Parties A’ Go-Go!
BY Eric Gn, Trevvy.com 10/05/2007
Trevvy’s Eric Gn hops on the local club circuit – from Play to Fabulous Sunday to Taboo – and brings you the exclusive on Trevvy’s weekend parties.
 

 
Labour Day, an annual holiday observed the world over to commemorate the achievements of workers. And what better way to celebrate the fruits of our labour than to party? Here at Trevvy, we spent the Labour Day long weekend working / partying / getting sloshed (well some of us did anyway), all in the name of Elton John and Beyonce.

Elton John once sang that “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” and it was fitting that the weekend shindigs started with the party celebrating Elton John’s birthday (and the release of his new greatest hits collection) at Play on Saturday night.

The event kicked off with a musical tribute to Elton John with Ramli Shariff (of the 1980s band Jeramzee) and Affendi Sahid on vocals and Kwong on the keyboard, wowing the audience with their versions of “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” and “Rocket Man”.

Following a brief question and answer segment, the band returned to perform another two Elton classics – “Your Song” and “Crocodile Rock”. Audience members were then invited on stage to perform the chorus of the latter, with the grand prize of a free trip to Krabi, Thailand up for grabs.

American Idol it wasn’t. Contestants had to imitate the Farfisa Organ that dominates “Crocodile Rock” – cue cringe-worthy, unnaturally high-pitch performances of “la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la.” The winner was decided by audience applause. 3 days and 2 nights in Krabi in exchange for making a fool of yourself on stage for a minute, some would call that a reasonable trade.

The following day saw the long-awaited arrival of Fabulous Beyonce at St. James Powerhouse. Trevvy’s hats are off to DJ George, who spun an unadulterated Beyonce set of videos lasting thirty minutes. Once “Get Me Bodied”, her Blaxploitation-era tribute video came on, the entire club turned to face the nearest screen and worshipped at the altar of her thunder thighs and exaggerated facial expressions.

This segued into “Freakum Dress”, a video with dresses so metallic and blaringly loud, it almost drowned out the song. When ‘Upgrade U’, a devious subversion on the man–as–pimp archetype in hip–hop, came on–screen, cliques of twinky 20–somethings (and there were plenty) all around the club echoed the camp refrain: “Partner let me upgrade u, Audemars Piguet you, switch your necktie to Purple Label, peep!”

The crowd’s reaction to “Beautiful Liar”, Beyonce’s current single and collaboration with Columbian singer Shakira, was unparalleled. “Bay–yon–say, Bay–yon–say, Sha–ki–ra, Sha–ki–rah!” was repeated as if by supplicants in prayer to their twin goddesses, and the more flamboyant in the crowd held their own ad–hoc body roll competitions (as did yours truly), mimicking the showdown on–screen.

When the Beyonce extravaganza was over, songs like an anthemic remix of Hillary Duff’s ‘With Love’ and go–go boys atop the giant screens kept podiums packed (butt)cheek to jowl with fine chiseled specimens the night through. Clubbers exiting the premises past 4am went onto Movida to chill until sunrise under the pouring skies.

It was Déjà vu at Taboo the next day, for Beyonce was channeled by drag queen Kumar and his motley crue of mister–sisters on Tabs’ revamped LED dance floors. Horrendously poorly lip–synched (read: excellent) versions of “Listen” and “Ring the Alarm” were belted out by XXL Zara–and Mango–clad look–alikes of Beyonce. One of the drag performers’ marabou feather wrapped neck deserved an award for the most conspicuous concealment of an Adam’s Apple.

Like Tabs’ newly polished interiors, Kumar’s stand–up could have done with a similar facelift. The material was not witty, but tired shtick that bordered on heckling. At one point during the show segment, he urged a contestant who was mid–thought to hurry up and answer. His racial jokes, usually supremely funny and dished out in equal proportions to all races, also mined scant laughter. Perhaps it was Kumar’s crabby off–day, but Trannyville still had loads to shout about. He snapped pungently after one particularly large drag queen (who bore a striking resemblance to American Idol’s Lakisha Jones) had performed, “This one Beyonce? More like Jay–Z!” to wolf whistles from the crowd, and referenced with panache the ‘Old Man’ who recently joined the gay genes debate.

Following 3 consecutive days of clubbing, the Trevvy staff was worn out, but all the wiser from our experiences. It was a whirlwind tour and immense fun. What a way to celebrate Labour Day indeed!

“When the Beyonce extravaganza was over, songs like an anthemic remix of Hillary Duff’s ‘With Love’ and go–go boys atop the giant screens kept podiums packed (butt)cheek to jowl with fine chiseled specimens the night through. Clubbers exiting the premises past 4am went onto Movida to chill until sunrise under the pouring skies.”