The Juice Box

Past Curfew Productions PLAY T-Dance – Military Furlough

5 Out of 5 Bottles of Water

by Leif Wauters

Camp PLAY USO Stage

It’s hard work throwing a dance party, especially a good one. But once you have that hit, how do you repeat that success and build upon the experience so it doesn’t turn into just another night at the club? How does that magic happen each time the doors open? It’s the attention that’s paid to the details, it’s the experiences gathered from other parties near and far, it’s the focus paid on making our city fun, it’s the care we show for both fresh faces and friends – it’s the love.

Past Curfew continued to their express their love for the community by tacking a third event to their annual roster in a slot traditionally barren of high-calibur dance events and you could tell by the response it was more than welcome. Last weekend’s PLAY at DNA Lounge was called “CAMP PLAY – USO”, and the theme was successfully stretched from the front doors to the rafters with CAMPy signage, olive drab netting and yes, stretchy pink camouflage. I couldn’t tell if I’d stepped into Hot-Lips Houlihan’s or Klingers boudoir!

Of course it didn’t hurt that they picked a date near Veterans Day so the boys could easily gear up. And I’ll never see local leather and dance-box lover, Travis Creston, without flashing back to last night when his stunning USO performance for the troops below spiraled into a burlesque striptease. Man can that boy own a red dress! Preceded by a series of appropriate vignettes by his New Recruits, Travis’s unit took the theme to a confetti-showered climax that might have been distracting to someone less PLAYful, but to devotees of the event it was in perfect pitch.

Yet all the right decor, lights, flesh and costumes would have been empty guns without the ammunition loaded by DJ Ted Eiel. You could tell he cares as much about giving the party the right sound as Past Curfew did about offering the job to the right person. Ted’s beefy, rambunctiousness is mirrored in his music. Sure, this was a tea dance – traditionally happy, hands in the air, sniffing your neighbor’s pits (well, in San Francisco) – but it was a ChunkHouse tea and blissfully paired to the theme of the event. Masculine, yet fun and energized. His ability to maintain a punchy groove, even around a handful of snarled mixes, is testament to his drive for keeping his bears moving.

When it all came together it was magic. It wasn’t just the engaging correspondence to the PLAY Pals that kicked off a couple of months before. Nor was it the traditional sexy brethren who upon entry handed me my “Classified Orders” and a camouflage hanky (how did they know?). Nor the friendly PLAY virgins I met from Seattle who flew down for what’s becoming a signature event on the West Coast. It was the sum of the parts that perhaps only graduates of the REAL BAD school of party throwing can pull off.

Or is it? Magical parties are not just the ones you go to and enjoy. They can be the ones you enjoy throwing. The moment you stand on the balcony and your heart races with the joy you feel as your adopted family comes together in celebration below is perhaps is the greatest magic of all. The creation of happiness. We can all create magic if we want to, and it surely doesn’t happen on it’s own.