The annual White Party in Palm Springs, where 20,000 shirtless gay men congregate for four days of partying and playing, fun in the sun and nonstop pulsating dance music, is more than a dance-party orgy, the Desert Sun in Palms Springs reports.The 22st annual event - which starts Friday and ends Monday - is a boon for local businesses and a way to promote serious issues, such as gay marriage.
This year, promoter Jeffrey Sanker (left) is trying to brand the circuit party as a politically active event and the largest gay dance music festival in the United States. Some folks even have compared it to the renowned Coachcella Music and Arts Festival (!!!!!), which has booked such uber musicians and groups as Paul McCartney, Depeche Mode, Arcade Fire and Kanye West, among numerous others.
Sorry. We're not buying either of those assessments. Having one's picture taken with Charo for the "NOH8 Campaign" (which attendees can do and it will cost $40!!!) doesn't make him a political activist.
The Coachella comparison is ridiculous, and a music festival is SO MUCH more than someone booking a bunch of singers and bands to play a Saturday pool party. Noting is wrong with musicians at a pool party, but be real. No one is coming to the party to hear whoever is singing. He's showing up at the pool to watch eye candy and try to hookup.
Kudos to Sanker for trying new things this year, and we hope he continues bringing new things to the party (like lowering ticket prices). But it's still a circuit party, and there's nothing wrong with that. Despite all the hoopla, Sanker's Website presents the White Party as a circuit party.
(Photo: White Party promoter Jeffrey Sanker with Abbey owner David Cooley at the 2010 White Party in Palm Springs. Phil Lobel/Lobeline Communications)
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