Two parties, but not like I’m overdoing it, as they are very different parties. Some of you may be interested in one, some in the other. Some may be interested in both! Most will be interested in neither! But pleasing the picky elite is a preferred activity to mass appeal this holiday season.

Described thusly…

Raging against the dancing wasteland, OFF THE GRID is a once-a-month event which focuses on dance music that you won’t hear on a typical Friday or Saturday night. It will focus on a collage of Mutant Disco, Punk Funk, No Wave, Early Electro, New Romantics and rare B-Sides.

Special guest DJs who have contributed, or continue to contribute to expanding the musical spectrum in NY will share the decks each month with the Resident NY DJs Chris Alker and Monica Sharp.

It’s a new party, the first one was last month with guest DJ Sal P. from Liquid Liquid. It’s been a while since I’ve dj’d in Manhattan, on a thursday night, is NYU in session? If I was in college and it was thursday night before the holidays, I’d want to go out in the village and listen to some new wave disco. That’s all I’m saying. Some punk funk. Some minimal disco wave. Some post-punk italo.

You know, I’ve been writing up party descriptions for a good 10+ years now and I have yet to be bored with mashing together trendy genre descriptions. They’re goofy, but they’re also perfectly accurate.

Off the Grid
Thursday, December 10th

Resident DJs Chris Alker & Monica Sharp, hosted by Amos Massey III & Rachel

Le Posson Rouge Gallery
158 Bleecker Street. Money-Makin’ Manhattan
10pm-Late
21+, No Cover

And now for something completely different…

Remember when there was a screening of Whit Stillman’s awesome movie Last Days of Disco and Jeremy and I DJ’d a disco after-party? You can read about it here. It was fun. There was some dancing. There was also some complaining from old people that we weren’t playing disco. Which was weird, because that’s all I brought. And before you go on about how it was because we were playing weird obscure underground disco, you’re wrong. We played Dianna Ross. We played Chic. Fact is, you can please some of the people some of the time, but you mostly can’t please most people most of the time.

And despite this, I’ve been invited to take part in another Whit Stillman “happening”. This time it’s a screening of his first film, Metropolitan, taking place Saturday, December 12th at the 92Y in Tribecca. (An uptown venue comes downtown to present a portait of uptown?). The movie is a polarizing one, filled with lots of talking, lots of wit. A lot of people hate it. I love it. That’s about as ringing an endorsement as a movie can get in my book. The screening will be followed by a chat with Stillman and maybe some key cast-members, followed by a holiday mixer party with music by Chris Wells and myself. Listen as I shred my hip punk-disco persona and explore the classic oldies geek inside. I spent the better part of college listening to Magic Oldies radio in Cleveland and CBS oldies in NY, from before they included the “80s” in their definition of “oldie”, and this past summer while DJing weddings I discovered a newfound love of classic soul and motown, not to mention a nascent interest in northern oldies classics. Chris, host Miriam and myself will be playing a fun mix of holiday music, both festive and melancholic, and lots of Tommy Roe.

Metropolitan
20th Anniverary Screening
Saturday, December 12th
7:30 to 1am
92Y Tribecca
200 Hudson Street
Classy Manhattan
More info and tix here.

And some video clips to get you in the mood(s).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0nfjguTclg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_juH0AHvwk[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SlWPQGMCfQ[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS-ZOTVYu6U&feature=related[/youtube]