Well, it went exactly as I would have predicted, if anybody had asked me beforehand. The turnout this time around was MUCH bigger than the one in December (I hear that there were around 400 attendees). Evidently, everybody who went the last time invited their friends along for the second one. The place was becoming intolerably crowded, up until they opened up the second half of Numbers at 11PM.
I only took two pictures (I was kind of busy), but they sure do tell the story. This one shows the crowd on the dance floor as it actually was, lit up by the flash on my camera. These guys were there to show off what they've got! I'm pretty sure that you, the guy reading this right now, would have fit in quite well, wouldn't you?
This next picture shows the crowd lit up by the club's lighting, and it gives a better representation of how it FELT to be there in the dizzying kaleidoscope, dancing with your shirt off, sweating, uninhibited and happy.
It was a VERY HOT PARTY. I'm a great community organizer, but it's simply not my overall goal to provide raunchy, sweaty, hot and intimate parties that bring out the howling horn-dogs. It's a great pleasure to see the men of CubClub (and Chris from the BearNight monthly dance parties) stepping up to the plate and doing it better and better every time.
As before, I only saw the organizers in brief blurs as they shot around the whole building, handling what needed to be handled so that the overall experience was the best possible for the largest number of people. That's what people do when they are committed to excellence. I also noticed a good quarter of the people who attended were unofficially "on duty". They were there with tails wagging, trying to figure out how they could help make the event a success. It was a community effort, and these folks were responding to leadership in its purest form.
So, what was it like?
It depends on your viewpoint. There was a group of guys from Los Angeles there, and they were NOT happy. They showed up in around $3,000 worth of Langlitz leather each, in three layers! I had very little on, and I was sweating like a P-I-G pig! They were distressed because there were women present. I didn't know what to say to make them feel better, and they left soon afterwards. I used to feel the same way, because all that I had ever known was the tiny sub-sub-culture that comprised "gay leathermen". We are all now shifting past that, out of being a sub-sub-culture, past sub-culture and into the larger culture, thanks to the Internet.
Everybody else that night was experiencing varying degrees of being high on the endorphins of Communal Joy. Those of us who have been attending many recent events already knew what to expect, so we relaxed right away. The new faces I saw (about half of the crowd) looked determined to figure out what was going on, so that they could mesh better with the rest of us.
As I've said before, the level of mutual trust is growing in our community. This shows up as mellow, unified and satisfied people attending every event. Nobody has to go into Self-Protective Mode, so nobody freaks out. Every time I approached somebody to invite them to get on my list, I'd say "Listen to the crowd. You can't fake that kind of happiness". Nobody could disagree with that.
The crowd was diverse as all hell, and the energy-level was wonderful. LOTS of happy chattering, lusty cruising, playful behaviors, and ecstatic dancing. I wandered around the party at the beginning, cracking my singletail whip to get the crowd's endorphins pumping. Then, I did some flogging, and Anthony took over the next shift after I was done. I really regret not having gotten some pictures of him in action - He's pretty-much the perfect example of the concept of "Flogging Topman".
I wish that I could have been in sixteen places at once, because I missed out on so much - there simply was no single focus of energy. There was a constant shifting of dynamics from place to place all night long. Spike was on the patio shining boots, with cigar-smokers gathered around. The dance-floors were crowded and jumping. DJ Shane Stiel provided exactly the kind of music that everybody wanted… I've ever seen him disappoint a crowd. The performers were numerous, raunchy-fun, and super-friendly. Everybody was on target, and nothing was left to chance.
In 2012, we have more choices than I've seen for decades; they are all REALLY GOOD CHOICES, and they keep getting better. We are greatly blessed by having lots and lots of good people pulling together to make our community a really welcoming, fun and playful space.
The next one will be at Numbers again, on Saturday, July 21, 2012 during Pride Weekend in San Diego. I will be providing more details as soon as I get them.
No comments:
Post a Comment