NY Mirror

Comments (0) By Tricia Romano Tuesday, Apr 2 2002

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Roni Size spins at the Stuff Hotel.
photo: Jeff Scherer

Hopper joined promoter/DJ Neil Aline at the Chez/Wave party later at Rain, which was a smashing success, with all manner of hipsters shakin’ it to Roy Davis Jr. and Francois K. Hopper pointed out a very large man in the crowd, “Could it be E-man?” she asked with a wink. (It was.)

photo: David Titlow

Felix Da Housecat: the man of Miami.

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Caught a little drum’n’bass action at Tanja, where High Contrast, a 21-year-old upstart from Cardiff, Wales, displayed beautiful mixing skills and a great selection of housey drum’n’bass. The d’n’b mafia showed up by the time Goldie (who, by the way, has finally figured out how to match a beat) got on the decks. Seen: Roni Size getting jiggy with it; Metalheadz’ Bailey chatting up the ladies, Urb magazine publisher Raymond Roker grooving with his girlfriend, Delmar and Empress hanging with newly blond and lovely new New Yorker Siren, and Grooverider and Fabio chillin’ during fellow Brits John B and SS’s sets. Ever the househead, Size left to check out Lil’ Louie Vega at the Magic Sessions.

At some point (it’s all a blur), I spotted a handmade cardboard sign outside Bash with “DJ SNEAK AND DERRICK CARTER TONIGHT!” scrawled in magic marker. I stared in disbelief, I thought it must be a hoax, since I missed the party in my DJ Prince/Flyer magazine guidebook. When I realized the large, jolly Sneak was standing next to the tattered sign like an in-person advertisement, I took that as confirmation. It turned out to be the undiscovered jewel of the conference with a not-too-crowded dancefloor filled with clubbers dancing their asses off, including New York’s biggest rave promoter Chris Stuck on Earth shaking his groove thang way in the front row to Carter’s set and glamorous house diva Miss Honey Dijon sticking it out till the very end.

John Selway gets the award for Biggest Conference Partier: He jumped from Carter/Sneak to next door at Goddess (again, goddammit) for the stuffed-to-the-gills OM bash. S.F. diva, Charlotte the Baroness was seen looking distressed at the door; apparently a fight had broken out between party organizers, resulting in one man getting thrown out. New York junglist/downtempo DJ Swingsett staggered around to New York deep-house DJ John Howard’s closing set, exclaiming, “I’ve smoked enough cigarettes to kill ten men!”

The young and the restless headed for the beach to watch the sunrise, including New York writer/promoter/DJ/professional schmoozer David Prince, Girlie Action publicity princess Vickie Starr, ex–Astralwerks/Urb editor Todd Roberts, and Flyer mag editor Hosi Simon. You can be sure they were all incredibly hard at work.

Next week: What fallen club owner is planning to open a new nightclub? And no, it’s not Peter Gatien.

Tips and bitches: tromano@villagevoice.com