not just another pretty face: warmup at PS1

I've been to some great parties in New York, but I just can't get enough of this one in particular: warm up at PS 1 MOMA. Held every Saturday during the summer at the museum's contemporary arts center, it is a vibrant dance party in the middle of an otherwise depressing, concrete-ridden warehouse area of Queens. I've been to it twice, and any excuses people might make based on its potential pretentious factor, or on its "distance" from Manhattan are basically, well, silly. Take my word for it.

The party does boast an unusually large number of attractive people in stylish and bizarre clothing (so writes the New York Times style section), but the fact that it is held during the day takes the intimidating edge off of such a gathering. Even though there's a $10 entry free, and some hype, there's no velvet rope, no boneheaded bouncer perched on a stool shaking his head, and the VIP section is always overcrowded and its occupants bored. Besides, this is a fiesta where you want to be in the thick of the partygoers, giggling at the people who lurk around the perimeter of the dance floor, sipping beer after beer and playing wallflower in an open-air space where there's really nowhere to hide. Back on the concrete dance floor panels, completely different people are dancing around in broad daylight, shirtless and with abandon. It's just that kind of party.

For great pics, click on this blog.

There's more I could write about the architectural structures designed each year to adorn the courtyard where the event is held, or the wading pools where people chat and lift their skirts above their ankles and dip their feet, or the special rubber-curtained room strewn with large blocks of ice for cooling off [but not sitting down], or the special misting machines or the world-class DJs that come spin or the history of the party, but I don't know too much about it. What I do know is that the party draws an amazing cross-section of New Yorkers -- from hip to prep to the stroller set -- and I love to people watch while I'm there.

The party ends the weekend before Labor Day, so go if you can. If dancing's not your thing, the price of admission gets you entry into the museum, where you can look at ART (some of it silly, some of it really good). Art!