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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.

We survived another July 4th and now its time for a lucky day this year. July 4th was fun we went to Austin and hit up Rain and Oil Can Harry’s and tasted some free Italian food at Charlie’s nightclub near the state capital of Texas. There was also a loft party where there was nothing but hotties before the underwear strip contest thursday night at Oil Can’s.

Today marks something we never get to see which is a day that should be nothing but good luck. That means you should definately hit the clubs… how can you not get lucky when it is 7-7-7.

There is also the live earth concerts going on across the world. Madonna is singing today and her fan club IconMadonna.com is showing backstage coverage. Artists including Shakira and Rihanna will play concerts for climate change awareness.

Here is some Paris news that has nothing to do with Paris Hilton but one of the bestselling female artists of all time.  Mariah Carey will be headlining the One Mighty Party in Paris, France on Friday, June 29th.  The event’s promoter Johnny Chisholm announced on press releases and emails sent out today.  “Mariah Carey is a worldwide musical superstar and we are thrilled to host her at our party,” said Chisholm.  This is the first year of the “gay days” party in Europe and it looks like it will be a huge success.

Mariah Carey will make an exclusive performance at the One Mighty Party in Disneyland in Paris.  She is set to perform six dance floor remixes.  It is exciting to see such a talented super-star performing at a gay event.

Not only will the event feature high profile DJ’s but it will give to a great organization.  Chisholm’s events have generated sizeable contributions to its beneficiary organization, the non-profit Elton John AIDS Foundation (www.ejaf.org).

Tickets to see Mariah Carey are set to go on sale at ticketmaster.co.uk starting June 12th.  Tickets are expected to sell out fast.

I looked all over the website at OneMightyWeekendParis.com and could not find any information on the other events with all the DJ’s listed.  I assume the party is a one-day long event compared to the weekend-long event held in Orlando.

This year One Mighty Party Paris will transform The Disneyland Resort Paris at 9pm with two large dance floors in Discoveryland and Frontierland. Attractions will be open throughout the entire Disneyland Resort Paris. The Gay Days Paris event will also feature other special performances and four world-class DJs, along with a special fireworks display over the Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant.  The evening will continue with a second event, Magic Journeys, located at the Disney Pavilion in Discoveryland from 2 AM until 6 AM. Two additional world-class DJs will provide entertainment for Magic Journeys.

There must be some kind of law that says that all gays must come out from hiding the end of June. You must log out of manhunt and adam4adam and go clubbing this particular weekend or you will no longer exist. Seriously there is lots going on
June 22, 23, and 24th must be the biggest gay weekend of the year. I never though I would say this but there are too many events going on at the same time. Almost every city has an event, pride parade, or DJ playing that Saturday or Sunday. I have no idea which city to book that weekend and here is why.

Oklahoma City pride is normally so much fun that I hate to miss it. It is not your Long Beach or San Francisco pride but it offers something different. You do not have as big of a parade but there are lots of fun things to do including a festival at one of the parks and a jam-packed nightclub from around 6pm to 2am (following the parade). OKC offers an awesome club that is free to get in and free beer. The atmosphere is so much fun that day making it hard to pass up.

Houston has its pride the same night as well as a True Colors concert that day. Talk about a busy day in Houston.

Gay Canada Comes to Life 

Toronto is having a huge 4 day weekend full of some of the best DJ’s in the world. Toronto’s events will be 19 to enter. June 22-24 will be the Prism Toronto Parties featuring DJ Ed Bailey Thursday; DJ Hector Fonseca Friday at Boot Camp; Aqua Fresh Magazine party with DJ Roland Belmares/DJ Cajjmere Wray on Saturday; Arctic Babylon Tour with DJ Manny Lehman/Tony Moran with a performance from LA’s FLAVA on Saturday (Kool Haus); and Sunday brings a Revival with DJ Peter Rauhofer & Shawn Riker. There will be student passes available for $99 online.

There is also San Francisco pride and NYC pride going on this same weekend among other great cities. I was thinking we would try something different and hit up NYC this year and see what it’s all about during pride until I found this.

It sounds like Toronto wins this year if we wish to try something different but we are still undecided!

We made it to the Main Event with DJ Tony Moran Saturday night at the Galveston Convention center. It was very convenient since it was next door to our hotel at the Hilton Galveston Beach resort. It was definitely cool to walk next door to go out but let me tell you there were so many police officers just standing around in that little area it was like we were on surveillance or something.

We walked in this huge building expecting a big dance floor and boxes to dance on. When we walked in there was a lounge kind of area and bars then went inside to the convention dance room. The dance room had a dance floor and ballroom-style round tables all around. I was surprised we did not have any boxes like you find at most circuit parties but we still had fun. Kind of reminded me of Prom which brought back lots of memories for all of us.

There was a special performance by Billboard Recording Artist Jacinta which we enjoyed. I always love it when dancers or talent show up and get the party started.

The Red Magazine pre-party was DJ Josh Gram at 3rd Coast Bar overlooking the beach at 31st and Seawall Blvd. This was a chill place that had an upstairs deck and a great sound system. If only all beaches could come equipped with a gay bar like this… I had to go back the next day and enjoy the breeze and sun on the upper deck while having a cocktail. A very nice bar to chill with a prime location and view.

The afterparty was at Undercurrent (2409 Market St) which was a zig zag around the city from the main event. This was the best part of the event. I wish the main event was in that club because it had awesome dance floor and layered stage to dance on. I will definitely have to check out Undercurrent again sometime.

It was the first year of the Beach Ball in Texas and considering the rain and flooding statewide this weekend it was a better turnout than some would expect. I hope it someday turns into a party to replace the amazing events thrown in Austin every year that Ben Parsley promoted at the Austin City Music Hall. We lucked out that Galveston was one of the only towns in Texas without all the rain and it was nice and sunny. I feel sorry for the people at hippy hollow who were rained out.

