June 3-5 - Longer days, Hotter Nights, and Spilled Drinks

I worked on Friday and was invited out even before I left. Seems one of the people that I worked with was getting married next week. After I got done all that could be done I went downstairs and found Joy at the bar but no one else in sight. I had missed Tanya who had went looking for the gang across the street but a chance passing by Linus and a wave through the window made me look in the back behind the divider at Ole. There at the table I found Bruce, his Fiancee, Monica, Doris and Susan. After an aborted search for Tanya, I joined them at the table and Joy came over soon after. We hung out there for a while discussing relationships, vacations and various minutae as we finished off the appetizers and finally called it a night at 8:25. We walked down to the Path train and went our separate transit ways. Doris and Bruce rode uptown while Monica and I headed for Bk via the WTC stop. I got home rather quickly and made my way up the hill and into the house in time to have some dinner, clean up and watch some TV with Pais. When it was time to head out I called up the car service and got a ride out with the long haired driver I had not seen in a few months. His do reminded one of a jheri curl wig but it was all natural and all his. He chatted on his phone with his taxi compadres and while I listened to my ipod (guarantee of entertainment through the longest cab ride) He was able to get us into the city in fairly short order despite riding up 6th ave first and then driving down to 8th Ave via 14th street. He dropped me off right across the street and I was across and inside fairly quickly. I spoke with the doorman briefly and then made my way inside to hang with barman Brett and the many people crowded inside of Gym. I made my way to the back to speak with DJ Smoky who was having a good time spinning for the crowd. Pretty soon however another admirer of the DJ came over and began to speak so I went back to the front and got another drink. Since I had arrived late it was already after 1am when I was getting my last something to imbibe. I had already given Brett my newest CD "Beats the Heat" and I was all ready to jump ship and head over to the next bar on the hop but Brett invited me to hang while he counted out. We headed downstairs and I sat on one side of the table on a barstool while he sat on the other side with his receipts spread on the the table and plenty of rubber bands to make sure it was all evened up. As long as I didn't talk about numbers he was able to count in peace and I was able to finish off my drink before heading back upstairs. We headed back upstairs and then we parted ways as he flagged down a taxi to head home and I stayed and talked to the doorman for a while. After discussing jobs, the upcoming summer and helping him speak to the patrons who were lining up to enter I said goodnight and then headed over the two blocks to Sixth ave to pick up a bottled water. That was swigged down fairly quickly before I headed across the street and down 17th and on into Splash.

I still had my jacket to check with the coatcheck but quickly headed back upstairs when I did not see my bartender John manning the bar downstairs. I found him at the front where I picked up my first Stoli Orange and Red Bull (had enjoyed Stoli Orange and Rockstar at Gym). I danced up on the stage in front of DJ Billy Carroll who was throwing down a very high energy and fun set for the guys and girls in the crowd. i shared the stage with a guy and a girl doing their best to re-enact "Dirty Dancing" to the beat of high speed dance beats . DJ Mike Rizzo was also in attendance in the DJ booth looking over the beats in the set and bringing some of his own tunes as well, I'm sure. While I was up on the stage (and even when I came down to get another drink) I noticed that the dancers on both boxes, the one in front of the stage and the one across the bar in front of the screens, were making sure to put a little something "extra" in their routines. In fact they were going full monty and then hiding it a bit and then doing it all over again. I saw Mgr Ray in passing and told him that the dancers appeared to be getting a little out of control. He told me thanks and a few minutes later he actually talked with the dancer in front of the stage to cool it a bit. However when I saw that he left the other dancer alone to flash the crowd at will I stopped the mgr again and told him what about the other one. He told me "Baby, go have some fun". I decided that was good enough for me and I let the boys just have their fun too. I walked past the dancers and back to the front bar to hang with John and give him a gift CD "Forward Spring" which he absolutely was very happy to get. He actually giggled he was happy that I remembered that I had asked him what kind of music he liked. I hung out dancing inside for a little while more before calling it an evening. I was able to flag down a taxi right out front and was able to get back to BK nice and easy. Another night bites the sheets.

I got out of the house for the afternoon and headed over to the gym near city hall. I remembered my lock this time and did not have to pick up another one at Duane Reade. I was able to finish up in about an hour and then because of the heat outside I stayed in shorts and headed down the street to pick up some stuff at the Vitamin Shoppe before heading up to Wendy's for a bite to eat. I decided on the side salad with my burger to not totally nullify my day at the gym and hung out upstairs finishing off my lunch before leaving the space and walking up to Park Row and J&R. The nice new TV made me appreciate a nice size screen so I picked up a nice 19 in monitor for the PC in the home office. I picked up a few DVDs as well and then I was back to the train station to head home. Of course the weekend track work meant that I had to decide what station to go to since the downtown City Hall was not in service. I decided to take the uptown train to Canal and take the train across the bridge. It turned out that was a good idea as all the trains were heading across the bridge or stopping before going under the water so I ended up only having to wait a bit at Dekalb before finally making the last part of the run and getting off the train down the block. The walk home with the boxes was not too bad and I had everything set up and plugged in pretty easily. Pais returned home from playing softball shortly afterwards and after watching some TV he was off to catch some nap. I watched some DVR programming and the cartoon network before it was time to order up some dinner. A nice delivery of chicken Parmigiana and I was all good and ready to wait for the later. I cleaned up, wardrobe changed and was all ready to step out. The Jimmy arrived at 10:35 and we watched the HD before heading down to the car and after I made quick return upstairs for a Tums I was ready to head out.

