Boys, Joys and "White" Noise

It might just lose me my license to practice homosexualism to admit this, but I have never been to a circuit party in my life.  And now I am probably nearing the age where I would look foolish even trying to fit in.

I have (coincidentally) missed both Miami's Winter Party and Palm Springs' White Party by only a week each.  And while a friend once tried to take me to one of the events for DC's Cherry party, he had gotten inaccurate information about the venue, and we ended up having to go elsewhere.

"When Boys Fly," currently in rotation on "Here! TV," is probably the next best thing for those of us who were either too directionless, too uninterested, too scared or just plain too skeeved out by these bass-thumping, drug-fueled, bacchanalian rites of gay passage.

The documentary follows a group of friends at the aforementioned White Party – not a commentary on the ethnicity of the attendees, despite appearances – presenting a realistic portrait of the highs and lows of the often chemically enhanced revelry.

But if there was an agenda in Stewart Halpern and Lenid Rolov's desert tale of love, lust and and lewdness, I couldn't find it.  Instead, I saw a story about boys who came, partied and made mistakes – but, above all, had fun.

Many screen captures and a lengthy video clip, most of which is NSFW, after the jump ...

[Watch video – 20:09, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 20:09, WMV format, low bandwidth]

Comments

[kipp]

Yo Mal,

If you change the "_blank" in the pop-up script for the gallery images above to "circuitPic" then all the new pictures will re-use the same pop-up window and your loyal readers won't have to close fifty windows when we finish looking at the gallery. Just a tip from a man in the business.

[Queer Conservative]

You say "bass-thumping, drug-fueled, bacchanalian rites" like it's a bad thing.

[James]

A former boss told me the White Party was played out. According to him the Black Party was the only circuit party worth the time. Being to neither, I have no dog in the fight. What have you folk heard?

peace

[Josh]

About the age thing. You're like 35, right? Andrew Sullivan, who is hundreds of years old, still proudly goes to circuit parties. If you really want to try one, just go with your husband and have fun.

[Malcontent]

Kipp: Thanks, I'll give it a try. Instead of hard-coding, I normally just go with the default settings in the Typepad interface, which is pretty pathetic.

Josh: Sullivan is still at the circuit parties? Yeesh, another reason to stay home.

[Chad]

With the exception of Brandon, that's 20 minutes of exactly what's wrong with the gay community.

[Dan Gonzales]

XGW Dan here. Don't feel bad I'll join your society of queer bloggers who have never been to a circuit party.

[Malcontent]

I've always been able to have fun with good music, friends and maybe a little booze.

[Malcontent]

Kipp: No dice. I think the code is Java or something beyond my grasp.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Oh my God, we have to be licensed to practice? :)

Seriously, I've been to one, and that was Fireball 2005 at Chicago's Union Station. Not bad, but I could have had a lot more fun blowing the price of admission on things other than that -- and not had to drive three people strung out on X back to the condo in the middle of a snowstorm.

I knew it was a lost cause when I was wishing they'd turn off the laser show so I could get a better view of the detail work around the ceiling.

[Dan]

And unless you guys have an open relationship going on, I'd steer clear of the circuit crowd. Never been to the WP, but was on one of those atlantis cruises last summer. Never been propositioned by so many coupled guys in my life. I'm not a homewrecker. Gotta include the spouse. So long as he's cute :)

[hughman]

i've been here and this video is the most accurate representation of the uselessness of these circuit events. all the drama, the pain, the emotional problems are all obviously effects of the drugs. when i look at this, i just thank god i've no interest in this realm of gay life anymore.

[Craig Ranapia]

Meh... Looks like Animal House with better production values. Sorry if I sound hideously uptight, but I guess the party circuit isn't so glam the day after when you end up driving your tweaking flatmate and his bleeding arse to the ER.

[Anthony]

I'm a veteran of these parties and after 5 years of going to them I have to say that I have had a lot of fun, made some great friends, and the only injury was a nosebleed one time.

Most of my experiece was at Black and Blue in Montreal, and Pride parties in Toronto and Montreal - so this may be a bit limited. I wouldn't trade it in.

From the outside there seems to be two requirements: youth and drugs. I can say catagorically that neither is true. I have met men in their 50s at these parties so 35 is still a spring chicken, and even though drugs will enhance the lights and sound I have friends (admitedly very few) who don't do drugs at these parties.

I think it's one of those things that you should try once, especially if you can scam free tix. A big blogger like you ought to be able to use his charms on that front ;)

[Made In Brazil]

I guess I have never been to one either, unless Gay Pride qualifies as circuit party.

[Tom]

I still like the White Party in Palm Springs. I go to their pool parties and daytime dances. It's also a good gym goal. Last year my partner and I set the alarm clock to go to the after hours party. When it when off, we looked at each other, pretended to dance in bed to the song on the radio and went back to sleep. zzzzzzzzzzzzz ah, marriage.

[Jamie]

This type of thing is so foreign to me. I think Jon was absolutely right to tell Todd to fuck off. How condescending to say he was trying to "wean" Jon. What an ass.

I'm very much a "Brandon."

[MP]

As a recovered party fixture, that made me simultaneously cringe and wax nostalgic. I still get the urge to go out to the Black Party or Black & Blue every couple years, but at 35, I can't imagine summoning the stamina to travel to Miami or Palm Springs for consecutive days of parties. Mal, give Black Party a whirl - it's just one night in NYC and a pretty "diverse" crowd. I'd happily be Virgil to your Dante ;)

[Malcontent]

"Dante"? So which Circle of Hell would that put me in, exactly? :-)

[Frank IBC]

Hey, that "twink" in photo #11 (third row, second from left) definitely isn't in his 20s. There's hope for us "old farts" after all. :)

[Frank IBC]

And that's definitely more than a 32" waist in #10. I guess I don't need to go on a one-month fast now.

[sonicfrog]

Never been to one. I did come out, for the most part, in San Diego (it was a long process), so there were parties everywhere, if that was your thing. I thought about going to one, but never had the money. The sex part sounded great, but I always had a low tolerance for drunk / drugged out people. They're annoying. So I never felt I missed anything.

PS. It would have been cool if Jon and Brandon would have connected.

[Malcontent]

I guess I should have answered my own question about hell: It would probably be Circle II.

[MP]

LOL. Well, Virgil also escorted Dante through Purgatory so Seventh Terrace is really where the party's at..."Sodom and Gomorrah!!" ;-]

[kipp]

Mal,

The code is javascript - but you don't have to know it to fix the problem. Just open the code for this entry in a text editor and do a find and replace:

find: window.open(this.href, '_blank'

replace with: window.open(this.href, 'circuitPic'

I would guess that you didn't put single quotes around the word 'circuitPic' when you replaced '_blank'.

If you don't know what I mean when I say "open the code for this entry" then nevermind. Otherwise it is a very simple change - as long as you make sure to put single quotes around the changed word.

You can email me about this if it's still a problem (and if you actually care). I imagine you'll be doing more galleries like this and that simple change makes them alot more user friendly.