Back-in-the-day, when I lived in Detroit, one of my first gay-ish club experiences was at Liedernacht (later changed to City Club)- a dark and dank space, inside some sort of hotel (I use that term loosely), located downtown. I can’t say I remember the exact music they played, but it was a mix of industrial, goth and New Wave. What I do remember for sure, when they played The Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry, every burgeoning (closeted) queen, adorned with white powder faces and red lipstick, dashed to the dance floor…hahaha! It wasn’t a gay club per se…and the term gender fluid hadn’t become a thing yet, but it was definitely a place where you could be a boy, in a dress, wearing make up, and nobody thought you were weird…at least not in a pejorative way.

This is pretty much what promoter/singer Kayvon Zand’s new weekly party Hitchcock Disco is like, with an added twist, themed around Hitchcock films. Guests, which include a mix of club kids, goths, queers, rockers, pin-ups and drag queens, are encouraged to dress in a look referencing the designated film on that night. Hosts include Nicky Ottav, Justin Tyler Angel, Lady Alchemy, Archie Goats, Sarah Jane Washington, Madame Vivien V. and Beverly Sage. DJs Wren Britton and Johanna Constantine. Hitchcock Disco is every Tuesday, 10pm, at Rumpus Room, 249 Eldridge St, NYC. (Pics by Joshua Janke)

Kayvon Zand:

“The party is a breath of fresh air and hair!…where nightlife is being cross-pollinated from all aspects of downtown culture, rather than just one. My slogan has been ‘Wear the look matches the music’. I know it would be ‘where’, but I like to say wear because so much of nightlife today, you have all these cool looks, but the music is so predictable and safe. Hitchcock is the first party in this decade where we have brave and major looks with just as brave and unique beats. We don’t bank on safe!”