Mud, Mud, Hideous Mud

We sit in our study looking out onto a bright & sunny Sunday afternoon, not a hint of rain in the sky, rather a warm July day that we could have done with at the same time last week, rather a shower soaked Sunday & a muddy meet the order of that day. However with another seven to also review & report on, including a pack of prolific parties & some not quite so, it’s time to once again look back on “That Was The Week That Was”, this latest lament also covering our moment, our track & our tweet of the week. But we will also be saving a small space for some of the latest news of upcoming outings to watch out for, as well as providing links to the websites of those bars, clubs & events that we cover.

Service Latin Style

So, let’s get down to the detail and to Thursday first, Room Service leading the way with their pre-party for Casa Latina, although drawing on the D.J. talents of resident D.J.’s Fat Tony & Kris Di Angelis, who were joined by East End boy Dan Beaumont. However, with Casa’s Mauricio Ortiz & Naomi Ruiz on hand to balance out the Latino influence, it was clear the appearance of George Michael the previous week had attracted attention, Diu absolutely packed to the rafters, a queue of hopefuls outside desperate to get a piece of the audacious action. So, it seems that whatever style of Shindig Jodie & her team turn their hands to, in Room Service they can pretty much guarantee to terrific turnout, this week looking no different Paul Heron kick starts his Room Service residency, Severino picking up the second slot. More info on Room Service in London, as well as their Monday nighter in Ibiza, can be found by going to http://clubroomservice.com. Plus, don’t forget that if you are a Room Service key holder, then complimentary champagne is available until 11.30 p.m. each Thursday, now we like the sound of that!

They Did It

Across Soho at Lo-Profile and it seemed that Gigolo was also getting its fair share of the action, its “Do It” party attracting a healthy crowd of scene faces & socialites, while the amazing Aussie Terry Vietheer treated the turnout to a terrific set of tunes, this tremendous talent seemingly fitting the clubs style like a glove, he being followed by the mighty Jamie Head, a Lo-Profile/Profile favourite who ensured Gigolo gyrated right through till the 3 a.m. finish. Now, whilst it has been a while since we have made a personal appearance, our undercover reviewer has been making it down virtually every week and it certainly seems that David & L.a. Hart’s creation has found a following that will definitely see it remaining a feature of Thursday’s for a long time to come. And the next event on the calendar (Thu 28^th) may even see us gracing Gigolo with our presence, as Zach Burns is back, along with Guy Williams, a duo sure to score with the Soho social set, more info on this & much more out at http://gigolodisco.com.

Soho Society Set

Moving to Friday and the usual suspects swung into action, Onyx drawing breath before a double bill of birthday bashes at Area, celebrating 2 whole years in the business, while up in Soho, it was Society at Lo-Profile with Nick Evans & D’Johnny on the decks that reported the best turnout across a host of other venues making hay now that Barcode has closed. But it was the alternative bights that were really doing the business, all inclusive & generally gender bending gorgeousness Club Wotever, taking over The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, to celebrate its 8^th birthday, very much kick starting a weekend of anniversary’s, promoter Ingo telling us that the night went down a storm, especially with the theme being “Carry On Wotever”, everybody did!! Then, sprinting across to the East End and the lads into lads club, Fitladz, made the move from Vauxhall to uber cool underground outfit East Bloc, the switch from west to east attracting a horny set of boys from far & wide, the underground nature & feel of East Bloc working really well, while another club on the move was Bodyshakers, which now finds itself at The Brixton Clubhouse with resident D.J. Steve Thomas, the unique roof top style of this south London gaff adding a new dimension to Steven Geller’s club creation. With the momentum that Friday’s gained earlier on in the year seeming to wax & wane a little, to choice of where to be & be seen has become quite diverse, but as they say, variety is the spice of life, so check out the following websites for info on happenings this coming week, http://loprofile.com, http://eastbloc.co.uk, http://thebrixtonclubhouse.com, http://thervt.org.uk. & http://fireclub.co.uk/gayparties, one highlight to watch out for will be the second in Onyx’s “Double Bill” of birthday celebrations, the club being transformed into a beach oasis & welcoming special guest P.A. Kathy Brown.

