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N.Y. Scene Summer 2012

Oh hey there. I haven’t written one of these since Pride. As you know, I’ve been documenting the most important anthropological study of queer women in the 21st Century, but now that Ilene and the Magical Elves have gone into hibernation and I have a little bit of free time, I’m going to highlight a few of the happenings around town over the summer. There’s been a bit of a changing of the guard in the NYC party scene. While some of the more well known NYC promoters have exited the racket or scaled back their events, a new crop of young party promoters have burst onto the scene.

Probably the biggest opening was the launch of Glossy, a new Wednesday night after work event by DJ Whitney Day, who over the last two years has spun her way NY Giants ticker tape parade after the team’s Super Bowl victory. After gaining a sizeable following, there were only two choices left: become a cult leader or become a party promoter. Whitney Day chose the latter.

The launch brought in hundreds of women ready to take advantage of the top shelf open bar between 7-8 and the banging beats. When the Union Square Lounge abruptly closed in June, there was a dearth of options for women on Wednesday nights, and Glossy breezed in to fill the void at exactly the right time.

The ladies were poppin’ bottles all night long. Lesbians actually opening their wallets to pay for bottle service? Crazy, right? And hey, look who showed up! Amanda Leigh Dunn from the Real L Word and Kim Stolz.

Photos courtesy of Time Out New York. The rest of the photo set can be found here.

Glossy is held every Wednesday night at Studio 21 at 59 West 21st Street, right across the street from a familiar venue, Slate Lounge, which hosts Truck Stop. It looks like West 21st Street is rapidly becoming NYC’s version of N. Robertson Blvd. in West Hollywood, eh?

Another party that has just been launched is Queer and Utter Bedlam, a semimonthly Tuesday night queer party headed by Truck Stop host MC Specs. Said Specs, “I want people in the queer community to be able to come to a space that showcases their work and shows off the achievements that they have made.” At the last Queer and Utter Bedlam, local sex toy house New York Toy Collective and queer jewelry makers set up booths as DC transplant DJ Mo spun hip hop favorites. Truck Stop dancer Kayce Gogo was dancing on the bar, and a special drink called “pussy juice” was served, although I opted for Jameson.

The rest of the gallery can be found here.

The next Queer and Utter Bedlam is September 18, and to find out where it is being held, sign up for their Facebook group.

Rounding out the trifecta of the new Manhattan party scene is Friday night queer party Hot Rabbit, which has been buzzing since its inception last year, picking up a loyal and growing following – and hot deejays like JD Samson and of course, Whitney Day. Having outgrown its old space, Hot Rabbit has moved to Monster Bar at 80 Grove Street in the West Village, attracting a large crowd of lesbians, gay boys and queers of every stripe.

Hot Rabbit is held every Friday night at Monster – rain, shine, or frog plagues.

Speaking of JD Samson, check out Scissor Sundays, her Sunday tea dance at the Rusty Knot, which also attracts a diverse queer crowd.

More photos of Scissor Sundays here.

NYC gay ladies often start their Sunday festivities at Scissor Sundays before migrating to Maggie C‘s flagship party at the Maritime Hotel, Stiletto, which just celebrated its 4th year anniversary on July 29th. Some photos are below.

Here are some other notable queer and/or lesbian events that graced NYC over the summer. First, Brooklyn party Hey Queen! held a queer walk off, which started out silly and Zoolander-esque but rapidly turned into a deliciously depraved sideshow. Even the winner of the most over-the-top queer sideshow of all, Miss Lez 2010 Drae Campbell – in the green specs, was beside herself.

Check out this crazy dude licking and sucking on the toes of the judges.

And whoa, look at the tatas on this mama.

Mama’s name is Pearl, and she took home the gold. The entire photo set is here.

And of course there is Old Faithful, semi monthly lesbian fiesta TruckStop at Slate Lounge, which changed it up and added some new dancers. Oh la la!

But wait! There’s more! Missing The Real L Word already? Come check out Somer Bingham‘s band Clinical Trials at Slate Lounge on October 5 at a fundraiser! The community is coming together to raise funds for Jason Hill’s top surgery. You may recognize Jason as the greeter for pretty much every NYC lesbian party in the last few years. He used to go as “Jazzy,” and since his name change, he has also removed the ridiculous mohawk from his head. Aha! Now you remember! Clinical Trials will be taking the stage at 10:45pm. MC Specs is hosting and a few of the Truck Stop dancers will be performing as well. Be there!

All photos taken by Grace Chu.

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