Meanwhile, down here
in the Sixth Borough—aka South Beach.... There's this Sunday night
party called CLICK which happens in the lower reaches of
Washington—Sixth and Washington, to be exact—in the same environs
where so much of the notorious and fabled South Beach party life of
the 90's happened (and for those keeping score, it’s the same space
which once housed Living Room, Butter, and Bash….)
And this party CLICK promoted by this young hottie named Omar
Gonzalez gets all the elements right.
The club is now called Dek23 and, as with so many of those clubs
along lower Washington, it's something of a extra-long shoebox—with
a secondary back room/outdoor patio with a second sound system, bar,
dance floor, couches, banquettes, etc (along with that BALMY South
Beach air—and a half-moon hanging just out of reach....)
Out in front are the requisite South Beach velvet ropes and
stanchions and glama-fierce door person with clipboard—and a small
line of South Beach hotties at midnight when we arrive.
Inside, in the main room, it's dark and sexy and YOUNG. And
fashionable. The kids WEAR CLOTHES. And on the boards it's DJ Roxx—who's
at least fifteen—but HE KNOWS HIS MUSIC! He sets up a beat system
which proves to be so contagious and infectious that even though
there's carpeting—GAG! GAG! GAG!—on the floor, there's not one
person in the room who can resist. We're talking mixing—and
overlaying—and kids werqing the banquettes—and spontaneous go-go
boyz on the boxes—and shows! These are shows in the spirit of 1994
South Beach. We're talking Elaine Lancaster doing “Pride (A Deeper
Love)”—which doesn't interrupt the night’s flow—because these kidz
aren't into standing around and facing just any one person. Elaine
does her number with a spotlight following her—and DJ Roxx keeps it
going, mixing in “Beautiful Liar”—and the flow goes on.
A little later, there's another show by another dq named Adora (she
and Elaine are charter members of SoBe night life—and they’re still
so professional without one ounce of bad attitude)—who gets the
spotlight to follow her from box to box to banquette to stage as
“She Werks (Hard For the Money.” And while both of the dq
songs/numbers are throwbacks, there's nothing at all retro about DJ
Roxx's set which keeps the boyz, the kidz, the real girls, happy and
smiling and grooving and moving.
We didn't leave until four (leaving Doug and Josh with a new hottie
named Willie) and there was an after-party in Miami at Discotekka
that we skipped—because, the truth was, we were werked. But we
walked home the three blocks feeling like we'd just glimpsed a bit
of what made South Beach so wildly popular way back when—and why
it's still werking now.
Omar Gonzalez has a hit with CLICK. Don’t miss being a part of the
legend.
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