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Station 4 (3911 Cedar Springs) is one of the largest clubs that I have been inside. Although, I do hear the clubs in Berlin are larger It may be the largest gay dance club in Texas and have the largest dancefloor with an exception of Southbeach in Houston. You know they like to do things HUGE in Texas. Here are some pics from S4 Nightclub in Dallas: Photos include some of the crowd and Krystal Summers who was presenting the drag show in the Rose Room upstairs at S4 on Sunday night. Krystal Summers is definately one of the celebrities at this club and has the hooters to prove it. You will also find Edna Jean Robinson and Cassie Nova who do fabulous comedy routines. There is no smoking in the Rose Room area which is nice!

S4 is open wednesday through sunday and is 18 to enter on most nights including Weds, Thurs, and Sundays. Sundays are called “The Grind” for hip hop and are one of the most popular nights with the 18+ crowd. You will normally see a line outside the doors around 11:30pm and the club closes at 4am or so. Thursdays are the Cafe con Leche at S4 with DJ Cubanito with a latino mix. Wednesdays will be the Boys Night Out where the hottest guy wins $100 prize by shirtless dancing on the box.

S4 has some of the best bartenders in the world who are actually fast. I get impatient at other clubs because I am so spoiled at Station 4. The logo of the club looks like Studio 54 but it really comes from the former name of the club Village Station which has been remodeled for its 4th time now and been in business more than most nightclubs.

Caven Enterprises owns the club which also owns Sue Ellen’s (the “L” Word), JR’s Bar & Grill (sports bar), and TMC (The Mining Company, more circuity club). Almost every website I have found online seems to have the old information on this club so many out of towners may miss out on what Dallas and the Oaklawn scene are really about.

Here are some pics from Ft. Lauderdale’s famous Voodoo Lounge Nightclub (111 S.W. 2nd) where you will find a killer drag show on Sundays hosted by Daisy Deadpetals.

If you have not been to the show on Sunday nights you can first check out the Gary Santis Babylon T-Dance going on earlier in the day then they close off the main dance floor around 11pm to make room for the big show.  The staff brings in VIP couches with bottle service which we enjoyed (my credit card did not enjoy it as much).  Voodoo Lounge also has a room that is open playing hip hop called Rodman’s Rehab while the show is going on in the main room.  Make sure you check out the Life’s a Drag show on Sunday nights where it is a mixed crowd of gays and straights enjoying Daisy Deadpetals and T.P. Lords and the many other talented divas.

And we thought the mortgage crisis was bad for California residents… maybe it all comes into play… but seriously at Mickey’s the Roof is on fire but let’s not let another gay club burn m*f*er burn.

There has been lots of big club news this week as two major clubs will be closing down.  The Boom Boom Room in Laguana Beach, CA.  I am jealous that I have never been to this “Boom Boom” room but the gay club located inside the Coast Inn will be closed down for good following Labor Day weekend.

If you feel you still have any hope to save the Boom Boom Room then check out this website for more details but I am sure its too late for any action.  TowleRoad’s blog also has some information on the closing of this historic gay landmark.

Not only has this closure sadden many gays but we found out today that Mickey’s nightclub located in the gay WeHo area of Hollywood will be shut down for some time due to a fire that broke out.   Mickey’s Bar on Santa Monica Blvd. suffered severe fire damage and one person was hurt from the fire.

Tuesday afternoon the blaze broke out and there are even reports that TMZ.com has people complaining that the strip contest was cancelled because of the fire.  It is too bad the fire has destroyed such a nice club that the gay community has supported for so long.  Once the investigation is over from the fire department we will surely get some clues to what happened and the timeframe of when and if the club will be back up and running again.

Ok just one more club closing for the week.  Angles’ nightclub is closing its doors for the second official time to have its 25th Anniversary and farewell T-Dance then it will have new owners. Read more here.

Just think how many clubs have closed so far this year - China White (Ft. Lauderdale), Roxy (NYC), Avalon (NYC), and the list grows on…

Yes, it’s true that Angles is having its own funeral this weekend.  The club that was voted best club in Oklahoma for 10 years straight in the Oklahoma Gazette (gay and straight) – and probably any publication (remember the “gaysian invasian”) for a few years of those. You know I joke a lot!  But seriously it was the top dance club in Oklahoma for years then when other clubs were built in Brickto  wn it went back to being just the best gay dance club. 

Saying goodbye to Angles is too sad to attend the event.  I refuse to go to the last event because I feel like we are going backwards in time.  I feel some of our gay causes have went in a good direction but some have went far backwards.  Let’s hope something positive can come out of this.  Let’s hope the party is not crashed like their Studio 54 party by the fire marshal and police harassing queers who are just out dancing and socializing.

Madonna talks about her “Secret” in her hit song and mine has always been going to Angles and the Wreck Room as a place to get away from the crazy world, a place to feel myself feel the music and let go.  When I first started going to Angles and the Wreck Room I did not even need Alcohol to dance or drugs or anything but the awesome music… My “Secret” place in the atmosphere dancing at Angles helped me through so many things in life including college, work problems, frustration that needed danced out.  Dancing at Angles to “It’s a Beautiful Life” or “Mamma Mia” were you would have chill bumps down your back just really made my night and my weeks and was a comfort I always needed.

