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When I originally heard about this event, I knew this was going to be a huge party. I showed the flier to a fellow OWL and close friend Hurricane Irine and she went crazy about how awesome it was going to be. I'm still new to a lot of the DJs on the scene, but after hearing it from her, I figured I needed to be there. And awesome it was! Both [OWL] Supernova and myself went to see the scene and catch what was good at this event.
It was another night hosted at the extremely spacious Amazura Lounge. I've been here once before, the night that Showtek rolled into town, but this time it was done up all differently! The lighting and sound system were the same. Laser and moving heads everywhere and constantly putting on a show to the music. Massive speakers blowing out so much bass it was terrifying. What was different was the feeling to the main room. They had placed several large white spike-balls hanging from the beams in the ceiling. When the light was bouncing off of them it was unreal. Morgan Freeman was also in the house, and he did up the stage so nicely! There was an entire layer of screen stretched out from end to end of the DJ as well as two towers on each side as well. He was playing constant visuals on the screen, it was awesome to watch the stage come alive. Behind the towers were the Peek A Boo gogo dancers casting their silhouettes for the crowd to groove to.
It was great being there and recognizing so many people. Our new friends from Electrik Graffiti came in from Jersey sporting their custom made scoodies. These hoods are so warm and cozy! Not to mention uber unique and well made. It was so great seeing them, we were all rocking our scoodies and giving tons of light shows and sending out good vibes. It's people like that who are constantly putting out the positive message of community. Check out their store online for what they have in store for you!
It was wonderful, there were so many lights going on, thanks to all the glovers, poi-artists, hula hoopers, glow stick maniacs (?) and Utopia providing so many glow toys. It was a good night to be out gloving that's for sure! There were people there from all over... New Jersey, Connecticut, and even Massachusetts were there and representing their styles. There was supposed to be a glovers competition, but unfortunately it did not happen. That didn't stop the glovers from trading shows and entertaining the masses. If the competition did go down, it would have been hard for the judges to choose a winner, there was a lot of talent in the house.
The music was great, a lot of hardstyle and dub was being spun, and Afrika Bambaataa brought it back to a much funkier time. The crowd was going crazy for Jen Mas as it was her first time back on the scene or a while! She and Lady Faith gave some sick tracks to glove to, made me appreciate hardstyle a little more. It's so crazy to watch an entire dance floor dancing to hardstyle, things get a little crazy.
There were other activities to partake in while the party raged on. There was a bouncy castle, right next to it a massage table, there was a kandi making table, a Utopia booth, a Method booth, cotton candy and popcorn as well as fresh fruit (YES, there was actually fresh fruit at this event!) being passed around. Definitely a night to remember, with a job very well done by Epic Entertainment and California Dreaming. Let's walk through the party, shall we?
The parties never really stop here in NY. There is something pretty much every night, but the weekends is really when the parties begin to rage. This past Friday, I had the chance to enjoy two sides of the events going on, beginning at The Pictograph, and ending at Chaos.
Both events were being put together by members of the raving community, but had two very different feels and purposes. My first stop was The Pictograph at the Hi-5 Bar. It's a nice spot, two floors with a full bar upstairs and a lounge area downstairs. The DJ booth is also upstairs overlooking the floor. There were a bunch of really awesome DJs spinning over here, included in which was DJ Epic Cloud Strife, who's featured on this weeks 'Mix I'm Listening to', go ahead and click play! But this event wasn't all about the music and raging out, this was actually more about the artistic side of the scene, more specifically the photographers.
On display throughout the entire venue were different shots that some of the scene's most prominent photographers put up, and were also offering for sale. You had Rob Grigonis, Janet Gonzalez, Sam Freund, and Taylor Flash. They had their works up on the walls, but included in the mix was also Ronnie C. and Tiffany Reptar. People were spinning poi, throwing lights, making kandi, and just having a great time enjoying everyone's company. Another cool addition was Pixel doing some really cool things with paint, he basically made a self contained environment with it! It was cameras everywhere, and people loving the art. I did see a bunch of photos sold which is always a great thing. They do so much for the scene, and we need to do whatever we can to support them.
Speaking of which, at last weeks AMAZING show at Amazura Lounge, someone smacked Taylor's flash out of his hands, and it shattered. So if you have a minute, donate something to help him get a new flash. It could be a dollar, it could be a hundred, just give a little something to say thank you for all he's done in the treacherous environment in order to take pictures of you. The donate button is through the facebook page HERE.
Now it's about midnight, and Chaos had started an hour before, and being a Kingzly party, well we knew it was definitely already popping. It was time to head on over there and see what was going down. Reptar and I made it over there together, and we were both going in to shoot some photos for the party. Security was super uber tight here. Not a bad thing at all, in fact, it keeps the spot safe. But on the photographers side, or maybe a DJ, lighting crew, anyone working background who wants to get their job done as much as security does, needs to get in smoothly.
That being said, we got in no problem and stepped into a crazy party. Once again, two floors, but this time three rooms! Downstairs were mostly the raving crowd because all the EDM was being spun here. We're talking hardstyle, trance, dubstep, all your favorites. This is not to say it was only the raver crowd either, all different types of people were chilling to the music. It was also significantly darker down here, awesome for lights shows! Upstairs had the main floor which was pretty big. They were playing club mixes with some dubstep in there as well. There was a little room off the the side where they had reggae spinning all night. The music didn't stop the ravers from coming up and raging with everyone, The main floor was off the hook, everybody was having a good time dancing to the music, and dancing in the cage. Yes I said cage! Hanging from the ceiling with a pole in the center and sometimes having three girls inside, it was a sexy addition for sure.
Drinks were well priced, the ambiance of the rooms was awesome (thank you Powertrip Lighting) and there was a great mix of people. Ravers, clubbers, and just regular party goers all came to one spot to party it up. That's one thing about Kingzly's parties you have to respect. He is bringing together different groups of people under a common love of music and partying. I did not see any brawls or even hear of things going negatively (other than security being really tight). Major props to that, I can't wait for his next banger!
