Optimo - The Glass House, 3.07.05

Let's be honest - there really was no way I was going to miss last night's Optimo party. Their trips to NYC are pretty rare, and Saturday's party was so great that it would've taken much more than Bravo's West Wing marathon to keep me away. Nothing much ever happens on Tuesday mornings anyway. And, not surpisingly, it was totally worth it.

The vibe at the Glass House could not have been more different from the Tribeca Grand. Bathrooms? The Tribeca gives you an attendant, the Glass House has a shower. Drinks? One martini at the Tribeca gets you four beers at the Glass House. (Though to be fair, they had some choice drink specials - martinis aside - on Saturday.) The Tribeca had better sound and more space, but both worked well - and Twitch and Wilkes adjusted accordingly.

Saturday was all about the hits - one after another, constantly egging on the crowd. It was the kind of set that sets a big room on fire, as it should be on a Saturday night. Last night Twitch and Wilkes went way deeper, opting for more obscure picks that still matched up. The genre-hopping was still there, but I'll have trouble naming the songs this time. I was psyched to hear Grauzone's "Eisbaer" though, which is on How To Kill The DJ [Part Two], and Frankie Knuckles made another appearance - this time with "Baby Wants To Ride." I also think they dropped The Stranglers' "Nice n' Sleazy" (also on HTKTDJ) but I might be confusing things with Saturday.

Tim Sweeney and Dan Selzer both turned in solid opening sets, Sweeney with the eclectic style that makes RVNG PRSNTS MX3 so good (and he played Bauhaus's "Kick in the Eye" last night too) and Selzer with a very fun batch of Italo and new wave. Say what you will about Yaz, but "Situation" never gets old to me. Twitch and Wilkes took over around midnight. With a free ride back to Manhattan there to tempt me, I took off around 1:00. Word is I missed both a remix of Villalobos's "Easy Lee" and "Beat It" getting mixed into TV on the Radio's "Staring at the Sun." Damn. Next time then. They don't like missing their Sunday weekly in Glasgow except for once or twice a year, but maybe we can get at least one of them back soon. Please?

EDIT: Check out the comments for a great, detailed review from Dan, who was there till the end. He also pointed out that Doug Mosurock, who helped organize the party and was the first opening DJ, was actually the one to play "Kick in the Eye" - not Tim Sweeney. My bad. (That's what happens when you stand by the bar instead of the decks...)