9/13 - 9/16 - The Winds of Change, But Some Things Stay the Same

Thursday after work and the Basketball draft and sign-up at Gym. I took the PATH train to 14th Street and then walked over from 6th Ave to 8th and up to the bar. Once inside the packed bar I found Mike, Benny and Russ as well as plenty of regular bar patrons and got my drink on. Talked to a few friends, met Angelica and Nessa as well as discussing classic Disco and 80s Dance music. We stayed at the bar until around 9:30 and then headed over to Bleeker street and we got us some Pizza at Joe's. Once I was back home I brought out my newly purchased PS3 game Heavenly Sword. The Game is beautiful. Still getting used to it but I stayed up till after 3am kicking butt and taking names.

Friday
After work it was dinner party with Tres and Rob and a large contingent of our club going posse. I met Russ and the rest of our friends at Sticky Rice in Soho and had a great steak dinner and then stayed to take pictures with all of our friends. We finally said our first good night at 10:30pm and I headed cross town and uptown only stopping at a neighborhood bodega to buy some gum. I had the time to kill so I walked rather than grab a taxi over to Splash and arrived around 11:30 and got my first drink on and danced with the crowd. DJ Billy Carroll was on the main floor throwing out some tunes but the DJ that was downstairs along with my friend Garrett had me returning multiple times to drink and to dance. I stayed down there to dance to the Jody DB mix of "Don't Stop The Music" by Rihanna. I hung out with Shawn and Rick along with Rob, Tres, Eddie and the rest of the usual guys we hang with until we split into the groups that were going and staying. We were invited up into the VIP so we went, Andre and our new friends who the 5 of us had the room all to ourselves. The group of us made use of the chairs, the view and even the private bathroom but we got the spook-out after Andre decided to borrow the laser to shine over the dancefloor.

The light guy appeared (the guy with the perpetual scowl, glasses, not cleanshaven) shortly after and demanded to know why we were shining the laser, stating it was illegal and that we must NEVER bring the laser to the club again. I told him I would not and had no idea he was so militant over the idea (especially since it is not illegal). It would be illegal if I was shining a laser at a police officer, planes overhead or the driver of a moving vehicle but since none of those hold true in a club and my laser is not powerful enough to melt plastic or blind anyone, he was just blowing smoke like his smoke machine. I told him what he wanted to hear and he let us be and went back to doing the lights. He is no Liz Liguori or Mitch Amtrak, but I won't be crossing him again anytime soon.

We went on with the night and were invited out to NJ to see the new house by Andre's friend. We said goodnight to one of our group and to Rick and Sean and I retrieved my bag from the coatcheck and we headed out to Jersey. The ride was long but the house was beautiful. After watching some TV and finding out that DirecTV gets real porn sent into the house we all retired to our separate bedrooms (I got the room with no porn and the smallest bed) and went to sleep.

The next morning Andre made us breakfast of scrambled eggs and we watched Chevy Chase and "Vacation" and "Christmas Vacation" before heading back towards NYC and getting dropped off at the PATH station. Andre, his new friend and I headed back to 34th street in NY and after we all said goodbye I headed over to Wendy's picked up my late afternoon Lunch and headed home on the MTA. The rest of the evening I chilled out and waited for the evening to progress before cleaning up and getting ready to head out at 11pm. The Jimmy had already arrived and Russ, The Jimmy and I piled into the Land Cruiser (nice taxi) and headed into the city. A nice ride later we were at the club and ready have some fun.

After the usual security check and hello to the cashier, we were happy we had worn long sleeve shirts because it took a while for the warmth to get in the place and since the opening DJ was not going to mix for a pretty light dancefloor it was up to DJ Peter Rauhofer to handle the opening moments until 1:15pm. DJ Ralphi Rosario took over the decks and gave us some energetic beats and we split our time between bartender Javier and the dancefloor. Everyone asked about Rob and Tres but of course they made a great entrance after the place was starting to get packed before 1am.

