Ari Regon
Q: Hi Ari, Tom from Night Out Magazine, here, thanks for taking my call, thank you for inviting us into your world. Can you tell us about your first night out? Like, when did you first enter the club world and what did you see?
Night Out always knows where the party is, Tom, it’s great to hear from you. And to answer your question, there’s no club like Dark Factory, but I’ve been going clubbing since, um, let’s say ever since I found out how much fun it is. Which is a lot. The dance floor is always where I want to be.
Q: What song was playing when you first mounted the dance floor?
There was this party, Blank Frank’s, where kids would go, to drink Barrel Roll—I’ve upped my cocktail game since then, if you come to the Factory we’ll drink BPMs—and listen to whatever was hot, bitchcore was a thing, and super old school electric. And the first summer, Mami Jilly was huge, her “I Dare U 2” mix. When I heard that beat, I had to get onto the floor.
Q: Did you know that night that you would return, not to party, but make the party happen?
I don’t think I ever left, Tom.
Q: As the self-styled Ambassador of Dark Factory, what skills do you deploy the most to make things happen?
As much as I love it on the floor, I spend a lot of time backstage, working with the techs and the dancers, and our guest services staff—and my boss, Jonas Siegler, he’s the one who keeps the doors open—so my skill set really has to be able to pivot from one thing to another, like a DJ mix, right? Situations change, every night is different, so I have to be up for whatever’s happening, even if it’s never happened before. Especially if it’s never happened before.
Q: What new skills did you need to hone?
How to stay awake through the shakedown meetings. Kaffee Kart, I love you.
Q: I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of the “big room boom” and spent many fabulous, glittering hours at Twilo, Roxy, the Limelight -never made it to The Saint, I’m sad to report. But what legacies! How do such legendary spaces influence the nights you help put together?
Wish I could have gone to those spaces! You’ll have to tell me some stories when we’re done here . . . But I did my homework, and Jonas [Siegler] introduced me to a guy who knew Steve Dash [of Twilo], and the team who did sound for the Imperiale, and Lourdes McKenna who designed all the stages at Bubble Room, and Castro D’allessandro, we learned from all the party people when we put Dark Factory together. We wanted to give our patrons everything they knew was great already, and then turn it up, make everything more intense.
Q: What can a first-time patron expect from Dark Factory?
Let’s say I’m meeting you at the door for a new patron onboard. Jodie, our guest services guru, he fits you with a tiara—you like Y, you’re totally up for the interactives—but first we want to grab a drink. So we stop at Annelise’s station, it’s the biggest in the club and, don’t say I said this, but it’s the best, Annelise is a queen. Maybe we try a BPM, or whatever cocktail’s new—one’s coming out this week called Boy Band, crème de cacao-based, it’s insane—then we head up to the second floor, Hinoki’s playing there, or maybe you want to watch our Factory dancers work out with DJ Graciela on the third, you want to dance with them. The air smells like champagne and flowers, you meet some cool people in the graffiti room, they’re power users, and now you’re ready to slip on that tiara, adjust the settings to whatever you want to see and feel—our Y techs are wizards, last night it was mirror dragons giving bareback rides, who knows what they’ll have going tonight? And you’re there, you’re there for all of it, you’re making your night everything you want it to be.
Q: Why is night life so essential for the queer community?
Because we invented it.
Q: Why does the night seem larger than the day?
Is that a question, Tom, or poetry?
Q: It seems like there’s more possibility.
I know a guy you should talk to about things like that—his name’s Max.
Q: Thanks for your time, Ari. I’ll see you later tonight on the dance floor.
Tom Cardamone in addition to chronicling the club scene for Night Out Magazine, is author of the LAMBDA Award-winning speculative novella, Green Thumb, and recently edited Crashing Cathedrals: Edmund White by the Book.
