For the January 24, 25 weekend I did my normal routine.

I hit up the boys at SBNY and enjoyed the scene. Once again it was Max who seems to do much better with the tourist crowds because he plays songs they recognize. His set was pretty good except when he shocked the regular customers by playing "Gloria" (I think they got your number) but he soon went back to far more danceable and regular tunes for the rest of the evening. I had a good time overall with the great bar staff and the vibe of the crowd staying up for the whole evening. I left well before the drink cutoff and got home with plenty of time to get a good rest up for my next night.

Saturday night at The Rox "Roxy Saturday Night" was all good. We arrived early enough to actually find parking on the street and not the parking lot and were waved in by Doorman Derek with not a wait in sight. From the coatcheck to first drink it all flowed most smoothly. The DJ for the eve was Alex Lauterstein who did his best to keep the energy level high from the earliest evening on. One thing I will say about Alex is that he does his best work in a big room, with always a great feel for keeping your feet moving. If you are there to dance then you have no choice but to let the beats take you. Thanks for the great time DJ. I danced well into the night and did my stint on the stage and on one of the boxes dancing for the crowd. Have laser will travel.

Another satisfied Saturday Night. Keep up the good work boys.

I guess I took long enough to chronicle the fun I had over MLK Weekend Jan 16-19 but here it goes.
I have been planning for weeks have a great time. Even planned on taking an extra day at the end of the weekend so I could recover nicely. Being the professional that I am I planned this well in advance.

The jump off occurred on Friday night. Of course I made my obligatory appearance at SBNY Splash Bar New York to hang with Friday night crowd. I came, I saw I had a great time. I drank and danced until I couldn't dance any more (for real guys, after trying to get up on a speaker a little too boisterous I skinned my knee. But I recovered nicely and am once again in healed and hearty). DJ Max Rodriguez did a great job keeping the energy of the place up and the boys interested. I definitely left happy that I had a good time with the guys.

For Saturday night I was planning on laying low and saving myself for a party peak on Sunday Night. Instead my crew convinced me to see and do scene at The Rox (aka RoxyNYC. I tried to keep my partying level low so as not to burn off too much energy but DJ Peter Rauhofer made sure we jumped in with both feet as he let us hear his newest Madonna remixes (Nothing Fails). He kept the groove moving well into the night and I had a great time dancing with the boys. Some music, a great bartender and some lights and I was all smiles. The night finally ended and I made my way home but was glad I was able to get up and out.

We find out that there was going to be a Hip Hop party on Sunday night at where else... The Roxy? (all of the other venues have moved or changed and the flyers went out and all the b-boys converged at biggest dance floor in NYC) Even though the boys were fashionably late by 2am the place was very hopping. Both lounges were packed with boys and the party was lifting off nicely. The bartenders were a little put off by the slow start but alls well that ends well.
Of course that was not full extent of my evening. I made my way over to the Alegria and joined the boys at Crobar. The party had grown too big for SF and was now at its new home Crobar where the guys of international hotness had a place to play. I had already hung out at the venue for New Years and I was wondering how the decor would change for the all guy crowd. I was definitely not disappointed. The vibe was right and the boys were down right juicy sweet. The shirtless mob was everywhere and all the boys of our crew made in appearance. All throughout the evening from boxes on the dance floor to corridors of the art gallery , from the multilevel lounge to the ViP the place was hopping the whole time. The only sticking point was the entry and then coat check. The place actually ran out of coat check space and I had to carry my coat around like a homeless. It was definitely not the move and a total buzzkill on my party time. THANK GOD FOR VIP. Because of the VIP band that I had I was able to use the VIP Coatcheck and get rid of my wrapper in time for me to enjoy my hang out time properly. A few of us agreed that DJ Abel was still getting used to the new digs and did not put his full effect party hat on. Maybe we have something more to look forward to (Black Party Weekend maybe?). I stayed until after 9am. Some of my friends thought that was too early (and other might think it was too long) but I left while I was still having a great time. Being the professional that I am I know that I have to live to party another day. It was all a great time but it really wore me out. Thank goodness I took off an extra day to recover. Very necessary, just like the party itself. A boy has got to live a little. Until the next time.

