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WELCOME
Welcome
to our world:
MARK + ROBERT + NEW YORK = MRNY.
Because
there's always at least a little
New York in all of us. The
New York Times is national.
There's Broadway in Vegas - and bagels
in Paris.
Here’s
what we’ve been doing—and our take on it
all.
Mark and Robert
MRNY
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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
28th Street
in the heart of New York City.
[READ] |
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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 27th
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.
[READ] |
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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 40th 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.
[READ] |
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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.
[READ] |
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05/17/09
Broadway Impact’s MARRIAGE EQUALITY
RALLY
45th 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.
[READ] [PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ] [PICTURES] |
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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?
[READ] |
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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.
[READ] [PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ] [PICTURES] [VIDEO] |
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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?
[READ] |
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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.
[READ] [PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ] [PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ] [PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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).
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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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.
[READ]
[PICTURES] |
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July 1, 2009

Red,
White on Blue Star
(Saugatuck, MI)
July 3, 2009

Independence 09
(Provincetown)
July 3, 2009

IndepenDance
(Laguna Beach)
July 4, 2009

Salvation
(Miami Beach)
July 4, 2009

Summer
Camp
(Provincetown)
July 4, 2009

Bay Dance
Party
(Fire Island)
July 5, 2009

Alegria Ft Lauderdale
(Fort Lauderdale)
July 16, 2009

Miami Beach Bruthaz
(Miami Beach)
July 17, 2009

San
Diego Pride
(San Diego)
July 18, 2009

Sand Blast
(Asbury Park NJ)
July 24, 2009

Pines Party Weekend
(Fire Island)
August 1, 2009

Circuit Festival
(Barcelona)
August 14, 2009

Ascension Party
(Fire Island)
September 4, 2009

Southern Decadence
(New Orleans)
September 18, 2009

Fairgrounds :: Six Flags
(New Jersey)
October 7, 2009

BBCM's Black & Blue
(Montreal)
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