Though my original Fourth of July Good Times blowout plan included drag performances, red white and blue decorations and as many remixes of Dixie as I could find, we ended up settling for a more sleek and subdued party at Eastern Bloc two weeks ago. We also invited superstar Australian Jonny Seymour, aka Stereogamous, to share his tunes with us and celebrate our favorite American past time: partying.
Early in the evening, aspiring DJ Taul Paul kept us company as we started things off to the real-life beats of fireworks exploding outside on the streets of the East Village.
Ericka claimed that when photographed in mesh, we would be able to see EVERYTHING, though we were happy just to see that snazzy turquoise and pink fannypack she was showcasing around her waist.
There seems to be an influx of both handsome bearded men and cute shorts with printed patterns this particular summer. When mixed together, the results can be tantalizing.
A mighty nice tattoo wrapped around a mighty handsome fella.
What better way to spend Independence Day than with New York City's finest, namely Kevin (left) and Erickatoure Aviance, listening to good music and catching up on our girl talk.
Frame on frame action.
Bridesmaids! And they didn't even have to poop in our sink.
Shaquandré, giving the ONLY beach body (around as seen from back, which also happens to be Andre's favorite to be photographed from).
Pretty sure they were just posing, though it does look like they're checking out each others racks and liking what they see.
Guest DJ Stereogamous! Fun facts about Jonny include: he comes from a land down under (where women glow and men plunder), he's remixed Kylie and LCD Soundsystem, he's playing Wrecked in NYC on July 21st and we mostly chat back and forth on Scruff rather than any other communication platform. Go figure.
This one brought me back to my days at the old Cock on Avenue A, where I believe we first met on a very very late and drunken night. He has since moved out of New York and misses it desperately.
In lieu of the drag performances that I didn't book, we had the good fortune of some all-American Olympic hopefuls who were happy to provide us with some celebratory pole shows.
The competition actually got quite intense.
DOUBLES! I do love me some man-on-man pole action, mostly because there's no real graceful way to do doubles on the Eastern Bloc pole.
Patriotic bandana alert! I'm glad I wasn't the only one feeling the Fourth of July spirit.
It felt like I had been waiting my whole entire life for Alexis Blair Penney to drop into my party and when she finally did, it was worth the wait. What a sweet and intelligent angel. Welcome to New York Alexis! We hope you stick around.
The purple pants high priestess (right, sans purple pants) and her perhaps her latest prey?
Why is there such a lack of lez nightlife in Manhattan? We have some remedies up our sleeve for a few upcoming Good Times (Lauren Flax, August 15th!) but for now we'll have to suffice with pretty pics like this.
The best Independence Day present we could have hoped for.
And since we didn't make it to Bear Week up in Provincetown this year, we're glad these two decided to bring Bear Week to us.
Kevin (left) and I will actually be up in Provincetown later this summer for the week after Carnival, where I'll be DJing with my favorite gypsy bear, Mark Louque, at his Fagbash happening on August 29th. And then its onward to Burning Man!
Just about that time of year when I get a bit jealous of everyone else's perfect tan.
Oh, and the pole shows continued throughout the night. You'd a thunk we were at the 20 Club or Adonis or something but no, just another Fourth of July Good Times.
One of the more clever party tricks I've seen of late.
Luke the supermodel, giving us poses for days.
This turned out to be my favorite pole performance of the evening. Again, completely unprompted. And completely amazing.
Jonny and Paul held it down in the DJ booth while the whole crowd was jumping and dancing and demonstrating exactly why Stereogamous' DJ skills are world renown.
Post-fireworks, the children did turn up and turned me out, as usual. The following day, I flew off to Berlin for nearly two weeks, where the weekend club children REALLY let me have. But that is another story that I will save for another time.
Michael and I shared a rare, semi-sober conversation, where Michael informed me of his plan to move to Berlin in the very near future, where he is bound to become super popular and super obsessed with all things Berlin nightlife.
Bang bang, choo choo train, get up on it and ride that thang.
The best barback on this side of Avenue A.
Shortly after this photo was taken, an angry mob from the National Organization for Women (NOW) marched into Good Times, stripped Keisha of this misogynistic shirt and demanded that we play Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves.
And a happy fourth of July to you.
When this hotness walked into the bar, I pretty much died right after I announce that the party was about to get reallllllllllll good. And I was not wrong.
Just about when we hit the 2 or 230am mark.
Face face face, giving face, beauty face.
So I moseyed on over, offered up a drink ticket and told this one on the left how happy I was that he showed up with this look. He then leaned over and whispered, "wait for the reveal."
The beginning of the reveal.
THE REVEAL! (complete with an upside down USA flag and a red white and blue g-string and harness motif!!!!)
BEST. FOURTH OF JULY. EVER.
Oh, and I was there too. Hi!
Sexual chocolate!
On a sad note, we bid farewell to Good Times regular Panos (right, with a beardless Jorge), whose time in the US of A was cut short due to an expiring visa. BOOOOO! Not the happiest of Independence Day revelations but on a brighter note, we now have another excuse to return to Greece.
And the cherry on top of a wonderful evening was a late-night drive by by Tumblr superstar Jay. Thanks to everyone who came out. Join us July 18th for an Everything New Good Times, with newbie DJ Joey Trotto and your new favorite music duo, Undercover (it's their record release party). xo