So guess what, The boy had to go out and have fun.
I even dragged some of my crew out with me. So what if it is only 16 degrees outside. I didn't want to sit in the house and watch late night tv reruns. Let's burn off some of that workweek tension and move with the boys.
I arrived at 12:30 and proceeded to ramp up more and more as the night progressed. DJ David Knapp was most excellent as a party starter. The crowd that had braved the cold to come out and hang was more than happy with his music selection. One of many wonder of wonders, at 12:50 I was dancing to Victor's Resonate. I thought I would never hear that song at SBNY. But I did, and it was all good. I proceeded to stay until 4:15 and go home happy.

Saturday was up in the air as I was trying to figure out where I was going to go but when the schedules all clicked I ended up at the Roxy once again. The doorman made sure we didn't have to freeze outside and even chatted with me later on inside. The poor man has to watch the door until well into the night but somebody has to do the deed. It might as well be the best at the job. For my part, I debuted on the speaker around 3:00am to Deborah Cooper's "Real Love" and stayed up there for a few spins of the DJ. Chad Jack was great by the way. Even better than I expected. He continues to surprise and amaze as he grows in experience and popularity. The boys just ate it up.

Me and my laser put on a show until it was time to wrap the party up. To all of my friends and the Roxy staff, Thanks for another great evening. We look forward to hanging again.

Yes I did go out on Friday Night and Saturday Night.
No place to be the next day. No work day the next day, so of course where else would a guy with too much energy and space in his schedule be?
The day is prepared by making sure I stay hydrated enough, take my vitamins (GNC Megaman) and get enough sleep.

When its time I call the car service and I'm on my way into the city. Friday night so it must be SBNY. Where else can I dance with all the guys on Friday Night?
I arrive at the end of the block. I pick up my bottle $1 water from the pizzeria, guzzle it, and make my way up the street. I walk past the crowd at the door and say hi to the doorman and get inside. The coatcheck goes up for the winter I guess, but still I tip the coatcheck guys. They always take care of my stuff. Now upstairs for my first drink.
I'm not there to get wasted.
I'm not there to pick up some random trick after I've had so much to drink I can barely see.
I'm there to dance. To see and be seen. I hang with my friends, talk about proper scene etiquette, how far to stand away from the other dancing dudes and what everyone is paying attention to. Information has to be passed to the crew somehow so you talk and get the word out there.

The bartenders are your friends if you treat them with respect and pay attention to how they are doing their job you will go far and be remembered time and again. I love it when they remember what I drink. However, I still rotate my drinks to taste. Make sure I squeeze some water into my drinking choices so that I don't dry out completely and so I can go to the bathroom at times and work some of that alcohol out of my system. Stoli Orange and Cranberry for the sweet, A bud light for something more portable on the dance floor and corona when you want something extra light with the lime.

The box was empty so of course I danced on it. It was all fun until I flung one of my lights out into the crowd. Silly me, the chain broke, but I guess that was kind of getting old anyway.
The music was good. A nice mix of some modern vocals and some new stuff I had not heard before. It was a pretty recent DJ to the place, Mark I think. He did well. The music did skip once but I will chalk that up to the visitors in the DJ booth. It ended up being a pretty good evening. I left right after 4am.

I made sure I got enough sleep and followed my regular regimen since my friends were going to be going out the next night as well.
The time rolls around all too quickly, but then again when you expect it to happen it is not a surprise. First the friends come over to the house and we start off early. Just chilling out watching TV. When it is time to go out I decide I still want to tape Saturday Night Live so I program the TWC DVR to tape it for me (excellent piece of machinery) and the tapeless taping starts ontime. We head into the city and because it is still early we find a space not two blocks from the club. There is a little line at the front of the Roxy but nothing disturbing. Once again I say hi to the doorman and walk on inside. The normal crowd of guys is around the front bar but the dance floor is still pretty empty. I get my first drink and we start to circulate. We say hi to our friends and listen to the beats progress.

