Five years ago, when the rats were bigger and Chinatown was smellier, Hectorinho D’maradona, aka D’marquesina Ny-pr, and I joined hands, played patty cake, and then decided to throw a party at Fontanas, a beloved bar that no longer exists. It was maybe a year, or less, after the last Nacotheque party, which lasted around 6 years.
The times were changing; Chinatown still reeked, but the rats went on a pesticide diet. Cool kids don’t like skinny, chic rats, so they stopped hanging out in Manhattan in favor of Brooklyn — especially on the weekends. I can’t blame the rodents entirely because, to be real, Manhattan had become a victim of its own fame. Bridge & tunnel crowds, along with tourists, drove many Manhattanites over the bridge and left the bros in button up shirts, and broettes in skirts & heels, to their own devices.
We decided to stick it out. The move didn’t make sense to us because our parties are frequented by people from all boroughs, and the LES/EV is a central meeting point (ever tried to get around on the train just within Brooklyn?). So, after cutting through a sea of people with Long Island iced tea breath, you could still find us in the basement of Fontanas. When Fontanas closed *super sad eye emoji* we made our way around other bars in the LES/EV and, although some places were way better than others, the kids kept showing up. We kept making new friends, discovering new music, and expanding our strange experience in this strange city.
But, most importantly, we continued to cherish our Latino identity. Using oddball characters to promote the party — great and terrible pop personalities — plus playing mostly music in Spanish, or English-but-latinized tracks, our thing was never to forget our thing: that we, and most of our patrons, come from Spanish-speaking countries. Some were rockeros, some were reggaetoneros, others — the smart ones — were both. Self-identity can go a lot deeper, of course, but ultimately we’re all Spanish speakers, for the most part, and that’s what brought us together.
That’s why you plowed through tourists, Snookies, and awful smells to get to our gatherings. I could have written this in Spanish to really hammer down the sentiment, but I don’t want to leave out some of the non-fully-fluent Spanish speakers that are also part of our gang.
Point is, tonight Rico Suave vs D’marquesina is turning 5. You should plow your way once more, if you haven’t been in a while, because 5 years is a long time, especially for a NYC party, and our old, decrepit carcasses would like to celebrate this whole thing with you.
Beso,
– Marcelo
PS, find full details here
