Five years of party photos! Five years of late night East Village party antics! Five years of GOOD TIMES! Our weekly Wednesday Good Times party at Eastern Bloc turned five this past Wednesday and to celebrate, we flew in one of our all time favorite diva DJs, Ms. Juanita More from San Francisco, who let the packed bar HAVE IT with a funk set we so desperately needed.
Gugu (left, with Santi) hasn't been around for all five years of Good Times but we have a feeling that in five more years, she'll be a worldwide phenomenon on par with Lady Gaga and Naomi Campbell.
Our five year anniversary also coincides with the five years I've known one of my best friends, Mike, who has never quite experienced last call on a Wednesday at 350am but that's because he's usually waking up for work two hours later.
Adam has gone from publicizing our famed Jew parties to the gays in Israel (where he used to live) to joining the Jewish mafia in Hollywood this past year, where we eagerly await his future scripts about "the seedy underbelly of New York nightlife in the noughties."
In lieu of not celebrating St. Patrick's Day at Good Times this year, Peter, Colin and Paolo (from left) came out to celebrate our five year anniversary instead, where they got equally as hammered but couldn't use that "kiss me I'm Irish line" with as much ease.
Five years of queuing up for our tiny, two bathroom toilet facilities, which are almost always over occupancy or completely empty and people just wait and assume that they're over occupancy.
The party got so crowded so early that I didn't even have a chance to say hey to some of the favorite faces I've come to know and love over these past five years. Hi Brett!
Ashton (right) also had to bounce pretty early but we'll always admire him not only for introducing us to Ron Like Hell and Ryan as a tag team DJ duo from his old party Rocket but for the vintage bathing suit he once wore to a swimsuit-themed Good Times Halloween party.
Without Kristofer (right), we would never have the luxury of a guest DJ set from the one and only Juanita More, as Kristofer has been kind enough to put Juanita up each and every time she has visited us (and believe you me, Good Times doesn't exactly have a DJ accommodation budget).
This was actually Mauricio's (left) first Good Times party EVER. How is that possible? Needless to say, he loved it and will be celebrating with us each and every week until the 10th anniversary, at which point dubstep will surely dominate the pop charts and we'll still be playing Roisin Murphy incessantly.
Wait a minute. Is that Lana Del Rey in the upper left hand corner?
Upon closer inspection, it turned out she wasn't Lana Del Rey but equally as stunning and also enjoys "Pabst Blue Ribbon on ice" (and she orders it with a whisper as well).
Christy Love (left) is pretty much the sixth Scissor Sister in our mind, as she hugging up awfully close to Del in this here photo and is inseparable from Ana Matronic as well. She was even a featured Scissor Sister dancer once upon a gig.
The gun show has begun.
The House of Stank (aka Jeremy, right, and Christy) trace some of their roots back to San Francisco and may have also been adopted by guest DJ Juanita More as her runaway east coast offspring.
JP and I used to work together many many moons ago at another weekly party I once did called Twin Cheeks, which would also be nearing its fifth anniversary if we hadn't called it quits shortly after Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson showed up.
You may not recognize Stephanie Stone without her makeup or Mikey (center) and Ryan (right) without their beards but these three have pretty much been at Good Times since day one and have also performed, hosted and celebrated birthdays with us respectively.
("pabst blue ribbon on ice.")
Ping warned me that he was two sheets to the wind when he stormed through Good Times but I only took note of it when we looked at this photo together and Ping remarked, "Yep, I'm drunk."
Gugu, giving the ONLY pole show.
And yeah, it was really really really really crowded.
Richard was kind enough to bring us anniversary flowers! And they've magically lasted an entire week as well. I'm wondering if this somehow ties in to that "plant food" trend.
Since the weather has been exceptionally warm for March in New York, Marc didn't have too many coats to watch over and was happy to oversee flower responsibilities for the rest of the evening.
GOOD TIMES.
Tall dude is giving major evil eye to this trio and I'm not exactly sure why.
This shirt is everything and the hat only adds that extra je ne sais quoi.
