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As the song from
Chicago has it, “The name on everybody’s lips is…Ana Paula.” Ever
since her North American debut a year ago, the Brazilian bombshell
has been rocketing through the nightlife galaxy, igniting dance
floors from Montreal to Miami, New York and Toronto—and her M2 debut
in Manhattan was no exception.
On an autumn holiday weekend when the boyz were scattered
everywhere, marching in D.C. for the Equality March, and in Philly
for Blue Ball, and in New York for Hustlaball, as well as Trippin’
on the Moon, and in Lauderdale for Alegria, and in Montreal for
Black and Blue, you might have imagined that finding a nexus of
terpsichorean heat would be near impossible—and yet as nightlife
heir presumptive King Ralphy put it, “WORK is my favorite party—so I
always rest up the night before—to WORK it out.”
You gotta love gay youth. They get on buses early Sunday morning and
march on Washington—250,000 strong—and then race back into town to
play all night long. Holiday weekend! No school on Monday! Or as Ana
Paula put it, “I Believe (That Loves Sets You Free).” Freedom was
the sub-text of the weekend: the freedom to be who you are and march
for your rights—and Paula’s set perfectly captured that visionary
spirit. With her all-encompassing embrace of house music and its
multifarious variants, Paula created a big room, Brazilian galloping
sound with tracks such as “Get Your Hands Up,” “Sunsation,” “I Let
You In (On a Secret),” that climaxed repeatedly—and definitively
with her remix of songstress Maya’s latest, “Hook Up,” which sent
the boyz into delirious abandon.
Boyz scampered and frolicked around the club like Disney animals on
the forest floor in Bambi. Frisky funny bunny boyz, they were all
over fun tracks such as “Let Me See Your Underwear” with its
insistent lyric “I wanna see what’s under there.” Seen having fun
with their bums bared and arms in the air were the likes of Chris
and Eddie and Jojo, and sweeter-than-he-has-a-right-to-be Jason
Preston with King Ralphy, and Joe Carolina, and Vito Fun, and South
Beach SCORE owner and dreamboat Luis Morera, and Franco Aviance, and
Pat, and South Beach superstud Michael, and Charles Ignacio, and the
unfailingly polite Nima, and Michael Circuit Dancer 2.0, and no less
than a dozen of New York’s hottest go-go boyz, courtesy of Herr
Rauhofer, who took over the tables to “It’s Ovah,” before working in
Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi,” which certainly has to the anthem of the
age, given youth’s penchant for ongoing and never-ending visual
exposure—in its myriad forms.
Thereafter, it was all about “Set Me Free”—Peter’s way. This was a
man who knew exactly “What You Need, What You Want”—and sent it out
to a floor packed with celebutantes, rentboyz, activists, and a
boodle of heart-stopping South American beauties. This was Rauhofer
unstoppable, layering down grooves that kept his go-go gods grinding
and grinning to “I Give You My Body”—and wonderfully evocative of a
memorably addictive set that Rauhofer played in Montreal at Main
Event a few years ago at Black and Blue.
With M2 UltraLounge looking better than ever, thanks to cascades of
curtains and fabric scrims, and new speakers, and a new ancillary
mezzanine like the prow of a ship, the club proved the perfect
setting for this latest incarnation of WORK.
Everyone loves WORK when it’s this much fun. |
