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Thursday, August 30, 2007 |
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Off To New York for Labor Day
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I'm off to New York for Labor day with Philip, Jerry and Justin. This trip was primarily Philip's idea since he doesn't know how to stay home in Los Angeles and relax.
I'm excited about being back in New York again since the last time Justin and I were in New York was in November of 2002 and we looked like this:
Thank god for the scarf that was covering my triple chin. Anyway, I'm excited and hopefully I'll have lots of new photos from the trip. Cheers!Labels: Holidays, New York City
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 |
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To Know The Love Of A Dog
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I had a little trouble sleeping last night so I got up out of bed to walk out to the kitchen and grab a bottle of water. Usually Berger dedicates himself to being by my side wherever I roam within our house, but obviously more tired then I, he decided to stay put and remain in his bed which lies at the foot of Justin and my bed. When I returned from the kitchen, I set my bottle of water on the nightstand and instead of climbing back into bed where Justin was fast asleep, I decided to walk around to the front of the bed and sit on the floor for few minutes next to Berger. Sprawled out in typical fashion on his plush, padded bed he noticed me sit down, lifted his head, yawned and then stretched out for a second almost as if to ask why I was sitting next to him. I scooted down completely on the floor next to him, and when the two of us lay on the floor side by side, at 110 pounds, he’s only slightly smaller than me. I placed my arm down on his bed and put my other arm across his side. Not giving up an opportunity, Berger pushed himself closer into my chest and nuzzled his head up on my arm. Gently resting my head on his shoulder, I decided to lay there for a minute since I haven't been giving Berger as much attention as he's been desperately wanting lately. I remained there with head resting on his shoulder and my eyes open watching Berger's face. I could feel his heart beating and his breathing become a little slower and heavy with the weight of my head on him. Within a matter of minutes his eyes began to get heavier and heavier until he could hold them open no more. I stayed there with him and watched him fall asleep in between my arms knowing that he's always felt safe with me, and that I always feel safe with him in the house. I thought to myself in that moment, I'm very lucky to have such a beautiful and wonderful companion who would allow me to put my heavy head on his shoulder, while trusting me enough to fall asleep while I do it. This is the unconditional love of a dog. I remained there for a few minutes before I knew it was time to let Berger sleep and put myself back to bed so I could try and get some sleep of my own.
Berger, my faithful companion and our only child, is a 110 pound, purebred, White German Shepherd. He just turned four years old in May. A little tidbit of information for those of you unfamiliar with the White Shepherd. He's actually White and not albino as many think. White is a standard color for German Shepherds however it was once considered an undesirable color, so historically in Germany the white ones were often destroyed. A white is produced by two parents who contain the recessive white gene, so therefore two white parents will always have a full white litter however black & tan parents with the recessive gene may have a mixed litter containing one or more whites, but all having the recessive white gene.Labels: Dogs, Random Thoughts
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Labor Day NYC Work @ Stereo
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All I can say is Yay! In just 2 weeks, Justin, Jerry, Philp and I will be in New York City for the Labor Day Weekend holiday. We were originally headed out to NYC to attend Alegria, a well known NYC Club Special Event, but it was cancelled due to their host site renovations not being completed in time.
Fortunately for us, Work @ Stereo is still going on and it sounds like it's going to be a blast. It's usually one night only but in light of Alegria being cancelled and the long holiday weekend they've split it out into 2 nights.
Mix the hot NYC boys, Peter Rauhofer, Offer Nissim, Eddie Elias and all that NYC has to offer, it's bound to be a memorable weekend. I'm excited about getting out to NYC again. Justin and I haven't been out to New York City since our last trip back in the fall of 2002. For as much as I love NYC, hopefully it won't be this long between trips again.Labels: Circuit Party, Dance Music, DJ Offer Nissim, New York City, Travel
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Saturday, August 11, 2007 |
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Trade at Burn Nightclub (Tonight Sat-8/11)
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So Burn nightclub and Noah are hosting Trade tonight at Burn. Everyone I know has been talking about it as apparently they are going to go all out to decorate the club and even having afterhours. The guest DJ tonight is Alyson Calagna who was amazing at One Mighty Weekend's Typhoon Lagoon Beach Ball this year.
