Get Femme, Get Funky

July 02, 2019

On the dim parquet floor of the Promontory Chicago, office joined Red Bull for their inaugural Renaissance One party. Inspired by Chicago’s iconic first ever city-wide queer dance party at the Coliseum Annex in 1970, the event put on acts from Bbymutha, TT the Artist, Kidd Kenn & Blu Bone and DJ set’s by Rae Chardonnay, Hiro Prodigo and Professor-Wrecks.

Historically speaking, Chicago’s queer community has been somewhat isolated in Boys Town, a predominantly white neighborhood near north Chicago. In 2015, Nick Alder and Rae Chardonnay decided to spice things up on the scene by co-founding Party Noire, an inclusive space for femme people of color to loosen up and get down. office had the opportunity to chat with these two individuals about Chicago’s ever-evolving queer community, how Party Noire earned its stripes and the bright, gleaming, funky future of the project.

Interview by Drew Ross
Photos by Mitchell Connell

Give me a background on Party Noire.

Nick Alder Party Noire is a space that celebrates and centers around Black Women.

Rae Chardonnay We’ve been around for almost 4 years. While there were other black queer women-focused parties they didn’t look like the spaces we wanted to be in regularly. We noticed this shift in what people were looking for in terms of nightlife. We love dance and house music and Nick and I both really appreciate social spaces where we can build authentically with our community members. So I think there was a lack of spaces where we could do both of those things, so Party Noire was birthed out of the need for that space for our generation, people younger than us and even some people older than us. A lot of folks I think were feeling the need for a dance music focus and black queer women centered space for real.

So touching on that, four years ago how did you envision this being rolled out?

RC I’m not going to say we didn’t envision it rolling out, but it was very different from how it turned out. When we ideated around the first party it was just supposed to be one party. Then the goal was to eventually take it to other cities—we didn’t know when, we didn’t know how, but that was the goal. After we threw that initial party we were asked if we wanted to stay a bit longer than what we were scheduled to stay. Then we were asked if we wanted to come back the next month. That’s basically how it became a monthly day-party.

Having played in other cities, what qualities set Chicago apart in terms of night life, house and dance music.

RC I’m gonna let Nick touch on this too, but as someone that is not from here there’s a different perspective. For me, if there’s a level of depth to the music, a very soulful feel, a super black-as-fuck feel to the music, then people are gunna move, people are gunna go dance—they hold no bars against dancing. I think that’s one thing that really differentiates Chicago from other places that engage in house music; we will dance, we will fucking dance without any restraint.

NA Yeah, I think Chicago is the forefront of music culture in this country. Chicago gets placed as a second child to New York or LA but really if you look at what’s happening here musically, Chicago is setting the standard and everybody else is just falling in line. So I think along the lines of what Rae is saying in terms of making people move, the conversation is around house being ahead of its time and people are just catching up now to what Chicago has been doing for years.

How have you seen Chicago and Party Noire grown in your years throwing these parties?

RC I feel like every year and every six months we are collectively addressing something that our community needs. When we first started the party we knew that we wanted a space that centered around black women, we knew that we wanted a space that championed dance and the importance of Black Music. Once the people that we were connected to started to show up, it became a space where their needs were met as well as ours. A lot of black queer women come to our space, so eventually it became Okay well this is what we will create to be a safe space for black queer women across the gender spectrum. It eventually grew into that, we didn’t necessarily start with that intention but we realized that that was what was needed.

What was it like in terms of representation prior that that realization?

RC I don’t want to say it wasn’t there at all.

NA It was a statement that was made. We forthrightly said this is what we're doing and we were intentional in the steps we took forward. So I think, for example, we started with booking male presenting DJ’s or male Identifying DJ’s, then we quickly realized that people were not coming here for that, they were coming here for the femme identifying DJ’s, for the people identifying across the gender spectrum. After realizing this fact, we were just like this is what we’re hearing from the community, they want to see these people, we can go to any other party and find men djing.

RC And I think we also personally felt that when we did go out to spaces that weren’t Party Noire or of the likes, it was an unfortunate series of events that we didn’t align with. So, collectively, from the co-founders to the community we were serving, it was definitely clear that it was a necessity.

Touching on this event, how did you guys come about picking the artists you did?

NA Let’s start with the headliner. So Bbymutha is somebody that we have been wanting to book for years. We initially reached out to them around a year and a half ago to try to book them for a show, but it just didn’t work out. So when it came time to put together this show, we were like, "yo we gotta have Bbymutha!"

