[dafleur]

Straight Edge Scenesters Swamp New York

New York's underground club scene is dominated by DJs and promoters who don't take
drugs or drink, the Village Voice reported this week, in a feature celebrating the
rise of 'New York Nightlife's Sober Hipsters'.

"They are sober hipsters—flipping the image of a non-drinking person as a boring,
uptight Goody Two-shoes on its head," the Voice declared.

"They host the best nights, spin at the choice clubs around town, and book the
post-gig after-parties that start at 11 and end at 4 a.m. Fashionable and popular,
they are the epitome of downtown cool," the listings magazine suggested.

Characters singled out as role models included Tommie Sunshine, drag promoter Kenny
Kenny, Princess Superstar and Larry Tee who suggested drug-using performers are
missing out 'the most fabulous moments of their life'.

"They're sleeping before their big gig in Brazil, like with a million people wanting
to meet them and f++k them," said Larry, "And they've got their hands in their heads
going, 'Oh, my life is so hard.' "

Larry, who said his own addictions to ketamine and crystal meth at the end of the
90s meant he ended up being unable to write music or DJ at all, told Skrufff
quitting drugs not only gave him a far more lucrative second chapter in his career
but radically improved his sex life.

"Not only do I get more sex since I have been clean, it has changed my entire
relationship to sex," said Larry.

"Because my sex addiction ran hand in hand with my drug addiction, and since I have
gotten clean I have gotten clarity on what I want from sex. I was always looking for
love and settling for sex. I now realise that I probably wasn't even that good at it
anyway."

The electroclash pioneer spent much of the 90s promoting parties and DJing in
Michael Alig's infamous Club Kids/ Disco 2000 scene and admitted his own drug
experiences were far from glamorous.

"I was living above the nightclub Twilo with a bunch of straight drug dealers that
were throwing me a little dick from time to time to keep a roof over their heads.
The police would regularly be called to my loft to settle some sort of fracas. They
would take one look at me and leave. I guess they felt sorry for me," he confessed.

"The worst occasion was when I did crystal meth and ketamine together. I felt like I
had descended into hell and ran 20 blocks from Twilo to check myself into a
hospital. I literally saw Hell," he recalled.

Larry also helped Princess Superstar clean up, an experience she described as 'one
of the hardest things I've ever done.'

"But usually, the harder something is to do, the more life changing it will be," she
told Skrufff, "I haven't relapsed since- it's been two years, the best two years of
my life."

She also suggested quitting has enhanced her sexuality ('I've seen how hot I've
become since I quit') and sex life in general.

"I get laid less but the quality is finer," the Princess explained, "And a big plus
is that I actually like the person that I am sleeping with and would actually want
to have a conversation with them the next day.

"And also I can now remember their name," she laughed, "Well, most of the time
anyway."