Love is a Stranger with an Open Bar

Last week was a good one for fancy open bars around town.

Earlier in the week was the Roostertail 50th Anniversary Party. Now the Roostertail always throws a good party, and that venue is really one of the absolutely fabulous places in metro Detroit, but there wasn't really anything particularly gay about it. Well, other than the usual.

HOUR Detroit's "Best of Detroit" party, on the other hand, was an interesting thing. The party, in its second year, was held downtown at the Max. There's no denying that the HOUR crowd is primarily suburban, as evidenced by the number of fake tans, boob jobs and ill-fitting couture in the crowd. Oh, and also by the party's theme "Suburban Bliss." But it's not a bad thing, the fact that events like this draw a big suburban crowd.



On the other hand, it *is* humorous to see a crowd that has such completely different priorities from so many of the people I meet in the city. It's very "fashion," very see-and-be-seen, very kiss-kiss. Contrast with a slightly more typical downtown evening at Atlas, Centaur or the Park Bar and you can really appreciate the qualities that differentiate downtown socializing. Dress up, dress down, whatever, but it's all about having fun and typically not about showing off.

Well enough with feeling superior, because mercifully I can have a good time pretty much anywhere. And big fun was had. The model for this party, declaring everyone "Best of Detroit" and then having them sponsor your big party, is actually brilliant. The food was great, the bar was greater, and the crowd was good people watching.

But the reason I am blogging about this is because of the gays. While not a major presence (hello, it's SE Michigan), the suburban hairdresser crowd was out in full force, not to mention the glorious presence of me and my friends (we were really good at the kiss-kiss). It was a little like Pronto, with none of the gays acknowledging each other unless absolutely necessary, but it always gives me a little joy to see gays downtown.

The evening reached a zenith when I had the EXTREME pleasure of seeing Kwame Kilpatrick pose for a photo with a whole gangle of them. Clearly at at party he doesn't have a problem with the gays. Now if we could just get him to loosen up the rest of the time!

HOUR deserves a little credit for being such a suburban magazine but keeping things oriented toward the city. Under the new editorial regime of Rebecca Powers, that is sure to only get better. She is very interested in the development of the city, and when she was at Detroit Home good coverage of Detroit homes and of the city itself improved greatly. HOUR Media is kind of the SE Michigan media powerhouse, and it'll be nice to have them in our corner.

And if anyone knows anyone involved, I'd love to have a copy of that photo.