Casa Carwash Colossus

Saturday saw Vauxhall standing under the scene spotlight the most, not least that there were two birthday celebrations, club of colour Bootylicious celebrating 10 years in business, opening its doors at Colosseum & attracting many of its longstanding regulars along with some new faces too. Then there was Barcode, this venue on Albert Embankment that took the scene by storm when it launched 5 years ago, throwing an anniversary celebration that certainly packed in the punters, although having sent in our undercover reviewer, it seemed that the birthday element was a little lacking (check out our review at http://discomatt.com/web/2011/07/reviews-birthday-bamboozle-barcode-5th-anniversary-saturday-16th-july-bite-size-review/). But the plaudits for us had to go to Casa Latina, which held its second showing at Fire and had the venue absolutely rammo with a magical mix of drop dead gorgeous Latino’s, club kids, muscle hunks & everything else in between. With a Brazilian based main room D.J, team that included Leandro Kloppel, & DouGuim, it was new boy Junior Moura that really tipped our scales with a superb set, while this “Super Carwash” event saw one of the best productions in Fire we have seen, no doubt as a result of in Mauricio Ortiz influence, while the lighting in the hands of Dorn Andrei was simply spectacular. Having had so much more to say about this Casa colossus, we lauded our full review treatment on the night, which you can check out at http://discomatt.com/web/2011/07/reviews-junior-jamboree-casa-latina-super-carwash-saturday-16th-july-full-size-review/.

Homo Headliners

With Sunday set to be dominated by Lovebox, which in itself was dominated by the good old British summertime, we made our mind rule our heart, so skirted around Beyond which reported an average turnout, many of the Casa lot thinking the same as us, indeed with this third day in the music festival over at Victoria Park having a distinctly gay influence, it seemed that the world & his wife were heading east on Sunday afternoon. However, with a completely rain soaked Saturday leaving the park a Hippo’s haven, it was definitely mud, mud, hideous mud, as slipped & slided around Lovebox while the likes of The Scissor Sisters, Marc Almond, Boy George, Kelis, Robyn & The Sugarbabes performed. But the gay influence also extended to Horse Meat Disco, Trailer Trash and the highlight for us, as Circus pretty much stole the show, not least with that eight piece orchestra on stage, truly amazing. Now, we did report on our account of Lovebox with our special reflection, “Music & Mayhem In The Mud” at http://discomatt.com/web/2011/07/reviews-music-mayhem-in-the-mud-lovebox-sunday-17th-july-special-review-reflection/, while this Sunday we will be swapping the mud for the water, as Later takes to the seas, well the Thames actually, with its “Summer Boat Party” during the afternoon, while its a new club launch in the evening as Blessed takes over from Booster, more details of both coming up in the first of three Weekend Focus posts this week.

Tasty Monday Trap

Monday through Wednesday was pretty much a case of same old, same old, Popcorn riding the popularity stakes at heaven on Monday night with another packed out student affair, Citrus doing the pseudo Popcorn pre-party bit at Ku Bar, while it was eyes down for a full house at The RVT, as their final bingo session for the summer took place. Tuesday’s were given away to Vauxhall with Ashley Ryder’s “Strip Academy” at The Eagle, while Bar Wotever were still recovering from a severe birthday hangover following the clubs birthday bash the previous Friday, Wednesday being all about the fantabulous “Shinky Shonky”, Boogaloo Stu’s madcap meet gaining popularity by the week, the combination of pop-tastic music, game shows & performances making it one of the most fun-filled parties of the week. However, while it seemed business as usual for many, there was a new club launch,  Lo-Profile in Soho playing host to Bear Trap, the creation of Manu Cartegenero of Cafe Ole fame, the evening attracting a smattering of scene faces supporting the launch, filling the gap left by The Cave (also a Manu creation). With D.J. residents Ben Jamin, Phil Marriott & Leonardo Glovibes rotating on a weekly basis, time will tell whether the club will survive the ravages of the current dip in the scene, but with the might of Gaydar behind it, there is no reason to suggest otherwise. For more details on these week night happenings, check out websites http://loprofile.com, http://eaglelodon.co.uk & http://ku-bar.co.uk.

