For those who asked...copy of Junior Review. Very Long

[ooana]

Here's a copy of my review of Junior's night at Earth/Exit that I hope is more informative and not just my speaking out of delerium . This is all based on just MY personal experience. I'm sure others have different thoughts. I warn ya...its long. Heh. Hope its informative for those of you interested. Note: When I talk about the regulars at exit I'm not putting those of you who love the place down, its just not *my scene* on regular nights.

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Okay here's a little more thoughtful review. Obviously I loved the party. I really had a great time but of course, that's totally personal and arbitrary as well as based a great deal on the mindset I walked in with...ignore the drama, the politics, the industry itself and just enjoy the party.

I'd never been to Exit and didn't know what to expect other than it being HUGE. And it is...its gigantic. In my opinion, too big. However, the size did allow for pleanty of room to wander and find some personal space. The second floor also lets you look down on the dancefloor, hear the DJ and have pleanty of room to dance. I really liked that since I hate getting smushed.

It was a bit hot but as the night went on the AC was very very good. Later in the party when I was on the dancefloor I was quite comfortable even though it was packed.

What I noticed of the crowd was that it was mostly Junior fans. Lots of regulars from Twilo Sat. I saw a few people that *seemed* to be there more for Exit and less for the party but I didn't have any problems with it...perhaps because I got there at 6am and many may have left. Or maybe because I was ignoring them and paying attention to what I wanted to pay attention to which was pretty easy to do since the majority of people there were music lovers.

Compared to Twilo, one thing that was really really nice was that very few people were just sitting near the dance floor hanging out or dishing out attitude. Everyone was either moving or watching what was going on intently...including Kevin Aviance which was delightful.

Of course, there was a very high male gay population. That's always the case at a Junior party. But there was also a nice mix of straight men and women, more so than I've seen at some other junior nights.

The sounds system..well..after Twilo its hard to really be pleased by anything. But it didn't hurt my ears and it was much better than some other systems I've heard. It still needs tweaking and Shorty is going ot be doing that so I'm hopeful. The problem is the space though, its huge and its a rectangle...not easy to work with. It'll never be Phazon but I'm sure it'll be better.

Security was not rough on me when I entered but I heard from others that the checks were very rough and almost uncomfortable. I feel mixed about that. After seeing the insanity that would sometimes happen at Twilo, I'm glad they're being so strict. With luck, it'll make the amount of problems less which is ultimately good for the party. I wish there were a way to keep things safe without making people uncomfortable but I'm not sure there is (at least to a degree.)

Junior's set was fantastic. There was about an hour period where I felt he wasn't sure where he was going with it but I think that can easily happen with a set as long as this one. The set was definitely hard and deep for most of the night, but tons of fun. He dropped some lighter tracks here and there that kept the vibe really light hearted.

My only other complaint is that it SEEMED he rushed into his closing. Junior's closings are usually very elegant and feel great. This one was rushed and choppy, imho. I think Exit wasn't prepared for him to play till 9 as he had hoped and told him to call it quits before he was ready. I hope this doesn't continue to happen cause Junior can get real pissy about stuff like that from what I've heard. And a pissy DJ, can be really downright horrible to listen to especially when its Junior. Heh.

The peformances were great. I loved seeing people swinging from trapeezes, the shows on stage. Made for nice breaks and variety in the party. And this was definitely...a party. It wasn't just a "club night." Very refreshing.

I'd suggest to everyone to check it out just once. If you are uncomfortable around that many gay men then well, I don't know what to tell ya other than...get over it. As a woman, its not fun to be grabbed, groped or hit on by men when you aren't interested either. But there are ways to block it out or give out the "I'm not interested in that vibe" or...just the "thanks for the compliment but that's not what I'm looking for so lets just dance" attitude. Women learn to do it. So can you guys

It wasn't a perfect party, but there isn't such a thing. Some things about how the venue is managed leaves a bit of an icky taste in my throat (for example they run your ID through a machine that checks to be sure it isn't fake AND takes a photo of your address so that you are added to the mailing list....I'm definitely not keen on the latter part.) But, I'm chosing to be aware of that but ignore it and just enjoy the party for what it was.

Lets see anything else (I know this is long but its for those of you who really wanted to know what went on, at least from my perspective) Bathrooms are pretty damn clean. The venue itself is very "light" which was a nice change of pace too. Also, the size provides lots of areas with pleanty of room to spread out or just wander and get a change of pace.

I found security very polite and not overbearing. They were there but they didn't feel threatening to me in the slightest. That's very personal though.

A few fun treats: They dropped this snowy stuff from the ceiling that felt great. The lights and the discoball can be moved lower toward the dance floor (which is very good because the ceilings, imho are too damn tall. Both the lights and the sound get lost.)

Lighting...this was the only thing that I ever noticed that I didn't like. But, I'm slightly biased since Mike D is a buddy of mine and he was not doing the lights. However, I do believe that no one knows Junior's style as well as Mike when it comes to the lightening and I could definitely feel the difference without him there. I very much hope that this is changed. I also had a moment at closing where I really missed Mike's style of bringing up the lights gently (and that blue light of course.) I found the lighting at the end far far too harsh.

There's tons more I can say but I'll stop here. Thanks to those who took the time to read this and I hope it was informative.

-Oo

[anthony]

EXCELLENT Post!!!!

I was there,must say Junior werked me into a frenzy.

[ooana]

Originally posted by anthony

EXCELLENT Post!!!!

I was there,must say Junior werked me into a frenzy.

I'm rarely on this board anymore but would love to finally meet you. Drop me an email at ooana@naughtybooth.com or PM me and maybe we can say howdy in sept!

Glad you had a blast

[DJGaryMatthews]

Originally posted by ooana

It wasn't a perfect party, but there isn't such a thing. Some things about how the venue is managed leaves a bit of an icky taste in my throat (for example they run your ID through a machine that checks to be sure it isn't fake AND takes a photo of your address so that you are added to the mailing list....I'm definitely not keen on the latter part.) But, I'm chosing to be aware of that but ignore it and just enjoy the party for what it was.

-Oo

from what i've heard, they take a picture of ur id cuz that machine remembers the image, so if someone else hands them the same id(like if someone snuck the id back out to a friend on line so they can use it to get in), the machine will pick it up that that id has already enterd the building, ya know. i dont know if that's tru, but i heard that from somewhere. i have been to exit alot, and they always put my id in that machine, but i have never received any mail from them, so i really dont think it puts u on their mailing list.

[MuRDa420]

they do put u on tha list cuz i get shit from them like every week