I Love Vinyl

I went to the most recent I Love Vinyl at Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) in February. There were a number of things I was disappointed by (see below), but overall I’m giving it four stars because the DJ’s, the music, and the crowd is fantastic. This is definitely a party worth going to, especially if you love dancing.
I’m taking one star away just for our treatment at the door.
I attend LPR events often, and I was severely disappointed by the way this one was handled in particular. I don’t know if this is a reflection of the LPR staff or I Love Vinyl.
Normally at LPR if you RSVP or buy tickets you just give them your name and they check you off a print out list. This time, they were using an iphone app to check the RSVP list. The lady at the door had poor reception on her phone or something, and she was taking several minutes to asses whether or not some one had RSVP’d. Even though we showed up about 20 minutes before 11, when my group got to her, she said «Oh it just turned to 11:00 a minute ago so I’m going to charge you $ 10 now.»
Don’t get me wrong, the party is definitely worth $ 10. But taking 20 minutes to let the 5 – 10 people into the club is pretty stupid.
The party is held in the LPR gallery, which is off to the side from the bigger concert space I normally see. When we got in we decided to check our coats right away. I was wearing a thin hoodie and a peacoat, which I took off all in one piece and handed to the attendant. She took my hoodie out of the coat, and said «Oh this is two pieces so you’re going to have to pay for each one separately.» I told her to forget about it and stowed my stuff in a corner. Sure, it’s just $ 3, but if you’re trying to find an excuse to squeeze dollars out of my pocket … it’s not cool.
Fortunately the rest of the event was awesome and made up for our annoyances at the start. Again, I’ve attended lots of LPR events and never had these types of experiences before. So just be smart when you come to the I Love Vinyl party. If you really can’t afford $ 10, RSVP and be sure you show up *well* before the cut-​off time.

This is one of the coolest places I have been to hands down. It only happens every 4^th Saturday in NYC and this group does this same event elsewhere, but they bring in a few different DJs to spin different hip hop remixes all night long, creating a dance party that is definitely hard to say no to.
Some more info about this event itself: «Love Vinyl is an all-​vinyl dance party, founded by DJ Scribe in May 09 with residents Ge-​Ology, Amir, The Twilite Tone, OP!, Jon Oliver, and Scribe. Currently in NYC on 4^th Saturdays at Le Poisson Rouge, and Friday Aug 13 at Brooklyn Bowl.»
I was sad at first to have to pay $ 10 to get into this event – it is just in a small bar area below the Le Poisson Rouge nightclub upstairs, so don’t be deterred if you walk up not in your finest club attire when most people on the street in line are, just go to the front of the club and tell the bouncers that you are there for I Love Vinyl and they will let you right in, no waiting time and no dress code, and I promise you that as long as you like dancing you will hear some of the best beats and mixes around. Definitely worth the $ 10 and I am a poor grad student on a stipend. We left here pretty sweaty, but it was sweat well earned since at the end of the night we kept telling ourselves we would leave after the next song if it was bad, but we found ourselves never able to leave since every song was awesome! My feet haven’t hurt so much but beauty is pain when it comes to dancing in the big apple! So glad that we found this place and got to spend a night here. Definitely made me trip to NYC worthwhile!

My favorite party in NY right now… sometimes in the Village, sometimes in Brooklyn, but check out these DJs’ other nights, too… They’re all over the place, too, from hip hop to house to soul to dancehall to funk and beyond. The common thread is that it’s all just good music… And if you dig the song, the DJs are always down to flip up a record jacket and let you know what you’re listening to.
On top of it, the scene is full of folks who really just want to dance and have a good time. No dress code, no profiling, just a great party with real folks enjoying each others’ company. This party is seriously worth the trip from just about anywhere…
Oh, and on the $ 10 tip, while this party is definitely worth it, it’s $ 5 before midnight and free before midnight if you RSVP (usually).