Flyer - Original Size
Flyer, check. UFOs, check. Friends and good vibes, check. My first thought, “tonight is going to be awesome!” In honor of Frankie Bones coming to town, Neon East decided to host their event with a bit of a 90s feel, and I was bursting at the seams. My biggest and only regret about raving,, after all, is that I am young and missed the fabled glory days by just a few years. So, for me at least, this party was like an opportunity for all the new kids on the block to get a taste of their roots, and I took the full advantage. I also managed to swipe my friend Sabrina’s camera for the evening, so there will be pictures. However, it should be known that any pictures here with a higher quality image are courtesy of a strapping young lad in the scene known as Blackie Pants. Thank you Blackie and Sabrina.
For those of you who don’t know, Frankie Bones is somewhat of a legend among we who call ourselves Ravers. Of course there will always be top-rated DJs like Armen Van Buren or Cosmic Gate who provide skillfully mastered tracks for the music we know and love, but Frankie Bones has contributed greatly to the Underground; the culture beneath the pop-washed surface, the parties that people go to strictly for the love, and not for an image that has been blown up to an outrageous proportion. I speak a lot about PLUR. There are varying opinions on the subject, but either way it has engraved itself very deeply into Rave culture. Without Mr. Bones, the phrase probably wouldn’t exist. Now, there is plenty of information on this stuff so I won’t bore you with the details, but I did find that to be worth mentioning.
Now, on to the party. The old-school feel of this party was wittily set in the old Le Mour’s - a venue heralded in the Brooklyn scene for many moons, now one of the two sides to the club Evolution. For the mood of the event itself, I found this to be quite an appropriate match; I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Frankie Bones got his start on that very stage, but don’t quote me on it. My only real beef with the place is that the bathroom always ends up destroyed by the end of the night by kids who apparently just don’t know how to flush, and also by the smokers hiding in the stalls. I find two causes for the latter issue, one, the security is decent but it gets packed so it’s hard to keep track of everybody, and two, there is no re-entry, which I just find to be ludicrous – sometimes there is just no breathing room in such a small venue. Also, the acoustics in the place tend to leave me with a high-pitch ring in my ear for the day after the party, nothing a good set of ear plugs can't fix. On the bright side, there are couches behind the bar, and a VIP section, so there is no excuse for cuddle puddles on the dance floor, which is always a plus as it minimizes tripping over bodies.
There is also a great section for glowsticking, slightly separated from the dance floor much in the same way as the section in Oceana Theatre, where Revolution 8 was hosted. What makes this location choice, however, is that there are mirrors lining the wall, so it’s a great place to jam with fellow glowstickers, glovers, and conjurers, and get some practice in before cracking ultras and attracting the fireflies. When operating at full capacity there are three rooms in which the party takes place, two main rooms and a small side room. For the night of Mixtape, we were blessed with the side of the club that has one main room, and a small side room, offering a refreshing contrast of music and crowd for the majority of the night.
Speaking of glowstickers, I ran into Gimix. His freehand is unbeatable.
In terms of crowd, it felt like everybody on this night was on his or her best behavior. To my knowledge, no body got carried out for anything stupid, although a few smokers were threatened to be removed from the premises, and even when my beloved DJ Rob GEE was spinning his usual, and violent, array of Metal, Hardcore Punk, and Gabber, no fights broke out in the mosh pit. It was all love. At this point, I would like to note that I used to be a part of the Metal and Hardcore Punk scene in New York before I started Raving, and it was exactly the proportion of fighting to dancing that made me eventually leave one for the other. So, it truly warmed my heart to see a shard of my past life working so well with my present. The irony is, at Mixtape, Punk and Metal were exactly as they were meant to be supposed to be, yet it was a party dedicated to Electronic Music.
As expected, the set spun by none other than Frankie Bones himself was a magnificent thing to behold; although I admit that I may have a bias. My parents were both party people too, so growing up I used to here a lot of stories about the guy and I suppose I was extremely excited to finally be able to put a face to the name. That being said, the man has a lot of years of experience under his belt, so it does not come as a shocker that he knows how to move a crowd. Some people did tell me that they were expecting his set to be a bigger deal than it was, and I too was expecting more of a spectacle to be made out of him. However, there are many pig-headed DJs out there while one of the most important Raver ideals I’ve come across is that the only difference between a dancer and a DJ is that the DJ provides the music. So, to see a so-called hero spin such a humble set in a small venue on the corner of a residential street in Brooklyn really says a lot about the guy’s character I think. As far as the music, I was expecting more songs out of the 90s, since it was after all a 90s-themed party, and I was hoping to be able to hear some of his original work as well. Still, I cannot complain about his set in the least, and all things aside I think his choice to spin a set with songs to please the new crowd, like Ded Prez’s “Hip Hop”, only gently seasoned with the classics, songs like Robin S’s “Show Me”, truly exhibits that the man knows what he is doing, and cares greatly about making the party-goers leave with smiling faces.
If I had to rate this party I would give it a 4 out of 5. The crowd was once again a wonderful mix of first timers, veterans, and everybody in between. Although there was a wide array of musical genres, the set was designed with smooth transitions and not abrupt changes in mood, and even having two rooms with different DJs simultaneously was not distracting to the senses. Although the bathroom situation in the venue was a little unsettling, the place was over all well managed, not too much water on the floor or people where they needn’t be. The blend of the old school with some new school twists was also done quite nicely; every body had enough room to be him or herself without being overwhelmed by image or opinions. Good job Neon East! Keep ‘em coming.
Thesan.
Edited by Ph0toN, 05 December 2010 - 06:17 PM.
