Stonebridge & Crystal Waters Take on ICON

Stoney, Nick, Atilla and I

It was 100% pure love under last night's supermoon at Nick Lion's club, Icon, in Astoria. Some of international clubland's most talented and charming personalities were in the house.

Starting at 8 pm, Icon was open for a press conference with dance-music producer Sten Hallstrom (known professionally as StoneBridge) and dance diva deluxe, Ms Crystal Waters.

I first met StoneBridge and his protege, Dj Atilla, outside the club before doors opened. They are simply the nicest, funniest two gentlemen you'd ever hope to encounter. We were then joined by promoter Barbara Sobel, who stepped from her cab fashionably chic with a lovely new 'do and glam black blouse/skirt ensemble.

I introduced myself to the divine Ms Waters shortly after she entered the club. We'd already done an interview regarding her new song, "Be Kind," that she did with Stoney and is destined for the top of the charts at clubs and on dance radio. Crystal is an absolute doll and it was a pleasure and a privilege to meet her in person.http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2014/07/new-crystal-waters-interview-exclusive.html

Once the press conference officially began, I asked Sten why he took on the name StoneBridge. Well, wouldn't you just know that Sten means "Stone" in Swedish. Holy Smiles of a Summer Night! And Bridge is an audio mixing term. Get it?

I learned from Sten and Crystal that, although they'd known about each other for ages, they met for the fist time at a club in Amsterdam in 2010. They have now recorded 14 tracks together. If "Be Kind" is any clue as to their collaborations, these songs must all be brilliant. Sten informed me that Crystal has an upcoming album, working with various producers, and some of his tracks will be on it. Already, I want to hear the outtakes!

I told Crystal I'm now a Brooklynite and asked if she ever performed there. She happily replied that she has performed at Brooklyn Pride. She also performed at the old Spectrum club in Brooklyn with its iconic dancefloor (filmed in Saturday Night Fever). I told her that, in the '90s, I used to come into Bay Ridge from Manhattan, with friends, to dance there.

As we were side by side at the buffet supplied by Icon for its VIP guests, ready to chow down, I asked Crystal about her being the youngest recipient (at a mere 14) of the American Poetry Society. "My mother found my poems and submitted them," she informed me as she put a turkey/chesse-on-crusty-Italian on her plate. Was she eying the potato salad or getting inspired to pen a new song? Or both?!

Roped into the VIP area, it was a delight to schmooze with Nick Lion and guests like Get Out Awards 2013 Award Winner, Eric Alan, the club's Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Sobel and others.

Resident dj Ian Ford started the night and ushered in the excitement after doors officially opened. Then Dj Atilla brought everybody's booties to the floor and finished his dynamic dj'ing once the very physically kinetic StoneBridge took over with rock keyboardist moves behind the booth.

StoneBridge opened his set with "Be Kind," which brought the booties to the dancefloor en masse. There is no way this can't be a huge, global hit! Crystal's best song ever! And THAT is saying something!

Party pictures:

Go Go God

Young Icon clubgoers

Me & Crystal Waters

Ian Ford

Eric Alan & I

Eric Alan at the XL Get Out! Awards

When Eric Alan accepted his Get Out! LGBT Singer of the Year Award and performed "L.O.V. & E.," his new dance single with his dancers, it was a thrilling show-stopper to the night's festivities. Moments from the event and Eric's performance are captured on the YouTube video below. Barbara Sobel and I were in attendance from Queens Our City Radio for that mid-December event. http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-get-out-awards-at-xl-nightclub-nyc.html

I asked Eric (who, prior to his singing career, once worked on an oil rig off the Gulf Coast), a few questions to get his thoughts and impressions about showtime at XL.

Dj Buddy Beaverhausen: How does one go about winning the Get Out! Award for entertainer of the year? Do you know what your competition was like? 
Eric Alan: Honestly, I don't know how I won. It sincerely was unexpected. When I found out about it, I did make a little 'commercial' to request that people vote but with other talented and established artists on the roster, I didn't think I had a chance.

Queens Our City was there, the only press allowed at the rehearsals. Barbara and I were impressed with the precision of the choreography. How much rehearsal did that require all together for you & your back-ups? 
I can't even tell you the man hours that went into that show. We used a lot of the same choreography from the video and previous performances but of course had to adapt it to more dancers and a larger stage, etc. Believe it or not, rehearsals are one of my favorite parts of the whole show process.