RC We gotta have Bbymutha!

NA Bbmutha would be the coldest ass, just bringing you raw ass fucking Tennessee ass.

RC I appreciate that she’s from so close to Chicago, I feel as though parts of Tennessee feel much like parts of Chicago. It just felt like really good to include her in this. But like Nick said, we’ve always been huge fans. TT the Artist is the epitome of dance club culture for a millennial crowd.

NA We are a dance party and I’m sure they’re out there now fucking it up.

RC I know theyre fuckin it up. I know they’re going crazy.

I’d imagine that with every event you’re seeing more and more people that you’re unfamiliar with or don’t recognize, but could you give me a glimpse into how much you two have grown since four years ago?

RC It’s actually one of my favorite things, and keeps me headstrong about this project just knowing that there are still people out there who-

NA Who still don’t know what the fuck is going on.

RC Always more people to reach in the space that were creating and that there are more people looking for a space like this.

And not just Chicagoans!

RC Not just Chicagoans! Absolutely not just Chicagoans! Its crazy, we can't get to DC in a week like how people want us to. We’ve been asked to do DC pride for three years

NA For so long.

RC But we haven’t been able to go out there and do it.

NA And i'm just like is there not a party in DC that celebrates women?

RC That’s the question, are there not parties in the cities that are asking for us run by women?

NA Or is it just not Party Noire.

I don’t think I'm tapped into the femme black women scene, not going to say I am as a white man, but probably not. But as far as im familiar with, I don’t think there are any other mobilized forward-thinking inclusive groups that are focused on that objective. So I guess on that point what are you guys looking forward to in the future?

NA We want to go to London next year, we want to be international. I think that, like you said, everytime we go to a new place we understand that there is this need. People are like what you’re doing is something that I want to see and want to feel and I want to be there often. So what I would like to see from us is an international activation. We’ve been doing this for four years, that’s a long time to be doing something. We got Chicago on lock and we understand what it means to activate other black queer spaces in the states, but now we're trying to take it beyond.

RC We’re trying to take the mission beyond where we are right now. That’s definitely goals. I think another collective goal is just to continue to uplift and support the community that has built us up for so long over the four years that we’ve been in existence. There is definitely a consistent community support level that, as long as we have the platform, we will continue to be a part of.

NA They’ve been here.

RC We’ve been here and will continue to just uplift you and book you for things when we get opportunities… yeah.. as long as we can continue to do that.

NA Take them with us.

RC Yeah, take them with us when we go to London for Afro Punk. I don’t know, I don’t even know, but I know that the goal is definitely inclusive of the community that has held us down and the community that we are continually hoping to serve and make space for.

Culture

Alain Levitt’s Time Capsule of Early Aughts NYC (2000-2005)

Amanda Lepore, Alain Levitt

Beyond the exhibition, Alain’s book of the same name, available May 1st, acts as a time capsule, a snapshot of what he and his friends were getting into back then — figuring their lives out, meeting people, making memories and now, reminiscing on what was. Today, walking through Dimes Square where his and his wife’s restaurant, Bacaro, has become a premiere meeting hub for the neighborhood's youth, Alain recognizes that while “it’s such a different world,” youth is still the same.

“Young people are young people, man. It’s different being older and not really understanding what’s going on. I don’t fully feel like I’m part of it in the same way… but I love it and it seems the same, but one thing I see is it’s more colorful, it’s animated, and everything seems kind of to an extreme that I really love.”

When Bacaro first opened in 2007, there was no Dimes Square. He likens the emergence of the neighborhood to “the beginning of Williamsburg when that kind of popped off and all of a sudden, if you went down Bedford, it was just young people everywhere and everybody was dressing outrageous.” Back then, congregating in Bedford symbolized a communal rejection of Manhattan. What Levitt witnesses in Dimes, a neighborhood that’s become a bit polarizing amongst New Yorkers, is “more or less the same thing” — though the object of its rejection seems yet to be defined.

Perhaps it’s more of an acceptance — of indulgence, of being part of something, of embracing the past, keeping alive this idealized perception of NYC.

left to right - Ryan McGinley, Dan Colen, Kenji Ukigaya, Dash Snow

When Alain moved out here in the ‘90s, his older sister Danielle gave him a camera. At that time, he didn’t consider himself a photographer. He was just a younger brother emulating his older sister, who was shooting street photography and fashion parties for the Post. Alain recalls “showing up to Max Fish and being gently made fun of for his oversized paparazzi rig.” For his second job, Alain was working as a bar-back at The Cock and The Fat Cock (now known as The Hole), giving him “a front row seat to a wild NY that was quickly being choked out by Mayor Giuliani.”