Eugene (center) and his man made a special pilgrimage to Manhattan just for the anniversary party only to be photobombed by that orange chap with the glasses! Eugene actually gave me a CD of disco re-edits he had made during the first year of Good Times before reedits were all the rage.
If there is one person to thank for this party, it is beautiful soul that is Darren (left, with Colby), owner of Eastern Bloc and consistently your Wednesday Good Times bartender for all these years. Without Darren, there is no way this party would be what it is and for, we should all be grateful.
Duan (right) and Mohammed, or as I like to call them, the younger generation given that they were born around 1990.
Giving you white onesie anniversary party realness, or as some would say, mormon undergarment realness.
Matt alerted me to the fact that he knows an old college guy friend of mine named Will because he used to date Will's girlfriend, who is now Will's fiancee. It took me a minute to wrap my head around that one.
Hot boy texting spot.
Juanita More fan club is in the house and ready for the lady of the hour's royal entrance (she was scheduled to enter on a camel. Let's see what happens.)
Such a delight to see Maddox (center) and chat about body hair (mine) or lack there of (hers).
Joey (left), creeping around Marc and coat check and this general side of the bar, as he rarely makes it remotely close to the DJ booth.
Best picture ever? I truly love this crew of boys II men and I especially love that Steven stuck around until the all night dance party wound down shortly after 4am.
They are in just as much shock about me posting 90 photos from this party as I am. How am I going to caption all of these photos?!?!? Prepare for some pretty absurd captions in 3, 2, 1....
This tall handsome stranger named Nick (left, with Arrash) was kind enough to buy me a tasty anniversary cocktail and compliment me on my party's success. He also corrected me when I called him 6'5"--he's actually 6'6. Or 6'7". I had already downed the cocktail when he told me.
Onlookers from the sidelines. It's kind of like that row of seats that was along the wall to the right when you first walked into Starlight lounge which you had to parade past in order to get a drink or get to the back room. Very objectifying.
I recently learned that Doug (in the yellow) is apparently my "Jew twin," or we have more in common than we currently know about. Or so we've been told. I also learned that Darren loves jumping in front of the camera and shaking that big mane of his.
"Where oh where could our mother Juanita More be?"
And just when you think the party couldn't get any crazier, THIS BITCH TOOK TO THE TURNTABLES.
Our guests DJs almost always go on at midnight, and just in case you weren't sure if we were on schedule, the nightlife glitterati ALWAYS arrives right around midnight as well. Behold: Kindbud and Ms. Erickatoure Aviance! Glitterati boots.
BENETTON AD!
Buddy's Big Gulp party is still going strong, though we can't think back to Big Gulp without remembering the ruckus times we used to have at the Hole when Corey Tut was the HBIC on the turntables (or so we think. It really is all a blur, isn't it?)
CPR really can come in handy.
Yet another awesome snapshot, thanks to our handy sometimes camera man Kelvin, who showed up a little late this particular night but fulfilled all photo duties and then some.
The Brazilian handsomeness that is Rudy (center), an Instagram celebrity turned Good Times fan. We're recruiting more of these in the coming months and even contemplating a "recruitment trip" to Rio next winter. Apply within.
Marwin (right) and company were in a dandy mood and now that I see them showing off their extra large Eastern Bloc shot glasses (read: three shots in one), I completely understand why.
Much much later in the evening, Damian (left) let me have when he got me to play ONLY Oni Ayhun track and proceeded to serve it like I've never seen before. I actually have a live recording of the entire night too but who knows if that will ever see the light of day.
JP and the apparently camera shy Ivan (left), who had to be bribed for a photo even though we already know the camera loves him thanks to our social networking sleuthings.
Christy Love photobombed everybody on Wednesday (!), including Jamil, our handsome Good Times voguing mascot who moved one step closer toward the throne of Willi Ninja with his newly straightened hair.
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it. (That's as new school Madonna as it gets up in Good Times, at least until The House of Dandridge aka Chauncey finally guests with us in May.)
I think Queen Latifah said it best, and I quote: "GIVE ME BODY!"
The mystery and intrigue, as presented by Joel, Rafael and Edwin (from left).