Angles would always have theme parties like no other club.  It is rare clubs do theme parties anymore because the circuit event promoters want to own those.  Otherwise, I cannot imagine why clubs are not like Scott Wilson’s Angles with themes and creativity.  It has all gone away.  I did enjoy the Spring Sweat, White Party, Pride T-Dance, Studio 54 Party (for the 2 hours it was open that night).

Angles’ was ahead of its time considering it was located in the Bible Belt of Oklahoma and not far from the extremists in Kansas.  It already looks like a club should look like today on the inside.  It even looked cool before it remodeled a few times.  Some clubs are cheesy but Angles always had a cosmopolitan and trendy look inside that kept it ahead of its game along with lighting and sound that would take you away.  The light system did consist of lasers and track lights that moved up and down with the enormous mirror ball (we used to call that Kelly’s left tit).

Hard News Online did an awesome piece on Angles’ Nightclub closing down and here are some quotes from Scott Wilson himself about what they went thorough.  If you check out their site make sure that you read Floyd’s writing to give you even more history.

“At that time my business partner, and then life partner, Don Hill and I did a lot of traveling and we loved to go to New York City and have a good time at studio 54 and other clubs, said Wilson. “Of course there just wasn’t anything like that here in Oklahoma City so we decided to open the club.”

Wilson and Hill chose the former site of the Oklahoma City ice plant on 39th Street. The club was designed to look like a warehouse complete with a garage door.

“I think few people, who weren’t there understand what this place meant to the gay community before the inclusion and larger acceptance. Still fewer understand what it meant during the AIDS crisis,” Wilson said. “Angles was built the way it is for a reason. Before we put the big web address on the side of the building a few years. All during the day people drove by thinking it was a warehouse. We did that because we didn’t want it to be bombed or the focal point of anyone’s attention.”

The did attract attention and in the early days both the city and the community were less than supportive.

“In 1983 the FBI came to us and said that there had been death threats. At one point there were FBI agents up on the roof of the building because there had been some bomb threats and other stuff. It was handled with the federal authorities and that was the only time we had anything like that,” he said.

FINAL EVENTS:     

• Angles 25th Anniversary will be celebrated on Saturday, August 25 with DJ DeLorenzo from Albuquerque
• Sunday 26th join Angles for the Farewell T-Dance at 6pm

Labor Day Weekend is edging closer and closer each day and the party teasers are coming out. I almost thought nothing exciting was coming our way this year but the older New Orleans party. I think there was a mention of a “pool party” in Lubbock or a underwear party in Detroit.. jk. I am excited and very excited to bring the news that the Spoiled Boyz (based in Houston, TX) are bring one of my favorite parties back… well sort of. The main event that we once knew in the Austin City Music Hall will not be around but the afterhours at Element will live on at its newly named venue Antro. Antro is located one block west and one block north of RAIN. This party starts at 3am and goes on until the bats go back under the bridge at Towne Lake at 8am.

Austin, TX

Several of us have planned for months to attend the huge “pool party on the rocks” at Lake Travis. I could also say this is something similar to the Typhoon Lagoon Gay Days Event a.k.a. Beach Ball. Lake Travis has an area called Hippy Hollow where you can go with or without that skimpy bathing suit. But the real fun is hanging out on the boats and floating around on some tubes or just lounging on the rocks being totally intoxicated. Then the darkness comes around and the Austin club scene is very compact with little room inside their clubs but now that they are throwing Chris Cox in the mix at RAIN (next to Oil Can Harry’s). Friday night will be like a 3 hour line to get in instead of the 2 hours line already predicted… I plan on getting out early. The DJ last year at RAIN on Saturday night of Labor Day had some excellent remixes – I hope to hear him again as well (not sure his name).

I emailed the Spoiled Boyz to see if there are any hotel discounts in the area and it seems there is nothing negotiated yet but the Hampton Inn, Courtyard Marriott, and the Hyatt at Towne Lake (and Super are all relatively close to the Austin gay scene. Hotels in Austin are hella expensive but hey this is a once a year trip. It might be a good time to use up some frequent hotel points.

We also plan to float the Guadalupe river just south of Austin. This is an adventure that can get your mind off of things for a few hours. Expect I-35 to be really bad traffic though as it is every year. Speaking of bad traffic…

Los Angeles, CA

Masterbeat is throwing an event in the LA area with DJ’s Brett Henrichsen & Manny Lehman inside Hollywood’s Avalon nightclub. They have turned Avalon into a construction site for those of you who who can’t get enough of LA traffic I suppose? I think that’s the last thing I like to see is construction. I think this is also the only 21+ only event out of these. But hey who knows you might meet the construction man of your dreams and get some of that road rage worked off.

Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, FL

Gary Santis and bunch are launching a BlackWear weekend with DJ Tracy Young and DJ Tony Moran at venues such as Coliseum and Voo Doo Lounge. The hottest part of that weekend sounds like the “Dark, Drunk & Dirty Blackwear After party” at 4am on Monday morning. There will even be a Blackwear fashion show presented by Zoo Too at a club that rhymes with that name.

Rosie’s Bar & Grill, the restaurant formerly known as Hamburger Mary’s, is also throwing a T-Dance but this one is free.  This will be held at Rosie’s outside in the Wilton Manors area of Ft. Lauderdale.  DJ Wendy Hunt and DJ Warren Gluck will be spinning beginning at 1 p.m. (I assume p.m. since its a “T-dance”).  I always seem to miss the T-dances because I am more of a night person but this one sounds fun :)  It might be a good idea to come back Monday to Rosie’s and sip on their Bloody Mary’s to recover in time to go back to work.

New Orleans, LA

Southern Decadence goes on Wednesday through Monday of Labor Day weekend each year. You can expect Chi Chi LaRue “the Diva of Decadence” and porn producer to host the events at the Bourbon Pub & Parade. You can also catch performances by Shirley Q. Liquor, Lady Bunny, and Pepper MaShay.

My pick: Austin for Labor Day Weekend… it’s where the hotties will be.

I keep hearing about this Puerto Vallarta place and hear they have a Gay-friendly Mayor and have a great gay beach and gay nightlife so this weekend we are going to check it out and do something completely off the beaten path. There is no circuit party going on and there is no special event that we know of… we just plan to hit up the sandy beaches and look at the beautiful greenish-blue water and get drunk while we check out the scene here.

I searched online for “gay puerto Vallarta” and came up with some really good information on the place. I learned that it is in the Mexican state of Jalisco (for those looking on Manhunt or another personal site and cannot find it) and also learned how to dial to Mexico from the U.S. It was quite a chore dialing the hotel we were planning to stay at called the Dreams Resorts and Spa which is about 5 to 10 minutes from the gay beach.

One site I found with the best information was GayGuideVallarta.com. One thing that I loved about this guide is that it told me how to get to the gay beaches in a taxi – you simply state “Blue Chairs beach” or “Los Muertos.” I am always scared of asking for anything gay in a foreign country or even out of state sometimes when I do not know my complete surroundings.

Good article here about the changing gay scene:

EBar News - Puerto Vallarta Gay Scene Changing

We found out the best clubs to goto in the Puerto Vallarta area are Paco Paco and Manana if you are gay. Manana seemed busiest early in the morning around 1am. They had strippers at 11pm and 3am while Paco Paco had drag shows at the same times. It seemed all the bars in the area competed for the same 11pm and 3am time slots. Manana had the hottest waiters to bring your drinks out which was far better than a shot boy — I like to get a real drink not a shot! The salsa at the hotel was horrible but then Paco Paco had some senorita dishing out the best salsa and guac I have had in a long time… a nice way to sober up at 4am!

There is also Senor Frogs (if you are a hard core tourist and str8) but you can see that place in Cancun or any commercialized beach area…  I prefer to check out the gay clubs and see what the local scene is all about!

Last weekend definitely was something that made this year one of the most dramatic years of all time.  I have survived all kinds of scandals including the great hair pulling scandal of 2000-something and the attack of the giant mustache man with razorbacks.  This one tops the most frustrating event of the year.

Studio 54 is supposed to be a time to remember the good club days with all the VIP, glamour, celebrity sightings, club kids, hot bartenders (Shane) dressed in umbros, and trays of party favors.  If you remember the movie Studio 54 which was one of my favorite movies ever it starred Ryan Philippe, Neve Campbell, Salma Hayek, and Mike Myers.  I can’t say I have found a club type movie any better than this one.  Even Party Monster was not as cool as the almighty Studio 54.

This is not the nightclub you hear so much about in Vegas at the MGM but a smaller venue with what was supposed to be a more colorful party. The Studio 54 party last weekend is an annual event that was held a few weeks early.  There was not as many people attending this year due to school not starting in the local area yet but it was still almost filled with customers.  It was fun at least until the police showed up and the Fire Marshall closed the club down.  Not only did they close a club down for over occupancy but they also tried to arrest the DJ (friend of mine and wonderful guy).

All of this in a Studio 54 themed party playing retro dance classics.  This just took me back to the closing day of 54.  When I saw the DJ being escorted from the DJ booth outside to the police car it was definitely getting out of hand.

I had friends who were attending the party for the first time that were all dressed up for the event and they all looked around in shock.  The police and fire marshal escorting people out of the building without even letting us close out our tabs.

Then there were rumors circulating around that the Copa down the street who owns a competing club made some sort of deal or called the Fire Marshall until something was done.  There is also a rumor that this same group may have bought the venue that threw the 54 party.  No matter what the outcome of this it could mean tough days ahead for the Oklahoma gay scene and very shady days ahead from the guys over at the Copa.

It started out a fun night but ended up a tragic party.  Let’s hope we can bring back the Studio 54 party somewhere and in some city and do it RIGHT!