GOOD TIMES: FOUR YEARS AND COUNTING

Thank you mother nature, for sleeting and snowing on our Good Times Four Year anniversary party. I mean, it didn't stop us from dressing like it was the middle of summer (does it ever?) but it did put a slight damper on the festivities.


Roofying him so I can snag that panda bear Kiss sweater. I'm not kidding.


All things considered, the anniversary party was still pretty awesome despite the fact that we all had to strap on galoshes and carry umbrellas to the bar. A leather jacket works wonders too, as usual.


Boys, sometimes a girl just needs one.


Alex (in the yellow) has been a Good Times patron for almost the entire four years we've been up and running (I think he moved back to Michigan for like, a hot second). He also was showing off an extra small and extra amazing yellow sweater on Wednesday with cows printed all over it. (theme: we LOVE animals printed on sweaters).


HALLELOO that Shangela got booted from RuPaul's Drag Race this week, which I watched with Andy (left) and Miguel. We are now all wishing and hoping and thinking and praying that she isn't brought back next week.


DOUBLE CELEB SIGHTING! It's Logo star John Polly (center), accompanied by producer and performer Rod Thomas (right), who popped in after a few performances at South by Southwest in Texas, where the weather was certainly a bit more charming (though he's from London so I'm sure the sleet didn't matter all that much.


GUESS WHO HAD A DATE EARLIER IN THE EVENING? I'll give you a hint: they're both pictured here.


Me and my former coworker Dougie, who was sporting a handsomely cropped hairdo and a surprisingly low blood alcohol level. Then again, it was only 12 or 1am when he popped by.


Ryan and Evans, up in smoke.


Kelvin's photo taking doesn't do much just to the Israeli cuteness that is Arik (second from left) and his friends that may have been visiting from the west coast.


NEW COUPLE/BREAK UP ALERT: Sean (left) and Medo's whirlwind romance just started but is also just ending, as Sean will be moving to Seattle the day after the next Good Times (with guest DJ Billy Beyond!), which is why we're hosting a BYE BYE SEAN! party at next week's party. New York most definitely will not be the same without him.


Jon (right) and friend, giving you white party realness, Palm Springs style.


And on the fourth anniversary of our Good Times party, Sweet Jesus himself made an appearance.


PLEASE DON'T GO! "Babe, love you so. And I want you to know. That I'm gonna miss your love the minute you walk out that door."


Thank you to Eddie Black (left, with Andreas and Kevin) for making my black party experience extra fantastic (and not just because his name matches the party, but that helps, as does Rebecca Black).


The lovely mid-March weather we experienced.


We now know the secret to Michael P.'s (left) late late nights in NYC: he has to stay or take a bus back to Jersey. The horror!


Speaking of Jersey, our favorite Jersey boy Kevin came in bearing hugs and kisses and love for Good Times.


Four years of stinky armpits! Get into it.


No matter black white or beige, chola or orient, Good Times all around. (Totally looking at you Jason for the chola part.)


Shiny happy people wearing suits.


Telfar (right, with Michael) joined me as guest DJ for the festivities though Kelvin seems to have an aversion to photographing our guest DJs. Go figure. THANK YOU TELFAR, our most guested DJ in the history of Good Times so far.


Oh yeah, and there were pretty people too. See you next week for Good Times with Billy Beyond: Back from Beyond and a rowdy farewell for Sean Spalding. xo

HIT SO HARD: THE LIFE AND NEAR DEATH OF PATTY SCHEMEL

There's never been an episode of VH1's Behind the Music on Hole, the influential 90s alternative rock band most known for its loose cannon front woman (and Kurt Cobain's widow) Courtney Love. Courtney's Behind the Music aired almost a year ago but made little mention of her former band members' whereabouts, who, we're left to guess, must have abandoned Love at some point if she's half as crazy as she seems on camera and in the tabloids. Her lunacy, however, has always had a fascinating side to it as well, which is probably why she always stole and continues to steal the spotlight.

Enter P. David Ebersol, a film director and confidante of Hole drummer Patty Schemel who, after unearthing Schemel's home videos from the height of Hole's mid-90s success, has put together a more definitive telling of the Hole story (no pun intended). In his film Hit So Hard, which screened at New York City's MOMA last night with all four band members in attendance, we learn that Schemel was the backbone of the band, struggling with addiction and babysitting for Francis Bean Cobain in a number of home movies.

I always loved Hole for both the music and Courtney's antics. I loved a four-piece girl band that always seemed to have a weirdo boy in the group as well (Billy from Bikini Kill, anyone? Gravy Train?) but not being a drummer myself, I never paid much mind to the stone-faced Patty. Which is why I was surprised to learn as much as I did in last night's documentary, including:

1. Patty Schemel is a lesbian! I seriously never knew this. Apparently she came out in Rolling Stone in the 90s but I swear I owned and most certainly read that issue and I had no recollection of this whatsoever.

