creates a particular vibe.

Then, something happened and Steve decided to up the tempo. He played that classics track (I cannot even remember the name but) I was starting to move...then he had to slow it down (grrrr) but quickly started to up it again, and I was having a great time! He played "I get lifted" and it worked wonders. He then graced us with "Love will save the day" and the room was loving it!

That is when Frankie took over and continued on "Love will Save the Day" with some beautiful piano that lasted for half and hour, it was just beauty.
He then played another track and faded it down...I started to hear the beginning of something familiar..."Oh! No!" I said, the old dancer next to me was slower at recognizing it but after few seconds he went "Oh! Yes!" ... Frankie played "The Whistle Song" ... a special moment in history. He didn't play that in this room for the last 10 years or so. (Actually, I think he played an Armani night at Twilo once I remember...so it might not be that long ago :) ).
Anyway, it was beautiful.
He then moved to harder things, like a pumped mix of Vernessa Mitchell (can't remember-it's her latest). There was a lot of filtered build-ups, so I wasn't featuring this too much (had my share of those back in Paris, la french touch you know).
After like an hour of those, he seamlessly transitioned to the deep house we all love coming from Frankie...I had to split then cause I was tired.

Saturday April 9's bull

2005-04-11T22:38:00.000-04:00

[music: S.H.E.I.L.A. - Mr Policeman] (*)

Did I finally check out the tranny party on 7th? Did I get lifted by some dj? Turned out by some queen? Got wasted? What happened? What happened?

n.o.t.h.i.n.g. like a good boy I went to this bar/lounge called nublu on Av. C. Again, like Mancuso's Loft or Joe's party, no sign of the place whatsoever outside. This time they get the award, I was looking for the place for days until I had to call and listen to their tip (under the blue light....wtf? I'm no boyscout!).
Anyway, it's all fancy and everybody's feeling themselves at this cool hang out. The drinks are definitely expensive ($10 for a flute of Champagne, aie), the crowd cute but a little uptight. I spotted Candis Cayne, which made me feel a little better (the place's bone straight).

The music was really nice, jazzy with a touch of house. It got really packed around 2:00 when I accidentally bumped into a girl who obviously did not accept my apologies (and the fact that the probability of not getting bumped into in this place was assymptotically upper-bounded by 1/x). Well, my bitch quota was maxed out so I split to end up my night in the exact opposite: a dive bar in east village chating with a real cute and cool nyu undergrad.

If you're into good music, an original place, feeling like it, cute girls and boys, self-conscious straight sceners, I'd recommend that lounge.

Will I ever go check out the fun my friend was promised at Krash? Next week maybe... after Danny Tenaglia's reunion, before Junior's afterhours and Franckie's return .... all of them on 27th Street this weekend.
I'll die if Franckie plays his mix of the Pressure....I haven't heard that since Body&Soul closing (they pushed it hard on the "I NEED RELIEF!!!" part...B&S was our relief I know....everyone went ballistic right there and then and the whole place was screaming "i neeeeed reliiiiiiiief!!!!" .
The other one who used to turn that record out was Junior at Twilo (late in the day) when he used to loop the accapella intro over and over and over, and Kevin could not resist it and jumped on the first box he saw to perfom in the moment....the great good old days. SOMEONE'S GOTTA PLAY THAT RECORD THIS WEEKEND!!

So...who will be declared the winner? Frankie's my fav....next week the results are in!!!

Justine, "ginger-ale's the champagne of sodas, sure looks like it".

(*) This sheila track's too fierce to be ignored; if you do not know it do yourself a huge favor and go check it out on the pbb's electrochoc (luna section -the whole electrochoc's great anyway).

David Mancuso's Loft

2005-04-08T21:28:00.000-04:00

[music: Natalie Cole - Lucille in the sky with diamonds]

As you may or may not know, David Mancuso is an absolut pioneer of New York nightlife and Disco. He was the first, he did it, he's still doing it.
If you need a history lesson, it won't be here but somewhere else.

As you may or may not know, David still has his Loft party going on, yes he does. I was at the last one in the East Village.

When I do not know what to expect from a night, I overdress...so I did. The party was from 6pm to midnight on Sunday. When me and my friend emerged from the apartment, it was snowing. How nice...So we go to the address, but there is no club (no surprise here). There's a little entrance and that's here. A list with names, you give yours, they give you a ticket, you climbs the stairs.
There, a large dancefloor holds 200 people, and David is in the corner with his home-made booth. I've never seen turntables like this. It's pretty interesting: they look like high-fidelity turntables. I have a feeling he does not pitch anything...He is there, with a flash light, spending a huge amount of time looking at where the needle is. He's just cool. I wanted to get him that authographed "High Priest" I had but I could not find it (he's also a Timothy Leary reader).
The crowd is mature black, young european, and Japanese (that Japanese girl in full Kimono probably overdress when in doubt). Some old photos are on the walls, colorfull balloons everywhere. The groove is definitely Disco and early House, the sound dense but not overwhelming...perfect.
When we leave after 2 hours, it's still snowing and only 11pm. The time to catch a movie. I love Sunday evening parties.

