06/28/09
ALEGRIA IN WONDERLAND, Alegria Pride 2009
M2, 530 West 28th Street, NYC


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
We slid down the Alegria Rabbit Hole shortly after three a.m.—and when we landed on our feet, we had to stop. We had to STOP—right where we were and take it all in: the cacophonous adrenal rush of sliding into Alegria in Wonderland at warp speed. So much to discover, as Alice might have said: the caterpillar perched atop the humongous mushroom, oversized tea cups and saucers (with Alegria tea bags—Drink me!), a double-spout tea pot—and a huge pink Cheshire cat whose grin illuminated the recesses of M2 like a crescent moon over Manhattan. We’d slipped through the looking glass and landed in Wonderland. 
  
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06/27/09
WE CAN!
Roseland Ballroom, 52nd Street, New York City


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
RAUHOFER LAUGHS! RAUHOFER IN HYSTERICS! RAUHOFER CRACKS UP WATCHING ALAN T. PERFORM “WHATEVAH”!

Yes, that Alan T., the voice behind some of the fiercest bitch tracks ever recorded. That dominatrix voice belying the gentle soul beneath the crack exterior, the warm heart behind the class sass, Alan T. played the court jester to Rauhofer’s prince—and the two of them had the crowd at Roseland gagging with pleasure. 
  
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06/22/09
THE GAY CENTER'S 26th ANNUAL GARDEN PARTY
Pier 54, Manhattan, NYC


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
Remember that childhood dream of being locked in the grocery store—and nothing to do but eat your way through the aisles all night long?  Transfer that dream to Pier 54 in Manhattan on the Monday night of Pride Week—and you’ve got the Center’s Garden Party.  And even better than that locked-tight grocery store of your childhood fantasy, Pier 54 was a smorgasbord of lip-smacking treats from nearly forty favorite New York restaurants, complete with celebrity chefs, Food Network stars—and over two thousand foodies, all resplendent as a bowl of tropical fruits. 
  
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06/20/09
NYC PRIDE RALLY 2009
Bryant Park, Sixth Avenue, Manhattan, NYC


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
So much talent and passion: that’s what marks the NYC Pride Rally, the official kick-off to NYC Pride Week.  Even in the middle of a drizzly Manhattan Saturday afternoon, what becomes increasingly remarkable about the cavalcade of talent, speakers, and performers parading across the stage at Bryant Park is how incredibly gifted we are as a community. 
  
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06/18/09
DOWN THE RUBY RED RABBIT HOLE : ALEGRIA PRIDE
Ric Sena Presents Alegria in Wonderland


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
So what are you going to do when that old gal Pride hits the big four-oh?  Forty years of Pride, think about it: 1969-2009.  Forty years: that’s a ruby anniversary.  A big red…ruby—as in ruby slippers.  So you know you’d better celebrate—and if you’re producer Ric Sena, you know that 40 years of Pride merits a massive tea party.  Something called ALEGRIA IN WONDERLAND, for example, held at M2 (the former Crobar) on 28^th Street in the heart of New York City. 
  
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06/04/09
THEY CAN! THEY WILL! THEY DO! THEY WORK!
THEY LOVE NEW YORK!  THEY LIVE FOR PRIDE!
An EDGE/MRNY Interview with Peter Rauhofer and
Offer Nissim


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
From the maestro who loves New York, Miami, Montreal, and Paris (and here we refer to the man’s CD Valentines to his favorites party towns, commencing with I Love New York, I Love Miami, I Love Montreal—and recently I Love Paris—and who would argue with any of those choices?) comes the mother of Pride parties WE CAN!  Clearly a reference to Obama’s victorious election slogan, the party’s theme might also be a reference to the current string of LGBT civil rights victories in New England and Iowa (California who?).  Either way, Saturday night the 27^th of June at Roseland Ballroom in New York City promises to be a Pride party for the annals, every bit as legendary as the man behind the music. 
  
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06/04/09
NYC PRIDE! THE GREATEST PRIDE OF THEM ALL!
40-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF STONEWALL!
An EDGE/MRNY Guide to Pride Extravaganzas


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
So it’s summer—in the City—and you’re about to take a bite out of the Apple for the BIGGEST Pride celebration of them all.  What to do, where to start?  Where to go, what to wear?  Fear not, intrepid Pride-goers, we’re here to take you on the most phantasmagoric journey through NYC Pride.  Whether you’re a local celebutante ready for your close-up or a NYC Pride pioneer, here’s the skinny on what’s happening and where—with a healthy portion of why it’s ALL good for you.  Swallow big: this is the 40^th anniversary of Stonewall and everything gay in NYC has plenty to celebrate (and not only that recent survey about NYC being the city with the most tops…).  Dig in, Pride babies; it’s all here for the sharing.
  
