The Roxy closed for good Saturday night.

Although rumors of its eventual demise had been going around for years, like cockroaches and Cher, I always felt the Roxy would outlast everything. The many nights I spent there were a mixed bag, sometimes transcendent, sometimes downright awful, always memorable (if I was actually sober enough to do so). So, in saying goodbye to the Roxy, I'd like to take a stroll down memory lane.

Veronica - Someone to Hold (Johnny Vicious Remix) - Razor and Guido's remix to Kim English's "Unspeakable Joy" may have been a more obvious choice for the biggest Roxy anthem of all time, but it's really this gem from 1998 that should take the cake. Excessive peak hour hard house to the nth degree, over 12 minutes in length, going from vocal anthem, to a deafening helicopter build-up, to a serene flamenco ballad, this song was epic with a capital E.

Robbie Rivera - Feel This - I first went to the Roxy to check out Victor Calderone, whom rumor had was giving Danny Tenaglia a run for his money. It turned out Danny didn't really have all that much to be worried about, but Victor had certainly mastered seamlessly weaving a night of very, very dark and apocalyptic tribal, and I cannot think of a single set of his at the Roxy during which he did not drop this track at least once. Easily one of my favorite house tracks of all time, it is as timeless as it is influential.

Pete Heller - Big Love - It's fitting that the first YouTube video I found of Roxy's closing night was of Peter Rauhofer dropping this classic. Beyond the music and the dancing, Roxy's largest contribution to my life will always be the fact that I met my partner there on a chilly December night eight years ago. Pete Heller's "Big Love" always signalled that the night was truly about to begin, and my partner and I would always make a point of dancing to this one together, singing and staring deeply into each other's eyes amidst the lights and the beats.

This video is actually making me a litle verklempt today.

Vote!

It's amazing how the weather in NYC today is almost exactly the same as it was five years ago this very day. Beautiful, sunny, with that chill in the air foreboding the end of the summer, sweaty August mornings becoming a distant memory.

I can remember everything that happened around me that day. I remember the look on the guy's face that let me in the office once I got out of the elevator. I remember seeing so many of my co-workers in a different light. I remember how my breakfast tasted, and how I didn't eat it until after noon, at which time I devoured it nervously. I remember not knowing what to do, at all. I remember every single stop the subway made on the way home. I still become extremely angry when I see a sign, a TV spot, or a T-shirt with the words "we shall never forget."

For five years I've regretted not sending a note to my partner before I left work that day, in case I didn't make it home. I should have sent him a note telling him how much he's meant to me, how relieved I was that he was safe, and how I couldn't wait to get home to him. How could I have forgotten to do something so important?

Editors Note: The following post was started two weeks ago. Then work got in the way. Ergo, let's pretend it's two weeks ago and everyone's excited about the new Superman movie.

Yet again, 4th of July weekend is the best weekend ever. Yours truly was blessed with a five day weekend, and ho boy did it rock.

Saturday night we went out to Roxy, and had a surprisingly fun time. The crowd at the club has changed pretty drastically since the dark days of 2001 where everybody on the dancefloor was a shirtless steroids-addicted Chelsea clone, completely zombified by the apparently enjoyable mixture of crystal meth and ghb. The crowd is actually a bit more diverse and, for lack of a better word, normal now. Mike Cruz was spinning what felt like an endless onslaught of vocal tracks (remixed circa 1997) of three varieties (I got my man, I got yo' man, You can have my man - he a skeez!) but after 4 a.m. the music became a little more underground and started to resemble actual house music (side rant here - why are gay clubs with second tier DJs stuck in this horrible rut of playing this unmelodic Hi-NRG screaming diva stuff that was tired in 1999? Please try throwing in something a little more forward thinking or minimal, this is NYC not Syosset, Long Island).

