Winter Music Conference 2008 - PreConference/Arrival Day Wrapup
By DJ Ron Slomowicz, About.com
You may ask yourself - a wrapup already? WMC hasn't even started yet.
As a WMC veteran, I know better than to arrive in Miami on Tuesday and hit the ground running. I chose to fly in to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday for a few reasons. To begin with, the FTL airport is much easier to navigate than MIA - trust me - and with Southwest, a lot cheaper and less drama.
The main reason though is that I wanted to investigate the oft-talked about gay club scene in Fort Lauderdale (FTL). FTL is widely known as a mecca for the 40+ gay male population - for those who don't want to live in New York or San Francisco - South Florida is the place to be.
Since its Easter, I will make the chicken/egg analogy - good dance clubs or gay male population - which comes first.
We hopped in the car and my host said it was time to go to Steel for the Jackhammer Tea Dance. What is a tea dance you may ask? Its a traditional Sunday afternoon party after brunch for a couple of hours of drinking and dancing, but ending early enough for you to make it to work the next day. Those in the know come to Steel every Sunday for Marc Scott's disco classics tea dance - all the disco classics - Viola Wills, Dan Hartman, Sylvester and a few current favorites. The crowd was definitely up for it and the place was packed with a very nice older gay crowd.
Its rare that at age 34, I walk into a club and feel like the youngest boy in the bar. That's a compliment, because this generation of gay men that was widely wiped out by the AIDS crisis of the 80s, isn't well represented (nor respected) in the youth-obsessed mainstream gay culture. The energy is electric and there is a true unity spirit of partying and coming together. No attitude, no ego - just guys dancing and having fun. To spend a couple of hours dancing to the wonderful disco classics spun by Marc Scott was the perfect way to start my WMC week.
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