 
I'm very excited for tonight's event and hopefully it will turn into a monthly party here in Phoenix with some more superstar DJ's coming to town.
If you live in Phoenix, please come out and support this event! Labels: Burn Nightclub Phoenix, Dance Music, Gay Bars, Gay Life
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Circuit Evolution
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As someone who is rather new to the Circuit, with the White Party Palm Springs 2006 being our first official circuit party weekend, all my friends and I seem to hear from the older crowd these days is how the Circuit is dying.  The tough part is that the veteran Circuit Boys have created such a feeling of false nostalgia for the Circuit newbies to base our experiences on, it makes it difficult for us believe that any event we attend can possibly be as good as it used to be in the 'good old days.'
While this may indeed be true, those of us who are new to the Circuit still seem to be having an amazing time at these events and are planning more and more events each year. I’m sure much of our excitement stems from the newness of it all, but we’ve seen many of our other younger friends becoming more interested in and traveling to the parties lately where as this just wasn’t the case in years past. Most of my friends are in their late 20’s to 30’s and while in the past we’ve grown up hearing of the Circuit Parties, we’ve all just become more comfortable with our ability to now handle the cost of travel and admission to these expensive long weekends.
In just a year’s time I’ve noticed that attendance to some of the same events compared to last year has been smaller, but maybe it’s our individual growth and increased overall comfort level because I’ve personally had a better time at the parties and met more people this year than last. My friends all finally feel like we’re starting to meet some great new friends around the country with whom we’re keeping in touch with.
One of my friends and past coworkers is what my best friends have termed a ‘Legacy Circuit Boy’. He and his partner started going to the original circuit parties in their late 20’s and now they’re both closely pushing 50. I’ve talked to them about this in great detail and while they still have many fond memories regarding their heyday, they simply have a great circle of friends these days and have outgrown their need or interest in the pure party only weekends.  Over the past few years with the rise in their income levels, they’ve moved on to more expensive group trips such as the Atlantis European cruises, which they say still gives them a chance to attend a few parties, but doesn’t focus primarily on just the party itself. Their group of friends still attends the Zoo Party in San Diego as their only single party event just to rekindle for one night the feeling they had in past years. When I tell them of our plans to attend these long party weekends they like to give us helpful tips and reminisce about their past experiences, but have no real interest in attending themselves and simply say "thinking of that anymore just makes us tired." It almost feels to me like it’s a changing of the guard with their time in the Circuit coming to an end while ours is just beginning.
While I do see that many of the parties are coming to an end, and many of the smaller cities unable or unwilling to host these parties anymore, I really do believe that it’s an evolution of things and more of a progression rather than an extinction. As when any group of products reach a level of market saturation, some of the less popular and/or profitable ones inevitably die off. It’s just economics. We are still seeing steady attendance and even some growth in some of the parties which indicates that the promoters just have to find the right mix of things such as price, product and quality to attract the desired crowd.
While many people might not want to admit this, we are reaching a generational gap these days with the newbies to the Circuit being almost 20 years younger the veterans. Based on this gap a one size fits all style for the parties simply isn’t going to work anymore. The older crowd favors a different style of music then the younger crowd and the overall interest in the types of parties is even different. This isn’t’ a bad thing, it just happens. For the first time in our history we have different generations of gay men who are living out and open lives, partying and experiencing life and we’re trying to deal with it by lumping us all together simply as ‘circuit boys’ In the hetro world you would not necessarily expect someone who is 25 to have the same interests in music and entertainment that someone who is 45 does, so I think we need to apply that mentality to ourselves as we move forward.
