Brooklyn Queer Parties
That's My Jam happiness. Photo by Syd London.
On a Saturday night this September, in the usually quiet Gowanus area of Brooklyn, Degraw Street was crowded with queers. Lil Mama’s “Lipgloss” boomed from the front of new venue Littlefield, and the line to get in to the bar trailed down the block. It was just past midnight, and the party was already over capacity. Everybody had come out to celebrate That’s My Jam.
For their one year anniversary, the queer party jumped from their home at Sputnik bar in Bed Stuy to this larger venue near Park Slope. Inside, queers in the most broad and awesome use of the word–dykes, gay boys, drag queens, trannies, and a smattering of straight (or at least straight looking, if such a thing even exists anymore)–were all chatting, drinking, and dancing. DJ Tikka Masala shared the turntables with DJ Sirlinda, and the fierce songs kept everyone moving and sweating. In between performances by Yalini Dream and Shedick (a trio of drag queens that elicited shouts of To Wong Foo! from the audience), Trent Brooks, who started the party with Tikka, gave fond thank yous, and shared a little bit of TMJ (as it’s affectionately known) history.
“Vic Black from Sputnik approached me during a benefit I was DJ-ing there,” says Tikka on how That’s My Jam came about. “He’s a really influential figure in the local underground Hip Hop scene, so his interest made me wonder if I might have something. I had been thinking about starting a party, and Sputnik’s sound system is really fun. I asked Trent to partner up with me on this project because we worked nightlife together, lived together (across the street from the bar, a year prior to starting the party), and knew each other well enough to know we could get through difficult situations together without unproductive friction. We’re great business partners because we’re great friends.”
The party hit big when it was covered in Time Out New York in 2008 as the new best queer party around. Off the beaten track of regular party neighborhoods like Williamsburg, That’s My Jams’ Bed-Stuy location catered to a diverse crowd of party loving queers. Photos in that particular Time Out New York spread showed a dance floor nothing like segregated gay and lesbian parties could have ever dreamed of.
Tikka and Trent also have made a great effort to promote That’s My Jam as mixed-queer and all-inclusive. “I haven’t been to every single LGBT party around town, but I can tell you for sure that we do specifically put effort into making sure that people feel included, whoever they are, and wherever they are at in their lives,” Tikka explains. “Our programming and staff reflect the musical interests and cultural backgrounds of the folks we want to see on the dance floor (as many different kinds of folks as possible), and we think people respond to that effort and idea by participating with us regularly. We make sure not to intentionally or unintentionally alienate anyone in our messaging.”
For anyone who’s ever cringed at the divided listings of lesbian bars and gay boy clubs, the idea of an all inclusive mixed party is a breath of fresh air. Building on what people have found at mixed bars like Metropolitan in Williamsburg, parties like That’s My Jam, the short lived Secret Faggot, and newer parties Rumours and Gay Face are finally giving queers of all stripes something awesome to do on the weekends. “Folks are throwing more parties in general and really taking it upon themselves to create their own scenes,” says Tikka. “It seems like people want some diversity on all fronts, gender, class, orientation, etc. so we just did our best to make it cool for everyone by trying our best to represent everyone and invite as many people as possible. I think TMJ encourages people to start their own thing, in their own way.”
One new party, Rumours, was born of Marisa Suarez-Orozco aka DJ Marimacha and DJ Tanner aka Jenna Weiss-Berman’s desire for a more varied mix of party music. “We were sick of going out and hearing the same Top 40’s jams over and over,” says Marisa. “Jenna and I shared a passion for post-punk, new wave and disco–which is also great dance music–and wanted a venue to be able to hear what we loved. She was already a DJ and I had wanted to get into it, so we decided to collaborate and put something together.”
The name Rumours – one part Fleetwood Mac, and one part “small town gay bar” – quickly came to have its own attractive image. “I’m a graphic designer, and wanted to put an effort in to branding our party to give it a specific look and feel. I fell in love with the artist Patrick Nagel’s illustrations, because they were so 80’s and portrayed strong sexy women and felt very queer, and they also said ‘Party.’ I collaborated with another designer, Cherlyn Russo, and designed fliers, posters and found a venue and started a party.” Happening now in the Annex above Public Assembly, Rumours boasts a queer crowd as eclectic as its music, making for yet another rad party for queers of all kinds to dance into the wee hours of the morning.
Tikka Masala maintains that music, at the heart of That’s My Jam, is part of what makes their party so inclusive. “It’s important to have labels and safe spaces,” she notes, “but when it’s time to dance I think this party really does bring people together for the music. Trent and I wanted a non identity branded party so we based it around the music (Hence That’s My Jam), and now all kinds of people are responding to it and things feel inclusive.” And the benefits of throwing a queer dance party? “Seeing hundreds of sexy sweaty queers jumping to the music is alright with me,” she says. “Making a killer party happen with some dear friends is pretty rewarding.”
Next on the party horizon: Tikka Masala and Sputnik bar are collaborating on a weeknight venture called Wednezgays. “I’m hoping it will be a cool place for people in the neighborhood to hang out on Wednesday nights, as well as being a spot where newer DJ’s can get some practice,” Tikka explains. “It will be more laid back than TMJ, but I’m hoping it will create some local connections for people.”
With the boundless talent and energy of the queer community right now, one can expect and hope to see all of these parties celebrate many more anniversaries to come.
Courtney Gillette is a writer, educator, illustrator, and lover of
milkshakes. Her writing has appeared in various anthologies, lit mags,
and web zines, including gomag.com, Too Shy To Stop, Tom Tom Magazine,
Bitch, No, Dear, and the Lambda award winning anthology The Full Spectrum. Recently she became a Literary Death Match Champion. Her most favorite thing in the world is rock camp for girls. She lives in Brooklyn, and rides a sweet blue bicycle. You can find her at http://courtneygillette.wordpress.com.
There’s also a great mixed-queer party in San Francisco called “Stay Gold” (last Wednesdays at The Makeout Room). Are there other places where this is happening, or is it strictly a NY-SF phenomenon?
[...] The Queerist for the skinny on how these rad queer dance parties came. You can check out the piece here. And hopefully, once the GREs are said and done (…so….close) I can go out and shake a [...]
[...] queer dance party scene of Brooklyn. This fall I wrote an article about this very scene for The Queerist, citing a recent surge of mixed queer parties dotting the borough. Emphasis here on mixed queer [...]