The Crobar is not the only place with a Phazon sound system and Peter makes sure that we know it. The DJs job is to make sure that we know that he is there. He doesn't have to make the records skip or have the awkward silences but tweaking with the treble and getting the speakers to scream at you for just a little bit never hurt anybody (well maybe just a little). The night was great, the bar staff always friendly and the place filled up nicely. Once it reaches a certain temp point we see the shirtless masses totally into the groove. I even got up onto a speakerbox myself. I thought I was getting up for one song but it was just a familiar beat. It gets harder when the DJ owns so many. He can recycle them royalty free after a while. It was not Christina but rather Amuka I was hearing. I still wanted to dance and put on a show for the boys. With lit hands (and later thanks to the light guy, lit feet) I had a grand old time up there. Dancing fast enough to actually dry the spilled drinks from the box. The space was now safe for public consumption but anyway once my time was over I got down and rejoined my crew. It was time to depart once again.
Another night safely under wraps and another group of boys seen to have a grand old time at the Rox. Keeping it light and fun.
Always a good thing

So the New Year was a blast.
My friends house party was great. We all watched the ball drop together and yelled in the New Year like the happy houseful we were. Champagne toasts for everyone. Hugs and kisses all around. We stayed in house watching Rocking Eve while listening to house mixes and club music. In the end we ended up watching UFC on cable watching buff guys beat each other senseless. I guess it can be entertaining up to a point. All fun and games until somebody opens their forehead getting hit in the head (he's going to need mad stitches), or they start leaving red stains on the mat. After a while it gets painful to watch. Hope they all have families that love them and they recover from their various beatings and bruisings in time to enjoy the new year.

We left the house at 4:00 am, using car service to journey into the city. The street with the club on it was blocked off (actually it was well thought out traffic control) so we walked up the street to the place. Go figure, the same block as The Eagle now has a megaclub. Nice line of people in the front all wanting in. VIPs, ticket holders and the usual clubgoer rabble. It was cold but not truly wicked out. Having stretch denim jeans on doesn't keep you warm enough though so my legs suffered a little until I got inside. Of course we arrive at the same time as Amanda so we were held up until her entourage got their vip bands. Anyway finally inside, nice amount of security, practically at each intersection making sure everybody went where they were supposed to. They kept the flow moving inexorably through the coat check and beyond. After checking on everyone in our little cliques arrival status we journeyed down to the main dance floor.

The first part of the entry area, where they play hip hop and more radio friendly dance mixes, was interesting. The columns reminded me of those obstacle course punching bags all hanging from the ceiling in bunches to keep you from walking through too quickly. But once you touch them you realize they are all hard columns, some kind of impact plastic. Interesting design but then we kept moving inwards. We passed through the subway tunnel that connects to the main room. It has white noise piped in that keeps the two rooms music mostly separate (except during silent breaks)

The main room has a very high ceiling and the DJ is plainly visible from the main floor. It was extremely well lit. They even include the bar area within the lights. Strobes ring the whole room, controlled by the Tech who seemed well versed with synching the lights with the ebb and flow of the music. I noticed even the bartenders could not help but be affected since sound and light encloses them as well. They would cover their ears when the treble got to be too much and cover their eyes if they got hit by a particularly vicious strobe. I quickly learned that when the beat slowed and then started up again I should look at the floor so I wouldn't be temporarily blinded by the lights myself. Some of my friends just took to dancing with their eyes closed until they could see again.