What's on your performance and/or recording agenda right now? 
I'm currently working on a video for another song with a more organic, latin vibe to it. Pre-production has begun on the film and I hope to have it released along with the new song soon. It's very jazzy, soulful and definitely a departure from "L. O. V. & E."

Such a pleasure to meet you at Awards. How did I do on the confetti gun? 
It was amazing to meet you and Barbara at the Get Out! awards and great job on the confetti! Thank you! 

 

The Get OUT Awards at XL NIghtclub NYC

In a sense, the Get OUT! Awards was the longest-running show in the 42nd Street Off-Broadway theater district, full of drag queens, bar and club awards and live performances that ran on and on and on. Talk about an embarrassment of riches. And bitches! It was not only Night of 100,000 Drunk Santas Pub Crawl but a holiday season marathon of entertainment at Manhattan's snazziest gay venue on 42nd Street, XL, just west of 10th Avenue.

You have to enter the club through a hotel and then walk through labyrinthian corridors and detours that are, in themselves, an adventure in nightlife. I was impressed with the pop art adorning the walls:

It was indeed, an Alice in Wonderland experience getting to the club

By the end of the event, however, I got to shoot a bazooka full of confetti at the evening's ultimate performer, Eric Alan. How Freudian is that?! So it was a kind of  a trippy, Wonderland type of a night. You can call me Alice. And I don't live here anymore.

For the first time ever, Queens Our City Radio station manager Barbara Sobel and I met in person! We hugged and got cozy together in a plush booth on the second tier. I savored Barbara's running commentary on the talent at hand. Founder of Sobel Records/Sobel Promotions, this lady has a fine-tuned radar for vocal artistry, and I loved her critical asides, sweet and sour, on the roster of performers.

Eric Alan & his cousin, Sandy @ XL. Black is back!

We were the club's guests and Queens Our City Radio was exclusively the only press allowed at sound check. We watched Eric Allen's rehearsal for his big number that closed the show, "L.O.V. & E." It was a masterpiece of precision choreography and vocal pyrotechnics. Eric and I shook hands, chatted and he basically charmed me into firing the confetti cannon later in the night, which was great fun.

Check out the official video of his new song that he performed live at the awards:



There was a live, three-piece band onstage and, although it was a snowy night, the club ultimately filled  up with glitterati. However, over the course of the three-hour extravaganza, people began to file out into the slushy, sleety New York night.

Highlights of the evening included Michael Musto ~ in a gorgeous, sparkling jacket ~ accepting the Best Blogger/Writer of the Year Award (two reasons I felt envious) plus an astounding performance by Miss Victoria Chase, a vocal powerhouse, who blew Barbara and I away. Ari Gold also appeared, performing a lively extended rendition of "Wave of U."

Even the toilet is swank @ XL

The divine Australian comedian Pam Ann was Skyped in, her audio to the audience so distorted, she was sadly unintelligible. I'm certain she was saying something hilarious. Too bad we couldn't hear what that was.

Tan Mom showed up in an unadvertised cameo (typically messy and still tanning, obviously) in a mess of a production number that defines "klutzy," with a lanky, unchoreographed dancer and Adam Barta as vocalist. Without a semblance of stage direction, this was distinctly the disaster of the evening; a Titanmom catastrophe.

The night largely included a myriad of awards to bars, clubs and lounges throughout the boroughs and in Long Island and New Jersey. Major winners included Boots & Saddle, The Duplex, Uncle Charlie's, XS, Therapy, Barrage, The Monster and Candle Bar.

There were many no-show recipients and, when Go Go Boy of the Year failed to pick up his award, someone in the crowd shouted, "He's escorting tonight!"

Barbara Sobel lays lucky hands on Eric Alan before his act

All in all, less would be more; the show should be tightened up; the band should be allowed to cut off long-winded speeches like they do at the Oscars; Barbara Sobel should stage manage, and working the confetti gun should be my annual moment of grandeur, kind of like dropping the ball at Times Square on New Year's Eve.

Congratulations to the winners and I am thankful for the Get OUT! Awards and Get OUT!'s push to get people back to the clubs and bars. So, New Year resolution: get out there more and shake it on the dancefloor.