On one of his first nights, he was assigned to the back room at The Cock, where patrons would do whatever drunk people do in the dark. As a kid “brand new to New York” flashing a light on people, he realized that suddenly, his life was completely different. And it was exciting. “I made more money than I could have ever imagined. I was working minimum wage jobs coming from LA, at movie theaters and all this other shit. In NY, I was able to live off two days a week which gave me room to do everything.”

Eventually, Alain started shooting for Nylon, PAPER, V Magazine, and other publications on his days off. Though they didn’t fully feel like a part of that world, he and his friends (skaters, graffiti artists, ravers, the trifecta of '90s subcultures) disrupted the fabric of the fashion scene. Reminiscing on some of those moments, he tells us, “Our group would show up at the fashion parties and make our presence known, even though they probably didn’t think we belonged there, that maybe we hadn’t earned it yet.”

left to right - Ryan McGinley, Chloë Sevigny

Then, Alain found his community on the Lower East Side, “Alife by day, Max Fish at night,” and “after starting a bi-weekly party, with Spencer Sweeny, at The Hole, planted his seed in the downtown scene.” The world that Levitt found himself navigating in his early years in New York City wasn’t new, it was itself a continuation of the pseudo-renaissance that emerged downtown in the ‘60s and again in the '70s and again in the subsequent decades. “It’s almost like a 10-year cycle and one good thing about New York is that it lets you be young a little longer. We were coming out here thinking about the CBGB’s era.”

And when looking through Alain’s photos, while humming with an inherent sense of nostalgia, it feels as if these images could’ve been taken yesterday. Skateboarding, bands playing one-off shows in dingy music venues, gallery openings that pour out onto the block, it’s all still here, just slightly different. While the internet has made us more connected, and distractions more frequent, much of what was, still is. And for Alain, there’s an innate resilience to this culture of “youth”, a culture somehow driven by a shared dysfunction. “Living in New York is so hard, rents are high, the weather is hard. It can be amazing but you have to put up with all this other bullshit to get the best out of it. You have to be willing to suffer. The people that I knew and the people that I connected to and was around — there was always a certain amount of fucked-up-ness we all shared.”

The people that I knew and the people that I connected to and was around — there was always a certain amount of fucked-up-ness we all shared.

left to right, Dash Snow, Kunle Martins (Earsnot)

Whether seeking self-discovery in New York City, escaping a toxic family, or generally curious to explore the city’s burgeoning underbelly, people here find their own, often forming surrogate families along the way. Levitt’s book, and the photographs on display at WHAAM! exemplify that family isn’t always clean-cut and you might bond with a person you’d least expect to: on the train, at a bar, laying on the grass at Seward Park, skating at Tompkins, or having a plate of squid ink pasta at Bacaro before heading to Le Dive for some overpriced house wine.

In the most ordinary moments, the greatest ideas and connections can spring to life and this was true even then. “I imagine creativity drives a lot of this,” Levitt says. “There’s a thread that we saw and maybe even idealized New York City to be.” It’s a thread that this generation hasn’t seemed to let go of: “I feel like my book shows our moment of coming into ourselves and now the kids today are doing it themselves. In 20 years, there’ll be a record of their time that the next group of kids will be looking at. It might not be the same, but the roots are.”

From Tim Barber, a former photo editor at Vice who edited the book, to Jesse Pearson, former EIC at Vice, Su Barber (Tim’s sister), Mike Piscitelli from Fucking Awesome and skateboarder Jason Dill, everyone involved in the book “from the editors down to the publisher was there in our circle, and pretty much all in the book too.” To Alain, everyone in the book was of equal significance, whether celebrity Chloe Sevigny or Marc Razo of Max Fish, who Alain recognizes as “a loving, wonderful person who’s been in the downtown scene forever.”

“Some of those people have definitely become legendary, which is awesome,” says Levitt. “But with them, it’s like me, I felt special to be there. I wanted to be with these people and we all had all of these lofty ideas of ourselves that were shattered over time. I think it’s good to break through those delusions of grandeur and get a real sense of what the world is. But at that moment, it was pure. We all thought we were special.” And maybe we still do.