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06/04/09
DJ SHOWCASE: MAXIMUS 3000 GETS BIGGER!
Get down “At Midnight” with Maximus, Ceevox


                                                                                                 PHOTO BY DALE STINE
       
One of the joys of Miami and the Beaches is its propensity to breed schools of deejays.  Maybe it’s in the water, that deliciously salty ocean, but some of the best-tasting beatmasters come out of southern Florida.  Take Maximus 3000, for example.  Based in Miami, Maximus 3000 works a  punk star attitude with a funky, house style that he showcases at such diverse area locales as the Victor, dek23, and Halo—as well as his popular residency at Lauderdale’s Living Room.
  
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05/17/09
Broadway Impact’s MARRIAGE EQUALITY RALLY
45^th Street and Sixth Avenue, New York City


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
Those Gavins!  Where would the marriage equality movement be without Gavin Newsom and Gavin Creel?  It was five years ago that Mayor Gavin Newsom opened the gates of San Francisco’s City Hall to same-sex marriage and more or less jumpstarted the marriage equality movement—and now here in New York, taking his cue from Governor David Paterson who introduced a same-sex marriage bill in the Legislature, actor/singer Gavin Creel with his newly-formed organization, Broadway Impact, is working to insure that New Yorkers aren’t left without a marriage bouquet.
  
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05/17/09
SINful Sundays Tea Dance: The Preview
The Ritz Bar and Lounge, 369 West 46th Street, NYC


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
While the invite’s dress code stressed Speedos in anticipation of a long, hot summer, Mother Nature wasn’t listening: parkas wouldn’t have been overdress. Not that the porn stars, or those who’d just completed the AIDS Walk New York, or those coming from the Marriage Equality Rally, were the least bit bothered, because promoters Matthew, Alex and Justin of MAJestic New York have got themselves a hot little scene happening at that well-loved clubhouse at Ninth and 46th.
  
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05/17/09
AIDS WALK NEW YORK
Central Park, New York City


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT
       
Question: What do you get when you add up 45,000 committed and dedicated New Yorkers, plus Hilary Duff, Carson Kressley, Norm Lewis, and Sarah Dash of Labelle, plus members of Congress and the State Senate, plus record-breaking corporate sponsorships from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Delta Air Lines, and Duane Reade, plus a glorious spring morning in May in Manhattan’s Central Park?
  
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04/06/09
NGLTF New York Leadership Awards
Kimmel Center, New York City


                                                                                           PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT    
  
In an expansive ballroom high above Washington Square, one could follow city lights up Fifth Avenue, toward the Chrysler and the Empire buildings resplendent amidst the dazzling Manhattan nightscape.  This was a heady view for heady company.  This was a roomful of the city’s well-heeled and well-connected (New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey, Lucy Liu, Mark Nelson, Hal Rubenstein, Steve Weinstein, John Bartlett, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom), turning it out for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force New York Leadership Awards—and if there was more buzz than is customary for this annual presentation, it might have had to do with this year’s award recipients: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, as well as menswear fashion designer, John Bartlett.
  
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03/22/09
ALEGRIA XTREME 9: NOCTURNAL HOMECOMING
530 West 28th Street, New York City


                                                                                           PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
There are some nights that make you feel so damn proud for being a New Yorker—and for being gay in New York. Some nights that make you so happy to be partying in New York—and some parties that make you know you’re part of something historic and great. That’s how it felt to be at Alegria Xtreme 9, the ninth incarnation of Ric Sena’s annual Black Party weekend closer. This year the party returned to 530 West 28th Street, to what was once known as Crobar, one of Alegria’s more beloved homes—and the night was nothing short of an Alegria alumni reunion, as well as a rebirth and a re-invention.
  
