STRANDED: “Burn Night”…Brooklyn galore, how do I find the words…?

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If you weren’t at Stranded on Saturday night, you missed out, I’m sorry. The party went above and beyond my expectations; it was a fun house, that glowed with a purplish-blue light throughout (psychedelic wonderland!), throughout 7,000 sq. ft of the Brainmixer Lab (special shout and big thanks to Shon ‘Chance’ Miller for the space). There were surprises around every corner: a huge, spacious dance floor, with sweaty, hyped party people pounding the cement, getting down to some of NY’s home-grown DJs, the best I’ve heard in a long time spinning deep house and break hits (from Fedde le Grande to Chemical Brothers), electronica madness, jungle-world dance music and some minimal techno in between. There was not a moment when the floor wasn’t packed, and throbbing with sexy bodies, and there was always someone just losing it with ecstatic energy. Of course, it always adds to the atmosphere when you’re dancing next to decked out stilt walkers boogieing eight feet in the air (how do they do it…?!) and a good looking, mixed crowd, some dressed as sailors, cavemen, in metallic costumes, or just plain naked (there were so many handsome asses I wanted to squeeze). Other rooms included a “carnival” room (I’m not sure if that’s what it was called, but that was my sense), with a pie-throwing booth, and a “beautification stand” where you could get decked out with an assortment of hand-made paper flower hats and necklaces, that worked for both men and women. Another room featured live musical performances, and an outside patio which I didn’t really check out until the very end, but it was always packed with people, and always some cheering going on and some fire-action (fire-dancing maybe?). I was too busy dancing my ass off inside…

Some highlights…

- Being in the presence of the most insane and amazing freak-show performance of my life (this beat watching some guy electrocuting himself and lighting a stick dipped in gasoline on fire with his tongue…): a man in a full body (head to toe) white leotard that went inside a balloon…you have to see it to believe it, but what I thought was impossible, is obviously very possible, in a hard-to-believe way…(shout out to Michael Saab Dirt, the man behind Modern Gypsies)

- When a million rose petals were dumped on the dance floor; people were tossing fresh, soft red, pink and white petals around, stomping on them, the smell of floral goodness wafting in the air…If Heaven were to throw a dance party, I’d imagine this is what it would be like; I had petals thrown at me, go down my shirt, and piles crushed beneath my heels.

- Dancing outside to the sunrise around a wheel barrow-bonfire to some raw drumming. I felt I was part of some tribal ritual, as people kept feeding the fire, the heat got hotter, the drumming got louder and faster, and the crowd went wild, women (including myself) circling around the fire, dancing full of energy to the beauty of the drums, the fresh-smoky-earthy smell of fire, to the warmth of the beautiful sunrise; everyone was just smiling, dancing, clapping, yelling hugging, for the music, for Brooklyn, for being alive, for being surrounded by people — good friends and strangers — who just want to give fun and have fun with all their heart and soul.

Special shouts out to…

- All the party planners of this event (Winkel and Baltick) and those who collaborated on decking out the place with creative aesthetics – two huge “immersive” padded screens (by NYC’s Jellie Collective) that hung from the dance floor ceiling with random old school TV show episodes projected (I think Gilligan Island episodes), a massive glittering strawberry (aka the “Discoberry” also by Jellie) suspended in the middle, and funky-glowing spider web designs that covered the ceilings (shout out to artist James Vogel).

- The dessert table with all kinds of sloppy but delicious treats (fruit salads, jello, pudding) and random corners with bowls of candy, and people walking around wearing candy buttons sheets to share.

- Zack Hagan and 1050’s wild electronic jam improvs – these guys were so good I swear my head was going to explode and my shins were going to shatter with the intensity of dancing and head banging I did…when you think they couldn’t do more…they busted out an even better frenzied trip-hop-electroacoustic-drum-and-bass set. Those assholes…

- Zemi17’s acoustcoelectro performance, starting off with some peaceful xylophone playing that created a mellow-magical ambiance (a good break from the sweaty dance floor frenzy). But then…he slowly and subtly switches gears to some intense compositions with that Zemi-only “Space Haus” electronic sound – airy and cosmic, with a hypnotic lure that gets bodies moving and minds in “the zone.”

- Anya Sapozhnikova’s spectacular mid-air acrobatics (one of the Lady Circus very talented performers), right above the dance floor crowd. She is one of my favorite performers – truly talented with an intriguing, professional stage presence and an inspiration behind my desire to take up aerial acrobatics…one day once I get my act together…

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The best part of the crowd was that the people who come to these things aren’t your trimmed, superficial, pretentious Manhattanites who wait in line for some Meatpacking district club or are caught buying radioactive Hypnotic cocktails at an open bar night-frat boy infested place; this is the NY underground crowd; people who know how to let loose, get down, dress wildly and party hard; it’s uplifting to see strangers and friends, meeting, mingling, dancing with each other, smiling, talking, bonding over the wonderful nonsensical fun and mind-blowing imagination that made this happen.

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Tags: 1050, Anya Sapozhnikova, Baltick, Bubble Boy, DJ Friar Truck, freak show, Jellie Collective, Lady Circus, Michael Dirt, Modern Gypsies, NYC underground, Stranded, Winkel, Zack Hagen, Zemi17