This is the usual schedule of a Saturday party night at Club Stereo. Unless it is a holiday and a special performer the place rarely gets full before 12:30am (too bad for the tourists and the places that get full and close at 2am) and is fully hopping at 1:00am when the party really gets underway. The problem with the place though is that it is out of the way and people cannot walk there from other places downtown. When the party was at Roxy people used to come over from miles around. Now up at 34th street we have to really invest in this one place for the night unless we want to go to some afterhours someplace else. I enjoy my night out but appreciate a good sight line as much or more than the next guy.

On this night we stayed until almost 5am. This was after I thought the guys left and then I had to go through security again to find them and pull them outside. We wandered into Mickey D's and ate some chicken tenders and some cheeseburgers and then because the guys took too long to come out of the club we had to flag down a taxi (we miss you Land Rover) and headed back to BK. Another fun night and a good night sleep.

Sunday woke up, made sure all was well at home and slept some more until it was time for delivery breakfast and then we piled into the Murano and headed over to the Basketball tryouts that had been signed up for on Thursday and I watched the car while Russ ran into gym and went the tryouts. I gave the random Soho residents a thumbs up (stylish streetwear) or thumbs down (tight jeans and a muffin top on one side, nasty) and sung along with the newest R&B and newest Pop CD in the car. Before I fell asleep Russ returned but we had to navigate through traffic downtown getting over the B'way before we finally crossed Canal street and headed back to BK. We stopped off at Fairway and picked up our freshly Roasted chicken for dinner and then it was a nice evening at home watching TV (Curb Your Enthusiasm) before finishing up my newest Dance CD (Angel Falls - The Fall Line) and finally heading to bed.

The weekend is closed out but we still have the last weekend of the summer ahead of us. And the entire fall to go. Much travel ahead and many weekends to go through because we got's so much left to do. Looking forward to it. Why? Because We do it well! :oP

8-29-07 - As we Labor on...

I went out.
The Jimmy wanted to start the weekend early so Russ and I headed out on a Thursday (THURSDAY!) and headed uptown and ended up at The Ritz. I was pleasantly surprised with the number of people in attendance both downstairs and up. Early start at 10PM but the taxi up and plenty of hanging out before heading back downtown to Splash around midnight. The club was plenty packed for college night and we even hung out for the first time in the weekend with Rob and Tres. However before 2am it was time to head out (work tomorrow) and get another taxi back to BK. Nice.

I was there.
Friday rolled around with a late start for me (lost jewelry and lost glasses) but that was not enough to halt the going out. Rode into the city and walked into Splash and said hello to Rick and Shawn and met Reichen Lehmkuhl and walked away with autograph and and picture of him with his significant other. Maurice, Rob and Tres showed up shortly and we danced to DJ Alex Lauterstein before deciding to head over to Mr. Black. After getting my last drink at the bar before 4am I proceeded to drink that drink and danced with the guys until 5:15am. Thats when the music stopped, the lights came on and the Boys in Blue made their appearance. Everyone had to stay still and wait to be let outside in groups of five. After a pat down the catch and release was over and we headed back to the car and went home a little earlier than planned. Wow.

I went with it.
After shopping in NJ in the afternoon and a short rest at home it was into the Murano and over to the upper west side to hang with the Buddies softball team. Everyone was happy with the day of games and team was in a festive mood with plenty of current events and game plays to discuss. When it was all over around 10pm we headed outside said goodnight to the Jimmy, Chris, Mike and Ben before Russ and I headed over to Jackson Hole for a burger. He ate the burger, I watched. After the meal Russ dropped me off at Club Stereo at 11:20 and I proceeded to wait outside of the club on line for 1 hour and 15 minutes as the music was tested and Maya arrived and did sound checks as we waited outside in the September wind. When they finally let us inside the music was going (from a CD) and the place slowly filled up (filtered through security checkpoint) and we slowly warmed up to the party and said hello to Javier (and Jeannie!) and partied with Tres, Rob, Joon, Andrei, Pat, Steve, Tommy and Duane. The music got better around 1:30am when DJ Peter Rauhofer took to the decks live as we danced in front of the temporary stage that was never used. Splitting my time between upstairs and downstairs I never used the lights but did plenty of laser when the time was right before we finally winded down said our goodnights and I headed out with Duane to 34th street to the Bodega where he picked up a Sprite and I picked up a taxi and headed back to BK. Cool.