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03/02/09
Red Eye @ Nocturnal :: Winter Party Festival 2009
Nocturnal, 50 NE 11th Street, Miami


                                                                                           PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
Of course you knew you wanted to be there—because it was the final party of Winter Party Festival 2009, and mostly because it was Abel—but still, you were nearly beat down from a marathon of extraordinary parties—but then you thought about Abel, again—and somehow you got there, to downtown Miami in the middle of a chilly (well, for Miami, anyway) Monday morn—and weren’t you glad you did?
  
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03/01/09
Orbit @ Cameo :: Winter Party Festival 2009
1445 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach


                                                                                           PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
No contest. It was so obvious—as soon as you entered the packed Cameo. That’s where the boyz were on Sunday night of Winter Party Festival—all the boys as well as all the variegated pageantry of South Beach, from Flavio and Chyna, to Mizz Cori and Hunni Dijon, and of course, hostess Elaine Lancaster. And there was DJ Kidd Madonny behind DJ Tony Moran in the booth, and Patti Razetto alongside Shane and Victor, and Karen and Michelle.
  
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03/01/09
The 16th Annual Winter Party Beach Party
12th Street Beach, Miami Beach


                                                                                           PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
From over on Ocean Drive, you could hear it calling: music luring you to the beach, music beckoning to you like a Siren, music pulling you through Lummus Park and over the dunes toward the 16th Annual Winter Party Beach Party. Everywhere you looked there was beauty: beautiful boyz, and the ocean so blue, and blue sky stippled with clouds. You passed under an immense gateway of billowing banners in Task Force purple and pink—and there, ahead of you, across the sand, was a riotous oasis of every floating inflatable beach toy ever lost on vacation—and now washed back ashore.
  
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02/28/09
Winter Party Festival: Mercury Rising
Parkwestnightclub, 30 NE 11th Street, Miami


                                                                                           PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
By Saturday night of Winter Party Festival, you actually heard New Yorkers complaining about not being able to keep up with the Miami boyz; as someone put it, “They’re insane.” And the testament of that remark was the scene at Mercury Rising at parkwestnightclub: nothing less than a big hot sweaty mess of boyz working it out to local legend Eddie X who kept the floor packed—with South Americans and all those others for whom heat is second nature.
  
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02/28/09
Winter Party Festival :: Under One Sun Pool Party
Surfcomber Hotel, Miami Beach


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
Failing economy, you say? What’s that you say? Judging from the attendance at this year’s Winter Party Festival Pool Party, there seemed to be scant evidence of economic crisis. We’re talking critical mass—and then some. Take all the traffic in New York, and the entire LA freeway system, as well as the DC Beltway—and replace all those cars with beautiful people and you have some idea of how insanely popular this party has become. Let’s face it—we’re talking a fabulous setting, complete with oceanfront views and swaying palms, cabana rooftop viewing platforms, a pool dotted with bobbing mermen, a dance floor packed with Terpsichorean beauty—and everyone smiling like they’ve discovered the elixir for eternal youth.
  
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02/28/09
VIP Cocktail Reception Winter Party Festival
Spa at Icon Brickell, Miami


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
Celebrities and more celebrities, from A-list to D-list—and a veritable media scrum to photograph their every inhalation, their every tremulous step over the brilliant sheen of the tortuous marble floor—a floor punctuated by rose-petal strewn reflecting pools and bubbling Jacuzzis. And woe to the VIPs who didn’t watch their step—for the next step was into ankle-deep water. Better than stepping into a New York puddle, of course, but drenched Manolos and Jimmy Choos, nonetheless. For this was the VIP Cocktail Reception at the Spa at Icon Brickell.
  
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02/27/09
FIVE RING CIRCUIT
Discotekka, 950 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
To walk into Five Ring Circuit on the Friday night of Winter Party Festival 2009 was to feel as if perhaps you had slipped into a time warp leading you back to the fall of the Berlin Wall—and into those labyrinthine warehouse raves that proliferated during the collapse of the Eastern bloc. What was once Metropolis and is now discotekka was a maelstrom of music emanating from no less than eleven deejays in five distinct rooms. The cavernous space was packed with happy snowbirds from all over the Northeast and northern Europe flitting about, trying out each room for size like Goldilocks and her three bear chairs.
  
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02/27/09
Winter Party Festival 2009
Shopping Spree on Lincoln Road


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
Kiehl’s kicked it! Or rather—Kiehl’s Since 1851 kicked it! The chic Lincoln Road boutique was a madhouse of emollient-crazed party boyz, boogieing down in the aisles—and hell, atop the tables—gargling Grey Goose vodka and lathering lotion in all the right places, all while ringing up sales for the benefit of the Task Force (and thereby, the betterment of our flawless-skinned LGBT community).
  