2. Patty wasn't in the music video for Celebrity Skin...THEY USED A BODY DOUBLE! Weird, right?

3. During the studio sessions for the Celebrity Skin album, Patty was booted by producer Michael Beinhorn in favor of a male drummer who could supposedly perform Patty's parts better (though she was sober at the time). The studio drummer dude was also allegedly uncomfortable performing with women such as bassist Melissa auf der Maur and Courtney herself.

That third point was the big revelation. Courtney and Patty sort of addressed it in the follow-up Q&A, saying maybe they were naive to not realize that studio musicians are brought in all the time to replace band members when recording albums. But the REAL kicker is not only that Beinhorn (who Love referred to as a "nazi") went on to receive a Grammy nomination for Celebrity Skin but that Courtney hired him again (!!!) for her latest album, Nobody's Daughter. Clearly there's more to the band's demise than Schemel's departure, which quickly descended into addiction and life on the streets before getting clean, marrying and having a baby (who also happened to be in attendance).

Perhaps the gays, who made up a bulk of the audience at both the screening and the "Hole" concert I attended last year (Courtney still uses the band name despite the absence of its former members) are really in it for the Courtney show. It's nice to hear Schemel has cleaned up and founded a doggy daycare center in LA but really, at a film ABOUT SCEHEMEL, it was Courtney who turned up an hour late to the screening and made the weird Q&A comment that they wouldn't be reuniting because they're each trying to move forward musically.

Once the Courtney show, always the Courtney show.

PS - I've been awaiting the arrival of this Courtney Love clip on Youtube for quite some time. I remember taping this episode of Superock off of MTV back in the day and marveling at each and every outlandish Courtney moment. "I NEVER HAD A BOOB JOB!"



PPS - Though I didn't ask any questions for the Q&A, I really wanted to hear the band explain how they felt about pulling the original version of Rock Star from Live Through This. Music geek alert.

WANT

Sweater by Enjoi, via Turntable Lab, a record store that sales clothing like weirdo nu cat sweaters.

TWERKING RADIO #3: KELE, CAN YOU HANDLE THIS?

Rock star Kele Okereke of Bloc Party and solo fame joins us on this week's episode of Twerking Radio for stories and songs from New York, Japan and Kele's hometown of London. We also travel from Laurie Anderson to SL2 to Fatman Scoop while discussing our favorite RuPaul's Drag Race moment along the way. Grab it HERE.

Tracklist:

Silent Places - Baby Dayliner
Bed Space - Darwin Deez
O Superman (For Massenet) - Laurie Anderson
Wild Ambitions - Yellow Magic Orchestra
Are Friends Electric - Gary Numan
The Trees Grew Emotions and Died - Cold Cave
On the Lam (DODD Remix) - Kele
How Real - Skream
Mat Bira Kvinnor Weed (L-Wiz Mix) - Marcus Price & Carli
Wileout - DJ Zinc ft. Ms. Dynamite
Super Sharp Shooter - DJ Zinc
(Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind - South Street Player
Darwin - Bicep
Take Me Away (Pinned Up Mix) - True Faith
On a Ragga Tip - SL2
Be Faithful (explicit) - Fatman Scoop ft. Crooklyn Clan & Faith Evans
The Jump Off - Lil' Kim
I'm Da Chick - Kelly Rowland
Shangela Outro - Sparber & Kele

WEDNESDAY!

EBAY AUCTION OF THE DAY

Essentials for next year's Black Party. Stock up on 'em here.

GOOD TIMES: GREEN & BLACK

As I lay here in bed recovering from the wild week-long celebration that was the extended Black Party, I'm getting nostalgic looking back and captioning these photos from when it all started last Wednesday at our weekly Good Times party at Eastern Bloc. That's the day my Black Party co-DJ Mark Louque arrived in NYC to give the children a taste of what the weekend would hold and more importantly, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day Eve the best way we knew how...drunk.


Steve (left) opted for less green this St. Paddy's Day Eve in favor of a denim button down, which just happens to be the "it" item in London at the moment, FYI.


Two handsome little leprechauns who arrived early enough to catch the $1 vodka open bar we do from 11 - 1130pm every week. Yeah, I know it shoulda been Guinness but the gays like their low calorie cocktails. What can I say?


MASSAGE TRAIN! You can be sure that I would have played "people of the world, join hands, start a massage train..." had I seen this going on.


Giving you five o'clock shadow Color Me Badd style.