Anyway, we ended up closing the place. The whole night the other half was in this sense of amazement, like when Principal Victoria on South Park got stoned before the annual Christmas play. And rightfully so - we didn't have to take care of complete strangers about to overdose! At 5 a.m. he was up on one of the speakers struttin' his stuff, a few classics from my old Tunnel and Vinyl days were dropped, and later we walked home in the morning sun, completely deaf (this is actually pretty cool when you haven't done it in a while).

Sunday night was the Madonna concert, and hence by far the highlight of the weekend. I've deliberately missed her past two tours because of the exhorbitant ticket prices and my usual inability to enjoy big stadium concerts. But with Esther falling off horses, I wasn't sure how much longer I would have the opportunity to see her be the Madonna we currently know and love, so I splurged. Thankfully so. She's brilliant.

The night of the fourth we walked over to Columbia Street to watch the fireworks. So, OK, Columbia street is only about five blocks from where I live, yet I hadn't been over there in years. Figure that one out. Needless to say, there's a lot of fun stuff going on over there. The fireworks were fantastic. No matter how old and jaded you get, watching colors explode in the sky never loses its thrill.

I love a parade. Well, actually, I could care less about most of them, but I particularly enjoy the Gay Pride parade. This is because:

-In my daily life, one so rarely has the opportunity to cheer and clap for people walking down the street that they've never met before. Doing so fills me with the warm and satisfying feeling that I am an altruistic person.
-I like to watch the lesbians try to get all the free stuff they can.
-I like to watch people dance on top of moving platforms while trying not to fall.
-I like to yell "woo." I like to yell "woo" a lot.

Plus, I think it's just a crime to not go out and support the thing. Despite how homophobic the country seems today, it's easy to forget how much things have actually improved over the years. Joe My God posted the Daily News' reporting of the Stonewall Riots today, get ready for your stomach to churn.

It's equally important to go out drinking right after the parade (how could you not!), so after a couple boring beers at Nowhere, xes ended up being the best place to go, with a nice mix of natives and tourists whooping it up.

Just as we were about to leave at a responsible hour, Peppermint Gummybear and her karaoke extravaganza had to come along and make sure I had a really difficult Monday.

Peppermint began the show by requesting the audience provide the word of the day. In pure Pee Wee's Playhouse fashion, whenever anyone said or sang the word of the day, the crowd was to scream real loud. Of course, the crowd starts shouting suggestions like hookers at a fishnet stocking convention. The husbear continues to suggest a certain part of the male anatomy. But it was my suggestion that ultimately won Ms. Gummybear over. After explaining the meaning of the word to her and much of the crowd, it was deemed word of the evening. I felt honored and famous.

The word was "odgeda."

I didn't actually get up on stage to perform any songs (my voice was a bit hoarse after a day of wooing), but if requested I was prepared to go up and seriously work it out to Felix Da Housecat's "Silver Screen." It's important to have a back-up plan at all times.

Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen

Kevin Aviance was the victim of a gay bashing this weekend, after leaving the Phoenix.

I'm in disbelief that something like this could happen in a part of town I frequently hang out in. The Phoenix is one of my favorite bars. A great selection of beers on tap, a jukebox that always has the latest hipster selections, a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga machine, and some of the friendliest (and cutest) bartenders in the city.

I've left there many a night in a condition probably not best suited for dealing with an altercation such as this (to the fine folks at Stella Artois, thank you). I think many of us take the city's generally permissive atmosphere for granted, forgetting that there are still a few idiots here.

I wish Kevin a speedy recovery. His performances may not always be on point, but his hosting of Danny Tenaglia's Clubzilla party seven years ago this month was flawless (right, Gina?).

Get well soon, Ms. Aviance. May the rhythm always be your bitch.

So, yesterday I came across these videos of Madonna at Coachella and I was like "woah, it would have been amazing to see that show right up next to the stage." Little did I know that these videos were imbedded with subliminal images that would cause me to dream about seeing Madonna perform live in my high school gym. In my dream she performed her heart out even though there were only a few people in the audience, but her show was so inspiring and awesome that we all started rollerskating around the gym like experts, doing stunts that would make the guys from Jackass proud.

