My Life Is A Party

Étiquette : new york

  • Stairways of Crystal : Tuesday’s at Monster’s West Village New York (2023)

    Stairways of Crystal : Tuesday’s at Monster’s West Village New York (2023)

    This is the story of a Tuesday Night in Manhattan’s West Village in New York. For any party goer, Tuesday’s can the most legendary « out of the world » night. Indeed, that is where the devil of the eternal party lies. This time New York made him proud!

    Future Starts Slow

    The whole soirée started out kind of slow, I got lost in MANHATTAN bicycling. I arrived two hours late to meet my friend at Ty’s (the second gay bar ever opened in New York). Like old school partners the  rendez-vous was given « meet me there at this time », no phone, no anything. It feels much more relax.

    Descending the stairway of Crystal

    Capture the feeling : you are in New York, in the middle of the West Village, right beside The Stonewall Inn, where the gays first appeared  and you go down a stairway full of mirrors : a disco ball is pending from the wall and music is blasting from the entreance.
    Saturday Night Fever has never felt so real.

    The Dancefloor is the party

    A performer is singing every word the dj is playing. More mirrors and a wall full of light is pulsing at the music.

    Dancing is a communion

    In this place, dancing is a communion. The term posing takes its meaning here.
    People are standing on the wall waiting for their moment. An impulse of being watched and then  becoming the show makes the vibe thrilling.
    I have been dancing and thrilled to be watched. An old man comes to me :
    Work it, work it work it, do it, do it, do it. Come on, give it your all
    And I work. It is not a competition but I am on stage. Where is my limit, whose gonna work it more.
    And he doesn’t leave me until I show them moves.
    Donna Summer is singing a remix and I am working it. Moves from the arms and the legs are only an emulation of what I see around. People are beautiful and people are having it. The performer is making an exit in a grave position lying on the stage showing her elegance to everybody.

    Last Dance : Time To Shine

    Lesson of partying on a Tuesday : It is not about the quantity but the about the quality. True legends come out on Tuesdays.
    Tuesday’s night is a reminder that you can have the best party in a party of 3.
    Side note, I have been introduced to a great dj called Jamir. He is playing Sunday at The Hangar. Guess it is a rendez-vous! (After Eagle 😉
    2025 Update (I did not go;) ).
    See you New York 💋
  • We Need To Talk About Hell’s Kitchen Gay Scene (2023)

    We Need To Talk About Hell’s Kitchen Gay Scene (2023)

    Tom Tales was in New York Hell’s Kitchen, more particularly at Hush for Bears Happy Hours when they played Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton back to back. Hiding in a corner while the female equivalent of Nickelback singed while holding is 9$ beer, he became hopeless….. what has become of gay culture and New York « edgy » bars? Britney was not even on yet but he felt she was about to come….He later told me Christina Aiguilera “Genie in a Bottle” is a hit at Flex……

    Manifesto : We Need To Talk About Hell’s Kitchen Music

    Welcome to The Corporate “Taste” du Jour : a place where you are free of any judgement about anything you like and where only money drives the intentions of any given cultural statement. Music is not art, it is a way to make you drink. Inclined with Spotify, major labels and what television tells you, you will be able to listen to it while working at the bank or shopping at the mall. Drake is your friend and Taylor Swift is your god! « Gurlll », you are in heaven!

    If you think the previous songs are jams, then you have very corporate tastes my friend.

    The Musical Gay NPC lives in Hell’s Kitchen!

    A musical NPC (Non-Playable Character) is unthreatening to the system and willing to spend a fortune on things fed to him by the machine without question. They are everywhere and perfect fit to justify paying overpriced tickets for any Live Nations Act while buying this new Ice Spice Starbuck Coffee after clicking on targeted ads via their latest iphones.

    I Will Become A Machine

    Machines took over the music in the last 5 years. It means now, every bar and coffee shop in America runs on Spotify playlists.They just work, are easy to use, reliable and somewhat good.

    Flat White Corporate Taste all over America

    The dark side of the machines is that it flattens our general music taste and leads to mainstream. I have travelled to many cafes, and they all now play a derivative of lo-fi Chill Cow music. No personal flavor : New York is not special anymore.

    Lets put it this way, Netflix pays for shows. Thus, it is good for Netflix to have the highest number of listeners for the lowest number of shows. So what does the algorithm do, it curates the specific to bring you slowly towards the mainstream without even you noticing it. IT TRAINS YOU to become generic. That is what it ALWAYS DOES. The ads money is in the mainstream….and these companies want money…..

    Don’t brag about your Spotify Recap

    Think about this. Did you really picked the song on your playlist or was it the machine based on your “tastes”. Either way, don’t brag about it : it is not healthy for humanity.

    (2025 update : it is the machine)

    In retrospective, normalizing that the most expensive bars in New York have the lowest taste in music is marking the death of the city : corporate bankers can’t have good taste since they are the machine.

    Tom Tales is considering going to Coachella with a plan payable in a 12 month plans after hearing one song of one artist on « randomly » on Spotify.
    It was called : Do it gurl!