Is Anyone Up? New Year's Celebration at Speakeasy Lounge

Photo by Ian Witlen

​Is Anyone Up? New Year's Celebration
Hosted by Hunter Moore
Speakeasy Lounge, Lake Worth
Saturday, December 31, 2011

Better than: Sitting at home in front of a MacBook, we guess.

"You guys are awkward as fuck," Is Anyone Up? revenge porn site founder Hunter Moore said at one point from the stage as he looked over the Speakeasy Lounge's mix of college-aged scene kids who know who Skrillex is -- the guys wore stocking caps; the girls wore as little as possible -- and a few men who looked like they were in their 40s rolling solo. Yes, somehow a New Year's Eve party dedicated to a bunch of voyeuristic nude iPhone photos posted without permission was awkward.

The music for the evening was overwhelmingly dubstep with some older dance jams from Daft Punk and Justice mixed in, but this crowd didn't move -- aside from one guy in a white wife-beater, who might have been wearing Electric Daisy Carnival lifts in his shoes. Everyone else spent the first few hours of the party standing around checking themselves out in the mirrored walls like they were in the middle of a bad, pervy prom. The line at the bathrooms remained omnipresent, and plenty of leering and ogling was as well, mainly courtesy of the aforementioned older attendees.

Photo by Ian Witlen

This guy.

​The other common activity was that at least half of the assembled partiers were sectioned into small groups, seated like wallflowers on the padded benches along one side, bent over a cocktail at the bar, and still not dancing. A far more wholesome New Year's Eve unfolded on the TV screen above the bar, as Lady Gaga in Catwoman mode entranced the Times Square masses. Would the fans of a site with a serious misanthropic streak be doomed to follow suit?

Photo by Ian Witlen

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At about ten minutes before midnight, Moore began setting up his DJ gear, and things showed a glimmer of life. The crowd moved closer to the stage, and several young women eventually stepped up. "Can someone do a countdown?" Moore screamed at the crowd. "Count down before I blow my brains out." And a bottle of champagne was passed around onstage as a few people called out the last half of a countdown. "It's 20-fucking-12!" Moore proclaimed once the music kicked in, and a wave of grinding finally spread onstage.

Photo by Ian Witlen

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Critic's Notebook

Random detail: One girl in a black dress slipped on a puddle of champagne and took a pretty nasty spill off the stage, but she appeared to be all right.

Overheard: "I spent six months in Kuwait, and it was more fun than this." "There really are no 'fives' in here."

By the way: Sources say that all the folks kept their clothes on aside from two young women, who finally showed some skin after Moore begged for a while. 

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