Welcome to Bushwick Nightly, our bi-weekly nightlife column highlighting intersectional parties with spotlights on queer and PoC Djs and crowds!
Some might say the last week of August is when “festival season” reaches its apex. Others might say it’s always festival season in Bushwick.
Friday, Aug. 23
Bound x Elements at Elsewhere, 11 p.m.
Tonight, Bound completely takes over Elsewhere, no small feat considering the music and art space can offer as many as three different events on any given night in each of its three areas. So when techno, leather, and fetish event Bound takes over the whole space, you can get lost in more than just the sprawl of the former warehouse.
Bound began in the tail end of 2016 as an exclusively queer fetish event that featured strong industrial techno sounds and play. Expansion has broadened the scope by focusing more on aesthetic elements, experiences, art, and of course, a wider slate of techno offerings. This evening offers three spaces of music including live music from Crown Heights-based TYGAPAW, whose synth sounds are both influenced by chill out dubs from ner native Jamaica and future vibes. Music also comes from England-based international star Rebekah, influential techno artist Silent Servant, and of course music from Bound-founder Katie Rex.
Sunday Aug. 25
Mister Sunday: Honcho all Day at Nowadays, 3 p.m.
We’ve written before about Mister Sunday, the definitely legendary Sunday party that rolls all day long in the lush gardens of Nowadays and is the ultimate experience for summertime vibes. Aside from being a destination and a sound in their own right, Mister Sunday also hosts visitors and takeovers from different crews and collectives.
Today they’re hosting Honcho, the Pittsburgh-based dance music (techno-heavy) party for “homos and friends.” Fresh off their annual campout this past weekend, the community (with national reach and has a large number of constituents here in Bushwick) is primed and ready to keep the party going on a Sunday. No lineup has been posted but the collective’s residents are all on the East Coast and probably ready to throw down for a keep-the-party-never-stopping day party in our backyard.
Friday, Aug. 30
Paradise Garage Reunion at Elsewhere, 8 p.m.
Paradise Garage is a part of dance music history, it is a part of queer history (it was even at times called the “Gay-rage,”) it is a part of Black and POC history, and it is thoroughly a part of New York’s history. The space, a former parking garage in the Hudson area south of the West Village, was the home-base of dance music innovator Larry Levan and the birthplace of the genre known as garage.
The genre is known for its house music incorporating disco elements, R&B stylings, and danceable punk, and no-wave sounds, all mixed together into marathon all-night dances. The reunion parties are notorious for the combination of elder “heads” and a younger generation of fans coming together for a community celebrating event that helps to keep alive the spirit of the now-defunct nightclub (don’t they always seem to go…?). Times they are a-changing, but the community is stronger than ever.
Saturday, Aug. 31
Melting Point one-Year Anniversary at Market Hotel, 8 p.m.
Melting Point is the perfect example of the forward-thinking kind of nightlife that Bushwick has come to be an incubator for. A collective whose boundaries are minimal as their underground-style nightlife events, include diverse ranging, yet dance-heavy music, both DJ’d and live. The sounds are accompanied by a slate of visual artists and all backed by a bone of strong activism for migrants rights with the night acting as a fundraiser with Al Otro Lado.
Cover image courtesy of Hot Rabbit.
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