Now it’s off to Gay Days in Orlando to the Mighty Weekend events and pool parties.

As we reported a few weeks ago the nightclub scene in Oklahoma City has started to take off again. I was there for their Boys Gone Wild party and it was out of control. Next weekend May 19, Angles plans on having a blackout type party where they give out Fleshlights to everyone at the door. OK, I am only kidding about the Fleshlights, but that would be fun right? They are really handing out Flashlights (not the sex toys but the ones that light up) but it will still be fun.

Is that not a good idea for a nightclub to have a Fleshlight promotion? Or is that too naughty of an event? They could get them to sponsor it just like Red Bull sponsors events. Maybe the Hustlaball event works best for this.

Speaking of Fleshlights you can get one at Drugstore.com and get free shipping. This sale ends up being cheaper than buying it on the fleshjack or fleshlight.com sites.

Summertime is coming and there are some big events coming up. One of the biggest gay events will be in Orlando for Gay Days. The GayDays.com website recently announced that Deborah Cox will be headlining huge concert events including Amber. The circuit events can be found on the One Mighty Weekend website. Summer starts out hot with the Beach Ball party and the Phouse in Orlando.

May 2007

There are also other Circuit parties you should start booking now. Memorial Day weekend brings you two parties in Florida and Texas. Trying to decide between these two will be hard as we outlined here.

• Hot & Dry Weekend - Montreal, Canada. This is the 2nd largest circuit event in Montreal held the weekend before Memorial Day weekend on May 17-21.
• College gets out around mid-May for most universities and one way to bring in the freedom is to attend Long Beach Pride. This California circuit party will be held in Long Beach off the Queen Mary I during the pride event dates of May 18-20.
• Beach Parties Galore

June Pride Parties

It seems most cities seem to have their pride the same weekend near the end of June. There will be Pride Parties in Houston, Oklahoma City, New York, San Francisco, and more.

• Oklahoma City – Angles Nightclub – huge after parade event starting around 6pm to 2am. The club is packed continuously and free admission. No expensive circuit prices.
• San Diego – features a Zoo party at the San Diego Zoo. DJ Susan Morabito spinning at the Harbor Cruise.
• Capital Pride Weekend in Washington D.C. June 8 – 10th features the Cherry 2007 circuit party.
• EuroPride – held in Madrid, Spain June 22-July 1. Details at Europride2007.com – too much flash on this site to tell anything from the events though.

July 4th Freedom Parties

• David Flower’s Summer Camp featuring DJ’s Abel, Brett Henrichsen, David Knapp, Manny Lehman, Mike Cruz, and Tony Moran. Gay Provincetown’s reining Fourth of July celebration. More information on CircuitTicket.com for this P-town event.
• Station 4 in Dallas – open Tuesday, July 3rd and Wednesday, July 4th. One of the biggest nights of the year for the enormous club in Dallas.

One party I did not get to cover this year was Blue Ball in Philadelphia. It is one I keep hearing about and is a huge event coming up May 4th in just a few weeks.

If you are a fan of Queer as Folk and attended the Babylon parties you will be happy that they are back (but not the show). Enterbabylon.com has the circuit events posted sponsored by Midori. DJ Tony Moran will be headlining most of the dates. A few of the dates include:

• May 4 – Splash in NYC
• May 25- Club Hot in Pittsburgh
• May 26 – Tracks in Denver, CO
• July 3 – Karma Nightclub in Minneapolis
• July 7 – Las Vegas – Krave
• July 13 – Station 4 Dallas, TX
• July 14 – Club Oz in the French Quarters of New Orleans
• July 20 – Montage in San Diego (one of the nations top circuit clubs)

Summer will also include hot pool parties with boys showing off their new sexy tight swimwear, shirtless boys, and long lines at the bar. You have to love summertime and all the fun it brings.

I have been feeling under the weather lately and have missed many good parties lately. I think my allergies this year are just killing me. I missed out on the Winter Music Conference that I keep missing every year which features DJ’s such as Sasha and Digweed. There are some parties coming up this Spring that cannot be missed.

I would do away without my Sirius radio addiction for a day to attend one of the hottest parties at South Beach in Houston. I would allow myself loose control on one of the biggest dancefloors in Texas with better music than you will find in NYC, LA, or Miami that night.

Last year the Madonna party called MadonnaRama was out of control thanks to a local radio station catching on to the popular event. It was definitely a mixed but happy, beautiful crowd who all showed up for great music. Yes, great music and I do not say that very much but how can you resist… its Madonna all night. The queen of the night and the queen of pop.

I brought a group of friends with me last year to the Madonna party at Southbeach Nightclub and they were skeptical of listening to Madonna all night. I said you will not realize how different each song is and how amazing this DJ from the former Nation in D.C. knows how to mix. You will also realize Madonna has so many hot, sexy dance songs that do not get played on local radio stations (instead you always hear the jigga-bo-nation on the top 40 stations).

They found themselves dancing harder than I had seen in months to songs “Like a Prayer,” “Vogue,” and this year you can count on hearing the newly remixed “Erotica.” It will be a hot, young crowd as always and DJ Ed Bailey and as you can imagine there will be Madonna impersonators bringing high energy to the crowd.

Additional Houston Events:

Southbeach nightclub in Houston also plans a great event this Friday night called Jungle. If you are in the Houston area we advise you to stop by “Jungle 15” and party with the boys to give back to HIV/Aids services starting Friday night and Sunday at our favorite club in Houston and then Saturday night they are at Warehouse Live for the main event. This is a wonderful Easter Weekend circuit party that contributes proceeds to HIV service providers.