Weekend Review, and a Colorful One

Last weekend was a different kind of weekend, and refreshingly so. First on Friday night unexpectedly at The Festival of Color: NYC Holi and then Saturday at Raver's Fantasy. Both nights were lived up to their names and pulled through really awesome parties.

Bizarre Killing It @ Raver's Fantasy

Friday came around and I was going to decide were to head for the night, and when I got the message about Holi I got really excited. You see, in order to promote this party, there was a video used from actual the actual Indian festival. People are having an awesome time...I kinda fell in love. Check it out:

So I went in there to a new warehouse very close to The Cage and recognized only a few faces. There were so many different kinds of people. Some coming in large groups, some with parents (and grandparents), it was quite awesome to see how many different people came in. Among the few faces that I did recognize included Morgan Freeman (Bluecrash) and he was working on the visuals for the place. The faces that I didn't recognize were covered in the colored powder everyone was throwing around. It was awesome to see everyone partying together.

 

 

The music was different from the raves I've been writing about. You had a DJ playing beats from vinyl, a live trance musician known as The Cosmal Show (with a live painter), a live jam band, and a nice lineup of DJs. People were digging it for the most part, the party kept getting more and more populated as the night continued. I had to put the camera down because it was getting too rowdy, but this was a horrible environment for a camera without protective gear. The party kept raging on throughout the night and from all the smiling faces and positive feedback on the event, I'd say this was yet another very successful one for Helen Pyre and Morgan!

 

Saturday night was an event at one of my favorite venues, Raver's Fantasy at Amazura Lounge. This was an Audiophiles' event, and DJ Bizarre's biggest one. I got to this one bright and early to watch the venue get ready for the show. For this event, there was some pretty cool stuff involved including an amazing lineup including straight from the UK, DJ Sc@r and Pikey!

 

The crowd slowly came in throughout the night, and the excitement continued to build. People kept coming in filling in the Amazura's space nicely.  It was so great to see everyone come out, it was also awesome seeing another gloving tourney go down. Electrik Graffiti hosts these competitions, and this time it was held in the gloving tent. Inside the tent a glover could go in to practice with a mirror, learn something new from more experienced glovers, and during the competition had the opportunity to win a brand new glove set. There were a surprising number of new glovers, some that had bought their gloves that day. In the end, Bagelz took the title for the night, with some fierce competition following in the top four.

 

 

 

The party went off without a hitch. Everybody was vibing well with each everybody, dancing, giving light shows, and a few cuddle puddles. The night was amazing and a great way to end my going out for the weekend. Big ups to all the promoters, producers, and the amazing people that help make everything happen in the scene.

PHOTOS:

HOLI NYC:

Paus3 - SET

Raver's Fantasy:

Ronnie C. - SET
Nate Valentine BlueRaven - SET
Delineation Digital Media - SET
Paus3 - SET

The end. [duh]

Glover's Spotlight: [MD] Master Handz

We're back with another Glover's Spotlight! This time we're here with one of the Mind Destroyers right here on the east coast, [MD] Master Handz!!!

Glad to have you with us today! How is everything?

I’m doing great, life has been treating me real well recently thanks for asking.


That's great, now let's start with some basic questions, how did you get the name Master Handz?

Well I’ll definitely say it took me a while to figure out a name for myself. I started thinking about something unique; something that I felt would really fit me. I was at the point of giving up when one day I started playing my favorite video game Super Smash Bros. Brawl; I’ve been obsessed with the series since it came out. I was a close friend’s house, his name is also Matt aka [MD] Matty Smiles another Glove on my team. As we were playing the game it hit me suddenly. “Hmm, hold on…there’s a floating glove as a Boss…Master Hand! Perfect!” The Z was added to the end to make it more unique and plural.


I like it man, but do you prefer people call you Matt or do you enjoy getting called by your glover name?

Naturally I’m used to people calling me by my actual name, and most people do, but there are times where I would like to be called by my glover name. I feel that once people start getting used to the idea of Master Handz, I feel that I’m being more recognized and respected as a glover and it makes me feel good about myself. I don’t mind if my closer friends simply call me by my name it doesn’t affect me, but when I’m out there in the rave scene doing my thing, I definitely want to be known as Master Handz.