While I personally can appreciate the nostalgia of the past decade or two of Circuit Parties, my friends and I are creating our own experiences, attending the events we enjoy the most, trying to get more of our younger friends interested, and simply having the time of our lives as we travel along this journey. Cheers!Labels: Circuit Party, Gay Life, Random Thoughts
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Happy 26th Birthday Justin
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Today is Justin's 26th birthday and I'm so proud of him. He's come a long way since the shy 19 y/o boy I first met in San Francisco back in 2000. Full of energy, always smiling, and never without something to say, Justin has been one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Happy Birthday Justin, no matter how skinny you get, you'll still always be my little piglet! Cheers!Labels: Justin Chanley
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Thursday, August 02, 2007 |
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Adventure In San Diego
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While in San Diego, Justin and I had a bit of an interesting adventure. We met someone at the Zoo Party, who I will refer to as Boy#1 who, aside from our friends, was probably one of the most outgoing and uncomplicatedly fun people we've met in a very long time.
Justin and I arrived at the Zoo Party around 5 PM with our entire group of friends, but with the exception of Justin, Philip, Jerry and me, the rest of our friends decided to head out of the party to walk around the Zoo itself which was included as part of our Zoo Party ticket. The four of us decided to stay at the party and dance. Now remember, the Zoo Party is actually located inside the San Diego Zoo, runs from 4PM until 11PM and it’s held entirely outdoors in a private space complete with multiple bars and a huge dance area.
It was only about 15 minutes after we arrived at the Zoo Party when Justin and I were approached by Boy#1. Philip and Jerry who were walking through the crowd with us, waved to us and headed to the dance area as we stopped to chat. The reason Boy#1 came up to us was because he was wearing the exact same sneakers as Justin, so it was a good way for him to break the ice and introduce himself. He said he and his friends saw us when we came in and they all thought we were cute. He was initially interested in Justin, but when he found out right away that we were a couple he said we were both hot and jokingly asked if we were looking for a 3rd. Justin and I laughed because we had met a 3-way couple just the night before and were talking about how interesting it would be to have a 3rd.
Boy#1 was 27, intense with a huge smile, a single small tattoo on his arm, a smooth body, blue eyes and blonde spiky hair. Justin and I both thought Boy#1 was super-cute so we asked him if he wanted to hang out with us, and without hesitation Boy#1 said yes, put his arms around us and said “We’re going to have a great time tonight!” After only a few minutes of talking, Boy#1 leaned in and kissed me, then leaned over and kissed Justin and then smiled at us both and said "You two are so cute." Justin and I just looked at each other and grinned.
Justin and I grabbed Boy#1 and headed out to the middle of the dance area to find our friends and do some dancing. We finally found Jerry and Philip and introduced our new friend to them. Now Jerry and Philip are both single at the moment and as it may be, the conversation came up earlier that weekend regarding how it seemed as if they couldn’t meet any single guys and that it seemed like the couples at the parties were the ones who seem to be cruising the hardest for other boys. So as you can imagine, when they saw us with Boy#1 they both just shook their heads and smirked. One of them turned to us and immediately said “you guy’s seriously don’t waste any time do you?" I think they realized Justin and I were lost for the night and they were on their own for the rest of the party. I do have to give my group of friends some kudos because we're all aware that each of us is there for a different reason and we allow everyone in our group the freedom to do what they want and either hang with or stray from the group as desired. It works out well for everyone.
Before long Justin, Boy#1 and I were shirtless and all over each other in the middle of the dance area. Boy#1 was sandwiched in the middle between Justin and I, turning every so often like a rotisserie chicken, so as to switch which one of us he was kissing. It was absolutely crazy and a few people started to stare. At one point another guy came over to us; put his arms around the 3 of us and started touching and kissing us as well. We were in the middle of the dance area, which was by then packed with other guys, and before we knew it everyone nearby had pretty much just circled around us and started watching the 4 of us kiss, touch, dance and grind with each other. I remember looking around at the guys near us for just a second to see them watching but at the moment we were all in our own little world. The 4th guy who joined in started pouring water on himself and eventually on the rest of us which just caused more of a spectacle to everyone as we were all dancing there in the sun dripping with water and licking it off each other. Inevitably the four of us had our hands all over and down each other’s pants with the onlookers all trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. I really think most of the crowd was actually trying to figure out who was with whom. Frankly, it was all really surreal but yet very intensely sensual and hot.
