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 Many of my friends, particularly the straight ones, often ask me what a circuit party is. The circuit is a series of gay dance parties attended by thousands of shirtless, good-looking, muscular guys. These events, which take place around the world, usually benefit an AIDS charity.
For a few days, gay men take over entire sections of a city. Hotels, restaurants and even city streets begin to resemble a giant gay bar! For visitors from the more conservative cities, the sight of men walking hand in hand, without worrying about what people may say, is a truly liberating experience.
I attended my first circuit party four years ago in Atlanta. The sense of camaraderie and belonging that I felt was intense. When I told my wife about the parties, she worried that they sounded like a big orgy - but after assuring her that it was the camaraderie as well as the sheer spectacle of it all - and not the sex - that I was interested in, she agreed to let me attend some of the events around the country.
Since then I've attended parties in Austin, Palm Springs, Miami, Montreal and the biggest one of them all, Sydney Australia. I've returned to Atlanta for the Hotlanta River Expo each year - I have to admit that it still remains my favorite event. Check my Halloween, Wigstock, Meltdown and Hotlanta pages for more pictures from these parties.
I've taken Melanie with me to three of the parties. We flew to Atlanta for the New Year's Eve Party in 1996, went to Hurricane Party '97 here in Houston, New Orleans for Halloween '97 and most recently, we went to South Beach for Xmas and New Year..
We've also visited some of the nicest dance clubs, both here in the USA and abroad.
My favorites include:
Trade - London
The Fridge - London
Salvation - South Beach
Warsaw - South Beach
Fusion - Atlanta
Backstreet - Atlanta
David and I have partied together in Atlanta on a few occasions and also traveled to South Beach together. In 1996, my former workout partner (and that's all folks - honest) Chris and I went to Montreal; he's subsequently moved to Dallas... and from what he tells me, the party scene there is much better than here in Houston. In 1997 we traveled down to Miami together to attend White Party. I had an incredible time and together with my whole family returned to spend New Year in South Beach.
Michaelangelo Signorile wrote about the circuit phenomenon in "Life Outside" - in which he was highly critical of the circuit. (Some refer to his book as "Left Outside: And Bitter About It") On page 33 he says "Recreational drug use is rampant and almost universal among attendees". This is simply not true. While not denying the fact that there is a lot of drug use, it is certainly not universal, and many people attend the parties without touching drugs, or for that matter, alcohol.
Alan Brown, who writes about the circuit for several magazines, recently published an article that gives a far more balance opinion of the circuit (and Signoriles book). Click
here to read it. You can also subscribe to Alan's free electronic newsletter by writing to EDreams@aol.com
A calendar of circuit events is currently published online at Circuit Noize Interactive. I'm hoping to incorporate a calendar into my own web-site shortly.
I figured I was coming to the end of my circuit party days.... but in May 1997 I saw Tina Turner in concert. When I saw the amount of energy she had and how much she was enjoying what she was doing, I decided that I'm not ready to hang up my dancing shoes just yet.
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