01/06-01/08 - Into the New Year and happy to Be Here and There

I had received an email invite and was told I could get into Pacha if I arrived before midnight. I still had the same preparations before heading out as usual. I got back home and had dinner (chicken caesar salad), finished off the hair and cleaned up. I had finished with my music setup earlier in the week so once the time rolled around Russ and I left BK and headed to midtown and 46th Street.

The traffic was heavier than usual but after looping the blocks twice we found a spot one block up and one long block over. The weather was colder than an icicles armpit but we braved the winds and stood on the line in front of the club. The tourist crowd was in full effect along with the promoter wannabes from all over acting like VIPs. The Beeyatch in front asking if anyone was requesting table service was not much help either. After freezing on the line for almost 15 minutes we finally were headed inside to verify with the event guy inside we were on the list and get our passes to head on in. After dealing with the coat check downstairs we headed back up through the club and ordered drinks on the entry level. The glasses were nice, some sort of composite that resembled a glass but was unbreakable. We watched the DJ booth from the stairs and looked out over the dancefloor. We even took a few pictures in the place but the mood never lifted above and beyond the initial entry point. DJ Merritt who was promised on the invite never materialized and the two caribbean guys mixed some ok songs but there was a whole lot of filler and tweaking of the sonic soundboard, and unnecessary foghorns and too much strobe. The girls dancing in red bathing suits inside the showers were OK but nothing more exciting than I had seen at other places. We had a couple of drinks and then we left around 1:30 so that we would not get home too late. I was disappointed but glad I had came and saw and now knew what it was all about. No reason to go back unless I was on a particular persons list and was with a bigger group and a sure thing DJ.

I awoke Saturday ready to go to the gym. After breakfast and watching a little TV we were ready to head into the city. The BK gym had been crowded lately and we wanted to stop into Century 21 on Church St. We were able to find parking a few blocks up Broadway and then made our way down to the gym to work out. The gym was nice and empty and I only had to wait for one machine. I was in and out with no problem and then we were headed over to Century 21. After Russ picked up a few more things we made our way over to Wendy's 2 blocks over. The lunchfare was good as usual. Afterwards we found our way back to the car and back to BK. I watched DVR programming and chilled out for a while re-hydrating and making sure all was prepared for my night out. Tanya had dropped an email and called to state that she was not feeling well enough to hang out but we wished her well and finished up our own plans for the night. All cleaned up and dressed up we hung out for a bit before Monika arrived at 10:45. We watched some HD football for a bit and then we all piled into the Murano and headed into the city.

The traffic was light and we found a parking space right on 19th street before heading back down to stand on the short line in front of the club. After saying hello to Doorman Derek we made our way inside and through to the coat check. We had arrived at 11:50 and there was still a crowd around the Roxy bar before midnight. I got myself a bottle of water and we hung out for a bit for the rush to taper off and then I ordered our first round. The music was originally supposed to be by DJ Paulo but we saw notice inside that the replacement for the evening was none other than DJ Merritt (whom we had missed hearing the night before). I was expecting a great evening myself and tried to control my excitement a little. We took a couple of pictures with Steve, Russ and a few more of our friends before the call of the music pulled me over to the speaker. That Victor Calderone Mix of Celeda and "Let the Music Use You Up" was just the thing after getting the crowd out onto the floor around 1:00am. We came, we saw, we danced until late into the night. The music was just as good as I expected as we heard songs from Mariah Carey and multiple mixes from Offer Nissim. (Alas, no Suzanne Palmer but enough Nissim to keep one happy). We split our time between the stage, the dancefloor and the bar in front before finally deciding the night should end on a high note. We said goodnight to The Jimmy and the rest of our friends and headed back out to the car. The ride back to BK was without incident and we dropped Monika off on her block before heading over to our side of The Slope and calling it a night.

Sunday was spent mostly inside watching football and hanging out at home for a bit as I noshed on a PBJ sandwich for breakfast and watched TV and web-browsed for most of the afternoon before taking a late-day nap. We finally headed outside around 7:30 to pick up a dinner at KFC. The meal we ate while watching The Simpsons and continued on with watching ESPN and Family Guy. The rest of the night we finished up watch Football and I was able to head to bed before it got too late. The weekend was over but I still had another 3 day weekend for MLK to look forward to. Keep it Hot.