The 4th guy only hung out with us for a while before he eventually broke off. Justin, Boy#1 and I spent the rest of the party together dancing, kissing, touching, licking, laughing, and just having an interesting time. About mid-way through the party, Boy#1 said to us both that he really wanted to spend the rest of the night with us and then came right out and asked "So am I going to get Lucky tonight or what?" Justin and I just looked at him and smirked. I said "Is that what you want?" He looked at me and said "Yes" so I replied “Of course you are if that’s what you want!” He said “Good!” and the 3 of us continued grinding and dancing. Like a shared play toy, Justin and both took turns with our arms around him, kissing him and dancing with him while also taking the time to kiss each other and sometimes even taking a break to talk to our friends who were taking turns standing next to us and watching us in dismay at the fact that we were completely oblivious to them and the rest of the party.
The Zoo Party ended around 11 PM and we were all headed downtown to the closing party, with a quick stop first to Tony's for a change of clothes. Bernard, Jerry, Philip, Justin, Boy#1 and I who made our way over to Tony’s were joined by another of our friends, Jeremiah, who had just arrived in San Diego from Phoenix for that evening’s party. We made a quick change, grabbed our necessities and Tony, DJ and Mike, who were not going to the party because of work in the morning, were nice enough to shuttle the rest of us together over to the closing party at 4th & B.
The closing party was a blast because first and foremost the music was being spun by Rosabel, the pair of DJ Abel and DJ Ralph Rosario, our favorite after hour DJ's, and secondly because there were so many people that we knew in attendance. As usual, the space was very hot; everyone was shirtless, steaming and sweaty. I asked Boy#1 if he was going to take us home with him to which he said "Do you want too?" Of course I said "Yes!" He said "I really want to go back with you guys now but we just got here so I guess I'll just have to wait." I smiled and said "We'll have fun after the party". Once again he said "Good!" and we continued dancing.
The three of were dancing together with the rest of our friends before Justin, Boy#1 and I made our way upstairs to the balcony overlooking the dance floor for a break. We hung out upstairs for a while, then back down to the dance floor, and then even spent a little time drooling over one of the hot professional dancers for a bit. The night seemed to be going by so quickly.
In the early morning, we then ran into someone who I’ll call TallGuy#1, because he's tall, very handsome and has an amazing body, who Justin and I had met at the White Party back in April. He was dancing in the middle of the dance floor and waved to us. Before long Justin, Boy#1 and I were now touching and kissing TallGuy#1. After a little dancing, Boy#1 started to get a little overheated so he and Justin headed off together to the back of the club to take a break for a bit while TallGuy#1 and I stayed on the dance floor to dance and chat some more. Before long I too was off to the side of the dance floor with TallGuy#1 where we continued touching, kissing and chatting about the situation.
After some time had elapsed, the four of us all met up again on the dance floor. Inevitably, one thing led to another and before long we said goodbye to our friends and the 4 of us were leaving the party to head back to Boy#1's hotel room. It was about 7AM and we took a cab to the hotel which was fairly close to the closing party location. Once up in the room Boy#1 realized his friend, who he was staying with, was back in the room sleeping. He had originally thought his friend was staying with someone else so he thought nothing us all going back to his room. We asked Boy#1 what he wanted to do and he said it was cool that it didn't matter so the four of us proceeded to shuck all our clothes and jump into the other bed. After about 15 minutes Boy#1's friend awoke to look over and see the naked mass of guys and said "Are you f**king kidding me! Boy#1, you did not bring back 5 people to the room, you are ridiculous!" We all sort of laughed mainly because of his incorrect calculation of the total number of bodies, but quickly decided it would be best to get dressed and go somewhere with a little more privacy.
