From the Publisher
Stephen Ceplenski
Search Articles
Back Issues
Issue 65
Issue 64
Issue 63
Issue 62
Issue 61
Issue 60
Issue 59
Issue 58
Issue 57
Issue 56
Issue 55
Issue 54
Issue 53
Issue 52
Issue 51
Summer Fun: A Season Gets Rave Reviews
Summer fun is in full gear for many of us, but there may be more ways than you suspect to dance to a beat. Serious party people across the globe groove to many varieties of electronic sound. What was once an underground phenomenon, rave culture has become an established commercial and mainstream juggernaut, with events like Burning Man, Electric Daisy Festival, and Montreal’s Black & Blue taking people over the top and into the universal realms of music and dance.
Garnering crowds of up to 150,000 over weekend to week-long festivals, these events take production, art and community to exciting new levels. With multiple stages, a roster of DJs, and a carnival-like atmosphere, creativity and participation are encouraged not just from the promoters and production teams, but from the attendees themselves. Yes, there are still plenty of glow sticks and pacifiers out there.
So what do these large-scale, electronic music festivals have to do with gay dance parties and Circuit events? We can learn a lot from our dancing brethren. First, production is still the most important aspect of these events. Production seems to have been lost in the stateside Circuit world over the past five years in response to the economic meltdown. (Production values don’t seem to have suffered as much at international events.) Too many U.S. dance parties are stuck in a rut —a big box with Intellibeams and a DJ playing standard tribal boom-boom fare.
Compare the noticeable and welcome difference in the evolution of water and bathroom provisions. Not only are hydrating drinks more readily available now, but protein shakes, energy drinks, and sugar drinks abound. (Yes, sugar: When you have been dancing for several hours, you need those carbs and electrolytes.) Staffs are trained to serve quickly, resulting in no more than a minute or two wait. Bathrooms are cleaner and more easily accessible.
The DJ is still king or queen at these events, but with so many big names available, more and more globally recognized DJs are spinning gay events, such as the Freemasons at Jeffrey Sanker’s White Party, the New York Pride’s Pier Dance and Fire Island’s Ascension Party. Groove Armada, Moto Blanco, Kaskade, Armin van Buuren, Roger Sanchez, Sasha and Boys Noize (great name!) are among the non-U.S. DJs making their mark on our scene.
Perhaps the biggest difference, however, is in the staging. Since large crowds tend to face the stage - much like watching a movie screen - the lighting, shows, and general effects are much more thought-out and elaborate. While the gay crowd tends to dance more and face each other rather than the stage, that doesn’t diminish the complementary effect of great lighting and fierce stage shows. One notable place that production has taken a leap forward is on the Atlantis cruises, especially the larger boats. Guy Smith, the lighting genius we profiled last year, has brought his own spin with video screens and lasers to replicate much of the large-scale visual stimuli right on the deck of an ocean liner.
Probably the best place to look for music and dance inspiration is Burning Man. This longstanding festival pushes the boundaries of the imagination with a completely homegrown city of creative talent that sprouts in the middle of the desert every year for a week. The photos in this issue should will give you a taste of this unique experience. Music may be the centerpiece, but visual masterpieces - artwork, statues, lighting, and yes, the burning man - provide a feast for the eyes. There’s plenty of inspiration here we can bring to our own events.
Black & Blue, celebrating its 20th anniversary this coming October, stands as a beacon of creativity. Producing organization BBCM has a tradition of incorporating staging, lighting and shows into the entire evening. They create a journey that carries you all night long through a series of stories and themes. Who can forget the year that the entrance floor of the Olympic Stadium was covered in tens of thousands of red-candles in the shape of the AIDS ribbon? If you are not in the mood for a more traditional rave party, and can’t make it to Nevada for Burning Man (or prefer your bathrooms with running water), then head to Montreal this October for what always proves to be a powerful and illuminating experience.
And, yes, you’ll still find glow sticks and even pacifiers.
In This Issue:
City Spotlight: Brighton, the seaside resort on the English Channel, has become the U.K.’s gayest city and its de facto dance-music center. Editor-in-Chief Steve Weinstein recently experienced the sites and sounds, from the landmark Royal Pavilion to an open-all-weekend bar.
DJ Abel’s South Beach: DJ Abel was present at the creation, when the Art Deco district of Miami Beach blossomed into South Beach. From a dicey neighborhood to a world-class resort where models, Madonna and megaclubs made this the place to party, Abel was there. He tells his story to Thomas Barker, the editor of local gay club magazine Wire.