Oh, but back to the concert clips. Watching these makes me realize why concert videos are so boring - so much of the excitement of seeing an artist perform live comes from the fact that everyone around you at the concert is absolutely flipping out. When the camera is right next to the stage the sound from the audience becomes an anonymous wave of woos and yeahs. I'd like to see more concert footage from the audience perspective, so that you can really hear people screaming, you can hear that really excited guy behind you go "oh my God!" at the beginning of every song, and the guy next to him scream every single word to every single song until he loses his voice half way through the show.

Besides affecting my subconscious and informing a critique of concert footage, these clips also made me realize how much less I sing along to music nowadays. With most of my music listening being either on the subway or in my office, I can't exactly belt it out like I used to driving in my car or in my room studying. No wonder I've been dying to go out to a karaoke party for ages!

Newsweek has a downright frightening article regarding the president's response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I've always felt like this guy lived in some manufactured alternate universe, and I'm not particularly happy to find that my suspicions have been confirmed. Why would one have to take the time to compile a DVD of footage when you could simply turn on CNN/Fox and see it immediately?

Yesterday, Canada said "we rock" and today, Spain said "yeah, well we rock too, and our country is like, totally fabulous". Thoughts of expatriating dance in my head (do you think we can move all of NYC to Spain?)

I'm sure I must have linked to stuff from this site before, but nonetheless, I have rediscovered Retro Junk and hereby deem it the best website in the world.

They've got tons of old commercials that you can stream, and watching them after not seeing them in years has made me realize something - your life before reaching eleven years of age must be the most confusing time in the world, because I barely remember any of these commercials that aired before I reached 6th grade. This is strange considering I watched TV nonstop.

Other important lessons:
-There was a Go-Bot named Baron Von Joy! He was a friendly robot sports car!
-Any hope of me developing into normal heterosexual adulthood flew (fabulously) out the window as soon as I saw the opening sequence to She-Ra. Woah. Just... woah. It even sounds like Giorgio Moroder wrote the theme song.
-You can have your stupid Mac G5. The Commodore Vic 20 is the wonder computer of the '80s.

Our government's attitude towards international relations:

-If you do not have nuclear weapons, we will invade your country if we feel like it.
-If you do have them, we gonna leave yo' ass alone!

HO LEEEE COW!!!!

Here's a short Rolling Stone roundtable discussion on the election.

The Christian Right vs. The Environment. Certainly explains a lot.

Greenspan talks, and the IMF talks, but is Bush listening?

The dollar's falling like a robot on rollerblades. Will Bush do anything besides give out more tax cuts?

For the time being, a larger portion of my 401K portfolio is going to international investments.

Also, a Times article here.

Are we really that divided after all? This map shows a breakdown of blue versus red by county. While the midwest still has a whole lotta red, look at the blues in Texas and the Southeast. Maybe this place ain't so bad after all, eh?

Wow, what a bummer, huh?

After being a zombie for much of yesterday, I was encouraged (ever so slightly) by Bush's stated intentions to bring the country back together. The fact remains that I wouldn't trust him to watch my pet rock, but I guess we'll just have to see.

Like many people, I'm just now realizing the tremendous influence of evangelical politics.

Interesting reading:
Presidential politics and the evangelical movement
the evangelical outpost
Ruling Divides Evangelical Christians (regarding a ten commandments monument in an Alabama courthouse)
Christian Politics in the Third World
Evangelicals frustrated by Bush
Evangelical about politics
Evangelical surged to vote and 'shape public policy'
The Christian Right
Evangelical Christianity Has Been Hijacked

Welcome to the most influential cult in America, folks.

i'm going through an odd internal conflict following the death of ronald reagan, which can be pretty much summed up as:

i'm really not as glad to see you go as i thought i'd be, but jeez, did you really have to screw everything up as much as you did?

hold on to your horses, folks, this upcoming election is gonna get nastaaaay.