65 Minutes at Bonbon
By John Russell
Four years ago, Beige, arguably one of New York’s longest running and consistently fabulous gay parties, went from see-and-be-seen destination to pre-party cocktail spot when Susanne Bartsch and Kenny Kenny launched their Tuesday night soiree at Happy Valley. Of course, Happy Valley didn’t last; some kind of real estate clusterfuck forced the Jeremy Scott designed club to shut down. But Susanne and Kenny, flush with fresh blood from the success of Vandam, their Sunday night party at Greenhouse, are poised once again to make their mark on Tuesday’s nightlife with Bonbon at Juliet.
Though not nearly the size of either Happy Valley or Greenhouse, Juliet definitely has the same scope and feel. The recently opened supper club glitters with floor to ceiling mirrorball tiles, making it the perfect environment for Susanne and Kenny’s cast of club freaks. And at last Tuesday’s launch, those gorgeous freaks were out in full force: Chuck Attix, Daniel Nardicio, Johnny Dynell, Chi Chi Valenti, Amanda Lepore, Cazwell, Zelda Kaplan, Gazelle, Celso, Michael Musto, Paul Alexander, Jojo Americo, Sultana, DJ Rich King, Mao and Roger Padilha, that guy who always sits around playing his drum… Everyone was there.
You know it’s gonna be a good party when you arrive at 11:30 and there’s already some dude dancing shirtless atop a banquette. And he’s already being escorted out of the club for falling on his ass twice. Apparently the poor guy didn’t fare so well after being ousted either.
“He’s still outside,” a friend told us. “He’s crying and he fell in a puddle.” And this was at, like, 11:50pm!
Fortunately, the rest of the crowd seemed to have a bit more stamina—and better balance! Thank God, because without much of a dance floor, the only place to get your groove on was atop the banquettes. The always delicious Dirty Martini, giving us glamourpuss realness as usual, writhed on the mirror tiled platforms while Chuck Attix and Hunter Tallman gave us a taste of the old Nightwives’ acrobatic tomfoolery we’ve been missing. And over all this, Susanne and Kenny reigned in matching pink afros and fake moustaches.
We had to peace out sooner than we’d have like—it was a Tuesday after all! But as we climbed into a cab around 12:35am—geriatrically early, we know—our buddy grabbed us and slammed the door, shrieking, “Don’t let Susanne see you leaving her party!”
As we pulled away from Juliet, we could see a puff of cotton candy pink hair disappear into a car across the street.
“Grrrl, it looks like Suze is leaving her own party!”