Juanita brought along her usual harem of young studs to accompany her and attend to her needs as she turned out the crowd with some Parliament's Give Up the Funk.
Motorboating Christy.
Black party costume ideas, anyone? I was thinking of wearing something similar to his leotard but then I realized that leotards and body hair don't exactly mesh well (pun intended).
A big thank you to Jeff, Damian and Jason (from left), not only for being such loyal patrons and good friends but for squatting down in oh so many pictures so I don't feel like such a shorty.
Formika (right) may have introduced this fine young man she's holding as her boyfriend but since he looks a little older than 19 (read: has facial hair and made it into a 21-and-over party), we're actually not so sure we heard her correctly.
"He's bringing sexy back." As in, he has a really sexy back.
Love train!
We met Enrico (right) during the second or third year of Good Times. Then he moved back to Italy but now apparently he's back and ready to get his Wednesday night party on.
Speaking of Wednesday night parties, now is as good a time as any to mention that at next Wednesday's Furry, Goyishe Good Times, guest DJ Mark Louque and guest host AK Miller will be serving up beard-y, non-Jewy fun with me and you best not miss it.
Francesco and a lovely lady friend in a white leather jacket, one which transports me back to my childhood crush on Sloane from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Or perhaps it was just my first leather temptation. Hello Black Party weekend.
Good Times is hugely indebted to these two barmaids, Rob (left) and Sammy, or work tirelessly week after week to schlep liquor from downstairs to upstairs to your cocktail glass to your stomach to your toilet bowl.
When Good Times finally goes viral on YouTube with Darren pumping iron and whatnot, we'll be calling upon Cesar (right) for some voice over work since he has the ONLY voice for the job.
Pucker up, ladies.
Clearly I could have done a better job at editing this week's photos (I've only posted 50 photos max for any given party in the past five years) but I wanted to showcase all the lovely, happy faces that passed through last week. And now I'm majorly running out of caption ideas.
Santi (left) and Jeff are both members of the New York City gay nightlife photography mafia, which can totally make or break you here in NYC so buy them a drink next time you see them.
Handsome men, handsome hairdos. And I love whatever is going on with his tie-dye button-down.
Looks like I was back on and DJing in the background, meaning this photo was taken somewhere between 2am and 4am, aka just when the party gets good.
I swear that Formika now imports them from out of town. And more power to huh!
Tittlywinks.
More CPR shows. Apparently there's wasn't much oxygen in the bar that night either. Go figure.
Good Times loves a ginger beard and lord knows a ginger bearded fella loves Good Times.
Sort of scared that he might punch the cameraman out, Baldwin-brother style, but maybe that's just his posing "schtick."
In the red glow of Good Times, it's usually impossible to distinguish color without a camera's flash so we really didn't believe Xander when he said his mustache and eyebrows had gone on their own Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
Surprise late night visit from the always lovely and newest member of the bearded gay mafia, David (on the right).
Scandelle was living and loving the music as always and paying me more compliments than I could really handle at any given moment.
Five more years! Five more years!
And I'm done. No more captions. Fill in something here about his sexy deep V and naturally smooth chest. Thanks.
Sidewalk shows, appropriately located a stone's throw from Sidewalk Cafe. Living for the Timberland boots, btw.
I believe these two were visiting from Spain and serving up black tie realness and may have hosted an after hours at an undisclosed location or at least that's what word on the street was.
Thank you Juanita for coming all the way from San Francisco just to turn us out. We love you more than words can express and I can't wait to finally attend and DJ your fabulous SF Pride party this June.
Matt would also like to thank Juanita for helping him wash his face before bed.
Caption contest!
The last time I can remember this many people staying this late (350am) and dancing till bar shut down was when Horse Meat's Severino DJed with me a few years back. We need this to happen like, every Wednesday.
And in the immortal closing time words of Big Scot (who was somehow absent from our anniversary party): "shut up, get out, don't hang about. Finish your glasses and move your asses. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here. I've got plans, and they don't include youuuuuuuu."
HAPPY 5th (or 50th, if you look at both posters together) TO GOOD TIMES!!!!!! See you next week for more Good Times with me and Mark Louque and AK Miller. xo, Sparber