Saturday April 3 Reviews

2005-04-03T05:13:00.000-04:00

[music: Junior turning it live at Sound Factory '92 ]

I fell asleep at home around 10pm for some reason. I woke up and my alarm was showing 4:35. I thought I missed it all, too bad.
Then I remembered the pictures of the Rated X party (hot crowd), and since I am really really horny lately, I got myself up and running thinking I needed to hook up with someone tonight (even if this never happens!). How can one resists instincts?
Somehow, my alarm was fucked up because my phone said it was 2:00am, and my computer said it was 3:00am. It was 3:00am, perfect timing then.

So, I head to Opaline on 7th(?) and avenue A. Well, well, well.
First, I thought I saw I mass of people in front of the club, but it was actually in front of the deli next door (haha).

Anyway, I enter the place. The crowd seems young, not too rock/glamrock/whateverrock the way I thought it would. I'm starting to think that I just went to the wrong place.
I go further to the main room. They have a hot body contest...WTF, what's that? Spring Break? The drag pepermint (I think) hosts, with M. T. Diamond in the booth.
The show lasted for an hour it seems. The last two contestants were hot. A 19 years old european college boy with a perfect swimmer build (!), and some girl with huge tits and ass-I thought it was a tranny for a while. Of course the titty girl won. I thought the boy deserved to win. How can some sillicon win over his young perfect swimmer body?

The music finally started: George Michael-Freedom (why not?). I got some wine (horrible, could not get more than 2 sips). I walked around a little: college kids, some more college kids, a guy wearing all black (3-piece suit, tie, nice to see someone make some effort), one dude who looked like he worked at trash and vaudeville.
Anyway, all this was really too College Kids Night Out meet East Village with a tiny MotherFucker lime (in this ratio: 80, 19, 1). Not my cup of tea (I wish they served tea in clubs).

I was out after Freedom and Like A Prayer with the vision of this asian college girl on stage singing that song...not!

Speaking of tranny, I wanted to check out the tranny night they have at 10th and 7av. I walked there, could not find the club...and the 411 guy told me the club was on 11av (no way I'm walking all the way to the west side dressed like I was -I'm very not courageous like this). I will check it out next week. My friend told me people at Krash told him it's fun (?).

Anyway, I finally walked back home. It is now 5:30am (I'm writing this because it's fresh and I'm going to try to do something with that blog).
I don't think I'll be going to Junior now. I'm a little tired but it's really that I don't really feel like spending anything anymore.

Specially that tomorrow is the return of my favorite DJ: Joe Claussell (see www.sacredrhythmmusic.net).
I have to say that I think Joe's the next big New York thing (in the sense that mostly only New Yorkers will get him - not a Sasha/Digweed phenomenon). I was first introduced to the man via DanceTracks (the shop on 3rd St.) and the first Ibadan Records (I have a nice collection of the first ones I got back in '97 from the store). Those Ten City remixes are gold.

Justine

New York Nightlife: which one?

2005-04-02T14:32:00.000-05:00

[music: Joey Beltram - Energy Flash]

Ok, this site is about New York nightlife, but that is a very broad topic.

To put it simply, here it'll be about: Queens, Freaks, and Thumping bass.

Here's a set of what I enjoyed so far, this might give a good idea:
Junior Vasquez (*)
Frankie Knuckles
Motherfucker Parties
Danny Tenaglia
Jackie 60
Click and Drag
Body & Soul
BeYourself @ Vynil
Arena @ Palladium
the whole Amanda Lepore, Kenny Kenny,... scene (Beige, Life, Spa, Plaid, LoungeWhore,...)
Suzanne Bartsch's events
Joe Claussell
Francois K
DeepSpace
Twilo afterhours
DTour @ Tunnel
Save The Loft parties above Twilo
Victor Calderone
David Mancuso @ The Loft (recent incarnations)
Respect is burning
Dimitri From Paris
...

What do they have in common?
Well, (1) good dance music, and (2) a sexualy liberated, free thinking crowd. Most of it is predominantely gay, with the usual open minded and/or stylish others. This has been the format for most of New York great clubs.

(*) Why Junior Vasquez? Such a controversial figure...as Kevin Aviance puts it at the end of 'Hang the Dj' : "because he works my pussy!", what can I do?

Saturday's Parties in New York

2005-04-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

[music: Ellis D. - Ride]

Tonight on my radar, there's apparently two, three things going on.

First is DJ Chad Jack at Roxy. I only heard good things about him but can't stand Roxy so I'm not interested that much (now if he opened for Junior at Spirit that might be another story but this is probably not in his interest right now).
Another thing is the new "Rated X" party at Opaline in the East Village. Michael T Diamond is playing and promoting. Given how great 'Motherfucker' is, I might check it out tonight. Some good pictures of the party are at this cool site www.namlive.com/lastnightsparty/pictures.html .
Can I say I miss Jackie 60?

Lastly, I might check out Junior Vasquez's return at the Saturdays afterhours on 27th Street.
His last "Carnavale" party on Sunday was great. I wasn't into the last one for Black Party afterhours (too dark, hard, and speed for me....and why is he jumping that much in the dj booth anyway?)

Peace.

Justine

whoooooo

2005-03-28T20:47:00.000-05:00

whoo
Originally uploaded by justine.lamanche.

Deja vu?
This picture looks like me seeing strange fractals pattern appearing on my hand on Sunday morning at Twilo.

(*) from http://www.7digital.com/downloads/soulwax/soulwaxplayer.swf