We headed downstairs, got another cab and headed over to where TallGuy#1 was staying for the weekend, since he knew his friend was now on his way to work. We arrived at the apartment, grabbed and drink and you can probably guess what happened from there. With the 4 of us spending the rest of the morning together in bed, I'll just leave the intimate details to your imagination.
It was around noon when Justin and I finally ended up back at Tony's house, where we were staying. Justin and I still can't believe what happened. What a crazy, but amazingly fun adventure in San Diego.
   Labels: Circuit Party, Gay Life, Gay Pride, Gay Sex, Jeremiah, San Diego Boys
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007 |
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Still Recovering
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I haven't posted in a few days because frankly I've been recovering from San Diego. Yes, it's taken me this long to recover. As much fun as we always have, these world-wind party weekends just completely wipe me out for days afterwards. I'm finally starting to feel normal again and have almost gotten back into a regular sleep schedule, if that's really possible.
While I've always provided many photos and given a little detail around the events of our party weekends I've never really touched on why they are so draining for us. It's probably pretty obvious that when you dance for hours upon hours you're going to be tired, but there's actually a little more to it then that. It's not really the physical activity so much that wipes us out, but rather the lack of sleep.
 
Typically Justin and I try to do as much as possible which usually means VIP passes, After-Hours parties, and relatively little sleep if any throughout the weekend. Now you might ask yourself why we would put ourselves through this but it's really a simple answer. We don't want to feel like we're missing out on anything. I always tell everyone "You can sleep when you're dead!" If we travel somewhere for a party, then we're damn well going to get every penny's worth. Be it the White Party Palm Springs, Black & Blue in Montreal, One Mighty Weekend in Orlando, or San Diego Pride, Justin and I always try to make the most of every weekend and attend nearly every event. While the rest of our friends stopped subscribing to our insanity a while ago, they usually participate as much as possible but tend to head home well before we're finished.
In the case of San Diego Pride and the parties our weekend went something like this ...
Friday night was the Harbor Dance Cruise where we stayed from 9 PM until around 2 AM on Saturday morning. We went back to Tony's got some sleep and got up around 9 AM on Saturday morning for the pride parade. We went to the parade, walked to the pride festival, hung out at the festival and then walked back to Tony's around 6 PM. We cleaned up, got ready and headed over to the Sports Arena for Circuit Daze at 10 PM where stayed until it ended at 6 AM. Following Circuit Daze Justin and I then headed over to the Bacchus House for After-Hours until 10 AM. We walked back to Tony's and by that time everyone was already starting to get up. We had some food, chatted and then got ready for the Zoo Party. We headed over to the Zoo Party around 4 PM where we stayed until 11 PM. We went back to Tony's to change and then headed to the closing party at 4th & B where we remained until 7 AM on Monday morning. Following the closing party we headed over to another friend's place where we hung out until around 11 AM before heading back to Tony's. Once we got to Tony's around noon, everyone was getting up and getting ready to head home. We chatted at bit, packed up and then headed out on our 5 hour drive back to Phoenix around 6 PM. We arrived at home in Phoenix around Midnight on Monday night.
So basically from the point we we got up on Saturday morning, we did not get to sleep again until Monday night. While many of you think this is probably pretty crazy, it's actually not too difficult to do with an hour power-nap here and there throughout the weekend, and it really makes a single weekend feel like almost a full week. But the downside to spending a weekend with very little sleep is that it usually takes almost a full week to fully recover once we're back home.
So what that said, our next event is going to be a weekend in New York in September, and then on to 7-days for our Atlantis Mexican Riviera Cruise in October. This year is going to be remembered as one of the most jam packed party years that we've ever had and honestly, I'm loving every minute of it. Cheers.Labels: Circuit Party, Gay Life, Gay Pride, San Diego
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