NYC 2000-2005 is on view April 18 - May 25, 2024 at WHAAM! at 15 Elizabeth St # 113, New York, NY 10013.

Culture

At Planned Parenthood's Annual Gala, Megan Thee Stallion Shines Bright

April 18, 2024

Under one of the first truly warm evenings of New York’s spring season, guests, organizational supporters, and a grab-bag of celebrities (who saw Molly Ringwald?) gathered at Cipriani’s South Street outpost to ring in another year of action and advocacy.

In a regressive landscape that has recently seen the rollback of the right to protest in three states, as well as the upholding of arcane abortion legislation in Arizona, Planned Parenthood’s call to action is eerily more apt than ever.

At an interactive exhibit during the cocktail hour, Judy Chicago’s interactive work, produced in partnership with DMINTI, invited guests to share their voices during an urgent time in the fight for free bodies. Participants in the videos will become a permanent piece of the historic artwork as it travels worldwide on tour.

By Sam Falb
Photography by Nikki Burnett

After guests settled into their seats, the night’s honorees Patricia Arquette and Megan Thee Stallion lauded the organization’s work and the manifold ways it has affected their lives for the better. Overcome with emotion, Megan accepted the Catalyst for Change Award, in recognition of her choice to advocate for bodily freedom and sexual liberation through her platform, and inimitable tracks like Plan B.

“Planned Parenthood has been a leader while abortion rights are under attack. Y’all are the true heroes,” Megan shared in her acceptance speech. “I’ve always known that I have a bigger purpose than just being a musician, and to speak up when people need our help.”

The second of its kind, the gala celebrates the work of the organization while honoring particularly devoted advocates, hosting an auction to raise funds for annual operating costs, and rounding out with an afterparty featuring host Patia of Patia’s Fantasy World, and DJs including Boston Chery and river moon.

“They’ve been there for me and a lot of my friends, especially when I first came to this country and needed healthcare,” Moon said. When the lights went down and guests trickled out onto the street, the event’s urgent appeal was in clear and energizing focus, primed for a productive year ahead.

Culture

“This is the most cracked-out shit I’ve ever been to”: Inside Harmony Korine's EDGLRD Party at Elsewhere

April 17, 2024

When do Travis Scott fanboys hang out with BDSM gear-wearing leather heads? At Harmony Korine’s Tuesday night party at Elsewhere, where EDGLRD, Korine’s multimedia design collective, screened their latest film, AGGRO DR1FT. It’s an acid-bath wet dream of luxury cars, gore, and strippers in chain mail — a Miami take on the classic Korine narrative. The film says it best: “There is magic in this brutality. I am mesmerized by it. Right in front of my eyes, we are turning into animals.” With the film’s minute-long beheading scene and a confused Travis Scott asking, “Julius Caesar wrote the Bible?” we were primed to party with that same “magic brutality.”

Between the bored strippers, fashion fanatics, and the guy in the booth with AraabMuzik conspicuously rubbing his nose, not an ass was left unshaken. Everyone wanted to be “the belle of the EDGLRD ball” — evident through the girls trying to be the next Korine muse, fancying him a sort of new-age Warhol. Amidst airborne dollar bills and monster masks, all were pleasantly surprised when Korine’s DJ set had that same animalistic feel as AGGRO DR1FT. A guest's sprained ankle serves as a testament to the fact that Korine’s DJing goes as hard as his filmmaking.

By Izzy Capulong
Photography by Liv Solomon

We got some input from partygoers — some anonymous, some less so.

Anonymous — The film was like a three-hour-long trailer for GTA 6.

Anonymous 2 — We’ll call tonight, “Harmony Korine’s goon cave.”

Aidan — I came here kind of old-new to New York, and I haven’t lived here in eight years, but I’m here again and this is the most cracked-out shit I’ve ever been to.

office — In a good way or a bad way?

Aidan — Always good.

Claire — It’s a rare evening that you find yourself the perfect amount of drunk to be in the space that you’re in, but I happened to experience that tonight, so for me, it’s pure Nirvana. But they stopped playing All Star mid-song. That was upsetting. But at one point in the evening, a rogue, brave woman got herself on stage and took her titties out.

Girl with her tits out — This is the future of cinema.

Tyler — The last time I partied at Elsewhere was 2018. Harmony Korine brought New York back.