Good stuff. Let me ask, what influenced your decision to start gloving?

Gloving for me started out with my long time friend Jamie McKay, and another friend Elias. I consider Jamie like family; she has always been a huge influence in my life. She’s been part of the rave scene for about 5 years now, and she took me to my first rave, Glow: Orange on March 23rd of 2011. I got the idea of gloving from YouTube videos and in the beginning of the month because I had already bought and brought a common beginners set, a prewired RGB set with blacked out gloves that you can find online basically at any rave site. When I was there I immediately fell In love with the scene, and watching my two friends glove and other glovers doing work, I quickly picked up tricks and started to learn the basics. It was an amazing feeling. After that I kept wanting to improve, started learning about the gloving scene, the endless imagination that comes with it, I started to fool around with my fingers everywhere I went, in school, on the bus, with friends, etc. it became natural to me. It’s a passion and a work of art and I’m very happy that I started raving and gloving when I did.

I see you joined a team already too. What factors contributed to you joining Mind Destroyers and not some other team?

Well to be honest, New York in my opinion wasn’t really too big on gloving when I very first started, so Mind Destroyers was the first team I had heard about locally. Another close friend Steven aka [MD] Cloud, the captain of Mind Destroyers was the one who introduced and initiated me onto the team. He was originally from Cali and I believe he was in NY visiting family. I met him one day at Finyl Fantasy 2 where a friend was celebrating her birthday. Me and Matty got a lightshow from him and I was amazed. I wanted to be on that level, heck I NEEDED to be on that level. As fate would have it not to long after that we met him again. Matty kept in contact with him and with our luck Cloud had permanently moved to New York and wanted to expand his team here. We were some of the very first people to be initiated, and after that it was an amazing experience and I’ve been able to learn so much since then.


Tell us a bit about your team, Mind Destroyers. Do you guys practice together often and are there any other teams you guys are close with?

Unfortunately the members of MD are somewhat all spaced out, so it’s been hard to establish an MD meet up with all the members present since we’ve all got our own busy lives to consider after all. But thank God we have raves every weekend which makes it easier to meet the others and then we’re able to trade lightshows and catch up. I usually hang out with [MD] Cloud, [MD] Matty Smiles, [MD] Dazey, and [MD] Mirage on a regular basis so it’s nice see and chill with a good amount of the team. As for other teams, Me and other members of MD have had fun trading and hanging out with team OWL (Obsessed With Lights) isn’t that right Supernova? Haha.


Yeah dude, haha our teams have had some pretty stellar gloving sessions in the past! My next question is about your gloving style. Are there certain moves you prefer to use in your shows?

I’ve loved to learn a little bit about everything, from Liquid, Tutting, Digits, Tunnels/Whips, Finger Rolls etc. As I’ve progressed with my gloving, I’ve learned that it’s just more natural for me to do Liquid, Tunnels/Whips and Finger Rolls, just about anything that’s creates a circular or fluid motion. It requires less thinking, and I feel it more when it comes to the music I listen to, which is mostly House and Trance. I’ve been currently working on digit moves and improving on more mechanical tricks to find a balance with everything I know, but yea Liquid, Tunnels and Whips are my personal favorite moves to use.


Awesome, do you think that gloving has changed you at all? Would you say you're more flexible or dexterous than you were before you started?

Well, it’s definitely given me a passionate hobby to focus on when I’ve got nothing else better to do haha. But in all seriousness, I don’t think it’s made me more flexible per se, but it’s given me a whole different perspective on how to use my hands and fingers. My friends and I have come up with ideas on how to curve, bend, and place our fingers in ways we would have never of thought of if we didn’t start gloving. The fact that I can personalize my own glove set with the colors and lights of my choosing to put on my fingertips makes things that much better. It’s an art style like no other.


I've got one last question for you I'm sure we're all dying to know: who do you look up to? Are there any Glovers that you try to mimic?

When I first started, I looked up to the more famous YouTube stars. Pro glovers like [PM] Gummy, [E] Sharky, [PM] Skittles, (AYO?) Anti, and (AYO?) Boo. More and more I watch their videos and they never cease to amaze me. Then when I started to improve and looked up more videos, I discovered amazing glovers such as (AYO?) Stunna, [SS] Physic, (AYO?) Mimik, (AYO?) Bluz and so many others. I do have a local favorite of mine who I always aspire to be like and that is my team captain [MD] Cloud, who takes body gloving and liquid to a level that I admire so much.