10 Years On

Now to some news and this week, Thursday (28^th) in fact, sees The Shadow Lounge celebrate 10 years as one of the Soho scene’s smartest & sophisticated spots with their “official” birthday party which looks like drawing in the who’s who of the gay celebrity scene, very much reflective of its first 10 years. However, with doors re-opening tonight (Monday 25^th) when free (yes you heard us right) membership will be on offer, plus a 50% reduction on drinks prices, tomorrow seeing “OMFG” return, those free membership still up for grabs, while new Wednesday night affair “Balearic Beats” completes the mid-week line-up. With more info on their weekend parties coming up in our new “Bar Bites & Club Cuts” newsletter later this week, you can check on all the happenings down at the even smarter & sophisticated new era Shadow lounge at http://theshadowlounge.co.uk.

Casting our eyes forward a few months, to October actually, when The Wig Party takes London by storm once again, although with many more celebrities wanting to get in on the act, it seems the organisers are aiming high with this year’s party, a new much swankier venue already lined up (think Mayfair & you’re getting close) which will fit the bill more than Cafe De Paris. Mind you having been made privy to the details as far back as last November, we have been asked to keep it under wraps for now, although as the wig parade come pageant is likely to be bigger & better than before, the team are already asking for entrants, details along with the £30 ticket purchases available at http://wigparty.org.

Blessed In The Chapel

Now, we gave a hint towards a new club night down Vauxhall way this coming weekend, “Blessed” being joined by another the following Friday, as Fire kick back with a new men only night called “Le Boy”, the name kind of suggesting a Rudeboiz style shindig, especially when you consider that the co-promoter of this new night is Kian Lee Thompson (aka D.J. Devilish). But none of it to be honest, as the night is much more of a music & macho meet rather than the porn & filth of the former, the D.J. line-up pretty grown up too, Paul Heron, Gonzalo Rivas & Hifi Sean taking up the musical mantles for the launch next Friday (5^th August). We will be combining both “Blessed” & “Le Boy” in one of those Weekend Focus reports we deluded to earlier, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

So, we are on the home straight, meaning it’s time for our moment, our track & our tweet of the week, the moment (or is that moments?!?) having to go to the “Porridge Woman”, our Alyson making us jump out of our skin at Mile End tube station on the way to Lovebox last Sunday, it coming as no surprise that Steve Pitron was behind the ploy to get us trapped in her amorous arms & stare, the tweet of the week coming from the same day, a few minutes later in fact when we said “…Disco Matt has arrived at Lovebox & is with Steve, Celso, Pabs, Jess & a very amorous Alyson who keeps undressing us with her eyes. Papa bear is scared…”. For this and many more Nibble Size review tweets, you can tune in live or simply follow us by going to http://twitter.com/discomatt.

Review Nibbling

As for our track of the week, well there were actually a handful, a couple that made it right here in the last two weeks, so we had to choose another which we hope to include in our “Autumn Arousers” podcast, that is of course if our “Summer Scorchers” release actually gets to a final pressing, two attempts already taking the ten track compilation back to the mixing board or maybe even the scrap heap. However, in the Roy Davis Jr’s hit, “Enjoy The Ride”, we have a track that not only sends superb sensations up our spine, but is really appropriate to our Sunday of fairground fun at Lovebox, the James Talk & Ridney remix so very addictive, not least the amazing vocals by Kaye Fox, the full 6 minute version available to listen to at http://youtube.com/watch?v=yL2hBGwhc4E.

Right, that’s it for another “that Was The Week That Was” review/report, leaving us to remind you that if you want us to shout out for your favourite bar, club or event that rocked & rolled in the coming week, then plaster our Facebook wall with your details at http://facebook.com/discomattlondon or drop us a line at matt@discomatt.com.  As for our upcoming activity, well its Shadow Lounge’s 10^th Birthday this Thursday (28^th July), which means we might swoop on Gigolo & Room Service too, while Friday sees the second Onyx birthday session, definite other dates being Later’s “Summer Boat Party” on Sunday afternoon (31^st July) & then new club launch “Blessed” on Sunday night. So if you see us out, come say hi, but remember it’s good to “Go There! Be There!” (DISCO MATT)

Done & Dusted