noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - noiZe Magazine Issue 59 February 2009 - Index

RITES XXX: THE BLack PaRTy
STILL gOIng WILD aFTER aLL THESE yEaRS
Thousands of years ago at the
Spring Equinox, men would go into
the woods wearing animal skins to
dance ecstatically to drumbeats.
They would remain there all night
to ensure a good planting season.
That’s how Bruce Mailman, the
impresario behind the original Saint,
conceived the Black Party. Whether
or not Druids actually took to the
forest, Mailman must have tapped
into something deep in the collective
gay unconscious. Because after
thirty years, the Black Party remains
a unique experience. Ask anyone
who’s had the luck to attend. This
is the modern ritual of men (and
women!) who annually dress in animal
skins and dance through the
night in a secret location.
This is much more than a typical
Circuit party. On the sprawling
dance floor of New York City’s
Roseland Ballroom, you feel part of
a tribe. The Black Party is a celebration
of sexuality, carnality, music and
freedom.
Stephen Pevner, who produces the
party with his Saint-at-Large team
working out of a loft space in the
East Village, took over Mailman’s
role in 1996. A distant cousin of
Mailman’s, he had the good fortune to
attend the closing of the original Saint
in 1988. That party, which lasted three
days, has become legendary, as was
the Saint itself. Mailman took the old
Fillmore East, a rock concert venue, and
spent millions of dollars to transform it
into the ultimate disco, with a sound system,
lighting and dance floor that have
never been equaled.
When the Saint closed for good, the
Saint-at-Large produced parties around
the city before finally settling on
Roseland, a former dance hall turned
rock venue with the largest dance floor
in New York. Every year, Pevner and
his team transform what is essentially
a “black box”—an empty shell of a
space—into a state-of-the-art nightclub.
The light shows and sound quality rival
the original club—or any extant club, for
that matter.
“We basically have one day to do everything,”
says Guy Smith, who has been
the Black Party’s lightman for the past
several years. “Everything has already
been planned out to the minute: set
decorations, talent, lighting, sound. It’s
all planned on paper. It’s a one-night
event, with no corporate sponsorship,
42
Happy Am I! Healthy Am I! holy Am I!
by Steve Weinstein
Courtesy of Robert Zash