I can only hope that the two dudes in plaid had no idea who this stranger was when he came up and grabbed them and started belting out Liza Minnelli lyrics as this photos was snapped.


Meanwhile by the coat check, Kevin was hard at work scoring phone numbers and herbal essences.


I invited occasional Good Times DJ and Irish poster boy Sean McMahill to host our St. Paddy's Day Eve party because contrary to popular belief, there's a pot of liquid gold hidden within him and you must milk it out as demonstrated here by his loving boyfriend Francesco.


That thing when you drool over some dude in San Francisco and then he randomly shows up at your party two months later in New York City. Oh, hi Justin! Loving the patterned hat coordination.


Maybe that milking for liquid gold thing is really a thing.


Chris Brown impressions all around! (as I cue up "I'll Beat That Bitch With a Bat.")


Lucido (left) and Panariello, repping for Italy on this eve of the Irish.


Ohhhhhhh. I'm getting it now. Photographer Kelvin is making everyone suckle on their friends boobs and other unexplainable poses. How good it is to have Kelvin back behind the camera.


Patches texted me the following day asking that I withhold any embarrassing photos or poses Kelvin may have maneuvered him into unsuspectingly. As if I would ever post such photos!


Our handsome barback Rob, out on a cigarette break even though he only gained the legal right to buy cigarettes like, last year.


BUBI! I have a new obsession and his name is Bubi. That is Bubi, pronounced "boobie." He is short and Spanish and dating Paul (right) and his name is Bubi. Get into him.


Joey (right) popped by for the first time ever but only to pick up a pair of discounted Black Party tickets that Mark was selling from the DJ booth. Then we learned that Joey's slave bought him a ticket. Then we learned that Joey has slaves clean his apartment. Then we learned Joey has had three or four slaves in apt. cleaning rotation for 10 years!


The one activity Steven chooses not to do in the Eastern Bloc bathroom! I live!


We promise you you won't go to jail for making a move on Rob. He's definitely of age (as of last year).


Jason, giving you face, body and a beautifully inked up shoulder.


My old scrabble partner Simon (right), scruffing it up at his first Good Times in ages. Perhaps he's hoping for that luck of the Irish thing rub off on the Jews as an early Purim present to him.


Tongue and turban.


And then he kissed me.


My partner in crime for the week Mark Louque (left), with his bevvy of Provincetown bears including Aaron (right), whose riveting performance of Express Yourself from last year's bear week Showgirls still burns brightly in our minds.


I think the girl on the left's look says it all.


Mop top! And I'm digging it.


Albert (second from right) used his I'll-give-you-a-ride-home-in-my-jag line once again to woo another unsuspecting Good Times victim.


Thank you x 1,000 to Jorge for getting into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day Eve. And for getting shitfaced along with the rest of us, as described by his tshirt.


I attempted to ask Colin (left) to host his people's holiday by way of his friend Peter (who said he couldn't) so I was happy to see Colin out and dressed in head-to-toe green as he should have been.


I'm not sure if Aaron (left) of Scott made it to the actual Black Party on Saturday but I dont remember much about the evening so they very well could have. I do remember it was really fun though in our hidden Love Lounge room up on the balcony.


Living for the angel of death who appears to be asleep at the bar in this here photo.


One of these things is not like the others (and by that I mean what happened to Jason's beard?!)


Can you believe Kelvin and I have been doing our Good Times party for four years?!! I can't, but I'll be celebrating it nonetheless at next week's Good Times Four Year Anniversary Party!!! With a guest DJ who has probably guested more than anybody else in the history of Good Times, Telfar!


Andy, wetting himself by laughing so hard all the way to the left, to the left.


So nice to finally meet you, Mr. Gustavsson (on the left). Really feeling your studded vest too.


When gender lines begin to blur (meaning, its 2am, do you know where the children are?)


X! Not for xtrava-GANZA (though we do love us the Xtravagnzas) but for my new Malcolm X(travaganza) shirt. Oh hi Sean Vickers (right)! Hold onto your knickers.


Kiss me I'm (not) Irish.


HOLY TIME MACHINE! When did Casey go back in time or clone himself and send himself to Good Times to sit at the very same spot at the bar that he usually sits in. And Casey was also a no show that night. Spooky.


Kelvin hijacked the camera and headed over to Urge, cleverly documenting the evening to show us his preferred way of smoking cigarettes.


And when the camera finally arrived back at Good Times, this was going on.


Thank you Mark Louque (with Michael T. and Evans) for an amazing tag team DJ week at Eastern Bloc and the Black Party. Mark and I recorded a new episode of my Twerking Radio podcast that you can download for free at twerking.com or on iTunes. Get into it.


See you next week for our Good Times Four Year Anniversary! xo, Sparber