Studio 54 Alumni Reunion at Ethyl's

In the end not even the rain could stop the party. After a town hall event at Sirius XM Studios last Tuesday, Studio 54 alumni gathered to celebrate at Ethyl’s uptown between 84th and 85th streets with a special performance by Randy Jones, the original cowboy of the Village People. He performed the anthem “Y.M.C.A.,” and the crowd went bazonkers.

DJ Ronnie Magri spun Studio 54 classics, like Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way." The dance floor was magnificent in its sweaty musk. If anyone was wet coming in, they were dry and then sweaty within minutes. Socialites mingled with Studio 54 alums mingled with banker types and the press. Burlesque dancers Gigi Bonbon and Lillin Lace lit the damn place on fire, dancing on bar tops, the stage, wherever.

One of the few regrets of my life is that I was too young to have enjoyed Studio 54. Even in Kindergarten I knew that it was the place Michael Jackson went with Brooke Shields, and I wanted a piece of that. I always, even now, get a secret sharp twinge of regret upon hearing the stories of those who were a part of that magic. For one night at least this reporter was transported to the House that Steve Built and the chick 70s hedonism.

Forty years later, the party goes on. Basta!