Sweet, I'll definitely have to look up some of these glovers now. Master Handz, thank you so much for joining us today! I'll let you get back to whatever it was that you were doing.. probably gloving! XD

Epic Party: Shut Up And Dance

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.

Time To Have Sme Fun! By: Ronnie C.

CT Represent! By: Paus3

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.

Sweet Atmosphere By: Smurf

Sexy Gogo Shadows By: Ronnie C.

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!

Some Eletrik Graffiti Scoodies By: Paus3

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.

Beautiful Ribbons of Color By: Ronnie C.

Gloving Upstairs By: Ronnie C.

Awesome Duo By: Smurf

Getting Bendy! By: Smurf

Holding The Universe By: Smurf

Cookie Streams By: Paus3

 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.

Afrika Bambaataa Spinning By: Ronnie C.

Bead for Kandi By: Paus3

Set List By: Paus3

Sick Hats from Method By: Paus3

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?

PHOTOS:

The Pros:
Ronnie C. Photography: Set 1//Set 2
Taylor Flash: Set 1//Set 2
Reptar Photography: SET
Epic Glow Wrm: SET


The Others:
Paus3: SET
Deblette: SET
Delineation Digital Media: SET
ThreeFourteen Media: SET

Want to see more of the party? Then check out Three Fourteen Media's video of the event!



Coming up this weekend, another Hi-5 Gallery, Finyl Fantasy 3, and Jungle Bungle!

A Land of Magic and Zombies

When you look on your upcoming events and check out what parties are coming up, the number of people attending can be one good way to tell if it's going to be a hit or not. Taking the extra step and seeing what the comments are like is a good indication to tell how many of those "yes" clicks will actually be there. From my experience, it's a mix between that and venue. The scene is almost always popping with hundreds of people coming out to dance and party, and for my first M.D. Productions event, Fairytale Massacre was off the hook!

RAGE! By: Ronnie C.

Note Boys Face... 'Nuff Said By: Ronnie C.

This party was at "The Cage", I was just there the week beforehand for Chaos, a Kingzly party. The scope of the night was very different from that party in terms of music played and people that came. You still had the cage which had quite a few different dancers at any given moment, two floors of pumping beats, and tons of people. The music was all EDM with some of the hottest DJ's in the mix. I personally got to sit in on everyone's set! It an important part of going into these events. You should know who is entertaining you.

Dirty Dan! By: Paus3

W@X By: Paus3

 You had the following DJs pumping music out:
SPRITE
AJAX BEATS
TOM ROGERS
GOBS THE ZOMBIE
GRIME SYNDICATE 
NOOMI RA VS RAY GUNNZ
GABY NOODLE 
W@X vs FATTIE FATZ 
GALVATRON
DIRTY DAN
JOHN BAS
HOW HARD vs WINK-E
DJ BIZZARE

The doors opened an hour late to this party, keeping party goers freezing outside and shafting
Gaby Noodle from the 1's and 2's. Whatever the issues were, it sucked worst for everyone that was there before original door time to be the first ones in. However, when the crowd started getting in, you could see the looks of excitement on everyone's faces. The lights were looking awesome from Power Trip, Morgan Freeman was in the house with the digital mapping on the walls, and the music was pumping, what's not to like?!

Tom Rogers By: Paus3

Music was hot, I was very excited to hear some trance with Tom Rogers (featured this week for the mix!), but the whole beginning of his set got f'ed up! For the first 20 min, the input was wrong from his gear, so they had to switch him over to the CDJs, and then he got his stuff popping. Even though a lot of his set was muffled, he's put it out exclusively to the readers of this blog!! ((COMING SOON!!))

This was a theme party, with people dressed up as either fairytale creatures and characters, or zombies. One thing I couldn't stand, the fairies. I mean literally, I kept getting smacked in the face by girls running around with these huge fake wings on their backs. I almost had my freakin eye poked out!! A few people went all out with their costumes though for their was a costume contest where the winner would receive a free tattoo from Heart of Brooklyn Tattoo! The winner was none other than Jevee who came in as the Queen of Hearts!

