First off, apologies for not writing for so long! I’ve been a busy bee at work lately amongst other adult life things. I cannot believe it’s summer already. I’ve been spending my days sipping Aperol Spritz and many a Tecate with limes lately as well as a lot of lazing around my hot apartment. Don't you love the beginning of June? It’s the beginning of the season when you’re supposed to have a fun time. I find myself relishing all the opportunities the summer has to offer. Sometimes this overwhelms me and all I do is think about things I want to do but I don’t actually do them. This will NOT happen this summer. I will do everything I want to do this summer and I hope you can too, my dear reader.
Lately, I've been thinking about how to be a part of a community. Sometimes I find myself stuck in a cycle of doing the same things and seeing the same people over and over and before I know it, I feel my life at a stalemate with no new experiences. This is exactly what I don’t want to do this summer. And so I’ve been tapping into my hobbies and interests and seeing where I can find community there. Two extremely contrasting things I’m somehow into lately are K-pop and soccer.
Serendipitously, friends of mine were in town for a show at Brooklyn Steel the same night as a K-pop club night hosted by Bias at the Red Pavillion. We linked up after the show and I got to show them the crazy fan I become when K-pop is involved. The theme of the party was 2nd gen, meaning the era of K-pop from around 2005 to 2012. This was the beginning of the Hallyu Wave and the prime time for groups like Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, 2NE1, SHINee, Kara, and many others. This was also the time I got into K-pop so it was a huge nostalgia fest for me.
Music from your middle school days is ingrained in your brain forever. It’s like muscle memory that you can always get back into no matter how much time has passed. I have to say, it’s euphoric to dance in a club to music that you loved as a pre-teen. It’s your middle school fantasies coming true. When I watched 2PM’s “Hands Up” MV at 11, all I wanted was to be able to bump this in the club as an adult and party like the guys in the video. More than a decade later, I was finally able to do that.
Bias parties are such a delight. It’s a place I can be myself and bond over the music and culture I love with other like-minded people. The parties always have drag performances by stunning Asian queens and space for fan’s choice “fandom dancing” where the most popular dancer of the night wins a prize. It’s not like any other K-pop club night that essentially shuffles a Spotify playlist and calls it a night. The DJs at Bias spin with artistic intention and contextual knowledge about K-pop. Where else can I listen to a Jersey club mix of Bang Bang Bang by Big Bang or a breakcore mix of Super Junior’s Mr. Simple? My friends who aren’t even K-pop fans also had a great time at the party. We drank and did a healthy amount of drugs all while dancing to K-pop throwbacks during pride month!! Bliss.
I was so happy my friends got to see this community I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of these past few months. We kept the party going the next day because it was the day of the Champions League Finals. In simple terms, this league is between the best of the best European soccer teams. The Ground was hosting a watch party organized by the coolest people in the soccer community. By cool soccer community, I mean the block-core, vintage kit-loving, European adjacent, art people that also happen to love sports like the folks behind Full Kit and Saturdays Football who hosted this watch party.
It’s the first time in my life I’ve kept up with any type of sport. There is something so much more passionate and worldly about soccer than any other sports culture out there (and sorry for calling it soccer, I’m still a piece of shit American). Soccer is the world’s sport and the one that Americans are the least tuned into. There’s a level of fashion and aesthetics in a large part of the soccer-loving community somewhat akin to the sneaker culture that revolves around basketball fans. Soccer jerseys and cool sneakers are drippy. That’s all I have to say about that.
We watched the game sitting cross-legged on the pitch in front of a projector like an elementary school gym assembly. Everyone was clad in soccer kits, even for teams not playing. There were kit trades happening on the side as a hip DJ duo in custom kits played before the game started. There was even a halftime show performed by some kind of indie songwriter in block-core clothes who was very good for the record.
The final was between Manchester City and Inter Milan. I’ve been keeping up with the UK’s Premier League for the last few months so naturally, I was rooting for Man City. Other than my little group and a handful of other people on the pitch, everyone was fiercely supporting Inter. Sitting behind us was a band of loud rowdy men for Man City so we were at least backed (and entertained) by their cheeky callouts and fan chants. They were like jesters making jokes here and there for the whole place to hear. I could not stop laughing at certain times like when they would call Inter’s Lukaku “Lukaka” anytime the player messed up or when they would squeal and scream anytime anything happened. We had just taken super strong edibles and enjoyed a can of Kolsch so we were deeply entertained even when no one was scoring.
Man City won the game and I was elated. We left the venue in a joyful daze and headed to the reservation we made at half-time for the restaurant across the street, Golden Diner. I cannot tell you how euphoric it was to eat a tuna melt on the high of the win and the edible. I felt like I was at some kind of after-school club and our parents dropped us off at the diner for dinner. We walked around Seward Park, bodega ice cream in hand like a couple of kids.
Summer is here, my friends. I cannot wait to spend it with you doing all the little things we love.
That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Peace and love.