Notes on Charmageddon
OML #76
Welcome to Human Pursuits, the column that features need-to-know names and stories in media and other creative spaces. Today, a warehouse party scene report, plus updates from Friends including Raeland Mendoza, Allie Rowbottom, Sable Yong, Nick Catucci, and more.
Erykah and Raeland were telling me about X-Men 97, and the canonically non-binary character Morph, when our Uber slowed to a crawl, stopping in front of a series of nondescript barricades.
“Are we here?” I asked.
We had just spent an hour or two drinking Soju and listening to rap and R&B on a MacBook Pro.
Ludacris. Drake. Kelela.
At one point, Raeland asked what my favourite memory of Pop Smoke was and I told him I didn’t have any memories of Pop Smoke. But it was probably the summer that “Dior” blew up.
He said his favourite was when they released Pop Smoke’s post-humous album and the cover had his ear all fucked up. He said it was controversial.
Raeland and Erykah wanted to know what music I listen to before going out. I told them I wasn’t sure. I don’t really go out anymore. At least not to the clubs. But I couldn’t say that, so instead I told them to play “Country Grammar” by Nelly.
Erykah told me about this new singer, KWN, and how she had a song called “‘til the room stinks,” which I thought was really great.
But I wasn’t thinking about that now. Instead, was wondering if we were at Skylight Warehouse, and the first ever Charmed Life party, Charmageddon.
Hannah and the rest of the collective had spent weeks promoting the event. They posted flyers and QR codes on walls and lamp posts downtown. They hired a bunch of baddies and filmed them using a digi cam.
There was no baddies on the street, though, as we exited the vehicle. Just the black fencing, which parted to form a sort of foyer, and a bouncer asking to see our IDs.
I handed over my driver’s license and they directed us through the fence foyer, to an empty parking lot, and an admission booth, where we scanned our tickets. No wristbands.
“We can go in and out?” asked Erykah.
“Yeah” said a voice.
A few smokers lingered near by, their cherry’s glowing red with each inhale.
We passed them and went inside.
The warehouse used to contain a home reno business. Countertops. Faucets. Railings.
Now it contained speakers. Dry ice. A metal cage.
My eyes were still adjusting to the black lights when I saw, twenty feet ahead, Raeland and Erykah quickly hugging two people I had never met. Raeland introduced them as Sid and Camille. We shook hands and I asked Sid how it was going.
“Good, good. Just enjoying ourselves before we go to Montreal next week.”
I replied that Leah and I were going to Montreal in two weeks. We had a spreadsheet and everything. I could send it over if he wanted.
“Sure,” said Sid. We exchanged numbers and I copied the link to the Google Sheet and hit send.
“Cool man, lemme know how it goes.”
We were standing in a long hallway that connected the front door to the main cavern of the warehouse. Hannah was on stage DJing. Lasers pierced through the smoke, illuminating the dance floor. Pockets of people moved in unison to Hannah’s sound. We had left before she took the stage at the last Charmed Life event and so I was curious to hear her style. It was propulsive and slightly obscure, and people were eating it up.
“We’re gonna grab a drink,” said Erykah. I nodded and walked toward the dancefloor. Twenty somethings in plastic clothes and sunglasses danced freely, their youth and cool inextricably linked.
For this particular event, I had worn an old Muji button up, black Levis, and my 3 Eye Gibson Shoes from Solovair, and I suddenly felt very old. I observed myself from the outside, and wondered if anyone else was thinking the same thing: “What is this old man doing here?”
But no, I reasoned, they probably weren’t thinking about me at all.
In my twenties, that thought might’ve felt like a stone. Now it feels like air. I’m old, and irrelevant, but I am also free.
The rest of the night went something like this: Raeland and Erykah returned from the bar with sweet blue cocktails and then Raeland danced in the cage. I took a short video and sent it to Leah as proof of life, along with a message that I would be leaving in 15 minutes. I bought myself a sweet blue cocktail, and then we all climbed the rickety staircase to an alcove on the second floor. A New York DJ called Love Higher was on stage, awash in pink, purple, and blue lights. Sid and Camille were there and they talked to Raeland and Erykah a bit before standing up to leave.
“We’re going to the Lido” said Sid.
I finished my drink and told Raeland and Erykah I needed to go too. We hugged and then I descended the staircase, into the hall, where I exited the door, past the smokers, and the bouncer, and into the black quiet night.
Oh Messy Life
ICYMI: Last week’s interview was with author Julie Buntin ( Julie Buntin ). We discussed her new book “Famous Men”, constructing complex characters, Philip Roth not giving a fuck, why she wrote a letter to Olivia Rodrigo, and the relationship between real life and fiction. Read here.
I also published a personal essay last week called “Vaseline (Puberty)”. It’s the first entry in a series inspired by Andy Warhol, Exile in Guyville, and Life cereal. Read here.
Besties Ali Royals ( Ali Royals ) and Gutes Guterman ( Gutes Guterman ) are hosting a two year anniversary party for NYC comedy and variety show The Thing Is..! It’s at Victoria! in Manhattan on July 23rd and you can RSVP here.
AB bound: Raeland Mendoza and the team at Held In Form ( Held In Form: Articles ) are showcasing their SS26 collection with trunk shows at two different gravitypope locations in Alberta. This week they’re in Calgary, and next week they’re in Edmonton. Full details and RSVP here.
Smut has announced a new co-headlining tour with Dirt Buyer. They are starting out east and heading to the midwest. Tickets here.
Lovers XXX author Allie Rowbottom ( Allie Rowbottom ) swing by Club Reticent ( Valerie ) to discuss final drafts, distribution, and digestible writing. Read here.
Riff-aritic: Two of the better things I read this week— Hol Harland ( Hol Harland ) on the types of men she will no longer be dating, and Nick Catucci’s RiffPost round table on the state of free speech in media. Weirdly, I suspect these topics play into each other.
Oh, and Sable Yong ( Sable Yong )got that LeSportsac bag!
Proper Chune
Like a neurotic Jesus
Narcissistically zen
My next guest is…
Fights! author Scott McClanahan.
🫡🫡