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02/26/09
BLAST OFF!
Winter Party Festival 2009


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
You know a party’s off the hook when none other than local flaneur and gadabout (and WIRE Publisher) Thomas Barker greets you, gasping, “It’s out of control.” Score’s entrance foyer and front room was bathed in bordello red light, reflecting off mirrors and shades—but there was no shade in this house. Everyone was way too happy. This was BLAST OFF, the official Winter Party Festival kick off party, and Brett Henrichsen piloted his passengers with Mary Mary’s admonition, “Get up, don’t sit back. Get up, if you want to get there.” Truer words rarely ever spoken—and this was a crowd of boyz cutting loose. We’re talking supreme specimens—and maybe particularly because Blast Off is also the Winter Party Festival Volunteer event—and those WPF volunteers are one pulchritudinous mass of deliciousness.
  
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02/25/09
First Class All the Way!
Departure Lounge: WPF Welcome Reception


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
Let’s face it, there’s nothing like a First Class lounge—a lounge filled with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, as well as a palpable sense of anticipation as you and your fellow travelers get ready to embark upon a journey to a tropical paradise. And that’s just how it was on Wednesday evening at the Doubletree Surfcomber, where illuminated palms swayed in the breeze as the waves crashed against the shore just beyond the dunes. This was Departure Lounge, the Showtime-sponsored Winter Party reception to welcome guests and supporters of Winter Party Festival (WPF). And what better way to welcome a plethora of south Florida and Gotham movers and shakers (David Bowers! Mark Nelson! Pussila! Flavio! Jason Tamanini! Chad Richter! Edison Farrow! Pennyback Boys! Rea Carey! Dale Stine!) than with ample Grey Goose vodka, and libations from Barefoot Wine, and a bevy of stunning WPF volunteers proffering delectable hors d’oeuvres.
  
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02/21/09
Let’s Take Care of Each Other: Safer Sex at WPF
SOBAP (South Beach AIDS Project) Cocktail Affair


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
Nestled at the feet of the glittering high-rise Art Deco hotels lining Miami Beach are private homes not unlike Casa Casuarina, the fabled Versace mansion—and it was at one such lushly-landscaped Mediterranean estate that SOBAP (South Beach AIDS Project) hosted its annual kick-off to this year’s edition of Winter Party Festival with a catered cocktail affair for LGBT community leaders and their friends.  Since its inception, SOBAP has served the needs of the LGBT community by providing prevention, education, care and testing services to the underserved and minority communities of Miami-Dade and Broward counties—and as Winter Party Chair Chad Richter so eloquently reminded all of us, it’s our responsibility to insure that our fellow revelers leave with a condom in their pockets.
  
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01/25/09
Atlantis Events Presents FREEDOM
on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas
Miami/Labadee/San Juan/Philipsburg


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
During its twelve-year reign on the gay imagination and its dominance of January vacations, the Atlantis Events Caribbean cruise, leaving from Miami each January, has inspired numerous sobriquets such as “the Love Boat,” “the floating bathhouse,” and “the widowmaker”—and yet the Freedom Class series of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line mega-ships that each year return 3,600 gay men and women to a blissful state of primordial gayness are probably best known collectively as the Mothership.  For as the Sparkle Sisters said (and these two should know, having traveled on nine Atlantis cruises in just two years), “It’s a chance to be who we really are, and to do all the things straight people take for granted.”  All that and more, these two fashionista sistas might have added, for as anyone who’s ever been on this cruise knows, the Atlantis Freedom cruise is definitely about celebrating all your freedoms—and especially the ones you discover at sea.
  
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01/01/09
The Genius of GENESIS VI: Can We Say FEROSH!
Miami Beach, Florida


                                                                                            PHOTO BY MARK & ROBERT     
             
A clean slate, a fresh start—it’s what we all needed.  And that’s the genius of GENESIS—the first circuit party of the new year.  After all, “genesis” means “birth”—and after 2008, a year bittersweet at best, we needed rebirthing.  Out with the tired and weary—in with the shiny and new.  So let’s get this year started right—and where else but Genesis?  Simply put, Genesis is a party on the lip of legendary—born on a sandbar that knows legendary parties.
  
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