noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - noiZe Magazine Issue 57 August 2008 - Index

could spread his wings and fly free
around this, his latest nest.
Freedom was the operative word.
Freedom and Pride. Onstage,
body-painted thong dancers shook
their undulating butt cheeks painted
to reveal eyes. Blinking, winking
bootys, bumping for the boyz. And
while Rihanna sang That Song, an
aerialist dangled on chains above
the crowd, circling and swiveling,
climbing and sliding, his legs a blur
of scissor-like crisscrosses.
Perhaps it might be easy for some
to take all this wonder and pandemonium
for granted—and to them
we say, find a pair of newbies and
see it anew through their eyes: two
boyz from Oz, for example, who
had flown from the Antipodes to
Gotham. To see their delight was
to experience Dorothy as she
approached the Emerald City.
There are few things as inspirational
as Pride in New York. And for the
past eight years, Alegria Pride has
made itself an integral part of that
package. You go to Alegria Pride
expecting to see everyone—and
you do, from porn stars and South
Beach glamazons, to artists like
Quentin Elias and all those beautiful
out-of-town boyz, as well as
Manhattan’s finest and firmest. In
looking over the packed floor—
boyz kissing, boyz laughing, boyz
with their arms in the air, boyz get-
69
Healthy Am I! Happy Am I! holy Am I!
ting down, getting nasty, and doing
everything that we do so much better
than anyone—you can't help but radiate.
Are we proud? Damn straight. In
the face of adversity, we know how to
celebrate who we are.
It wasn’t only happening in the Main
Ballroom. Down in the Marlin Room,
Eddie Elias was turning it out for a
floor that would count as a major club
in itself anywhere else. Up on the
Mezzanine, Dudu Marquez spun a set
with a Brazilian contingent working it.
All over Webster Hall, as we roamed
the warren of rooms and corridors, we
ran into happy boyz, up and down the
staircases. More than a few said, “We’re
here to support Ric, because we love
Alegria.”
When Sena himself danced up on the
stage late Sunday morning, he was
acknowledging that setbacks happen for
a reason. By the end of the long weekend,
this party and the following night
Champions, which magically relocated
from Pacha to the gorgeous Capitale,
seemed to be saying that good things
come to those who work for them.
After all the improvements at Webster
Hall, if there's one certainty that's worth
placing, it's that Alegria Casino on
Labor Day Weekend will come in as
a winner. With Tony Moran and Abel
working the beats and Ross Berger on
lights to implement the creative genius
of Ric Sena, Alegria Casino holds
four aces.