The Queen of Hearts By: Reptar

Tinker Bell By: Paus3

Gahhh So Awesome By: Paus3

Masquerade Beauty By Paus3

There were so many people in the house! As I was mentioning earlier, the people here were mostly the PLUR-full party goers, with a lot of fresh faces coming straight from the club scene. This was as opposed to Chaos where it was pretty much 50/50 with a lot of "bro" and "son" going on. I don't have a problem with that because when it comes down to it, all I feel is the PLUR, regardless of how people talk, dress or act. When we are at a party, we are all having a good time together, and I have yet to experience it differently. You also had UV body painting by Pixel, and a massage table with Batman! Always love seeing these guys around, there attractions always add more color and activity to the party!

D3bst3p and Batsy! By: Reptar

PLUR <3 By: Ronnie C.

Dance Your Ass Off By: Ronnie C.

Whaaaaat?! By: Paus3

 Now my favorite part, glovers!! There had to have been about 25 glovers that came down to Fairytale. Aside from the ones I already chill with, there were a bunch of new faces there as well. It's always really fresh to meet new people, but one really nice meet was with D3bst3p. If you don't know about her, well you are missing out! She keeps a site similar to this, writing about the scene, taking pictures, and not only that, but she gloves too! I spent a lot of time talking with her about the community, and then we traded shows. It's such a god feeling to share not only thoughts, but emotions, and that's what gloving comes down to, an electric display of emotion (EDE). 

Pretty Lights By: Ronnie C.

Mystical By: Reptar

Light Shows from the Cage By: Paus3

Yours Truly By: Paus3

Double Show Splendor By: Paus3

Wicked Cool By: Paus3

I actually brought my camera out to this one to continue learning more about photography, and I think I'm getting the hang of it! Out of 451 pictures, about 200 of them came out good enough to use in my official album. But I didn't want to just trash the other shots...so I created a slideshow to show them all, and walk you through the night!! 


I got this idea from one of the coolest people I've met on the scene, Sam Freund. He has made videos like this before, and it inspired me to try and do one myself. His are amazing, I mean, see for yourself! 

PHOTOS:


The Pros:
Ronnie C: SET
Taylor Flash: SET
Sam Freund: Coming Soon!
Reptar: SET


The Others:
Paus3: SET
Smurf: SET
Epic Image WRM: SET
D3bst3p: SET 1//SET 2


This was a huge success, so huge that the sequel is already in play!! FAIRYTALE MASSACRE 2 - THE MONSTERS REVENGE! And then coming up this weekend, Sonic the Hedgehog: Green Hill Zone!!

Dive Into The Deep End

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.

Helping Hands Makes Helping Hands By: Paus3

Welcome to the Spot By: Paus3

Nice Settings By: Paus3

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.

Enjoy Yourselves By: Paus3

Some of the Best Raving Moments By: Paus3

Reptar and Sam By: Paus3

That Guy By: Paus3

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.

Don't Swallow this Kandi By: Paus3

Dennis and his Sweet Set By: Paus3

Legion By: Paus3

Gan Dalf Creating Life By: Paus3

Pixel's Environment By: Paus3

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.

Taylor is Happy You Want to Help By: Ronnie C.

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.

Peace By: Ronnie C.

Jumpstyle By: Ronnie C.

This is How We Do 'Round Here By: Ronnie C.

 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.

I Don't Know How To Be Scared By: Ronnie C.

Lightshow Photobomb! By: Ronnie C.

The Cage! By: Ronnie C.

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!




PHOTOS:

The Pros:

Ronnie C: The Pictograph COMING SOON // Chaos
Taylor Flash: The Pictograph (portraits!)//Chaos
Reptar: COMING SOON
Sam Freund: The Pictrograph
Paus3: The Pictograph

Check Kingzly's next FREE party! Also this coming Friday, Fairytale Massacre!!

For more art shows at Hi-5, you have one a month!
February 3rd - Comic/Cartoons
March 2nd - UV/Blacklight Sensitive
April 6th - "Touch Me" Exhibit!

See you guys out on the scene!