Now about the main space. I liked it a lot. The sound system was excellent, well placed and well shielded inside steel mesh. It even looked good. The floor around the bar area was concrete, and I quickly moved over towards the edge of the dance floor so I could stomp my feet over wood, a far more forgiving surface. The place had a very modern and industrial look. There is a lot to be said for being built in modern age of space age materials and free flowing design. The size of the floor seemed adequate for the amount of people who wanted to dance it didn't get overcrowded but I can see it getting there for a more circuit type party. Hopefully if the VIP is open to everyone it will make the spacing better for everyone. It did get very crowded when I walked around the second floor, a sort of balcony that rings the place on 2½ sides. I guess the people who had a better view of the floor paid more for their seats. I only had to walk up there once to realize since I couldnt sit up there there was no reason to be there, back to the main floor for me.

Buying the drinks for groups I didn't calculate the prices right away but soon found out I was paying 7 bucks for a bottle of water. That was not my worst price of the evening however. When I ordered one of my club favorites, a Stoli Orange with Red Bull, I was shocked to learn I had to pay 14 dollars. And I did not even get the can. That was robbery. I stayed buying 7 bottles of Corona for my alchohol for the rest of the evening. Switching back between water and alchohol was my plan and Corona has barely any alcohol, so as long as I stayed hydrated with water and redbull I figured I would avoid the dreaded beer breath.

The one flaw I found was that for that particular party all of the seating was taken up by VIP space there was no place to take a break and not stay standing on the main floor. The VIP areas had all of the seats, the regular people made do with the sitting on speakers (risking hearing loss) and having to go back through the subway tunnel to sit in the outer area (away from the Main DJ music). Its not as if the VIPs had it all that good. They had to wait on line for the bathroom they all shared on balcony. There was never any bathroom issues at the main bathroom (shockingly) but then again I guess some people didn't feel like walking so far to get to the bathroom so they just held it all in.

And also for some reason in the early morning (7am or so) They brought this guy on stage in drag. I usually don't mind drag queens but he was just a buzz kill. He was so hairy and did not look like a drag queen at all. He just a hawk nosed man in a dress which was then stripped to a singlet and after that I didn't look anymore. He could have had the bod to die for but he had the face to kill you first. I just had to hide my eyes and pray that he didnt reach for me with those hairy knuckles. Not good party imagery. The regular dancers and the guy playing the bongos I could deal with. An orc in a dress I was not expecting.

Back to the music, I enjoyed the heck out it. The beats were on point and mixed most expertly. It was an aural feast. I danced in three different spots on the dance floor and went up on two different speaker boxes.

Drama with both boxes however. I had one speakerbox that some cheap chick decided that instead of paying the 4 dollar coatcheck she should put her coat under my feet. Even when someone (not me) knocked it to the floor she picked it up and put it back. I don't understand how saving four dollars at the coat check equates to now having to pay dry cleaning on a coat I ended up repeatedly treading on, (both on purpose and by mistake) There were drinks spilled on that speaker but the silly girl refused to move the coat until she was boozed enough to leave with her male friend. I always say that if a person cannot afford the coat check maybe they should skip the party all together and save their money until next time.
Later on in the evening I actually got talked off of a speaker by a tweaker boy who thought the night was his. He actually acted as if he was being nice by asking if I would leave. I don't mind getting off for someone who knows how to dance and really owns the speaker. He was just barely managing to step to the beat and had no particularly alluring qualities to draw anybodys eye even (so much unlike myself . He soon got off the speaker anyway but at that point I was so over the box and was back to dancing with my friends. The mixed crowd was boisterous at times, suddenly deciding they had places to be and bulling their way through the crowd going towards some impending appointments.

I stayed till around 10:30 in the morning, when me and mine decided we had had enough for the day. Some of my friends stayed until well into the afternoon. We however got our coats and left without incident (once again with the security making sure everyone kept moving). The security even flagged down a taxi for us now that they were allowing traffic onto the street.

So that was New Years. I would do it again but maybe with a more gay vibe and less straight in the crowd. They were friendly and all but some were even more oblivious to their surroundings then the tweaker dudes I usually get to see. It made moving around the floor more trouble than it needed to be.

Overall I will still rate the evening a success. All's well that ends well.