PARTYING AFTER THE PLAGUE

Sparkling Molly water, secret Burning Man, and the return of weird Hollywood

This scene report has been unlocked from behind the paywall—for more underground party tea, smash the sub button and scurry with me behind the scenes…

The premise of today’s post is what I’ve long been preaching: that parties are screenshots of the cultural forces shaping the broader zeitgeist, and can tell you a lot about what’s to come. Now that we are whooshing back into the world, I’m pivoting back to party journalism, devouring social energy like a demon, floating from psychedelic house parties to queer poetry readings to the streets of Hollywood, where weird and wonderful things are blooming as LA defrosts back to life.

While I am only beginning my party journey, it is obvious that the pandemic has given everyone a chance to tunnel inwards, and many have emerged more open to vulnerability. I’ve found myself talking about death, suicide, overdoses and grief with strangers. Heavy shit. Real shit. All the shit we still need to process—and (maybe, hopefully) can help heal together.

The stories I’m sharing here are semi-secret, which is why I’m sticking them behind the paywall and will continue to experiment with this kind of clandestine, insidery exclusives for ya’ll (to all the new subs, welcome to the klerb). Like everyone else, I’m just trying to figure out what that hell is going to happen as we snapback to the “new normal,” except there is no normal, not anymore. Just portals opening into strange alien worlds beyond our quarantine comfort zones.

So let’s jump right in.