Ninth Avenue, Hell's Kitchen, 8:00 am
It was a fun time, but I have to say I was kind of disappointed based on all the stories I've heard about it, because the people who run the party made some changes this year that didn't seem to be going over well. One of the most significant of these changes was that there was no sex allowed in the stage shows this year. I'd always heard stories about how crazy the shows got, but this year the ones that I saw had no real action in them and were much tamer than what I might have seen at an event like Folsom East. Another thing that sucked was that this year the entire second floor of the party was closed off to anyone who didn't have a VIP ticket. The party had sold out of VIP tickets pretty quickly, though from down below it didn't look like there were many people up there, so I don't know what the deal was (I can't confirm it, but I heard from someone that there were real sex shows going on up there at one point, but someone else said there was nothing happening up there and it was lame).
To top it all off, there were no darkrooms. Those had been shut down for this year, like the sex shows, because they didn't want to come off as promoting sex or something. Needless to say, people were pissed off. Pretty much everyone I talked to said that it would be their last time coming, and that they'd turned off a lot of their regular partiers. I dunno, maybe this is something the circuit queens say every year, or maybe not. It seems ridiculous to me that they would be worried about being shut down for sex stuff while not caring about how out in the open drugs were. It crossed my mind that they might have just done things this way to try to get people to buy VIP tickets next year.
Anyway, it was a fun night, though I felt like I'd been cheated out of a real Black Party experience like I'd always heard about. I'll be more inclined to go again next year if they ease up on the sex restrictions, and if they at least open up their VIP section to the under 26 crowd!
And because there were no cameras or phones allowed (though everyone brought their iPhones in, and I checked mine like a bitch), what I have to show for myself instead is pics of my surreal early morning journey from the party back to the Connecticut subrubs with a severe hangover. They'll have to do in place of slutty fuck pics I might have been able to take at a different event. The trip back was actually kind of pretty and pleasant, when I was able to ignore the headache. Ever since a semi-traumatizing experience from my freshman year of college, I always associate the Cocteau Twins album Head over Heels as being what a severe and well-deserved hangover sounds like, so imagine that playing in the background and enjoy.
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42nd Street, there was some kind of Marathon going on
It had been a while since my last early morning Metro North ride, which is weird because it's making me feel old, and college seem distant already.
New Haven Line, 9:07 am
And back at home.
10:00 am
9 comments:
jeez mascdude you changed your whole site while i was gone lol
glad you had fun in the big apple lol and next time you should tell me first and we can 'chill' haha lol
I've been in the 'you need to check your camera' situation before and found myself kicking myself for it later.
Well, I'm glad you had fun. You should talk about the action you got
Um, dude, there was a dark room on the first floor. Left of the front of the dance floor. It was too crowded and not big enough, but it was there. Literally a cluster fuck. You didn't miss anything great.
Anonymous, I know what you're talking about because I was hanging out right there by the stage for most of the night, but that totally was not a dark room. It was a little space between the two stages that was packed with guys who seemed to all not be able to move and were rubbing up against each other. Several of the guys I talked to down there also complained about there being no dark room, said that was the closest thing to it, and that if they had known it would be like this they wouldn't have bought tickets. Fortunately, I was in on the twink fee so I didn't mind as much.
If you'll pardon my cynicism, but it sounds just like everything else in New York these days that's been Disneyfied.
Stan - while I too rue the Disneyfication of NYC, I don't think that's the case here. If the city had sent inspectors to the Black Party, even in its current emasculated form, it would have been shut down immediately. There were plenty of naked guys, a few sex shows (though not like in the past), lots of sex among patrons and rampant drug use.
The Disneyfication of NYC happened in the 90s. The Black Party was still very edgy and sexual as recently as 2007. Part of the issue is that in the last few years they've been reducing the amount of sex shows in favor of "visuals" (i.e. sets, actors, installations, etc.). This is more in line with traditional circuit parties, which is probably the crowd they're trying to appeal to now.
What was unusual this year was the fact that the whole second floor was reserved for VIP. This was a strange decision on the part of the Saint at Large, and necessitated the removal of the sex area due to lack of space on the other floors. I don't believe they ever had a problem selling out the VIP tickets, and that makes this decision even more bizarre. They certainly alienated a good chunk of their regular patrons and will have a hard time selling tickets next year.
Black Party:::when there are that many men in a place..they are going to have sex no matter what!..it is a fucking party , so let's FUCK!..I stopped going in the late 90s
..NYC is NOT a place to cum if you are even THINKING of sex, unless you hire someone..there are private parties but the sex scene has been SNUFFED, NO doubt about that ..and all because of GOOLIANI..I can remember, when in the middle of a back room in the Meat Packing district..the "VICE" squad(they had VICE written ALL over their uniforms) loaded up with MINERS LITES..looking like we were terrorists!!..cum in and close the bar down.I'll never forget that night..I have lived here for over 30 years & never saw THAT!
Cheers..
Tony(NYC)
Well said Toni! My thoughts exactly! I'm a survivor of the late 70's sex scene in NYC so I know of what you speak. All you had to do back then is go down to the piers and trucks and get all the sex you wanted.
Not to mention all the gay porn theatres that are now all gone.
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