We were able to get into the city pretty easily and made our way across the Bklyn Bridge and into the city. We found a nice spot up on 19th street and then walked down the street to stand on the line in front of Roxy. Doorman Derek was back and making sure that the boys stayed in line nice and orderly. After waiting behind a boy with a questionable ID we were finally waved in and up the stairs to go through the wristwrap, the cashiers and the ticket collector. I waved over to the coat check staff since I did not have to check anything for the first time this year and stepped inside of the party. Compared to the hordes that were in town for the holiday weekend the week before the place was looking kind of empty. Of course it was only midnight so I knew it could only get better and I walked up to the bar to say hi to Barker. Of course I was very surprised to see the return of my original ROXY bartender, the dark hair twin of Barker. I said hi and we started off our night with the usual flair. I said hello to a few friends and spilled a Red Bull on one of my friends but thankfully it wasn't cranberry but it was still kinda sticky. At least after it was all over and he had cleaned up he said he wasn't so cold anymore (the AC was on full blast to start the night off) I said hello to the same dancer I usually do and looked over the slowly filling room and listened to the beats. Of course I had to go out to the speaker near the stage and dance for the floor when DJ Hex Hector put on "Love has Come again" by Human Movement w/ Sophie Moleta, After getting nice and sweated up for that I returned to the bar and picked up another drink. I saw Duane and hung out with Pais and The Jimmy for a bit, in between some speaker appearances and in the back but I went outside with the guys for a breath of fresh air and met two army boys who were hanging in the city and seeing what was doing. I promised a bought drink back inside and later on as they passed us I picked up a vodka cranberry for one and then we talked some before heading out to the dancefloor. After dancing on the floor for a bit I headed up onto the speaker and danced with both hands lit and a pep in the step. After I stepped down and made my way back over to the bar I was greatly surprised as we were approached by none other than Kevin and Phil. They were up and about and decided to make an dual appearance at the ROX for the first time in two years. After saying our hellos and chatting with them how I had actually wanted to call them earlier in the day but decided not to bother Pais to get the info while he was at his game I let it go , only to see them both the same night. As we made our way around the bar the two army boys invited us to go and dance upstairs in the Crystal room so we headed up and rocked for a bit to Mariah Carey and "Fantasy". When Madonna and "Lucky star" came on we timed it to head back downstairs and bid the army boys goodnight. We hung out for a bit before I found myself dancing on the speaker again but quickly found the party kicked up a notch when I heard a familiar beat. I jumped down off the speaker and walked across the dancefloor to make my way onto the stage and dance to the full on classic vibe of Veronica and "Someone to Hold" that had the entire crowd and myself totally into the party and happy we had made our way into attendance. True the crowd was no where near as busy as the night before but there was plenty of crowd to go around and people to dance with as the boys enjoyed and did the enjoy again. We heard La Noche, Bring It (Superchumbo), and Warm Leatherette. We stayed in until around 5:30 when we headed out to say gnite to The Jimmy and then walk up and down the stairs again to head out to the street. We made our way over to 9th Ave and Pais flagged down a car nice and easy. We headed back to BK with thoughts of a nice rest and some quiet. It was easy to do once you get back and at home once again.

Sunday was spent just chilling out with delivery breakfast and a nice afternoon spent watching the HD. We finally headed out with the new CD in the car and a took a trip down to 9th St and a stop to say hi to Phil before heading into Mickey D's to have a Big Mac before heading over to Pathmark to shop for dinner type stuff and more stuff for the house. After filling up the cart and heading through the self service checkout we made it back home and chilled out before dinner. After deciding we were not up to the work of grilling on the roof we ordered in Italian from Friend's Cafe. I had Penne a vodka with grilled chicken and enjoyed the meal thoroughly before kicking back and relaxing the rest of the Sunday night away. I watched some DVR programming from the previous week before finally turning in for the eve and closing out the weekend.

Seen and heard over the past few weeks:

"I was so hot my knees were sweating"

"There's a party under my eyelids and the lights are nice"

Its just so hard to remember them all I think I'm going to have start using the voice record function on my phone.

Next week: Road trip 2005 part deux.