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(Article originally published at: http://www.citypaper.net/articles/081601/x.unction.shtml)
August 16–23, 2001
special issue|x games
Despite my hyperactive frenzy, I never thought of myself as an ESPN-X-Game guy. I can get on the goofy foot, but only when James Brown’s "Funky President" is on. I have lipslided and surface 360’d, but I’ll keep that private. As for McTwisting, I did that to my back and spent time in traction. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.
For all my intensity and sporty-ness I am having a hard time merging into one fast X lane. But I have found several X Game events quite to my liking. Time spent at the Philly Convention and Visitors Bureau party for X Games staff at Sofitel in June was exemplary. Not only did I watch flatland BMX stunt rider Matt Wilhelm spin his bike over the hotel’s nice new floors, I was able to drink dry Skyy Vodka martinis while doing so. My forehead got damp just watching him spin. Bravo, Matt. Do be careful on the rugs.
The other event that piqued my fancy — and put me dead center in the X Game populace of camouflage-wearing boys in bangs ’n’ expensive orange sunglasses and the women who love them — was last week’s X Pep Rally at Love Park. I felt the same heat during Summer 2000’s RNC protest marches. During RNC I held my share of link chains for protest organizers in order to block traffic. That I did so in a Canali suit really made me feel closer to the plight and the fight. At the X Game rally — a real Leni Riefenstahl event, despite participants dressing down in shorts — I felt at one with kids talking about Beast of the East Skateboarding because I had just spent a bundle on those Oakley Over the Top sunglasses that look like a Gaultier bra. I had Game, X Game. But what of the X Game racers, skaters and hot dogs? What of Philly’s less-than-BASE-jumping sorts? How are they to be at one with X — to chill, to get hyped (an optimal word since marketing is what these games are all about), to get boozed — and still feel all motocrossed without getting all sweaty?
You can watch movies about it at the ESPN-sponsored 2001 Tube Action Sports Film Festival playing at the Prince Music Theater. You’ll feel the local X vibe from Big Tea Party documentarians Gretjen Clausing, Valerie Keller and Elizabeth Fiend as they unspool their Philly skatepark epic SK8 B-Lo I-95.
But to get truly juiced in all possible boy-o fashion (and fast hard male fashion, like fast hard music, fast hard women and fast hard advertising, is key to this X-rated adrenaline rush), head to the parties drifting through town like a climber looking for rocks.
Rule No. 1: All X parties must either feature fast music — hardcore punk, gangsta hip-hop or jungle — and quick-spurt fashion shows. Like Friday night’s (Aug. 17) party at Transit. Sponsored by PUMA sneaks, URB magazine, and Ben Sherman sportswear, that party will be spun by Britain’s jungle king Roni Size with Dynamite MC on the mic as well as by speed-driven sorts like The Technical Itch crew, Stakka and Skynet, along with slower lovelier local likes as Julian, Crasta, Carl Michaels and Summerjoy. Size’s meth-rhythms and sizzling synth strings, along with a decent strobe, could cause any epileptic to seize upon entry.
Then there’s Sunday night’s party at Transit (Aug. 19) with Sobe and Maxim mag’s Six Degrees of Adrenaline!/One night of Adrenaline Induced Mayhem private party. (But hey, the X games are about camaraderie — meet someone.) Featuring Loud label turntablists The X-ecutioners and human beatboxes like Rahzel the Godfather of Noize and Kenny Muhammad, the evening promises to be hyper and sexy what with a dozen Maxim models and female breakdancers, an open bar from Bacardi, and enough samples of Sobe’s Adrenaline Rush beverage — passed out by the Sobe Lizard Man, yet — to make your skateboard stiff.
"Sobe, who sponsors many X Games athletes, wants to give something back to them while introducing their Adrenaline Rush Beverage to the masses," says event promoter Daniel "Gravy" Thomas. "What better way to do that than … by creating thematic elements in a venue, mix it with hot music, DJ freaks and hot women, add the Lizard Man and there you have it!"
KatManDu on a hot Saturday night seems to understand that same idea what with offering up not only champion wakeboarder Mike Weddington performing on the Delaware (Aug. 18) but the Vivid Video XXX-rated actresses Taylor Hayes, Dasha and Briana showing off something unique (well, OK, not so unique for porn stars, but still special) at midnight.
Promoter/Chord label owwner Jeff "Met" Thies, put a lot of the camaraderie in perspective for me. This week at Pontiac, Thies was commisioned to bring great hardcore metal, punk and thrash hip-hop — acts that could fill the Troc — into a small room for only-over-21s. He did so by booking the Toilet Boys (Aug. 17), a three-pack of Gwar members gone solo (Aug. 21) and a fast-track face-off between DJ Schoolly D, Philly’s Incognegro, the Lords of Brooklyn and the debut of South Philly’s Italio-rappers Nostra (Aug. 22). Though the venue canceled even bigger acts like Cro-Mags and Agnsotic Front for fear of rioting, Thies made these hardcore X fans seem gentle.
"The people attracted to the X Games — the sport of it all — are the same people looking for this kind of music," says Thies. "It’s not so much about aggression. It’s really about self-exploration. These were NOT the kids in high school looking to join the football team. They weren’t the same kids looking to go to Tower to buy CDs. They had to wait till Chaos Records [a hardcore specialty shop] opened so they could find something of their own." With self-exploration as your spirit guide and a handful of rabid racy parties out there this week, surely the X Games can offer something unique for each individual, sporty or not. Now, get out of my way. I got to find that Lizard Man. Maybe he can help me get this sunglass bra off my head.
(Article originally published at: http://www.citypaper.net/articles/081601/x.unction.shtml)