Friday, January 29, 2010

Jonte and Cherie Lily @ Santos Party House

Santos Party House

I think I'm in love. The place just oozes with fun. On all the walls, encircling the dance floor are speakers. Hanging intimidatingly from the ceiling, enticing sounds bursting out of them reverberating off the walls, into you. It was almost impossible to stay still in there, yet people did just that. Most of the crowd seemed like a slow moving lump of boredom. Entreating people to dance, Andrew WK blasted faster, bass-filled tunes, yelling every so often about partying hard because we were in NYC. You know how Andrew loves to party. However, the crowd was not having it. People were not as into the music as would be expected, but it was still fun to just be there and be entranced by the lights and music. There were a few people there trying to break out and party hard like in the song, but they were looked at strangely by others so there intensity decreased and they were reduced to emotionless drones. I'm exaggerating, but you get my point.
There was an mc who was a a guy in a costume- a suit with a huge yellow balloon for a head, was just walking up and down this strip that was laid out in front of the stage like a catwalk, rapping and/or yelling random things into the microphone. Because of the way the costume was constructed, the guy's actual face was in the middle of the suit, so it was really bizarre seeing him lift the microphone to his chest to speak. Freaky.There were also a few guys dressed like secret service agents hovering around him the entire time. Needless to say, I was completely and utterly confused by what was going on. Then abruptly, the balloon head popped and the secret service agents rolled up the catwalk and nothing was mentioned. I thought maybe I dreamed it.

Cherie Lily

I came in late (it's becoming a frightening trend) so I only saw one other performer besides Jonte, Cherie Lily, who at first I was skeptical of- probably because I was still recovering from the balloon man, but then she won my heart. She was really fun! Her adorable American Apparel work-out outfit didn't hurt. Her music reminded me of vogueing music: very fast, with few, easily memorable lyrics so the audience can sing along. She had this one song called "Get Sweaty," where she basically yells about getting wet and sweaty. It was fabulous. Here's a horrible quality youtube video of her performance of it from another night...

I love when her and the dancers go crazy at the end!

JONTE
Need I say more? He was incredible! He and his dancers came out wearing these intricate black jumpsuits fit with a monitor on the crouch. When they came out the monitors had beating hearts on them, then when he performed another song there was a loop of him yelling into the camera, so it was like their crouches were yelling at the audience. Jonte is a performer in every meaning of the word. His stage presence is undeniable. His choreography is crisp and together- all the time! I love when he perfomed "Bitch You Betta" because the entire place was filled with such great energy and everyone knew the lyrics. Unfortunately, during his set he realized his headset mike wasn't working so he had to pick up a hand-held and dance with it, but he didn't flinch at all. He knew exactly what to do, like a true performer, he improvised and solved the issue.
It was an amazing show. I didn't even mean to go last night, it was totally spur of the moment. Oh what a pleasant surprise.
Here's a picture I got with the beautiful quality of the iPhone-ugh.


And here's my all time favorite video of his...

I may be slightly biased because my friend Jade taught me the dance.
LOVE IT!


I'm out.

2 comments:

  1. This is a pretty good account of events. Good job. I had a good time too. Always do there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! Yeah, I definitely wanna go back.

    ReplyDelete